noon
`` Now if you have room for us all , Captain -- '' `` Jenks , very much at your service , '' said the captain , with a flourish . `` I suppose you 'd like to go right over ? '' `` We should , if you can take us , '' said Mother Blossom . `` The children are hungry and it must be after noon . '' Captain Jenks assured her that he could take them to Apple Tree Island without stopping at any other port , and as soon as they were comfortably on board he started his engine . `` Chug-chug-chug ! '' coughed the little motorboat .