he consuls said
it might lead to serious complications, as it had been done with intent
to insult the citizens of a friendly nation, one of whom, as he was
aware, had made the natives cut down the price of copra half a cent.
Under these circumstances, &c.

Tom grinned and showed the letter to Hayes. Then he turned to the mate.

"I've got the sack, Waters. You're in charge of this rotten, filthy old
hooker now until the old man is sober."

He packed up his traps, went ashore, drew his money from Mrs.
MacLaggan's cashier, and bade him goodbye.

"Where's the goat, Tom?"

"On board Bully Hayes' ship. His crool, crool mistress shall see him no
more! Never more shall his plaintive call to his nannies resound o'
nights among the sleeping palm-groves of the Vaisigago Valley;
never----"

The cashier jumped up out of his chair and seized the dismissed
supercargo by the collar.

"Stop that bosh, you rattlebrained young ass, and come and take a
farewell drink."

"Never more will he butt alike the just and the unjust, the fat and
bloated German merchant nor the herring-gutted Yankee skipper, nor the
bare--ah--um--legged Samoan, nor the gorgeous consul in the solar topee.
Gone is the glory of Samoa with Billy MacLaggan. Goodbye for the
present, Wade, old man--I am not so proud of my new dignity--I am to be
supercargo of the brig _Rona_--as to refuse to drink with you, though
you are but a cashier. And give my farewell to the widow, and tell her
that I bear her no ill-will, for I leave a dirty little tub of a
cockroach-infested ketch for a swagger brig, where I shall wear white
suits every day and feel that peace of mind which--"

"Oh, do dry up, you young beggar," said the good-natured cashier, whose
laughter proved so infectious that Tom joined in.

"Come then, Wade, just another ere we part."

Now as these two were drinking in the cashier's office it happened that
Thady O'Brien, the policeman (he was chief of the municipal police, and
fond of drink) saw them, and invited himself to join them and also to
express his sorrow at Denison's "misfortune," as he called it, for
Denison was a lovable sort of youth, and often gave him drink on board.
So they all sat down, Wade in the one chair, and Tom and the policeman
on the table, and had several more drinks, and just then Mrs. MacLaggan
came to the door, holding a note in her hand. She bowed coldly to Tom,
whose three stiff drinks of brandy enabled him to give her a reproach