MAROONED 127 



many-voyaged and many-battled, she got 

 badly bitten. Such an experience had never 

 before fallen to her lot. At first she felt so 

 injured that she was on the point of backing 

 out and running away. Then her latent 

 pugnacity awoke, and the fire of far-off 

 ancestors. She flung herself into the fight 

 with a rage that took no accounting of the 

 wounds she got, and the struggle was soon 

 over. Hungry though she was, she dragged 

 the slain rat all the way to the house, and 

 laid it proudly on the verandah floor before 

 the door, as if displaying it to the eyes of 

 her vanished friends. For a few moments 

 she stood over it, waiting hopefully. Perhaps 

 she had a wistful idea that so splendid an 

 offering might melt the hearts of the absent 

 ones and persuade them to come back. 

 Nothing happened, however, so she sadly 

 dragged the prize down the steps again to 

 her accustomed lair in the sand, and ate it 

 up all but the tail. Her wounds, faithfully 

 licked, soon healed themselves in that clean 

 and tonic air, and after that, having learned 

 how to handle such big game, she no more 

 got bitten. 



During the first full moon after her aban- 

 donment, the first week in October, the 

 island was visited by still weather, with 



