five o’clock in the afternoon
In other respects , indeed , it had not carried him far , for in the past he had not desired much , and he had won little ; but this particular flower was to his hand , and he would pluck it . If Nahoon stood between him and the flower , so much the worse for Nahoon , and if it should wither in his grasp , so much the worse for the flower ; it could always be thrown away . Thus it came about that , not for the first time in his life , Philip Hadden discarded the somewhat spasmodic prickings of conscience and listened to that evil whispering at his ear . About half-past five o'clock in the afternoon the four refugees passed the stream that a mile or so down fell over the little precipice into the Doom Pool ; and , entering a patch of thorn trees on the further side , walked straight into the midst of two-and-twenty soldiers , who were beguiling the tedium of expectancy by the taking of snuff and the smoking of _ dakka _ or native hemp . With these soldiers , seated on his pony , for he was too fat to walk , waited the Chief Maputa . Observing that their expected guests had arrived , the men knocked out the _ dakka _ pipe , replaced the snuff boxes in the slits made in the lobes of their ears , and secured the four of them . `` What is the meaning of this , O King 's soldiers ? ''