four o'clock
` Before I say that I will , ' he replied , ` I must know your plan . How is it possible to seize the ship when such a good look-out is kept ? ' `` Then the convict told him all that had been settled by the mutineers . At four o'clock when the hatches were raised most of the officers went to their cabins , and there would be more than twenty convicts on deck who were all in the plot . They would then knock down the sentinels , get possession of the quarter-deck , and seize the firearms which were ready loaded . They would next release their other comrades and alter the course of the ship . '' ` But what , ' asked Birt , ` will you do with the captain , officers , and soldiers ? ' ''