eleven at night
It was like a feeble flame that flickered occasionally . From a state of stupor he would return to it -- SO THIS WAS A HURRICANE . Then he would go off into another stupor . The height of the hurricane endured from eleven at night till three in the morning , and it was at eleven that the tree in which clung Mapuhi and his women snapped off . Mapuhi rose to the surface of the lagoon , still clutching his daughter Ngakura . Only a South Sea islander could have lived in such a driving smother . The pandanus tree , to which he attached himself , turned over and over in the froth and churn ; and it was only by holding on at times and waiting , and at other times shifting his grips rapidly , that he was able to get his head and Ngakura 's to the surface at intervals sufficiently near together to keep the breath in them .