midnight
`` Thank God , '' she murmured , `` he 's not there ! '' She must begin now the patient search among the eighty thousand sick and wounded men in the city of sorrows on the hills . She secured a hack and tried to reach the head of the procession and find the destination of the first wagons that had left before her arrival . It was after midnight . A thunder storm suddenly rolled its dense clouds over the city and smothered the street lamps in a pall of darkness . The rain burst with a flash of lightning and poured in torrents . The electric display was awe-inspiring .