four o'clock in the afternoon
The empty launch with the negroes was now cast-off , and preparations made for raising the anchor again and making sail . However , this was not the end of the cow episode by any means ; for , as luck would have it , all Captain Miles ' hopes of milk with his coffee during the voyage home to England were soon summarily dispelled , the career of the animal which was to have supplied the lacteal fluid having terminated most unexpectedly . All hands being busy getting the ship under weigh , the animal had been left standing for the time where she had been set down in the waist , the sling being unloosed from her and the end of the halter , which Jake had put over her head when she had been secured , tied to the mainmast bitts -- so as to prevent her moving until the long-boat amidships , which was to form her quarters , should be made ready for her reception . Then , when the canvas of the _ Josephine _ was once more spread to the breeze and the vessel was working out from Saint Vincent , Captain Miles told the steward to serve dinner in the cabin , it being now near sunset and long past the usual hour for that meal , which was generally on the table at `` eight bells , '' or four o'clock in the afternoon . I went into the cabin with the captain and second mate , Mr Marline being left in charge of the poop ; and , presently , I could see through the sliding-doors leading from the main-deck into the cuddy , which were of course left wide open , as we were still in the tropics , the steward Harry , a freckle-faced mulatto of the colour of pale ginger , bringing in a tureen of soup from the cook 's galley forward . As he passed by close to where the cow was tethered , whether the smell of the savoury compound aroused the animal 's hunger , or because Harry , coming too near , reminded her of the recent indignities to which she had been subjected , the cow all at once made a plunge at him with her head . Harry sheered off , spilling a portion of the soup ; and he was so frightened that he ran full speed with the remainder into the cabin .