three o'clock in the morning
Actæon and Hercules remained on watch on the forecastle . The night was very dark ; the sky was covered with heavy clouds that had formed in the chill evening air , and the sails on the top-masts were lost in the obscurity . At the stern , the lamps on either side of the binnacle cast a faint reflection on the metal mountings of the wheel , leaving the deck generally in complete darkness . Towards three o'clock in the morning Tom was getting so heavy with sleepiness that he was almost unconscious . His eye , long fixed steadily on the compass , lost its power of vision , and he fell into a doze from which it would require more than a slight disturbance to arouse him . Meantime a light shadow glided stealthily along the deck . Creeping gradually up to the binnacle , Negoro put down something heavy that he had brought in his hand .