noon
`` Here is a fine pickle ! I 'm furious with myself , and yet I do n't see what more I could have done . There are two alternatives before us , so far as I can see -- either we must get into one of these old tubs and row ourselves across , or give up the island altogether , and spend the day where we are . '' At this there was a groan of dismay , for , truth to tell , the village was of an uninteresting character , and the sands felt like an oven in the shadeless noon . To spend the day here would indeed be waste of time , while only a few miles off lay the island of their dreams -- that wonderful island , with the blue waves splashing its shores , the kindly trees shading its crest . `` The island ! the island ! ''