noon
Two or three times Jim tried to open a conversation , but Percy responded only in monosyllables . He was tired and sleepy , and felt generally out-of-sorts . So Jim gave it up and let him alone . They reached Sprowl 's Cove at noon . Budge and Throppy had returned some time before from pulling the lobster-traps ; Jim inspected their catch . `` About forty pounds , '' was his estimate . `` Rather slim ; but then the traps were down only about twelve hours .