midnight before
Afternoon waned as the patches united , spread into the beginning of the jungle as the counter was once more an almost steady light . When evening closed in they were not caught in darkness -- for below trees , looping vines , brush , had a pale , evil glow of their own , proclaiming their toxicity with bluish halos . Sometimes pockets of these made a core of light which pulsed , sending warning fingers at the flitter which sped across it . The hour was close on midnight before Dane sighted the other light , the pink-red of which winked through the ghastly blue-white with a natural and comforting promise , even though it had been meant for an entirely different purpose . The Queen had earthed with her distress lights on and no one had remembered to snap them off . Now they acted as a beacon to draw the flitter to its berth . Dane brought the stripped flyer down on the fused ground as close to the spot from which he had taken off as he could remember .