midnight
But Terry 's permission , to lay in `` refreshments '' at cost of the conspirators had been liberally interpreted . By six o'clock Rube had just sense enough left to drop anchor off Pueblo Point . There the three jolly mariners proceeded to celebrate ; and there they would probably have lain undiscovered had less of a bulldog than Durkee been sent after them . As it was , midnight had passed before Durkee 's keen eyes caught the loom of some object in the black mist close under the point . Quietly he eased off the sheet and bore down on it . As soon as he ascertained definitely that the object was indeed a boat , he ran alongside . The twelve men boarded with a rush : they found themselves in possession of an empty deck .