noon
Miss Delany , who was outlining Jacqueline with juggler 's knives , began to pull her stock of cutlery from the soft pine backing ; elephant , camel , horses trampled out ; Miss Crystal caught a dangling rope and slid earthward , and I turned and walked towards the outer door with Byram . As I looked back for an instant I saw Jacqueline , in her glittering diving-skin , calmly step out of her discarded skirt and walk towards the sunken tank in the middle of the ring , which three workmen were uncovering . She was to rehearse her perilous leap for the first time to-day , and I told Speed frankly that I was too nervous to be present , and so left him staring across the dusky tent at the slim child in spangles . I had an appointment to meet Robert the Lizard at noon , and I was rather curious to find out how much his promises were worth when the novelty of his new gun had grown stale . So I started towards the cliffs , nibbling a crust of bread for luncheon , though the incident of the morning had left me small appetite for food . The poacher was sunning himself on his doorsill when I came into view over the black basalt rocks . To my surprise , he touched his cap as I approached , and rose civilly , replying to my greeting with a brief , `` Salute , m ` sieu ! ''