nine o'clock
We tried to cheer him up , but he only shook his head , and requested us to commit to paper the exact bearings of the patches of the pearl-shell beds on the lagoon he was doomed never to see again . This was done , and he then requested that as Tracey 's wife had nursed him during the time he was on board , that what would have been his share of the profits of our coming venture should be given to her , as he had not a relative or connection in the world . Early in the morning he had breathed his last . `` We buried the old fellow that afternoon , and almost immediately afterward dirty weather came up from the northward , and by nine o'clock we were driving along under an ugly sky at a great rate . Tracey was below , turned in , and I was on deck with Barradas , who had taken the wheel for a few minutes to allow the man who was steering to lend a hand at some job on the main deck . Just then , poor Alice Tracey came up from below , walked aft , and stood at the stern with her hand on the rail , looking at the brig 's boiling wake ; this was a frequent habit of hers . Neither of us took any further notice of her after she had remarked that the cabin was very stuffy -- we were running before the wind at the time .