midnight
`` My ` long speakee my goo ' flien ' , '' chanted each of these apparitions ; and each , after a long , slow discourse that ended more darkly than it began , retired with fatuous nods and smirks of satisfaction , leaving Rudolph dismayed by a sense of cryptic negotiation in which he had been found wanting . Noon brought the only other interval , when two solemn `` boys '' stole in with curry and beer . Eat he could not in this lazaret , but sipped a little of the dark Kirin brew , and plunged again into his researches . Alone with his lamp and rustling papers , he fought through perplexities , now whispering , now silent , like a student rapt in some midnight fervor . `` What ho ! Must n't work this fashion ! '' Heywood 's voice woke him , sudden as a gust of sharp air .