ar away,
Tossed like a feather, black against the sky,
Hovered a tiny craft, its unknown lines
Marked it as stranger, and the maidens all
Curiously watched its coming to the shore.

All night the little shell with ceaseless dip
And pause, and rise and dip again, had borne
The trackless trade winds. Tui Tua Kau,
"King of the Reefs," had ventured over far
From Tonga's shore. Caught by a wanton gale,
His idle racing, lengthened in a whim
To cheat his laughing mates, grew a wild flight.
The frail canoe seemed, on the angry sea,
A sweet rose petal blown across the night.
Yet wisely now the winds had mind to crown
Their joyous undertaking, and upon
The shores of Fiji's isles they drew their prize.
The maidens on the shore had seen afar
The stranger's coming, and the songs were stilled
To hush of expectation. Even so
A prince might come to claim his kingdom, lone,
In a frail craft, with weary eyes, and hair
Crowned with a fading wreath, more beautiful
Than all their lovers, slender, strong and young.
With one lithe spring he gained the yellow sand
And caught the boat and drew it with a swing
High on the beach,--its movement seemed alive.
His sinewy fingers loosed the flapping sail,
Gay shells clinked musical against the mast,
And all the maidens, timorous as birds,
Laughed at the sound with shy averted face.
Then straight and slender as the cocoa palm,
Straight as its shaft and crowned with shining hair,
The stranger lifted up his head. The wreath,
Faded yet still alive thro' ocean's breath,
Drooped o'er his brows. His flashing sun-bright eyes
Struck thro' the group of girls as shoots a dart,
And caught and quivered in sweet Taka's breast.
More noble than the rest, she scorned to fear,
And graceful in her modesty she faltered,
Then came to meet and greet the stranger guest.
Erect she faced him, o'er her brow the frail
Curves of the crest she wore, antennae-wise,
Trembled a little. As a maid beseems,
Her eyes drooped from his gaze, yet not too soon
To miss the gleam with which he caught the first
Flash of her beauty. With that glance he gained--
Half conscious of a gladness--that this maid
Was still for winning. As the custom is
Her hair fell in twin braids, and were she wed
They had been sacrificed to that estate.
Maiden she was, his eyes caressed the sign
Black o'er the topaz beauty of her breast.
The stranger spoke. "Malua am I called;
I hold for title Tui Tua Kau.
Over the violent seas, beneath the frown