y boy, my poor boatsteerer," he said huskily to me--"that darned
whale fluked us, and near cut him in half. Poor lad, he didn't suffer;
for death came sudden. An' he is the only son of his mother. Can I bring
him to your house?"

Very tenderly and slowly the whaleboat's crew carried the crushed and
mutilated form of the "dandiest boy" to the house, and whilst I
helped the _Asia's_ cooper make a coffin, Teveiva sat outside with the
heartbroken old skipper, and spoke to him in his broken English of the
Life Beyond. And so Walter Tallis, the last of an old Dorset family, was
laid to rest in the little isle in the quiet lagoon.

For two days our schooner lay in sight of the island; and then, as
midnight came, the blue sky became black, and the ship was snugged down
for the coming storm. The skipper sent up a rocket so that it might be
seen by the people on shore--to verify my prophecy about a change in the
weather.

Came then the wind and the sweet, blessed rain, and as the schooner,
under reefed canvas, plunged to the rising sea, the folk of Nukutavake,
I felt certain, stood outside their houses, and let the cooling
Heaven-sent streams drench their smooth, copper-coloured skins, whilst
good old Teveiva gave thanks to God.

CHAPTER XXI ~ THE PIT OF MAOTA

For the Samoans I have always had a great admiration and affection.
Practically I began my island career in Samoa. More than a score of
years before Robert Louis Stevenson went to die on the verdured slopes
of Vailima Mountain, where he now rests, I was gaining my living by
running a small trading cutter between the beautiful islands of Upolu,
Savai'i, and Tutuila, and the people ever had my strong sympathies in
their struggle against Germany for independence. Even so far back as
1865, German agents were at work throughout the group, sowing the seeds
of discord, encouraging the chiefs of King Malietoa to rebel, so that
they could set up a German puppet in his place. And unfortunately they
have succeeded only too well, and Samoa, with the exception of the
Island of Tutuila, is now German territory. But it is as well, for the
people are kindly treated by their new masters.

The Samoans were always a warlike race. When not unitedly repelling
invasion by the all-conquering Tongans who sent fleet after fleet to
subjugate the country, they were warring among themselves upon various
pretexts--successions to chiefly titles, land disputes, abuse of neutral
territory, a