three o’clock in the afternoon
It went more to the north , hugged the Murray Islands , and returned to the southwest near Cumberland Passage . I thought it was about to charge wholeheartedly into this opening , but it went up to the northwest , through a large number of little-known islands and islets , and steered toward Tound Island and the Bad Channel . I was already wondering if Captain Nemo , rash to the point of sheer insanity , wanted his ship to tackle the narrows where Dumont d'Urville 's two sloops of war had gone aground , when he changed direction a second time and cut straight to the west , heading toward Gueboroa Island . By then it was three o'clock in the afternoon . The current was slacking off , it was almost full tide . The Nautilus drew near this island , which I can see to this day with its remarkable fringe of screw pines . We hugged it from less than two miles out .