nine o'clock
My hundred and forty sovereigns will be quite sufficient to see us both comfortably home from Rio , and you can repay me whenever you happen to be able . '' I very heartily thanked the young civil engineer for his exceedingly generous offer , but protested that I could not possibly accept it -- that , in fact , there was not the least likelihood that things would turn out so badly in Rio as to compel me to avail myself of his generosity ; but nothing would satisfy my companion short of a definite promise that I would accept his help should matters result awkwardly upon our arrival . Eventually I very reluctantly yielded to his importunities and gave him the required promise , and thus began a sincere friendship between us that was only further strengthened by the long series of remarkable adventures that lay ahead of us both , although at that moment we little dreamed that anything out of the ordinary run of events was to befall either of us . Toward the end of my watch the breeze evinced a slight tendency to freshen , and when at nine o'clock I handed over the charge of the boat to the boatswain , and Cunningham and I disposed ourselves to secure such sleep as might come to us , we were slipping along through the water at the rate of a good honest four knots in the hour . As may be imagined , my sleep that night was of a somewhat intermittent character , for a boat 's thwart is not the most comfortable bed in the world , and I was fully conscious of the responsibility that had been laid upon me to guide the gig , and the lives which had been entrusted to her , over the trackless ocean , without the aid of chart or nautical instruments of any kind save the toy compass attached to Cunningham 's watch chain . I was well aware that my only hope of success lay in the keeping of the most accurate account possible of the boat 's progress and direction , and , therefore , was up and looking about me at least half a dozen times during the night . The fine weather continued all through the hours of darkness , and during the boatswain 's and carpenter 's watches the wind gradually freshened up , until by three o'clock , when Chips called the sailmaker to relieve him , the boat was buzzing merrily along at a speed of between six and seven knots ; but after that the wind began to soften rapidly away again , until at length , when the sun swept into view above the eastern horizon , we scarcely had steerage way , and half an hour later it fell a flat calm .