midnight
Meanwhile go thou and fetch me a billet of wood , and let it be a large one . '' The boy quickly brought from the hold one of the largest billets of wood he could find , and gave it to his master , who laid it in his own bed , which was under a small tent spread over the aft part of the vessel , close to the poop . Having covered it up carefully , he sent the boy forward , and went himself to lie down elsewhere . At midnight a boat was rowed stealthily alongside . It was guided by one man , and moved so silently that the lightest sleeper on board could not have been awakened by it . The man stepped on board ; lifted up the cloth of the tent over the bulwarks ; looked cautiously all round him , and then went up and struck in Erling 's bed with a great axe , so that it stuck fast in the billet of wood . Next instant the man felt his neck in a grip like that of an iron vice , and his face was thrust upon the ground and held there , while a heavy knee pressed into the small of his back , so that he was utterly unable to rise .