nine o'clock
`` The sooner we go the better . We have no time to spare . There is a good wind now , and we may not have it much longer . I will land you at Cannondale in an hour ; and if the breeze holds , we shall return by nine o'clock . '' Tom Rush went to the treasurer to procure the funds he had collected , and hastened down to the Splash ; but before the commissary joined me , a messenger came from Vallington to inform me that the lookouts on the bluff at the southerly end of the island had discovered a boat pulling towards the camp . I had a small spy-glass in one of the lockers of the Splash , with which I repaired to the bluff , to ascertain who the intended visitors could be . `` I suppose that boat bodes trouble to the camp , '' said the leader .