midnight
When I have done my worst , I pile bones an ' olive seeds an ' peelin 's all over them articles of nourishment , stick toothpicks into 'em , an ' havin ' offered 'em what other indignities occur to me , I leave the place . '' Dextry and the girl were leaning over the stern-rail , chatting idly in the darkness . It was the second night out and the ship lay dead in the ice-pack . All about them was a flat , floe-clogged sea , leprous and mottled in the deep twilight that midnight brought in this latitude . They had threaded into the ice-field as long as the light lasted , following the lanes of blue water till they closed , then drifting idly till others appeared ; worming out into leagues of open sea , again creeping into the shifting labyrinth till darkness rendered progress perilous . Occasionally they had passed herds of walrus huddled sociably upon ice-pans , their wet hides glistening in the sunlight . The air had been clear and pleasant , while away on all quarters they had seen the smoke of other ships toiling through the barrier .