midnight
`` What have we here ? An ambushment has been planted in the spot ? No , by the truest rifle on the frontiers , here have been them one-sided horses again ! Now the whole secret is out , and all is plain as the north star at midnight . Yes , here they have mounted . There the beasts have been bound to a sapling , in waiting ; and yonder runs the broad path away to the north , in full sweep for the Canadas . '' `` But still there are no signs of Alice -- of the younger Miss Munro , '' -- said Duncan .