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morning: of the secpnd d?y, a lit
'tlebitof an attol, . that stood
sheer .up ,out of 4the water", x and
sloped up to aipalmrested.coiue,
with the. white, solid British sta
tion' house, flying the union jack,
halfway upthe cone. - - ,i
"There was, never a snip in the
lagoon, and never a sound from
the station hpuse, as wesaijd in,
and, dropped anchor. Wrecker
laughed alou4.
" 'It's going to be too easy,
Donohue he- saysi 'It's going to
be too easy !' "
t " T never questioned .the easi
ness,' says L sourly(for J?w&s
w'orriedinmyimmd). Tm think
ing ofcwhat'll comeaft:enthe.news
of this is spread abroad." v
"Wrecker laughed again.
"'STouJiaven'fthe spunk of a
water rat, Donohue,' he said. "
" 'Maybe not said1 1, growing
angry- 'But1 I've a proper Te-spect-ior
my neck, .an' 'tis little
(L fancy having it stretched fjom
the yardarm of a British man-of-war.'
"Wrecker laughed,' and order
ed away a boat1- When' it was
ready, heydropped in, and then
looked up at me,as 'I leaned over
the rail, and sneered: - i
"You can come, Donohue,'
says he, if you're not too busy
feelin' your nedk.' ,
" 'I'll come,' said T; in sudden
-anger an' dropped'into the boat.
"It was nearing noon as we be
gan the climb-up the cone to the
station house, andit was hot with
the heat that only the islands
know, sticky poisonous heat that
breeds strange plants and makes
men cannibals.
"We "drew up in front of the
station house at last, and st"ll
there wasnevena sign, of life
from within, "Twas as silent as a
tomb,?andyet there was a FEEL
ING' of human beings about the
iplace.' We paused pn the porclv
and Wrecker looked at me
queerjy. '
" 'D'yourthink the place is de
serted, Donohue?' he asked.
,fBut I was still sourly angry,
and gave -no answer. Wrecker
,laugfhed hfsTbig, booming laugh'
again,' and pushed open the 'door
and stepped in. I followed, like
a sheep. T
' ".There was no one in the big,
cdol, first room, only that feeling
'of humanLbeings. Wrecker gave
a puzzled look around, and then
stepped forward.
"And there came a'rush of light
steps from somewhere in the
house, and I saw Wrecker's
'Hand jump. to his gun. )
i "A eurtaih swung aside at tne
rend of the room; and a girl, a
.WHITE girl, with golden hair
hanging down her back, and a,
civilization-made frock on, step
ped into the room.
"Have you ever been in the
Sandwich Islands?" Wooden
leg asked, turning hisfull fa'ce,
(Suddenly to me.
I shoo'k my head.
"Then you don't know what
this meant,' he said. "It's not
much changed now, but in '89,
white girls were as frequentvin
the.-Sandwiches as as mission
ary stew is in Chicago today,
r&.
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