It must be about six o'clock in the evening.

I take out my watch and it marks thirteen minutes past six.
As I have already mentioned, I waited for the door of my prison to open, thoroughly resolved not to fall asleep again, but to spring upon the first person who entered and force him to answer my questions.

I was not aware then that it was day, but it was, and hour after hour passed and no one came.

I began to suffer again from hunger and thirst, for I had not preserved either bite or sup.
As soon as I awoke I felt that the ship was in motion again, after having, I calculated, remained stationary since the previous day--no doubt in some lonely creek, since I had not heard or felt her come to anchor.
A few minutes ago--it must therefore have been six o'clock--I again heard footsteps on the other side of the iron wall of my compartment.
Was anybody coming to my cell?
Yes, for I heard the creaking of the bolts as they were drawn back, and then the door opened, and the darkness in which I had been plunged since the first hour of my captivity was illumined by the light of a lantern.
Two men, whom I had no time to look at, entered and seized me by the arms.

A thick cloth was thrown over my head, which was enveloped in such a manner that I could see absolutely nothing.
What did it all mean?
What were they going to do with me?
I struggled, but they held me in an iron grasp.