midnight
`` For good , Dad ! '' The millionaire suppressed a whistle ; something had certainly struck Percy . The next morning , his sturdy figure garbed in oilskins , he started out with his son and Jim for Clay Bank . He had to acknowledge that rising at midnight was a little early , even for a man accustomed to work as hard as he had always done . Out on the shoal he was a silent but interested spectator while the trawl was being pulled and the fish taken aboard . An old swell was running , and he speedily discovered that seasickness was another thing his will could not master . That afternoon he watched Percy skilfully handle the splitting-knife and later do his part in baiting the trawl .