midnight
`` An thou speakest another word in such strain of those who have favored us with naught save kindness , I will report thee to that same lash of which thou pratest so glibly . '' The astonished sergeant muttered something by way of apology , but Réné , not waiting to hear it , hurried away to report to his uncle the result of his mission to the prisoner , and then to his own quarters to think over the startling proposal made to him by his friend . The next morning Has-se had disappeared , and was nowhere to be found . With a troubled countenance the sergeant of the guard reported to Laudonniere that he had looked in on the prisoner at midnight , and found him quietly sleeping . He had visited the room again at sunrise , and it was empty . The sentinels at the gates , and those who paced the walls , had been closely questioned , but declared they had seen nobody , nor had they heard any unusual sound . For his part he believed there was magic in it , and that some of the old Indian witches had spirited the prisoner up the chimney , and flown away with him on a broomstick .