186 A BOOK-LOVER S HOLIDAYS 



tales, and old faiths glowed with a moment s 

 flame at certain hours under certain conditions. 

 One evening some of those present were talking 

 of inexplicable things that had happened on 

 the shifting borders between life and death, be 

 tween the known and the unknown; and of 

 vampires and werewolves and the ghosts of 

 things long gone. Suddenly the Tahitian told 

 of an experience of his mother s when she was an 

 imperious queen in the far-off Polynesian island. 

 She had directed her people to build a bridge 

 across the mouth of a stream. After dark 

 something came out of the water and killed one 

 of the men, and the others returned to her, 

 saying that the spirit which dwelt in the stream 

 was evil and would kill all of them if they per 

 severed in their work. She answered that her 

 own family spirit, the familiar or ghost of the 

 family, was very strong and would protect her 

 people if she were present. Next day, accord 

 ingly, she went down in person to superintend 

 the building of the bridge. She took with her 

 two little tame pigs pet pigs. All went well 

 until evening came. Then suddenly a chill 

 gust of wind blew from the river mouth, and in 

 a moment the workmen fled, screaming that the 

 spirit of the water was upon them. Almost 

 immediately afterward there was a hubbub of a 



