noon
Five minutes later the _ Psyche _ was heading to the northward , close - hauled on the port tack , under all plain sail to her royals , doing nearly seven knots , and laying a course that , with nice steering , would just enable us to fetch the river 's mouth handsomely without breaking tacks . The schooner , meanwhile , was romping along at a pace of at least twelve knots per hour , on the starboard tack , throwing the spray over her weather bow to half the height of her lower yard , and shaping a course which would enable her to pass us at a distance of fully eight miles dead to windward . We allowed her to go on her way unmolested . It was just noon when , having arrived off the mouth of the river , we made a flying moor of it , letting go the first and then the second bower anchor in ten fathoms , at a distance of about one and a half miles from the shore , and at a spot from which the river mouth and perhaps half a mile of the river itself were in plain view . The town of King Olomba , it was understood , was situated at a distance of about thirty-two miles from our anchorage ; and as the captain was anxious that the journey should be made at an easy pace , so that the men might arrive comparatively fresh , and in fit condition for the rather stiff bit of work that lay at the end of it , eight hours were to be allowed for the passage of the boats to their destination . And as it was highly undesirable that the expedition should be unduly exposed in the boats to the pestiferous effects of the miasmatic night-fogs which gather upon most of the West African rivers after sunset , it had already been arranged that the attacking party should not start until the following morning , at an hour which would enable us to reach the scene of operations in time to make a reconnaissance and arrange the plan of attack by nightfall . The remainder of that day was therefore employed in getting the boats ready , stocking them with three days ' rations of provisions and water , overhauling the boat guns and slinging them ready for lowering , filling the ammunition boxes , sharpening cutlasses , fixing new flints to the pistols , where necessary , and generally completing our preparations .