sun of noon
The wind freshened , and we stood out to sea . `` Let the breeze keep to this , '' said the skipper , `` and we 'll make the voyage quickly . '' Both wind and tide were in our favor . We held down Channel rapidly ; and I saw the blue hills grow fainter and fainter , till the eye could but detect a gray cloud on the horizon , which at last disappeared in the bright sun of noon , and a wide waste of blue water lay on every side . The snow , half melted with the heavy rains , lay still deeply on the roads , and a dark , lowering sky stretched above , as I harried onwards , with all the speed I could , towards the east of France . Already the Allies had passed the Rhine . Schwartzen-berg in the south , Blucher in the east , and Bernadotte on the Flemish frontier , were conveying their vast armies to bear down on him whom singly none had dared to encounter .