MYSTIC ISLES 

 OF THE SOUTH SEAS 



CHAPTER I 



Departure from San Francisco — Nature man left behind — Fellow-passen- 

 gers on the Noa-Noa — Tragedy of the Chinese pundit — Strange stories 

 of the South Seas — The Tahitian Hula. 



THE warning gong had sent all but crew and 

 passengers ashore, though our ship did not leave 

 the dock. Her great bulk still lay along the 

 piling, though the gangway was withdrawn. The 

 small groups on the pier waited tensely for the last 

 words with those departing. These passengers were 

 inwardly bored with the prolonged farewells, and 

 wanted to be free to observe their fellow-voyagers and 

 the movement of the ship. They conversed in shouts 

 with those ashore, but most of the meanings were lost in 

 the noise of the shuffling of baggage and freight, the 

 whistling of ferries, and the usual turmoil of the San 

 Francisco waterfront. I was glad that none had come 

 to see me off, for I was curious about my unknown 

 companions upon the long traverse to the South Seas, 

 and I had wilfully put behind me all that America and 

 Europe held to adventure in the vasts of ocean below 

 the equator. 



But the whistle I awaited to sound our leaving was 

 silent. Officers of the ship rushed about as if bent on 

 relieving her of some pressing danger, and I caught 



