twelve o’clock
`` From this on the tide will be coming in again . '' The Tortoise lay on the top of a grey bank from which the water had entirely receded . Between her and the channel , now a tangle of floating weed , lay a broad stretch of mud , dotted over with large stones and patches of gravel . The wind , which had been veering round to the south since twelve o'clock , had almost entirely died away . The sun shone very warmly . The Tortoise , lying sadly on her side , afforded no shelter at all . Both the beer and the lemonade were finished .