midnight
And so we settled down for the night , and owing to my previous sleeplessness , I was full weary , so that I knew nothing until the one whom I was to relieve shook me into wakefulness . So soon as I was fully waked , I perceived that a low moon hung above the horizon , and shed a very ghostly light across the great weed world to starboard . For the rest , the night was exceeding quiet , so that no sound came to me in all that ocean , save the rippling of the water upon our bends as the boat forged slowly along . And so I settled down to pass the time ere I should be allowed to sleep ; but first I asked the man whom I had relieved , how long a time had passed since moon-rise ; to which he replied that it was no more than the half of an hour , and after that I questioned whether he had seen aught strange amid the weed during his time at the oar ; but he had seen nothing , except that once he had fancied a light had shown in the midst of the waste ; yet it could have been naught save a humor of the imagination ; though apart from this , he had heard a strange crying a little after midnight , and twice there had been great splashes among the weed . And after that he fell asleep , being impatient at my questioning . Now it so chanced that my watch had come just before the dawn ; for which I was full of thankfulness , being in that frame of mind when the dark breeds strange and unwholesome fancies . Yet , though I was so near to the dawn , I was not to escape free of the eerie influence of that place ; for , as I sat , running my gaze to and fro over its grey immensity , it came to me that there were strange movements among the weed , and I seemed to see vaguely , as one may see things in dreams , dim white faces peer out at me here and there ; yet my common sense assured me that I was but deceived by the uncertain light and the sleep in my eyes ; yet for all that , it put my nerves on the quiver .