noon
`` It must have been the rats , '' said Meroo , who , as cook , had gone up to see what he could save . `` I saw the tail of one disappearing . '' But Foster-father said swiftly : `` I would it were some other helper , for the time has come for help . Prince Askurry hath sent to say we start for Kâbul and cruel brother Kumran at noon to-day ! '' It was only too true ! The escort which was to see them on the road was already occupying the garden , the horses champing their bits and fretting because the long branches of the roses at which they snatched held nothing but thorns . Prince Akbar , indeed , was too much interested in watching them and wondering if they were very hungry to take much heed of anything else , but Princess Bakshee Bâni Begum , who was a very practical little person , at once began to pack up her favourite doll .