about noon
The lad stopped a moment and took a pull at his cup , and a murmur of talk broke out in the room . Anthony was surprised at his accent and manner of speaking , and heard afterwards that he was the son of the parson at one of the inland villages , and had had an education . In a moment he went on . `` Well -- it would be about noon , just before the Admiral came up from Calais , that the old _ Seahorse _ was lost . We came at the dons again as we had done before , only closer than ever ; and just as the captain gave the word to put her about , a ball from one of their guns which they had trained down on us , cut old Dick Kemp in half at the helm , and broke the tiller to splinters . '' `` Old Dick ? '' said a man 's voice out of the reeking crowd , `` Old Dick ? ''