midnight
The youth took the photograph , and after another careful scrutiny , with the object of getting a start in the race for wealth , took it forward . Fat Sam , it seemed , had seen the very man only two days before at Poplar ; the cook knew his features as well as he knew those of his own mother , while Dick had known him for years as an old and respected inhabitant of Plymouth . Henry went back to the skipper , and , having furnished him with this information , meekly suggested that they should drag Gravesend first . It was midnight when they got the anchor up and dropped silently down the river . Gravesend was silent , and the dotted lines of street lamps shone over a sleeping town as the Seamew crept softly by . A big steamer in front whistled warningly for the pilot 's boat , and slowing up as the small craft shot out from the shore to meet it , caused a timely diversion to the skipper 's melancholy by lying across his bows . By the time he had fully recovered from the outrage and had drunk a cup of coffee , which had been prepared in the galley , Gravesend had disappeared round the bend , and his voluntary search had commenced .