five o'clock in the morning
`` We wo n't talk of that ; '' said I ; `` the day is dark , but the sunshine follows after . Some day , in some home across the sea , we 'll tell each other how we held Ken 's Island against a hundred . It may be that , dear friend ; God knows , it may be that ! '' * * * It was five o'clock in the morning by my watch when I signalled for the second time to the people on the beach , and half-past five when first they answered me . Until that time I had not wished to awake Dolly Venn or Mister Bligh ; but now when it began to come to me that I might , indeed , save these poor driven folks and add to the garrison which held the house , sleep was banished from my eyes and I had the strength and heart of ten . No longer could I doubt that my signals were seen and read by some sailor on that distant shore . Driven out , as they must have been , by the awful fogs which loomed over Ken 's Island , gasping for their lives at the water 's edge , who shall blame their hesitation or exclaim upon that delay ?