six o'clock in the evening
It was night , the dead of night , and so dark that I could hardly distinguish the broad highway , and consequently I stumbled into the ditch more than once . From the custom-house , at the barriers , to my house , was about a mile , perhaps a little more -- a leisurely walk of about twenty minutes . It was one o'clock in the morning , one o'clock or maybe half-past one ; the sky had by this time cleared somewhat and the crescent appeared , the gloomy crescent of the last quarter of the moon . The crescent of the first quarter is that which rises about five or six o'clock in the evening and is clear , gay , and fretted with silver ; but the one which rises after midnight is reddish , sad , and desolating -- it is the true Sabbath crescent . Every prowler by night has made the same observation . The first , though slender as a thread , throws a faint , joyous light which rejoices the heart and lines the ground with distinct shadows ; the last sheds hardly a dying glimmer , and is so wan that it occasions hardly any shadows . In the distance , I perceived the somber mass of my garden , and , I know not why , was seized with a feeling of uneasiness at the idea of going inside .