four o'clock
Why not let us try and take the raft away with us at once , instead of coming for her in the morning ? '' We cut down a couple of young saplings for poles , carried the raft to the water , and launched it . It was big enough to support five or six people , but floated like a feather , and , to our delight , we found that we could pole it along in shallow water with the greatest of ease . By four o'clock we reached the island , and carried our craft up from the inner beach into a clump of trees . This spot , we thought , would make a good camp , as from it we commanded not only a good view of the lagoon , but of the sea to the south and west , and we felt certain that if Guest turned up all right , he would look for us at this end of the atoll -- even if he made it from the northward , and had to run the coast down . By supper time we had fixed ourselves up comfortably for the night . The rain now only fell at long intervals , the wind had fallen to a strong , steady breeze , and we made up a fire , and cooked some more fish , of which there were still numbers to be had on the beach merely for the trouble of picking them up .