midnight
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 . Next morning I thought I detected signs of improvement , and by sundown the improvement was no longer doubtful ; the dry , scorching feeling of the skin had given place to a cool healthy moisture ; the pulse was slower ; the fevered and excited brain at length found rest , and the patient at last even pleaded guilty to a feeling of hunger . Jubilation now reigned supreme in our palm-leaf hut ; the fatted calf -LRB- in the shape of a parrot of gorgeous plumage -RRB- was killed -- and devoured by the patient with something approaching to relish -- and my reputation as a great medicine-man was thenceforth fully established . From this time Smellie began to slowly mend , thanks as much , probably , to Daphne 's tireless nursing and assiduous care as to the relentless perseverance with which I administered my new medicine ; and in little more than a week he was able , with assistance , to totter into the open air and sit for half an hour or so under the shadow of a rough awning of thatch which Daphne and I had with some difficulty contrived to rig up for him .