noon
`` Thank you , '' he said . `` We are quits now . '' Fierce emotions are necessarily transient , but for the hour they exhaust the psychic capacity . The sailor had gone through such mental stress before it was yet noon that he was benumbed , wholly incapable of further sensation . Seneca tells how the island of Theresæa arose in a moment from the sea , thereby astounding ancient mariners , as well it might . Had this manifestation been repeated within a cable 's length from the reef , Jenks was in mood to accept it as befitting the new order of things . Being in good condition , he soon recovered his physical powers .