noon
They watched the disintegration of the ice with considerable worriment . It seemed to melt away much quicker during these hours of sunshine than it had on the previous occasion when the orb of day shone fully upon the surface of the island in the air . The soil they had camped upon began to crumble away , too , for the heat was insidiously melting the ice under the morainial deposit . At the time which should be high noon -- when the sun was directly overhead in its course -- one end of the patch of soil , forest and all , slumped into the water with a loud crash , and at once the fierce current tore the rubbish apart and carried it onward to the brink of the crevasse , into the maw of which it fell . `` Wash is perfectly right in his statement , '' Jack Darrow said . `` This is no place for any of us . As soon as the ice freezes up after the sun sets we must travel as fast as we can after the wolves . ''