one o'clock
It was all very beautiful ; and I should have liked nothing better than to spend a week with my gun and sketch-book in so charming a spot , but this was of course impossible ; and it was also impossible for me , posted as I still was at the tiller , to take more than a hasty glance now and then , for the water was extremely shallow everywhere but in the channel , which was so intricate that , with the fresh breeze then blowing , it taxed me to the full extent of my ability to follow Carera 's quick motions and keep the little hooker from running bodily ashore with us . This novel species of inland navigation lasted until four bells in the forenoon watch , by which time we had cleared the second group of islands . The channel then became wider , deeper , and less difficult to follow ; the land receding on either hand so far that all details were lost ; the trip consequently began to grow somewhat monotonous ; so I resigned the tiller to Manuel , the mate , and joined Courtenay below for a quiet chat . At one o'clock Carera called down through the sky-light that we were about to make for the open sea again , whereupon we proceeded on deck to watch the passage of the felucca out through the northern channel . This was simply a pleasant repetition of our morning 's experience for a run of about three miles ; after which we found ourselves at sea again , indeed , but with still a very awkward passage of some nine miles to make over an extensive shoal before we could reach deep water . We had a most disagreeable time of it for the first half-hour , for , though we were under the lee of a couple of islands , a heavy swell was setting in from seaward , the white water was all round us in every direction , and a very sharp eye was needed at the con , and an equally quick hand at the tiller , to prevent the little craft from beating her bottom in on the coral . After that , however , the water gradually deepened ; and about two o'clock , to everybody 's intense relief , we found ourselves once more in open water , with no sign of the frigate , or indeed of a sail of any kind , anywhere within sight .