about four o'clock in the
morning
`` What does that mean , captain ? '' said Mistress Pamela , who stood with the other passengers observing the bark from the poop-deck above . `` A salute , madam , '' said I , and so shut my glass and went into my cabin , where Mr. Langely presently joined me at my request , and where we talked over this very ugly piece of business at our leisure . In those hot latitudes , such as Madagascar , the darkness cometh very sudden after sunset , and with no long twilights such as we have in England , so that within half an hour after the pirate had saluted us with a round shot , as told above , it had passed from daylight to night-time , and there being no moon until about four o'clock in the morning , it was very dark , with an infinite quantity of stars shining most beautifully in the sky . I ordered my gig to be made ready , and went aboard the _ Greenwich _ , where I found Captain Kirby suffering under the utmost consternation of spirits . He took me straight to his cabin , where , when we were set down , he fell to blaming himself most severely for not having clapped chains upon the fourteen pirates whom he had found on the island upon his arrival at that place , and who , it was very plain to see , had given such information to their fellows as had brought a great number of them down upon us . So soon as I was able I checked him in his self-reproaches .