midnight
`` But -- '' `` I bought two , '' she said . `` One for you and one for me ; and most of your clothes are in those bags . Did n't you miss them ? '' It was past midnight , and they were sitting in the stern of the _ Topeka _ listening to the chopchop of the water under her flat bottom . Save for an occasional guffaw and curse , evidence of some nocturnal card-party , silence reigned aboard . A full moon flooded the landscape , under which the lofty banks , and the great mountains beyond , shimmered in fantastic manner ; wherein the river , mighty as it was , seemed dwarfed like unto a silver serpent , winding and turning down to the sea . Since morning Jim had lived in some wonderful paradise , which even now seemed unstable , fugitive , and dreamlike .