about midday
But we made poor progress . Miles take a great deal of getting over with a small boat in the open sea at the best of times . So rowed as ours was by three weary hungry boys , as may be supposed , we did not make the best of way . We saw several vessels and tried to signal them , but no one took any notice of us till about midday , when a very large lugger that was beating across from the Devon shore began to bear down upon us , and before long , to our great joy , we were able to make out the figures looking over her bulwarks , one of whom waved something in answer to our frantic tossing up of our caps and holding a jacket on the blade of an oar . Then we set to work and rowed as hard as we could , making very little progress though , for wind and tide were against us . But the big lugger came rushing on , and we could see now that there were dark foreign-looking men on her deck . It did not matter to us , though , what they were , so long as they would take us on board , for we were starving and faint , and had long ago come to the conclusion that we should not be able to row across before dark , half the day being gone , and the night would come down very early seeing the time of year .