nine o'clock P.M.
THE long-boat was , at this moment , a hundred miles to windward of the cutter . The fact is that Wylie , the evening before , had been secretly perplexed as to the best course . He had decided to run for the island ; but he was not easy under his own decision ; and , at night , he got more and more discontented with it . Finally , at nine o'clock P.M. , he suddenly gave the order to luff , and tack ; and by daybreak he was very near the place where the _ Proserpine _ went down , whereas the cutter , having run before the wind all night , was , at least , a hundred miles to leeward of him . Not to deceive the reader , or let him , for a moment , think we do business in monsters , we will weigh this act of Wylie 's justly . It was just a piece of iron egotism . He preferred , for himself , the chance of being picked up by a vessel .