village.

"Olla now renewed her entreaties for us to leave the spot, and go with
her to the house; and Mowno,--by a quick gesture, meant to be seen only
by us, indicated his wish to the same effect. Rokoa nodded to me to
comply, and we followed Olla as she bounded lightly through the grove,
no one offering to oppose our departure. But the priest's restless eye
was upon us, and had we set off in the direction of the shore, we should
not have been permitted to escape, without an attempt on his part to
prevent it. As it was, he appeared to give some direction to those
about him, and four or five young men followed us at a distance, keeping
us in sight, and taking care that they were always in such a position as
to enable them to intercept us in any attempt to recross the island.
After having dogged us to Mowno's house and seen us enter, they withdrew
into the forest out of sight, where they probably remained on the watch.
Rokoa now proceeded to select from Mowno's store of weapons, a club, of
more formidable weight and size, than that which he had wrested from the
priest, and requested Barton and myself to follow his example.

"`We must try to get to the shore,' he said, `there are at present, none
to hinder us, but the young men who followed us hither.'

"`But that demon of a priest, and the rest of his crew, are not
far-off,' said Barton, `and they will be sure to waylay us. For the
present we are safe here; and perhaps Mowno will be able to get us back
to our boat without danger.'

"Rokoa shook his head. `There are others here,' he said, `more powerful
than Mowno, and who are our enemies: we must rely upon ourselves.'

"Olla watched us anxiously during this conversation; and now, as if she
understood its subject at least, she said, with an expression of
intelligence and cordial friendliness in her fine eyes, `Listen to me:
the words of the priest are more powerful with the great chief than the
words of Mowno: to-night, the priest will go to the great chief, and
before he returns you must fly; but not now, for you are watched by the
young men; you must wait until night--until the moon is behind the
grove.'

"This seemed to me a wiser course than to undertake, at present, to
fight our way to the boat; but Rokoa remained of his former opinion; he
apprehended an attack upon our party at the shore during our absence, by
which we might be cut off from all means of leaving the island. This
certainly was a weighty