midnight
`` Proctor , '' said Rothesay , with a smile , `` take a glass of grog with me for the sake of old times , wo n't you ! '' `` No , thank you , sir , '' he replied calmly , and then without another word he walked out of the cabin , and presently Rothesay heard him take the wheel again from the man who had relieved him . Two days later the _ Kate Rennie _ sailed round the north cape of Bougainville , and then bore up for a large village on the east coast named Numa Numa , which Rothesay hoped to make at daylight on the following morning . At midnight Jensen came to the wheel again . The night was bright with the light of shining stars , and the sea , although the breeze was brisk , was smooth as a mountain lake , only the _ rip , ripy rip _ of the barque 's cutwater and the bubbling sounds of her eddying wake broke the silence of the night . Ten miles away the verdure-clad peaks and spurs of lofty Bougainville stood clearly out , silhouetted against the sea-rim on the starboard hand . The wind was fair abeam and the ship as steady as a church , and Proctor scarce glanced at the compass at all .