thou the men in the boat that
everything thou desirest of me and my people to do shall be done. Five
rainy seasons have come and gone since a white man has lived here; so I
pray thee, stay."

The white man inclined his head; then he turned and walked to the boat,
and spoke to the captain of the little vessel which, to bring him to the
island, had dropped her anchor just outside the current-swept passage of
the lagoon.

"I am remaining here, Captain Hetherington. Will you let your men put my
gear out on the beach?"

Hetherington, the skipper, looked at his passenger curiously, and then
answered:

"Cert'nly. But I'm real sorry you are leaving us, I don't want to pry
inter any man's business, and you know these islands as well as I do;
but I guess I wouldn't stay here if I war you. Why, it won't pay a
man to stay and trade on a bit of a place like this," and he cast a
deprecatory look around him.

The trader made him no answer, and the skipper of the schooner, ordering
his crew to take out his passenger's goods and carry them to the
village, stepped ashore, and held out his hand to the chief, whose fine,
expressive features showed some signs of fear that the captain's remarks
were intended to dissuade the stranger from remaining on the island.

*****

Motioning to the white men to follow him, the stalwart young chief led
the way to the _fale kaupale_, or council-house of the village, where
food and young coconuts for drinking were brought in and placed before
them by the young women.

Sitting directly in front of his guests, the chief served them with food
with his own hands, in token of his desire for friendship and to do
them honour, and then quietly withdrew to direct the natives who were
carrying the trader's goods up from the boat to his own house, further
back in the village.

"I would wish ter remark, mister," said the American skipper as he
pulled out his pipe and commenced to fill it, "thet, ez a rule, I
don't run any risk ev bustin' myself with enthoosiastic admiration fer
Britishers in general--principally because they air the supporters of er
low-down, degradin' system ev Government, which hez produced some bloody
wars and sunk my schooner the _Mattie Casey_, with a cargo of phosphates
valued et four thousand dollars."

"It was a heavy loss to you, Captain Hetherington, but you surely do not
dislike all Englishmen because the _Alabama_ sunk your vessel?" said
the trader, with a melancholy smile, w