midnight
Then a gray mouse scuttered along the wainscot of the ship 's passageways until it reached a good vantage point from which to see the young sailor on deck . Chris had chosen well ; a mouse is used to the dark . For several hours Zachary remained still and the mouse dozed , woke with a start , twitched its ears , and waited . Then , long after midnight when , alone of the entire ship 's company , only the helmsman and night watch were awake , Zachary very slowly slid his way to the ladder leading to the hold . The mouse , scurrying forward , was able to follow by means of a dangling rope and a leap into pitch-blackness at the rope 's end . The poor mouse hit something and ricocheted off . It lay stunned for a moment or two a few inches from Zachary 's feet as the sailor stood at the foot of the ladder in the black heavy air of the hold .