afternoon, about six o'clock
But he was yet the veriest slave to Flemming 's children , who tyrannised over him most mercilessly , for young as they were , they knew that his savage heart had nothing in it but adoration and affection for both them and their parents . Nobal , the younger man , who also had a nickname -- `` Jack Waterwitch '' -LRB- taken from a colonial whaler in which he had once sailed -RRB- was of a more genial nature , and had constituted himself the especial guardian and playmate of the little girl Medora , who spoke his native tongue as well as himself ; while Tommy Topsail-tie was more attached , if it were possible , to Flemming 's eldest boy Robert , than to any other member of the family . After two or three years ' successful trading in the northern islands of the Kingsmill Group , Flemming had sold out his trading interests very satisfactorily , and , always eager to go further afield , had sailed for the Paumotu Group , choosing Anaa as his home , for he thought he should like the people , and do very well as a trader , for the island was but a few days ' sail from Tahiti in the Society Group , where there was always a good market for his produce , and where he could replenish his stock of trade goods from the great mercantile firm of Brander -- in those days the Whiteleys of the South and Eastern Pacific . One afternoon , about six o'clock , when work at the trading station had ceased for the day , and the store door had been shut and locked by Mrs. Flemming , the trader was seated on his shady verandah , smoking a cigar and listening to the prattle of his little daughter , when his two boys raced up to him from the beach , and noisily asked him permission to take the smallest of the boats -LRB- a ship 's dinghy -RRB- and go fishing outside the reef until the morning . They had just heard some natives crying out that a vast shoal of _ tau tau _ -- a large salmonlike fish , greatly prized throughout the South Seas -- had made their appearance , and already some canoes were being got ready . `` Who is going with you , boys ? '' asked Flemming , looking at their deeply-bronzed , healthy faces -- so like his own , though his hair had now begun to grizzle about his sunburnt temples .