noon
This , however , for the time being caused us little or no uneasiness , as we felt assured that , should their attentions become inconveniently obtrusive , a bullet or two , or failing that , a round-shot from our carronade , fired over their heads , would promptly send them to the right-about . Later on in the day , however , I must confess that I for one began to experience a slight qualm of anxiety as I noticed the steadily increasing number of canoes , _ some _ of them carrying as many as ten or a dozen men , in our vicinity . They were all ostensibly engaged in fishing , it is true ; but that this was only a pretence , or that they were meeting with unusually bad luck , was evident from the small number of fish captured . Still , up to noon , though the behaviour of the natives had been steadily growing more suspicious and unsatisfactory , no actual hostile demonstration had been made ; and we landed upon a small bare , sandy islet to cook and despatch our dinner . During all this time we had , of course , been carefully checking the chart of the river copied by me from the one found on board the _ Virginia _ , and comparing it with our own survey ; the general result being to prove that it was very fairly accurate , quite sufficiently so at least to serve as a safe guide to any vessel of light draught , say up to ten feet or so , making for the island on which was the alleged slave depot . This chart told us that we had now arrived within a distance of some six miles of the island in question , a statement verified to some extent by the fact that on an island situate at about that distance from us we could make out , with the aid of our glasses , an object which might very well pass for a large building of some kind . The river channel between us and this island was entirely free of visible obstructions , and we therefore hoped that , by a little extra exertion , we might succeed in completing our survey right up to the island , and gaining possession of it and the hulk -- thus achieving the full object of the expedition -- before nightfall .