nine
o'clock
And we all spent many happy evenings together . But I could see that Evers was extremely jealous of his second mate 's reputation as a South Sea pilot , and he would very often purposely question him as to the entrance of such and such a passage of such and such an island , and then deliberately contradict his officer 's plain and truthful statements , and tell him he was wrong . Foster , a good-humoured old fellow , would merely laugh and change the subject , though he well knew that Captain Evers had had very little experience of the navigation of the South Seas , and relied upon his charts more than upon his local knowledge -- he would never take a suggestion from his officers , both of whom were old `` island '' men -- especially the second mate . We loaded the hundred tons of copra , and were ready for sea by nine o'clock one morning , when a number of large sailing canoes came off , crowded with natives from a distant part of the island , all anxious to buy firearms and ammunition in view of a great expedition against the adjacent island of Tarawa . They all possessed either plenty of money or copra , and Evers did a remarkably good , though illegal business , and sold them over a hundred rifles . By the time they had finished , however , it was past one o'clock , and I concluded that we could not leave the lagoon till the following morning . To my surprise , and the second mate 's open-mouthed astonishment , the skipper , who was highly elated with his morning 's trading , told the mate to clear the decks , and get ready to heave up .