midnight
Having given us the slip she will make the best of her way there without further delay ; and it is my opinion that _ if _ she is still standing to the northward she will not continue to do so for very much longer , because , d'ye see , my bhoy , she 'll be afraid of falling in with some of our cruisers if she stands in too close to the coast . Therefore , as we can hug the wind closer than she can , we 'll just stand on as we are going for a day or two longer , or until the wind changes -- in fact , we will shape a course for Cuba -- and if we do n't fall in with her again within the next seventy-two hours I shall give her up . Meanwhile the wind is dropping fast , so we will get some more muslin upon the little hooker . '' As Ryan had said , the wind was dropping fast , so rapidly , indeed , that when eight bells was struck at midnight the schooner was under all the canvas that we could set , and even then was only creeping along at a speed of some two and a half knots per hour . Oh , how fervently we wished then that we could see even as much as the mere mastheads of the barque ! for we felt certain that in such a light air the schooner would make short work of overtaking her . But nothing hove in sight ; and when the next morning dawned we were still alone upon the face of the vast ocean .