midnight
`` Well , heave the schooner to at midnight , '' answered old Hulks . `` I shall go below -- call me then ; it 's fearfully cold . '' Harry was compelled to obey the orders of his superior . He , however , kept as good a look-out as he possibly could , wishing anxiously for midnight . The hour was approaching . The wind blew stronger and stronger , and the snow came down , covering the deck , and making it impossible to see beyond the bowsprit end . Suddenly there was a loud crash -- the vessel groaned from stem to stern , the foremast went by the board .