barrels, and with all the inheritance of his own health and strength.

"And then it happened. The mark of the beast was laid upon him. I
watched it for a year. It broke my heart. But he did not know it, nor
did anybody else guess it except that cursed _hapa-haole_, Stephen
Kaluna. He knew it, but I did not know that he did. And--yes--Doc
Strowbridge knew it. He was the federal physician, and he had developed
the leper eye. You see, part of his business was to examine suspects and
order them to the receiving station at Honolulu. And Stephen Kaluna had
developed the leper eye. The disease ran strong in his family, and four
or five of his relatives were already on Molokai.

"The trouble arose over Stephen Kaluna's sister. When she became
suspect, and before Doc Strowbridge could get hold of her, her brother
spirited her away to some hiding-place. Lyte was Sheriff of Kona, and it
was his business to find her.

"We were all over at Hilo that night, in Ned Austin's. Stephen Kaluna
was there when we came in, by himself, in his cups, and quarrelsome. Lyte
was laughing over some joke--that huge, happy laugh of a giant boy.
Kaluna spat contemptuously on the floor. Lyte noticed, so did everybody;
but he ignored the fellow. Kaluna was looking for trouble. He took it
as a personal grudge that Lyte was trying to apprehend his sister. In
half a dozen ways he advertised his displeasure at Lyte's presence, but
Lyte ignored him. I imagined Lyte was a bit sorry for him, for the
hardest duty of his office was the apprehension of lepers. It is not a
nice thing to go in to a man's house and tear away a father, mother, or
child, who has done no wrong, and to send such a one to perpetual
banishment on Molokai. Of course, it is necessary as a protection to
society, and Lyte, I do believe, would have been the first to apprehend
his own father did he become suspect.

"Finally, Kaluna blurted out: 'Look here, Gregory, you think you're
going to find Kalaniweo, but you're not.'

"Kalaniweo was his sister. Lyte glanced at him when his name was called,
but he made no answer. Kaluna was furious. He was working himself up
all the time.

"'I'll tell you one thing,' he shouted. 'You'll be on Molokai yourself
before ever you get Kalaniweo there. I'll tell you what you are. You've
no right to be in the company of honest men. You've made a terrible fuss
talking about your duty, haven't you? You've sent many lepers to
Molo