were afraid of
men-of-war, and thought it ill to interfere. But the anger of Billy
Hindoo surpassed that of a woman whose man has cast her off; and,
baffled in one direction, he redoubled his efforts in another, telling
tales about Professor No No that made the strongest shudder to hear
them; how, indeed, he was Antichrist, and that his coming to Uvea had
been foretold in Revelations. Whether this was true or false, it was
evident that Professor No No believed not in God; for it was seen he
went never to church, and remembered (when strangers asked him if he
were a missionary) that he would grow beside himself and roar, "No,
no!" snorting like a suffocating person.

Now there lived in the village a chief named Malamalama, a young man who
owned a fine house and much land, and was withal so handsome and gay
that there was scarce a woman but whose eyes shone at the sight of him.
And Malamalama's wife was named Salesa, and the strange thing about
Salesa was that she was white. Her father had been a _papalangi_, and
her mother (who came from another island to the southward) a half-white;
and Salesa, the child of the two, was fairer than either, and a girl,
besides, of wonderful beauty. It was this that found her favor in
Malamalama's sight, for she was without family, and what Kanaka blood
she possessed was that of slaves; but the chief must needs have his way,
being a man of imperious temper and willful under advice; and so the
little out-islander was married to him and elevated to the rank of
chieftainess.

Then her arrogance and pride, previously concealed by the humbleness of
her station, broke out with the fierceness of consuming flames. Were you
to pass her on the road and say, "_Talofa, Salesa_," she often deigned
not to return your greeting; and when people came to her house she did
not like, she would say to them, "Go away," like that, so that everyone
was insulted and retired with darkened faces. Of course, she was not
utterly without friends, women of contemptible spirit who fawned on her
like dogs, saying, "Lo, is she not beautiful?" But they were only a
handful, and by degrees grew less and less, for she was as mean with her
property as Professor No No, and made the most trifling returns for pigs
or costly presents. So in time she was left alone in her fine house, and
though she had a sewing machine and a musical box, and goldfish in a
glass jar, and an umbrella with a glittering handle, she spent her days
in