nothing like making the
best of things. You can accustom yourself almost to anything if you
will only make up your mind to do so. I was among these people and
there was no help for it, so I decided to adopt their ways and become
one of them."

"You decided when in Rome to do as the Romans do," suggested the
captain, who, like his companions, was greatly cheered, not only by the
presence and friendship of the Englishman, but by the fact that the
savages, who watched the interview with interest, showed no disposition
to interfere.

"That's it. There are a great many worse people in this world than
these. They are not cannibals, as are many of their neighbors, and
they have never harmed me."

"But what about us?" was the anxious inquiry.

The Englishman looked grave.

"I cannot say what their intentions are, but I am afraid they are bad.
They have been used ill by some of the vessels that have stopped here,
and are naturally suspicious of all white people. Then, too, they are
revengeful, and like all barbarians are satisfied, if aggrieved against
our race, to get their satisfaction out of any member of it, whether he
is the one who injured them, or is entirely innocent."

"You seem to be regarded with high favor here."

"I am. I stand next to the chief in authority, so you see I have
reason to believe I may be of some service to you. You may be sure
that I shall leave no stone unturned to help you."

The captain and his companions gave expression to their deep gratitude,
and Irons continued in his bluff, pleasant manner:

"I guess I am about as much a savage as any of them. If I hadn't been
I never would have obtained any control over them. I have seven native
wives, and find I am forgetting a great many details of civilization,
while my desire to return home is growing less every day. After all,
what difference does it make where you are? A man has only a few years
to live, and as long as he is contented, he is a fool to rebel."

There may have been good philosophy in all this, and the captain did
not attempt to gainsay it, but, all the same, it was hard for him to
understand how any one could be so placed as to lose his yearning for
his home and his native land.

It was several days afterward, when the captives had become somewhat
accustomed to their surroundings, that Captain Gooding found he and his
men were mixed in their reckoning.

"It is a question among us whether this is Thursday or Frid