midnight
All at once he bethought himself that they were witches and wizards , _ carovnitsi _ and _ viestitche _ , the _ morine _ or nightmares , and all the creatures of hell gathering together for their nightly frolic . Fear prompted him to run off as fast as he possibly could , but huge pits were yawning all around him ; moreover , curiosity held him back , for he would have liked to see where the damned store away their gold ; so , between these two feelings , he stood there rooted to the earth . At last , when fear prevailed over covetousness , he was about to flee ; he felt the ground shiver under his feet , a grave slowly opened on the spot where he stood , for -- as you surely must have understood -- he was in the very midst of a burying-ground . At midnight in a burying-ground , when the tombs gape and give out their dead ! His hair stood on end , his blood was curdling within his veins , his very heart stopped beating . Can you fancy his terror in seeing a _ voukoudlak _ , a horrid vampire all bloated with the blood it nightly sucks . Slowly he saw them rise one after the other , each one looking like a drowsy man awaking from deep slumbers .