midnight
Therefore , in getting , get information : it will help you to untold wealth . My object , you see , is knowledge , for which I hunger and thirst . I search for it by night as well as by day . Therefore , gentlemen , before we quit the scene of our midnight labours , let us drink to the acquisition of knowledge . '' Rock Cod and Macaroni did not know what he meant , but they drank rum from the pannikin with the greatest good-will . After which , Benjamin scattered the embers of the fire , which quickly died out , and then the three men shoved the boat off and pulled towards the lights of the steamer . On board the barque Captain Sartoris paced the poop-deck in solitude .