midnight
Others came and went , men of whom Duane had read in the newspapers -- very great men who dressed very simply , very powerful men who dressed elaborately ; and some were young and red-faced with high living , and one was damp of hair and long-nosed , with eyes set a trifle too close together ; and one fulfilled every external requisite for a `` good fellow '' ; and another was very old , very white , with a nut-cracker jaw and faded eyes , blue as an unweaned pup 's , and a cream-coloured wig curled glossily over waxen ears and a bloodless and furrowed neck . All these were very great men ; but they and Colonel Mallett journeyed at intervals into the presence of a greater man who inhabited , all alone , except for a crew of a hundred men , an enormous yacht , usually at anchor off the white masonry cliffs of the seething city . All alone this very great man inhabited the huge white steamer ; and they piped him fore and they piped him aft and they piped him over the side . Many a midnight star looked down at the glowing end of his black cigar ; many a dawn shrilled with his boatswain 's whistle . He was a very , very great man ; none was greater in New York town . It was said of him that he once killed a pompous statesman -- by ridicule : `` I know who _ you _ are ! '' panted a ragged urchin , gazing up in awe as the famous statesman approached his waiting carriage .