about 2 A.M.
The yacht had run her bows upon a sunken ridge of rock , and after a period of feminine indecision as to whether she were going to slide off again , or roll over into deep water , she elected to stay where she was , and the gig was lowered with all speed , in order to tow her off before the tide left her . My recollection of this interval is but hazy , but I can certify that in ten minutes I had swept together an assortment of necessaries and knotted them into my counterpane , had broken the string of my eye-glass , and lost my silver matchbox ; had found Philippa 's curling-tongs and put them in my pocket ; had carted all the luggage on deck ; had then applied myself to the manly duty of reassuring the ladies , and had found Miss Shute merely bored , Philippa enthusiastically anxious to be allowed to help to pull the gig , and Miss Sally radiantly restored to health and spirits by the cessation of movement and the probability of an early escape from the yacht . The rain had , with its usual opportuneness , begun again ; we stood in it under umbrellas , and watched the gig jumping on its tow-rope like a dog on a string , as the crew plied the labouring oar in futile endeavour to move the _ Eileen Oge _ . We had run on the rock at half-tide , and the increasing slant of the deck as the tide fell brought home to us the pleasing probability that at low water -- viz. about 2 A.M. -- we should roll off the rock and go to the bottom . Had Bernard Shute wished to show himself in the most advantageous light to Miss Sally he could scarcely have bettered the situation . I looked on in helpless respect while he whom I had known as the scourge of the hunting field , the terror of the shooting party , rose to the top of a difficult position and kept there , and my respect was , if possible , increased by the presence of mind with which he availed himself of all critical moments to place a protecting arm round Miss Knox . By about 1 A.M. the two gaffs with which Bernard had contrived to shore up the slowly heeling yacht began to show signs of yielding , and , in approved shipwreck fashion , we took to the boats , the yacht 's crew in the gig remaining in attendance on what seemed likely to be the last moments of the _ Eileen Oge _ , while we , in the dinghy , sought for the harbour .