midnight
It afterwards transpired that his awkward temper had led to a quarrel , during the progress of the ball , between himself and one of the soldier officers from Up-park Camp , which quarrel had terminated in a meeting on the Palisades , the soldier escaping unscathed , whilst Captain Pigot had emerged from the encounter with his arm broken by a bullet from his adversary 's pistol . Noon that day found us off Morant Point thrashing to windward under single-reefed topsails , with a sea running which every now and then made the frigate careen gunwale-to . Our instructions , it seemed , were that we should cruise to the southward of Saint Domingo , from Cape Tiburon as far eastward as the Mona Passage , giving an occasional look into Port-au-Prince . We accordingly carried on all that day , taking a second reef in the topsails at sunset , and heaving the ship round on the starboard tack at midnight , which brought us well in under the lee of Cape Tiburon by daybreak next morning . We were then on our cruising ground ; sail was shortened , and the frigate , being hove about , was allowed to jog along under easy canvas . Thenceforward , until Captain Pigot reappeared on deck , we had a pleasant and comfortable time of it ; for although the discipline of the ship was never for one moment relaxed , there was an utter absence of all that worry and petty tyranny , and , above all , those daily floggings which the skipper seemed to consider essential to the maintenance of a proper degree of subordination and smartness on the part of the crew . With the reappearance of Captain Pigot on deck , however , this brief period of rest and quietness came to an end .