lets struck the girl Selema on the leg
and tore a hole through the fleshy part. Now this Lau Aula was a blood
relative of Manaia, who called out to him to cease firing, but Lau Aula
took no heed, and began shooting at us with muskets loaded with round
bullets, which were handed to him by some of his people.

Then Manaia's face was evil to look at; his lips were drawn back, and
his teeth showed like those of an angry dog, for the blood which flowed
from Selema's wound was creeping around his naked feet. Yet once more he
cried out to Lau Aula to beware ere it was too late; but the young chief
called him a thief, and bade him bring the boat to the wind.

"This for thee, then," cried Manaia, and once more he raised his rifle
and fired, and Lan Anla spun round and fell over into the sea, for the
bullet had struck him in the throat and his life was gone.

That was the last of the fight, for when Lau Aula fell, the rest of
Tamavili's men threw down their paddles and let us sail on without
further pursuit.

Then, whilst I steered, Manaia tied strips of tappa around Selema's leg
so as to stay the bleeding.

"We are safe," cried the girl bravely through her tears, for the pain
was very great. "See, lady, the wind is not strong enough for the big
double canoe to pursue us."

But yet, in his rage, when my father saw that we were escaping, he
lowered the mat sail and fired two shots at us with the cannon, and the
great heavy balls roared over our heads and fell into the sea with a
heavy splash not fifty fathoms away. But cannon-balls cost much money,
and so, when a third shot was fired, and it fell astern of our boat, my
father wasted no more, and we saw the sail again hoisted and the canoe
go slowly down towards the _taumualua_ of Tamavili, to which the white
man was already rendering succour, for Manka, although he had quarrelled
with the old chief of Tufa, was yet a man of a kind heart.

And so we sailed on before a fair, soft breeze, and by sunset the great
mountain peaks of Savai'i had sunk beneath the sea rim, and we were
steering westward by the bright stars with a great joy filling our
hearts.

For four days we sailed steadily onwards, and Selema's wound soon began
to heal. On the evening of the fourth day we saw the land of Uea just
showing above the sea rim, and thought to place our feet on the shore
in the morning. But now came sorrow, for in the night it began to blow
strongly from the north-east, and heavy rain