midnight
`` We bring a prisoner to King Harald , '' answered Erling . `` We have him here tied hand and foot . '' `` Who is he ? '' asked the sentinel ; for there was not so much light as is usual at midnight of that time of the year , owing to a mist on the sea . `` Thou shalt see when he is aboard . '' `` Hoist him up , then , '' said the man , Erling and his carle raised Hake over the bulwarks , and let him drop heavily on the deck . Then Erling seized the lump of wood and hurled it on board with considerable force , so that , hitting the sentinel on the head , it bounded onwards to the after part of the ship , and struck against the tent under which Harald lay .