ally
were by no means chary of insulting the old man, who never carried a
pistol in his belt.

One of these young men was unnecessarily intrusive. He would enter the
trader's house on any available pretext, and the old man noticed that he
would let his savage eyes rest upon his wife's figure in a way there was
no mistaking. Not daring to tackle the brawny savage, whose chest, arms,
and back were one mass of corrugations resulting from wounds inflicted
by sharks' teeth spears and swords in many encounters, old Jack one day
quietly intimated to his visitor that he was not welcome and told him to
"get." The savage, with sullen hate gleaming from cruel eyes that looked
out from the mat of coarse, black hair, which, cut away in a fringe over
his forehead, fell upon his shoulders, rose slowly and went out.

*****

Early next morning old Keyes was going over to Randolph's house,
probably to speak of the occurrence of the previous day, when his
wife called him and said that some one was at the door waiting to buy
tobacco.

"What have you to sell?" called out the old man.

"_Te moe motu_" (young drinking-coconuts), was the answer, and the old
man, not recognising the voice as that of his visitor of the day before,
went unsuspectingly to take them from the native's hand, when the
latter, placing a horse-pistol to the trader's heart, shot him dead,
with the savage exclamation--

"Now your wife is mine!"

The poor woman fled to Bob Randolph for safety, and, dreading to remain
on the island, went away in a schooner to her home in New Zealand.
Nearly a year passed, and then a man-of-war came and endeavoured to
capture the murderer; but in vain, for the captain would not use force;
and "talk" and vague threats the natives only laughed at. So the ship
steamed away; and then the natives began to threaten Randolph, and talk
meaningly to each other about his store being full of _te pakea_ and _te
rom_ (tobacco and gin). A long, uneasy six months passed, and then the
little "four-and-halfter" Renard, Commander ------ sailed into Apiang
lagoon, and the naval officer told Randolph he had come to get the man
and try him for the murder.

*****

The commander first warped his vessel in as near as possible to the
crowded village, and moored her with due regard to the effectiveness
of his one big gun. Then, with Randolph as interpreter, negotiations
commenced.

The old men of the village were saucy; the young men wanted a fight and