noon
More than a hundred of them were taken off her weather-side , and evenly divided . Miss Rolleston , at Hazel 's earnest request , ate only six , and these very slowly , and laid the rest by . But the sailors could not restrain themselves ; and Prince , in particular , gorged himself so fiercely that he turned purple in the face , and began to breathe very hard . That black speck on the horizon had grown by noon to a beetle , and by three o'clock to something more like an elephant , and it now diffused itself into a huge black cloud , that gradually overspread the heavens ; and at last , about half an hour before sunset , came a peculiar chill , and then , in due course , a drop or two fell upon the parched wretches . They sat , less like animals than like plants , all stretching toward their preserver . Their eyes were turned up to the clouds , so were their open mouths , and their arms and hands held up toward it . The drops increased in number , and praise went up to Heaven in return .