midnight
So great was Scraggy 's fright that she sped round the wooden table to escape the frenzied man . Taking the steps in two bounds , she sprang to the deck like a cat , thence to the bank , and sped away into the rain , with Lem 's cries and curses ringing in her ears . Five years later the _ Monarch _ was drawn up to the east bank of the Erie Canal at Syracuse . It was past midnight , and with the exception of those on Lem Crabbe 's scow the occupants of all the long line of boats were sleeping . Three men sat silently working in the living-room of the boat . Lem Crabbe , Silent Lon Cronk , and his brother Eli , Cayuga Lake squatters , were the workers . At one end of the room hung a broken iron kettle .