noon
They were only glowing epistles from the hundreds of passengers on the _ Florida _ , but six of them were proposals from enthusiastic ladies , all well dowered , and eager to give their charms and their cash to the safe keeping of the man who had saved their lives . It was with reference to some joking comment by Courtenay on these missives that his sister wrote to congratulate him on having escaped matrimony under such conditions . Elsie , brimful of high spirits , amused herself by teasing him with nice phrases culled from each of the six . Long before noon the _ Kansas _ cleared White Horse Island . There was a ticklish hour while Courtenay and Boyle looked for the shoal . When its long , low sandspit was revealed by the falling tide , the ship took thought of her agony there , and traversed those treacherous waters with due reverence . Thenceforth , the run was due south until eight bells , when , for the second time within a fortnight , the captain set the course `` South-40-East . ''