About noon
Nor did it reappear so long as he was awake , but all through his dreams the old captain kept reminding him that the stick was his own . `` Do it ; do it ; do n't put off , '' he kept saying ; but as often as Cosmo asked him what , he could never hear his reply , and would wake yet again with the horse in his hand . In the morning he screwed it on the stick again , and set it by his bed-side . About noon , when both the doctors happened to be out , Joan came to see him , and was more like her former self than she had been for many days . Hardly was she seated when he took the stick , and said , `` Did you ever see that before , Joan ? '' `` Do you remember showing me a horse just like that one , only larger ? '' she returned .