to the opening of our tale, he had come to Sandy Cove
with his wife and child, the latter a girl of six years of age at that
time. In one year death bereaved the missionary of his wife, and, about
the same time, war broke out in the island between the chiefs who clung
to the idolatrous rites and bloody practices peculiar to the inhabitants
of the South Sea islands, and those chiefs who were inclined to favour
Christianity. This war continued to rage more or less violently for
several years, frequently slumbering, sometimes breaking out with sudden
violence, like the fitful eruptions of the still unextinct volcanoes in
those distant regions.

During all this period of bloodshed and alarms, the missionary stuck to
his post. The obstinacy of hatred was being gradually overcome by the
superior pertinacity of zeal in a good cause, and the invariable
practice--so incomprehensible to the savage mind--of returning good for
evil; the result was, that the Sabbath bell still sent its tinkling
sound over the verdant slopes above Sandy Cove, and the hymn of praise
still arose, morning and evening, from the little church, which,
composed partly of wood, partly of coral rock, had been erected under
the eye, and, to a large extent, by the hands of the missionary.

But false friends within the camp were more dangerous and troublesome to
Mr Mason than avowed enemies without. Some of the European traders,
especially, who settled on the island a few years after the missionary
had made it habitable, were the worst foes he had to contend with.

In the same vessel that brought the missionary to the island, there came
a widow, Mrs Stuart, with her son Henry, then a stout lad of thirteen.
The widow was not, however, a member of the missionary's household. She
came there to settle with her son, who soon built her a rudely
constructed but sufficiently habitable hut, which, in after years, was
enclosed, and greatly improved; so that it at last assumed the
dimensions of a rambling picturesque cottage, whitewashed, brilliant,
and neat in its setting of bright green.

The widow, although not an official assistant to the missionary, was
nevertheless a most efficient one. She taught in his schools, being
familiar with the native tongue; and, when the settlement grew in
numbers, both of white and black, she became known as the good angel of
the place--the one who was ever ready with sympathy for the sorrowful,
and comfort for the dying. She wa