midnight
The splendor of the purple sky with its myriads of lustrous stars was in striking contrast with the sameness of the white and deathlike desert . A profound melancholy took hold of me . I had ceased to fear , almost to think , my perceptions were blinded by excitement and fatigue , my spirits oppressed by an unspeakable sense of loneliness and helplessness , and the awful silence , intensified rather than relieved by the long drawn moaning of the unseen ocean , which , however far I might be from it , was ever in my ears . I looked up at the stars , and when the cross began to bend I knew that midnight was past , and that in a few hours would dawn another day . What would it bring me -- life or death ? I hardly cared which ; relief from the torture and suspense I was enduring would be welcome , come how it might . For I suffered cruelly ; I had a terrible thirst .