about seven
o'clock in the evening
It is called , `` Follow my leader . '' One of the men leads , and all who choose follow him : sometimes forty or fifty will join . Whatever the leader does , the rest must do also ; wherever he goes they must follow . Tom , who was always the foremost for fun , was one day the leader , and after having scampered up the rigging , laid out on the yards , climbed in by the lifts , crossed from mast to mast by the stays , slid down by the backstays , blacked his face in the funnel , in all which motions he was followed by about thirty others , hallooing and laughing , while the officers and other men were looking on and admiring their agility , a novel idea came into Tom 's head ; it was then about seven o'clock in the evening , the ship was lying becalmed , Tom again sprang up the rigging , laid out to the main yard-arm , followed by me and the rest , and as soon as he was at the boom iron , he sprang up , holding by the lift , and crying out , `` Follow my leader , '' leaped from the yard-arm into the sea . I was second , and crying out , `` Follow my leader '' to the rest , I followed him , and the others , whether they could swim or not , did the same , it being a point of honour not to refuse . The captain was just coming up the ladder , when he saw , as he imagined , a man tumble overboard , which was Tom in his descent ; but how much more was he astonished at seeing twenty or thirty more tumbling off by twos or threes , until it appeared that half the ship 's company were overboard . Some of the men who could not swim , but were too proud to refuse to follow , were nearly drowned .