midnight
`` Between you and the captain , I am beginning to be infected by belief , '' said Christobal to Elsie . `` Let me recommend you to close the door behind us . '' And she was left with the dog for company once more . A chronometer showed that the hour was past midnight . She knew sufficient of the sea to understand that the clock was probably accurate , as the course had practically followed the same meridian since the _ Kansas _ quitted Valparaiso . So the ship and those left on board had entered on another day ! How little she had thought that to be possible when the awful knowledge first came to her that the _ Kansas _ was ashore !