midnight
`` I have no doubt , Don Luis , '' began Don Esteban , `` that you , like myself , have heard rumours of late that the negroes up in the mountains were again beginning to show signs of unrest . But , so far at least as I was concerned , those rumours have been so exceedingly vague and contradictory that I paid little or no attention to them ; for , as you are , of course , aware , scarcely a month passes over our heads but some story of an impending outbreak reaches us . Yet it has never come , and I think we have at last all grown to regard the rumours as mere idle talk , without foundation or justification . Consequently I was not only very greatly surprised , but also distinctly incredulous , when one of my house boys aroused me shortly after midnight to-night with the intelligence that the negroes were actually out , and that practically all my own people had abandoned their huts and gone forth to join them ! It was this latter circumstance which alarmed me ; and when , a little later , I had verified the statement I came to the conclusion that the time for action had arrived , and accordingly we saddled up and came away without further ado . As we came along my sons and I discussed the situation , and ultimately decided that the proper thing , and also the best thing , would be to make for Bella Vista in the first instance , inform you of the facts , and learn your views as to the situation . '' `` Were you able to learn in what strength the blacks have turned out ? ''