midnight
The men went to work cheerily ; easily divining my motive for transhipping the treasure , and being , of course , each in his own degree , as anxious for its safety as I was . Moreover , the galleon 's launch was a fine big lump of a boat ; so we managed to tranship the whole and get it safely stowed away before sundown . That night I resumed command of the schooner , and turned the command of the galleon over to Saunders , who was a thoroughly steady , reliable fellow . At midnight , as arranged by me prior to leaving the galleon , both craft hauled up to the northward for Jamaica , and we then found that -- so slow was the galleon , with the wind anywhere but on her quarter -- the schooner , under mainsail , stay foresail , and jib , was quite able to keep pace with her even when she was carrying topgallant-sails , above which the galleon set nothing . This promised a long , wearisome voyage across the Atlantic , and doubly justified me in transhipping the treasure to the schooner . Nevertheless I looked forward with a great deal of pride to the day when I should take the prize into Weymouth harbour . It was early days , however , to think of that as yet , for there was the whole of the Atlantic and two-thirds of the Caribbean between ourselves and home , with who could say how many chances of shipwreck or capture before that distance could be traversed .