midnight
The perusal of it will be most interesting and will probably tell me all that I want to know . '' A few minutes later I was seated at the table , with the chart spread open before me , the log-book open , and the diary at hand , ready for immediate reference . The log-book , however , had nothing to do with the story of the treasure ; it simply recorded the daily happenings aboard the brigantine and her position every noon , from the date of her departure from London ; and the only interest it had for me was that it enabled me to approximate the position of the ship at the moment of the tragedy . It had been written up to four o'clock in the afternoon of the day on which the tragedy had occurred , while the log slate carried on the story up to midnight . A few minutes sufficed to make me fully acquainted with all that I required to learn from the log-book , and I then laid it aside and turned to the diary . This document was inscribed in a thick manuscript book , and appeared to have been started about the time when the writer first began seriously to entertain Barber 's proposal to join him in a search for the treasure . It opened with a record of the meeting between Barber and the writer , and set forth at some length the story of Barber 's destitute condition , and what the writer did to ameliorate it .