midnight
Scarcely two hours after his start from Raithu he was standing on the soil of another continent , and , after finding a hiding-place for his boat , he slipped off among the hills to watch the movements of the Blemmyes . The very first day he went up to the valley in which they were gathering ; on the second , after being many times seen and pursued , he succeeded in seizing a warrior who had been sent out to reconnoitre , and in carrying him off with him ; he bound him , and by heavy threats learned many things from him . The number of their collected enemies was great , but Hermas had hopes of outstripping them , for his prisoner revealed to him the spot where their boats , drawn up on shore , lay hidden under sand and stones . As soon as it was dusk , the anchorite in his boat went towards the place of embarkation , and when the Blemmyes , in the darkness of midnight , drew their first bark into the water , Hermas sailed off ahead of the enemy , landed in much danger below the western declivity of the mountain , and hastened up towards Sinai to warn the Pharanite watchmen on the beacon . He gained the top of the difficult peak before sunrise , roused the lazy sentinels who had left their posts , and before they were able to mount guard , to hoist the flags or to begin to sound the brazen cymbals , he had hurried on down the valley to his father 's cave . Since his disappearance Miriam had incessantly hovered round Stephanus ' dwelling , and had fetched fresh water for the old man every morning , noon and evening , even after a new nurse , who was clumsier and more peevish , had taken Paulus ' place . She lived on roots , and on the bread the sick man gave her , and at night she lay down to sleep in a deep dry cleft of the rock that she had long known well .