midnight
Fertile as was Tetuaroa , the continued demands made upon its people for food by the royal family of Tahiti had frequently reduced them to a condition bordering upon starvation . But these requests had , of late years , been so much modified , that the island , under the rule of Mahua , had become renowned for its wealth of food and the prosperous condition of its inhabitants . It was , therefore , with no pleasant feelings that the people viewed the approaching marriage of the son of their chief to the child of the grasping Tetoro , a man who would certainly see no abatement made in the extortions he had succeeded in inducing his vassal Mahua to again inaugurate . * * * * * At midnight , long after the women were asleep , the principal men of the island met together and talked of the dream described by the slave girl . So firmly were they convinced that she had been chosen by the gods as a means of warning them of their impending rate if the marriage took place , that they firmly resolved to frustrate it , even if it cost every one of them his life . But , so that neither Mahua nor his son should suspect their intentions , they set about to prepare for the great feast ordered by Tetoro ; and for the next week or so the whole population was busily engaged in bringing together their various presents of food and goods , and conveying them to the chief 's house , where , on the arrival of the fleet of canoes that would bring the king 's daughter from Paré , they would be presented to her in person by the priests and minor chiefs . * * * * * On the afternoon of the tenth day , some men whom Mahua had set to watch for Tetoro 's fleet saw the great mat sails of five war canoes sweeping across the long line of palms that fringed the southern beach ?