nind them. The light made an aureole of my father's gray hair, as he walked slowly, with bended head, toward his house. His shadow had returned before him.

"Fly instantly," said I to Waimata, "or we are discovered !—through the eastern door! Meet me at sunset, tomorrow, in the great palm-grove ! "

She passed from me as swiftly as the canoe glides away at the touch of the land-breeze, and vanished through one door but an instant before my father entered upon the opposite side.

"Well, my boy," said he, "what have you been doing to-day?"

"I have been watching the storm; and since then in the mountains."

"Did you see nothing of what the natives have been doing?"

"I heard a great shouting, and saw the warriors running toward the shore with their clubs; but I went the other way."

At that age I held the crude opinion that prevarication was not lying, and that deceit was always wrong. I had not then learned the occasional merit and virtue of mendacity, as when one welcomes a friend who has come precisely at the wrong moment. But nobody, except my father, studied moral philosophy in Fiji. I had saved my conscience; and my father, luckily, was too preoccupied to question me closely.

My mother soon entered with my younger brother, having completed her daily visits among the native women; and the little home-circle was reunited at the close of this eventful day.

From scenes of the wildest ferocity I was thus transferred at once to the sphere of gentle life. I was again a member of an English family, and the sound of English speech alone met my ears, for in our home the Fijian language was strictly tabooed.

Nothing was said among us of the wild events of the day. The short tropical twilight had barely faded out of the sky before I was glad to seek my bed. But, in spite of the day's fatigue, I could not rest. Its excitement still boiled in me, and the spirit of the Fi

jian braves seemed to have entered into my blood.

Waimata and the Lover's Islandthese, too, were themes upon which the changes rang in my brain. How to get the dear dusky maid away from the surveillance, the anxieties, the danger of this savage island? A hundred plans presented themselves; but I could do nothing without more definite knowledge.

Toward morning I fell asleep; and, in a dream, I fancied that Waimata and I were living alone upon the island of Nayau, situated upon our northeastern horizon at a distance of twenty miles. The island, though well supplied with fruits, water, and wood, was uninhabited; for the natives regarded it as the abode of the minor gods of their mythology-the luve-na-wai, or “children of the waters." Of these nearly a hundred existed-wild, goblin-like beings, who came from the sea at stated intervals, and occupied this lovely island. Hence it was tabooed a sacred or interdicted place; no human foot was allowed to land upon it oftener than once a year, and then but for the purpose of depositing an offering of fruit and animals to the gods. Death was the penalty of violating, even by mistake or accident, this ordinance.

Upon this fertile, lonely, and lovely island I imagined Waimata and myself living, alone and happy. It was the most vivid of dreams. I had never been to the island, but its scenery was minutely pictured to me in my sleep; and, unlike the generality of dream-impressions, the image remained with me after waking, like the distinctest reality. I was skeptical enough to have no fear of the small gods who dwelt there; yet, like the Fijian natives, I believed implicitly in dreams, and I accepted this one as a revelation of my future, and determined to fly as soon as possible, with Waimata, to this solitary island. Could we escape thither unsuspected I was confident that we should avoid pursuit. How should we accomplish the hegira of love?

At sunset I met Waimata in the for

est, according to our agreement, and laid my plan before her. At first she objected to the sacrilege which it involved, but her heart pleaded eloquently against her fear of the tabu, and she finally acquiesced in my scheme. We determined to go by night, when first the quadrature of the moon should be accompanied by favorable winds, thus securing light enough to steer the proper course, and enough of gloom to avoid pursuit, in case an alarm should be given.

"We shall easily get there," said Waimata; "and I am sure that we shall never want to come away."

Nor had I the slightest fear that the time would ever pass heavily in Waimata's company. The adventure, too, suited the color of my temperament; for I had inherited from my father something of the daring and adventurous spirit which had led him from a happy home to the savage islands of the South Seas. The pioneer missionary combines, indeed, a strong infusion of dash and romance with the graver purposes that lead him to savage countries. The enthusiasm of humanity might sometimes be overpowered by his privations and his loneliness, were it not for the excitements of the adventures upon which he embarks. The sense of power and independence would make Nayau my delightful kingdom, and Waimata should be its queen.

