nearly eleven
in the morning before
`` If there 's anything else to get over I shall endeavour to stand by you , '' I conceded further , feeling somehow defeated and over-borne ; `` but you must do your best yourself . '' `` I have been unfortunate once , '' he muttered unemotionally , and turning his back on me he went away , thumping slowly the plank floor as if his feet had been shod with iron . Next morning , however , he was lively enough as man-boat , a combination of splashing and shouting ; of the insolent commotion below with the steady overbearing glare of the silent head-piece above . He turned us out most unnecessarily at an ungodly hour , but it was nearly eleven in the morning before he brought me up a cable 's length from Hermann 's ship . And he did it very badly too , in a hurry , and nearly contriving to miss altogether the patch of good holding ground , because , forsooth , he had caught sight of Hermann 's niece on the poop . And so did I ; and probably as soon as he had seen her himself . I saw the modest , sleek glory of the tawny head , and the full , grey shape of the girlish print frock she filled so perfectly , so satisfactorily , with the seduction of unfaltering curves -- a very nymph of Diana the Huntress .