an I see him now, for there is much that I have to tell
him about the ship--things that he would like to know."

So Frewen came in, and he and the Italian mate had quite a long talk
about the _Esmeralda_, and when they parted they did so with a feeling
of growing friendship.

Anxious to obtain a reliable crew as quickly as possible, Frewen, on the
following day, sent Randall Gheyne to Lepi to see if he could persuade
the men who had deserted from the _Casilda_ to come and help man the
_Esmeralda_. But they were all too enamoured of island life to accept
the offer he made them, which was generous enough--two hundred and fifty
dollars each for the voyage to Manila. So Cheyne came back disappointed,
and Frewen then went to Apia in the _Casilda's_ whale-boat, and
succeeded in engaging ten natives of Niue,{*} who, with half a dozen
Samoans, made up a sufficient complement for the ship.

* Niue, the "Savage Island" of Captain Cook. The natives
are always in great request as seamen. Even to the present
day most of the trading vessels carry a few Niue seamen.

During this time Almansa and his fellow-mutineers had been confined on
board the ship, guarded by a number of Malie's warriors. Then to the
joy of Raymond and Frewen there came into Apia Harbour a British gunboat
bound from the Phoenix Islands to Sydney, and within forty-eight hours
the planter, accompanied by the unwounded survivors of the English crew
of the _Esmeralda_, were on board, and related the tale of the mutiny to
the captain of the man-of-war.

"I am letting myself in for a lot of trouble, Mr. Raymond," said the
captain of the warship, "but I do not see how I can avoid it. I suppose
that as the _Esmeralda_ is a British ship and is now in distress I must
be a sort of fairy godmother and take these beastly mongrels of Chilenos
and Greeks to Sydney to be hanged on the evidence of these men whom you
have brought. By the way, Mrs. Marston can have a passage with me if she
wishes it."

Raymond thanked him, and said Mrs. Marston wished to remain at Samatau
with his (Raymond's) wife for an indefinite time.

"Very well, Mr. Raymond. I should be delighted to give her a passage to
Sydney, and I'm delighted she can't come. You understand me? I cannot
refuse a passage to a lady in such circumstances as Mrs. Marston, but
the _Virago_ is a man-of-war, and--you know."

Raymond laughed. "I think I know what you mean, Captain Armitage; a
lady passenger o