midnight
The effort of will and body banished the shapes and illusions , and he went to work with firm hands . He tore the coverings from his bed into strips , and knotted them together stoutly , trying each knot by tying the strip to the bar , and pulling on it with all his strength . He made his rope at least thirty feet long and then gave it a final test , knot by knot . He judged that it was now near midnight and the skies were still very dark . Inside of a half hour he would be gone -- to what ? He was seized with an intense yearning to wake up Mr. Austin and tell him good-by . The Texan leader had been so good to him , he would worry so much about him that it was almost heartless to slip away in this manner .