ten o'clock in the morning
I knew that the young girl would read my resolution in my eyes , and that she would speak to me of duty , and of God , and of eternity , and I dared not meet her gaze ; and I would not run the risk of being persuaded to wait until a lingering death should overtake me . I returned to the back of the raft , and after making several efforts , I managed to get on to my feet . I cast one long look at the pitiless ocean and the unbroken horizon ; if a sail or the outline of a coast had broken on my view , I believe that I should only have deemed myself the victim of an illusion ; but nothing of the kind appeared , and the sea was dreary as a desert . It was ten o'clock in the morning . The pangs of hunger and the torments of thirst were racking me with redoubled vigor . All instinct of self-preservation had left me , and I felt that the hour had come when I must cease to suffer . Just as I was on the point of casting myself headlong into the sea , a voice , which I recognized as Dowlas 's , broke upon my ear .