midnight
`` This will break ` im up '' ... `` Strong as a horse '' ... `` Aye . But he ai n't what he used to be . '' In sad murmurs they gave him up . Yet at midnight he turned out to duty as if nothing had been the matter , and answered to his name with a mournful `` Here ! '' He brooded alone more than ever , in an impenetrable silence and with a saddened face . For many years he had heard himself called `` Old Singleton , '' and had serenely accepted the qualification , taking it as a tribute of respect due to a man who through half a century had measured his strength against the favours and the rages of the sea . He had never given a thought to his mortal self .