midnight
His voice was very soft , and its boyish tones contrasted markedly with his tall height and black beard ; as he had shot up very rapidly he was almost puzzled to find himself grown suddenly so tall and big . He expected to marry Yann 's sister soon , but never yet had answered any girl 's love advances . There were only three sleeping bunks aboard , one being double-berthed , so they `` turned in '' alternately . When they had finished their feast , celebrating the Assumption of their patron saint , it was a little past midnight . Three of them crept away to bed in the small dark recesses that resembled coffin-shelves ; and the three others went up on deck to get on with their often interrupted , heavy labour of fish-catching ; the latter were Yann , Sylvestre , and one of their fellow-villagers known as Guillaume . It was daylight , the everlasting day of those regions -- a pale , dim light , resembling no other -- bathing all things , like the gleams of a setting sun . Around them stretched an immense colourless waste , and excepting the planks of their ship , all seemed transparent , ethereal , and fairy-like .