the
midnight sun
-- but we 've got to see it through now . `` You can never set this ship down , Spud ; that patrol would be on our backs in half a second . And they 'd knock me out with one shot the minute I stepped outside . '' The clear space in the storm had filled again with the dirty gray of wind-whipped snow ; off at the right a dim glow of distant fires was the midnight sun as it shone for a brief moment . One blast , more malignant in its fury than those that had come before , tore first at the blunt bow , then caught them amidships to roll the big , sluggish freighter till her racked framework shrieked and chattered . Spud pointed through a rear lookout where a silvery Patrol Ship flashed down through the clouds . `` There 's Jimmy ! ''