about
midnight
And now my next task was to somehow make my way back to the cove in which I had landed some eighteen hours earlier . To do this it was necessary for me to recross the road where I had been held up during the afternoon ; but now the darkness was in my favour , and I succeeded in getting across with scarcely any delay , arriving at the cove safely , with a good hour to spare . It was a weary waiting for the boat which was due to come for me at midnight , for I was very tired after my unusual exertions throughout the day , and would gladly have slept . But that would not do ; for to have slept would have exposed me to the double risk of being surprised , and of missing my boat ; I was therefore by no means sorry when , about midnight , I heard the low whistle which announced her arrival . To step lightly into her and murmur the order to shove off was the work of a moment , and half an hour later I was again safely aboard the _ Kasanumi _ , to the great joy of young Hiraoka , who , it appeared , had been all day haunted with the fear that I might fall into the hands of the Russians . And now , weary as I was , there were at least two hours ' work before me , with pencil , paper , protractor , parallel ruler , and scale , making calculations and laying down upon map and chart the result of my observations . This result was , on the whole , eminently satisfactory , for although I discovered a few trifling errors in the map , here and there , my observations enabled me to correct them ; and when I had at length finished , map and chart were in a condition which would enable me to proceed with the second part of my task with the assurance of success .