about noon
And I comforted myself still more by thinking what a lot of money I had saved by coming on this chance for a cheap cast across ; and I blessed my lucky stars for putting into my head the notion of cruising along South Street that October morning and asking every sailor-like man I met if he knew of a craft bound for the West Coast -- and especially for having run me up against Captain Luke Chilton before my cruise had lasted an hour . The captain looked at his glass so sorrowfully when it was empty that I begged him to have it filled again , and he did . But he took down his arrack this time at a single gulp , and then got up briskly and said that he must be off . `` We do n't sail till to-morrow afternoon , on the half flood , Mr. Stetworth , '' he said , `` so you 'll have lots of time to get your traps aboard if you 'll take a boat off from the Battery about noon . I would n't come earlier than that , if I were you . Things are bound to be in a mess aboard the brig to-morrow , and the less you have of it the better . We lie well down the anchorage , you know , only a little this side of Robbin 's Reef .