noon
`` That 's just like a woman , '' said Ralph . `` I might have expected it . '' During the rest of that day and the morning of the next , everybody in the camp worked hard and did what could be done to help the captain prepare for his voyage , and even Ralph , figuratively speaking , put his hand to the oar . The boat was provisioned for a long voyage , though the captain hoped to make a short one , and at noon he announced that he would set out late that afternoon . `` It will be flood-tide , and I can get away from the coast better then than if the tide were coming in . '' `` How glad I should be to hear you speak in that way , '' said Mrs. Cliff , `` if we were only going with you ! But to be left here seems like a death sentence all around .