"I don't believe that. You had other mans, and you eat 'em."

At this sally the others laughed. "What for you come long way?" they
asked.

"To hear you ladies sing," I replied.

[Illustration: First exchange of courtesies in Samoa.]

"Oh, talofa lee!" they all cried, and sang on. Their voices filled the
air with music that rolled across to the grove of tall palms on the
other side of the harbor and back. Soon after this six young men came
down in the United States consul-general's boat, singing in parts and
beating time with their oars. In my interview with them I came off
better than with the damsels in the canoe. They bore an invitation
from General Churchill for me to come and dine at the consulate. There
was a lady's hand in things about the consulate at Samoa. Mrs.
Churchill picked the crew for the general's boat, and saw to it that
they wore a smart uniform and that they could sing the Samoan
boatsong, which in the first week Mrs. Churchill herself could sing
like a native girl.

Next morning bright and early Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson came to the
_Spray_ and invited me to Vailima the following day. I was of course
thrilled when I found myself, after so many days of adventure, face to
face with this bright woman, so lately the companion of the author who
had delighted me on the voyage. The kindly eyes, that looked me
through and through, sparkled when we compared notes of adventure. I
marveled at some of her experiences and escapes. She told me that,
along with her husband, she had voyaged in all manner of rickety craft
among the islands of the Pacific, reflectively adding, "Our tastes
were similar."

Following the subject of voyages, she gave me the four beautiful
volumes of sailing directories for the Mediterranean, writing on the
fly-leaf of the first:

To CAPTAIN SLOCUM. These volumes have been read and re-read many times
by my husband, and I am very sure that he would be pleased that they
should be passed on to the sort of seafaring man that he liked above
all others. FANNY V. DE G. STEVENSON.

Mrs. Stevenson also gave me a great directory of the Indian Ocean. It
was not without a feeling of reverential awe that I received the books
so nearly direct from the hand of Tusitala, "who sleeps in the
forest." Aolele, the _Spray_ will cherish your gift.

[Illustration: Vailima, the home of Robert Louis Stevenson.]

The novelist's stepson, Mr. Lloyd Osbourne, walked through the Vailima
mansion with me