528 MYSTIC ISLES 



man university stuff ain't no good against the tupapau. 

 Suppose you were part Kanaka, an' the kid 'ad done 

 what 'e did? I 've seen some things myself in these 

 waters. That 's what 's eatin' Llewellyn, an', believe 

 me, it 's goin' to kill 'im if he don't bloody well drink 

 'imself dead, first. I 've seen too many Kanakas go 

 that way when the tahua got the tupapau after them. 

 Llewellyn remembers what Lovaina said ol' man Mor- 

 ton hollered when M'seer Lontane took the gun away 

 from him at the Tiare. 'All right!' hollered the uncle. 

 'All right 1 I '11 leave it to God !' The ol' boy loved that 

 kid. 'E told Lovaina 'at 'is whole bloody family was 

 drowned when the Rio Janeiro went down off Mile Rock 

 in Frisco bay. The kid was 'is sister's only child, an' 'is 

 uncle left a thousand francs with the Ainerican consul 

 for a proper tombstone on 'is grave in the cemetery. 

 The ol' gent worshipped that kid." 



Our session was over, the dinner hour having come; 

 but Hallman had his final say: 



"If Llewellyn 's got the tupapau horrors, for God's 

 sake! let him stay away from the club. It 's got so I 

 hate to see him come in here, looking like a death's head. 

 He spoils my drink. I 'd rather be in the Marquesas 

 with old Hemeury rran9ois, who is dyin' by inches of 

 the spell Mohuto 's put on him. They 're alike, these 

 Kanakas ; they 're afraid of God and the devil, their 

 own and the dam' missionary outfit, too. They 've got 

 them coming and going. No wonder they 're getting 

 so scarce you can't get any work done." 



The next day was all preparation. I would be gone 

 several months, the usual time for the voyage of a trad- 

 ing schooner to the Marquesas and return to Papeete. 



