294 THE CBVISE OF TEE " CACHALOT." 



A bargain was soon struck, and Tui entered upon 

 his self-imposed task. It was immediately evident that 

 he had a bigger contract on hand than he had imagined. 

 The natives, who had previously held somewhat aloof 

 from him in a kind of deferential respect, no sooner got 

 wind of the fact that we needed some of them than 

 they were seized with a perfect frenzy of excitement. 

 There were, I should think, at least a hundred and 

 fifty of them on board at the time. Of this crowd, 

 every member wanted to be selected, pushing his 

 candidature with voice and gesture as vigorously as 

 he knew how. The din was frightful. Tui, centre of 

 the frantic mob, strove vainly to make himself heard, 

 to reduce the chaos to some sort of order, but for a 

 great while it was a hopeless attempt. At last, extri- 

 cating himself from his importunate friends, he gained 

 the captain's side. Panting, almost breathless, with 

 sweat streaming off him, he gasped out, " Oh, cap'n, 

 dese yer darn niggers all gone mad ! Dribe 'em ober- 

 bord ; clar 'em out, 'n I'll stan' by to grab some o' der 

 likely ones as de res' scatter." " But what about the 

 wages ? " said the skipper. ** Fm not goin' ter give 'em 

 whatever they like to ask." "You leab it ter me, 

 cap'n. I bet you'll be satisfy. Anyhow, dishyers no 

 time fer tradin' ; de blame niggers all off dere coco-nuts. 

 Anybody fink you'se payin' off 'stead o' shippin', an' 

 deyse all afraid dey won't get 'nough." 



Unpleasant as the job was to all of us, it had to be 

 done; so we armed ourselves with ropes'-ends, which 

 we flourished threateningly, avoiding where possible 

 any actual blows. Many sprang overboard at once, 

 finding their way ashore or to their canoes as best they 

 could. The majority, however, had to swim, for we 

 now noticed that, either in haste or from carelessness. 



