midnight
The sight of the blood inflamed him as it might a beast that ravens . He grew mad with a desire to have Christian by the throat once again , not to loose this time till he had crushed out his life , or beat out his life , or stabbed out his life ; or all these , and torn him piecemeal likewise : and ah ! then , not till then , bleed his heart with weeping , like a child , like a girl , over the piteous fate of his poor lost love . On -- on -- on -- through the aching time , toiling and straining in the track of those two superb runners , aware of the marvel of their endurance , but unaware of the marvel of their speed , that , in the three hours before midnight had overpassed all that vast distance that he could only traverse from twilight to twilight . For clear daylight was passing when he came to the edge of an old marl-pit , and saw how the two who had gone before had stamped and trampled together in desperate peril on the verge . And here fresh blood stains spoke to him of a valiant defence against his infamous brother ; and he followed where the blood had dripped till the cold had staunched its flow , taking a savage gratification from this evidence that Christian had been gashed deeply , maddening afresh with desire to do likewise more excellently , and so slake his murderous hate . And he began to know that through all his despair he had entertained a germ of hope , that grew apace , rained upon by his brother 's blood .