two o'clock
Once , I thought I saw a small speck on the ocean , dead to windward , that resembled a boat 's sail ; but there were so many birds flying about , and glancing beneath the sun 's rays , that I was reluctantly compelled to admit it was probably one of them . At meridian , therefore , I gave the order to square away , and to make sail on our course . This was done with the greatest reluctance , however , and not without a good deal of vaciliation of purpose . The ship moved away from the land rapidly , and by two o'clock , the line of cocoa-nut trees that fringed the horizon astern , sunk entirely beneath the rolling margin of our view . From that moment , I abandoned the expectation of ever seeing Moses Marble again , though the occurrence left all of us sad , for several days . Major Merton and his daughter were on the poop , nearly the whole of this morning . Neither interfered in the least ; for the old soldier was too familiar with discipline to venture an opinion concerning the management of the ship .