t a proper distance, full in view but just out of reach;
and not until the fit hour, which was the point of noon, would the
artificer partake. This solemnity was the cause of an absurd
misadventure. He was seated plaiting, as usual, at the beards, his
dinner arrayed on the roof, and not far off a glass of water standing.
It appears he desired to drink; was of course far too great a gentleman
to rise and get the water for himself; and spying Mrs. Stevenson,
imperiously signed to her to hand it. The signal was misunderstood; Mrs.
Stevenson was, by this time, prepared for any eccentricity on the part
of our guest; and instead of passing him the water, flung his dinner
overboard. I must do Mapiao justice: all laughed, but his laughter rang
the loudest.

These troubles of service were at worst occasional; the embarrassment of
the man's talk incessant. He was plainly a practised conversationalist;
the nicety of his inflections, the elegance of his gestures, and the
fine play of his expression, told us that. We, meanwhile, sat like
aliens in a playhouse; we could see the actors were upon some material
business and performing well, but the plot of the drama remained
undiscoverable. Names of places, the name of Captain Hart, occasional
disconnected words, tantalised without enlightening us; and the less we
understood, the more gallantly, the more copiously, and with still the
more explanatory gestures, Mapiao returned to the assault. We could see
his vanity was on the rack; being come to a place where that fine jewel
of his conversational talent could earn him no respect; and he had times
of despair when he desisted from the endeavour, and instants of
irritation when he regarded us with unconcealed contempt. Yet for me, as
the practitioner of some kindred mystery to his own, he manifested to
the last a measure of respect. As we sat under the awning in opposite
corners of the cockpit, he braiding hairs from dead men's chins, I
forming runes upon a sheet of folio paper, he would nod across to me as
one Tahuku to another, or, crossing the cockpit, study for a while my
shapeless scrawl and encourage me with a heartfelt "_mitai_!--good!" So
might a deaf painter sympathise far off with a musician, as the slave
and master of some uncomprehended and yet kindred art. A silly trade he
doubtless considered it; but a man must make an allowance for
barbarians, _chaque pays a ses coutumes_--and he felt the principle was
there.

The time cam