ented 'Reo with the boat, with many
complimentary speeches, and sat down to chuckle at the way they would
"make the old fool work," and the "old fool" went straight away to
the American Consul and declared himself to be a citizen of the United
States and demanded his country's protection, as he feared his wife's
relatives wanted to jew him out of the boat they had given him.

The Consul wrote out something terrifying on a big sheet of paper, and
tacked it on to the boat, and warned the surprised relatives that an
American man-of-war would protect 'Reo with her guns, and then 'Reo went
inside his house and beat his wife with a canoe paddle, and chased her
violently out of the place, and threatened her male relatives with a
large knife and fearful language.

Then he took the boat round the other side of the island and sold it for
two hundred dollars to a trader, and came back to Apia to Denison and
asked for a passage to Tutuila, and the German firm entered into and
took possession of the mortgaged land, whilst the infuriated relatives
tore up and down the beach demanding 'Reo's blood in a loud voice.
'Reo, with his two hundred dollars in his trousers' pocket, sat on the
schooner's rail and looked at them stolidly and without ill-feeling.

* * * * *

Denison landed the ancient at Leone Bay on Tutuila, for he had taken
kindly to the old scoundrel, who had many virtues, and could give points
to any one, white or brown, in the noble art of deep-sea fishing. This
latter qualification endeared him greatly to young Tom, who, when he was
not employed in keeping the captain sober, or bringing him round after
an attack of "D.T.'s," spent all his spare time in fishing, either at
sea or in port.

'Reo settled at Leone, and made a good deal of money buying copra from
the natives. The natives got to like him--he was such a conscientious
old fellow. When he hung the baskets of copra on the iron hook of the
steelyard, which was marked to weigh up to 150 lbs., he would call their
attention to the marks as he moved the heavy "pea" along the yard. Then,
one day, some interfering Tongan visitor examined the pea and declared
that it had been taken from a steelyard designed to weigh up to 400 lbs.
'Reo was so hurt at the insinuation that he immediately took the whole
apparatus out beyond the reef in his boat and indignantly sunk it in
fifty fathoms of water. Then he returned to his house, and he and his
wife (he had married again) bade a