midnight
`` Totila ! '' exclaimed Belisarius , `` Totila , again ! '' `` The crew were lying , partly on shore with my outposts , partly on deck , sound asleep . Suddenly , at midnight , all around became as lively as if a hundred ships had risen out of the sea . '' `` A hundred ships ! Ten nutshells ! '' `` In a moment , long before we could come to their help from the shore , the ships were boarded , the crews taken prisoners , one of the triremes , whose cable could not be cut quickly enough , set on fire , and the others towed off to Neapolis ! ''