midnight
before
We rumbled gently through the darkness , between aisles of inky pines where the strip of starlight ran like a ribbon overhead , then on the rolling dunes that overlook the water . There was a moon , too , but I was mortally tired and lonely and longed only to see my little Redbeard . Peg was weary , too , and plodded slowly . It must have been midnight before we saw the red and green lights of the railway signals and I knew that Port Vigor was at hand . I decided to camp where I was . I guided Peg into a field beside the road , hitched her to a fence , and took the dog into the van with me . I was too tired to undress .