ten o'clock
When I had finished , I took a lanthorn and the keys of the chest and went very secretly and expeditiously to the run , and removing the layers of small-arms from the top of the case that held the money , I picked out some English pieces , quickly returned the small-arms , locked the chest , and returned . All this time we were running up Channel before a fresh westerly wind . It was true December weather , very raw , and the horizon thick , but I knew my road well , and whilst the loom of the land showed , I desired nothing better than this thickness . But wary sailing delayed us ; and it was not till ten o'clock on the night of the seventh that we hove the schooner to off the shingly beach of Lydd within sound of the wash of the sea upon it . The bay sheltered us ; we got the boat over ; I gave Wilkinson the letter and ten guineas , bidding him keep them hidden and to use them cautiously with the silver change he would receive , for they were all guineas of the first George and might excite comment if he , a poor sailor , ill-clad , should pull them out and exhibit them . Happily , in the hurry of the time , he did not think to ask me how I had come by them . He thrust them into his pocket , shook my hand and dropped into the boat , and the negroes immediately rowed him ashore .