noon
Then Mr Button , without waiting to see the boats lowered , made back to his charges , and the three camped in the woods that night . Next morning the whaleman was off and away , leaving as a token of her visit the white sand all trampled , an empty bottle , half an old newspaper , and the wigwam torn to pieces . The old sailor cursed her and her crew , for the incident had brought a new exercise into his lazy life . Every day now at noon he had to climb the hill , on the look-out for whalemen . Whalemen haunted his dreams , though I doubt if he would willingly have gone on board even a Royal Mail steamer . He was quite happy where he was . After long years of the fo ' cs ' le the island was a change indeed .