hours after midnight
And such a sound as the snore of the Coromantee was rarely heard upon the ocean , -- except in the `` spouting '' of a whale or the `` blowing '' of a porpoise . It did not wake the little Lalee . She had become accustomed to the snoring of Snowball , -- which , instead of being a disturber , acted rather as a lullaby to her rest . It was only after both had been asleep for many hours after midnight , -- in fact when Lalee was herself sleeping less soundly , and when a snore , more prolonged and prodigious than any that had preceded it , came swelling through the nostrils of the sea-cook , -- it was only then that the young girl was awakened . Becoming aware of what had awakened her , she would have gone to sleep again ; but just as she was about re-composing herself upon her sail-cloth couch , a sight came before her eyes that caused her not only to remain awake , but filled her with a feeling of indescribable awe . On the instant of opening her eyes , the sky , hitherto dark , had become suddenly illumined by lightning , -- not in streaks or flashes , but as if a sheet of fire had been spread for an instant over the whole canopy of the heavens . At the same time the surface of the sea had been equally lighted up with the vivid gleam ; and among the many objects drifting around the raft , -- the remnants of the wreck , with which the eyes of the little Lalee had now become familiarised , -- she saw , or fancied she saw , one altogether new to her .