Noon
said Ramsey , arching her brows to old Joy and the Gilmores and by her own glance directing theirs to the aftermost figure in the yawl . It was Hugh . He was steering . Noon came with a beauty of sky as if it smiled back to the smiles of a land innocent of pain , grief , or strife . It found the _ Votaress _ under full headway , with a physician aboard and Bayou Sara one great reach and two great bends behind . In a stateroom of her texas , by madame 's grateful acceptance of the captain 's offer , lay Lucian , torn with pain but bravely meek , with Julian in close attendance , Ramsey excluded , and the mother looking in often , though very busy yet with the doctor on the lower deck . In the middle of the forenoon , invited by the captain , the bishop had held divine service in the ladies ' cabin and , praying for his country , found himself praying also , resoundingly and with tears , for the `` strange people '' down under his bended knees , while out on the boiler deck the disputation concerning them steadily warmed and spread , the committee of seven feeling themselves for the moment baffled but by no means beaten -- baffled , for their casual brush with Ramsey had most surprisingly , not to say unfairly , discredited their cause .