midnight before
said the perplexed pastor . `` That may be so , '' replied the hunter quietly , `` but Loo wants to be wed before I die , and we 'd better waste no time about it . '' There was no resisting this , so the Reverend William Tucker made arrangements for the wedding , while The MacFearsome and his men were busied extinguishing the last sparks of the fire . It was near midnight before these arrangements were completed . Then the men were summoned once more to the Hall , but how different were their feelings now from what they had been earlier on that day ! The occupation of old Fiddlestrings was gone . Even the huge pie was dismissed from the scene .