midnight
Nor was Tom to be disappointed in his expectation that the worst trouble yet experienced would break loose that night . `` Oho ! '' breathed young Reade , as he crouched low behind the fringe of bushes , peering toward the beach . It was now somewhat past midnight . For three hours Tom had been scouting stealthily along this shore section , well to the west of the breakwater . For , in pondering over the explosions , Tom had come to the conclusion that the blow-outs on the retaining wall , however accomplished , were controlled from a point to the westward of the sea wall . This conclusion had been rather a simple matter to a trained engineer .