noon
It was no sooner light than it began to rain heavily . As the child could not endure the intolerable vapours of the cabin , they covered her , in return for her exertions , with some pieces of sail-cloth and ends of tarpaulin , which sufficed to keep her tolerably dry and to shelter her grandfather besides . As the day advanced the rain increased . At noon it poured down more hopelessly and heavily than ever without the faintest promise of abatement . They had , for some time , been gradually approaching the place for which they were bound . The water had become thicker and dirtier ; other barges , coming from it , passed them frequently ; the paths of coal-ash and huts of staring brick , marked the vicinity of some great manufacturing town ; while scattered streets and houses , and smoke from distant furnaces , indicated that they were already in the outskirts . Now , the clustered roofs , and piles of buildings , trembling with the working of engines , and dimly resounding with their shrieks and throbbings ; the tall chimneys vomiting forth a black vapour , which hung in a dense ill-favoured cloud above the housetops and filled the air with gloom ; the clank of hammers beating upon iron , the roar of busy streets and noisy crowds , gradually augmenting until all the various sounds blended into one and none was distinguishable for itself , announced the termination of their journey .