midnight
`` Truly they have received peculiar treatment ! '' `` That is as it should be , '' rejoined Jack ; `` at any rate , be they peculiar or be they otherwise , our plans are settled and our mode of action fixed , so we must e ` en abide the issue . '' It was excessively dark that night when we set forth on our expedition . The scout from whom we had already ascertained so much about the intended movements of the enemy also told us that they meant to set out at a little before midnight and march on the village by a certain route . Indeed , it was very unlikely that they would approach by any other , as the jungle elsewhere was so thick as to render marching , especially at night , very difficult . Jack therefore resolved to place the greater proportion of his troops in ambush at the mouth of a small gully or dell a few miles from the enemy 's camp , where they were almost certain to pass . But with a degree of caution that I thought highly creditable in so young and inexperienced a general , he sent out a considerable number of the most trustworthy men in advance , with instructions to proceed with the stealth of leopards , and to bring back instant information of any change of route on the part of the foe .