one in the morning
As we tried to forecast it , their plan is to desert the _ Elsinore _ in the boats as soon as we fetch up with the land . Also , considering some of the bitter lunatic spirits for ` ard , there would be a large chance of their drilling the _ Elsinore 's _ steel sides and scuttling her ere they took to the boats . For scuttling a ship is surely as ancient a practice as mutiny on the high seas . So it was , at one in the morning , that I tried out our strangers . Two of them I took for ` ard with me in the raid on the small boats . One I left beside Margaret , who kept charge of the poop . On the other side of him stood the steward with his big hacking knife .