nine o'clock
A lookout had already been placed aloft . Several sails were seen in the distance , in the course of the afternoon , but nothing that excited suspicion . The wind continued light and , although the brig had every sail set , she was not making more than five and a half knots an hour through the water . In the evening the wind dropped still more and , by nine o'clock , the brig had scarcely steerage way . `` It is enough to put a saint out of temper , '' the captain said , as he came down into the cabin , and mixed himself a glass of grog before turning in . `` If the wind had held , we should have been pretty nearly off Finisterre , by morning . As it is , we have n't made more than forty knots since we took the observation , at noon . ''