eight
o'clock
He decided therefore to stand on , with his topsails reefed , keeping bright look-outs ahead , and having his courses in the brails , ready for getting the tacks down to claw off to windward , should it prove to be necessary . With this plan Mark was compelled to comply , there being no appeal from the decrees of the autocrat of the quarter deck . As soon as the decision of Captain Crutchely was made , the helm was put up , and the ship kept off to her course . It was true , that under double-reefed topsails , and jib , which was all the canvas set , there was not half the danger there would have been under their former sail ; and , when Mark took charge of the watch , as he did soon after , or eight o'clock , he was in hopes , by means of vigilance , still to escape the danger . The darkness , which was getting to be very intense , was now the greatest and most immediate source of his apprehensions . Could he only get a glimpse of the sea a cable 's - length ahead , he would have felt vast relief ; but even that small favour was denied him . By the time the captain and second-mate had turned in , which each did after going below and taking a stiff glass of rum and water in his turn , it was so dark our young mate could not discern the combing of the waves a hundred yards from the ship , in any direction .