124 MYSTIC ISLES 



steamer streaking through the reef gate. "There she 

 goes, and I 'm bloody well satisfied." 



At tea the next afternoon the British consul cast a new 

 light on the international incident. He was playing 

 bridge with the governor and others when the demand 

 for the warrants was brought. 



"The blighters interrupted our rubber," said the con- 

 sul, "and the governor was exceedingly put out. I 

 told them the Noa-Noa could n't proceed without the 

 stokers, and as it carries the French mail, they patched 

 it up to arrest them when they return. We quite lost 

 track of the game for a few minutes." 



But the cruel war would not down. There was not a 

 good feeling between the English and French in Tahiti. 

 A slight opposition cropped out often in criticism ex- 

 pressed to Americans or to Tahitians, or to each other's 

 own people. New Zealand governs the Cook group, of 

 which Raratonga is the principal island. Comparisons 

 of sanitation, order, neatness, and businesslike manage- 

 ment of these islands, with the happy-go-lucky adminis- 

 tration of the Society, Paumotus, JMarquesas, and 

 Austral archipelagoes, owned by the French, were fre- 

 quent by the English. The French shrugged their 

 shoulders. 



"The Tahitians are happy, and we send millions of 

 francs to aid France," they said. "The English talk 

 always of neatness and golf links and cricket-grounds. 

 Eh hien! There are other and better things. And as 

 for drink, oh^ la, la! Our sour wines could not fight 

 one round of the English hooce with whisky and gin and 

 that awful ale." 



The French residents protested at the missiles of the 



