about noon
With this object I opened the nuts and set the kernels to steep in water in a gourd basin -LRB- upon setting up housekeeping we soon accumulated quite a number of gourd utensils -RRB- . I observed with satisfaction that the water soon began to acquire a brown colour ; and after my decoction had stood for about three hours I found that its flavour had become quite as strong as was desirable . Fearing to take much at the outset , lest I should unwittingly be swallowing poison , I drank about a quarter of a pint , and then , with some anxiety , awaited the result . It was about noon when I swallowed the potion , and two hours afterwards I was more hungry than I remembered to have ever been before . So far , good ; I determined to wait until night , and then , if no worse result than hunger revealed itself , try the effect of my new medicine upon Smellie . By sunset I had come to the conclusion , that whatever else my decoction might be , it was not a poison , and with , I must confess , a certain amount of fear and trepidation , I at last prevailed upon myself to administer the draught , sitting down forthwith to watch and await the result . By midnight the most that could be said of our patient was that he was no worse ; and , encouraged on the whole by this negative result , I then administered a second and larger dose .