About midday
It was like the imperfect relief of awakening from a nightmare . But when the ship 's head swung down the river away from that town , Oriental and squalid , I missed the expected elation of that striven-for moment . What there was , undoubtedly , was a relaxation of tension which translated itself into a sense of weariness after an inglorious fight . About midday we anchored a mile outside the bar . The afternoon was busy for all hands . Watching the work from the poop , where I remained all the time , I detected in it some of the languor of the six weeks spent in the steaming heat of the river . The first breeze would blow that away .