midnight
`` Oh , Black Jack , '' he said : `` well , at the Green Bay Tree , or the Tivoli , or the Monte Carlo . But there 's a big poker game on and he 's liable to be in it . '' Once more I paraded the seething street . It was long after midnight , but the wondrous glow , still burning in the Northern sky , filled the land with strange enchantment . In spite of the hour the town seemed to be more alive than ever . Parties with pack-laden mules were starting off for the creeks , travelling at night to avoid the heat and mosquitoes . Men with lean brown faces trudged sturdily along carrying extraordinary loads on their stalwart shoulders .