midnight
`` Yes . '' `` Then you should introduce a tempest howling , the waves roaring , the lightning flashing , and discord raging in the air as well as on the earth . '' `` Well , to continue my story . Although it was midnight , the disturbance began to wake up the villagers , and a crowd was collecting , so we hurried off our prisoners to the boats as speedily as we could . Some five and twenty able bodied men were thus added to his Majesty 's fleet . The object of our visit to the Irish coast was accomplished , and the _ Norfolk _ continued her voyage to the West Indies . Now you know what is meant by the word _ pressed _ , and likewise the nautical signification of the word _ press-gang _ . ''