one o'clock
`` He looks a likely sort , '' the mate said . `` Very well then , it 's agreed ; you can take off your coat and fall to work at once ; I will send down word to the office that I have shipped you . '' Frank stripped off his coat and waistcoat , and stowed them , with his portmanteau , out of the way , and then set to work with a will , the whiteness of his shirt , and his general appearance , exciting some jeering comments among the other men at work ; but the activity and strength which he showed soon astonished and silenced them . By one o'clock the last bale of cargo was stowed , and the hatches put on . The landsmen who had been employed went on shore , and Frank went forward to the forecastle , with the men , to dinner . `` Not the sort of grub you have been accustomed to , lad , '' one of the men said . `` I have eaten worse , '' Frank said carelessly , `` and do n't care if I never eat better .