96 MYSTIC ISLES 



or with New Zealand ports for a few days after de- 

 parture. 



There were many guesses at the cause of the delay. 



"Nothing but war!" said the French post-office clerk 

 who sat at another table, with his glass of Pernoud. 

 "Germany and England have come to blows. Now that 

 accursed nation of beer-swillers will get their lesson." 



The subject was seriously discussed, the armaments 

 of the two powers quoted, and the certainty of Ger- 

 many's defeat predicted, the Frenchman asserting vehe- 

 mently that France would aid England if necessary, or 

 to get back Alsace-Lorraine. There were gatherings 

 all over Papeete, the war rumor having been made an 

 alleged certainty by some inexplicable communication 

 to an unnamed merchant. 



The natives hoped fervently that the war was between 

 France and Germany, and that France would be de- 

 feated. After generations of rule by France, the van- 

 quished still felt an aversion to their conquerors here, 

 as in the Holy Land when Herod ruled. 



"I hope France get his," said a chief, aside, to me. 

 The mail's delay upset all business. Letters closed 

 on the day the liner was expected were reopened. For 

 three days the girls at Lovaina's had worn their best 

 peignoirs, and several times donned shoes and stockings 

 to go to the quay. Passengers for San Francisco who 

 had packed their trunks had unpacked them. The air 

 of expectancy which Papeete wore for a day or two be- 

 fore steamer-day had been so heated by postponement 

 that nerves came to the surface. 



Tahiti was a place of no exact knowledge. Few resi- 

 dents knew the names of the streets. Some of the 



