noon
`` Get aft , an ' lively ! '' A hard shove sent the boy spinning to the foot of the ladder . He climbed dizzily and stumbled on deck , looking about him , uncertain where to go . It must have been past noon , for the sun was on the starboard bow . The _ Revenge _ was close-hauled and running southwest on a fresh west wind . Dave Herriot leaned against the weather rail , a short clay pipe in one fist and his bushy brown beard in the other . At the wheel was a swarthy man with earrings , who looked like a Portuguese or a Spaniard .