noon
`` Will you tell me what steamer that is , where she is bound , and what she is here for ? '' `` My dear Mr. Pierson , it would take me forty-eight hours to tell you all that , '' replied the representative of the Bellevite , taking out his watch . `` If you will meet me here to-morrow night at sundown , I will make a beginning of the yarn , and I think I can finish it in two days . But really you must excuse me now ; for I have to dine with the Chinese admiral at noon , and I must go at once . '' `` I can put the owner of that craft in the way of making a fortune for himself , if he is willing to part with her , '' added Percy , as his companion began to move off . `` That is just what the owner of that steamer wants to do : he desires to part with her , and he is determined to get rid of her . I have the means of knowing that he will let her go just as soon as he can possibly get rid of her . ''