noon
The sails , fanned by the steady trade-wind , hardly ever required attention , since the course of the craft never varied more than a few points for days at a time , and whoever it was at the wheel , he might as well have lashed it fast and gone to sleep , for all the necessity there was of keeping awake . There had been some elemental disturbances which required seamanship to weather , but nothing like that usually encountered in the Atlantic . But there came a long spell of weather , faultless in every respect , and whose only drawback was the dread that each day would be the last of such delight . The sun rose clear and bright , and at high noon , as they approached the equator , it was sometimes hot , but the breeze which continually swept the deck tempered it to the crew and passenger . Had they been caught in a calm the heat would have been suffocating ; but Providence favored them , and they sped along like a seagull toward their destination . There seemed to be times when the green surface of the sea was at perfect rest ; but the regular rising and sinking of the _ Coral _ showed that the bosom of the great deep was heaving as it always does , though the long swells came only at extended intervals . The water was of crystalline clearness , and , looking over the gunwale , one could see far into the depths , where strange-looking fish were sporting , sometimes coming to the surface and then shooting far down beyond the reach of human vision .