about five o'clock
Miss Chubb was quite certain that she had seen him one night , in tears , by the quarter railing . `` I saw his eyes glistening under his slouched hat as I passed . I remember thinking , at the time , that he ought n't to have been left alone with such a dreadful temptation before him to slip overboard and end his sorrow or his crime . '' Mrs. Markham also remembered that it was about five o'clock -- or was it six ? -- that morning when she distinctly thought she had heard a splash , and she was almost impelled to get up and look out of the bull 's - eye . She should never forgive herself for resisting that impulse , for she was positive now that she would have seen his ghastly face in the water . Some indignation was felt that the captain , after a cursory survey of his stateroom , had ordered it to be locked until his fate was more positively known , and the usual seals placed on his effects for their delivery to the authorities at San Francisco .