about four o'clock p.m.
How heartily I wished there had been a pennant of some sort at hand ; I felt that I would not have cared what might be its nationality , I would have found means to board the craft , conveying the news of that wretched slaver 's whereabouts , and afterwards assisting , if possible , in her capture . I remained snugly ensconced in my hiding-place until the clearing up and washing down of the decks informed me that work was over on board the schooner for that day , and then set out cautiously to return to the house . I managed to effect a retreat into the cover of the bush without betraying myself ; and then , moved by a quite uncontrollable impulse , bent my steps once more in the direction of the hill-top , from which I had that morning effected my reconnaissance -- though it took me considerably out of my way -- determined to have just one more look round before settling myself for the evening . It was about four o'clock p.m. by the position of the sun when I once more stood beneath the overshadowing foliage of the tree which I had used as an observatory ; and ten minutes later I found myself among its topmost branches . The atmosphere was luckily still quite clear , a fresh breeze from the eastward having prevailed during the whole of that day ; but a purplish haze was gathering on the western horizon , and my heart leapt into my mouth -- to make use of a well-worn figure of speech -- when , standing out in clear relief against this soft purple-grey background , I saw , far away in the south-western board , the gleaming white sails of a ship stretching in toward the land _ under easy canvas _ . It was this latter fact , of the ship being under easy canvas , which so greatly gratified me . A slaver or an ordinary trader would have been pressing in under every stitch that would draw -- as indeed would a man - o ' - war if she were upon some definite errand -- but _ only _ a man-o ' - war would approach the land in that leisurely manner with evening close at hand .