eight o'clock
It was the longest day Marcella had ever known ; as the swift twilight passed , the passengers came aboard damp and damped ; most of them were grumbling ; all looked thoroughly pessimistic about Australia . The schoolmaster was one of the first to come solemnly along the deck under an umbrella . He had avoided Marcella rather pointedly lately , but he came and talked quite affably for a while , didactically contrasting Melbourne with Naples and Colombo . The _ Oriana _ was to sail at eight o'clock ; Marcella would not let herself be anxious ; she had resolved that she must trust Louis now , and , knowing that he had scarcely any money and no friends , she could not imagine he would get into mischief . But as the last passengers came aboard and the first warning bell rang out , she began to grow cold with fear . The rain was pouring now in a sheet of water ; she stood on deck in the green white glare of the arc lamps , which only lighted a circumscribed pool of radiance , and made the surrounding darkness blacker . The second bell went ; she heard the engine-room telegraph ring and the ship began to vibrate to the throb of the engines .