about midday
Glad voices hailed us , wan figures stood up to clasp our hands ; we lifted a woman to the rocks ; we ran hither , thither , for help and comfort for them . But nine in all , they were our human salvage , our prize , our treasure of honest lives . And we had snatched them from the brigand crew , and henceforth they would stand with us , shoulder to shoulder , until the day were won or lost and Ken 's Island gave up its mysteries , or gathered us for that last great sleep-time from which there is no waking . It was near about midday on a Saturday that we saved the poor folks from the island , and not long after midnight on the Monday that our troubles came to a head . I like to call these the `` sixty hours '' ; and as what I have to write of them is written , as it were , from watch to watch , so swiftly did things happen , I will try to make a diary of it that you may follow me more closely . _ Saturday , May 27th . At midday .