noon
But for the Camp Fire girls there was also a certain fear that they might find themselves unfit for the service they wished to offer . However , there was no faltering and no regret , but only tremendous inspiration in the knowledge that they were to be the first American Camp Fire girls to enter France upon a special mission and with a special message to French girls . Of the date or the port from which passenger vessels sail these days there is no published record . It is enough to state that the Camp Fire party sailed one morning in the early winter a little before noon from a small harbor south of New York City . The morning had been cold and rainy and the fog lay thick upon the water many miles from the land . In spite of the fact that their vessel was to form one of a convoy of a dozen ships , each boat left port at a different hour , to meet further out at sea . Soon after their own sailing , Mrs. Burton retired to her state-room .