midnight
A tolerably fast vessel for her size , and in fair sailing trim , as she was only half-loaded -- being unable to complete her cargo at Beyrout , whence her going out of her way , as it were , to Smyrna from thence -- the _ Muscadine _ , with the good breeze she had at starting , which had subsequently increased into a very favourable wind , strong , but not too strong to prevent her carrying all plain sail , had made such use of her legs , as sailors say , that she had by this time run over 500 miles from her point of departure , and before morning the captain expected they would sight the southernmost point of Rhodes , and be able to enter the channel between that island and Scarpanto . He had therefore issued strict injunctions about a sharp lookout being kept forward , stationing one of the English crew in each watch there for that purpose -- as he said he did n't believe in any foreigner 's eyesight where a ship was concerned -- just when he was leaving the deck , which was shortly before Tom and Charley , giving orders at the same time that he should be called as soon as anything was perceived ; and these instructions Tom , as the second officer , passed on , as in duty bound , to Mr Tompkins when he relieved him , the first mate receiving them , as he now invariably did any statement from his junior , with a characteristic grunt ! There is really no other word in the English language to express the meaning of the ejaculative sound he made , which signified , equally , acquiescence , approval , disapproval , or anything . It was now midnight . The captain , Tom and Charley , and one of the English hands who acted as steward , were down below asleep aft , and three English sailors and four Greeks were supposed to be in the same somnolent condition in the foc 's ` le ; and , on deck , were the first mate and four more Englishmen , one of whom was on duty as lookout forward , and another taking his turn at the wheel ; while four of the foreigners and the remaining two British seamen lounged about the waist , or stood grouped around the mainmast-bitts amidships , attentive to the orders of the officer of the watch , who , being not in the best of tempers , as usual , did not let them long remain idle for a spell . That was the situation when the first mate called out , after glancing at his watch , to `` make it eight bells ; '' and almost at the same moment the lookout man forward sang out lustily , in a voice that rang through the ship , `` Land ho ! '' Whether it was the sound of the ship 's bell that gave the signal , evidently preconcerted beforehand , or the cry that land was in sight , only the Greek sailors knew ; but , at all events , it roused them in a second to action , for with a fierce cry the four foreigners who were amidships rushed on the two Englishmen that shared their watch , drawing their knives and stabbing them desperately as they fell upon them .