one o'clock
Those days would have been monotonous , had it not been for the ever-present sense of coming danger , of a future dark and threatening , likely to be fruitful in trial and in peril . Each morning at an early hour the age-worn black entered my cabin and told me that my bath was ready . When I was dressed , a breakfast , generous in quality and in quantity , was set upon my cabin table . At one o'clock luncheon of like excellence was served ; and again at five o'clock and at eight , tea and dinner . Some thought evidently was given to my condition , for on the second morning I found clean linen with a neat suit of blue serge awaiting me in the bathroom , and when I had breakfasted , the black brought a parcel of books to me ; I found amongst them , to my satisfaction , several light works by Bret Harte , Mark Twain , and Max Adeler , as well as more solid literary food . The books saved me from much of that foreboding which I should have known wanting them , and after the first fears had passed I spent the hours in reading or looking through the port-hole over the deserted waste of a fretful sea . I had hoped to learn something of our destination from this diligent watching of the waves ; but for the first forty hours , at any rate , I saw nothing -- not so much as a small ship -- though it felt much colder ; and again on the third day the lower temperature was yet more marked , so that I welcomed fresh and warmer clothing which the negro brought me for my bed ; and observed with satisfaction that there were means within the ship for heating the cabin during the daytime .