midnight
The men treated me with real respect , instead of the good-humoured burlesque thereof which they had accorded me hitherto ; and my fellow-mids at once received me into the berth upon a footing of perfect equality with themselves , each one striving to do me some little kindness or show me some little attention , in place of playing off disagreeable practical jokes upon me . They would not have been midshipmen had they not had a jocular remark or two to make upon the subject , but it was all said in good part . The wind continued to blow hard during the whole of that day , but toward sunset it moderated somewhat , and veered a point or two to the northward . The ship had been under close-reefed topsails and fore-topmast staysail ever since midnight of the night before . The sun was just sinking below the horizon , his parting beams lighting up gorgeously a heavy bank of clouds which hung low down in the western quarter , when the lookout man aloft hailed , `` A sail on the weather bow ! '' Everybody was instantly on the alert . `` What do you make her out to be ? ''