about midnight
They must have had fine sociable times , though , together ; cruising about the Irish Sea in quest of Liverpool-bound vessels ; smoking cigars , drinking brandy-and-water , and spinning yarns ; till at last , one by one , they are all scattered on board of different ships , and meet again by the side of a blazing sea-coal fire in some Liverpool taproom , and prepare for another yachting . Now , when this English pilot boarded us , I stared at him as if he had been some wild animal just escaped from the Zoological Gardens ; for here was a real live Englishman , just from England . Nevertheless , as he soon fell to ordering us here and there , and swearing vociferously in a language quite familiar to me ; I began to think him very common-place , and considerable of a bore after all . After running till about midnight , we `` hove-to '' near the mouth of the Mersey ; and next morning , before day-break , took the first of the flood ; and with a fair wind , stood into the river ; which , at its mouth , is quite an arm of the sea . Presently , in the misty twilight , we passed immense buoys , and caught sight of distant objects on shore , vague and shadowy shapes , like Ossian 's ghosts . As I stood leaning over the side , and trying to summon up some image of Liverpool , to see how the reality would answer to my conceit ; and while the fog , and mist , and gray dawn were investing every thing with a mysterious interest , I was startled by the doleful , dismal sound of a great bell , whose slow intermitting tolling seemed in unison with the solemn roll of the billows . I thought I had never heard so boding a sound ; a sound that seemed to speak of judgment and the resurrection , like belfry-mouthed Paul of Tarsus .