midnight
I remained for some time on board the _ Juno _ , and left her on a very short notice , and very much also against my own will . One dark night , as , with a convoy of merchantmen under our charge , we were standing for Gibraltar , the watch below were roused up with the cry of , `` All hands shorten sail ! '' I and others , tossing on our clothes , sprang aloft through the darkness , with a fierce wind blowing in our faces , to reef topsails . Scarcely had I reached the lee foretop-sail yard-arm , and had , as I believed , the earing in my hand , when , how I can not tell , I found myself jerked off the yard ; and ere I could secure a firm grasp of the rope I held , I found myself hurled through the midnight air , clutching emptiness , till I reached the foam-covered water , through which the ship was hurriedly ploughing her way . I heard the cry , `` A man overboard ! a man overboard ! '' but the ship had been carrying too much sail , and without shortening it , it was impossible to round-to in order to pick me up .