about midnight
The halliards were already bent to the yard -- laziness again , the fishermen evidently having been too indolent to cast them adrift , knowing that they would only have to bend them on again when next they wanted to use the sail -- and in another minute Tom had the sail mastheaded , the tack lashed down , and the sheet aft in George 's hand ; whilst the latter , sinking down in the sternsheets with a sigh of ineffable relief , and too tired yet to ship the rudder , steered the boat with the oar which he had used for sculling , whilst Tom was busied in the operation of making sail . The canoe , meanwhile , had crept up to within her own length of the chase , and oaths and exclamations of mutual encouragement were freely mingled with peremptory orders to the fugitives to surrender , and threats of the punishment awaiting them when caught ; but no sooner was the sail set than the boat drew rapidly away , and in ten minutes more the canoe , with its occupants still paddling furiously out to sea , was invisible . George confidently expected to be saluted with a parting shower of bullets , but he was agreeably disappointed , owing possibly to the circumstance that in the hurry of pursuit the crew of the canoe had omitted to bring their ammunition with them . For the first four hours of their flight the voyagers were sailing continuously among the group of low islets which George had seen from the top of the hill ; but about midnight , as nearly as they could guess , the last rock was passed , and they found themselves in open water . And now the want of a chart made itself disagreeably manifest . George was quite seaman enough to be able to steer a tolerably straight course , using the stars as a guide by night and the sun by day ; but unfortunately , having nothing but his memory to go by , he had only a very vague notion of the proper course to steer , and of the distance which they would have to travel . His plans , moreover , were by no means fixed .