midnight
There was no moonlight ; there would be a new moon at half-past one in the morning , but the night was singularly dark , except for dazzling flashes of summer lightning that from time to time illumined the horizon far and wide . There was , however , no answering roll of thunder , and the silence of the atmosphere seemed almost awful , For a couple of hours , in the vain hope of catching a breath of air , Miss Herbey , Andre Letourneur , and I , sat watching the imposing struggle of the electric vapours . The clouds appeared like embattled turrets crested with flame , and the very sailors , coarse-minded men as they were , seemed struck with the grandeur of the spectacle , and regarded attentively , though with an anxious eye , the preliminary tokens of a coming storm . Until midnight we kept our seats upon the stern of the raft , whilst the lightning ever and again shed around us a livid glare similar to that produced by adding salt to lighted alcohol . `` Are you afraid of a storm , Miss Herbey ? '' said Andre to the girl . `` No , Mr. Andre , my feelings are always rather those of awe than of fear , '' she replied .