noon
How their eyes would pop if they could see through the padlocked door of his prison ! But he had no inclination to be discovered now . He wanted to go on , and with a growing exultation he saw there was no intention on the part of the bateau 's crew to loiter on the way . There was no stop at noon , and the tie-up did not come until the last glow of day was darkening into the gloom of night in the sky . For sixteen hours the bateau had traveled steadily , and it could not have made less than sixty miles as the river ran . The raft , David figured , had not traveled a third of the distance . The fact that the bateau 's progress would bring him to Chateau Boulain many days , and perhaps weeks , before Black Roger and Marie-Anne could arrive on the raft did not check his enthusiasm .