noon
`` Certainly ; to be sure I will . But , Dick , we must n't burn our own fingers , '' said his prudent companion . `` What are you going to do ? '' In low tones , Richard detailed the scheme into which his outline of a purpose had grown , and when they parted at noon , the arrangements were all completed . For six or seven nights following the expedition to the watermelon patch of Mr. Batterman , Richard Grant did not `` walk in his sleep . '' The parental solicitude of his father prompted him to set a watch for several nights ; and Mr. Presby , who was still anxious to pursue his scientific investigations , slept with one eye open , that he might be in readiness to avail himself of the reappearance of the phenomenon . The philosopher 's hint that sleep-walkers are sensitive to any allusion to their infirmity , had prevented him and Mr. Grant from informing the subject of their precautions of the steps they had taken to observe his movements , and Richard was entirely unconscious that vigilant eyes were upon him while he slept , or while he ought to sleep .