h
the dark ledge of the reef, and swam slowly across the pool, and then,
between the masts, sank to the bottom.

"'Twas six years ago," said Nerida, as we raised our heads.

That night, as the PALESTINE sped noiselessly before the trade wind to
the westward she told me, in the old Funafuti tongue, the tragedy of
the ALIDA.

* * * * *

"The schooner," she said, "sailed very quickly, for on the fifteenth
day out from Funafuti we saw the far-off peaks of Strong's Island. I
was glad, for Kusaie is not many days' sail from Ponape--and I hated to
be on the ship. The man with the blue eyes filled me with fear when he
looked at me; and he and the captain and mate were for ever talking
amongst themselves in whispers.

"There were five native sailors on board--two were countrymen of mine,
and three were Tafitos [Natives of the Gilbert Islands].

"One night we were close to a little island called Mokil [Duperrey's
Island], and Taplin and I were awakened by a loud cry on deck; my two
countrymen were calling on him to help them. He sprang on deck, pistol
in hand, and, behold! the schooner was laid to the wind with the land
close to, and the boat alongside, and the three white men were binding
my country-men with ropes, because they would not get into the boat.

"'Help us, O friend!' they called to my husband in their own tongue;
'the white men say that if we go not ashore here at Mokil they will
kill us. Help us--for they mean evil to thee and Nerida. He with the
yellow moustache wants her for his wife.'

"There were quick, fierce words, and then my husband struck Motley on
the head with his pistol and felled him, and then pointed it at the
mate and the captain, and made them untie the men, and called to the
two Tafito sailors who were in the boat to let her tow astern till
morning.

"His face was white with the rage that burned in him, and all that
night he walked to and fro and let me sleep on the deck near him.

"'To-morrow,' he said, 'I will make this captain land us on Mokil;' it
was for that he would not let the sailors come up from the boat.

"At dawn I slept soundly. Then I awoke with a cry of fear, for I heard
a shot, and then a groan, and my husband fell across me, and the blood
poured out of his mouth and ran down my arms and neck. I struggled to
rise, and he tried to draw his pistol, but the man with yellow hair and
blue eyes, who stood over him, stabbed him twice in the back. Then the
captain and mate seiz