midnight
The boat shot down and sailed aloft , met shock on shock , breasted leaping dim white waves , and in a hollow , unearthly blend of watery sounds , rode on and on , buffeted , tossed , pitched into a black chaos that yet gleamed with obscure shrouds of light . Then the convulsive stream shrieked out a last defiance , changed its course abruptly to slow down and drown the sound of rapids in muffling distance . Once more the craft swept on smoothly , to the drive of the wind and the rush of the rain . By midnight the storm cleared . Murky cloud split to show shining , blue-white stars and a fitful moon , that silvered the crests of the spruces and sometimes hid like a gleaming , black-threaded peak behind the dark branches . Jones , a plainsman all his days , wonderingly watched the moon-blanched water . He saw it shade and darken under shadowy walls of granite , where it swelled with hollow song and gurgle .