about nine o'clock
This was done , and so completely had I already acquired that confidence which is conveyed in the expression `` Let those look out who have the watch , '' that , notwithstanding all my previous apprehensions , in another ten minutes I was fast asleep . When I went on deck again at the change of the watches , it was still very thick , but the breeze was freshening , and it and the sun together promised soon to disperse the vapour . It was still so thick , however , that it was impossible to see more than three or four lengths away from the vessel , and the `` Scourge '' was consequently kept hove-to . The skipper had made his appearance on deck for a few minutes before sitting down to breakfast , and about nine o'clock he came up again , just as the fog had begun to clear away in earnest , opening up like a curtain every now and then , and showing clear spaces of about half a mile or so in extent , then settling down again as thick as ever , but each time clearing away more thoroughly , and revealing larger and still larger open spaces . At length the mist lifted for a moment to such an extent that it became possible to see to a distance of perhaps a couple of miles , and as it did so there was a simultaneous hail from the lookout aloft and five or six of the hands on deck of `` Sail ho ! '' `` Sail ho ! sure enough , '' exclaimed the skipper and Mr Sennitt , as both caught sight of the stranger at the same moment .