midnight
As there was no abatement of the blows of the boat against the embankment , no reply nor explanation , a shot from the gun of one of the levee-watch came skipping lightsomely over the water as Hoxer was borne exhausted to the bottom of the skiff . Then , indeed , the sheriff of the county bethought himself to shout out his name and official station to the astonished group on shore , and thus , bullet-proof under the aegis of the law , the boat pulled out toward the steamer , lying in mid-stream , silently awaiting the coming of the officer and his prisoner , a great , towering , castellated object , half seen in the night , her broadside of cabin lights , and their reflection in the ripples , sparkling through the darkness like a chain of golden stars . They left no stress of curiosity behind them ; naught in the delta can compete in interest with the threatened collapse of a levee in times of high water . Before the rowboat had reached the steamer 's side , its occupants could hear the great plantation-bell ringing like mad to summon forth into the midnight all available hands to save the levee , and , looking back presently , a hundred lanterns were seen flickering hither and thither , far down in the dusk -- no illusion this , for all deltaic rivers are higher in the centre than their banks -- where the busy laborers , with thousands of gunny-sacks filled with sand , were fighting the Mississippi , building a barricade to fence it from the rich spoils it coveted . The packet , which , as it happened , was already overdue , had been telephoned by the officers at her last landing , and a number of men stood on the guards expectant . Hoxer had ceased to struggle . He looked up at the steamer , his pallid face and wide , distended eyes showing in the cabin lights , as the rowboat pulled alongside .