Eight o'clock
From that time forth no man saw her nor woman , either , except perhaps her maid , and maids are dark and discreet persons on occasion . If this particular one kept her own counsel when she saw a trim but tremulous figure drop lightly over the starboard rail of the Polly far forward , pick up a small traveling-bag from the pier , step behind the opportune screen of a load of coffee on a flat car , and reappear to view only as a momentary swish of skirt far away at the shore end ; if this same maid told Mr. Thatcher Brewster , half an hour later , that Miss Polly was asleep in her stateroom , and begged that she be disturbed on no account , as she was utterly worn out , who shall blame her for her silence on the one occasion or her speech on the other ? She was but obeying , albeit with tearful misgivings , duly constituted authority . Eight o'clock struck on the bell of the little Protestant mission church on the tiny plaza ; struck and was welcomed by the echoes , and passed along to eventual silence . Within two minutes after , there was a special stir and movement on the pier , a corresponding stir and movement on board the trim craft , a swishing of great ropes , and a tooting of whistles . White foam churned astern of her . A comic-supplement-looking pelican on a buoy off to port flapped her a fantastic farewell .