nearly noon
before
We then paddled away down the river . The current was running out , so that we made good way , and were soon out of sight of the burnt village . Our craft was not very well suited for a voyage , but anything was better than stopping to be killed on shore . We pulled on until nearly noon before we came in sight of the mouth of the river . There was no bar , and the sea was smooth , so we resolved to pull out at once , in the hope of being picked up by some passing vessel . We were still not certain even now that our masters would not make chase after us , so we did n't stop a moment , except just to look round , but pulled right away to sea . Just as we got outside we caught sight of the pirate fleet under sail , standing to the nor ` ard .