four o'clock in the afternoon
Hardly a half minute passed that one of the four Chinamen that were fishing did not signal a catch , and Charlie and Jim were kept busy with spade and gaff . By noon the deck-tubs were full . The lines were hauled in , and the hands set the tubs in the sun to try out the oil . Under the tropical heat the shark livers almost visibly melted away , and by four o'clock in the afternoon the tubs were full of a thick , yellow oil , the reek of which instantly recalled to Wilbur 's mind the rancid smell of the schooner on the day when he had first come aboard of her . The deck-tubs were emptied into the hogsheads and vats that stood in the waist of the `` Bertha , '' the tubs scoured , and the lines and bent shark-hooks overhauled . Charlie disappeared in the galley , supper was cooked , and eaten upon deck under the conflagration of the sunset ; the lights were set , the Chinamen foregathered in the fo ` c ` stle head , smoking opium , and by eight o'clock the routine of the day was at an end . So the time passed .