twelve o’clock
`` All that , '' the sailor agreed . `` It was about four bells when we swam across , and in the four hours we have certainly gone twenty-four knots , and I should say a bit further than that . If we only make three knots for the next six hours , we shall have logged over forty by eight bells , and I should say that even the Malays will hardly come as far as that , especially as the men who take this side wo n't be sure that we have not gone the other , and have been caught by their mates . '' They kept steadily on , but their speed gradually abated , and for the last two hours before the hands of Stephen 's watch pointed to twelve o'clock , they stumbled rather than walked . `` I think that will do , '' he said at last , `` it is nearly eight bells now . Let us tread in each other 's footsteps as well as we can , so that there shall only be one line of marks . '' The change from the firm sand to the yielding drift -- in which their feet sank three or four inches -- finished them , and although they had not more than a hundred yards to walk to the trees , it seemed to them that they would never get there .