s. From
being the most orderly island in the Pacific, Manihiki slumped to be the
worst; and it got such a name that ships were scared of coming near it;
and once, when Tom and me went out in a whaleboat toward a becalmed
German bark, hoping to raise a newspaper or a sack of potatoes, they
opened fire on us and lowered two boats to tow away the ship. Tom and me
got mixed up in the general opinion of the place, which was stinking bad
and what they called a pirates' nest, and an English man-of-war came
down special to deport Tom. I never was so glad in my life to be an
American, for, though the captain gave Tom what he called the benefit of
the doubt, they fined him two hundred and fifty dollars and slanged him
like a nigger.

The last straw was the visit of a French man-of-war, that opened
broadsides on us without warning, and then landed and burned the
settlement, including everything me and Tom owned in the world, except
the clothes we stood in and the cash we snatched on the run. This was on
account of the "outrage" on the Tahiti schooner.

Tom said the island was becoming a regular human pigeon-shoot, and
wondered where the lightning would strike next; and we both grew clean
sick of it and in a fever to get away. There was not even the temptation
of Old Dibs's treasure to keep us now, for the natives all got together
and heaped up the graveyard solid with rock to the level of the outside
walls, and floored the top with cement six inches deep, putting in a
matter of a thousand tons. It was as solid as a fortification, and
pounded down, besides, with pounders, like a city street; and if ever
there was money in a safe place and likely to stay there undisturbed, I
guess it was Old Dibs's.

It was a happy day for Tom and me when the _Flink_ dropped anchor off
the settlement, and we patched it up with the captain to give us a
passage to the Kingsmills, to begin the world again. It had always lain
sort of heavy on my wife that we hadn't put up a name over old Dibs's
grave, and now that we were going away with that undone she reproached
me awful. You see, I had promised her something nice in the marble line
from Sydney, and kept putting her off and off in the hope she'd forget
it. She had been remarkably fond of the old fellow, as, indeed, so was
I, and she said it was a shame to go away forever with this unattended
to. I didn't have no time for anything fancy, nor the ability neither,
but as the ship lay over for a couple