ut the Service if this
is discovered."

"Stand aside, sir. I'm not the man to let you sacrifice yourself for
me----" And unloosing his wife's arms from his neck, he advanced to the
door.

"Very well; it is your own fault."

The next instant the lieutenant threw open the door.

"Sergeant, bring your men here."

* * * * *

Half an hour later Lieutenant Carteret reported to Commander Arness.

"I have brought the prisoner on board, sir. He is a man named Charles
Parker, and was sergeant of marines on the _Flycatcher?_"

"Very good, Mr. Carteret What have you done with his wife?"

"She refused to leave, sir, and when we brought the man away, went off
to the other side of the island."

* * * * *

When the _Spitfire_ reached Sydney, Charles Parker was duly tried by
court-martial, and in consequence of the friendly exertions of the
principal witness against him, Lieutenant Neil Carteret, was let
off lightly. He was dismissed from the service, and sentenced to
imprisonment in a Sydney jail for eighteen months.

When his time had expired, he managed, after a few months of waiting
about in Sydney, to work his way back to Anuda Island. And scarce had
the boat touched the beach when he was seized by the welcoming arms of
his native friends and carried ashore.

"Is it well with my wife, O friends?" he asked.

"It is well with her," they answered; "in a little while we will take
you to her, but first let us tell thee of that which has befallen her on
this island."

Then they told him.

*****

"One day after the warship had gone," they said, "there came here a
trading schooner from Niuafou. On the ship were Tepuaka, the King of
Niuafou--the father of thy wife--and many of his men. And with him there
came also the little fat white man named Opataia [Obadiah]. All those
men that came with Tepuaka, the King, were _lotu_ [Christians]. No
sooner did they land, than Tepuaka and his friend, the fat little white
man, Opataia, walked to the house of his daughter, thy wife, Tui, but
all of his men he bade remain here in the village.

"'See,' said one of these men of Niuafou to us vauntingly, 'see what has
come to pass! Tuilagi refused to take for her husband the good and pious
man Opataia, but fled with this common white man, who is no better than
a heathen. And then what comes? This bad white man is caught by his
countrymen and put in a prison with chains upon his body. So now the
King comes for his daughter, for even n