midnight
Propulsion jets gave it high speed in either medium . Loaded with equipment , the _ Sea Hound _ streaked southward through the skies -- first to Florida , then across the Gulf and Central America into the Pacific . Here Tom eased down to the surface of the water and submerged . It was near midnight when the _ Sea Hound _ rose from the depths just off Balala . The lonely rocky island lay outlined like a huddled black mass against the star-flecked southern sky . No glimmer of light showed anywhere ashore . `` Maybe no one 's here , '' Bud murmured .