noon
Bish had gone four and a half hours without taking a drink . Maybe the percentage would be a little better the next time . I was surely old enough to stop expecting miracles . The mate of the _ Pequod _ called in , around noon , and said it was safe for Oscar to come back to the ship . The mate of the _ Javelin _ , Ramón Llewellyn , called in with the same report , that along the waterfront , at least , the heat was off . However , he had started an ambitious-looking overhaul operation , which looked as though it was good for a hundred hours but which could be dropped on a minute 's notice , and under cover of this he had been taking on supplies and ammunition . We made a long audiovisual of Murell announcing his price of eighty centisols a pound for wax on behalf of Argentine Exotic Organics , Ltd. .