midnight
Until Tom came , one only had been successful , -- that lad of seventeen , whose achievements were the envy of my boyish soul , James Ray . He slept in the cabin next to Cowan 's , and long before the dawn had revealed the forest line had been wont to steal out of the gates on the one scrawny horse the Indians had left them , gain the Salt River , and make his way thence through the water to some distant place where the listening savages could not hear his shot . And now Tom took his turn . Often did I sit with Polly Ann till midnight in the sentry 's tower , straining my ears for the owl 's hoot that warned us of his coming . Sometimes he was empty-handed , but sometimes a deer hung limp and black across his saddle , or a pair of turkeys swung from his shoulder . `` Arrah , darlin ' , '' said Terence to Polly Ann , ``` tis yer husband and James is the jools av the fort . Sure I niver loved me father as I do thim . ''