noon
There is no need to repeat it here word for word . In substance it was to the effect that Van Ryn had proposed , and he had agreed , that they two , obtaining entry through the back of the house , should murder me -- in my sleep if possible -- arm themselves from the arms chest , and thereafter impose their will upon poor Billy . The cutter was to be completed and launched , the treasure shipped aboard her , and the conspirators , with Billy as forced navigator , were to make their way to some civilised port , arrived in sight of which , Billy was to be knocked on the head and hove overboard -- exactly as I had suspected -- while the two men were to divide the treasure equally between them . It was a dreadful confession for a man to make ; and I found it bitterly hard to utter the words of forgiveness that were so piteously pleaded for , but I forced myself to do so at last ; and shortly after noon of that day the man , happy now and , I believe , at peace with his Maker , passed away . We buried his body an hour or two later . With the death of one , and the disappearance of the other of the two men who had come into our lives , only to act as a disturbing element from almost the first moment of our acquaintance with them , all my worries and anxieties passed away like the memory of an evil dream ; and upon the day following that of Svorenssen 's death I turned with renewed zest to the completion of the cutter . The hull was by this time practically finished ; her deck was laid , her companion and tiny self-emptying cockpit completed , and all that was now needed was to run a low bulwark around her , rig and step the completed mast and bowsprit , bend the sails , ballast and launch her , get the stores , water , _ and treasure _ aboard ; and up anchor and away .