about midnight
`` This water , '' said he , `` I drew from the Nile with my own hands , not five hours sail to the north . But now we have outsped the blood , which follows after us , '' and taking a lamp he held it over the prow of the boat and I saw that all its planks were splashed as though with blood . `` Be advised by me , learned scribe , '' he added , `` and fill every jar and skin that you can gather with sweet water , lest to-morrow you and your company should go thirsty , '' and he laughed a very dreary laugh . Then we parted without more words , for neither of us knew what to say , and about midnight he sailed on with the wind , taking his chance of grounding on the sandbanks in the darkness . For my part I did as he bade me , though my rowers who had not spoken with his men , thought that I was mad to load up the barge with so much water . At the first break of day I gave the order to start . Looking over the side of the barge it seemed to me as though the lights of dawn had fallen from the sky into the Nile whereof the water had become pink-hued .