midnight
There had been light enough , but it reached me not . The great box had intercepted it . There had been day , and I knew it not . The men had been working by day , when I thought it was after midnight . Instead of a single night , at least two nights and a day had passed since I crouched into my hiding-place . No wonder I had hungered , and was thirsty -- no wonder I felt an aching in my bones . The short intervals of silence I had observed were the hours when the crew were at their meals .