midnight
Disappointed in his private appeal to the captain 's dread of popular disapprobation , Mr. Dodge returned to his secret work on deck : for like a true freeman of the exclusive school , this person never presumed to work openly , unless sustained by a clear majority ; canvassing all around him , and striving hard to create a public opinion , as he termed it , on his side of the question , by persuading his hearers that every one was of his particular way of thinking already ; a method of exciting a feeling much practised by partisans of his school . In the interval , Captain Truck was working up his day 's reckoning by himself , in his own state-room , thinking little , and caring less , about any thing but the results of his figures , which soon convinced him , that by standing a few hours longer on his present course , he should `` plump his ship ashore '' somewhere between Falmouth and the Lizard . This , discovery annoyed the worthy master so much the more , on account of the suggestions of his late visiter ; for nothing could be less to his taste than to have the appearance of altering his determination under a menace . Still something must be done before midnight , for he plainly perceived that thirty or forty miles , at the farthest , would fetch up the Montauk on her present course . The passengers had left the deck to escape the night air , and he heard the Effinghams inviting Mr. Sharp and Mr. Blunt into the ladies ' cabin , which had been taken expressly for their party , while the others were calling upon the stewards for the usual allowance of hot drinks , at the dining-table without . The talking and noise disturbed him ; his own state-room became too confined , and he went on deck to come to his decision , in view of the angry-looking skies and the watery waste , over which he was called to prevail . Here we shall leave him , pacing the quarter-deck , in moody silence alone , too much disturbed to smoke even , while the mate of the watch sat in the mizzen-rigging , like a monkey , keeping a look-out to windward and ahead .