eight o'clock
In his crazy obstinacy he would listen to nothing , and I would find myself , after one of these interviews , in a state of indescribable exasperation and determined never to go near him again . One night , when I was up at Malifa calling on a dear good friend of mine , Sasa French , a charming and most accomplished young native lady , our talk happened to run for the thousandth time on this vexing matter of Rosalie and Silver Tongue . All of a sudden an idea came into Sasa 's pretty head -- one of those brilliant , clever , feminine ideas -- that seemed to us , in that triumphant moment , to be the means of untangling all our difficulties . Though it was eight o'clock , and there was the risk of gossip in my driving Sasa French alone about the Municipality at such an hour , I put her into my buggy , whipped up my horse , and set a straight course for Seumanutafa , the high chief of Apia . He laughed a good deal , demurred somewhat , and was finally persuaded to squeeze his Herculean dimensions into the trap and start off with us for To'oto ` o 's house at Songi . Here , after the usual ceremonious exchanges , the womenfolk and children melted away and left us alone with To'oto ` o , whose ferretty eyes betrayed no small degree of curiosity and alarm . This man was one of the few Samoans I never liked .