midnight
But in the camp or leaguer of the Welsh there was glee and triumph , for the loss of the past day was forgotten in recollection of the signal victory which had preceded this siege ; and the dispirited garrison could hear from their walls the laugh and the song , the sound of harping and gaiety , which triumphed by anticipation over their surrender . The sun was for some time sunk , the twilight deepened , and night closed with a blue and cloudless sky , in which the thousand spangles that deck the firmament received double brilliancy from some slight touch of frost , although the paler planet , their mistress , was but in her first quarter . The necessities of the garrison were considerably aggravated by that of keeping a very strong and watchful guard , ill according with the weakness of their numbers , at a time which appeared favourable to any sudden nocturnal alarm ; and , so urgent was this duty , that those who had been more slightly wounded on the preceding day , were obliged to take their share in it , notwithstanding their hurts . The monk and Fleming , who now perfectly understood each other , went in company around the walls at midnight , exhorting the warders to be watchful , and examining with their own eyes the state of the fortress . It was in the course of these rounds , and as they were ascending an elevated platform by a range of narrow and uneven steps , something galling to the monk 's tread , that they perceived on the summit to which they were ascending , instead of the black corslet of the Flemish sentinel who had been placed there , two white forms , the appearance of which struck Wilkin Flammock with more dismay than he had shown during any of the doubtful events of the preceding day 's fight . `` Father , '' he said , `` betake yourself to your tools -- _ es spuckt _ -- there are hobgoblins here . '' The good father had not learned as a priest to defy the spiritual host , whom , as a soldier , he had dreaded more than any mortal enemy ; but he began to recite , with chattering teeth , the exorcism of the church , _ `` Conjuro vos omnes , spiritus maligni , magni , atque parvi , '' _ -- when he was interrupted by the voice of Eveline , who called out , `` Is it you , Father Aldrovand ? ''