four in the morning
`` Yes , from Suez . '' And the incident might have ended there had it not been brought into sharp prominence that evening . Mr. Tagg took the first watch , from eight o'clock to midnight . Under ordinary conditions , Royson , who was free until four in the morning , would have gone to his cabin and slept soundly . But , like many another who passes through the great canal for the first time , he could not resist the fascination of the ship 's noiseless , almost stealthy , passage through the desert . After supper , while enjoying a pipe before turning in , he went forward and stood behind the powerful electric lamp fitted in the bows to illumine the narrow water-lane which joins East and West . The broad shaft of light lent a solemn beauty to the bleak wastes on either hand .