one o'clock
A fierce gust came howling up the little river between its leaning houses and broke in rain upon the bottle-glass quarrels of the window . Nicky-Nan started , as though it were a hand arresting him . The rain -- the last , for many weeks , to visit Polpier -- cleared up soon after midday . At one o'clock or thereabouts Nicky-Nan , having dined on a stale crust and a slice of bacon , and recovered somewhat from his first alarm -LRB- as even so frugal a meal will put courage into a man -RRB- , ventured to the porch again for a look at the weather . The weather and the set of the wind always come first in a Polpier man 's interest . They form the staple of conversation on the Quay-side . Fish ranks next : after fish , religion : after religion , clack about boats and persons ; and so we come down to politics , peace and war , the manner of getting to foreign ports and the kind of people one finds in them .