midnight
`` Is he ? Then wire him at once . He 's the very man , '' declared the senior , without a moment 's hesitation . Next morning MacWhirr stood before them unperturbed , having travelled from London by the midnight express after a sudden but undemonstrative parting with his wife . She was the daughter of a superior couple who had seen better days . `` We had better be going together over the ship , Captain , '' said the senior partner ; and the three men started to view the perfections of the Nan-Shan from stem to stern , and from her keelson to the trucks of her two stumpy pole-masts . Captain MacWhirr had begun by taking off his coat , which he hung on the end of a steam windless embodying all the latest improvements .