two o'clock
Another twelve hours and he would be with friends ! He had no reason to complain of the treatment he had received on board the privateer , but had he remained with her he might not have returned to France for a couple of years , and would then have had difficulty in crossing to England ; beside , it was painful to him to be with men fighting against his country , and each prize taken instead of causing delight to him as to his comrades , would have been a source of pain . But most of all he thought of his mother , of how she must have grieved for him as dead , and of the joy there would be at their reunion . The hours therefore passed quickly , and he could scarcely believe it to be two o'clock when he suddenly saw the light of a fire far way toward the end of the island . A glance at the stars showed him that the time was correct . He rose to his feet , and taking the lantern held it aloft , then he lowered it behind a bush and twice raised it again . He knew exactly the direction in which the harbor lay , and no sooner had he put down the lantern for the third time than three flashes of light followed in close succession .