twelve o'clock
It was midnight when they arrived at Liverpool , and at once went to bed at the Station Hotel . On coming down in the morning Frank was astonished at the huge heap of baggage piled up in the hall , but he was told that this was of daily occurrence , as six or eight large steamers went out from Liverpool every week for America alone , and that the great proportion of the passengers came down , as they had done , on the previous night , and slept at the Station hotel . Their own share of the baggage was not large , consisting only of a portmanteau each , Mr. Goodenough having sent down all his boxes two days previously . At twelve o'clock they went on board the Niger , bound for the west coast of Africa . This would carry them as far as Sierra Leone , whence Mr. Goodenough intended to take passage in a sailing ship to his starting point for the interior . Frank enjoyed the voyage out intensely , and three days after sailing they had left winter behind ; four days later they were lying in the harbor of Funchal . `` What a glorious place that would be to ramble about ! ''