lm thatch, with substantial posts at due distance. As he
walked along it, Micholitz became aware of an unpleasant smell. It was not
strong. But in turning the further corner he marked a great purple stain
upon the sand. Flies clustered thick there. It was blood. And then, upon
the wall of thatch above, and the corner post, he traced the stain
streaming broadly down. He looked to the other angle. The horrid mark was
there also. They could not see him from the beach. Easily he parted the
crackling palm leaves, and thrust in his head. At a few feet distance rose
the lofty stern-post, carved and painted, with two broad shells glistening
like eyes in the twilight. No more could he see, dazzled by the glare
outside. That passed. He turned to the right hand-and drew back with a
cry. A naked corpse, with head hanging on its chest, was bound to the
corner post--the same to left.

Poor Micholitz felt sick. He ran from the cursed spot. So glowing was the
sunlight round, so sweet and soft the shadow of the near forest--and those
awful things in the midst! The old hymn rang in his ears--

Where every prospect pleases
And only man is vile.

He hurried towards the trees.

An outburst of yells and laughter made him turn. The circle had broken
up. A swarm of warriors danced towards the boat-house--tore down the
walls; in an instant the posts stood naked--with their burdens. Chiefs
climbed aboard the prau and mustered, with tossing feathers, brandishing
their arms, shouting and singing, on its deck. Ropes were manned. Scores
of brawny savages started at a run, whilst the boys howled with delight
and tumbled over one another. The great vessel moved, quickened. Then a
party rushed upon that little group, trampling it under foot, snatched up
the boy and girl, and sped with them towards the sea. The old man and
women lay where they were tossed: there was no help for them in earth or
heaven. The prau glided quicker and quicker amidst a roaring tumult. As it
neared the sea, those small victims, tossed aloft from either side, fell
across its course. Micholitz looked no more.

'Let me attend to my business, for God's sake!' he kept repeating.

But when he reached the trees his business was done. Those horrors had so
disconcerted him that for an instant he saw long green stems of orchid
perched upon the boughs without regarding them. But here was one from the
top of which depended a cluster of rosy garlands, four or five, bearing a