midnight
`` It is not inconveniently bulky or heavy , but it contains a practically complete assortment of drugs , sufficient in quantity to enable you to fight successfully about half a dozen cases of almost every known disease . More than that it would be inconvenient to carry about with you ; and when any particular drug shows signs of exhaustion you must take timely steps to replenish your supply . And , with reference to that same replenishment , you will find a little manuscript book , written by myself , containing full instructions in the art of preparing several of the drugs from their parent plants , which I believe you will find exceedingly useful . '' Here Humphreys ' talk became professional and his speech surcharged with technicalities -- for he was an enthusiast in everything relating to the combating and cure of disease , and far into the small hours he descanted learnedly upon his beloved science , confiding to and instructing Dick in many valuable secrets that , by dint of laborious research and much consumption of midnight oil , he had wrung from Dame Nature . And on many an occasion in the not-far-distant future Dick Maitland had ample cause to look back with gratitude upon that long midnight conversation . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ With exemplary punctuality young Maitland presented himself at the shipping office at ten o'clock in the morning , and duly `` signed on '' as ordinary seaman in the good ship _ Concordia _ , bound for Natal ; Mr Sutcliffe , the chief mate , privately congratulating Captain Roberts , the skipper of the ship , immediately afterwards , upon his good fortune in securing so `` likely '' a hand for the small sum of one shilling per month , and expressing his fixed determination to `` make a man of him '' before they reached the Line . At the private suggestion of the said chief mate , Dick lost no time in conveying his belongings to the ship and depositing his bedding in the best-sheltered bunk in the forecastle ; after which he returned to Number 19 Paradise Street , where he spent the few hours of freedom remaining to him in assisting his friend the Doctor , and absorbing further knowledge from him .