e god of fishermen, who was always propitiated
by intending anglers in the polytheistic days and who still
has power. 10

There was no white doctor on the island, nor had there
been one for many years. There was nothing to do but
call the _tatihi_, or native doctor, an aged and shriveled
man whose whole body was an intricate pattern of tattooing
and wrinkles. He came at once, and with his clawlike 15
hands cleverly drew together the edges of Red Chicken's
wound and gummed them in place with the juice of the _ape_,
a bulbous plant like the edible taro. Red Chicken must
have suffered keenly, for the _ape_ juice is exceedingly caustic,
but he made no protest, continuing to puff the pipe. Over 20
the wound the _tatihi_ applied a leaf, and bound the whole
very carefully with a bandage of tapa cloth, folded in surgical
fashion.

--_White Shadows in the South Seas._

1. What were the author and Red Chicken doing at
the outset? Read the lines where the adventure
begins.

2. Like most real adventures this one was all over
in a moment. What happened? Why did it occur?

3. Spell, pronounce, and explain: phosphorescence,
lure, stationary, propitiated, polytheistic,
tattooing, caustic.

(Taken from O'Brien's _White Shadows in the South
Seas_ by permission of the publishers, The Century
Co.)

A BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST

BY RUDYARD KIPLING

No man has written more stirring tales, in prose or
verse, in recent times than Rudyard Kipling. Born
(1865) in Bombay, India, the son of an Englishman
in the civil service, he became steeped in the ways
of the men of the East. Consequently his first
writings were sketches of Anglo-Indian life,
written for Indian newspapers with which he was
connected. Then followed a series of books on
Eastern themes, some in prose and others in verse.
Among these was _Departmental Ditties_ from which
the following narrative poem is taken. Read it
through first to get the story and the atmosphere
in mind.

Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border side,
And he has lifted the Colonel's mare that is the
Co