midnight
The gust came scouring along ; the wind threw up the river in white surges ; the rain rattled among the leaves , the thunder bellowed worse than that which is now bellowing , the lightning seemed to lick up the surges of the stream ; but Sam , snugly sheltered under rock and tree , lay crouched in his skiff , rocking upon the billows , until he fell asleep . When he awoke all was quiet . The gust had passed away , and only now and then a faint gleam of lightning in the east showed which way it had gone . The night was dark and moonless ; and from the state of the tide Sam concluded it was near midnight . He was on the point of making loose his skiff to return homewards , when he saw a light gleaming along the water from a distance , which seemed rapidly approaching . As it drew near he perceived that it came from a lanthorn in the bow of a boat which was gliding along under shadow of the land . It pulled up in a small cove , close to where he was .