midnight
I could not believe it . As in the case of the others it really seemed as though I had not actually had time to get to sleep at all , yet I had slept soundly for an hour , and on staggering to my feet , though the abrupt awakening had inflicted upon me positive suffering , I found when fairly awake , that I was very distinctly the better for my short nap , which seemed to have made up , at least partially , in soundness what it lacked in duration . Another hour passed peacefully -- and this time not quite so laggingly -- away ; our turn again arrived for a rest ; and once more did we enjoy for a brief space the bliss of perfect oblivion . At midnight we were called again , Tom reporting that neither sight nor sound had occurred during his watch to disturb him . We now began to feel really refreshed , and during the next hour some of the men in my watch actually found superfluous energy enough to hum under their breath a snatch or two of a forecastle song as they paced vigilantly to and fro over the short stretch of ground which constituted their `` beat . '' As the silent hour flitted away without disquieting sight or sound of any kind I began to feel sanguine that we were going to be blessed with uninterrupted peace for the remainder of the night , and inwardly resolved that if matters still continued satisfactory after my watch had had its next hour 's sleep I would extend the period of sleep to two hours for the next watch , which , with what they had already had , ought to put them in excellent trim for the fatigues of the succeeding day , whatever they might be . And with this resolve still uppermost in my mind I laid down and once more dropped to sleep when my turn came at one o'clock a.m. Two o'clock arrived , our watch was called , and still there had been no sign of the enemy .