about seven o'clock in the morning
The boat , which was towing astern , was hauled alongside , and the thirty truculent `` braves , '' with a Chinese pilot and the ever-smiling mandarin , got into her and pushed off for the shore . That they were all picked men , who could handle an oar as well as a rifle , was very evident from the manner in which they sent the big boat along towards the blue outline of the distant shore . * * * * * For two days Carpenter and his officers waited and watched , the steamer lying and rolling about upon a long swell , and under a hot and brazen sun . Then , about seven o'clock in the morning , as the sea haze lifted , a look-out on the foreyard hailed the deck and said the boat was in sight . The steamer 's head was at once put towards her under a full head of steam , and in another hour the mandarin and his braves were alongside . The mandarin clambered up on deck , his always-smiling face -LRB- which Carpenter and his officers had come to detest -RRB- now darkly exultant . `` You have done well , sir , '' he said to the captain ; `` the Viceroy himself , when my own miserable worthlessness abases itself before him , shall know how truly and cleverly you and your officers -LRB- who shall be honoured for countless ages in the future -RRB- have obeyed the behests which I have had the never-to-be-extinguished honour to convey from him to you .