three o'clock
I rejected the propositions , firstly , as premature ; secondly , as inhuman ; thirdly , as inhospitable ; fourthly , as inconvenient ; and lastly , as impracticable . There might have arisen a disagreeable controversy between us on this point ; for Mr. Poke had begun to warm , and to swear that one good seal , of the true quality of fur , was worth a hundred monkeys ; when most happily the panther at the masthead cried out that two of the largest mountains , to the southward of us , were separating , and that he could discern a passage into another basin . Hereupon Captain Poke concentrated his oaths , which he caused to explode like a bomb , and instantly made sail again in the proper direction . By three o'clock , P.M. , we had run the gauntlet of the bergs a second time , and were at least a degree nearer the pole , in the basin just alluded to . The mountains had now entirely disappeared in the southern board ; but the sea was covered , far as the eye could reach , with field-ice . Noah stood on , without apprehension ; for the water had been smooth ever since we entered the first opening , the wind not having rake enough to knock up a swell . When about a mile from the margin of the frozen and seemingly interminable plain , the ship was brought to the wind , and hove-to .