about four o'clock
Jan finished most of her packing before she undressed ; then , tired and excited , she could not sleep . A large cockroach scuttling about her cabin did not tend to calm her nerves . She plentifully besprinkled the floor with powdered borax , kept the electric light turned on and the fan whirring , and lay down wide-awake to wait for the dawn . The ship was unusually noisy , but just about four o'clock came a new sound right outside her porthole -- the rush alongside of the boat bearing the pilot and strange loud voices calling directions in an unknown tongue . She turned out her light -LRB- first peering fearfully under her berth to make sure no borax-braving cockroach was in ambush -RRB- and knelt on her bed to look out and watch the boat with its turbaned occupants : big brown men , who shouted to one another in a liquid language full of mystery . For a brief space the little boat was towed alongside the great liner , then cast off , and presently -- far away on the horizon -- Jan saw a streak of pearly pinkish light , as though the soft blue curtain of the night had been lifted just a little ; and against that luminous streak were hills . In spite of her anxiety , in spite of her fears as to the future , Jan 's heart beat fast with pleasurable excitement .