midnight
`` It is not much trouble for me . I could stand it this fashion for a week . '' With that I left him alone in his snuggery , and climbed the stairs to the top . As upon the previous evening , I lighted the lamps , set the machine in motion , and then curled myself down in a corner of the floor to rest till midnight . I did not at once fall asleep , however . The gale , which had been preparing for the last thirty hours , now began to come in force , disturbing me with the sound of the wind -- whistling shrilly through every crack and crevice -- while the lighthouse itself constantly trembled with the blast . Even at that height , I could hear the sullen dash of the breakers against the shore ; and once I could see , by the tremulous movement of lights far out to the eastward , that a large steamer was passing , and was laboring toilsomely with a more than usually heavy sea .