midnight
The sun had set in a wrack of wild , storm-riven cloud painted with the hues of fire and smoke , which , louring threateningly , had overspread the sky with incredible rapidity , completely obscuring the light of the stars ; the wind , still icy cold , had breezed up again savagely , kicking up a tremendous sea , the spray from which quickly drenched us in the destroyers to the skin , despite our `` oilies , '' sou ' - westers , and sea boots ; yet the staunch little vessels , though rolling and pitching in the most distracting manner , rode like gulls the seas which , to us , seemed to be literally running `` mountains high . '' True , our speed was only about twelve knots ; what the _ Kasanumi 's _ behaviour would probably have been at double that speed , in such a sea , I shuddered to think . But I was destined to _ know _ , in the not-far-distant future . When Ito , my lieutenant , called me at midnight to relieve him , he informed me that a wireless message had just been received from the flagship , ordering a shift of helm for the Elliot group of islands , distant some sixty miles from Port Arthur , and for the speed to be increased to sixteen knots , which order he had acknowledged and executed , as I discovered , the moment I tumbled out of my hammock ; for the boat was kicking up her heels more madly than ever , while every few seconds there resounded a heavy thud on the deck overhead , and the craft shivered from stem to stern as she drove her sharp nose into the heart of a great comber , throwing the water in tons over herself . This was the rough side of work aboard a destroyer , with a vengeance , and I spent four miserable hours on the navigating bridge , drenched to the skin , and pierced to the marrow by the bitter cold . All things come to an end , however , sooner or later ; and about two o'clock next day we steamed into the sheltered waters of the Elliot Islands and came to an anchor . This was the spot which the Admiral had selected to serve as a rendezvous and lurking-place from which he could sally forth with a good chance of cutting off the Port Arthur fleet , should it venture to stray far from the shelter of the fortress ; and subsequently it was often referred to in his dispatches as `` a certain place . ''