stcloth)." (He was nude.)

He thanked me, and then again his keen dark eyes were fixed upon
Savai'i--three miles distant.

"Art bound to Savai'i?" he asked quickly.

"Nay. We beat against the wind. To-night we anchor at Mulifanua."

"Ah!" and his face changed, "then I must leave, for it is to Savai'i I
go," and he was about to go over the rail when we held him back.

"Wait, friend. In a little time the ship will be close in to the passage
through the reef at Saleleloga" (a town of Savai'i), "and then as we put
the ship about, thou canst go on thy way. Why swim two leagues and tempt
the sharks when there is no need. Come below and eat and drink, and have
no fear. We shall take thee as near to the passage as we can."

The skipper came below with us, and after providing our visitor with a
navy blue waistcloth, we gave him a stiff tumbler of rum, and some
bread and meat. He ate quickly and then asked for a smoke, and in a few
minutes more we asked him who he was, and why he was swimming across the
straits. We spoke in Samoan. "Friends," he said, "I will tell the truth.
I am one of the _kau galuega_ (labourers) on Mulifanua Plantation.
Yesterday being the Sabbath, and there being no work, I went into the
lands of the Samoan village to steal young nuts and _taro_. I had thrown
down and husked a score, and was creeping back to my quarters by a
side path through the grove, when I was set upon by three young Samoan
_manaia_ (bloods) who began beating me with clubs--seeking to murder me.
We fought, and I, knowing that death was upon me, killed one man with a
blow of my _tori nui_{*} (husking stick) of iron-wood, and then drove it
deep into the chest of another. Then I fled, and gaining the beach, ran
into the sea so that I might swim to Savai'i, for there will I be safe
from pursuit" "'Tis a long swim, man--'tis five leagues." He laughed and
expanded his brawny chest "What is that to me? I have swam ten leagues
many times."

* A heavy, pointed stick of hardwood, used for husking coco-
nuts.

"Where do you belong?" asked the skipper in English.

He answered partly in the same language and partly in his curious
Samoan.

"I am of Anuda.{*} My name is Vanaki. Two years ago I came to Samoa in a
German labour ship to work on the plantations, for I wanted to see other
places and earn money, and then return to Anuda and speak of the things
I had seen. It was a foolish thing of me. The German _suis_ (overseers)
are h