two in the afternoon
This was a company of fighting men , inured to death in every form . And death they had reckoned as part of the payment to be made for their adventuring . This , too , helped knit the fine mass-spirit already binding them together into a coherent , battling group . A little after two in the afternoon , _ Nissr _ passed within far sight of the Azores , visible in cloud-rifts as little black spots sown on the waters like sparse seeds on a burnished plate of metal . This habitation of man soon slipped away to westward , and once more nothing remained but the clear , cold severity of space , with now and then a racing drift of rain below , and tumbling , stormy weather all along the sea horizons . The Master and Bohannan spent some time together after the Azores had been dropped astern and off the starboard quarter . `` Captain Alden '' remained in her cabin .