OF THE SOUTH SEAS 247 



He promised to build her a big hotel where the Annexe 

 is. He's got many of the Tahitian girls and their 

 mothers mad over his style and his prospects. Finally, 

 he was warned by me to leave the island, and the result 

 was his tryin' to borrow the lethal weapon, the poem and 

 the letter. The Baron Airedale document he showed 

 me when he fii'st landed, to try to get my indorsement. 

 There 's no Burke in the South Seas, and there prob- 

 ably is no such bloomin' baron. Sounds more like a 

 dog." The consul chuckled. 



"Those lairds are as plentiful as brands of Scotch 

 whisky made in England," Stevens said derisively. 

 "What will you do to uphold the honor of the British 

 crown? Is the Scotch bastard to go on with his fairy- 

 tale and do brown the colonials?" 



"I am going to have the diplomat repair the roads 

 of Tahiti for two months, and then ship him third-class 

 to New Zealand, where he has to go to carry out his 

 blasted fate," the consul declared, and ordered all glasses 

 filled. 



We discussed the sudden and abnormal appearance 

 of boot-blacks. One had set up an ornate stand on the 

 rue de Rivoli. He was an American, Tom Wilkins, 

 and the first ever known to practise his profession in the 

 South Seas. He had come like a non-periodic comet, 

 and suddenly flashed his brass-tagged platform and 

 arm-chair upon the gaping natives. Most of them be- 

 ing barefooted, one would have thought his customers 

 not many; but the novelty of a white man doing any- 

 thing for them was irresistible to all who had shoes. He 

 did not lower himself in their estimation. It is note- 

 worthy that the Tahitian does not distinguish between 



