eight o'clock in the morning
The night passed quietly , for the breeze died away with the last light of day , and only rose again with the first streaks of dawn . As it was easy to land , the usual hunters of the colony , that is to say , Herbert and Gideon Spilett , went for a ramble of two hours or so , and returned with several strings of wild duck and snipe . Top had done wonders , and not a bird had been lost , thanks to his zeal and cleverness . At eight o'clock in the morning the _ Bonadventure _ set sail , and ran rapidly towards North Mandible Cape , for the wind was right astern and freshening rapidly . `` However , '' observed Pencroft , `` I should not be surprised if a gale came up from the west . Yesterday the sun set in a very red-looking horizon , and now , this morning , those mares-tails do n't forebode anything good . '' These mares-tails are cirrus clouds , scattered in the zenith , their height from the sea being less than five thousand feet .