about five o'clock
For my part , as Hardy may perhaps remember , I scarcely took the glass from my eye for eight hours , and from the mizzen-top I feel quite sure that there were not many objects , from the size of a blade of grass to a mangrove bush , that I did not examine , from the coral reefs up to the rocky heights , let alone the cocoa-nut-tree that we were in search of . `` Toward afternoon , however , the weather came up hazy , the wind began to fall off , and the barometer began to exhibit very queer spasms indeed , rising with a sort of jerk at first , and then dropping down the tenth of an inch at a clip , with the atmosphere becoming close and sultry , and the men gasping about the decks as if we were about to choke at the next breath . It was during the hurricane months , and the indications certainly should have led us as far as our legs could carry us to open water , instead of being caught embayed perhaps with half a thousand reefs around us on what might prove a lee-shore ; but , nevertheless , the captain decided to hold on till sunset , and then make an offing . The breeze still held in the upper sails , and so we slipped on in smooth water till about five o'clock , when I heard a fellow sing out from the main royal yard , '' ` On deck there ! I can see a tall cocoa-nut-tree on an island here on the port bow ! ' `` Before the words were well out of his mouth I too caught the object , and I knew at the first glance that it was the spot we were looking for . At the same time the haze lighted up a bit , and we saw the ridge of rocks and every thing as the haunt of that pirate Brand had been described to us .