about noon
Next day , Mr Fyall , who , I afterwards learned , was a most estimable man in substantials , although somewhat eccentric in small matters , called and invited me to accompany him on a cruise amongst some of the estates under his management . This was the very thing I desired , and three days afterwards I left my kind friends in Kingston , and set forth on my visit to Mr Fyall , who lived about seven miles from town . . The morning was fine as usual , although about noon the clouds , thin and fleecy and transparent at first , but gradually settling down more dense and heavy , began to congregate on the summit of the Liguanea Mountains , which rise about four miles distant , to a height of near 5000 feet , in rear of the town . It thundered too a little now and then in the same direction , but this was an every-day occurrence in Jamaica at this season , and as I had only seven miles to go , off I started in a gig of mine host 's , with my portmanteau well secured under a tarpawlin , in defiance of all threatening appearances , crowding sail , and urging the noble roan that had me in tow close upon thirteen knots . I had not gone above three miles , however , when the sky in a moment changed from the intense glare of a tropical noontide to the deepest gloom , as if a bad angel had suddenly overshadowed us , and interposed his dark wings between us and the blessed sun ; indeed , so instantaneous was the effect , that it reminded me of the withdrawing of the foot-lights in a theatre . The road now wound round the base of a precipitous spur from the Liguanea Mountains , which , instead of melting onto the level country by gradual decreasing undulations , shot boldly out nearly a mile from the main range , and so abruptly , that it seemed mortised into the plain , like a rugged promontory running into a frozen lake .