about three o'clock in the afternoon
Our passage down the Red Sea was quite uneventful until the Hanish Islands hove in sight over the port bow -- uneventful , that is to say , with one exception only , but it was an exception which seemed to cause our two Russian passengers much perturbation of spirit . For the chat which Nakamura and I had had with the skipper , shortly after leaving Port Said , had been succeeded by another on the following day , the outcome of which was that Kusumoto , with the full approval of my friend Nakamura and myself , had resolved to take the very serious step of broaching cargo , with the result that , when the passengers came up on deck , on the morning which found us off Shadwan Island , they were amazed to discover two 1-pounder Hotchkisses mounted , one on the forecastle-head and the other right aft over the taffrail , while a Maxim graced either extremity of the navigating bridge . The circumstance , with the reasons which seemed to make such a step necessary and desirable , was recorded at length in the _ Matsuma Maru _ official log , signed by the skipper and countersigned , at his request , by Nakamura and myself , as accessories , so to speak . It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when the Hanish Islands hove up above the horizon , at which moment , as it happened , Nakamura and I were in the captain 's cabin , where indeed we had spent most of the time of late , when we were not in our bunks . The Hanish Islands are , roughly speaking , within about one hundred miles of the Strait of Bab el Mandeb ; and as we had not been interfered with thus far , we had practically made up our minds that if the Russians intended to molest us at all , it would be here , the back of the islands affording an excellent place of concealment from which to dash out upon a passing ship . Nor were we disappointed in our expectations ; for when we had brought the northernmost island square abeam , a long , black , four-funnelled destroyer suddenly slid out past its southern extremity , heading west , so as to intercept us . And , looking at her through our glasses , we saw that she was flying the International Code signal , `` Heave-to .