two in the morning
Blood dripped from every finger-end , while the nails were broken to the quick . From pain and sheer exhaustion I wept in the darkness , secretly , so that Maud should not know . Then , in desperation , I abandoned the attempt to reef the mainsail and resolved to try the experiment of heaving to under the close-reefed foresail . Three hours more were required to gasket the mainsail and jib , and at two in the morning , nearly dead , the life almost buffeted and worked out of me , I had barely sufficient consciousness to know the experiment was a success . The close-reefed foresail worked . The _ Ghost _ clung on close to the wind and betrayed no inclination to fall off broadside to the trough . I was famished , but Maud tried vainly to get me to eat .