midnight
`` Wall , sir , you ca n't do it , not by no manner of means , just yet . David Lorimer is on watch till midnight . '' He was perfectly civil , but there was something particularly irritating in the way Whaley named David Lorimer . So the two men sat almost silent before the camp fire until midnight . Then Whaley said , `` Mr. Lorimer , your son is at liberty now . You 'll excuse me saying that the shorter you make your palaver the better it will suit me . '' Lorimer turned angrily , but Whaley was walking carelessly away ; and the retort that rose to his lips was not one to be shouted after a man of Whaley 's desperate character with safety .