noon
Money appeals to the Manchurian fisherman just as powerfully as it does to most other people , more powerfully than it does to many , for he sees so little of it ; consequently when I intimated that I was prepared to pay the magnificent sum of ten yen for a few hours ' use of one of their boats , with a crew of four men , the whole crowd came tumbling over one another in their eagerness to secure the prize . I chose the boat most suitable for my purpose , transferred my rafts and gear to her , leaving our own boat in charge of a man who undertook to guard her with his life for the sum of one yen ; and then , in company with the other boats , which were going fishing in the bay , we shoved off and pulled out of the cove . By a stroke of the greatest good fortune , the day was beautifully fine and clear , so that I was able without the slightest difficulty to get every one of my bearings with the most absolute accuracy , and to place my several buoys on the prearranged spots with perfect precision . The work was successfully and most satisfactorily accomplished shortly before noon ; and now all that remained to be done was to affix the different coloured flags to the buoys . But that part would have to be deferred until our ships should actually come into action ; otherwise our sharp-sighted enemies might prematurely catch sight of them , and , guessing their purpose , destroy them . An hour before midnight , launching our own boat , my crew and I pushed out of the cove into Kinchau Bay , in readiness to board the _ Kasanumi _ immediately upon her arrival from the offing . Toward the close of the afternoon the weather had undergone a change , becoming overcast and hazy , with a drizzling rain .