about midnight
The night was , fortunately , fine , with a high and spacious sky of indigo , star-studded , flecked with a few thin , fleecy clouds driving up solemnly out of the eastward , and the moon , in her second quarter , sailing high overhead and affording them all the light that they needed , with perhaps a little to spare . The boat which they had appropriated was a very good craft of her kind , about fifteen feet long , very shallow and beamy , and equipped with a pair of oars , a tiller and rudder , and a mast and sail . The latter they were especially thankful for , as the journey before them was one of about seven miles ; and as soon as they were fairly clear of the town and had reached a point at which they could bear away far enough to the southward to permit of setting the sail , they stepped their mast , unfurled their canvas , and went buzzing merrily down the harbour , passing on their way the hulk of the _ Santa Margaretta _ , which had been burnt to the water 's edge before the flames could be extinguished . Their destination was the creek in the eastern shore of Tierra Bomba in which the longboat had lain hidden when Dick and Marshall had reconnoitred the town together ; and they reached it about midnight , secreted the boat beneath the well-remembered bushes , and then composed themselves to sleep as well as they could in her stern-sheets . The sun was a full hour above the horizon when his beams , piercing the thick canopy of foliage which overhung their place of concealment , awakened the two fugitives , who arose from their hard couch refreshed but hungry . A plunge into the shallow waters of the creek washed the lingering remains of sleep out of their eyes , and further refreshed them , when , having allowed their bodies to dry in the brisk warm breeze , they dressed and scrambled ashore to hunt for food . Of this they obtained without difficulty as much as they required ; for Tierra Bomba was at that time densely overgrown with trees and bushes of various kinds , among which several fruit-bearing varieties flourished wild , particularly plantains and bananas .