nine o'clock
All the livelong night the Idaho plowed and careened through the rolling seas , gaining scant relief off Santa Catalina and San José , but when in the undimmed splendor of the morning sun she swept proudly into the placid , land-locked harbor of old La Paz , Loring was the only man among her passengers to appear on deck . Even after she dropped anchor and one or two bedraggled victims were hoisted from below and dropped over the side to be rowed ashore , none of the women of the gay Guaymas party was able to climb the stairs . The wind was gone by sundown , and the Idaho once more steering coastwise for Cape San Lucas . The night wore on and Loring was still alone when , just as the tinkle of the ship 's bell told that nine o'clock had come , with a soft , warm air drifting off the land , a fragile little form issued slowly from the companionway , and the stewardess smiled invitingly on the blue-eyed officer , as though begging him to aid her feeble charge to a seat . `` I have brought the señorita up for half an hour . I made her come , '' said she , as she dumped the pile of shawls into a spreading chair and began preparing a nest , while Pancha , turning away at sight of Loring , sank to the end of the bench , the very seat she occupied as they put to sea from Guaymas . But now it was Loring who tendered his arm , and , calmly ignoring her evident if unspoken protest , aided in lifting her from the bench and seating her in the depths of the easy reclining chair .