midnight
The watchman was seated in a chair just inside the big door of the shed , near a small stove in which was a fire to take off the chill of the big place . The guard had slept all day , and there was no excuse for him nodding in the way that he did . `` Queer , how drowsy I feel , '' he murmured several times . `` It 's only a little after midnight , too , '' he added , looking at his watch , `` Guess I 'll walk around a bit to rouse myself . '' He firmly intended to do this , but he thought he would wait just a few minutes more , and he stretched out his legs and got comfortable in the chair . Three minutes more and the watchman was asleep -- sound asleep , while a strange , sweet , sickish odor seemed to fill the atmosphere about him . There was a noise at the door of the shed , a door in which there were several cracks .