about midnight
My hopes rose high that even yet , despite the delays which we had already experienced , we might be able to cover the distance to the coast before our provisions gave out ; for if we were doing well under almost the worst conditions that could possibly befall us , what might we not do when those conditions improved ? And they certainly did improve as the afternoon wore on , for the wind eventually dropped sufficiently to permit us to shake out our reefs and sail the boat under whole canvas , while with the moderating of the wind the sea also went down and ceased to break , although the swell still ran very high . But it was only the heavily breaking seas that were really dangerous to us ; and now that we no longer had them to fear we drove the gig for all that she was worth , luffing her through the fresher puffs , hawsing her up to windward fathom by fathom , and generally handling her as though we were sailing her in a race , as indeed we were in a sense -- a race against time . We continued to do exceedingly well all through that afternoon , and indeed up to about midnight ; but the wind was softening all the time , and shortly after midnight our speed began to slacken , until by daylight of the next morning it had once more fallen to less than three knots . Moreover , the weather was by no means satisfactory in appearance ; there were no actual clouds to be seen in the sky , but instead of being a clear , deep , rich blue , as it ought to have been , and as it no doubt would have been had there been fine weather in prospect , the entire vault of heaven was veiled in a thick , steamy , colourless haze , through which the sun showed as a feeble , shapeless blotch of white . There was barely enough wind , still dead against us , to fan us along at a bare two knots ; but I did not like the look of the sea , which , despite the almost total absence of wind , was in a strange state of unrest , the long heave of the swell being overrun by small , short , choppy miniature seas , which seemed to leap up at brief intervals without visible cause , and then curled over and fell in a casual , sloppy manner that suggested the idea that they would have liked to break but could not summon up the energy to do so . But whatever else they may have failed to do , these sloppy seas managed to retard the way of the boat through the water very considerably , and to fill our souls with exasperation ; for they were distinctly hindering our progress , while we could see no valid reason why they should exist at all .