about noon
He was undoubtedly glad to have advanced so far in their undertaking ; for , once arrived at Tristan d'Acunha , a few more days would see them landed on Inaccessible Island , when , he and Eric would really begin their crusoe life of seal-catching and `` making the best '' of it , in solitary state . Was n't he up on deck early next morning , turning out of his bunk as soon as he heard the first mate calling the captain at four bells -- although , when he got there , he found Eric had preceded him , he having charge of the morning watch and having been up two hours before himself ! However , neither of the brothers had much the advantage of the other ; for , up to breakfast time , Tristan had not been sighted . But , about noon , `` a change came o'er the spirit of their dream ! '' Captain Brown had just gone below to his cabin to get his sextant in order to take the sun , while Fritz , to quiet his impatience , had sat down on the top of the cuddy skylight with a book in his hand , which he was pretending to read so as to cheat himself , as it were ; when , suddenly , there came a shout from a man whom the skipper had ordered to be placed on the look-out forward -- a shout that rang through the ship . `` Land ho ! '' Fritz dropped his book on to the deck at once and Eric sprang up into the mizzen rigging , hurriedly scrambling up the ratlins to the masthead , whence he would have a better point of observation ; the skipper meanwhile racing up the companion way with his sextant in his hand .