midday
They had the appearance of having sprung up solely to delay us , and for no other purpose whatever . More than once , when I felt exceptionally impatient at our miserably slow rate of progress , I had it on the tip of my tongue to propose that we should again take to the oars ; but I did not actually speak the words , for in the first place I doubted whether the gain in speed would be sufficient to justify the expenditure of strength , and in the next place our hands were by this time in such a frightful condition of rawness that the idea of proposing what would make them very much worse seemed to smack of downright cruelty , unless I could urge some more valid reason than the mere desire to get ahead a little faster . And our situation just then was scarcely desperate enough for that . It was very shortly after midday , and we were all gathered aft partaking of the meal that we dignified with the name of dinner , when the boatswain , who was sitting on the after thwart , facing me , suddenly paused in the act of conveying a piece of biscuit to his mouth , stared intently over my shoulder for a moment , and then sprang to his feet , shading his eyes with his hand . `` What is it , Murdock ? '' I asked , turning as I spoke in the direction toward which he was gazing , `` do you -- ? '' `` Sail ho ! ''