About twelve o'clock
Then he sarcastically told Denison that the cheese he had sent Mrs. O ------ might have passed for dynamite , it was so dry and tasteless . `` Well , dynamite is made from cheese , you know , '' said the supercargo deferentially , `` just cheese slightly impregnated with picric acid , gastrito-nepenthe , and cubes of oxalicogene . '' Saunderson said he knew that , and after telling Rigby that he would walk over to his station before dinner , and show him where to begin operations on the reef , went on shore again . About twelve o'clock Denison and Rigby went on shore to test the dynamite , fuse , and caps -- first in the water and then on the reef . Just abreast of the mission-house they saw a big school of grey mullet swimming close in to the beach , and Denison quickly picked up a stone , tied it with some string round a cartridge , cut the fuse very short , lit it , and threw it in . There was a short fizz , then a dull , heavy thud , and up came hundreds of the beautiful fish stunned or dead . Saunderson came out of the mission-house and watched the natives collecting them .