seven o'clock
`` Touché ! '' chortled some unseen imp who plied a venomous rapier . Thank goodness , a sailor was standing by the ship 's bell , with his hand on a bit of cord tied to the clapper . It would soon be seven o'clock . Even the companionship of the uncouth skipper was preferable to this brooding solitariness . When Hozier was relieved , and summoned to a meal in the saloon with Norrie and some of the ship 's own officers , Iris was nowhere visible . He went straight to her cabin , and knocked .