ting men; they
came running towards us from all directions, and surrounding Franka and
his men, drove them away and bade them beware of ever returning to
Jakoits.

"When they had gone, my captain called me to him, and, turning to the
other white men, said, 'This man hath saved my life. He hath a brave
heart. I shall do much for him in the time to come.' Then he and the
others all shook my hand and praised me, and I was silent and said
nothing, for I was ashamed to think I was about to run away from such a
good captain.

"In the morning we went back to the ship, and the boats were then sent
away to fill and bring off casks of water. Every time my boat went I
took something with me; tobacco and clothing and other things which I
had in my sea chest. Sipi and some other girls met us at the watering
place, and they took these from me and put them in a place of safety.
That afternoon as the boats were about to leave the shore for the last
time, towing the casks, I slipped into the forest which grew very
densely on both sides of the little river, and ran till I came to the
spot where Sipi was awaiting me. Then together we went inland towards
the mountains and kept on walking till nightfall. That night we slept in
the forest; we were afraid to make a fire lest it should be seen by some
of Nanakin's people and betray us, for I knew that my captain would
cause a great search to be made for me. When dawn came we again set out
and went on steadily till we came to the summit of the range of
mountains which divides the island. There was a clear space on the side
of the mountain; a great village had once stood there, so Sipi told me,
but all those who had dwelt there had long since died, and their ghosts
could be heard flitting to and fro at night time. Far below us we could
see the blue sea, and the long waving line of reef with the surf beating
upon it, and within, anchored in the green water, were the seven ships
and Preston's schooner.

"All that day and the next the girl and I worked at building a little
house for us to live in until the ships had gone. We had no fear of any
one seeking us out in that place, for it had a bad name and none but
travelling parties from Ro|an Kiti ever passed there. Sipi had brought
with her a basket of cooked food; in the deserted plantations we found
plenty of bananas and yams, and in the stream at the foot of the valley
we caught many small fish. Four days went by, and then one morning we
saw