er him in silence, and trust that something might
happen to him before long. What irritated Denison more than anything
else was that Saunderson frequently expressed the opinion that
supercargoes were superfluous luxuries to owners, and that such work "as
they tried to do could well be done by the captains, provided the latter
were intelligent men."

"Never mind, Tom," said Packenham hopefully, one day, "he's a big
eater, and is bound to get the fever if we give him a fair show in the
Solomons. Then we can dump him ashore at some missionary's--he and his
infernal groan-box--and go back to Sydney without the beast."

When the _Palestine_ arrived at Leone Bay, in Tutuila, Saunderson
dressed himself beautifully and went ashore to the mission-house, and in
the evening Mrs. O------ (the missionary's wife), wrote Denison a note
and asked if he could spare a cheese from the ship's stores, and added a
P.S., "What a _terrible_ bore he is!" This made the captain and himself
feel better.

The next morning Saunderson came on board. Denison was in the cabin,
showing a trader named Rigby some samples of dynamite; the trader wanted
a case or two of the dangerous compound to blow a boat passage through
the reef opposite his house, and Denison was telling him how to use it.
Of course Saunderson must interfere, and said _he_ would show Rigby what
to do. He had never fired a charge of dynamite in his life, nor even
seen one fired or a cartridge prepared, but had listened carefully to
Denison. Then he sarcastically told Denison that the cheese he had sent
Mrs. O------ might have passed for dynamite, it was so dry and
tasteless.

"Well, dynamite is made from cheese, you know," said the supercargo
deferentially, "just cheese slightly impregnated with picric acid,
gastrito-nepenthe, and cubes of oxalicogene."

Saunderson said he knew that, and after telling Rigby that he would
walk over to his station before dinner, and show him where to begin
operations on the reef, went on shore again.

About twelve o'clock Denison and Rigby went on shore to test the
dynamite, fuse, and caps--first in the water and then on the reef.
Just abreast of the mission-house they saw a big school of grey mullet
swimming close in to the beach, and Denison quickly picked up a stone,
tied it with some string round a cartridge, cut the fuse very short, lit
it, and threw it in. There was a short fizz, then a dull, heavy thud,
and up came hundreds of the beautiful f