eight o'clock
`` Hurrah , Doctor ! '' he exclaimed , as he dashed in through the open doorway . `` I 've done the trick ; got the skipper of the _ Concordia _ to allow me to work my passage out to Port Natal as ordinary seaman at a shilling a month . I ` sign on ' at the shipping office the day after to - morrow , and have to be on board by eight o'clock the same evening in readiness to haul out of dock at daylight on the following morning . '' The remainder of Dick Maitland 's time in England was pretty fully occupied in comforting and encouraging his mother , in view of the pending separation , and in getting his somewhat slender wardrobe ready and packed for the voyage . The first-mentioned part of his task proved very much more difficult than the other , for Mrs Maitland was rather a helpless kind of person , and had already come to look to Dick for advice and help in every sort of difficulty , whether great or small ; the prospect , therefore , of being henceforth obliged to look after herself and manage her affairs unaided filled her at first with dismay . Besides , there was the separation from her son , the feeling that she knew not whether she would ever again set eyes on him in this world , and the terrible uncertainty generally of the future , to further distract her ; but at length the buoyancy and unquenchable hopefulness of Dick 's spirit had its effect upon her ; and , finally , when the moment of parting came , she had been brought to a frame of mind that enabled her to say the last words of farewell almost with calmness .