three o'clock in the morning
The invalid heard him groping about the chamber for a long time before the door closed behind him . The steward quieted his excited nerves as well as he was able , and in thinking over the great composition upon which he intended to commence the next morning , he went to sleep again . Leopold Bennington had slept at least five hours before the sick man was finally `` wrapt in slumber , '' as he intended to express himself in the great composition ; and in two hours more he had slept all he could afford to sleep when number one mackerel were waiting to be caught . At three o'clock in the morning he awoke and dressed himself , the latter operation occupying not more than twenty seconds , for his toilet consisted only in putting on his trousers , shoes and hat . He went down stairs , and , as boys of his age are always hungry , his first objective point was the pantry , between the dining-room and kitchen , where he found and ate an abundance of cold roast beef , biscuits , and apple pie . Being a provident youth , he transferred a considerable quantity of these eatables to the large basket in which he had brought home his fish the day before , so that he could `` have a bite '' himself , even if the mackerel failed to favor him in this direction . Though he stopped to fill himself with cold roast beef , biscuit , and apple pie , and even to fill his basket after he had filled himself , Leopold was very much excited in regard to the mackerel catch of that day .