about midnight
But alas ! I remembered our slender stock of provisions , and stifled my longings as best I could . Presently the women folk emerged , one after the other , and , standing in the cockpit , looked about them in something approaching amazement at the change which the passage of a few hours had effected . When they entered the boat about midnight , a black hurricane was raging ; and now it was a brilliantly beautiful morning . But Mrs Vansittart was greatly concerned on account of the disappearance of the wreck . She realised as clearly as I did all that it involved ; and leaping down upon the sand with my assistance , she walked with me to the highest point of the bank , and intently surveyed the aspect of the sea . The question which we had to decide was whether or not it was yet safe for us to put to sea .