four o'clock in the morning
Now and then the boys in the stern complained that they were freezing ; but , in the plight they were now in , that could n't be helped , and , besides , Elias had something else to think about . A terrible longing for vengeance had come over him , and , but for the necessity of saving the lives of his three lads , he would have tried by a sudden turn to sink the accursed boat which kept alongside of him the whole time as if to mock him ; he now understood its evil errand only too well . If the _ Kvejtepig _ -LSB- 9 -RSB- could reach the Draug before , a knife or a gaff might surely do the same thing now , and he felt that he would gladly have given his life for one good grip of the being who had so mercilessly torn from him his dearest in this world and would fain have still more . At three or four o'clock in the morning they saw coming upon them through the darkness a breaker of such a height that at first Elias thought they must be quite close ashore near the surf swell . Nevertheless , he soon recognised it for what it really was -- a huge billow . Then it seemed to him as if there was a laugh over in the other boat , and something said , `` There goes thy boat , Elias ! '' He , foreseeing the calamity , now cried aloud : `` In Jesus ' Name ! ''