ke a leaf out o' the
priests, and do what I do. Savvy," says he, repeated the sign, and
winked his dim eye at me. "No, _sir!_" he broke out again, "no Papists
here!" and for a long time entertained me with his religious opinions.

I must have been taken with Uma from the first, or I should certainly
have fled from that house, and got into the clean air, and the clean
sea, or some convenient river--though, it's true, I was committed to
Case; and, besides, I could never have held my head up in that island if
I had run from a girl upon my wedding-night.

The sun was down, the sky all on fire, and the lamp had been some time
lighted, when Case came back with Uma and the negro. She was dressed
and scented; her kilt was of fine tapa, looking richer in the folds than
any silk; her bust, which was of the colour of dark honey, she wore bare
only for some half a dozen necklaces of seeds and flowers; and behind
her ears and in her hair she had the scarlet flowers of the hibiscus.
She showed the best bearing for a bride conceivable, serious and still;
and I thought shame to stand up with her in that mean house and before
that grinning negro. I thought shame, I say; for the mountebank was
dressed with a big paper collar, the book he made believe to read from
was an odd volume of a novel, and the words of his service not fit to be
set down. My conscience smote me when we joined hands; and when she got
her certificate I was tempted to throw up the bargain and confess. Here
is the document. It was Case that wrote it, signatures and all, in a
leaf out of the ledger:--

This is to certify that Uma, daughter of Fa'avao of Falesa, Island of
----, is illegally married to Mr. John Wiltshire for one week, and
Mr. John Wiltshire is at liberty to send her to hell when he pleases.

JOHN BLACKAMOAR,
Chaplain to the Hulks.

Extracted from the Register
by William T. Randall,
Master Mariner.

A nice paper to put in a girl's hand and see her hide away like gold. A
man might easily feel cheap for less. But it was the practice in these
parts, and (as I told myself) not the least the fault of us white men,
but of the missionaries. If they had let the natives be, I had never
needed this deception, but taken all the wives I wished, and left them
when I pleased, with a clear conscience.

The more ashamed I was, the more hurry I was in to be gone; and our
desires thus jumping together, I made t