midday
Gulls rode gently swaying in little companies of two or three quite near the boat ; the cormorant , as if following his long strained neck in eternal pursuit , skimmed an inch above the water to the next rock ; and the drone of the tide in the caves came across the water , low , monotonous , like the voice of some one talking to himself . / * `` Rock of Ages , cleft for me , Let me hide myself in thee , '' * / sang Jacob . Like the blunt tooth of some monster , a rock broke the surface ; brown ; overflown with perpetual waterfalls . / * `` Rock of Ages , '' * / Jacob sang , lying on his back , looking up into the sky at midday , from which every shred of cloud had been withdrawn , so that it was like something permanently displayed with the cover off . By six o'clock a breeze blew in off an icefield ; and by seven the water was more purple than blue ; and by half-past seven there was a patch of rough gold-beater 's skin round the Scilly Isles , and Durrant 's face , as he sat steering , was of the colour of a red lacquer box polished for generations . By nine all the fire and confusion had gone out of the sky , leaving wedges of apple-green and plates of pale yellow ; and by ten the lanterns on the boat were making twisted colours upon the waves , elongated or squat , as the waves stretched or humped themselves . The beam from the lighthouse strode rapidly across the water .