midnight
`` You 'll save money by getting a barn-building carpenter . I ca n't bother . I have too many houses to build . '' Ben and Gordon sometimes worked in the lumber office until midnight . On warm still nights the sweet smell of new-cut boards filled the air of the yard and crept in through the open windows , but the two men , intent on their figures , did not notice . In the early evening one or two teams came back to the yard to finish hauling lumber to a job where the men were to work on the next day . The voices of the men , talking and singing as they loaded their wagons , broke the silence .