noon
The _ Blackbird _ went her rounds . At noon the next day she met Vincent Ferrara with her sister ship , and the two boats made one load for the _ Blackbird _ . She headed south . With high noon , too , came the summer westerly , screeching and whistling and lashing the Gulf to a brief fury . It was the regular summer wind , a yachtsman 's gale . Four days out of six its cycle ran the same , a breeze rising at ten o'clock , stiffening to a healthy blow , a mere sigh at sundown . Midnight would find the sea smooth as a mirror , the heaving swell killed by changing tides .