midnight
When he found tongue he uttered a volume of opinion and abuse which Jimmy knew by instinct was not fit to be translated , and then he fled up the ladder . On the fourth day , toward evening , James had a visitor . All day the yacht had been pitching and rolling , and by afternoon she was laboring in the violence of a storm and was listing badly . James was a fearless seaman , but it crossed his mind more than once that if he were captain , and if there were a port within reach , he would put into it before midnight . But he could tell nothing of the ship 's course . He turned the subject over in his mind as he lay on his bunk in that peculiar state half-way between sickness and health , when the body is relaxed by a purely accidental illness and the mind is abnormally alert . He wished intensely for a bath , a shave , and a fair complement of clothes .