one
o'clock
Now he ground his head against the ceiling , then he rasped his wings against the wall , then he buzzed in one corner , burred in another , and banged himself up against the white dimity curtains , till , seeing what appeared to be a gleam of light in the looking-glass , he swept by the open window , out of which he could easily have passed , and struck himself so heavily against the mirror that he fell on the floor with a pat , and probably a dint in his steely blue armour . Then came a huge moth , and almost simultaneously a bat , to whirr round and round over the bed and along the ceiling , while from off the dark waters of the fen came from time to time strange splashings and uncouth cries , which would have startled a wakeful stranger to these parts . Now and then a peculiar moan would be heard , then what sounded like a dismal , distant roaring , followed by the cackling of ducks , and plaintive whistlings of ox-birds , oyster-catchers , and sandpipers , all of which seemed to be very busy hunting food in the soft stillness of the dewy night . But neither splash nor cry awakened the sleepers , who were , like Barney O'Reardon , after keeping awake for a week ; when they went to sleep they paid `` attintion to it , '' and the night wore on till it must have been one o'clock . The bat and the moth had managed to find their way out of the open window at last , and perhaps out of malice had told another bat and another moth that it was a delightful place in there . At all events another couple were careering about , the moth noisily brushing its wings against wall and ceiling , the bat silently on its fine soft leather wings , but uttering a fine squeak now and then , so thin , and sharp , and shrill that , compared to other squeaks , it was as the point of a fine needle is to that of a tenpenny nail . The beetle had got over the stunning blow it had received , to some extent , and had carefully folded up and put away its gauzy wings beneath their hard horny cases , deeming that he would be better off and safer if he walked for the rest of the night , and after a good deal of awkward progression he came to the side of the bed .