three o'clock
It fascinated her ; it was quite the smallest thing she had ever seen , much smaller than Wullie 's hut , and the shining whiteness of the new enamel particularly appealed to her , though the smell of it was not very pleasing . The clamps that held the water-bottle and glass gave an exhilarating hint of rough weather ; the top bunk , about on the level of her eyes , promised thrilling acrobatic feats at bedtime , and she decided to sleep in that one , leaving the other as a receptacle for her baggage . In her preparations she lost sight of the lunch hour , and the bell and the sound of feet scurrying down the companion way meant nothing to her . But at three o'clock something extraordinarily exciting happened ; she heard the sharp `` ting-ting '' of a bell , and the ship began to palpitate as if a great heart were beating within it . She hurried on deck as the siren began to cry . As soon as her head appeared above the top of the companion-way she saw the wharves and houses on shore running away in a peculiarly stealthy fashion ; a ship much bigger than the _ Oriana _ , whose decks were thronged with stewards and deck-hands cheering and calling out greetings , went by ; she dipped her flag to the outgoing _ Oriana _ , and Marcella thought how nice and chivalrous ships were to each other . Then it dawned on her that they were under weigh -- that the heart she felt beating was the ship 's engines , and that the extraordinary behaviour of the shore was because the _ Oriana _ was going out with the tide .