o was dying, and the dying man sucked his blood
from him.

"Now this governor was on the ship going away, and he had not been
killed. This made all Marquesans sad, and those in the crew talked
to Earth Worm, who had also been wronged, and urged him to rise and
strike. But he said nothing.

"The ship came to the Paumotas, and the governor sat all day long on
a stool on the deck, watching the islands as they passed. Earth Worm
sat in his place, watching the governor. One night at dark he rose,
and taking an iron rod laid beside him by one of the crew he crept
along the deck and stood behind the man on the stool. He raised the
iron rod and brought it down with fury upon the head of that man,
who fell covered with blood. Then he leaped into the sea.

"But the governor had gone below, and it was Jean Richard who sat on
the stool in the darkness. He was found bleeding upon the deck, and
the bones of his head were cut and lifted and patched, so that
to-day he lives, as well as ever. Earth Worm was never found. A boat
with a lantern was lowered, but it found nothing but the fins of
sharks.

"That was the work of Drink of Beer, who had hated Earth Worm
because he was a brave and strong man of Taaoa. When this was told
to Drink of Beer, he smiled and said, 'Earth Worm is safer where he
is.'

"I have talked too much. Your rum is very good. I thank you for your
kindness. You will not forget to deign to speak to the governor
concerning the matter of the gun?"

I promised that I would not forget, and after a prolonged
leavetaking the Shan-Shan man slipped silently down the trail and
vanished in the moon-lit forest.

CHAPTER XXXVI

The madman Great Moth of the Night; story of the famine and the one
family that ate pig.

Le Brunnec, the trader, was opening a roll of Tahiti tobacco five
feet long, five inches in diameter at the center, and tapering
toward the ends. It was bound, as is all Tahiti tobacco, in a
_purau_ rope, which had to be unwound and which weighed two pounds.
The eleven pounds of tobacco were hard as wood, the leaves cemented
by moisture. Le Brunnec hacked it with an axe into suitable portions
to sell for three francs a pound, the profit on which is a franc.

The immediate customer was Tavatini (Many Pieces of Tattooing), a
rich man of Taaoa, in his fifties. His face was grilled with _ama_
ink. One streak of the natural skin alone remained. Beside him on
the counter sat a commanding-looking man, w