midnight
`` Strange I should stumble across this chap , '' he mumbled to himself . He awoke with a start . Just what the hour was , he could not know , for it was intensely dark . He reckoned that it could not be long after midnight , for it seemed as if he had scarcely fallen asleep . But there was a wonderful burst of light to his mind , a complete clarity of thought into which often those do awake who have fallen asleep in a state of great mental conflict . He opened his eyes and , as it were , beheld all that he was about to do ; there was also a very vivid memory of his experience of the evening . He arose hurriedly and struck a light .