about noon
Having satisfied to some small extent their first ravenous craving for food and drink , we got them below and provided them with such makeshift sleeping accommodation as the resources of the schooner would permit , that they might seek in sleep such further recuperation as was to be obtained , pending the production of the meal in preparation for them . Having thus disposed of the rescued men , nothing remained for us but to await , with such patience as we could muster , the return of daylight , to enable us to resume the search for the lost frigate 's boats . It was nearly noon next day ere any of the rescued party appeared on deck , the first to do so being a fine , sailorly-looking man of some forty or forty-five years of age , who introduced himself to me as `` Captain '' Tucker of the late British barque _ Wyvern _ , of Bristol , outward-bound to the West Indies with a general cargo of considerable value . He informed me that all had gone well with him until eight days previously , when , about noon , a strange sail was sighted in the south - western board , standing to the northward , close-hauled on the starboard tack . `` You may be sure , '' said Tucker , `` that I kept a sharp eye upon her , for I knew that , for _ every _ honest merchantman that I happened to meet down here , I was likely to meet with a dozen rogues , in the shape of picaroons , privateers , or other craft of the enemy , or even our own men - o ' - war -- no offence meant to _ you _ in saying so , Mr Courtenay ; but _ you _ know , sir , as well as I do , that some of our men-o ' - war treat British merchantmen pretty nearly as bad as if they were enemies , boarding them and impressing all their best men , and leaving them with so few hands that if they happen to meet with bad weather it 's ten chances to one of their being able to take their ship to her destination . Well , knowing this , I kept both eyes on the stranger , which I soon made out to be an uncommonly smart and heavy brigantine , that , close-hauled as she was , seemed to be travelling three feet to our one . She had a particularly wicked look about her that I did n't half like ; and I liked it still less when , having drawn well up on our larboard beam , at a distance of some five miles , I suddenly discovered that she was edging away for us .