nting
himself as a trader anxious to buy European provisions, begin to work
by throwing the mutineers off their guard, by warning them of the danger
the ship was in through being in so close to the land during a calm, for
the currents in the Straits of Manono were very strong and she would
be carried on to the reef unless she was towed out of the danger
limit towards which he would say (and truthfully enough) that she was
drifting. The mutineers, he felt convinced, would feel so alarmed that
they would listen to and accept his suggestion to let him engage the
services of half a dozen native boats, whose united efforts would soon
place the ship out of danger by towing her out of the danger zone.
Then he and those with him would bide their time, and at a given signal
spring upon the mutineers, who would be completely off their guard.

He entered into the details so minutely that not only Frewen and Cheyne,
but Malie as well, expressed the warmest admiration and approval. Then
he told Malie exactly what to do when he (the chief) saw the whale-boat
leaving the ship to return to the shore, and Malie listened carefully to
his instructions and promised that they should be carried out exactly as
he desired.

Then the stalwart chief and his orator rose to take their leave, for
they had to call the people together and acquaint them with what was to
be done.

"Have no fear, Lemonti, that the calm will break," he said in reply to a
fear expressed by the planter that a breeze might, after all, spring
up and carry the ship too far off the land for the attempt to be made.
"'Tis a calm that will last for many days. Look at the mountains of
Savai'i"--and he pointed out the cloud-capped summits of the range that
traverses the great island of Savai'i--"when the clouds lie white and
heavy and low down it meaneth no wind for many days, not as much as
would stir a palm-leaf. But there will be rain at night--much rain."

"The better for our purpose," said Raymond, as the chief left the house.
"Now, Randall, we must hurry along. Take half a dozen of my people, and
let them catch a couple of pigs and plenty of fowls; then cut about
a dozen or so large bunches of bananas and get enough other
fruit--pineapples, sugar-cane, guavas, and young coco-nuts as will
make a big show in the boat. Mr. Frewen and I will join you in about a
quarter of an hour, and then you and he can show the natives how to stow
the things, as I have suggested to the chie