insignificance. But it is not well for one to see
himself truly, nor can one so see himself for long and live; and only for
that flashing moment did Percival Ford see himself and his brother in
true perspective. The next moment he was mastered by his meagre and
insatiable ego.
"As I said, I will make it worth your while. You will not suffer. I
will pay you well."
"All right," Joe Garland said. "I'll go."
He started to turn away.
"Joe," the other called. "You see my lawyer tomorrow morning. Five
hundred down and two hundred a month as long as you stay away."
"You are very kind," Joe Garland answered softly. "You are too kind. And
anyway, I guess I don't want your money. I go tomorrow on the
_Alameda_."
He walked away, but did not say good-bye.
Percival Ford clapped his hands.
"Boy," he said to the Japanese, "a lemonade."
And over the lemonade he smiled long and contentedly to himself.
KOOLAU THE LEPER
"Because we are sick they take away our liberty. We have obeyed the law.
We have done no wrong. And yet they would put us in prison. Molokai is
a prison. That you know. Niuli, there, his sister was sent to Molokai
seven years ago. He has not seen her since. Nor will he ever see her.
She must stay there until she dies. This is not her will. It is not
Niuli's will. It is the will of the white men who rule the land. And
who are these white men?
"We know. We have it from our fathers and our fathers' fathers. They
came like lambs, speaking softly. Well might they speak softly, for we
were many and strong, and all the islands were ours. As I say, they
spoke softly. They were of two kinds. The one kind asked our
permission, our gracious permission, to preach to us the word of God. The
other kind asked our permission, our gracious permission, to trade with
us. That was the beginning. Today all the islands are theirs, all the
land, all the cattle--everything is theirs. They that preached the word
of God and they that preached the word of Rum have fore-gathered and
become great chiefs. They live like kings in houses of many rooms, with
multitudes of servants to care for them. They who had nothing have
everything, and if you, or I, or any Kanaka be hungry, they sneer and
say, 'Well, why don't you work? There are the plantations.'"
Koolau paused. He raised one hand, and with gnarled and twisted fingers
lifted up the blazing wreath of hibiscus that crowned his black
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