midnight
All about him was silence and darkness . As well as he could he looked to see that his camera was pointing in the right direction , and that it set firmly on the tripod , the legs of which were driven into the ground . `` I 'll just step over and see how Joe is , '' thought Blake . He judged it lacked half an hour yet of midnight . He found Joe busy mending a broken wire that ran from the battery to the flashlight powder chamber . `` Just discovered it , '' Joe whispered . `` Lucky I did , too , or it would have failed me just when I needed it . ''