six o'clock
I 'm mortal empty , captain ; and no man 's more willing to leave this same bird 's nest though he had all the sulphur out of Vesuvius on his diagram ! We 'll go down at sunset , by your leave , and God send us safely back again ! '' The others echoed my `` Amen , '' and for an hour or more we all sat dozing in the heat of the angry day . Once , I think towards seven bells of the watch , Dolly Venn pointed out the funnels of a steamer on the northern horizon ; but the loom of the smoke was soon lost , and from that time until six o'clock of the afternoon I do not think twenty words were to be heard on the rock . We were just waiting , waiting , like weary men who have a big work to do and are anxious to do it ; and no sooner had the sun gone down and a fresh breeze of night begun to blow , than we jumped to our feet and told each other that the time had come . `` Do you , Peter , take the ladder and let Seth Barker steady the end of it , '' said I. `` The road 's tricky enough , and precious little dinner you 'll get at the bottom of a thousand-foot chasm ! If there 's men on the island , we shall know that soon enough .