twelve o'clock
To this most liberal proposition Newton most gladly acceded . The officers who had come on deck with the first-lieutenant invited Newton below , where he was introduced to the remainder of the mess , who were most of them fine young men , as happy and careless as if youth was to last for ever . Having pledged each other in a glass of grog , Newton returned on shore . The next morning he made his arrangements , paid his bill at the hotel , and before twelve o'clock was again on board of the frigate , which lay with the Blue Peter hoisted , and her fore-topsail loose , waiting for her captain , who was still detained on shore while the admiral and governor made up their despatches . When Newton had applied to the captain of the frigate for a passage home , he could hardly believe it possible that the person to whom he was introduced could be entrusted with the command of so fine a vessel . He was a slight-made , fair-complexioned lad of nineteen or twenty years at the most , without an incipient mark of manhood on his chin . He appeared lively , active , and good-natured ; but what were the other qualifications he possessed , to discover such a mark of confidence , were to Newton an enigma requiring solution .