five
o'clock
The Hamiltons set sail for St. Croix on a day in late April . The sympathy of their friends had been expressed in more than one offer of a lucrative position , but Hamilton was intensely proud , and too mortified at his failure to remain obscure among a people who had been delighted to accept his princely and exclusive hospitality . On St. Croix he was almost unknown . They made the voyage in thirty-two hours , but as the slaves were ill , after the invariable habit of their colour , Rachael had little respite from her baby , or Hamilton from Alexander , whose restless legs and enterprising mind kept him in constant motion ; and the day began at five o'clock . There was no opportunity for conversation , and Hamilton was grateful to the miserable mustees . He had the tact to let his wife readjust herself to her damaged idols without weak excuses and a pleading which would have distressed her further , but he was glad to be spared intimate conversation with her . As they sailed into the bright green waters before Frederikstadt , the sun blazed down upon the white town on the white plain with a vicious energy which Rachael had never seen on Nevis during the hottest and most silent months of the year .