midnight
Beside Norman of Torn rode the grim , gray , old man , silent and taciturn ; nursing his deep hatred in the depths of his malign brain . At the head of their respective companies rode the five captains : Red Shandy ; John Flory ; Edwild the Serf ; Emilio , Count de Gropello of Italy ; and Sieur Ralph de la Campnee , of France . The hamlets and huts which they passed in the morning and early afternoon brought forth men , women and children to cheer and wave God-speed to them ; but as they passed farther from the vicinity of Torn , where the black falcon wing was known more by the ferocity of its name than by the kindly deeds of the great outlaw to the lowly of his neighborhood , they saw only closed and barred doors with an occasional frightened face peering from a tiny window . It was midnight ere they sighted the black towers of Colfax silhouetted against the starry sky . Drawing his men into the shadows of the forest a half mile from the castle , Norman of Torn rode forward with Shandy and some fifty men to a point as close as they could come without being observed . Here they dismounted and Norman of Torn crept stealthily forward alone . Taking advantage of every cover , he approached to the very shadows of the great gate without being detected .