about
midnight
There was some disposition to make merry over Kennedy 's `` scare '' , as the boy Julius would persist in designating it ; but as the lad was the only one who seemed to regard the matter purely from the jocular point of view , the conversation was soon steered in another and more agreeable direction , and we spent a very pleasant evening , breaking up shortly after ten o'clock . Before retiring to my cabin I went up on deck to take a look round . It was a most glorious night , still a breathless calm , the heavens perfectly clear , save for a low cloud bank hanging over the land , the stars shining brilliantly , and a half-moon shedding a soft , mysterious radiance upon the scene powerful enough to enable us to distinguish with tolerable clearness the nearer islands and some half a dozen craft lying becalmed within two miles of us , inshore . The moon would set about midnight ; yet even then we should still have the stars , if the night remained clear . Kennedy was seated in a deck chair , with a powerful night glass reposing upon his knees , when I went up on the poop ; and he informed me that although he had been keeping a careful watch upon matters inshore , he had seen nothing whatever of a suspicious character . `` But then , '' he explained , `` I did n't expect to . If those Malays are as ` cute as I take them to be , and are cherishing designs against us , you may bet your bottom dollar that they 'll be careful not to do anything that would appear to us in the least suspicious .