one o'clock in the morning
An unfathomable gulf might yawn beneath his footsteps . To go on was madness . And he went on . It was hardly later than one o'clock in the morning . The storm was less furious and the squalls had ceased , so that Simon suddenly began to walk as quickly as the trifling obstacles over which he stumbled and the dim light of the sky would permit . For that matter , if he branched off too far in either direction , the nearer sound of the waves would serve as a warning . In this way he passed Dieppe and followed a direction which , while it varied by reason of curves and sudden turns , nevertheless , in his opinion , ran parallel with the Norman coast .