midday
We 'll keep an eye open and , if there 's any trouble , nip it in the bud . '' This was easy enough to say , but the event proved far otherwise . Within twenty-four hours we were to learn that serious trouble was afoot . It was midday of a Saturday , and the sky was clear and cloudless as those which had gone before . During the forenoon we had been doing a steady fifteen knots , but there had been some slight trouble with the engines and we were now making way with the sails alone while the engineers overhauled the machinery . Yeager and I were standing near the cook 's scuppers fishing for shark with fat pork for bait . More than once I had caught the flash of a white-bellied monster , but Mr. Shark was wary about taking chances .