m. He threw open the door and bade me come out
and put food before him and his friends.

"'I rose at his bidding, for his face terrified me--it was the face of
a devil--and began to clothe myself. He tore the dress from my hands and
cursed me, and bade me go as I stood. In my fear I sprang to the window
and tried to tear down the cane lattice-work so as to escape from the
house and the shame he sought to put upon me. He seized me by the waist
and tried to tear me away, but I was strong--strong with the strength of
a man. Then it was that he went mad, for he took up a heavy _paua_ stick
and struck me twice on the arm. And had it not been that the other
white men came in and dragged him away from me, crying shame on him, and
throwing him down upon the floor, I would now be dead.

"'I lay quiet for a little time and then rising to my feet looked out
into the big room, where the three men were still holding my husband
down. One of them bade me run for my life, for Karta, he said, had gone
mad with grog.

"'I feared to seek aid from any of the natives, for they, too, dread
Karta at such times; so I walked and ran, sometimes along the beach,
sometimes through the bush till I came here. That is all.'

* * * * *

"That morning the head man in our village caused the shell to sound,{*}
to call the people together so that they might hear from Simi the story
of the shame put upon his wife's sister and upon himself and his house.
As the people gathered around the _moniep_{**} and the head men sat down
inside, the captain of the ship came on shore, and great was his anger
when he heard the tale.

* A conch-shell.

** The council house.

"'Let this poor woman come to my ship,' he said; 'her life here is not
safe with such a man as that. For I know his utter vileness and cruelty
to her. With me she shall be safe and well cared for, and if she so
wishes she shall come with me to Fiji where my wife liveth, and her life
will be a life of peace.'

"So Serena was put in the ship's boat, and Luisa went with her to remain
on board till the ship sailed, which would be in three days. Then Simi
and the head men talked together in the council house, and they made a
law and sent a message to Karta. This was the message they sent to him:
'Because of the evil thou hast done and of the shame thou hast put upon
the sister of the wife of our white man, come no more to this town. If
thou comest then will there be war between thy tow