midnight
This window contained no glass , but was closed with a broad shutter . The boy undressed and got into bed , placing his saddle bags on the foot of it , and the pistol that he carried in his belt under his head . He fell asleep almost immediately and had he been asked beforehand he would have said that nothing could awake him before morning . Nevertheless he awoke before midnight , and it was a very slight thing that caused him to come out of sleep . Despite the languor produced by food and heat a certain nervous apprehension had been at work in the boy 's mind , and it followed him into the unknown regions of sleep . His body was dead for a time and his mind too , but this nervous power worked on , almost independently of him . It had noted the sound of voices nearby , and awakened him , as if he had been shaken by a rough hand .