and of far better material than those worn
by the native women generally; in fact she and Mrs. Krause dressed much
alike, with the exception that the latter, of course, wore shoes,
and Niabon's stockingless feet were protected only by rude sandals of
coco-nut fibre such as are still worn by the natives of the Tokelaus and
other isolated and low-lying islands of the Equatorial Pacific.

After making and smoking a cigarette she set about compounding my fever
mixture by first crushing up the coil of '_At 'At_ and then expressing
the thick colourless jelly it contained into the half of a coco-nut
shell, which she placed on some glowing embers, and fanned gently till
it began to give off steam. Then taking half a dozen ripe Chili berries,
she pounded them into a pulp between two stones, added them to the '_At
'At_, and stirred the mixture till it boiled.

"That is all, Simi," she said, as she removed the shell from the fire,
and set it aside; "when it is cool enough to drink, you must take
one-fourth part; another when the sun is _tu'u tonu iluga_ (right
overhead), and the rest to-night."

I thanked her, and promised to carry out her instructions, and then
said--

"Why do you talk to me in three different languages, Niabon? I like to
hear you speak English best, you speak it so prettily."

Not the ghost of a smile crossed her face, and she replied in Samoan
that she did not care to speak English to any one who understood Samoan,
or indeed any other native language. "I am a native woman," she added
somewhat abruptly, "and English cometh hard to my tongue."

I said nothing further on the subject, fearing I might vex her, although
I felt pretty sure that she was _not_ a full-blooded native. However,
I had no right to worry her with questions, and if she preferred to be
thought a native it was no business of mine.

As soon as my medicine had cooled a little, I took my first dose. It
tasted like Hades boiled down, and made me gasp for breath. Then Niabon
bade me wrap myself up in all the rugs and blankets I could procure,
and undergo a good perspiration, assuring me that I should have no more
attacks of the dreaded ague after the second dose. Calling one of my
native servants, a big hulking native named Tepi, to come and roll me up
presently, I first went over to Tematau, and asked him how he was doing,
and as I stooped down to examine his head, and see if the dressing was
all right, a heavy booted footstep sounded outside