midnight
So it offers a steady mark for the sportsman 's bullet , if he can glide near enough to discern its outline and take aim . There is one exception to this rule . If the wary animal has ever been startled by a shot fired from under the jack , trust him never to watch a light again , though it shine like the Kohinoor . As for Neal Farrar , this was his first attempt at playing the part of midnight hunter ; and I am bound to say that -- being English born and city bred -- he found the situation much too mystifying for his peace of mind . He knew that the canoe was moving , moving rapidly ; for giant pines along the shore , looking solid and black as mourning pillars , shot by him as if theirs were the motion , with an effect indescribably weird . Now and again a gray pine stump , appearing , if the light struck it , twice its real size , passed like a shimmering ghost . But he felt not the slightest tremor of advance , heard no swish or ripple of paddle .