midnight
`` Evidently they did n't come here at all . '' `` Perhaps , if I could find that coach driver , I might learn somethin' . '' `` That 's so -- let us find him by all means . '' But to find the driver was not easy , and by midnight the search was abandoned . Much dejected , Sam and Tom returned to the _ Swallow _ , and Luke Peterson accompanied them . Peterson was also downhearted , having heard nothing of the tug which had been towing the lumber raft or of his friend Bragin . `` I 'll notify the police in the morning , '' said Tom , and did so .