about noon
No , hold on ; I recollect now ; it was the day we left New Orleans -- day before yesterday , that was . '' `` In the morning ? '' If the good-natured captain was beginning to wonder why his pretty passenger was cross-examining him so closely , he did not betray it . `` It was about noon ; I believe . Two or three of the black boys had skipped out at the last minute , as they always do , and we were short-handed . Mac said the fellow did n't look as if he could stand much , but he took him anyhow . '' Once more the slender thread of investigation lay broken in her hands .