midnight
Bram could pick him off without showing himself . But it was his one chance , and he took it . An hour later Philip looked at his watch . It was close to midnight . In that hour his nerves had been keyed to a tension that was almost at the breaking point . Not a sound came from off the Barren or from out of the scrub timber that did not hold a mental and physical shock for him . He believed that Bram and his pack would come up quietly ; that he would not hear the man 's footsteps or the soft pads of his beasts until they were very near .