seven o'clock
Those islands are only hilltops . '' The islands , however , looked as serene as the rest of nature , although most of the chimneys were fallen or twisted , and there were the same groups of people in the open , awaiting another throe . These , however , had had time to recover their balance and clothe themselves . The launch , which had a new engine , had been driven at top speed , and it was not yet seven o'clock , barely the beginning of day to these luxurious people , but a day that would doubtless be remembered as the longest of their lives . On the military islands , routine , apparently , had received no dislocation , and on the steep romantic slopes of Belvedere the villas might have sunken their talons to the very vitals of the rock . The most precariously perched had paid no toll but the chimney . As the launch bounded past the long eastern side of Angel Island , Gwynne contracted his eyelids .