ked us what it meant.

"What _could_ we say but that it was no fault of ours; and then, by a
happy inspiration, I added that although Miss Weidermann was generally
well-conducted enough, she sometimes got blazing drunk, and made a beast
of herself. This explanation satisfied the chiefs, if not the women, and
everything went on smoothly. And as it was then nearly dark, and I was
determined that Mataafa should get his rifles, half a dozen of his men
took us off in their canoes, and we went on board. The skipper and I had
fixed up as to what we should do with the Weidermann creature. She was
seated at the cabin table waiting to open out on us, but the skipper
didn't give her a chance.

"'Go to your cabin at once, madam,' he said solemnly, 'and I trust you
will not again leave it in your present condition. Your conduct is
simply astounding. _Steward, see that you give Miss Weidermann no more
grog_.'

"The poor old girl thought that either he or she herself was going mad,
but he gave her no time to talk. The captain opened her state-room door,
gently pushed her in, and put a man outside to see that she didn't come
out again. Then we handed out the rifles through the stern-ports to the
natives in the canoes, and sent them away rejoicing. And that's the end
of the yarn, and Miss Weidermann nearly went into a fit next morning
when we told her that no less than thirty respectable native women had
taken their oaths that she was mad drunk, and abused them vilely."

The junior partner laughed loudly at the story, and Otway, with a more
amiable look on his face, rose.

"Well, I'll do what I can for these people. I'll make room for them
somehow. Where are they going?"

"Samoa. They have an idea of settling down there, I think, for a few
months, and then going on to China. They have plenty of money,
apparently."

"Oh, well, tell them to come on board to-morrow, and I'll show them what
can be done for them."

* * * * *

So the Rev. and Mrs. Lacy did come on board, and Mr. Charles Otway was
vanquished by just one single glance from the lady's violet eyes.

"It would have been such a dreadful disappointment to us if we could not
have obtained passages in the _Tucopia_," she said, in her soft, sweet
voice, as she sank back in the deck-chair he placed before her. "My
husband is so bent on making a tour through Samoa. Now, do tell me, Mr.
Otway, are these islands so very lovely?"

"Very, very lov