I pictured to myself, in short, the most romantic life upon the lonely island to which we were going. I had read Robinson Crusoe, in the same wellworn copy which had been familiar to my father's own boyhood; and with Waimata I fancied myself living year after year in houses of our own deft construction, or in airy perches woven among the branches of the tallest trees, and at once turned my best endeavors to the problem of reaching the land in which I anticipated so much happi

ness.

Luckily, it was not a difficult thing to make the voyage to the Island of the Gods. But how to escape pursuit and recapture?

It was now the time of the new moon, and it was my earnest desire to reach Nayan within the week. A war was raging between the Lakembans and the people of a neighboring island, the Lakembans having been worsted in several conflicts, both in their warcanoes and during an attempted invasion of the enemy's territory. This had emboldened the Viti-lomans-for so the other tribe was called-to assume the offensive. It was well known among us of Lakemba, that they contemplated a descent in force upon us within a few days, and that they would most probably land upon our windward coast, coming from the opposite direction to that in which lay the island of Nayan. The effect of this condition of things was to withdraw the greater part of the male population of our island to the windward shore, and to busy them constantly in the rude arts of Fijian warfare. Canoes were building, the landing-places were fortified, and guards were stationed along the coast by night, to give early notice of the enemy's approach; while all the artificers of the island were busy in the manufacture of spears, clubs, arrows, shields, and slings. This unwonted activity, carried on as it was in that part of the island which had the most to fear from the invasion, left the leeward shores almost uninhabited, except by night. The houses stood open and tenantless all day long; the troops of merry girls, that heretofore might have been seen every morning bathing their olive beauty in the mountain streams, or frolicking, later in the day, in the tumbling surf-the fishermen's fleets, that were wont to dot, with their snowy sails, the breezy bright expanse of the waters-all had disappeared; the whole industry and curiosity of Lakemba was concentrated at the point of expected invasion. For though, in these reminiscences, I have dealt so much with the darker sides of the Fijian character, their people, as I have intimated, is a social and mercurial race, making of war a pastime and a spectacle, and possessing hardly any. more care for its sufferings, or any more

sense of the solemnity of death, than the lower animals that seem to be their not very distant kindred. They hunt each other, apparently, for the mere excitement of the chase. Very few of the Pacific islanders manifest any considerable development, indeed, in the finer elements of character. Excepting a few remarkable individuals, these nations belong to a very primitive phase of growth.

It thus fortunately happened that the anticipated invasion withdrew, for a great part of the time, both young and old from the western part of the island, which was left in perfect solitude, on purpose, as it would seem, that I might prepare for Waimata and myself the means of escape to Nayau.

our flight;

A canoe was essential to but how to obtain a canoe? Had I stolen one and eloped with the priest's daughter, certain pursuit and almost certain recapture would have been the consequences. It was, therefore, necessary for me to provide secretly my own canoe; and that was an undertaking of no small magnitude. A canoe of two fathoms in length was the very smallest to which I would dare to entrust our fortunes; nor could I see any safe way of obtaining one except by constructing it myself.

The Fijian makes all but his largest canoes from a single trunk; first burning out the principal part of the cavity, and then reducing the sides of the hull, with an adze, to a shell of the required thinness. I had a natural aptitude for the handling of tools, and, as I had often seen the thing done, I knew that, on occasion, I could construct a canoe quite as well as the savage himself. With the navigation of these craft I was, of course, quite familiar.

But to build even a small canoe, single-handed, was, under the most favor able circumstances, a task for several weeks. And as I must work by night, to avoid observation, there seemed little probability that Waimata and I could effect an early escape from the island. The possibility, too, of any escape but an early one was quite doubtful, for, as

soon as the expected war should be over

and wars are brief in Fiji-the people, returning to their homes upon the leeward side of the island, would soon discover my craft upon the stocks, and undo the toils of my navy yard.

Still, I addressed myself to canoebuilding, not forgetting to supplicate the aid of the more powerful native gods upon my undertaking.

