six o'clock
The question was one which we felt it impossible to answer , and meanwhile all that we could do , while in our present helpless condition , was to keep a bright look-out , night and day , and to hold ourselves ready for any emergency . Needless to say , Carter and I both took especial care to see that there was no slackness or negligence on the part of the anchor-watch that night , the whole of the duty being undertaken by my own men , while I was up and about at frequent intervals all through the night . But the hours of darkness passed uneventfully , and when dawn appeared there had been neither sight nor sign of savages anywhere near the ship . At six o'clock that morning the usual routine of duty was resumed on board , the hands being turned up to wash-decks and generally perform the ship 's toilet before breakfast , and I noticed with satisfaction , as I went forward to get my usual shower-bath under the head-pump , that Carter had caused the four prisoners to be released from the fore-peak . I believed that the rest of the hands might now be safely trusted to keep that quartette in order . Immediately after breakfast in the forecastle the hands were again turned up , and a good stout hawser was bent on to the kedge anchor , which was then lowered down into the longboat and run away out broad on the ship 's port quarter . The other end of the hawser was then led forward along the poop and main-deck to the windlass , which we believed would be better able than the capstan to withstand the strain that we intended to put upon it .