le. However, I have not time
at present to describe the people. What disgusted Dick and me most was
to see the poor women compelled to perform all the hard work, and often
to receive blows or abuse from their ill-tempered masters.

We were allowed to rest in quiet till the evening, when the chief sent
us, by one of his daughters, some more fish and a dish of poi,--a sort
of paste made of the bread-fruit or yams. At night, also, we were
allowed to sleep without interruption. The next morning, however, the
chief signified that we must not expect to eat the bread of idleness,
and that we must either work in the taro grounds, or go out hunting and
fishing. Dick at once said that we would go out fishing in our own
boat; hoping, as he whispered to me, that we might thus have the chance
of escaping. I warned him not to show too great eagerness, lest they
might suspect that such an idea had entered our minds.

As we could only converse by signs, we had some difficulty in making
them understand what was meant. Dick was the most successful. He
signified that we could not go out hunting, as we had no arms to hunt
with; then he pretended to hoe and dig, shaking his head to signify that
that was not to his taste; then he went through the attitudes of letting
down the line and hauling up a big fish. The chief nodded his head and
pointed to the sea, and allowed us to go down to the harbour. We showed
our hooks, which were stowed away in the locker; and seeing some small
fish, begged to have them as bait,--quite happy in the thought that we
should be allowed to go out alone, and might thus, having thrown our
captors off their guard, in the course of a few days easily make our
escape,--when three black fellows, with heavy clubs and sharp axes,
stepped in after us, showing by their grinning countenances that they
suspected our intentions.

Dick looked in no way disconcerted, but putting the oars into their
hands, bade them sit down and pull. Of this, however, they had no
conception; so he and I had to row the boat out of the harbour, thus
letting them see how we managed the oars. After some time two of them
proposed trying; but they were not very successful. First one caught a
crab, then the other toppled right over on his back and very nearly lost
the oar; then the first went over with his legs in the air, bringing his
head with a crack against the thwart behind him. Dick and I could not
help laughing at the hideous face