inexcusable blunder to put the nervous ones in
the front rank.

The strange stone structures similar to the one upon which Holman and
Verslun narrowly escaped being offered up as sacrifices to the Centipede
are to be found in many islands of the Pacific at the present day. In
the Tongan, Caroline, and Cook groups these peculiar stone ruins remain
as evidence of the existence of an ancient people of superior
intelligence to the islanders of to-day. As to the meaning or use of
these structures we are entirely in the dark. The natives of these
groups know nothing concerning them, and the Polynesian builder in that
dark past was too busy clubbing and eating his neighbour to write
histories. Scientists are in doubt, as in the case of the great ruins at
Metalanim, whether they were built as sacrificial altars or as monuments
to ambitious chiefs, and there are no records to enlighten us. But these
relics are convincing proofs that the islands have been inhabited for
many hundreds of years, and we are left to conjecture regarding the
origin and history of the people.

The Dance of the Centipede, which Holman and Verslun witnessed in the
Long Gallery, can be seen to-day by any tourist who leaves the beaten
paths. Every missionary to the islands can tell of "devil dances" that
take place in secluded groves, and in which, to his great disgust, his
converts often take part. It takes time to turn the savage from his old
beliefs. Although the South Seas constitute the last fortress of
romance, and a mention of the coral atolls immediately conjures up a
vision of palms and rice-white beaches, the sensitive person senses the
dark and bloody past when the wizard men were the rulers, and death
stalked in the palm groves.

J.F.D.
New York, March, 1912.

[Illustration]

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. The Song of the Maori
II. The Professor's Daughters
III. A Knife From the Dark
IV. The Storm
V. I Make a Promise
VI. The Isle of Tears
VII. The Pit
VIII. The Ledge of Death
IX. Into the Valley of Echoes
X. A Midnight Alarm
XI. Kaipi Performs a Service
XII. The Devil Dancers
XIII. Tombs of Silence
XIV. Back to the Camp
XV. A Day of Skirmishing
XVI. The Stone Table
XVII. Beneath the Centipede
XVIII. Barbara's Messenger
XIX. Leith Scores
XX. The Black Kindergarten
XXI. Together Again
XXII. The White Waterfall
XXIII. The Wizard's Seat
XXIV. The Way to Heaven

THE WHITE WATERFALL