six
o'clock
The rocks lie so thick thereabouts , that 't was a toss up which she struck first ; at any rate , my father could n't tell at the time , for just then the flare died down and went out . `` Well , sir , he turned then in the dark and started back for Coverack to cry the dismal tidings -- though well knowing ship and crew to be past any hope ; and as he turned , the wind lifted him and tossed him forward ` like a ball , ' as he 'd been saying , and homeward along the foreshore . As you know , 't is ugly work , even by daylight , picking your way among the stones there , and my father was prettily knocked about at first in the dark . But by this 't was nearer seven than six o'clock , and the day spreading . By the time he reached North Corner , a man could see to read print ; hows ` ever , he looked neither out to sea nor towards Coverack , but headed straight for the first cottage -- the same that stands above North Corner to-day . A man named Billy Ede lived there then , and when my father burst into the kitchen bawling , ` Wreck ! wreck ! '