noon
Fortunately , we had a weather cloth over the bow , which prevented the sea from pouring in and swamping us when the cutter dipped under ; while , as all of us remained quiet and our dead weight was more towards the stern than forwards , the boat 's natural buoyancy prevailed and she rose up like a cork . The worst might have been over , as Draper had said ; still , we were not ` out of the wood ' yet , gust after gust assailing us , and the waves racing up madly astern , when , dividing , they would tower up on either side of our frail craft , threatening destruction for the moment ere they rolled onward again -- we , all the while , fleeing before the fury of the storm we knew not whither , powerless alike to shape a course or guide our boat . All that our skilful coxswain could do was to prevent the cutter from shipping a sea , no matter how the wind took us , or whether we ran with the billows or athwart them , as sometimes happened from the sudden shift of the gale , at whose beck and call we were ; for , one moment going north or west into the open sea , the next recklessly careering eastwards , right in upon the rocks of the mainland , or dashing south amongst the mazy little islands and islets round and about Zanzibar , where our plight would be as perilous . We had been boxing the compass like this for some four or five hours , without the weather showing any signs of a mend , it being now late in the afternoon ; and our head turned towards Bagamoyo again for about the fifth time that day since we began our circling experiences , when , just as it was beginning to grow darker , though there had not been much light about since noon , a ship hove in sight . She was dead ahead of us , riding out the gale under steam . The smoke of her funnels was trailing away to leeward and so mixing up with the clouds that were banked on the horizon that old Draper , who was looking out as well as steering , for he would not allow any of us to sit on the thwarts , said he could not tell ` t ` other from which . ' Presently , however , as we surged onwards , carried down upon her at the rate of twelve knots or more , Draper could distinguish the smoke from the clouds ; ay , and the ship herself .