midnight
No sooner had this been suggested to Lage , than the command was given to muster the whole force of men and horses , and before evening on the same day the sturdy swains of Kvaerk were seen climbing the tower of the venerable church , whence soon the huge old bell descended , to the astonishment of the throng of curious women and children who had flocked together to see the extraordinary sight . It was laid upon four large wagons , which had been joined together with ropes and planks , and drawn away by twelve strong horses . Long after the strange caravan had vanished in the twilight , the children stood gazing up into the empty bell-tower . It was near midnight , when Lage stood at the steep , rocky wall in the forest ; the men were laboring to hoist the church-bell up to a staunch cross-beam between two mighty fir-trees , and in the weird light of their torches , the wild surroundings looked wilder and more fantastic . Anon , the muffled noise and bustle of the work being at an end , the laborers withdrew , and a strange , feverish silence seemed to brood over the forest . Lage took a step forward , and seized the bell-rope ; the clear , conquering toll of the metal rung solemnly through the silence , and from the rocks , the earth , and the tree-tops , rose a fierce chorus of howls , groans , and screams . All night the ringing continued ; the old trees swayed to and fro , creaked , and groaned , the roots loosened their holds in the fissures of the rock , and the bushy crowns bowed low under their unwonted burden .