2:30
If you wants to see the Cross , now 's your time ! '' Iris had been called from dreamless sleep by a thundering rat-tat on her cabin door . In reply to her half-awaked cry of `` All right , '' the hoarse voice of a sailor told her that the Southern Cross had just risen above the horizon . She had a drowsy recollection of someone saying that the famous constellation would make its appearance at seven bells , not at five , and the difference of an hour , when the time happens to be 2:30 instead of 8:30 a.m. is a matter of some importance . But , perhaps that was a mistake ; at any rate , here was the messenger , and she resolutely screwed her knuckles into her eyes and began to dress . In a few minutes she was on deck . A long coat , a Tam o ' Shanter , and a pair of list slippers will go far in the way of costume at night in the tropics , and the _ Andromeda 's _ seventeenth day at sea had brought the equator very near .