262 MYSTIC ISLES 



quesas. He was to return to America on the next 

 steamer. 



"De wegetables in Tahiti have no wim in dem," he 

 said. "In Cahfornia I ead nudds und raisins mit 

 shtrent' in dem. I go back." 



The fighter pointed out the "cryzy" Frenchman of 

 Eden. He was the customs employee who had pro- 

 voked the American consul by refusing to understand 

 English. 



I asked M. Lontane, the second in command of the 

 police, why Darling had gone. 



The hero of the battle of the limes, coal, and potatoes, 

 looked at me fiercely. 



"Is the French republic to permit here in its colony 

 the whites who enjoy its hospitality to shame the nation 

 before the Tahitians by their nakedness? That sacree 

 bete wore a pareu in town because the law compelled him 

 to, but, monsieur, on the road, in his aerial resort, he and 

 all his disciples were as naked as — " 



"I have seen artistes at the music-halls of Paris," I 

 finished. 



"Exactement" he spluttered. "Are we to let Tahiti 

 rival Paris?" 



Ivan Stroganoff I met two or three times a month. 

 He stayed in his chicken-coop except when the oppor- 

 tunities came for gaining a few francs, at steamer-time, 

 and when sheer boredom drove him to Papeete for con- 

 verse. With his dislike for the natives and his disdain- 

 ful attitude toward the French, he had to seek other na- 

 tionals in town, for there were none at Fa'a except a 

 Chinese storekeeper. Stroganoff at eighty was as keen 

 for interesting things as a young man, but his philoso- 



