THE DANCE OF THE FIRE GOD ON AMAKURA; AND THE
t PASSING OF THE PRINCESS LUKA
A Tale of Love and Hate in the South Seas, Where the Passions of
r Men and Women Run Free of the Bridle of the Law.
By Donald 'MacGregor.
We had been sitting in the rear
' room of Stumpy Dan's place for
-.over an hour Wooden-leg Don
ahue, Douglas Belfo'rd, and I,
and a man- whom none of us
daiew- '
- And the talk had turned to
beautiful women, as it will when
onen meet in fellowship and to
bacco smoke. Each of us had
paraded some woman "before the
others as his ideal of beauty, ex
cept the stranger. He seemed as
rif absorbed in his cigar. But I
.noticed that he smiled, a queer,
rtwisted smile, as one or the other';
mentioned some woman of fa-
jnous beauty.
At last our talk ran down as an
unwound clock, and then the
stranger shifted in his seat-so he
Quld look all of us in the face.
. "Did any of you eVer know the
Princess Luka?" he asked, in the
jcuriously detached voice of a man
speaking of some matter that
touches him nearly.
' Douglas Bejford drew a long
breath.
"AhJ" he exclaimed. "She was
a beauty."
f "She-was a devil," said the
stranger, and fell into silent.con
templation of the end of his cigar.
, We looked at each other un
comfortably. I noticed Belford
'and Donahue exchange swift,
meaning glances. t
"Who was the Princess Luka?"
I asked at last.
"She was the ruler of the island
jf Amakura, which once was a
famous pearling station in the
Sandwich Islands,"-' said the
'stranger. "And she was the most
beautiful of all the beautiful wom
en of the South Seas.-
"She had wonderful hair. She
had a skin as fair and fine as a
lily. She was more graceful than
a tiger, which is the most grace
ful of all living things., She had"
eyes that made meh forget friend
ships, and honor, and truth, and
country, and God himself. Arid
she ruined more decent white
men than the climate of Ama
kura, which was very evil indeed.
"There were two in particular
Ned Bellew and Duncan Nel
son. They were big men Bel
lew arid Nelson strong and full
of the joy of life. But they had
as little knowledge of passion and
hate as two puppies.
"I remember when they first
came to Amakura. They had
been chums for years, antl the'
had set out together in search of
wha't they called adventure,
.which was only their souls' desird
for a'woman to live ior and love.
."They landed from a steamer
to spend a day on the island, arm
m arm, as gaily as two boys play
ing Jruant from school. And the
Princess Luka saw them, and
sent for them, and they both fell
under the spell of her eyes, and