noon
Our first anxiety , of course , was to ascertain whether we were gaining upon the chase , or whether she was maintaining her distance from us ; as soon , therefore , as we had secured our morning altitude of the sun for the determination of the longitude , we measured as accurately as we could the angle subtended by that portion of the barque 's main-mast which showed above the horizon . The task was one of very considerable difficulty owing to the violent motion of the two craft , and when we had done our best we were by no means satisfied with the result , but we thought it might possibly be some help to us ; so when we had at length agreed upon the actual value of the angle , we clamped our instruments , and , taking them below , stowed them carefully away in our bunks , where there was not much danger of their coming to harm through the frantic plunging of the schooner , our purpose of course being to compare the angle then obtained with another to be measured an hour or two later . If the second angle should prove to be greater than the first , it would show that we had gained on the chase ; if , on the contrary , it should prove to be less , it would show that the chase had increased her distance from us . It was shortly before noon when we again brought our sextants on deck , opinion being meanwhile strongly divided as to whether or not we were gaining ; some asserting positively that we were , while others as stoutly maintained that we were not . But even our sextants failed to settle the question , for if there was any difference at all in the angle , it was too minute for detection , and we were left in almost the same state of suspense as before . The only relief afforded us was the assurance that we were practically holding our own with the barque , and that unless the weather grew still worse than it was , we stood a fairly good chance of catching her eventually . One thing was certain ; light as our draught of water was , and small as was the schooner 's area of lateral resistance compared with that of the barque , we were slowly but certainly eating our way out upon her weather quarter , her main and foremasts having been visible to leeward of her mizenmast when the chase commenced , while now they just showed clear of each other to windward , thus conclusively demonstrating that we were gaining the weather-gauge of her , despite the heavy sea .