one o'clock
Hour after hour did he sit on the bowsprit , watching her progress ; a crest of foam scarce appearing ahead , before it was glittering under the lugger 's bottom . Occasionally a pursuing sea cast the stern upward , as if about to throw it in advance of the bows ; but le Feu-Follet was too much accustomed to this treatment to be disturbed , and she ever rose on the billow , like a bubble , and then the glancing arrow scarce surpassed the speed with which she hastened forward , as if to recover lost time . Cuffe did not quit the deck until the bell struck two , in the middle watch . This made it one o'clock . Yelverton and the master kept the watches between them , but the captain was always near with his advice and orders . `` That craft seems faster when she gets her sails wing-and-wing than she is even close-hauled , it seems to me , Yelverton , '' observed Cuffe , after taking a long look at the chase with a night-glass ; `` I begin to be afraid we shall lose her . Neither of the other ships does anything to help us .