noon
My uncle opined , but could not say with certainty , that the General had it in mind to offer her protection and an honourable retirement on her own estates above the Taravo . I bade him tell her that , if she could wean herself from Corsica to follow her daughter , our house of Constantine would be proud to lodge her -- I hoped , for the remainder of her days -- for certain , until she should tire of it and us . The rest -LRB- I say -RRB- we left to chance , which at first served us smoothly . The breeze , though it continued fair , fell light soon after daybreak , and noon was well past before we sighted the Ligurian coast . We dowsed sail and pulled towards it leisurably , waiting for the hour when the fishing-boats should put out from Porto Fino : which they did towards sunset , running out by ones and two 's before the breeze which then began to draw off the land , and making a pretty moving picture against the evening glow . When night had fallen we hoisted our lateen again and worked up towards them . These fishermen -LRB- as I reasoned , from our own Cornish practice -RRB- would shoot their nets soon after nightfall and before the moon 's rising -- to haul them , perhaps , two hours later , and await the approach of morning for their second cast .