about five o'clock in the evening
The result of this was that within a fortnight of our arrival we were at sea again , with the little ship -- rechristened by the name of the _ Tern _ -- smelling outrageously of fresh paint , to the unmitigated disgust of the thirty - six stout fellows who were quartered in her forecastle . Young Lindsay , with many apologies to Captain Harrison , elected to unite his fortunes with mine , rather than turn over to the _ Minerva _ ; and I was also given another lad -- a very quiet , lady-like young fellow named Christie -- to bear us both company and do duty as master . Black Peter , also came to the conclusion that there would be more scope for his talents aboard the schooner than in the frigate , and without asking anybody 's leave , installed himself , unceremoniously and as a matter of course , in the position of cabin servant . We weighed about five o'clock in the evening , with the last of the sea breeze , -- a very smart , handsome privateer schooner named the _ Coquette _ being in company , -- and just managed to sneak through the narrow channel between Gun and Rackum Cays , when the wind dropped dead , and left us in the East Channel in the midst of a glassy calm , rolling our rails under to the furious swell that came sweeping along past Plum Point . The _ Coquette _ was within biscuit-toss of us , and she too was rolling and tumbling about to such an extent that I every minute expected to see her roll her sticks away . This lasted for close upon two hours , during which the sun went down in a blaze of splendour and lavish magnificence of colour such as I have never beheld outside the limits of the West Indian waters . Then , just as the burning glories of the west were fading into sober grey , while Hesperus beamed softly out with momentarily increasing effulgence in the darkening blue of the eastern sky , a gentle breeze came stealing to us off the land , to which both schooners , with a mutual challenge to each other , gladly trimmed their canvas , and away we both went , hugging the Palisades closely , for the sake of the smoother water , until Plum Point was passed , when we gradually drew away from each other , the _ Coquette _ shaping a course for Morant Point , while I edged away for the island of Martinique , having formed the opinion that some of the more knowing of the enemy 's homeward-bound merchant skippers might endeavour to slip out of the Caribbean between the islands of Martinique and Dominica , in the hope of thereby eluding our cruisers and privateers , most of which chose the neighbourhood of the Windward Passages for their cruising-ground .