Twelve o’clock
`` There 's many a thing could happen to prevent him . '' `` What time were they thinking of starting ? '' said Sweeny . `` Twelve o'clock , '' said Peter Walsh . `` Patsy , '' said Sweeny , `` let you take Brannigan 's old punt and go down as far as the stone perch to try can you see Joseph Antony Kinsella coming in . '' Patsy the smith was in a condition of great physical misery ; but the occasion demanded energy and self-sacrifice . He staggered down to the slip , loosed the mooring rope of Brannigan 's dilapidated punt and drove her slowly down the harbour , waggling one oar over her stern .