nearly six o'clock
But that was enough for me ; for , to tell you the truth , I thought you were a British man-o ' - war of some sort , though what , I could n't , for the life of me , tell ; for I could see neither masts nor funnels . And now , gentlemen , I want to ask you to be kind enough , before you leave us , to sign -- as witnesses to its truth -- the entry that I shall be obliged to make in my official log ; for the story is such a confoundedly queer one that , unless it is well vouched for by independent persons , I very much doubt whether my owners , or anybody else , for that matter , will believe it . '' Sir Reginald , of course , readily undertook to do this ; and while the skipper was drafting and making the entry the visitors chatted with the passengers , who insisted upon keeping them for afternoon tea . The visit , therefore , did not end until nearly six o'clock that evening , at which hour the two ships parted company with mutual threefold dips of their ensigns ; and the _ Flying Fish _ was once more brought round with her head to the eastward . Four days later , the ship being then within some three hundred miles of the western end of the Straits of Sunda , the weather being stark calm , with an absolutely cloudless sky , the craft at the time going about ten knots , and steering herself , as the party stepped out on deck after lunch and glanced around them , they became aware that during the period of their absence from the deck they had raised the canvas of a large full-rigged ship above the horizon . The stranger was then bearing about two points on the starboard bow . As this was the first craft that had been seen since they had dipped their ensign to the _ Baroda _ , she excited enough interest to cause everybody to make an instant rush for their binoculars ; and within five minutes eight pairs of those very useful instruments had been focussed upon her .