midnight
Close by was a similar object , only nearly completed -- a barge . A paved slipway led to the water here , and the canal broadened to a siding or back-water in which lay seven or eight more barges in tiers . I scaled another paling and went on , walking , I should think , three miles by the side of the canal , till the question of bed and ulterior plans brought me to a halt . It was past midnight , and I was adding little to my information . I had encountered a brick-field , but soon after that there was increasing proof that the canal was as yet little used for traffic . It grew narrower , and there were many signs of recent labour for its improvement . In one place a dammed-off deviation was being excavated , evidently to abridge an impossible bend .