about three o'clock
It may as well be acknowledged now that John Ellery had a habit of wishing to judge for himself . This is not always a politic habit in a country minister . The sun of the following Thursday morning rose behind a curtain of fog as dense as that of the day upon which Ellery arrived . A flat calm in the forenoon , the wind changed about three o'clock and , beginning with a sharp and sudden squall from the northwest , blew hard and steady . Yet the fog still cloaked everything and refused to be blown away . `` There 's rain astern , '' observed Captain Zeb , with the air of authority which belongs to seafaring men when speaking of the weather . `` We 'll get a hard , driving rain afore mornin ' , you see .