ble to find a man who knew anything of ship-carpentering, and when
found he worked according to his own sweet will. So it was five weeks
before the _Casco_ was ready to return for her passengers, who in the
meantime were in a state of anxiety as to her whereabouts.

During their enforced stay Ori treated the entire family like a brother
indeed, doing everything in his power to make their visit pleasant.

At last, on Christmas Day, they were ready to depart. The entire
population of Tautira came to the beach to bid them farewell, and as the
_Casco_ swung out of the harbor one of the French officials fired a
salute of twenty-one guns with his army rifle and the schooner returned
it with a heavy-tongued Winchester.

Tautira had grown to seem like a real home to all of them. To leave it
with very little hope of ever returning to see such good friends as
Princess Moe and Ori was a real grief, while they in their turn were
quite heart-broken. Stevenson's friendship had brought something into
their lives they had never had before.

Honolulu was the goal of the _Casco_ now, and all eagerly looked forward
to the letters waiting for them there--the first word from home since
leaving San Francisco.

Bad weather attended the _Casco_ all the way. They were delayed by a
succession of hurricanes and calms until the supply of food ran very low
and they were reduced to a diet of "salt-horse" and ship-biscuit.

The last forty-eight hours of their run was made in the very teeth of a
furious gale when the captain took big risks by carrying full sail, with
the hope of making port before their supply of food and water was
entirely exhausted. In spite of the danger, Stevenson enjoyed this
daring run hugely. Later, when he and Lloyd wrote "The Wrecker"
together, this very episode figured in the story, Captain Otis under the
name of Captain Nares performing a similar sail-carrying feat on the
schooner _Norah Creina_.

Mrs. Strong, Stevenson's stepdaughter, and her family were waiting in
Honolulu and gave them a warm welcome. The travellers soon found
themselves the centre of interest among Mrs. Strong's large circle of
friends and it was with difficulty Stevenson found time to finish the
last chapters of "The Master of Ballantrae," which he had been working
on since leaving Saranac.

Honolulu, with its street-cars, shops, electric lights, and mixture of
native and foreign population, seemed strangely crowded and modern after
the scenes