nearly seven o'clock
Scarcely had they pushed off into Sunda Straits when the volcano burst out afresh . They had happily seized on the only quiet hour that the day offered , and had succeeded , by the aid of the sails , in getting several miles from the island without receiving serious injury , although showers of stones and masses of rock of all sizes were falling into the sea around them . Van der Kemp was so far right in his prophecy that there would be no daylight that day . By that time there should have been light , as it was nearly seven o'clock on the memorable morning of the 27th of August . But now , although the travellers were some miles distant from Krakatoa , the gloom was so impervious that Nigel , from his place in the centre of the canoe , could not see the form of poor Spinkie -- which sat clinging to the mast only two feet in front of him -- save when a blaze from Perboewatan or one of the other craters lighted up island and ocean with a vivid glare . At this time the sea began to run very high and the wind increased to a gale , so that the sails of the canoe , small though they were , had to be reduced . `` Lower the foresail , Nigel , '' shouted the hermit .