midnight
We have been infested here with mosquitoes before the late improvements ; a peculiar harbour brand , sir , renowned for its ferocity . They were like a cloud about my head , and I should n't wonder that but for their attacks I would have dozed off as I walked up and down , and got a heavy fall . I kept on smoking cigar after cigar , more to protect myself from being eaten up alive than from any real relish for the weed . Then , sir , when perhaps for the twentieth time I was approaching my watch to the lighted end in order to see the time , and observing with surprise that it wanted yet ten minutes to midnight , I heard the splash of a ship 's propeller -- an unmistakable sound to a sailor 's ear on such a calm night . It was faint indeed , because they were advancing with precaution and dead slow , both on account of the darkness and from their desire of not revealing too soon their presence : a very unnecessary care , because , I verily believe , in all the enormous extent of this harbour I was the only living soul about . Even the usual staff of watchmen and others had been absent from their posts for several nights owing to the disturbances . I stood stock still , after dropping and stamping out my cigar -- a circumstance highly agreeable , I should think , to the mosquitoes , if I may judge from the state of my face next morning .