noon
Upon parting company , therefore , with the British fleet , I cruised along the whole line of the Windward Islands as far south as Tobago and Trinidad , and then bore up for the Main . In leisurely fashion and under easy canvas we coasted along the shore , taking a look into the Cariaco Gulf without finding anything worth picking up , and thence across to Cape Codera , off which the wind came out from the westward , compelling us to make a stretch off the land . This occurred about midnight . I secured an observation for my longitude at nine o'clock the next morning , and another for my latitude at noon , about which time I became aware that the barometer was falling , although not rapidly enough to give cause for any uneasiness . As the afternoon wore on , however , there were indications that a change of weather was impending . The sky lost the pure brilliancy of its blue , and by insensible degrees assumed an ashen pallor , which the sun vainly struggled to pierce until he merged from a palpitating , rayless ball of light to a shapeless blotch of dim , watery radiance , and then disappeared . At the same time the wind died away until we were left becalmed and rolling rail-under upon a swell that gathered strength every hour as it came creeping up from the westward .