three o'clock in the morning
They docilely allowed themselves to be pushed into the pilot tender and again endured the experience of being lowered to the shifting waves below . Silently , like frightened sheep , they stood up in turn in the rocking tender and allowed the life preserver to be fitted about their shoulders to protect them from the bite of the rope 's noose beneath their arms . There followed a sickening upward whirl between sea and sky , and then the comforting grasp of many welcoming hands from the deck above . By three o'clock in the morning the transfer had been made . Vandover boarded the Cape Horner in company with the pilot and the rest and reached San Francisco late on the next day , which happened to be a Sunday . About ten o'clock Vandover went ashore in the ship 's yawl and landed in the city on a literally perfect day in early November . It seemed many years since he had been there .