midnight
So far I had done very well ; the combined fleet was only a few hours distant ; and I had no doubt that , with so nimble-heeled a craft as the _ Sword Fish _ , I should have very little difficulty in overtaking them in the course of a day or two . The question now was whether I should proceed forthwith in pursuit of Monsieur Villeneuve , or whether I should devote an hour or two to an endeavour to ascertain the precise nature of the information said to have been brought from Europe by the schooner . This information might be of value , or it might not ; but after giving the matter brief but careful consideration I came to the conclusion that it was hardly worth while troubling about ; as , if the vessel had brought out despatches , they would have been delivered long since ; and in any case , the captain and crew would know nothing of their contents . I therefore filled away forthwith , and by midnight had brought the island over our larboard quarter . There was now another question that bothered me somewhat , and it was this : I could not understand why the combined fleet should be steering east , or why they should have gone off in such a hurry as had been represented to me . I racked my brains for a long time in search of a satisfactory solution of this problem , as I felt that until I had found such I should be quite in the dark as to the course which I ought to steer in order to overtake them . For although I had been informed that , when last seen , the fleet was steering to the southward and eastward , close-hauled , I had no data upon which to base an opinion as to the length of time during which they would continue to steer in that direction , for the simple reason that there was no apparent object in their steering in that direction at all .