an hour
before noon
Fred let the boys light a fire when the sun had risen high enough to make the little blaze not noticeable . Most of the men were asleep , but though our eyes ached with the long vigil we could not have copied them . About three hours after daylight we breakfasted off slices of hot boiled hippo tongue and cold lake water , without salt or condiments of any kind , and with discontent increased by that unpleasing feast we aroused the boys and drove them into the canoes . We forced the pace again , and picked up smoke on the sky-line an hour before noon , but it was not from a steamer 's funnel . It was lazy , flat-flowing , spreading smoke with a look of iniquity about it that sent our hearts to our mouths . We paddled toward it with frenzied energy , and long before any of us could make out details Coutlass , standing balancing himself amidships , told us what we knew was true and flatly refused to believe . `` It 's the Queen of Sheba burning to the water-line ! ''