midnight
` That may be -- I can only say what I know , and you can form your own opinion . ' ` Say what you know then -- I 'm waiting to hear . But be quick about it , man , I 've no time to waste this morning . ' Harris began his tale -- how he had watched at the window of his little room , till after midnight , his gun ready , his eyes glued on the padlocked door opposite ; how overcome with drowsiness against which he had vainly struggled -- ` for a man that 's been pretty near two days and nights in the saddle may be excused if his eyes begin blinking , ' Harris put it . He had dropped dead asleep -- he confessed it -- at his post . Then , how on awakening suddenly , for no apparent reason , all seeming quiet around , he had got up as he was , half dressed and in his boots -- had stepped across to the hide-house , had found the padlock intact and , hearing no sound , had concluded the black-boy was inside safe asleep . How then , with a relieved mind , he had been going back to his stretcher , when the noise of a goat bleating had set him on the look-out from his veranda .