midnight
He felt himself alone , unhappy man , as no man had ever been alone before ! Alone in this immense desert of snow , alone five thousand feet above the inhabited earth ; above human habitations , above that stirring , noisy , palpitating life , alone under an icy sky ! A mad longing impelled him to run away , no matter where , to get down to Loeche by flinging himself over the precipice ; but he did not even dare to open the door , as he felt sure that the other , the DEAD , man would bar his road , so that he might not be obliged to remain up there alone . Toward midnight , tired with walking , worn-out by grief and fear , he fell into a doze in his chair , for he was afraid of his bed , as one is of a haunted spot . But suddenly the strident cry of the preceding evening pierced his ears , so shrill that Ulrich stretched out his arms to repulse the ghost , and he fell on to his back with his chair . Sam , who was awakened by the noise , began to howl as frightened dogs do , and trotted all about the house trying to find out where the danger came from . When he got to the door , he sniffed beneath it , smelling vigorously , with his coat bristling and his tail stiff while he growled angrily .