noon
This was then placed in slanting troughs to rot and let the oil percolate down into casks placed at the lower end . On the other side of the `` plaza '' were the forge , carpenter 's shop , and boat-builder 's sheds , all of which bustled with activity , especially when the dreaded eye of the captain looked over toward them . Two hundred yards away was the Kusaiean village of Utwe , a collection of about twenty handsomely built houses , and all day long the pale olive-faced Kusaiean men and women would sit gazing in wondering fear at the fierce Pleasant Island women , who , clothed in short girdles of grass called `` aireere , '' sang a savage chant as they husked the nuts . In front of Hayes 's house was hung the _ Leonora 's _ bell , and at noon and at six in the evening , when it was struck , the whole of the people who toiled at the oil-making and boat-building would hurry away with loud clamour for their meals . It was a truly exciting scene to witness , and were it not for the continual drunkenness of most of the white traders , who could be seen staggering about the `` plaza '' almost at any time , a pleasant one . After a while , however , Hayes and the white traders began to quarrel , and dreadful bloodshed would have followed ; for the Pleasant Islanders , who were all devotedly attached to their white masters and were all armed with Snider rifles and cutlasses , were eager for their white men to make an assault upon Hayes and the crew of the _ Leonora _ . One night they gathered in front of their houses and danced a war-dance , but their white leaders discreetly kept in the background when Hayes appeared coming over toward them .