Midnight
The darkness was intense . So , deep and pitchy black , indeed , had the night become , that even the land was no longer to be distinguished , and the only clues the two gentlemen had to its position were the mouldering watch-fires of the Arab camp , and the direction of the wind . `` We will now make an attempt , '' said Paul , stopping in his short walk on the sand , and examining the murky vault over head . `` Midnight is near ; and by two o'clock the tide will be entirely up . It is a dark night to thread these narrow channels in , and to go out upon the ocean , too , in so frail a bark ! But the alternative is worse . '' `` Would it not be better to allow the water to rise still higher ?