about twelve o'clock
It had been sitting at the stern weighing down the boat , and now rushed out into the sea , dashing the water up in spray round it as it went . After that the boat went smoothly into the water . The man with the second sight looked at the boy , and said he ought not to have done as he had ; but the boy only laughed and said that he did not believe in goblins or spirits . In the night , when they had come home and lay sleeping in the hut , at about twelve o'clock they heard the boy crying for help . One of the men thought , too , he saw by the dim light of the oil lamp a great hand stretching in from the door up to the bench on which the boy lay . Before they had so far collected themselves as to lay hold of the hand , the boy , crying out and resisting , was already dragged to the door . And now a hard struggle took place in the doorway , the goblin pulling the boy by the legs , while the whole crew held him by the arms and the upper part of his body .