six o'clock
The boards over his head waved like a shaken sheet , and the cabin whirled round , while the patch of light at his feet bobbed up and down like the reflection from a wavering candle . He closed his eyes with a terrible sigh of despair , and resigned himself to his fate . At that instant the sound of hammering ceased , and the door opened . It was six o'clock , and Pine had come to have a last look at his patients before dinner . It seemed that there was somebody with him , for a kind , though somewhat pompous , voice remarked upon the scantiness of accommodation , and the `` necessity -- the absolute necessity '' of complying with the King 's Regulations . Honest Vickers , though agonized for the safety of his child , would not abate a jot of his duty , and had sternly come to visit the sick men , aware as he was that such a visit would necessitate his isolation from the cabin where his child lay . Mrs. Vickers -- weeping and bewailing herself coquettishly at garrison parties -- had often said that `` poor dear John was such a disciplinarian , quite a slave to the service . ''