three o'clock before
`` Tell those people to get their things together , '' said Gordon , `` and march back out of danger into the woods . Tell Ollypybus I am going to fix things all right ; I do n't know just how yet , but I will , and now come after me as quickly as you can to the cable office . I 've got to tell the paper all about it . '' It was three o'clock before the `` chap at Octavia '' answered Stedman 's signalling . Then Stedman delivered Gordon 's message , and immediately shut off all connection , before the Octavia operator could question him . Gordon dictated his message in this way : -- `` Begin with the date line , ` Opeki , June 22 . ' `` At seven o'clock this morning , the captain and officers of the German man-of-war , _ Kaiser _ , went through the ceremony of annexing this island in the name of the German Emperor , basing their right to do so on an agreement made with a leader of a wandering tribe , known as the Hillmen .