midnight
She continued on this tack all day ; and went about at the end of the second dog-watch , George 's object being to work his way back to the spot , as nearly as possible , where the fleet had separated , and there wait two or three days if need be , in the hope of falling in with the bulk of them again . Captain Leicester had of course taken full advantage of the return of fine weather to repair damages ; the crew had been busy during the whole day getting two new topgallant-masts aloft and rigging them , bending new sails in place of those split or blown away , and so on ; the _ Aurora _ was consequently , when night fell , all ataunto once more ; and a stranger looking at her , would , except for the _ new _ look of some of the spars and canvas , never have suspected that she had had her wings clipped . At nightfall she was standing to the southward and westward on the port tack , under every stitch of canvas that would draw ; the wind was failing fast ; the sea had long since ceased to break ; there was now only an occasional white fleecy comb to be seen on the crests of the waves ; and the ship was gliding gently along , with a slow , steady , rhythmical rising-and-falling motion over the long heavy swell , at the rate of some five knots in the hour . The skipper was in excellent spirits at having escaped so well and so cheaply from the fury of the hurricane ; and he remained on deck until midnight , chatting with Mr Bowen , the chief mate . The relief-watch had just been called , and George was waiting to accompany the mate below when his attention was suddenly attracted by a curious appearance in the sky to windward . It was still cloudy ; and , low down on the horizon and about two points on the weather bow , he noticed that the clouds were lighter and brighter in tint than anywhere else . `` Look , Bowen , '' he exclaimed , `` do you see that peculiar-looking cloud away there on the horizon , just over our cat-head ?