h him," said Margaret.

"Ay, it was my turn, and I was glad enough to have some fresh fruit and
water for him, but he could not take any notice of it. Did not I want
you, papa? Well, by and by, Owen came back, in a perfect rapture
with the place and the people, and said it was the only hope for Mr.
Ernescliffe, to take him on shore--"

"Then you did really go amongst the cannibals!" exclaimed Blanche.

"That is all nonsense," said Harry. "Some of them may once have been,
and I fancy the heathens might not mind a bit of 'long pig' still; but
these have been converted by the Samoans."

The Samoans, it was further explained, are the inhabitants of the
Navigator Islands, who, having been converted by the Church Missionary
Society, have sent out great numbers of most active and admirable
teachers among the scattered islands, braving martyrdom and disease,
never shrinking from their work, and, by teaching and example, preparing
the way for fuller doctrine than they can yet impart. A station of these
devoted men had for some years been settled in this island, and had
since been visited by the missions of Newcastle and New Zealand. The
young chief, whom Harry called David, and another youth, had spent two
summers under instruction at New Zealand, and had been baptised. They
were spending the colder part of the year at home, and hoped shortly to
be called for by the mission-ship to return, and resume their course of
instruction.

Owen had come to an understanding with the chief and the Samoans, and
had decided on landing his lieutenant, and it was accordingly done, with
very little consciousness on the patient's part. Black figures, with
woolly mop-heads, and sometimes decorated with whitewash of lime,
crowded round to assist in the transport of the sick man through the
surf; and David himself, in a white European garb, met his guests,
with dignified manners that would have suited a prince of any land, and
conducted them through the grove of palms, interspersed with white huts,
to a beautiful house consisting of a central room, with many others
opening from it, floored with white coral lime, and lined with soft
shining mats of Samoan manufacture. This, Harry learned, had been
erected by them in hopes of an English missionary taking up his abode
amongst them.

They were a kindly people, and had shown hospitality to other
Englishmen, who had less appreciated it than these young officers
could. They lavished every kindness i