nearly
midnight
`` If it was winter now , I should n't want anything nicer . '' He stood it like a hero , however , and by and by his place became more pleasant , for the reason that the fuel was rapidly burning down . About this time sleep regained possession of his senses , and , cramped up though he was , with his back against the rock , his slumber was scarcely less sound than if he were stretched out upon his blanket beneath a tree in the forest . At the time young Chadmund relapsed into unconsciousness it was nearly midnight , and for nearly two hours following there was scarcely the slightest change in the surroundings . The fires burned low , until the figure of the lad braced up against the rock grew dim and shadowy in the deepening gloom . Scarcely a breath of air stirred the vegetation about him , and everything seemed to be calculated to lull one into a deep , soothing , dreamless sleep . But at the end of the time mentioned , something came out of the undergrowth and advanced stealthily toward him .