108 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



minute when the boy showed up from the corner of a 

 mangrove bush and spoke. ' White man, I have been 

 sent by the chief of Kwom-Kworo over there, who is 

 your friend, to warn you. The men of Suluhow propose 

 taking your vessel ; they will give you a hundred 

 recruits of their warriors their " town's teeth " and 

 then rise and take your ship, as they have taken many in 

 the years that are past. The fat mate, and the young 

 one, they will at once cook, then the captain and Oba 

 boys, but you they may spare, for you are thin and all 

 bones. My message is now finished. White chief, 

 give me a gun for my chief, and tobacco for myself, 

 for I have risked my life coming to you, and dare not 

 return until nigiit. My love is towards Fiji ; the marama 

 (" lady ") was kind to me there ; go, and leave the 

 things on the beach. Don't look into my eyes so ; I 

 speak truth, and for a sign two cooked pigs will be sent 

 to your ship this evening from Suluhow ; open them and 

 see,' and down the lad popped under his bush again. 

 I went and took a musket and powder, and two or three 

 pounds of tobacco, and laid them where indicated, and 

 sculled quietly back to our vessel. 



' Well, your brow has cleared up again, old fellow/ 

 said the skipper, ' and you seem all right now.' 



' Because the suspense is over, captain, and I know 

 all/ and I took him down to the cabin, and told him 

 what I had just heard. 



' Do you believe it? ' he asked. 



1 Certainly I do/ I replied ; ' you must know that 

 these South Sea people can't lie to an old hand witi 

 out being detected. Why, I put my hands on 

 lad's shoulders, and looked down into his eyes for 

 minutes, and he looked at me steadily. Had he spok< 



