But the Royal James was not ready to sail.
The tide was now low; five hours afterward, when it should be high, those two ships, whatever they were, would float again, and the Royal James, whatever her course of action should be, would be cut off from the mouth of the river.

This was a greater risk than even a pirate as bold as Bonnet would wish to run, and so there was no sleep that night on the Royal James.

The blows of the hammers and the sounds of the saws made a greater noise than they had ever done before, so that the night birds were frightened and flew shrieking away.

Every man worked with all the energy that was in him, for each hairy rascal had reason to believe that if the vessel they were on did not get out of the river before the two armed strangers should be afloat there might be hard times ahead for them.

Even Ben Greenway was aroused.