midnight
No good kill . '' Accordingly the guns were fired far over the heads of the assailants , who at once took to the bushes . After three hours ' rowing they entered the river , and continued their course up it until long into the night , for the rowers were as anxious as was Hassan himself to reach their village . They were numerous enough to furnish relays at the oars , and the stroke never flagged until , an hour before midnight , fires were seen burning ahead , as they turned a bend of the river . The Malays raised a yell of triumph , which was answered from the village , and in a few minutes the prahu was brought up to the bank . A crowd , composed mostly of women and children , received them with shouts of welcome and gladness . Hassan at once led the midshipmen to a large hut that had evidently been prepared in readiness for them .