midnight
Suddenly this swirl and hum of fast-flowing water ceased . Elsie and Gray became aware that Suarez was cautiously drawing himself inboard again . Then his paddle dipped with a noiseless stroke ; the canoe was inside the Alaculof harbor . The midnight blackness was now something that had a sense of actual obstruction in it . It seemed that a hand put forth would encounter a wall . The tide was here , but no perceptible current . For all they could tell to the contrary , they might have been floating in Charon 's boat across some Stygian pool .