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"You are too late," said Frewen with a smile, "the mate has just gone, and he'll bring her to you before another hour has passed. He has taken your boy Lilo with him as pilot." Mrs. Marston sighed contentedly, and then looked round at the familiar cabin.
For is it not true that he hath land, which ye have denied to him? Is it not true that he is old and feeble, and his limbs tremble as he walks? Yet ye neither give him food nor drink, nor yet a mat whereon to lie his head. He is a 'Katoliko, ye say? Are there not many thousands of 'Katolikos' in Hawaii, the land from whence comes Lilo?
The silly auld fule of a Rimé won't give in, and I canna see him starve the damned auld Papist." At noon, as Packenham, with his supercargo and Macpherson, stepped out of the trader's dwelling, and walked together to the Mission House, a native went through the village blowing a conch. Lilo had agreed to meet the white men and discuss matters with them.
Half an hour passed without their being disturbed, and then they heard Villari call out to let draw the head sheets, and in a few minutes the schooner was running before a sharp rain squall from the northward. As they sat listening to the spattering of the rain on the deck above, one of the skylight flaps was lifted, and, to their joy, their names were called by the boy Lilo. "Serena, Ami!
Darkness had fallen upon the little island, as with the girl Serena and her infant charge, Mrs. Man-ton was walking back to the house. Lilo had not yet returned, but as they emerged from the breadfruit grove, they heard the sound of many voices, and then came a cry that made their hearts thrill "Te vaka nui, Te vaka nui!"
And I ask of thee, Lilo, do they suffer wrong from the King and the chiefs of Hawaii because of their faith? For hath not Christ said, 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy? And so I say to ye all, let this old man dwell among ye in peace, for death is near to him, and shame will be thine if ye deny to him his right to die on his own land, of which ye have robbed him."
Packenham made two strides over to Lilo and placed his heavy hand on his shoulder "Sit down, you damned little psalm-singing kanaka hog, or I'll knock your eye out. He shall speak." "Get thee hence, thou shielder of the devil's children," said a young, fat deacon, walking up to the trader and spitting contemptuously at his feet. "We want no such white men as thee among us here in Mâdurô."
'Tis I, Lilo. Do not shoot at me," he cried, and at the same moment Villari came to the skylight and said "The boy wants to stay below with you, Mrs. Marston. I did not know he was on board till a little while ago." Then the flap was lowered, and they saw no more of him till the morning. The delight of Lilo at finding Mrs.
Marston found the articles for him, and Lilo at once took them to Villari, who was at the wheel. "Put them in the deck-house," he said, "and tell one of the men to come aft, and take the wheel. Then go below again and remain there. If any one puts foot in the cabin, you can shoot him with the pistol I gave to Serena." The land is now far astern, and the ship is speeding fast away from it.
I am now past seventy-six years of age, and every evening when the sun is setting, as it is setting now, I sit in front of my little house and watch it as I smoke my pipe, and feel more and more content and nearer to God. Now, Mrs. Marston, I must be going home. Where is Lilo? "Out on the reef somewhere, fishing. Serena and the baby are in the breadfruit grove behind the village.
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