About two o'clock
We had by this time shortened the distance between ourselves and the chase until a space of only some seven miles or so separated us , and everybody on board , fore and aft , was in a fever of impatience to get alongside the brig , which our glasses had already assured us was none other than the notorious _ Black Venus _ . She had already proved herself so slippery a customer that an almost superstitious feeling had sprung up in our breasts with regard to her ; we felt that however closely we might succeed in approaching her , however helplessly she might seem to be in our power , there could be no dependence whatever upon appearances , and that until we had absolutely succeeded in placing a prize crew upon her decks , and her own crew in irons , we could not feel by any means certain that she was ours . Hence the extraordinary feeling of excitement and impatience which prevailed on board the _ Daphne _ on that memorable afternoon . About two o'clock the wind changed , and we were obliged to take in the studding-sail on the port side and get a pull upon the port braces . Meanwhile a heavy bank of clouds had gathered in the south-western quarter , and was gradually working up against the wind , until by three o'clock p.m. the sun was obscured and the entire heavens blotted out by the huge murky mass of seething vapour . It was my watch below , but , like everybody else , I was much too excited to remain anywhere but on deck , and , to confess the truth , I did not half like the appearance of things in general . According to my notions we were about to experience one of those sudden and violent atmospheric changes which are so frequently met with in the tropics ; yet there was the ship with a whole cloud of studding-sails set on the starboard side , as well as every other rag of canvas that could be coaxed to do an ounce of work .