twelve o'clock
In short , he snatched the bread-and-butter , and made short work of it , for it was in his pouch in a moment . `` Upon this the boy set up a yell , which attracted my notice to this violation of the articles of war , to which the baboon was equally amenable as any other person in the ship , for it is expressly stated in the preamble of every article , ` all who are _ in _ , or _ belonging _ to . ' Whereupon I jumped off the carronade and , by way of assisting his digestion , I served out to the baboon _ monkey 's allowance _ , which is more kicks than halfpence ! The master reported that the heavens intimated that it was twelve o'clock , and , with all the humility of a captain of a man-of-war , I ordered him to ` make it so ' ; whereupon it was made , and so passed that day . `` I do not remember how many days it was afterwards that I was on the carronade as usual , about the same time , and all parties were precisely in the same situations -- the master by my side , the baboon under the booms , and the boy walking out of the cabin with his bread-and-butter . As before , he again passed the baboon , who again snatched the bread-and-butter from the boy , who again set up a squall , which again attracted my attention . I looked round , and the baboon caught my eye , which told him plainly that he 'd soon catch what was not at all _ my eye _ ; and he proved that he actually thought so , for he at once put the bread-and-butter back into the boy 's hands !