midnight
I then squared the yards , hauled in , brailed up and furled the trysail , and next took the reef-tackles , one after the other , to the winch , heaving them as taut as I could get them ; after which I jumped aloft , passed the reef earrings , and tied the knittles . We were now tolerably safe -- the brig being under close-reefed topsails -- so I hove-to while we took breakfast , after which I hauled down and stowed the jib , got the brig away before the wind again , with Miss Onslow at the wheel , and resumed pumping operations . I toiled all through the day , reducing the amount of water in the hold to a depth of eighteen inches only , and then hove-to the brig on the port tack for the night , both of us being by this time so completely exhausted that rest was even more important to us than food , although I took care that we should not be obliged to go without the latter . About two hours after sunset the wind freshened up still more , and by midnight it was blowing so heavily , and so mountainous a sea was running , that I dared not any longer leave the brig to herself ; it became necessary to constantly tend the helm , although the craft was hove-to ; and in consequence I had no alternative but to pass the latter half of this night also at the wheel , exposed to a pelting rain that quickly drenched me to the skin . It was now blowing a whole gale from the northward ; and so it continued for the next thirty hours , during nearly the whole of which time I remained at the wheel , wet , cold , and nearly crazy at the last for want of rest ; indeed , but for the attention -- almost amounting to devotion -- of my companion I believe I should never have weathered that terrible time of fatigue and exposure . An end to it came at last , however ; the gale broke , the wind softened down somewhat , and at length the sea went down sufficiently to permit of the wheel being once more lashed ; when , leaving the brig in Miss Onslow 's charge , with strict injunctions that I was at once to be called in the event of a change for the worse in the weather , I went below , rolled into the mate 's bunk , and instantly lost all consciousness for the ensuing ten hours . It was somewhere about midnight when I awoke ; yet when I turned out I found Miss Onslow still up , and not only so but with a hot and thoroughly appetising meal ready for me .