three to four in
the afternoon
`` Up them halyards go . Oh , Lord , but she 's a dog , an ' she 'll stand it . '' So up the halyards went , and with them went a warning that whoever jumped to loosen them would get a gaff-hook in his breeches and be hauled down ignominiously . This time when the log was hauled for the hour from three to four in the afternoon it showed a total of seventeen knots , or a fraction under twenty miles for the hour . And best of all , the three flying schooners had come back five miles . By ten o'clock that night Code judged they had come back five more , and knew that the next day would bring the test . They were not in over-deep water here , for the coast of Nova Scotia is extended for miles out under the sea in excellent fishing shoals and banks .