twelve o'clock
They kept farther out than the majority of these , and did not pass any of them nearer than half a mile . After steering for a couple of hours , Terence relinquished the oar to his companion . `` You must get accustomed to it , as well as I , '' he said , `` for we must take it in turns , at night . '' By twelve o'clock they were abreast of a town ; which was , they had no doubt , San Sebastian . They were now some four miles from the Spanish coast . They were travelling at about the same rate as that at which they had started , but the wind came off the high land , and sometimes in such strong puffs that they had to loosen the sheet . The fisherman had shown them how to shorten sail by tying down the reef points and shifting the tack and , in the afternoon , the squalls came so heavily that they thought it best to lower the sail and reef it .