noon
`` Stay where you are a little . -- Jenkins , jump forward , and see what you can make of her from the foreyard . '' Whilst the topman was obeying his instructions , the look-out again hailed `` She is a ship , sir , close-hauled on the same tack -- the weather clears , and I can see her now . '' The wind , ever since noon , had been blowing in heavy squalls , with appalling lulls between them . One of these gusts had been so violent as to bury in the sea the lee-guns in the waist , although the brig had nothing set but her close-reefed main-topsail , and reefed foresail . It was now spending , its fury , and she was beginning to roll heavily , when , with a suddenness almost incredible to one unacquainted with these latitudes , the veil of mist that had hung to windward the whole day was rent and drawn aside , and the red and level rays of the setting sun flashed at once , through a long arch of glowing clouds , on the black hull and tall spars of his Britannic Majesty 's sloop , Torch . And , true enough , we were not the only spectators of this gloomy splendour ; for , right in the wake of the moon-like sun , now half sunk in the sea , at the distance of a mile or more , lay a long warlike-looking craft , apparently a frigate or heavy corvette , rolling heavily and silently in the trough of the sea , with her masts , yards , and the scanty sail she had set , in strong relief against the glorious horizon .