About noon
I said once before that it would happen some time . '' About an hour later Vandover dropped off to sleep , in spite of the cold , the wet , and the torment in his thumb . He dozed and woke , and dozed again all through the morning . About noon he was awakened by a more violent rolling of the boat , the sound of voices , and a stir among the other passengers . It was still raining ; the boat was no longer cutting the waves with her nose , but was being rowed seaward flank on ; a sailor stood in the bow holding a coil of rope . Close in and seen over the tops of the waves were the shaking and slatting sails of a pilot-boat , lying to . One of the sails bore an enormous number six .