half past seven
Nothing but the encouragement which came to him from Miss Rutherford 's esoteric slang kept him from losing his temper . He could not have been greatly blamed if he had lost it . It was after three o'clock . He had breakfasted , meagrely , on bread and honey , at half past seven . He had spent the intervening seven and a half hours on the sea , eating nothing but the one peppermit cream which Miss Rutherford pressed on him while he held the Tortoise at Craggeen . Priscilla had eaten a great many peppermint cream and was besides more inured to starvation on the water of the bay than Frank was . But even Priscilla , when the excitement of getting away from Craggeen had passed , seemed slightly depressed .