about midnight
The mystery , however , was soon solved . Hardly had the strange disappearance of the crew from below been discovered , than the whole of the missing men , with Mr Adams at their head and Kate Meldrum bringing up the rear , rushed up the companion - ladder on to the poop with a loud `` hurrah , '' as if with the intention of taking part in the contest with the band of mutineers : -- their mortification may be imagined when they found that , as the first mate expressed it in his happy Irish way , `` they were jist in toime to be too late , sure ! '' But , had the mutineers not so rapidly abandoned the ship , the arrival of his rescue party on the scene of action would no doubt have tended to considerably alter the complexion of events ; and the credit of organising the force and bringing the men from such an unexpected quarter with so great a dramatic effect had to be shared equally between Miss Kate Meldrum and Snowball , the cook -- Mr Adams being only admitted as a partner in the scheme at the last moment . It seems that Snowball , while in the galley about midnight , had heard Moody talking to two or three of his especial `` pals '' in the port-watch ; and , thinking from his knowledge of the man that he was up to some mischief , the darkey had listened -- thereby indulging a propensity which was Master Snowball 's weak point , that of being inordinately curious about other people 's business ! He listened , however , to some purpose on this occasion , for he heard enough to learn that a large proportion of the crew intended , as soon as they saw a favourable opportunity , to seize the long-boat -- which contained nearly all the provisions that had been got up from the hold -- and desert the ship before morning . What was their intention in doing this the cook could not guess , but he imagined that they must have thought that they would perhaps have to work to save the cargo if they remained on board , whereas if they went off , as they planned , they would escape all supervision from the officers and be under their own control . Besides , he knew that Moody was anxious to pay off the grudge he had against the captain , for he heard him specially chuckle over the fact that if they took away the long-boat , the `` old man '' would never be able to leave the ship with all the remaining hands and the passengers , and the rest of them would all thus `` sink together , and a good job too , '' as the bloodthirsty ruffian said .