midday
`` No , not before . Even that is very early . '' The old fellow hesitated ; he certainly would catch nothing , for when the sun has warmed the sea the fish bite no more ; but the two brothers had eagerly pressed the scheme , and organized and arranged everything there and then . So on the following Tuesday the Pearl had dropped anchor under the white rocks of Cape la Heve ; they had fished till midday , then they had slept awhile , and then fished again without catching anything ; and then it was that father Roland , perceiving , rather late , that all that Mme. Rosemilly really enjoyed and cared for was the sail on the sea , and seeing that his lines hung motionless , had uttered in a spirit of unreasonable annoyance , that vehement `` Tschah ! '' which applied as much to the pathetic widow as to the creatures he could not catch . Now he contemplated the spoil -- his fish -- with the joyful thrill of a miser ; seeing as he looked up at the sky that the sun was getting low : `` Well , boys , '' said he , `` suppose we turn homeward . '' The young men hauled in their lines , coiled them up , cleaned the hooks and stuck them into corks , and sat waiting .