nine o'clock
He bore up against it like a man , and would n't knock off duty for a long time . He was midshipman of my watch ; so I used to make him turn in early , and tried to ease things to him as much as I could ; but he did n't pick up , and I began to get very anxious about him . I talked to the doctor , and turned matters over in my own mind , and at last I came to think he would n't get any better unless he could sleep out of the cockpit . So one night , the 20th of October it was -- I remember it well enough , better than I remember any day since ; it was a dirty night , blowing half a gale of wind from the southward , and we were under close-reefed top-sails -- I had the first watch , and at nine o'clock I sent him down to my cabin to sleep there , where he would be fresher and quieter , and I was to turn into his hammock when my watch was over . I was on deck three hours or so after he went down , and the weather got dirtier and dirtier , and the scud drove by , and the wind sang and hummed through the rigging -- it made me melancholy to listen to it . I could think of nothing but the youngster down below , and what I should say to his poor old uncle if anything happened . Well , soon after midnight I went down and turned into his hammock .