two o'clock in the afternoon
It was two o'clock in the afternoon , and from her uneasy anchorage in the pass the German man-of-war struck the time , four bells . Overhead the sun shone fiercely through a mist of fire ; below , the bay gave back a dancing glare ; on the outer reef the long breakers foamed and tumbled , white as far as the eye could reach . From his perch beneath the bows of the _ Northern Light _ a sailor , paint brush in hand , was slowly wearing out the day -- a brown-bearded , straight-nosed , handsome man of thirty , his red shirt open to the waist , his bare arms stained with the drippings of his brush . Astride of his plank , which hung suspended in midair by a block and tackle at either end , the seaman faced the task that seemed to have no end .