about one o'clock in the morning
It was twelve before the sloop was as low as Hudson , and I saw by our rate of sailing , that , indeed , there was little prospect of her reaching New York in time for Marble 's necessities . He was landed , therefore , and Mr. Hardinge and myself accompanied him to the stage-house , where we ascertained that the next morning after breakfast he would be enabled to get into the stage , which would reach town in the evening of the succeeding day . But this was altogether too slow for Marble 's impatience . He insisted on procuring a private conveyance , and we saw him drive out of the long street that then composed most of the city of Hudson , at a slapping pace , about one o'clock in the morning . This important duty discharged , Mr. Hardinge and I returned to the sloop in which Neb had been standing off and on , in waiting for us , and again made sail down the river . When I turned in , the Wallingford was getting along at the rate of about five miles the hour ; the wind having freshened , and come out at the westward , a quarter that just enabled her to lay her course . The reader will easily imagine I did not oversleep myself the following morning .