s were full of
sharks, and that not even a _tiki_ of Bernadette would save her.
Then came the nuns, and took Anna away. Anna wept as she went with
them, for she desired to stay and look at the ship.

"That night the boats of the ship could not land on the beach of
Tai-o-hae, for the sea was too great, so that they came and went
from Peikua, the staircase in the rocks. The sailors had leave to do
what they wished and they had plenty of rum given them by the captain
who was born that day forty years before. I went then to the ship to
drink the captain's rum and to buy tobacco. I am of Hiva-oa, and the
ship was large, and new to me."

Tetuahunahuna's gesture brought quickly to him a fresh cigarette,
and he savored its rank smoke with satisfaction. The slender canoe
swung like a hammock in the long, sluggish rollers. The sun blazed
pitilessly upon us, and no slightest ruffle of white broke the
surface of the calm, unrelenting sea that held us prisoner.

"At night there was nobody on the ship not drunk. Some of the men
had seized several women on the road that leads to Tai-o-hae, and
had forced them to the boat and carried them aboard. Among these
women was Anna, who had fled from the nuns to seek word of her father.
She fought like a wild woman of the hills when they held her in jest
to make her swallow the rum, but the strong ship men conquered her,
and the sound of their laughter and her cries was so great that the
captain himself came forward. When he saw her he claimed her as the
youngest, as is the custom.

"She went with him weeping. When they came to his cabin, we heard
her crying aloud to Maria Peato. We heard the shouts of the captain,
enraged, subduing her with blows. There was much rum, and the women
were dancing. There was much noise, but I had drunk little, having
just come to the ship, and I heard the crying and weeping of Anna."

"After a time came Anna, running across the deck. It was a large
vessel, and it was a dark night. The captain pursued her. She
climbed the rigging, and the captain ordered two men to go aloft and
bring her to him.

[Illustration: The gates of the Valley of Hanavave]

[Illustration: A fisherman's house of bamboo and cocoanut leaves]

"Every one came to look, with yells and with songs. The sailors
climbed after her, and she went higher and higher, until near the
top of that tall mast, taller than the greatest cocoanut-tree in
Atuona. There she held to the wood, calling upon M