midnight
And our adventurers now found that masses of tangled trees , mill-logs , and all sorts of flood-wood , were driving so strongly and thickly up this channel that it would be in vain for them to attempt to proceed in that direction . But the purpose of the heroic girl to reach the village , by some means or other , was not to be thus shaken . She directed the boat to be rowed back to the Elwood Landing , where , leaving it , she with her attendant took the path to the cottage ; and reaching this , and finding all dark within she boldly led the way down the long road to the bridge , miles below , with no other light than the still lingering flashes of lightning afforded to her hurrying footsteps . But it was not till after an exhausting walk , and some time past midnight , that she reached the bridge leading over the river to the tavern , where the trial was proceeding ; and then only to encounter another great obstacle to her progress . On coming up to the bridge , she perceived , with astonishment and dismay , that one-half of the structure , with the exception of a single string-piece , the only connection now remaining between the two sides of the river , had been swept away by the sudden flood , or the revolving trees it bore on its rushing surface . She also ascertained , from a woman still up , watching with a sick child , in a house near by , that every boat on that side the river had been either carried off by the unexpected freshet , or taken since the bridge went off , by persons still coming in , to get over to the exciting trial , which , it was understood , would occupy the whole night . After pausing a moment , the still unshaken maiden borrowed and lighted a lantern , when , without disclosing her purpose , she left the house and proceeded directly to the end of the string-piece .