noon
They would then take another tack and resume their former course . At a few minutes before noon that day they rose far from the island . The sun , a pale yellow disk , shone through a thin haze close to the surface of the pack . And yet it was high noon . This was , perhaps , to be their last bearing taken by the light of the sun . Henceforth , the moon and the stars must guide them . Whereas all former polar expeditions were carried forward only during the summer months , when the sun shone night and day , they , as well as their rivals , must drive on straight into the deep mysteries of the dreaded Arctic night .