twelve o'clock
However , he cheered them on to persevere , and for nearly half an hour the propeller thrashed away . Then they gave it up , sat down gloomily on the hatch of the engine room , and lighted their pipes . Tinker and Elsie went back to the cabin , rolled themselves in rugs , and were soon enjoying the innocent sleep of childhood . It was twelve o'clock when Tinker awoke , and at once he went on deck and found that Alphonse , by way of keeping watch , had gone comfortably asleep in the bows , while Adolphe snored from the forecastle . He kicked Alphonse awake , and said , `` Do n't you think you could get her off if you hauled up the anchor ? '' For a minute or two Alphonse turned the idea hazily over in his apology for a mind ; then , with a hasty exclamation , he ran to the side , and saw dimly the taut anchor chain . He blundered below , lugged Adolphe out of his berth and on deck , and for five excited minutes they explained to one another that the anchor was embedded in the sandbank , and that it held the _ Petrel _ on it .