midnight
Before another quarter was added to the moon , Yusef , the drunken ghaffir , at the door of Soada 's hut in Beni Souef , told old Fatima the most wonderful tale , how Mahommed Selim had died on his sheepskin , having killed ten Dervishes with his own hand ; and that a whole regiment had attended his funeral . This is to the credit of Yusef 's account , that the last half of his statement was no lie . `` It was the schooner Hesperus That sailed the wintry sea ; And the skipper had taken his little daughter To bear him company . ------------------- Such was the wreck of the Hesperus In the midnight and the snow ! Christ save us all from a death like this , On the reef of Norman 's woe ! '' Only it was not the schooner Hesperus , and she did not sail the wintry sea . It was the stern-wheeled tub Amenhotep , which churned her way up and down the Nile , scraping over sand banks , butting the shores with gaiety embarrassing -- for it was the time of cholera , just before the annual rise of the Nile .