noon
The wind and sea had gone down , and the tide was favourable . We had to pull about five miles to get round the bluff , when we arrived at the sandy little nook from which we had made our involuntary excursion to sea the night before . The spirit of obedience to orders was strong upon me , and in spite of the remonstrance of the boys , I went in and loaded the dinghy nearly down to the gunnel with the sand , for which we had been so much perilled . After all my dangers , I got safely on board before noon , much to the surprise of all on board , who had given us up as lost , and there already had been a coolness between the captain and the first-lieutenant on my account . This coolness promised a warm reception for myself ; and I got it . So occupied had Mr Farmer been all the day before with taking in Irish beef and pork , for the West Indian storehouses , and extra water to supply any of the convoy that might fall short of that necessary article , that he had totally forgotten the sand expedition , and it was eight in the evening , just at the time that I was , in the words of the song , `` Far , far at sea , '' that he was reminded of it . Mr Silva , the second-lieutenant , begged as a favour , that a boat might be lent him , just to put him alongside the _ Roebuck _ , one of the two eighteen-gun brigs that was to accompany us as whippers-in to the convoy .