ain hummed, with drowsiness. I
resisted--at first instinctively, then with a certain flurry of despair,
in the end successfully; if that were indeed success which enabled me to
scramble to my feet, to stumble home somnambulous, to cast myself at
once upon my bed, and sink at once into a dreamless stupor. When I awoke
my cold was gone. So I leave a matter that I do not understand.

Meanwhile my appetite for curiosities (not usually very keen) had been
strangely whetted by the sacred boxes. They were of pandanus wood,
oblong in shape, with an effect of pillaring along the sides like straw
work, lightly fringed with hair or fibre and standing on four legs. The
outside was neat as a toy; the inside a mystery I was resolved to
penetrate. But there was a lion in the path. I might not approach
Terutak', since I had promised to buy nothing in the island; I dared not
have recourse to the king, for I had already received from him more
gifts than I knew how to repay. In this dilemma (the schooner being at
last returned) we hit on a device. Captain Reid came forward in my
stead, professed an unbridled passion for the boxes, and asked and
obtained leave to bargain for them with the wizard. That same afternoon
the captain and I made haste to the infirmary, entered the enclosure,
raised the mat, and had begun to examine the boxes at our leisure, when
Terutak's wife bounced out of one of the nigh houses, fell upon us,
swept up the treasures, and was gone. There was never a more absolute
surprise. She came, she took, she vanished, we had not a guess whither;
and we remained, with foolish looks and laughter, on the empty field.
Such was the fit prologue of our memorable bargaining.

Presently Terutak' came, bringing Tamaiti along with him, both smiling;
and we four squatted without the rail. In the three maniap's of the
infirmary a certain audience was gathered: the family of a sick child
under treatment, the king's sister playing cards, a pretty girl, who
swore I was the image of her father; in all perhaps a score. Terutak's
wife had returned (even as she had vanished) unseen, and now sat,
breathless and watchful, by her husband's side. Perhaps some rumour of
our quest had gone abroad, or perhaps we had given the alert by our
unseemly freedom: certain, at least, that in the faces of all present
expectation and alarm were mingled.

Captain Reid announced, without preface or disguise, that I was come to
purchase; Terutak', with sudden g