about midnight
Scab Johnny explained that he had promised the crew double wages and a bonus of a hundred dollars each for the trip . Don Manuel Garcia Lopez paid over the requisite amount of cash , and half an hour later the _ Maggie _ was steaming down the bay on her perilous mission . The sun was setting as they passed out the Golden Gate and swung down the south channel , and with the wind on her beam , the aged _ Maggie _ did nine knots . Late in the afternoon of the following day she was off the Santa Barbara channel , and about midnight she ran in under the lee of Point Dume and lay to . The mate hung out the green signal lights , and in about an hour Captain Scraggs heard the sound of oars grating in rowlocks . A few minutes later a stentorian voice hailed them out of the darkness . Captain Scraggs had a Jacob 's ladder slung over the side and the mate and two deckhands hung over the rail with lanterns , lighting up the surrounding sea feebly for the benefit of the lone adventurer who sat muffled in a great coat in the stern of a small boat rowed by two men .