used and fed for the
present at the public expense; and even that something which the chief
clearly regarded as a very great honor was in store for them in the
future. Whatever these people's particular superstition might be, it
seemed pretty evident at least that it told in the strangers' favor.
Felix almost began to hope they might manage to live there pretty
tolerably for the next two or three weeks, and perhaps to signal in time
to some passing Australian liner.

The rest of that wonderful eventful day was wholly occupied with
practical details. Before long, two adjacent huts were found for them,
near the shore of the lagoon; and Felix noticed with pleasure, not only
that the huts themselves were new and clean, but also that the chief took
great care to place round both of them a single circular line of white
coral-sand, like the one he had noticed at Tu-Kila-Kila's palace-temple.
He felt sure this white line made the space within taboo. No native would
dare without leave to cross it.

When the line was well marked out round the two huts together, the chief
went away for a while, leaving the Europeans within their broad white
circle, guarded by an angry-looking band of natives with long spears at
rest, all pointed inward. The natives themselves stood well without the
ring, but the points of their spears almost reached the line, and it was
clear they would not for the present permit the Europeans to leave the
charmed circle.

Presently, the chief returned again, followed by two other natives in
official costumes. One of them was a tall and handsome young man, dressed
in a long robe or cloak of yellow feathers. The other was stouter, and
perhaps forty or thereabouts; he wore a short cape of white albatross
plumes, with a girdle of shells at his waist, interspersed with red
coral.

"The King of Fire will make Taboo," the chief said, solemnly.

The young man with the cloak of yellow feathers stepped forward and
spoke, toeing the line with his left foot, and brandishing a lighted
stick in his right hand. "Taboo! Taboo! Taboo!" he cried aloud, with
emphasis. "If any man dare to transgress this line without leave, I burn
him to ashes. If any woman, I scorch her to a cinder. Taboo to the King
of the Rain and the Queen of the Clouds. Taboo! Taboo! Taboo! Korong! I
say it."

He stepped back into the ranks with an air of duty performed. The chief
looked about him curiously a moment. "The King of Water will make Taboo,"