ped in as
unobtrusively as possible and no one saw her. We had supper in our
rooms--or, rather, on the veranda connected with them. The next
morning I ran out to buy her some shoes--any kind--but there were
none small enough. At last our little carriage was sent down from
Vailima and came around to the side entrance. My mother got in without
being seen and took the reins, but the horse, having been overfed with
oats by Eliga in his desire to treat it kindly, began to leap and
plunge, and dashed around to the front, where a number of the hotel
guests were gathered. I heard them say, 'That is Mrs. Stevenson,' and
all ran to look. As the horse continued to plunge about they all
called out 'Jump, Mrs. Stevenson!' but she held on. I knew why she
didn't jump--it was because of her bare feet. She was otherwise very
neatly dressed in black, with hat and veil and gloves. Finally one
man, bolder than the rest, reached in and lifted her out, and her
little bare feet were seen waving in the air!"

One day, not long after this--July 17, 1896, to be exact--Mrs.
Stevenson and her daughter were driving along the beach at Apia, when
they were surprised to see a strange craft in the bay--a curious
little sloop that they knew had not been seen nor heard of before in
those waters. On inquiry they found it was the famous _Spray_, in
which Captain Joshua Slocum, of Boston, sailed alone around the world.
They called on the adventurous skipper at once and invited him to
visit Vailima, which he did on the following day. Mrs. Stevenson was
delighted with the unconventional ways and conversation of the
captain, and, indeed, found in him much that was kindred to her own
spirit. When he wished to buy some giant bamboo from her plantation
for a mast for his little vessel, she, of course, made him a present
of it, and had it cut and taken down by the natives. He told her of
his visit to the missionary bark, the _Star of Hope_, which was then
in port at Apia. He was shown into their chart room and looked at
their instruments, upon which he remarked, "I am a better Christian
than you are, for you have two chronometers and a sextant, while I
have only my belief in God and an old clock." When asked why he didn't
take a sheep or some chickens along with him to eat as a relief from
his constant diet of canned goods, he said, "You can't kill a
fellow-passenger. Out in the great stillness you get fond even of a
chicken, and as for pigs, they are the most lo