On the second day of my explorations for the purpose, I found, in a dense grove that extended within two yards of the high-water mark upon the western shore, a trunk already felled by canoe-builders, but long since abandoned on account of a flaw in the wood, which rendered it unserviceable for the large war-canoe that they desired to build. Nearly one half of the wood, however, was perfectly sound; and upon this portion, which was of ample length, I commenced at once to work. I had well-nigh blocked out the form of my canoe with the adze, which I swung lustily on finding the coast clear, until the lateness of the hour warned me to return home before my absence should excite suspicion, or the natives, returning, should hear the blows of my adze.

Upon the next night, after a total of perhaps fifteen hours' labor upon my canoe, I met Waimata at an accustomed trysting-place in the wood, and told her of what I had done. She was full of delight; but, after a while, she said, "I think I know a better way to get a canoe."

"Do not work upon your canoe any more until the fight with the Viti-loma people is over. For, on that day, canoes enough will lose their owners, and perhaps we can take one of them for ourselves. And if we get away in one of them, it will not do to leave a canoe half-finished in the wood, for then the people would find out our manao (intention), and will send out an expedition to discover us."

"It is true," said I. "I will wait for the battle." And I concealed, that night, the hull that I had already rudely blocked out.

Waimata's counsel proved wise; for, within five days of this conversation, the Vita-lomans made their attack upon Lakemba. Their fleet numbered, if I remember rightly, sixty-five war-canoes, each carrying an average of about fifteen warriors, so that the invaders mustered nearly a thousand men. The attack, however, instead of being made at the eastern, was directed to the southern shore of the island, near the point Mimilo.

A furious battle was fought, which ended in the complete rout of the Vitilomans. Many of the invading canoes were overset; some effected a landing, but their crews were captured and slain, and not more than a third of the flotilla made its escape. In the confusion, as Waimata had foreseen, we found our opportunity. When the fight began to turn against the enemy, I observed the occupants of a small canoe, non-combatants, and apparently retainers of the invading prince Thalomba, to be suddenly panic-stricken. Swiftly paddling toward one of the faster-sailing canoes, which was already turning in flight, they deserted their own little craft, and were received on board of the larger canoe, leaving their own to drift at the mercy of the wind. It was thus borne slowly toward the extremity of the point upon which Waimata and I were secretly watching the progress of the fight. All the natives were absorbed in the mêlée, and no one but ourselves noticed the deserted canoe. No more fortunate chance could have occurred.

I asked Waimata whether she would not like to return home and take what few articles she could remove without fear of their absence being noticed, while I should make prize of the canoe.

"No; there will be danger that I should be made a captive at home, and prevented from meeting you again. I will go with you now, if you will let me."

ed the southern part of the point Mimilo, toward which the trend of the current was now bearing the abandoned canoe. Divesting myself of all clothing except the girdle of native cloth around my loins, I plunged into the water and swam rapidly toward the little craft that was to bear my fortunes. I concealed myself from sight of the warriors by keeping the deserted canoe in the exact line of vision between myself and the nearest Lakemban canoe, which was hardly half a mile distant; for, had the least glimpse of my head appeared to the keen-eyed islanders, I should have been pursued and taken. The water swirled around my shoulders. The long waves lifted me into sight for an instant, and then withdrew me into their hollows. I saw the slate-colored sharp fin of a shark approaching me, cutting its way with a graceful yet terrible ripple that seemed the sardonic smile of Death. But I did not swerve from the line I had determined to keep. I knew that the ferocious fish was in pursuit of the scent of fresh blood; and, even if he had turned aside for me, I cared little, for I was in a mood to prefer death to the loss of Waimata. So, steadily holding my course, I reached the empty canoe as the shark overtook and passed me, so near that the undulations from his fin came to me, woven among the countless interlacing ripples that fretted the surface of the billows. Still, completely hidden from sight, I did not venture to enter the canoe; but, keeping behind it, I urged it gently with the receding tide, and soon brought it around the point to the deserted waters upon the other side. All had been done as secretly as though I had swam under water.

As soon as I had reached the covert, Waimata broke from her concealment, and ran toward me. Waist-deep in the water I received her. The sun set as we entered our little canoe together and turned its prow from the shore. I think it was to a pagan deity that, according to the island custom of departing voyagers, we offered up a supplication. From our garments of bark-cloth we