midnight
`` It must be the Fareys , '' answered Eric ; `` now , if we can but keep afloat for three hours more , we may yet die ashore . '' After this the wind began to fall , but still there was enough to drive the Raven on swiftly . And ever the water gained in the hold . Now they were not far from land , for ahead of them the bleak hills towered up , shining in the faint midnight light , and between the hills was a cleft that seemed to be a fjord . Another hour passed , and they were no more than ten furlongs from the mouth of the fjord , when suddenly the wind fell , and they were in calm water under shelter of the land . They went amidships and looked . The hold was half full of water , and in it floated the bodies of Ospakar 's men .