noon
Close outside , the matchless night lay on land and sea ; a relieved sense caught ethereal perfumes and was soothed by the exquisite refinement into whose space and silence the faint deep voice of the savage drum sobbed one grief and one prayer alike for slave and master . The revel always ended with New Year 's Day . The next morning broke silently , and with the rising of the sun the plantation bell or the conch called the bondman and bondwoman into the cane-fields . Then , alike in broadest noon or deepest night , a spectral fear hovered wherever the master sat among his loved ones or rode from place to place . Not often did the hand of oppression fall upon any slave with illegal violence , or he or she turn to slaughter or poison the oppressor ; but the slaves were in thousands , the masters were but hundreds , the laws were cruel ; the whipping-post stood among the town 's best houses of commerce , justice , and worship , with the thumbscrews hard by . As to armed defense , the well-drilled and finely caparisoned volunteer `` troopers '' were but a handful , the Danish garrison a mere squad ; the governor was mild and aged , and the two towns were the width of the island apart . In that year , 1848 , this unrest was much increased .