nearly midnight
All the great lords praised the old knight 's advice , and the order was immediately given to send him four hundred hot loaves of bread straight from the oven , wine , honey and sugar sweetmeats , three turkeys , chickens and capons , honey , oil , and all the other things they had brought . When the sultan saw the present , he said to his men : `` Damn this present and the traitor who sent it ! This will bring the perdition of my honor , and will be my ruin . '' When it was nearly midnight , and very dark , the sailor had everything ready to set the captain 's ship on fire , and he did it this way : The sailor had fixed a very strong capstan into the ground near the sea . Then he put a thick rope in a boat along with a hemp cord as thick as a man 's finger . He got into the boat , and two men rowed for him . When they were so near the ship that they could hear the men on the poop deck talking , they stopped rowing .