six o'clock
/ * `` Rock of Ages , cleft for me , Let me hide myself in thee , '' * / sang Jacob . Like the blunt tooth of some monster , a rock broke the surface ; brown ; overflown with perpetual waterfalls . / * `` Rock of Ages , '' * / Jacob sang , lying on his back , looking up into the sky at midday , from which every shred of cloud had been withdrawn , so that it was like something permanently displayed with the cover off . By six o'clock a breeze blew in off an icefield ; and by seven the water was more purple than blue ; and by half-past seven there was a patch of rough gold-beater 's skin round the Scilly Isles , and Durrant 's face , as he sat steering , was of the colour of a red lacquer box polished for generations . By nine all the fire and confusion had gone out of the sky , leaving wedges of apple-green and plates of pale yellow ; and by ten the lanterns on the boat were making twisted colours upon the waves , elongated or squat , as the waves stretched or humped themselves . The beam from the lighthouse strode rapidly across the water . Infinite millions of miles away powdered stars twinkled ; but the waves slapped the boat , and crashed , with regular and appalling solemnity , against the rocks .