midnight
There was rich fruit in the orchards and gardens of New Hope , russet and crimson-cheeked apples , golden-hued pears , luscious grapes purpling in the October sun , and juicy melons . The bee-hives were heavy with honey , and the bees were still at work , gathering new sweets from the late blooming flowers . Many baskets of ripe apples and choicest pears , many a bunch of grapes , with melons , found their way up the narrow stairs to the room of the Night-Hawks . There was a pleasing excitement in gathering the apples and pears under the windows of the unsuspecting people fast asleep , or in plucking the grapes from garden trellises at midnight . But people began to keep watch . `` We must throw them off our track . I 'll make them think that Paul does it , '' said Philip to himself one day .