midnight
They rowed me up to several vessels ; I read by lantern-light their names painted in great white letters on a dark ground . `` The Ocean , '' `` The Phoenix , '' `` The Consort , '' `` The Dolphin , '' were passed in turns ; but `` The Vivid '' was my ship , and it seemed she lay further down . Down the sable flood we glided , I thought of the Styx , and of Charon rowing some solitary soul to the Land of Shades . Amidst the strange scene , with a chilly wind blowing in my face and midnight clouds dropping rain above my head ; with two rude rowers for companions , whose insane oaths still tortured my ear , I asked myself if I was wretched or terrified . I was neither . Often in my life have I been far more so under comparatively safe circumstances . `` How is this ? ''