seven o'clock
`` I should like to hear about it awfully , Joe . '' `` Well , sir , seeing it was not what you may call an everyday sort of affair , and as perhaps the yarn might give you a hint as might be useful to you if you ever gets into the same kind of fix , I do n't mind if I tell you . Just at present I have not finished my work , but if you and the other two young gents like to come forward here at six bells I will tell you about it . '' AT seven o'clock the three lads gathered round the old sailor forward . Joe having got his pipe to draw to his satisfaction , proceeded to relate the story of his shipwreck . `` It happened , '' he said , `` on the very first v ` yage I made as an A.B. ; and proud I was , as you may guess , that I had done at last with being ordered here and ordered there , and kicked here and cuffed there . I was just twenty-one then , and as active and hearty a young chap as you would want to see ; not over big , you know , and spare in flesh , but as strong and active as any on board a ship .