h, Dutch, Spanish and
Zulu fluently. Although they had with them no property beyond firearms,
their _bonhomie_ and the generally accepted belief that they were men
of means, made them the recipients of much hospitality and kindness.
Eventually the younger man was given a position as a trader on one of
the pearl-shell lagoon islands in the Paumotu Group, while the other
took the berth of mate in the schooner _Niuroahiti_, a smart little
native-built vessel owned by a Tahitian prince. The schooner was under
the command of a half-caste, and her complement consisted, besides the
captain, of Mr. William Gibson, the supercargo, Rorique the first mate,
a second mate, four Society Island natives, and the cook, a Frenchman
named Hippolyte Miret. The _Niuroahiti_ traded between Tahiti and the
Paumotus, and when she sailed on her last voyage she was bound to the
Island of Kaukura, where the younger Rorique was stationed as trader.
She never returned, but it was ascertained that she had called at
Kaukura, and then left again with the second brother Rorique as
passenger.

Long, long months passed, and the Australian relatives and friends of
young Gibson, a cheery, adventurous young fellow, began to think, with
the owner of the _Niuroakiti_, that she had met a fate common enough in
the South Sea trade--turned turtle in a squall, and gone to the bottom
with all hands.

About this time I was on a trading cruise in the Caroline Islands, and
one day we spoke a Fiji schooner. I went on board for a chat with the
skipper, and told him of the _Niuroakiti_ affair, of which I had heard a
month before.

"By Jove," he exclaimed, "I met a schooner exactly like her about ten
days ago. She was going to the W.N.W.--Ponape way--and showed French
colours. I bore up to speak her, but she evidently didn't want it,
hoisted her squaresail and stood away."

From this I was sure that the vessel was the _Niuroakiti_, and therefore
sent a letter to the Spanish governor at Ponape, relating the affair. It
reached him just in time.

The _Niuroakiti_ was then lying in Jakoits harbour in Ponape, and was
to sail on the following day for Macao. She was promptly seized, and the
brothers Rorique put in irons, and taken on board the Spanish cruiser
_Le Gaspi_ for conveyance to Manila Hippolyte Miret, the cook, confessed
to the Spanish authorities that the brothers Rorique had shot dead
in their sleep the captain, Mr. Gibson, the second mate, and the four
native