five o’clock
The island lies some seventeen miles from the coast . We started on our homeward sail with a fresh westerly wind . Shortly after midday it backed round to the north and grew lighter . At five o'clock we were stealing along very gently through calm water with our mainsail boom out against the shroud . The jib and foresail were drooping in limp folds . An hour later the mainsheet was hanging in the water and the boat drifted with the tide . Peter , crouching in the fore part of the cockpit , hissed through his clenched teeth , which is the way in which he whistles for a wind .