midnight
Now the lights of both cross each other -- their fires glow together upon the water -- they are head and head ! Another foot is gained -- the Captain waves his hat -- and the cheer of triumph peals forth ! That cheer was never finished . Its first notes had scarce broke upon the midnight air , when it was interrupted by an explosion like the bursting of some vast magazine -- an explosion that shook the air , the earth , and the water ! Timbers crashed and flew upward -- men shouted as their bodies were projected to the heavens -- smoke and vapour filled the air -- and one wild cry of agony arose upon the night ! The concussion , unlike anything I had ever heard , was , nevertheless , significant of the nature of the catastrophe . I felt an instantaneous conviction that the boilers had burst , and such in reality was the fact .