rton and myself, `I will
return before the moon sets:' and without affording us an opportunity to
inquire what he designed to do, he passed through the door, and bounded
into the forest, in the direction opposite to that where the spies of
the priest were lurking.

"`Is it possible,' said Barton, `that he intends to desert us?'

"`You should know him better,' I answered, `unless I am mistaken, he is
about to risk his life in an attempt to communicate with our crew, in
order to put them on their guard against a surprise, and to render our
escape the more easy. If he lives, he will return, to incur a second
time with us, the very dangers to which this attempt exposes him.'

"Knowing as I did Rokoa's great activity, coolness, and presence of
mind, I was sanguine that he would succeed in eluding the vigilance of
our enemies, and accomplishing his purpose.

"Soon after his departure, Olla set out for our evening meal a light
repast of bananas, baked bread-fruit, and vi-apples, fresh from the
garden. But neither Barton nor I could eat anything: our thoughts were
with Rokoa upon his perilous adventure. When the food had been removed,
Mowno suggested that we should all go out into the inclosure, and walk a
few times around the house in order that those who were on the watch
might be satisfied that we were still there. This we accordingly did,
and continued strolling through the garden until it became quite dark.
Rokoa had now been gone nearly an hour, and Barton began to grow
restless and troubled. Mowno, stationing himself at the end of the walk
leading from the house, leaned upon the gate in a listening attitude.
As I sat in the wide doorway, beneath the vi-apple trees planted on
either side of the entrance, watching the bright constellation of the
Cross, just visible above the outline of the grove in the southern
horizon, Olla began to question me concerning what I had told the people
in the afternoon, of God, and a future life, and the doctrines of
Christianity. I was at once touched and astonished, to perceive the
deep interest she took in the subject, and the readiness with which she
received these truths, as something she had needed and longed for. She
seemed to feel how much better and more consoling they were, than the
superstitions in which she had been educated.

"I was amazed to find that this young heathen woman, growing up in the
midst of pagan darkness, was nevertheless possessed of deep and strong
re