noon
But perhaps more than all else the sight of the seamen themselves stirred his heart . Most of them , officers as well as men , were dressed with absurd extravagance , for the prize-money , even after the deduction of the Queen 's lion-share , had been immense , but beneath their plumed and jewel-buckled caps , brown faces looked out , alert and capable , with tight lips and bright , puckered eyes , with something of the terrier in their expression . There they swaggered along with a slight roll in their walk , by ones or twos , through the crowd that formed lanes to let them pass , and surged along in their wake , shouting after them and clapping them on the back . Anthony watched them eagerly as they made their way from all directions to where the _ Pelican _ lay ; for it was close on noon . Then from far away came the boom of the Tower guns , and then the nearer crash of those that guarded the dockyard ; and last the deafening roar of the _ Pelican _ broadside ; and then the smoke rose and drifted in a heavy veil in the keen frosty air over the cheering crowds . When it lifted again , there was the flash of gold and colour from the Greenwich road , and the high braying of the trumpets pierced the roaring welcome of the people . But the watchers at the windows could see no more over the heads of the crowd than the plumes of the royal carriage , as the Queen dismounted , and a momentary glimpse of her figure and the group round her as she passed on to the deck of the _ Pelican _ and went immediately below to the banquet , while the parish church bells pealed a welcome .