t has happened in the South Seas since the time of Captain Cook."

"Ah, you can laugh as much as you like, boss," said the old fellow
serenely, "but I know what I'm talkin' about I ain't the old gas-bag you
think I am. I lived on Nisan for a year an' ten months, nigh on thirty
years ago, gettin' _beche-de-mer_ for Captain Bobby Towns of Sydney."
Then turning to me he added: "I ain't got too bad a memory, for all my
age. I can tell you the names of all the six islands, and how they lies,
an' a good deal about the people an' the queer way they has of catchin'
turtle in rope nets; an' I can tell you the names of the head men that
was there in my time--which was about 'fifty or 'fifty-one. Just you try
me an' see."

I did try him, and he very soon satisfied me that he had lived on the
Sir Charles Hardy Islands, and knew the place well. Then he told his
story, which I condense as much as possible.

FIRST PART

Bandy was landed at Nisan by Captain Robert Towns of the barque
_Adventurer_ of Sydney, to collect _beche-de-mer_. He was well received
by the savage inhabitants and provided with a house, and well treated
generally, for Captain Towns, knowing the natives to be cannibals and
treacherous, had demanded a pledge from them that Bandy should not be
harmed, and threatened that if on his return in the following year he
found the white man was missing, he would land his crew, and destroy
them to the last man. Then the barque sailed. A day or so afterwards
Bandy was visited by a native, who was very different in appearance
from the Nisan people. He spoke to the white man in good English, and
informed him that he was a native of the island of Rotumah, but had been
living on Nisan for more than twenty years, had married, had a family,
and was well thought of by the people. The two became great friends, and
Taula, as the Rotumah man was named, took Bandy into his confidence, and
told him of a tragedy that had occurred on Nisan about five or six years
after he (Taula) had landed on the islands. He was one of the crew of a
whaleship which, on a dark night, nearly ran ashore on Nisan, and in the
hurry and confusion of the vessels going about he slipped over the side,
swam on shore through the surf, and reached the land safely.

One day, said Taula, the natives were thrown into a state of wild
excitement by the appearance of a brigantine, which boldly dropped
anchor abreast of the principal village. She was the first vessel