What sound awakens rainsford in the morning

The sound that awoke him was gunshots.

"An abrupt sound startled him. Off to the right he heard it, and his ears, expert in such matters, could not be mistaken. Again he heard the sound, and again. Somewhere, off in the blackness, someone had fired a gun three times."

first , he was smoking apipe not asleep but there is a sudden sound arritate and asign him , second , it was amoonless night not the morning , "it was like ablack velvet " however the sound was the gunshoots , he tried to look overthrough then he fall in the sea >>>