midnight
This vast billow , as it rushed shorewards , caught the galley in its white arms and lifted her not only off the rock whereon she lay , but over the further reefs , to cast her down again upon a bed of sand and shells , within a stone 's throw of the beach , where she remained fast , never to shift more . Now also , as though its work were done , the gale ceased , and , as is common on the Syrian coast , the sea sank rapidly , so that by nightfall it was calm again . Indeed , three hours before sunset , had both of them been strong and well , they might have escaped to the land by wading . But this was not to be , for now what Nehushta had feared befell , and when she was least fitted to bear it , being worn out with anguish of mind and weariness of body , pain took sudden hold of Rachel , of which the end was that , before midnight , there , in that broken vessel upon a barren coast where no man seemed to live , a daughter was born to her . `` Let me see the child , '' said Rachel . So Nehushta showed it to her by the light of a lamp which burned in the cabin . It was a small child , but very white , with blue eyes and dark hair that curled .