About midnight
`` By your leave , '' said he , `` you be none too early , comrade . Your fellow ` prentice , '' -- here he gave me a knowing look -- `` hath been here this hour , and is in his berth . '' So I went below , and there lay Ludar sound asleep in a hammock , in the very cabin where he and I had lain once before . About midnight I could hear the grinding of the anchor chain at the bows , which was music to my ears , as was the heavy trampling on deck , and the shouting , and the dabbling of the water at the ports . Amidst it all , I too fell asleep ; and when I woke and stood next day on deck , I could see on our right the sullen forts on the Medway , and , behind , the long , low , green line of the Essex mud banks . Ludar was there before me , pacing restlessly with troubled brow . The joy of his freedom had vanished before the sad memories which crowded the ship .