noon
His friend 's kindliness supplied an unconscious but necessary tonic to his system . Obviously , the second mate of the _ Aphrodite _ had no business to trouble his head about the symbolism of rings worn by Miss Irene Fenshawe . Yet he wished he knew which was the engagement finger . Shortly before noon Captain Stump came on deck to take the sun . This was a semi-religious rite with Stump . Though the contours of the coast drawn along two sides of the Admiralty chart rendered a solar observation quite needless within sight of land , he proceeded to ascertain the yacht 's position according to the formula , or , at any rate , according to such portion of it as applied to his rule-of-thumb calculations . Having pricked the chart and written the log , Stump bit the end off a cigar .