nine o'clock
`` Never mind my extravagance , Niâbon , '' I said , in the same spirit ; `` the one hundred and twenty-five pounds of tobacco in the half-tierce , which only cost me a quarter of a dollar a pound , is better given away to these people than left here to rot . '' `` Indeed it is , '' she replied , as she watched Tepi and Pai roll out the half-tierce of the beloved tobacco from my trade-room into that in which we were sitting ; `` these people here will never forget you . '' As soon as old Kaibuka and the other head man had left -- each after taking a stiff glass of grog -- and the house was again quiet , Niâbon , Tepi , and I set to work to take stock , they calling out the various articles of my trade goods whilst I made out the list . We worked at this throughout the night , had an early breakfast , and then went at it again , and by nine o'clock the work was over , and I knew how I stood with my employers financially . It was pretty satisfactory , considering the short time I had been on the island ; for with my salary of ten pounds a month , and the five per cent , commission I was allowed on all the goods I sold , there were over three hundred pounds due to me . Then , in addition to my cash takings , which came to over three thousand dollars , I had bought over a hundred tons of copra -LRB- dried coco-nut -RRB- at a very low price , paying for it with trade goods -- muskets , rifles , ammunition , tobacco , and liquor -- on which latter article my esteemed employers made something like a thousand per cent , profit . Of course I had had a big pull over Krause , whose stock of trade was almost exhausted when I landed , whilst I had come ashore with half a schooner-load .