one o'clock
By that time everybody will have turned in ; and moreover we shall have the light of the moon to help us . '' Accordingly , the canvas cover was removed from the particular boat in which the small submarine was hidden , and the mischievous little toy was carefully hoisted out , lowered into the water , submerged until only the top of her diminutive conning tower showed above water , and then effectually concealed by being moored to the boat boom , between the gig and the steam pinnace . Then advantage was taken of the darkness to pass down into her everything that had been prepared for the success of the forthcoming enterprise ; after which everybody turned in , except Carlos , who undertook to keep a watch on deck until everything should seem sufficiently quiet in the harbour to admit of the adventurers beginning their work without incurring undue risk of detection . At length two bells in the middle watch -LRB- one o'clock -RRB- pealed out from the various ships in the harbour ; the moon , just past the full , was riding high in the cloudless sky and affording quite as much light as the adventurers desired ; and not a sound was to be heard save the faint moan of the wind in the rigging of the various craft in the harbour and the lap of the water alongside : everybody seemed to have gone to bed , except the anchor watch on board the men-o ' - war -- and they would probably lie down and endeavour to snatch a cat-nap until the moment should come round to again strike the bell . Carlos therefore thought the time propitious ; and , treading noiselessly in his rubber-soled deck shoes , went below and quietly called Jack , Milsom , and Macintyre . Macintyre was the first of the trio to appear on deck , for , his business being in the interior of the boat , he had no special dress to don ; the pyjama suit in which he had been sleeping would serve as well as any other , and he accordingly wore it . Walking forward with bare feet , he slung himself over the rail , lay out on the boom , and , sliding down the painter of the steam pinnace , got on board that craft -- as a `` blind '' to anyone who might perchance happen to have noticed his movements -- and from thence surreptitiously transferred himself to the interior of the submarine -- having already cast the boat adrift -- which he immediately sealed by fastening down the hood of the little conning tower .