midnight
This signal the schooner acknowledged , tacking at the same time and standing toward us once more ; but we were far too busy to wait for her , for although she had all the looks of a slaver , we knew , from the course she was steering , that she could have no slaves on board , and was therefore altogether unworthy of our attention with so promising a craft as the barque in plain view . She made no attempt to follow us , and in an hour was out of sight to the northward . By sunset that night the weather was everything that we could wish , and we had risen the chase to her topsails ; everybody on board the _ Felicidad _ was therefore in the highest spirits , and hope ran high that by daybreak on the morrow we should have our neighbour under our guns , and be able to give her an overhaul . The stars came out brilliantly , and although the moon would not rise until after midnight -- and would not give us much light even then , since she had entered her fourth quarter -- we soon found that we should have light enough to prevent the barque from giving us the slip , provided that we kept both eyes open . Nevertheless , darkness had no sooner set in , than she made an effort to do so by edging off to the northward , a couple of points , which move , however , we soon detected and frustrated by steering directly after her . During the night the wind breezed up again somewhat , and this gave the chase so great an advantage that at daybreak she was still about eight miles ahead . Shortly after sunrise , however , it dwindled away again , and gradually dropped to a gentle air that barely fanned us along at a speed of five knots .