two o’clock in the morning
`` That would be gambling with the lives of my men . '' `` And with my own ! '' the harpooner replied simply . Near two o'clock in the morning , the core of light reappeared , no less intense , five miles to windward of the Abraham Lincoln . Despite the distance , despite the noise of wind and sea , we could distinctly hear the fearsome thrashings of the animal 's tail , and even its panting breath . Seemingly , the moment this enormous narwhale came up to breathe at the surface of the ocean , air was sucked into its lungs like steam into the huge cylinders of a 2,000-horsepower engine . `` Hmm ! ''