about two
o'clock
We were seated at dinner in the main cabin -- the captain at the head of the table , and , as usual , crumbling his biscuit in a sort of waking trance -- when Mr. Reuben Colenso , his eldest son and acting mate , put his solemn face in at the door with news of a sail about four miles distant on the lee bow . I followed the captain on deck . The stranger , a schooner , had been lying-to when first descried in the hazy weather ; but was standing now to intercept us . At two miles ' distance -- it being then about two o'clock -- I saw that she hoisted British colours . `` But that flag was never sewn in England , '' Captain Colenso observed , studying her through his glass . His cheeks , usually of that pallid ivory colour proper to old age , were flushed with a faint carmine , and I observed a suppressed excitement in all his crew . For my part , I expected no better than to play target in the coming engagement : but it surprised me that he served out no cutlasses , ordered up no powder from the hold , and , in short , took no single step to clear the _ Lady Nepean _ for action or put his men in fighting trim .