midnight
The morning would find him in a strange place , among strangers ... he leaned upon the rail in a sudden excess of yearning for those whom he loved , summoned the spirits of those who loved him . They came to him through the night -- Susan fretting , Ellis affectionately gruff , Enrico boisterously cheerful , Father Jennings wise , patient , watchful . Another , fairer , unutterably dear , hovered near him : he strove , as of old , to bridge the gap -- and was baffled , as of old . The eight bells of midnight roused him from his dejected reverie : he straightened from the rail . The Cross had dipped into the clouded crest : miles to the west a shorefire bit into the black mantle that draped the Gulf . The low wailing of an infant and the guttural endeavors of the mother to soothe it came up from the forward deck where the native passengers lay sprawled in the profound slumber of the Malay : pacified , it slept again , then the night was still but for the soft sounds of displaced waters and the creakings of the ship 's old joints . * * * * * As he passed along the narrow , ill-lighted passage toward his cabin he heard a voice raised in ugly imprecation : `` I 'll get him if he comes , the -- upstart !