two minutes to
four
One fancied something inhumanly derisive in the prolonged hoot which replied . Rather than languish under the burden of Mr. Phinuit 's spirited conversation for the rest of the afternoon , Lanyard imitated Liane 's example , and wasted the next hour and a half flat on his bed , with eyes closed but mind very much alive . Now and again he consulted his watch , as one might with an important appointment to keep . At two minutes to four he left his stateroom , and as the first stroke of eight bells rang out -- in one of the measured intervals between blasts of the whistle -- ending the afternoon watch , he stepped out on deck , and paused for a survey of the weather conditions . There was no perceptible motion in the air , witnessing that the wind had come in from astern , that is to say approximately from the southeast , and was blowing at about the speed made by the yacht itself . The fog clung about the vessel , Lanyard thought , like dull grey cotton wool . Yet , if the shuddering of her fabric were fair criterion , the pace of the Sybarite was unabated , she was ploughing headlong through that dense obscurity using the utmost power of her engines .