noon
In the noon of a September day in the year of our dear Lord 1395 , a merchant vessel nodded sleepily upon the gentle swells of warm water flowing in upon the Syrian coast . A modern seafarer , looking from the deck of one of the Messagerie steamers now plying the same line of trade , would regard her curiously , thankful to the calm which held her while he slaked his wonder , yet more thankful that he was not of her passage . She could not have exceeded a hundred tons burthen . At the bow and stern she was decked , and those quarters were fairly raised .