g to see the thing out to its bitter end. So she had her try.

Pati-lima came from Manono, the people of which island eat much
shell-fish, and suffer much in consequence from the sarcastic allusions
of the rest of the Samoan people. And they don't like it, any more than
a Scotsman likes his sacred haggis being made the subject of idiotic
derision. So as the two parties moved off, Manogi faced round to
Pati-lima.

"Pah! _Manono ai foli_" (Manono feeds on shellfish).

"_Siamani vao tapiti elo_" (Germans gorge on stinking cabbage) was the
quick retort of Mrs. Deasy, who pointed scornfully at Manogi's husband,
and instantaneously the whole assemblage, male and female, were
engaged in hideous conflict again, while Denison and his boat's crew,
"Wond'ring, stepped aside," and let them fight it out.

What the result would have been had not the encounter been stopped
is hard to say; but in the midst of this second struggle the young
yellow-haired local chief bounded into the fray, and smote right and
left with a heavy club, ably seconded by Denison and his men and lakopo.
The appearance of the chief was, however, enough--the opposing factions
drew off from each other and retired, carrying their wounded with them.

*****

"What a brace of detestable ruffians!" said Captain De Groen, of her
Majesty's ship _Dawdler_, to Denison a day or two afterwards. The doctor
of the man-of-war had gone ashore to patch up the wounded, and Denison
had been telling the commander how the affair occurred.

Now Captain De Groen was wrong. Both Deasy and Schweicker were as decent
a pair of men as could be found in the Pacific--that is to say, they did
no harm to a living soul except themselves when under the influence of
liquor, which was not infrequent. But it was all Packenham's fault. Had
he kept clear of the teacher's house, Deasy and Hans would not have felt
affronted, Manogi and Pati-lima would not have said nasty things to each
other, and Denison would not have been reported upon officially by her
Majesty's High Commissioner for the Western Pacific as a person who,
"with a Mr. Packenham, master of the brig _Indiana_, incited the native
factions of Sa Lotopa to attack each other with murderous fury."

A TOUCH OF THE TAR-BRUSH

Dr. Te Henare Rauparaha, the youngest member of the New Zealand House
of Representatives, had made his mark, to a certain extent, upon the
political life of the colony. Representing no party, and having no