nearly midnight
After the dinner the dining room was cleared , an orchestra appeared , and there was dancing . Again Frank was the first on the floor , with Phebe Macey as his partner . And Phebe was the happiest girl in Camden that night . It was nearly midnight when a boat containing four lads pushed out from Fish Market Wharf and pulled down Camden harbor toward the fleet of yachts that lay anchored in Dillingham 's Cove . The moon had dropped down into the west , but it still shed its pure white light on the unrippled water of the harbor , and , despite the lateness of the hour , several boating parties were out . From away toward the Spindles came the sound of a song , in which four musical voices blended harmoniously . Nothing stirs the entire soul with a sense of the beautiful like the sound of a distant song floating over the silvered bosom of a peaceful bay or lake on a moonlight night in midsummer .