midnight
Th ' young folks do be nadin ' a little schlape ! '' Abe flung himself back on his hard couch , drew the thick , gray blanket over him , and straightway fell into a deep , childlike slumber from which he was aroused by the rough but hearty inquiry : `` Say , Cap , like to have some oyster-stew and a cup of coffee ? '' Abe sat up , rubbing his eyes , wondering since when they had begun to serve oyster-stew for breakfast on the Beach ; then he realized that he had not overslept , and that it was not morning . The clock was striking twelve , the midnight patrol was just going out , and the returning `` runners '' were bidding him partake of the food they had just prepared to cheer them after their cold tramp along the surf . The old man whiffed the smell of the coffee , tempted , yet withheld by the thought of Angy 's horror , and the horror of the twenty-nine sisters . `` Cap'n Abe '' -- Clarence Havens , No. 5 , with a big iron spoon in his hand and a blue gingham apron tied around his bronzed neck , put him on his mettle , however -- `` Cap'n Abe , I tell yew , we would n't have waked no other fellow of your age out of a sound sleep . Cap'n Darby , he could snooze till doomsday ; but we knowed you would n't want to miss no fun a-going . ''