midnight
She prevented herself from traveling in a circle , by remembering this aptitude of benighted travelers , and keeping her eye steadily fixed on a distant camp-fire . When she at last came to the edge of the field she had to lean against the fence for some minutes before she could recover from her fatigue sufficiently to climb upon it . While she sat for a minute there she heard some cocks , at a neighboring farm-house , crow the turn of night . `` It is midnight , '' she said feverishly , `` and I have only begun the journey . Now let every nerve and muscle do its utmost . '' She rode along the fence until she came to an opening which led into what appeared in the darkness to be another cotton field , but proved to be a worn-out one , long ago abandoned to the rank-growing briars , which clung to and tore her skirts , and seamed the mare 's delicate skin with bleeding furrows . The flinching brute pressed onward , in response to her mistress 's encouragement , but the progress was grievously slow .