midnight
`` B'sides I reckon rifles , or these here automatics , are more fashionable down there on the Border , '' the boy ruminated . Bedtime came and he , like Janice , was too excited to sleep . He was afraid he might sleep , however , and , knowing his failing , he determined to arrange matters so that he could not possibly miss the boat in the morning . Putting a pair of clean socks and an extra handkerchief in one jacket pocket , and a clean collar in another -LRB- for Marty believed in traveling light -RRB- , he climbed out over the shed roof before midnight and carefully descended to the ground by the grape arbor route . Making his way to the wharf he curled up on some bags in front of the freight-house door . Nobody could unlock and open that door without disturbing him ; but the chill morning air awoke him in plenty of season . When the steamboat bumped into the dock Marty was right at hand to catch the bow hawser .