uao, the daughter, who used
to look at him so shyly and laugh when she met his eyes; little Fetuao,
that he had given the dominoes to, and that dress from the Dutch firm,
and them beads! Fetuao! Wasn't she pretty as she stood there in the boat
calling to him; so slim and straight, with her splendid hair flying in
the wind, and her brown bosom open to the sun! Pretty! My God, she was a
spanking beauty, that girl!

The boat came to a stop beneath him; the paddles backed, and Wilson,
with some embarrassment, received the stare of the whole party below.

"Poor white mans work all time!" exclaimed Fetuao, standing on a thwart
to raise her head to the level of his foot.

"Like hell!" said Jack.

"Kanaka more better," said the girl.

"A damn sight!" agreed Jack.

"Jack," said Fetuao, "I go home now, and never see you no more. Good-by,
Jack!"

She raised her little hand, which the sailor clasped in his big one. Her
tender, troubled eyes met his own; her mouth quivered; her fingers
tightened on his palm.

"Jack," she said suddenly, "you come along us, Jack."

"Do you mean it, puss?" he said eagerly. "Do you mean it?"

"Oh, Jack, you come, too," she pleaded.

"You come--that's good!" cried the old chief.

Jack, in a dream, looked above him and met the sour glances of Hansen
and Bates, whom the noise had brought to the ship's rail; then he looked
below into the girlish face upraised to his. For better or worse, his
resolution was taken. They might keep his chest; they might keep his
wages; their stinking ship might sink or swim for all he cared. They
were welcome to what Jack Wilson left behind him, for Jack Wilson at
last was FREE! He dropped lightly into the boat beside Fetuao, and with
one arm around her naked waist he shouted to the natives to shove off.

"_Fo'e!_" cried the chief, and the paddles moved again.

Above their heads the astounded captain clutched the arm of the
astounded mate, and pointed wildly after the deserter.

"---- ----!" exclaimed Hansen.

"The ---- ---- ---- ----!" roared Bates.

II

Jack landed in Oa Bay, the possessor, except for the clothes upon his
back, of nothing but his rugged health, his stout heart, and a
determination to make good his footing with his new friends. He
remembered drawing apart from the others, as the welcoming throng came
down to greet them in the dusk, forlornly struggling with his
embarrassment and the penetrating sense of his own helplessness and
isola