matter was speedily forgotten.
Then the rain fell in torrents, and as the ship was made snug the watch
got under shelter and the mate went below to get a drink of rum, and
curse his captain for loafing ashore, watching naked women dancing.

***** Three miles further out a canoe was drifting and tossing about
with outrigger carried away. Now and then, as a big sea lifted her, the
stern would rise high out of the water and the sharp-nosed whaleback
for'ard go down as if weighted heavily. And it was--with a bag of
dollars lashed underneath. When in the early morning the whaleship
sighted the drifting speck, floating on the bosom of a now placid sea,
the thoughtful Down-East skipper--observant of the canoe's bows being
under water--lowered a boat and pulled over to it. He took the bag of
dollars and muttering something about "rather thinking he was kinder
acquainted with the poor man's people," went back to the ship and stood
away on his course in pursuit of his greasy vocation.

*****

And Kennedy and the girl! Go some night and watch the dark-skinned
people catching flying-fish by the light of _au lama_ torches. Look over
the side of the canoe and see those swarms of grim, grey devils of the
tropic seas that ever and anon dart to the surface as the paddlers'
hands come perilously near the water, and wonder no longer as to the
fete of Kennedy the Boatsteerer and his Laumanu.

A DEAD LOSS

Denison, the supercargo of the _Indiana_, was sent by his "owners" to an
island in the S.W. Pacific where they had a trading business, the man
in charge or which had, it was believed, got into trouble by shooting
a native. His instructions were to investigate the rumour, and, if
the business was suffering in any way, to take away the trader and put
another man in his place. The incident here related is well within the
memory of some very worthy men who still dwell under the roofs of thatch
in the Western Pacific.

*****

The name of the island was--well, say Nukupapau.

The _Indiana_ sailed from Auckland in December, and made a smart run
till the blue peaks of Tutuila were sighted, when the trades foiled
and heavy weather came on from the westward. Up to this time Denison's
duties as supercargo had kept him busy in the trade-room, and he had had
no time to study his new captain, for, although they met at table three
times a day, beyond a few civilities they had done no talking. Captain
Chaplin was young--about thirty--and