About noon
After their meal , the men walked about on deck for a time , lazily , and with heavy eyes , drunk with sunlight rather than with wine ; then they went below , one after the other , throwing themselves flat on boards that were wet with bilge-water , and sagged under the slightest weight . So the afternoon , and another night went by . At dawn the wind freshened , and the _ Garbosa _ , like an old war-horse touched with the spur , leapt forward , careering and dancing over the ruffled waters . About noon clouds of smoke began to rise along the horizon ahead , and gradually from the girdling sash of green sky , thick steel masts with battletops , the towers of forts , it seemed , came into view , and under them , floating castles painted white , spotted black with thousands of men , going this way and that through their own smoke , now forming in squares , now stringing out along the whole horizon -- a flock of Leviathans , churning the water with invisible fins . Algiers could not be far away ! That was the French Mediterranean squadron , out for practice . God , what big boats people were making nowadays !