y on the ground at my feet, and I, his daughter, heard his
teeth grinding with rage, and as I felt his hot breath on my hand, I
knew that murder was in his heart. It is easy for a chief such as was my
father, to have a man who displeases him killed secretly.

My father went away in anger, and then the chiefs decided that although
the white man could not wed me, he should be received with great honour,
and be given many presents; for he was known to us as a man of great
strength and daring, and was tattooed like a Samoan, which is a great
thing to the mind of a Samoan woman, who loathes an untattooed man as
unworthy of all that a woman can give, for without tattooing a young man
hath no manhood, and his children are weak of body and poor of mind.

That night my father asked me for the money, which I gave him
unwillingly, for I wished to send it back to the white man. He took
it and placed it in a great box, which contained such things as guns,
pistols, and powder and ball, and the key of which he always wore around
his neck.

When the eighth day dawned, the sea was very smooth, and our hearts were
gladdened by seeing that the wind was from the south-east, and as the
day wore on, it increased in strength. When night fell, and the evening
fires were lit, Manaia, saying he was going to fish for _malau_,
launched his boat and sailed along the shore for a league to the mouth
of a small stream. Here he was met by his mother and sisters, who were
awaiting him with baskets of cooked food, young coconuts and calabashes
of water for the voyage. Then they put their arms around him, and wept
as they bade him farewell, for seventy leagues is a long voyage for a
small boat not intended for rough seas. Then they went into the forest
and fled for their lives to Sen Manu of Apia, and Manaia waited for me.

When the town was buried in slumber, Selema, who lay near me, touched my
head with her foot, and then asked me if I slept.

"Nay," I replied in a loud voice, and speaking with pretended anger, so
as to awaken the two women between whom I lay. "How can I sleep? 'Tis
too hot. Let us go to the beach awhile and feel the cool wind."

The two women grumbled a little at being disturbed, and Selema and I
rose and went out of the house. Then, once we were at a safe distance,
we ran swiftly to the beach, and then onwards to where Manaia awaited
us.

Selema took her seat on the foremost thwart, Manaia at the stern, and I
in the centre, and