about seven o'clock
We hunted over the ship for an hour and a half without coming on any sign of the missing woman or child . Poor Tibbs lost his voice completely from calling her name . Even the sailors , who are generally stolid enough , were deeply affected by the sight of him as he roamed bareheaded and dishevelled about the deck , searching with feverish anxiety the most impossible places , and returning to them again and again with a piteous pertinacity . The last time she was seen was about seven o'clock , when she took Doddy on to the poop to give him a breath of fresh air before putting him to bed . There was no one there at the time except the black seaman at the wheel , who denies having seen her at all . The whole affair is wrapped in mystery . My own theory is that while Mrs. Tibbs was holding the child and standing near the bulwarks it gave a spring and fell overboard , and that in her convulsive attempt to catch or save it , she followed it .