her before me that a
childless man is a thing of scorn and disgrace even to the savage people
of this island. And he makes no secret of his wickedness with other
women. That is why my sister Serena is dull and heavy-minded; for she is
eaten up with grief and shame.'

"'That is true,' said Simi, 'I have known this for a year past, for
when he is drunk he cannot conceal his thoughts. And he is full of anger
against me because I have nought in common with him. I am neither a
drinker of grog nor a gambler, and have suffered from him what I would
suffer from no other man. I am no brawler, but yet 'tis hard to bear.'

*****

"Just as dawn came, and I was sunk in slumber, I heard a footstep
outside my door, and then Simi called to me. 'Bring thy wife to my house
quickly,' he said, 'evil work hath been done in the night.'

"My wife and I followed him, and when we entered we saw Luisa his wife
kneeling beside a couch and weeping over Serena, who lay still and quiet
as if dead.

"'Look,' he said sternly, 'look what that devil hath done!'

"He lifted Serena's left arm--the bone was broken in two places, above
and below the elbow.

"We set to work quickly, and fitting the broken bones in place we bound
her arm up in stiff, smooth strips of the spathe of the cocoanut tree,
and then washed and dressed her feet, which were cut and bleeding, for
she had walked barefooted, and clothed only in her night-dress, all the
way from the north end of the island, which is nearly two leagues from
my house.

"After she had drunk some coffee and eaten a little food she became
stronger, and told us all that had befallen her.

"'Karta and the three other white men came back from the ship when it
was long past midnight, and I knew by the noise they made that they had
all been drinking grog. I heard them talking and laughing and saying
that thou, Simi, were a paltry coward; and then one of them--he who is
called Joe--said that he would one day end thee with a bullet and take
Luisa to wife, as so fine a woman deserved a better man than a cur for
a husband. And Karta--Karta my husband--laughed and said that that could
not be, for he meant to take thee, Luisa, for himself when he had ridden
himself of me. His shameless words stung me, and I wept silently as I
lay there, and pressed my hands to my ears to shut out their foul talk
and blasphemies.

"'Suddenly I heard my husband's voice as he rose from the table and came
towards the sleeping roo