hone with contentment and
happiness. In this manner Professor No No and Salesa and Billy Hindoo
were escorted homeward to their camp; and then everyone breathed with
relief and congratulated one another on so peaceful and satisfactory a
settlement.

But the ancients were still in their places when Salesa returned, saying
that Professor No No had repulsed her; and behind her was Billy Hindoo,
equally repulsed, who said his master refused to pay him his wages to
that day or to send him back at once to the white country according to
the covenant; and behind them both was Professor No No with his head
tied in a towel, where the pastor had hurt him, cursing and reviling
like a maniac.

Then the ancients held another meeting; and lo! it was a secret meeting;
and Tanielu spoke for God, and everyone made speeches in turn; and it
was recalled, with eloquent outbursts, how peaceful and happy Uvea had
been in the days preceding Professor No No's arrival. There were some
who wanted to have him killed as a punishment; and others who voted
against Salesa, saying it was she who was at fault; and still others who
burned with resentment against Billy Hindoo, declaring that he was the
worst of all. Thus, like a battle rolling to and fro, Salesa, Professor
No No, and Billy Hindoo were each in turn imperiled; and when day broke,
their fate, though they knew it not, had been finally settled by the
ancients.

Professor No No's boat was carried by twenty men from the lagoon shore,
where it lay, over to the ocean beach; and with it was borne sardines
and biscuit and beer from the white man's store; and the glass barrels
were emptied, many of them, of their dead fish, being washed and
refilled with fresh water from the spring, and their glass tops fastened
tightly with cocoanut sinnet. Then, when everything had been made ready,
Billy Hindoo was forced to seat himself in the bow of the boat; and in
the stern were put Salesa and Professor No No, side by side, the center
being filled with the cargo of provisions and water.

And Salesa laughed and joked with the men, begging them to take out
Billy Hindoo, or to give him a boat of his own; and saying wildly, when
denied, that she was going where none might whip her now, to find a
beautiful island whereon to live with her husband. But the white man was
convulsed with fear, and said nothing in the making ready of the boat,
not even "No, no" when Salesa put her arms round him and kissed him
again