e gravelled space
inside the fence, gazed at the white man with full, lustrous eyes.

"Hallo, TAMA!" said Challis, "whither goest now?"

"Pardon, Tialli. I came to look at thee making the ring. Is it of soft
silver--and for Nalia, thy wife?"

"Ay, O shaven-head, it is. Here, take this MASI and go pluck me a young
nut to drink," and Challis threw him a ship-biscuit. Then he went on
tapping the little band of silver. He had already forgotten the violet
eyes, and was thinking with almost childish eagerness of the soft glow
in the black orbs of Nalia when she should see his finished handiwork.

The boy returned with a young coconut, unhusked. "Behold, Tialli. This
nut is a UTO GA'AU (sweet husk). When thou hast drunk the juice give it
me back, that I may chew the husk which is sweet as the sugar-cane of
Samoa," and he squatted down again on the gravel.

* * * * *

Challis drank, then threw him the husk and resumed his work. Presently
the boy, tearing off a strip of the husk with his white teeth, said,
"Tialli, how is it that there be no drinking-nuts in thy house?"

"Because, O turtle-head, my wife is away; and there are no men in the
village to-day; and because the women of this MOTU [Island or country.]
I have no thought that the PAPALAGI [Foreigner] may be parched with
thirst, and so come not near me with a coconut." This latter in jest.

"Nay, Tialli. Not so. True it is that to-day all the men are in the bush
binding FALA leaves around the coconut trees, else do the rats steal up
and eat the buds and clusters of little nuts. And because Nalia, thy
wife, is away at the other White Man's house no woman cometh inside the
door."

Challis laughed. "O evil-minded people of Nukunono! And must I, thy
PAPALAGI, be parched with thirst because of this?"

"FAIAGA OE, Tialli, thou but playest with me. Raise thy hand and call
out 'I thirst!' and every woman in the village will run to thee, each
with a drinking-nut, and those that desire thee, but are afraid, will
give two. But to come inside when Nalia is away would be to put shame
on her."

* * * * *

The white man mused. The boy's solemn chatter entertained him. He knew
well the native customs; but, to torment the boy, he commenced again.

"O foolish custom! See how I trust my wife Nalia. Is she not even now
in the house of another white man?"

"True. But, then, he is old and feeble, and thou young and strong. None
but a fool desires to eat a dried flying-fish when