midnight
I should love to witness a really furious storm , with the feeling that I was perfectly safe , '' said the lady . And so it was settled . But when Lady Olivia retired to her cabin that night the air was still calm , and the only difference perceptible to her was that , whereas earlier in the evening the sea had been almost perfectly smooth , her swinging bedstead was now swaying with a very perceptible movement due to the fact that a heavy westerly swell had arisen , and was now following the ship . It was not until close upon midnight that any very decided change occurred ; and then came a shower that burst upon the ship with true tropical suddenness and violence , and in the midst of the shower the wind came away strong out of the westward , blowing in fierce , sudden gusts that quickly hardened down to a strong and rapidly increasing gale . When daylight laggingly came upon the scene the wind was blowing with true hurricane force , and a very high , steep sea was running , which would undoubtedly have been still higher had not the wind taken the crests of the seas , torn them off , and sent them flying away to leeward in blinding torrents of scud-water that lashed the walls of the _ Flying Fish 's _ pilot-house with a sound like that of the continuous crash of hail . Although the ship 's engines were set for a speed of only fifteen knots , she was going through the water at something more than twenty ; yet , despite the fact that she was being swept from end to end by the wildly breaking seas that followed her , her movements were so easy and comfortable that Mildmay became quite enthusiastic upon the subject . Shortly before noon they sighted and passed , within a quarter of a mile , a big battleship .