midnight
But Jackson , who would seldom let any thing be done in the forecastle that was not proposed by himself , capriciously forbade this proceeding . So the sailor still lay out of sight in his bunk , which was in the extreme angle of the forecastle , behind the bowsprit-bitts -- two stout timbers rooted in the ship 's keel . An hour or two afterward , some of the men observed a strange odor in the forecastle , which was attributed to the presence of some dead rat among the hollow spaces in the side planks ; for some days before , the forecastle had been smoked out , to extirpate the vermin overrunning her . At midnight , the larboard watch , to which I belonged , turned out ; and instantly as every man waked , he exclaimed at the now intolerable smell , supposed to be heightened by the shaking up the bilge-water , from the ship 's rolling . `` Blast that rat ! '' cried the Greenlander . `` He 's blasted already , '' said Jackson , who in his drawers had crossed over to the bunk of Miguel .