midnight
So promising to send some one with the boat in the morning , he departed . Yet , if Alfy had known what would happen with that boat in the night he would have gone with Jones , and tired as he was , would have brought it back . But he did not know ; and after a hearty supper all the inmates of the Island House retired to bed . They had hardly passed out of their beauty sleep -- _ i.e. _ , the slumber before midnight -- when , as the clocks were striking twelve , and an early chanticleer was crowing for the morn , Edie was awakened by some mysterious sounds -- sounds as of something bumping against the walls of the house outside . She listened . Yes , it was so . Distinctly she heard something knock against the wall outside and underneath her window .