a quarter to six in the morning
By this statesmanlike handling of the subject a question of much delicacy and difficulty was solved , discipline was preserved , and a practical illustration of the perils of deceit afforded to a youngster who was at an age best suited to receive such impressions . That he should exhaust the resources of a youthful but powerful vocabulary upon the crew in general , and Sam in particular , was only to be expected . They bore him no malice for it , but , when he showed signs of going beyond his years , held a hasty consultation , and then stopped his mouth with sixpence-halfpenny and a broken jack-knife . It was a quarter to six in the morning as the mate of the sailing-barge Osprey came on deck and looked round for the master , who had been sleeping ashore and was somewhat overdue . Ten minutes passed before he appeared on the wharf , and the mate saw with surprise that he was leaning on the arm of a pretty girl of twenty , as he hobbled painfully down to the barge . `` Here you are then , '' said the mate , his face clearing . `` I began to think you were n't coming . ''