noon
We knocked about on the Bay till a little before five o'clock . Ed and Jimmy told me how they had found the Captain at Big Duck Island , and how he had spent the night with them all on the `` White Rabbit . '' In the morning the whereabouts of the `` Hoppergrass '' was still a mystery , although the Captain had been told that the Kidds had probably taken her . Everyone was too impatient , however , to stay at Big Duck until noon , so they set out for Lanesport . Of course they did not find me at the Eagle House , so they decided to make for Rogers 's Island . They were on their way when they sighted us . It was our action , in altering our course , that made them think there might be something in the theory that the `` Hoppergrass '' had been stolen by the burglars .