noons
Whenever I can get fifteen knots out of the ship , I make it a point to be satisfied , especially under close-reefed topsails and on a taut bowline . '' The traveller and the master nodded their heads at each other , like men who understood more than they expressed ; when the former , after inquiring with marked interest if his room-mate , Sir George Templemore , had arrived , went below . An intercourse of three days had established something like an acquaintance between the latter and the passengers she had brought from the River , and turning his red quizzical face towards the ladies , he observed with inimitable gravity , `` There is nothing like understanding when one has enough , even if it be of knowledge . I never yet met with the navigator who found two ` noons ' in the same day , that he was not in danger of shipwreck . Now I dare say , Mr. Dodge there , who has just gone below , has , as he says , seen all he _ warnts _ to see , and it is quite likely he knows more already than he can cleverly get along with . -- Let the people be getting the booms on the yards , Mr. Leach ; we shall be _ warnting _ to spread our wings before the end of the passage . '' As Captain Truck , though he often swore , seldom laughed , his mate gave the necessary order with a gravity equal to that with which it had been delivered to him ; and even the sailors went aloft to execute it with greater alacrity for an indulgence of humour that was peculiar to their trade , and which , as few understood it so well , none enjoyed so much as themselves .