about midnight
The night was dark , it is true , but not so much so as to render a vessel indistinct at the short distance at which le Feu-Follet lay ; and a cannonade would have been abundantly certain . When all parties were of a mind as to the true character of the little craft in the bay , a consultation was had on the details of the course proper to be pursued . A window of the government-house that looked toward the direction of Capraya , or that in which the Proserpine was expected to arrive , was assigned to Griffin . The young man took his station at it about midnight , in readiness to burn the blue-lights with which he was provided the instant he should discern the signals of his ship . The position of this window was well adapted to the desired object , inasmuch as the lights could not be seen from the town , while they were plainly open to the sea . The same was essentially true as to the signals of the frigate , the heights interposing between her and the houses , and there being a still greater physical impossibility that anything lying in the bay should discover an object at sea on the northern side of the promontory . In this manner , then , did hour after hour pass away , a light land-breeze blowing , but coming so directly into the bay as to induce Raoul not to lift his kedge .