noon
The hansom contributed to this impression no less than did the city . Out of a multitude of similar vehicles , he had chosen this for its name , painted across its curving front . The Lady of the Snows had obviously been christened as a welcome to the scores of his fellow colonials who had gone that way before ; and he and Carew had dashed past Killarney and The Scotch Thistle , to take possession of its padded interior . It was almost noon , as they drove through the Dock Gates , past the Amsterdam Battery , and turned eastward towards Adderley Street and the Grand Hotel . It was nightfall before their luggage was safe through the custom house and in their room . Carew eyed his boxes askance . Weldon attacked the straps of his nearest trunk .