two o'clock in the
afternoon
The sky had cleared : the sloop _ Cashmere _ was anxiously expected , as she was to bring the new rector of St. Sampson . A little after the arrival of the sloop , a rumour ran through the town that she had been hailed during the night at sea by a long-boat containing a shipwrecked crew . On that very night , at the moment when the wind abated , Gilliatt had gone out with his nets , without , however , taking his famous old Dutch boat too far from the coast . As he was returning with the rising tide , towards two o'clock in the afternoon , the sun was shining brightly , and he passed before the Beast 's Horn to reach the little bay of the Bû de la Rue . At that moment he fancied that he saw , in the projection of the `` Gild-Holm - ` Ur '' seat a shadow , which was not that of the rock . He steered his vessel nearer , and was able to perceive a man sitting in the `` Gild-Holm - ` Ur . '' The sea was already very high , the rock encircled by the waves , and escape entirely cut off .