midnight
Hardly had the first flush of dawn tinted the yellow eastern sky with its rosy light , heralding the glowing heat of day , ere one of the men stationed in the tops hailed the deck . `` There 's something moving away off on our weather bow , '' sang out the man , shoving his head over the side of the top . `` I ca n't make it out exactly , sir ; there 's a haze on the water ahead . '' The second lieutenant , who was acting as officer of the watch , being an easy-going sort of chap and rather sleepy from being up pacing to and fro on the bridge since midnight , did not pay much attention to this intelligence . `` All right , lookout-man , '' he hailed back , after a portentous yawn . `` It 's probably the morning breeze blowing the fog off the land that you see . Tell me , a-a-ah !