n each side of the big room, and in each bedroom must be
an iron bed, two chairs, and a washstand. And back of the house must be
a kitchen, a good kitchen, with pots and pans and a stove. And you must
build the house on my island, which is Fakarava."

"Is that all?" Raoul asked incredulously.

"There must be a sewing machine," spoke up Tefara, Mapuhi's wife.

"Not forgetting the octagon-drop-clock," added Nauri, Mapuhi's mother.

"Yes, that is all," said Mapuhi.

Young Raoul laughed. He laughed long and heartily. But while he laughed
he secretly performed problems in mental arithmetic. He had never built
a house in his life, and his notions concerning house building were
hazy. While he laughed, he calculated the cost of the voyage to Tahiti
for materials, of the materials themselves, of the voyage back again
to Fakarava, and the cost of landing the materials and of building the
house. It would come to four thousand French dollars, allowing a margin
for safety--four thousand French dollars were equivalent to twenty
thousand francs. It was impossible. How was he to know the value of such
a pearl? Twenty thousand francs was a lot of money--and of his mother's
money at that.

"Mapuhi," he said, "you are a big fool. Set a money price."

But Mapuhi shook his head, and the three heads behind him shook with
his.

"I want the house," he said. "It must be six fathoms long with a porch
all around--"

"Yes, yes," Raoul interrupted. "I know all about your house, but it
won't do. I'll give you a thousand Chili dollars."

The four heads chorused a silent negative.

"And a hundred Chili dollars in trade."

"I want the house," Mapuhi began.

"What good will the house do you?" Raoul demanded. "The first hurricane
that comes along will wash it away. You ought to know."

"Captain Raffy says it looks like a hurricane right now."

"Not on Fakarava," said Mapuhi. "The land is much higher there. On this
island, yes. Any hurricane can sweep Hikueru. I will have the house on
Fakarava. It must be six fathoms long with a porch all around--"

And Raoul listened again to the tale of the house. Several hours he
spent in the endeavor to hammer the house obsession out of Mapuhi's
mind; but Mapuhi's mother and wife, and Ngakura, Mapuhi's daughter,
bolstered him in his resolve for the house. Through the open doorway,
while he listened for the twentieth time to the detailed description of
the house that was wanted, Raoul saw his schoone