noon on Friday
`` It 's only to let you see , Mr. Jukes , that you do n't find everything in books . All these rules for dodging breezes and circumventing the winds of heaven , Mr. Jukes , seem to me the maddest thing , when you come to look at it sensibly . '' He raised his eyes , saw Jukes gazing at him dubiously , and tried to illustrate his meaning . `` About as queer as your extraordinary notion of dodging the ship head to sea , for I do n't know how long , to make the Chinamen comfortable ; whereas all we 've got to do is to take them to Fu-chau , being timed to get there before noon on Friday . If the weather delays me -- very well . There 's your log-book to talk straight about the weather . But suppose I went swinging off my course and came in two days late , and they asked me : ` Where have you been all that time , Captain ? '