four in the morning
Had he broken faith with Sleight and remained in the ship for nothing , and would not his change of resolution appear to be the result of Sleight 's note ? But why had the Lascar been haunting the ship before ? In the midst of these conjectures he fell asleep . Between three and four in the morning the clouds broke over the Pontiac , and the moon , riding high , picked out in black and silver the long hulk that lay cradled between the iron shells of warehouses and the wooden frames of tenements on either side . The galley and covered gangway presented a mass of undefined shadow , against which the white deck shone brightly , stretching to the forecastle and bows , where the tiny glass roof of the photographer glistened like a gem in the Pontiac 's crest . So peaceful and motionless she lay that she might have been some petrifaction of a past age now first exhumed and laid bare to the cold light of the stars . Nevertheless this calm security was presently invaded by a sense of stealthy life and motion .