eleven o'clock
I have been thinking , I am still thinking , and there is still much to be said before I can come to any decision that will be fair to you , mademoiselle , the captain on the one hand , myself on the other . '' `` But at midnight , if the skipper 's promise holds good , we 'll be going ashore . '' `` The objection is well taken . My answer will be communicated when we see land or at eleven o'clock to-night , whichever is the earlier event . '' Some further effort at either persuasion or impudence -- nobody but Phinuit ever knew which -- was drowned out by the first heart-broken bellow of the whistle sounding the fog signal . Liane Delorme bounded out of her chair , clapping hands to ears , and uttered an unheard cry of protest ; and when , the noise suspending temporarily , she learned that it was to be repeated at intervals of two minutes as long as the fog lasted and the yacht was under way , she flung up piteous hands to an uncompassionate heaven and fled to her stateroom , slamming the door as if she thought thereby to shut out the offending din . One fancied something inhumanly derisive in the prolonged hoot which replied .