spoke of my intention to Melannie she failed to grasp my
meaning. She had no notion of fire except in connexion with the smoke
on the mountain, and when I told her I could make fire like that and
convert it to my use, she became incredulous.

"If you can make fire, Peter," she said, "you are greater than all the
gods upon the island. Whoever heard of making fire?"

In order to convince her, and to test the effect which my fire might
have upon these islanders, I invited her to accompany me to a remote
part of the island, seldom visited, where I had already constructed a
fire-place and collected a quantity of fuel, of which there was an
abundance lying round. She came with me fearlessly, for she trusted me
entirely, and her intelligence, which was superior to the islanders',
made her less superstitious than the savages over whom she nominally
reigned. When she saw the dried wood and leaves I had collected in my
fire-place she appeared to think I had become suddenly demented, as
sometimes happened to the people on the island, when they were thought
to be possessed by evil spirits.

When I took up my flint and steel, however, and began to strike sparks
on to the prepared tinder, she drew back alarmed, although her woman's
curiosity conquered her desire to run away. But when the sparks
lighted the dried leaves, causing the wood to crackle and burn, she
would have fled if I had not detained her.

"There is no magic in fire-making, Melannie," I said, trying to allay
her fears; "all white men make fires. It is as necessary to them as air
and water."

But it was hard to convince the queen of this. She looked at my fire,
which now burned brightly, with wonder and alarm. "Of a truth, Peter,"
she said, "thy magic is beyond me. I know now thou art indeed come from
the sun. No man born of men could work such marvel."

I had brought with me a fine fish, caught that morning from the rocks,
which I had sealed and cleaned with my dagger-knife, and I now toasted
it over the hot coals, after which I enjoyed the most satisfying meal I
had tasted since I had been cast upon the island. I induced Melannie to
eat some of the fish, which she found so much to her liking that her
fear of the fire changed to admiration for what it could do.

"When my people eat of this delicious food," she said, "they will
worship you."

I had no desire to be worshipped. All I asked was permission to eat my
grilled fish in peace. But Melannie was so deli