k together, and what happiness it must have been to
both! Late in the evening the ship weighed anchor, and good-byes were
shouted across the water. No doubt hearts were heavy both on deck and on
the shore, where the green cliffs remained crowded as long as the ship
was in sight. But it gave the exiles something to look forward to, which
meant a great deal in their lives.

* * * * *

Now anyone would have thought that, after all Father Damien had done and
obtained for them, the lepers of Molokai would have been filled with
gratitude to their priest. But among the inhabitants of the island there
was a large number who met him sullenly, with downcast faces, and spoke
evil of him behind his back. The priest took no notice, and greeted them
as cheerfully as he did the rest, but he knew well the cause of their
dislike, and he could take no steps to remove it. The reason was not far
to seek; he had tried, and at last succeeded, in putting down the
manufacture of spirits from the ki-tree, which grew all over the island,
and made those who drank it, not stupid, but almost mad. He had been at
Molokai for ten years before their enmity died out, and that was only
when they knew that he, like themselves, was a leper!

For the doom, though long delayed, fell upon him. When he first
suspected it he consulted some of the doctors then on the island, as,
besides the one always living there, there were others who came for a
few months to study the disease under great precautions. They laughed at
his words, and told him that he was as strong as ever he was, and that
no one else could have done what he had done for ten years without
catching the disease, but as he had escaped so far he was probably safe
to the end. Father Damien did not contradict them. He saw that they
really believed what they stated, and were not seeking to soothe his
fears; but he went to a German doctor who had not been present with the
rest and told him the symptoms he had himself noticed. 'You are right,'
said the doctor after a pause, and Father Damien went out and sat in a
lonely place by the sea.

[Illustration: Father Damien went out and sat in a lonely place by the
sea.]

In a little while he had faced it all and was master of himself
again--and more; as his condition became known he felt that he was
working with a new power. Those who had turned a deaf ear to him before
listened to him now; he was no longer a man apart from t