midnight
In view of the general 's remarks and Gabriel Carnine 's corroborative statement , and in view of the bitterness with which Carnine assailed the whole Sycamore Ridge campaign , how can a truthful chronicler use the episode at all ? History is a fickle goddess , and perhaps Pontius Pilate , being human and used to human errors and human weakness , is not so much to blame for asking , `` What is truth ? '' and then turning away before he had the answer . Walking home from the meeting through Mary Barclay Park , Barclay 's mind wandered back to the days when he won his first important lawsuit -- the suit brought by Minneola to prevent the collection of taxes under the midnight levy to build the court-house . It was that lawsuit which brought him to the attention of the legal department of the Fifth Parallel Railroad Company , and his employment by that company to defeat the bonds of its narrow-gauged competitor , that was seeking entrance into Garrison County , was the beginning of his career . And in that fight to defeat the narrow-gauged railroad , the people of Garrison County learned something of Barclay as well . He and Bemis went over the county together , -- the little fox and the old coyote , the people called them , -- and where men were for sale , Bemis bought them , and where they were timid , John threatened them , and where they were neither , both John and Bemis fought with a ferocity that made men hate but respect the pair .