noon
`` The world 's afore ` ee . Go in and win ! '' As he stepped out upon the Quay , Captain Cai lifted his gaze towards the tower of the Parish Church , visible above an alley-way that led between a gable-end of the Town Hall and the bulging plank of the `` King of Prussia . '' Aloft there the clock began to chime out the eight notes it had chimed , at noon and at midnight , through his boyhood , and had been chiming faithfully ever since . Yes , it was good to be home ! Captain Cai would have been astonished to learn that his thirty-five years at sea had left any corner for sentiment . Yet a sudden mist gathered between him and the face of the old clock .