le stars, now composed in a thick wreath. With the night, the
crowd sometimes thickened in the road, and the padding and brushing of
bare feet became continuous; the promenades mostly grave, the silence
only interrupted by some giggling and scampering of girls; even the
children quiet. At nine, bed-time struck on a bell from the cathedral,
and the life of the town ceased. At four the next morning the signal is
repeated in the darkness, and the innocent prisoners set free; but for
seven hours all must lie--I was about to say within doors, of a place
where doors, and even walls, are an exception--housed, at least, under
their airy roofs and clustered in the tents of the mosquito-nets.
Suppose a necessary errand to occur, suppose it imperative to send
abroad, the messenger must then go openly, advertising himself to the
police with a huge brand of cocoa-nut, which flares from house to house
like a moving bonfire. Only the police themselves go darkling, and grope
in the night for misdemeanants. I used to hate their treacherous
presence; their captain in particular, a crafty old man in white, lurked
nightly about my premises till I could have found it in my heart to beat
him. But the rogue was privileged.

Not one of the eleven resident traders came to town, no captain cast
anchor in the lagoon, but we saw him ere the hour was out. This was
owing to our position between the store and the bar--the "Sans Souci,"
as the last was called. Mr. Rick was not only Messrs. Wightman's
manager, but consular agent for the States. Mrs. Rick was the only white
woman on the island, and one of the only two in the archipelago; their
house besides, with its cool verandahs, its bookshelves, its comfortable
furniture, could not be rivalled nearer than Jaluit or Honolulu. Every
one called in consequence, save such as might be prosecuting a South Sea
quarrel, hingeing on the price of copra and the odd cent, or perhaps a
difference about poultry. Even these, if they did not appear upon the
north, would be presently visible to the southward, the "Sans Souci"
drawing them as with cords. In an island with a total population of
twelve white persons, one of the two drinking-shops might seem
superfluous; but every bullet has its billet, and the double
accommodation of Butaritari is found in practice highly convenient by
the captains and the crews of ships: "The Land we Live in" being tacitly
resigned to the forecastle, the "Sans Souci" tacitly reserved fo