midnight
The night has been unruly : where we lay , Our chimneys were blown down : and , as they say , Lamentings heard i ' the air ; strange screams of death ; And prophesying , with accents terrible , Of dire combustion , and confused events , New hatched to the woful time . Macbeth . It is seldom that man is required to make an exertion as desperate and appalling , in all its circumstances , as that on which Harry Mulford was now bent . The night was starlight , it was true , and it was possible to see objects near by with tolerable distinctness ; still , it was midnight , and the gloom of that hour rested on the face of the sea , lending its solemn mystery and obscurity to the other trying features of the undertaking . Then there was the uncertainty whether it was the boat at all , of which he was in pursuit ; and , if the boat , it might drift away from him as fast as he could follow it . Nevertheless , the perfect conviction that , without some early succour , the party on the wreck , including Rose Budd , must inevitably perish , stimulated him to proceed , and a passing feeling of doubt , touching the prudence of his course , that came over the young mate , when he was a few yards from the wreck , vanished under a vivid renewal of this last conviction . On he swam , therefore , riveting his eye on the `` thoughtful star '' that guided his course , and keeping his mind as tranquil as possible , in order that the exertions of his body might be the easier .