midday
I had thought he was one of the crew , not knowing that there was a shepherd on the island . He was an old , leprous person , not quite all there , and affected by some awful disease or other which gave him obscenely thickened lips , horrible to look at . We took great trouble to tell him what it was all about . Then , scratching his diseased lip , the old man told us that , yes indeed , from inside his hut he had heard a fearful crash on the rocks at midday on that day . The island was completely flooded , so he could n't go out-of-doors and it was n't until the next day that he opened up to see the shore covered in debris and bodies washed up by the sea . Horrified , he ran to his boat to try to get some help from Bonifacio . The shepherd was tired by all this talking , and sat down , and the Master took up the story : -- Yes , monsieur , this was the unfortunate old man that came to raise the alarm .