OF THE SOUTH SEAS 285 



"If they do that," said she, "maybe, by'n'by they fix 

 my meal or lime squash." 



Until the date of carrying out the mandate, one picked 

 out a pleasing fish or string of fish, all nicely wrapped 

 in leaves, and one asked, ''A hia? How much?" 



When Lovaina inquired the price, she smiled her 

 sweetest, rubbed the saleslady's back, and uttered some 

 joke that made her sway with laughter, so that price be- 

 came of no importance. But a sour-faced white or a 

 pompous bureaucrat paid her saving, and Chinese, who 

 kept the restaurants, invoked the curse of barrenness 

 upon the venders. 



The day came for the new scheme of fish-selling to go 

 into effect. The mayor, a long-bearded and shrewd 

 druggist, had bought up all the half-way accurate scales 

 in the city, for there had not been a balance in the 

 market. Everything was by strings, bunches, feels, 

 and hefts. The fish counters, polished by the guardian 

 of the marchCj, were now brilliant with the shiny 

 apparatus. 



The long-awaited morning found a crowd peeping 

 through the railing half an hour earlier than usual. All 

 would have a fill of delicacies. Lovaina with the 

 Dummy drove down to the Annexe for me. Vava was 

 making queer signs to her which either were unintelli- 

 gible or which she thought absurd. She waved her long 

 forefinger before him, which meant: "Don't talk fool- 

 ishness. I am not a fool." 



We reached the market-place when only a score or 

 two had gathered. 



A thousand devils! there was not a fish on the slabs. 

 The merry wives were absent. The condition was plain. 



