midnight
I expect everything will be cleared away in the ward-room by this . '' On descending to the cabin I found that the skipper had been considerate enough to give orders that a nice little dinner should be ready for me on my return , and those orders having been carried out to the letter I was enabled to sit down in peace and enjoy the meal for which the long pull in the boats had given me a most voracious appetite . The meal over , it being then my watch below , I turned in . On relieving Mr Armitage at midnight I found that the weather was still fine , the wind the merest shade fresher than it had been when I left the deck , and the chase directly ahead , about twelve miles distant , her upper canvas showing distinctly in the brilliant rays of the moon . We had gained upon her about a couple of miles during the four hours I had been below , and Captain Vernon -- who had been on deck during the whole of the previous watch , and was just about to retire for the night -- was in high spirits , and confident in his belief that , if all went well , we should make the capture before sunset on the following day . The best helmsman in my watch was ordered to the wheel . I made a regular tour of the decks , taking an extra pull at a halliard here , easing off an inch or so of this brace or that sheet , and , in short , doing everything possible to increase the speed of the ship , and so my watch passed away ; the _ Daphne _ having crept another couple of miles nearer to the chase during the interval .