midnight
As my eyes grew more accustomed to the darkness I could distinguish the outlines of the machinery on deck , the foremast and the companionway forward of the superstructure . I could make out the bridge and the funnel well enough to see a figure moving over the rim of the storm-apron . The vessel rolled and the side-lights threw red and green glares over the sea on either side . As I stood there waiting for some sound which might tell me the position of the mysterious man who had attacked me , eight bells was struck on the bridge , and I knew it was midnight . I expected that there would be some answer from the bows , as there should be a man on lookout there , and the faint double notes of the bell in the wheel-house should have been repeated from the ship 's bell near to where I stood . I had about decided to make another sortie toward the ladder , when I heard a commotion on the bridge , and then a yell as a man might give who had been stricken suddenly with death . It chilled my blood , for I knew that another blow had been struck which took another life on board the _ Kut Sang _ , and I realized that the striking of the bells had been a sort of signal for the assassin .