midnight
A gibbous moon had risen , and , inefficient as it was to light up the recesses of the forest , it illumined the tree-tops and brought out the difference between earth and sky . The road , known to the horses , if not to themselves , extended like a black ribbon under their eyes , but the patches of light which fell across it at intervals took from it the uninterrupted gloom it must have otherwise had . Mr. Sloan , who was at once their guide and host , promised that dawn would be upon them before they reached the huge gully which was the one dangerous feature of the road . But as yet there were no signs of dawn ; and to Reuther , as well as to Mr. Black , this ride through the heart of a wilderness in a darkness which might have been that of midnight by any other measure than that of the clock , had the effect of a dream in which one is only sufficiently in touch with past commonplaces to say , `` This is a dream and not reality . I shall soon wake . '' A night to remember to the end of one 's days ; an experience which did not seem real at the time and was never looked back upon as real -- and yet , one with which neither of them would have been willing to part . Their guide had prophesied truly .