nearly noon
The water here was constantly changing , a current flowing through it towards the sea . Then he brought up two or three more loads of wreckage and sat down under the awning , for it could scarcely be termed a tent , as both ends were open to allow a free passage for the air . Here he sat for some hours , occasionally getting up and looking over the sea to the right and left . It was not until it was nearly noon and the sun was overhead that he could try the experiment upon which he relied to obtain fire . When it was nearly vertical he went down to the well , opened his watch-case , and dipped the glass carefully into the water . He thought of trying to take it out of the case , but the risk of breaking it would have been too great . Carrying it very carefully , he went up to the tent again and sat down beside his little heap of crumbled wood and held the watch-glass full of water over it .