five o'clock
The moment the king 's mother retired , many more of the common people swarmed into the house , and all seemed highly delighted to learn that we intended to stay and see the great fish drive . As every one of our native crew was very anxious to join in the sport , the captain had asked the king 's mother to ` tapu ' the ship till daylight , and shortly afterwards we were told by a messenger from the king that this had been done , and that no native would attempt to board the ship till we had returned . Although these people were honest enough , our captain thought it hardly safe enough to leave the ship without a white man on board , for all natives are very careless with the use of fire , and , being great smokers , he felt nervous on that score . At five o'clock we were taken to the king 's house , where we found the whole population assembled . A great feast was spread out , and King Ralok , who advanced to meet us , took us by our hands and sat us down in the midst of a vast collection of baked fish , bread fruit , turtle meat and eggs , and roast fowls , pigeons and pork . Of course we had to eat ; but at the earliest opportunity the trader told the king that we were anxious to see the preparations made for the drive before it got too dark . Ralok at once agreed , and after drinking the milk of a young coco-nut to wash down the repast , we made a start for the scene of operations .