eight o’clock in the evening
The embarkation of provisions , & c. , had to be put off . Every one wished to pass one more quiet night on land , and Hobson yielded against his better judgment , determined , if it were calmer the next day , to proceed with the embarkation . The night was more peaceful than had been expected ; the wind went down , and the sea became calmer ; it had but been swept by one of those sudden and brief hurricanes peculiar to these latitudes . At eight o'clock in the evening the tumult ceased , and a slight surface agitation of the waters of lake and sea alone remained . It was some slight comfort that the island would not now be broken up suddenly , as it must have done had the storm continued . Its dissolution was , of course , still close at hand , but would not , it was hoped , be sudden and abrupt . The storm was succeeded by a slight fog , which seemed likely to thicken during the night .