About midnight
The storm reached such proportions that from his window to seaward it was no longer possible to make out through the rain and spray the broad crêpe-like bands of black and white painted upon the great , towering lighthouse , at the extreme point of Cape Lookout , a few miles to the eastward . The shack was fairly shaking in the West India hurricane -- for such it proved to be ... . And great was the devastation wrought that night by both wind and wave . About midnight , Captain Ichabod , feeling that it was not quite safe to retire , stood in the open doorway . He little minded the pelting of the rain as it drove against his weathered cheek . He had donned his oilskins , hat and slicker , and was peering intently seaward . He had been to his skiff and had dragged it a couple of rods further up on the sand as a measure of safety .