about
midnight
As for those d ----- d Dutchmen , they 'll be strung up inside of five minutes . '' And they were . So with yarn , song , and dance , the evening passed pleasantly away ; while the two old hookers jogged amicably along side by side , like two market-horses whose drivers are having a friendly crack . Along about midnight we exchanged crews again , and parted with many expressions of good-will -- we to the southward , she to the eastward , for some particular preserve believed in by her commander . In process of time we made the land of Vau Vau , a picturesque , densely wooded , and in many places precipitous , group of islands , the approach being singularly free from dangers in the shape of partly hidden reefs . Long and intricate were the passages we threaded , until we finally came to anchor in a lovely little bay perfectly sheltered from all winds . We moored , within a mile of a dazzling white beach , in twelve fathoms .