, grew old and
feeble, the whole of the race to which it belonged grew old and feeble
with it. One by one they withered away and died, till at last this
solitary specimen alone remained to vouch for the former existence of the
race in the island. Now, the islanders say, nothing but the Soul itself
is left; and when the Soul dies, the red-throated parrots will be gone
forever. One of my predecessors paid with his life in awful tortures for
his remissness in not providing for the succession to the soulship. I
tell you these things in order that you may see whether they cast any
light for you upon your own position; and also because the oldest and
wisest natives say that this parrot alone, among beasts or birds or
uninitiated things, knows the secret on which depends the life of the
Tu-Kila-Kila for the time being."

"Can the parrot speak?" Felix asked, with profound emotion.

"Monsieur, he can speak, and he speaks frequently. But not one word of
all he says is comprehensible either to me or to any other living being.
His tongue is that of a forgotten nation. The islanders understand him no
more than I do. He has a very long sermon or poem, which he knows by
heart, in some unknown language, and he repeats it often at full length
from time to time, especially when he has eaten well and feels full and
happy. The oldest natives tell a romantic legend about this strange
recitation of the good Methuselah--I call him Methuselah because of his
great age--but I do not really know whether their tale is true or purely
fanciful. You never can trust these Polynesian traditions."

"What is the legend?" Felix asked, with intense interest. "In an island
where we find ourselves so girt round by mystery within mystery, and
taboo within taboo, as this, every key is worth trying. It is well for us
at least to learn everything we can about the ideas of the natives. Who
knows what clue may supply us at last with the missing link, which will
enable us to break through this intolerable servitude?"

"Well, the story they tell us is this," the Frenchman replied,
"though I have gathered it only a hint at a time, from very old men, who
declared at the same moment that some religious fear--of which they have
many--prevented them from telling me any further about it. It seems that
a long time ago--how many years ago nobody knows, only that it was in the
time of the thirty-ninth Tu-Kila-Kila, before the reign of Lavita, the
son of Sami--a strange Ko