of the lagoon was seen to whiten; and before they had staggered

to their feet, a squall burst in rain upon the outcasts. The rage

and volume of that avalanche one must have lived in the tropics

to conceive; a man panted in its assault, as he might pant under

a shower-bath; and the world seemed whelmed in night and water.

They fled, groping for their usual shelter--it might be almost

called their home--in the old calaboose; came drenched into its

empty chambers; and lay down, three sops of humanity on the

cold coral floors, and presently, when the squall was overpast,

the others could hear in the darkness the chattering of the

clerk's teeth.

'I say, you fellows,' he walled, 'for God's sake, lie up and try

to warm me. I'm blymed if I don't think I'll die else!'

So the three crept together into one wet mass, and lay until

day came, shivering and dozing off, and continually re-awakened

to wretchedness by the coughing of the clerk.

Chapter 2. MORNING ON THE BEACH - THE THREE LETTERS

The clouds were all fled, the beauty of the tropic day was spread

upon Papeete; and the wall of breaking seas upon the reef, and

the palms upon the islet, already trembled in the heat. A French

man-of-war was going out, homeward bound; she lay in the

middle distance of the port, an ant heap for activity. In the

night a schooner had come in, and now lay far out, hard by the

passage; and the yellow flag, the emblem of pestilence, flew on

her. From up the coast, a long procession of canoes headed

round the point and towards the market, bright as a scarf with

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