a quarter to three
We reached Marseilles without adventure at eight o'clock on the following morning , and , after breakfasting at the railway station , chartered a cab and drove down to the Joliet , where we found our ship , the _ Matsuma Maru _ , lying alongside a wharf piled yards high with crates , bales , and cases of all sorts and sizes waiting to be stowed in the ship 's holds . The skipper was somewhere ashore , it appeared , but we hunted up the chief officer and introduced ourselves , upon which we learned that every effort was being made to have the ship ready for sea by three o'clock that afternoon , but that it would be impossible for her to get away a minute earlier than that ; we therefore found the chief steward , got him to show us our cabins , and had our baggage carried aboard . Then we went ashore again and , Nakamura happening to learn that the place boasted a zoological garden , nothing would satisfy him but we must needs go there , which we did , afterwards finding our way to the handsome Museum . Then down into the town again to lunch , finally returning to the ship at a quarter to three . I had been accustomed to seeing work smartly done in our own navy , but I was amazed to see what a few hours of strenuous labour had effected upon that wharf . It was practically cleared , and even as we stood and watched , the last cases were slung aboard , and the first bell , warning visitors that the ship was about to start , was rung , whereupon we trotted aboard and took up a position on the poop , where some fifty or sixty other passengers , all men , with about half a dozen exceptions , were already congregated . Nakamura looked eagerly about him and quickly spotted at least a dozen acquaintances and fellow-countrymen , to all of whom he insisted upon introducing me ; and his mention of the fact that I was _ going _ out for the express purpose of fighting for Japan at once ensured me a most friendly welcome among them .