it seemed to burden the lungs and make breathing difficult.

"Have you heard the news, Toriki?" Huru-Huru asked. "Mapuhi has found
a pearl. Never was there a pearl like it ever fished up in Hikueru, nor
anywhere in the Paumotus, nor anywhere in all the world. Mapuhi is a
fool. Besides, he owes you money. Remember that I told you first. Have
you any tobacco?"

And to the grass shack of Mapuhi went Toriki. He was a masterful man,
withal a fairly stupid one. Carelessly he glanced at the wonderful
pearl--glanced for a moment only; and carelessly he dropped it into his
pocket.

"You are lucky," he said. "It is a nice pearl. I will give you credit on
the books."

"I want a house," Mapuhi began, in consternation. "It must be six
fathoms--"

"Six fathoms your grandmother!" was the trader's retort. "You want to
pay up your debts, that's what you want. You owed me twelve hundred
dollars Chili. Very well; you owe them no longer. The amount is squared.
Besides, I will give you credit for two hundred Chili. If, when I get
to Tahiti, the pearl sells well, I will give you credit for another
hundred--that will make three hundred. But mind, only if the pearl sells
well. I may even lose money on it."

Mapuhi folded his arms in sorrow and sat with bowed head. He had been
robbed of his pearl. In place of the house, he had paid a debt. There
was nothing to show for the pearl.

"You are a fool," said Tefara.

"You are a fool," said Nauri, his mother. "Why did you let the pearl
into his hand?"

"What was I to do?" Mapuhi protested. "I owed him the money. He knew I
had the pearl. You heard him yourself ask to see it. I had not told him.
He knew. Somebody else told him. And I owed him the money."

"Mapuhi is a fool," mimicked Ngakura.

She was twelve years old and did not know any better. Mapuhi relieved
his feelings by sending her reeling from a box on the ear; while Tefara
and Nauri burst into tears and continued to upbraid him after the manner
of women.

Huru-Huru, watching on the beach, saw a third schooner that he knew
heave to outside the entrance and drop a boat. It was the Hira, well
named, for she was owned by Levy, the German Jew, the greatest pearl
buyer of them all, and, as was well known, Hira was the Tahitian god of
fishermen and thieves.

"Have you heard the news?" Huru-Huru asked, as Levy, a fat man with
massive asymmetrical features, stepped out upon the beach. "Mapuhi has
found a pearl. There was never a pear