about seven
o'clock
`` I have been telling the youngster , sir , '' said he , `` that one of the first things a seaman has to learn is how to bear the hardships it may please Providence to send him , whether he has to be shot at , as he has now , or to suffer famine on a raft or desert island , or to have the sea breaking over him on a wreck or on the cold , slippery rocks . Maybe he 'll have to try them all before he settles down with a wooden leg , ashore in his own cottage , or bears up for Greenwich , as I hopes to do one day . '' Tom listened to this very gravely , but I suspect old Nol had been amusing himself somewhat at his expense . Hour after hour passed by , and the ship proudly held on her course round Manhattan Island till we reached the eastern side beyond the city , where , at a spot called Kip 's Bay , about two miles from it , the squadron at length , at about seven o'clock , dropped anchor in front of a long line of entrenchments which the enemy had thrown up . Captain Hudson , having to communicate with Captain Hamond , sent me on board the Roebuck . Having delivered my message , I inquired for my friend Hitchcock . `` He is here , '' said Collins , a midshipman I had addressed , lifting up an ensign which was spread near the mainmast .