ten o'clock
It was a contraption most ingeniously built up of wood and canvas by the joint efforts and skill of Milsom , Macintyre , and the carpenter ; and was so handily contrived that , according to the statement of its inventor or designer , given fine weather and smooth water for four hours , the vessel 's appearance could be so completely changed that `` her own mother would n't know her . '' Having duly admired Milsom 's ingenuity , Jack explained in detail the reason why he and Carlos had advanced the time of their arrival , and disclosed his scheme for the temporary disablement of the three men-o ' - war in the harbour , into which scheme Milsom entered with the utmost gusto , even going to the length of rousing poor Macintyre out of his berth and ruthlessly breaking in upon his beauty sleep , in order that the parties might have the benefit of the chief engineer 's advice and assistance . And when at length the little band of conspirators broke up at midnight and turned in , the plan of campaign had been arranged , down to the last detail . After all , there was not very much to be done in the way of preparation ; a couple of hours ' work next day by Macintyre and his crew at the portable forge down in the stokehold , and everything was ready for the work which was to commence as soon as possible after ten o'clock that night . There was only one difficulty that still remained to be overcome , and that was the evading of the vigilance of the custom-house officers , who still remained on board the yacht . It is true that that vigilance had been very greatly relaxed of late , since it had been borne in upon even their limited intelligence that nothing remotely resembling an attempt to smuggle anything ashore had ever been made ; still , it would be awkward in the extreme if one or more of them should happen to be troubled with insomnia on that particular night , and elect to pass the sleepless hours on deck : but Don Hermoso might be trusted to attend to that matter when he should arrive on board about four o'clock , or a little after , as he did , accompanied by Senora Montijo and Dona Isolda . The difficulty was explained to Don Hermoso during the progress of afternoon tea , which refreshment was partaken of on the top of the deck - house that adjoined the navigating bridge of the vessel ; and after the meal was over , Carlos went ashore in the steam pinnace and brought off a small phial of liquid that looked and tasted like water .