midnight
We stood about in the ante-room , silent under the vigilant eye of the guard . After an uncertain period of waiting , the orderly called `` Gordon MacRae , '' and the inquisition began . One at a time they put us on the rack -- probing each man 's story down to the smallest detail . It was long after midnight when the questioning was at an end . The finale came when a trooper searched the bodies of Lessard and Gregory , and relieved Hicks and Bevans of the plunder that was still concealed about their persons . They counted the money solemnly , on the same desk by which Lessard stood when MacRae flung that hot challenge in his teeth , and lost his stripes as the penalty . Outside , the wind arose and whoo - _ ee _ - ed around the corner of the log building ; inside , there was a strained quiet , broken only by the occasional rattle of a loose window , the steady chink -- chink of coin slipping through fingers , the crisp rustle of bills , like new silk .