about half past eleven o'clock
Horrible as had been the announcement made by the dejected and discomfited settler to him who now , for the first time , learnt that his parent had fallen a victim to ruffian vindictiveness , too many years had elapsed since that event , to produce more than the ordinary emotion which might be supposed to be awakened by a knowledge rather of the manner than the fact of his death . Whatever therefore might have been the pain inflicted on the hearts of the brothers , by this cruel re-opening of a partially closed wound , there was no other evidence of suffering than the suddenly compressed lip and glistening eye , whenever allusion was made to the villain with whom each felt he had a fearful account to settle . Much indeed of the interest of the hour was derived from the animated account , given by Gerald , of the circumstances which had led to his lying in ambuscade for the American on the preceding day ; and as his narrative embraces not only the reasons for Captain Molineux 's strange conduct , but other hitherto unexplained facts , we can not do better than follow him in his detail . `` I think it must have been about half past eleven o'clock , on the night preceding the capture , '' commenced Gerald , `` that , as my gun boat was at anchor close under the American shore , at rather more than half a mile below the farther extremity of Bois Blanc , my faithful old Sambo silently approached me , while I lay wrapped in my watch cloak on deck , calculating the chances of falling in with some spirited bark of the enemy which would afford me an opportunity of proving the mettle of my crew . '' ` Massa Geral , ' he said in a mysterious whisper , for old age and long services in my family have given him privileges which I have neither the power nor the inclination to check -- ` Massa Geral , ' pulling me by the collar -- ` I dam ib he no go sleep when him ought to hab all him eyes about him -- him pretty fellow to keep watch when Yankee pass him in e channel . ' '' ` A Yankee pass me in the channel ! ' '' I would have exclaimed aloud , starting to my feet with surprise , but Sambo , with ready thought , put his hand upon my mouth , in time to prevent more than the first word from being uttered . ''