nearly midnight
`` I shall , sir ! '' Chris agreed , and then the moon showed an edge for a moment in the clouds . `` Look sir -- the _ Mirabelle _ ! '' Toward sleeping Georgetown , for it was nearly midnight now , a whiteness showed itself , close against the distant wharfs . The _ Mirabelle _ was edging out , and Chris knew that Ned , Bowie , Abner Cloud , and others were pulling her by the ship 's boats into the main flow of the river . Once turned , she would float noiselessly down the Potomac past the _ Venture _ , and once he was aboard , would hoist her sails and set her course to sea . `` Then quick ! ''