midnight
It is but forty miles across the Tongue of Ocean which divides the shores of New Providence and Andros , but you need to pick your weather for that , if you do n't want to join the numerous craft that have vanished in that brief but fateful strip of water . However , the wind was liable to change any minute now , Charlie said , so he warned me to hold myself in readiness to jump aboard at an hour 's notice . The summons came at last . I had been out for dinner , and returned home about ten to find the message : `` Be ready to sail at midnight . '' There was a thrilling suddenness about it that appealed to one 's imagination . Here I had been expecting a landsman 's bed , with a book and a reading-lamp , surrounded by the friendly security of houses ; instead , I was to go faring with the night wind into the mystery of the sea . It was a night of fitful moonlight , and Nassau , with its white houses and white streets , seemed very hushed and spectral as I made my way down to the wharf , vivid in black and silver .