midnight
This , in brief , consisted in the adoption of measures which enabled us , while remaining within signalling distance of each other all day , to keep an effective watch upon a stretch of sea some forty miles wide -- over which we felt certain the vessel of which we were in search must sooner or later pass -- while at sunset we were to close and remain in touch all night . This , of course , was an excellent plan so far as it went , but it was open to the objection that the craft for which we were on the look-out might slip past us unobserved during the night . That , however , was something that could not be helped ; moreover , there was a moon coming which would help us , and according to Captain Perry 's calculations one or the other of the two craft was almost certain to turn up ere that waxing moon had materially waned . And turn up she did , shortly after midnight on the fifth night following our arrival upon our cruising ground . The moon was by that time approaching her second quarter , was well above the horizon by sunset , and was affording enough light to enable us to distinguish the rig and chief characteristics of a vessel eight miles away . To my very great gratification it was the look-out aboard the _ Dolphin _ who first sighted her , she being at that time hull-down in the south-western quarter and reaching athwart our hawse on the starboard tack ; thus as the _ Eros _ and ourselves were hove-to , also on the starboard tack , she rapidly neared us . At first the only thing that we could clearly distinguish was that she was a full-rigged ship -- as were the _ Virginia _ and the _ Preciosa _ -- but , even so , there were certain details connected with her rig which , while not being exactly peculiar , corresponded with similar details referred to in the description of the two notorious slavers , as ascertained by Captain Perry ; I therefore made a lantern signal to the _ Eros _ -- under the shelter of our mainsail , so that the stranger to leeward might not see our lights and take the alarm -- calling attention to the fact that there was a suspicious sail in sight to the south-west ; and this signal was simply acknowledged without comment .