returned them, pointed to the palace, and named Tembinok'. It was

a changed scene when I had managed to explain. Terutak', long,

dour Scots fisherman as he was, expressed his satisfaction within

bounds; but the wife beamed; and there was an old gentleman

present--her father, I suppose--who seemed nigh translated. His

eyes stood out of his head; 'Kaupoi, Kaupoi--rich, rich!' ran on

his lips like a refrain; and he could not meet my eye but what he

gurgled into foolish laughter.

I might now go home, leaving that fire-lit family party gloating

over their new millions, and consider my strange day. I had tried

and rewarded the virtue of Terutak'. I had played the millionaire,

had behaved abominably, and then in some degree repaired my

thoughtlessness. And now I had my box, and could open it and look

within. It contained a miniature sleeping-mat and a white shell.

Tamaiti, interrogated next day as to the shell, explained it was

not exactly Chench, but a cell, or body, which he would at times

inhabit. Asked why there was a sleeping-mat, he retorted

indignantly, 'Why have you mats?' And this was the sceptical

Tamaiti! But island scepticism is never deeper than the lips.

CHAPTER VII--THE KING OF APEMAMA

Thus all things on the island, even the priests of the gods, obey

the word of Tembinok'. He can give and take, and slay, and allay

the scruples of the conscientious, and do all things (apparently)

but interfere in the cookery of a turtle. 'I got power' is his

favourite word; it interlards his conversation; the thought haunts

him and is ever fresh; and when be has asked and meditates of

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