noon
But I would n't mind betting that that signal had some reference to the American boat , for see how furiously they are firing up aboard the cruiser . '' They were indeed firing up `` furiously '' , as Milsom had said ; for dense clouds of black smoke were now continuously pouring and billowing out of both funnels of the cruiser , to the outspoken scorn and derision of Macintyre , who had his own ideas upon the subject of `` firing '' , his theory being that to make steam quickly , and keep it when made , one should `` fire '' lightly and continuously . Meanwhile the preparations for going to sea were progressing apace aboard the cruiser , the boats being all hoisted in except one , which , with a couple of hands in her , was hanging on to the buoy to which the cruiser was moored , in readiness to unshackle the cable from the mooring ring so soon as the vessel had steam enough to enable her to move . The bells of the shipping in the harbour were chiming eight -- which in this case meant noon -- when the first white feather of steam began to play about the tops of the cruiser 's steam pipes ; and at the sight the watchers on board the yacht stirred in their chairs and assumed a more alert attitude , for further developments might now be looked for . They came -- within the next five minutes -- the first of them being the sudden lowering of the captain 's gig aboard the cruiser , the hurried descent of her crew into her by way of the davit tackles , and the hauling of her alongside the hastily lowered gangway . A moment later an officer stepped into the stern-sheets ; and , with the naval ensign of Spain snapping in the breeze at her stern , and her boat pennant trailing from the staff in her bows , she shoved off and dashed away toward the landing steps , with her eight oarsmen bending their backs and making their good ash blades spring almost to breaking-point , as though their very lives depended upon their speed . She swept past the _ Thetis _ within a biscuit 's toss , and the party on the top of that vessel 's deck - house were not only able to distinguish , by the gold braid on his coat cuffs , that the solitary occupant of the stern-sheets held the rank of captain , but also that the poor man looked worried and scared almost out of his senses .