noon
Dat good t ` ing . '' Oliver and I were very glad , and thanked him very much for catching the creature . However , I urged him to go back at once , that we might continue our work on the sago-tree , for I was sure that , though by eating flesh and fish we might support our lives , we should not retain our health without bread , or a substitute for it , which the sago would afford . From the height of the sun , in addition to the hints of our own appetites , we guessed that it was already past noon . We therefore proposed returning with the cuscus to our hut . Tying up the legs of our prize with the ratan , we passed a piece of bamboo through them , and took our way by the path we had cut to the beach . Our fire was out , and the number of flies collected round our mollusc made us doubtful whether we were not too late to preserve it from destruction .