noon
`` Come , '' exclaimed the skipper , heartily , `` the youngster wants his breakfast ! '' -LSB- Illustration : `` WHEN THE WIND COMES FROM GOOD SAN ANTONIO , MY LADY BIRD -- '' -RSB- `` No life is in the air , but in the waters Are creatures huge , and terrible , and strong ; The swordfish and the shark pursue their slaughters ; War universal reigns these depths along . The lovely purple of the noon 's bestowing Has vanished from the waters , where it flung A royal color , such as gems are throwing Tyrian or regal garniture among . '' High noon ! Still the stanch old brig bowed and dipped her bluff bows into the long , easy swell of the tropics ; the round , flat counter sent the briny bubbles sparkling away in the glare of the noontide sun ; the sails flapped and chafed against the spars and rigging , while the crew sheltered themselves beneath the awnings , and dozed on peacefully . Off to seaward a few dead trade-clouds showed their white bulging cheeks along the horizon , and occasionally a fluttering blue patch of a breeze would skim furtively over the backs of the rollers ; but long before they reached the brig they had expended their force , and expired in the boundless calm .