nearly six in the afternoon
And so , as far as I 'm concerned , your present status is simply that of her pet protégé . What it is to be hereafter you 'll learn from her , I suppose , soon enough ... . Le 's go ! '' When finally Lanyard did consent to seek his stateroom -- with the pilot dropped and the Sybarite footing it featly over Channel waters to airs piped by a freshening breeze -- it was to sleep once round the clock and something more ; for it was nearly six in the afternoon when he came on deck again . The quarterdeck , a place of Epicurean ease for idle passengers , was deserted but for a couple of deckhands engaged in furling the awning . Lanyard lounged on the rail , revelling in a sense of perfect physical refreshment intensified by the gracious motion of the vessel , the friendly , rhythmic chant of her engines , the sweeping ocean air and the song it sang in the rigging , the vision of blue seas snow-plumed and mirroring in a myriad facets the red gold of the westering sun , and the lift and dip of a far horizon whose banks of violet mist were the fading shores of France . In these circumstances of the sea he loved so well there was certain anodyne for those twinges of chagrin which he must suffer when reminded of the sorry figure he had cut overnight .