Midnight
`` We 'd better make a charge on the insects , '' growled one old soldier . `` They are worse nor the rebels ten times over , '' and , just then , many were inclined to agree with him . Tobacco was scarce or smoking would have been far more plentiful than it was . Midnight came and went , and found the expedition still some distance from the lake . A few of the soldiers were sleeping , but the majority remained wide awake , fighting off the marshland pests , and aiding in keeping the cascos and launches from running high and dry in the mud . Had it not been for the tinclads it is doubtful if the Laguna de Bay would have been gained at all by more than half of the craft composing the turnout . But they came to the rescue time and again , and so the expedition crawled along , until , at four o'clock , the clear sheet of water beyond was sighted .