midday
It was but a fancied security , it is true : still it had the effect of giving satisfaction to the spirit , and through this , producing an artificial incentive to sleep . It was daylight before any of them awoke , -- or it should have been daylight , by the hour : but there was a thick fog around them , -- so thick and dark that the carcass of the _ cachalot _ was not visible from the deck of the _ Catamaran _ , although only a few feet of water lay between them . Ben Brace was the first to bestir himself . Snowball had never been an early riser ; and if permitted by his duties , or the neglect of them either , he would have kept his couch till midday . Ben , however , knew that there was work to be done , and no time to be wasted in idleness . The captain of the _ Catamaran _ had given up all hopes of the return of the whaler ; and therefore the sooner they could complete their arrangements for cutting adrift from the carcass , and continuing their interrupted course towards the west , the better would be their chance of ultimately reaching land . Snowball , _ sans ceremonie _ , was shaken out of his slumbers ; and the process of restoring him to wakefulness also awoke little William and Lilly Lalee , -- so that the whole crew were now up and ready for action .