midnight
They stood out to sea , steering for the straits ; we , without looking to any compass save the land we had before us , set ourselves to row with such energy that by sunset we were so near that we might easily , we thought , land before the night was far advanced . But as the moon did not show that night , and the sky was clouded , and as we knew not whereabouts we were , it did not seem to us a prudent thing to make for the shore , as several of us advised , saying we ought to run ourselves ashore even if it were on rocks and far from any habitation , for in this way we should be relieved from the apprehensions we naturally felt of the prowling vessels of the Tetuan corsairs , who leave Barbary at nightfall and are on the Spanish coast by daybreak , where they commonly take some prize , and then go home to sleep in their own houses . But of the conflicting counsels the one which was adopted was that we should approach gradually , and land where we could if the sea were calm enough to permit us . This was done , and a little before midnight we drew near to the foot of a huge and lofty mountain , not so close to the sea but that it left a narrow space on which to land conveniently . We ran our boat up on the sand , and all sprang out and kissed the ground , and with tears of joyful satisfaction returned thanks to God our Lord for all his incomparable goodness to us on our voyage . We took out of the boat the provisions it contained , and drew it up on the shore , and then climbed a long way up the mountain , for even there we could not feel easy in our hearts , or persuade ourselves that it was Christian soil that was now under our feet . The dawn came , more slowly , I think , than we could have wished ; we completed the ascent in order to see if from the summit any habitation or any shepherds ' huts could be discovered , but strain our eyes as we might , neither dwelling , nor human being , nor path nor road could we perceive .