eight o'clock
`` Hello , my boy , '' he said genially , `` we 're a-goin ' to fix 'em ! '' Then noting a blank expression on Dan 's face , his jaws closed with a click and he lowered himself from the pier and into the boat without further words , while Dan shoved out into the river and started for the pier above , where Captain Jim Skelly 's tug , the _ John Quinn _ , was lying . She had steam up and was all ready for her journey to meet the _ Kentigern _ . That vessel had been reported east of Fire Island and would be well across the bar by eight o'clock . She would anchor on the bar for the night , and it was there that Captain Jim Skelly meant to board her in order to forestall any possible scheme that wily Captain Barney might devise to gain the bridge of the freighter . As Dan paddled noiselessly around the other side of the pier , they could see the pipe lights of the Quinn 's crew . Finally the rowboat turned straight under the pier , threading its way among the greasy green piles .