midnight
Its noble-looking eye scowled for a moment on him as he came up , then the head drooped forward and the bird died . It measured six feet four inches from tip to tip of its expanded wings , and was as magnificent a specimen of the golden eagle as one could wish to see . With a triumphant step Sam carried it down to the yacht , where he found his comrades still sound asleep ; so he quietly fastened the eagle up over Grant 's bed , with the wings expanded and the hooked beak close to the sleeper 's nose ! The day that followed this event continued calm , but towards evening a light breeze sprang up , and before midnight the _ Snowflake _ cast anchor in the harbour of Bergen . The city of Bergen is a famous and a strange old place . In ancient days it was a stronghold of the Vikings -- those notorious sea-warriors who were little better than pirates , and who issued from among the dark mountains of Norway in their great uncouth galleys and swept across the seas , landing on the coasts everywhere , to the terror of surrounding nations . They were a bold , fearless set , the Norse Vikings of old .