morning, noon
The boatman , Manuel , was examined , but little could be gleaned from him but a description of the person he had put on board the speronara , which answered to that given by the Greeks ; and the conclusion arrived at was the correct one , that he was no other than Zappa himself , and that he had employed the speronara merely to bring him to Malta and to carry him on board his own vessel , which must have remained all the time in the offing . It might be supposed that Captain Fleetwood would first have gone in search of the speronara , but he considered that by so doing he should lose much valuable time without a prospect of gaining any adequate information ; and he therefore resolved at once to sail to the eastward , touching at Cephalonia , on the chance of learning something to guide his future course . The moment the object of the voyage was known , there was not a man or boy on board who did not zealously enter into it ; and many became almost as eager to fall in with the _ Sea Hawk _ , and to recover the prisoners , if any were still alive , as could have been the commander himself . It was the universal subject of conversation , morning , noon , and night , in the gun-room , the midshipmen 's berth , and at the messes of the petty officers and men . Many a midnight watch was made to pass rapidly away by discussions as to the probabilities of their success , and with yarns of length interminable , about pirates and robberies on the high seas . Far too sacred were held the feelings of the commander to allow any one to allude even to the subject to him ; and though he doubtlessly thought more than any one else about it , he endeavoured to maintain his usual tranquil exterior . It was sad , however , to perceive that anxiety was rapidly thinning his cheek and dimming the lustre of his eye , though it could not quench the fire which would urge him to continue the search as long as life endured .