midnight
`` All went well with their plans next day . The _ Matilda _ was bought without difficulty ; and , though she was a tiny craft for so long a voyage , had she been larger two men could not have hoped to manage her . She was stocked with water during the day , and after dark the two clerks brought down the money from the office and stowed it in the hold . Before midnight they had collected all their own possessions without exciting suspicion , and at two in the morning they left their moorings and stole quietly out from among the shipping . They were seen , of course , and were set down as keen yachtsmen who were on for a good long Sunday cruise ; but there was no one who dreamed that that cruise would only end either on the American coast or at the bottom of the North Pacific Ocean . Straining and hauling , they got their mainsail up and set their foresail and jib . There was a slight breeze from the south-east , and the little craft went dipping along upon her way .