an hour before midday
It filled his lungs like a life-giving tonic . How glorious this wild world was ! `` Well , now ! '' Skipper Zeb announced an hour before midday . `` Here 's Swile Island before we knows it ! We 'll stop for a bit to boil the kettle and stretch our legs ashore . '' Swile Island was a small , nearly round island , containing an area equal to about that of a city block .