About three o'clock in the morning
`` They have rowed straight on till they think they are out of hearing , '' Wilkinson said . `` Now they will make a circuit and go back to their friends with the news . There is no doubt we are in luck if we get a brush with them the first night after our arrival on our cruising ground . '' About three o'clock in the morning a confused sound could be heard . In two or three minutes every man was at his post . `` There are only two , or at most three of them , '' Edgar said , in a tone of disappointment , `` and I doubt whether they are not big rowing-boats . The strokes are too quick for either sweeps or for boats towing .