two o'clock a.m.
I helped myself to one mechanically , and lit it , Dominguez following my example , and then politely offering me precedence up the companion ladder . I accepted the courtesy , and made my way somewhat stiffly up the steep steps ; for my limbs were still cramped from the compression of the ligatures wherewith I had been bound . After what I had passed through it was an inexpressible relief to me to find myself once more breathing the free , pure air of heaven , with the star-spangled sky arching grandly overhead . It was a brilliantly fine night , -- or morning rather , for it was by this time past two o'clock a.m. , -- the sky cloudless save for a small shred of thin , wool-like vapour skimming rapidly athwart the stars ; the trade wind was blowing a moderate breeze , and the felucca was bruising along on an easy bowline with long , swinging plunges and soarings over the low , jet-black , glistening surges at a pace of some five and a half knots perhaps , with a perfect thunder of roaring , breaking seas under her bluff bows , and a belt of winking , sparkling sea-fire , a couple of fathoms wide , sweeping past her lee rail and swirling into the broad , short wake that she trailed behind her . The land was still clearly in sight on our port quarter , the range of the Liguanea Mountains towering high into the star-lit sky and gradually sloping away to the eastward in the direction of Morant Point . Beside Dominguez and myself there was but one other figure visible on deck , that of the man at the helm -- a long , thin , weedy-looking figure , so far as I could make out in the ghostly starlight , but one who had evidently used the sea for some time , if one might judge by the easy , floating poise of his figure on the plunging deck as he stood on the weather side of the tiller , with the tiller rope lightly grasped in his right hand , swaying rhythmically to the leaps and plunges of the little hooker . As Dominguez followed me out on deck he stepped aft to the small , dimly lighted binnacle , glanced into it , made some brief remark in a low tone to the silent helmsman , walked forward and took a long look ahead and on both bows , and then , returning aft , excused himself to me for turning in , upon the plea that it would soon be his watch on deck , and so dived below and left me .