midnight
He dropped back and picked up his shovel again in a chastened silence . In fact , deputy-captain Priske -LRB- who had just accomplished the ticklish task of securing the rudder and lashing a couple of ropes to its broken head for steering-gear -RRB- had ordered him back to work , using language not unmixed with objurgation . For all our efforts the _ Gauntlet _ still canted heavily to leeward , and as the gale grew to its height the little canvas necessary to heave-to came near to drowning us . Towards midnight our plight grew so desperate that Billy , consulting no one , determined to risk all -- the unknown dangers of the coast , his complete ignorance of navigation , the risk of presenting her crazy stern timbers to the following seas -- and run for it . At once we were called up from the hold and set to relieve the half-dead workers at the pumps . All that night we ran blindly , and all next day . The gale had southerned , and we no longer feared a lee-shore : but for forty-eight hours we lived with the present knowledge that the next stern wave might engulf us as its predecessor had just missed to do .