noon
`` Very well , then , '' retorted the master ; `` if he is in the city , and is alive and well , he will be found before noon . If he is not found , then it will be because some evil has befallen him , for which Cartagena shall be made to suffer . Look in your Inquisition for him , senor ; he is as likely to be there as anywhere . And tell your Inquisitors that if he is not forthcoming by noon , the Inquisition shall be the first building to suffer from our shot . Now , go ! '' So they went , with much shaking of heads and wringing of hands . The morning was passed strenuously by the English in preparing both the _ Adventure _ and her prize for the grim business of bombarding Cartagena , if need were ; the hope in every man 's heart being that the spectacle of the preparations -- which was clearly visible from the water front of the town -- would have the effect of breaking down the stubborn wills of the Spaniards , and constraining them to surrender their prisoner .