twelve o'clock
It was easy to propose to myself the making of a raft or the like of such a fabric ; but everything was so hard frozen that , being single-handed , it was next to impossible I should be able to put together such a contrivance as would be fit to live in the smallest sea-way . However , I was resolved not to make myself melancholy with these considerations . The good fortune that had attended me so far might accompany me to the end , and maybe I was the fitter just then to take a hopeful view of my condition because of the cheerfulness awakened in me by the noble show of coal in the forepeak . At twelve o'clock by the watch in my pocket I got my dinner . I had a mind for a lighter drink than brandy , and went to the lazarette and cut out a block of the wine in the cask I had opened ; I also knocked out the head of a tierce of beef , designing a hearty regale for supper . You smile , perhaps , that I should talk so much of my eating ; but if on shore , amid the security of existence there , it is the one great business of life , that is to say , the one great business of life after love , what must it be to a poor shipwrecked wretch like me , who had nothing else to think of but his food ? Yet I could not help smiling when I considered how I was carrying my drink about in my fingers .