midnight
`` Should we ever meet again I will endeavour to repay your kindness with interest . '' Then , watching my opportunity , I possessed myself of the case of pistols , made my way on deck with them , and -- thanks to the bustle of trans-shipping the stores -- managed to slip on board the brig with it and convey it , undetected , to my own cabin . Having done which , I spoke a reassuring word or two to Miss Onslow -- who had retired to her own cabin -- lighted a pipe , and sauntered up on deck again with the most careless demeanour imaginable . It was long past midnight by the time that O'Gorman had finished rifling the barque , by which time he had secured all the provisions out of the unfortunate craft 's lazarette , had taken four brass nine-pounder guns , two dozen stand of muskets , the same number of cutlasses and boarding pikes , together with a considerable quantity of ammunition , had emptied one of the barque 's water-tanks , and had robbed them , in addition , of their two best boats -- fine twenty-seven feet gigs -- with their whole equipment . Then , the weather still being stark calm , he compelled the Frenchmen to hoist out their remaining two boats and to tow the brig clear of and about a mile distant from the barque . Before that moment arrived , however , the French skipper contrived to get a hurried word with me . `` Monsieur , '' he said , `` the contents of your letter have been communicated to me ; and permit me to say that you and Mademoiselle Onslow have the heartiest sympathy and commiseration of myself and my passengers in your most unpleasant situation .