ten o'clock
There was a most inviting-looking chair standing on deck near the skylight , which Captain Leicester had been using during the day , and poor Ritson thought how pleasant it would be to rest his tired limbs in it for a few minutes . Then he took a stroll round the decks , just to wile away the time , and to make sure that the watch -- and especially the lookout -- was not `` caulking . '' The shadowy figures scrambled somewhat hurriedly to their feet on his approach , giving rise to just the faintest suspicion that perhaps after all they _ might _ have been `` shutting their eyes to keep them warm ; '' but the lookout man seemed unconscious of his presence , and was humming , scarcely above his breath , the air of a homely song as Ritson passed him , his gaze resting on a brig ahead , which had been in sight all day , and which , from the fact that she was steering in the same direction as the _ Aurora _ , was thought to belong , like themselves , to the dispersed fleet . When Ritson again reached the quarterdeck , it was ten o'clock , so he struck `` four bells '' sharply ; the wheel and lookout were relieved , and then everybody settled down once more , to pass away the remaining two hours of the watch . As has been already hinted , Ritson was not so strict a disciplinarian as to forbid smoking by the watch on deck , so long , of course , as the smoking was not allowed to interfere with the duty of the ship . Nay , more ; he sometimes allowed himself the luxury of a pipe under similar circumstances , and he thought he might safely do so on the present occasion . So , seating himself in the skipper 's chair , he drew out his pipe , tobacco , and knife , and prepared to enjoy his whiff .