about midnight
`` I had intended to keep my promise , but things turned out otherwise . I had not been two days at sea when there was another storm , for at one time of the year they have tornadoes very frequently . I had nothing to do but to run for it , casting much of my provisions overboard to lighten the boat , and baling without ceasing to keep out the water she took in . After running for many hours I was , somewhere about midnight , cast on shore . I made a shift to save myself , and in the morning found that I was on a low key . Here I lived for three weeks . Fortunately there was water in some of the hollows of the rocks , and as turtles came ashore to lay their eggs I managed pretty well for a time ; but the water dried up , and for the last week I had nought to drink but the blood of the turtles .