noon
How long could they hold out ? Why were they not all killed by the shot that fell like hail among them ? Yet puff after puff sprang from their guns , and the sound of it was like a storm coming nearer in the heat . But at noon it seemed to me as though some of the ships were sailing . It was true . Slowly they drew away from the others , and presently I thought they had stopped again . Surely two of them were stuck together , then three were fast on a shoal .