midnight
Some cunning little emissary of the devil must have crept in through his ear while he slept and planted the brilliant idea in Mr. Daney 's brain . Eventually , Mr. Daney lay down again . But he could not go to sleep ; so he turned on the electric bedside-lamp and looked at his watch . It was midnight and at midnight no living creature , save possibly an adventurous or amorous cat , moved in Port Agnew ; so Mr. Daney dressed , crept down-stairs on velvet feet , in order not to disturb the hired girl , and stepped forth into the night . Ten minutes later , he was down at the municipal garbage-barge , moored to the bulkhead of piles along the bank of the Skookum . He ventured to strike a match . The gunwale of the barge was slightly below the level of the bulkhead ; so Mr. Daney realized that the tide had turned and was at the ebb -- otherwise , the gunwale would have been on a level with the bulkheads .