Noon
Several times he gave a little start , and proceeded to strain his eyes so as to make doubly sure , but in every instance the moving dot he had noted far away to the north or nor ` east proved to be a circling buzzard , keeping up his eternal weaving to and fro in search of a belated breakfast after his own peculiar kind . So the time passed , and Perk even dozed , lying there amidst his `` Palm Sunday greens , '' as he fancifully called the camouflage stuff , for the climbing sun kept getting warmer , and induced somnolence , especially after such an eventful night as the one he and Jack had just passed . Later in the morning he sat up , took another cautious look around at the clear sky , and then proceeded to enjoy a good , old-fashioned smoke , for Perk was a lover of his under-slung pipe _ a la Dawes _ . Noon found him thus , picturing his chum arriving at Tampa and interviewing the Government official who could give him what assistance he required so as to turn over the captured sloop and the contraband it carried , both above and below decks . At one time Perk out of curiosity -- as well as a desire to be in a condition to state the amount of spoils he and Jack had `` corraled '' in their swoop upon the fighting smugglers and hijackers -- took a pad of paper and a pencil and proceeded to go over the entire vessel , securing a rough invoice of the numerous piled-up cases bearing that foreign , burnt brand . Then a temptation gripped him , and , as he took another `` eyeful '' sweep of the azure arch overhead , to again find the coast clear , he tortured himself with the vision of a pot of boiling coffee to go with his otherwise dry midday snack of lunch . `` Huh !