eleven o'clock at night
asked Ferriss quickly . `` Just this : That the ice-pack we 're on is drifting faster to the north than we are marching to the south . We are farther north now than we were a month ago for all our marching . '' By eleven o'clock at night the gale had increased to such an extent and the sea had begun to build so high that it was a question whether or not the whaleboat would ride the storm . Bennett finally decided that it would be impossible to reach the land -- stretching out in a long , dark blur to the southwest -- that night , and that the boat must run before the wind if he was to keep her afloat . The number two cutter , with Ferriss in command , was a bad sailer , and had fallen astern . She was already out of hailing distance ; but Bennett , who was at the whaleboat 's tiller , in the instant 's glance that he dared to shoot behind him saw with satisfaction that Ferriss had followed his example .