About midnight
`` If his opinion was worth much , it would be , '' growled out Broom . `` For my part , I have no great faith in what anybody says . '' I answered that I would not quarrel with him on account of his polite remarks , but that I only hoped my opinion would prove correct in this instance , at all events . About midnight , in spite of the darkness , we could see the land about a mile and a half , or even less , from us , while the roar of the surf as it broke on the shore could be heard with distinctness . Suddenly , as I was standing on the deck , I felt one side of my cheek grow colder than the other . I wetted my finger and held up my hand . There was a sensible difference in the temperature .