three
o’clock
One of the barrels served as a table , the iron plate that had been taken from the floor of the ship 's galley had been placed forward of the mast on a layer of sand three inches thick , and a forecastle hatch had been placed above it to serve as an exit for the smoke . A store of wood , the result of their ship-building operations , was piled in the bow . Stephen did not trouble to cook , but boiled some water over some chips of wood , made himself a cup of coffee , or rather the half of a small gourd of coffee , ate a melon and a biscuit , and presently went up on deck again . At three o'clock a light breeze sprung up , and this , an hour later , strengthened to a heavy blow . Stephen sailed on until midnight , then reefed the mainsail and fastened the boom amidships , lowered the foresail and hauled the jib to weather , and having thus laid the cutter head to wind lay down on the deck and slept soundly until daybreak . The next day he passed two or three islands , but all at a considerable distance . Beyond these no land was visible , and he hoped that he was fairly beyond the Archipelago with its hostile natives .