noon
So they shook hands and said good night ; and Neeland went away , leaving his box on the floor of the captain 's cabin as certain of its inviolability as he was of the Bank of England . The usual signs of land greeted Neeland when he rose early next morning and went out on deck for the first time without his olive-wood box -- first a few gulls , then puffins , terns , and other sea fowl in increasing numbers , weed floating , fishing smacks , trawlers tossing on the rougher coast waters . After breakfast he noticed two British torpedo boat destroyers , one to starboard , the other on the port bow , apparently keeping pace with the _ Volhynia _ . They were still there at noon , subjects of speculation among the passengers ; and at tea-time their number was increased to five , the three new destroyers appearing suddenly out of nowhere , dead ahead , dashing forward through a lively sea under a swirling vortex of gulls . The curiosity of the passengers , always easily aroused , became more thoroughly stirred up by the bulletins posted late that afternoon , indicating that the tension between the several European chancelleries was becoming acute , and that emperors and kings were exchanging personal telegrams . There was all sorts of talk on deck and at the dinner table , wild talk , speculative talk , imaginative discussions , logical and illogical . But , boiled down to its basic ingredients , the wildest imagination on board the _ Volhynia _ admitted war to be an impossibility of modern times , and that , ultimately , diplomacy would settle what certainly appeared to be the ugliest international situation in a hundred years .