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"Indeed it is," she replied, as she watched Tepi and Pai roll out the half-tierce of the beloved tobacco from my trade-room into that in which we were sitting; "these people here will never forget you."
When I came to a few minutes afterwards, Tepi was supporting me on his knees, and Niâbon was putting some brandy to my lips. The house was full of natives, who were speaking in suppressed but excited tones. I swallowed the brandy, and then, as Tepi helped me to rise, the natives silently parted to right and left, and I saw something that, half-dazed as I was, filled me with horror.
"Get thy arms ready," I said to Tematau and Tepi, "and if these fellows are saucy stand by me like men, I shall not lift anchor and ran away because Apinoka of Apamama sendeth a boat to me."
Niâbon shook her head, and by their faces I saw that both Tepi and Tematau did not like the idea of our awaiting the coming boat. "What can we do?" I said, with childish petulance. "We cannot go to sea in such weather as this, and get knocked about uselessly." "Master," said big Tepi gravely, "may I speak?" "Speak," I said, as I handed my glasses to Lucia "what is it?" "This master.
As soon as old Kaibuka and the other head man had left each after taking a stiff glass of grog and the house was again quiet, Niâbon, Tepi, and I set to work to take stock, they calling out the various articles of my trade goods whilst I made out the list.
I told her that it would please me better if she first ate something. She at once obeyed, but instead of sitting at the table with me she seated herself on a mat near me, and Pai waited upon her whilst big Tepi attended to me.
"Take this," I said to Niâbon, giving her my Deane and Adams pistol, "and do you and Tepi keep off those in the nearest boat if they come on again." But she waved it aside, and seizing Tematau's carbine, stood up and sent her first shot crashing through the timbers of the boat. "Quick, Tematau," I cried, "get another rifle and fire with me at the second boat.
The people at the fishing village, who had been watching the fight throughout from a safe distance, were within sight, so telling the prisoner he must go to them and get them to carry their dead and wounded up to the houses before the tide covered the reef again, I sent him off with Tematau, Tepi, and Niâbon.
Canst see? Canst see, Tematau?" Niâbon placed her hand on mine. "Have no fear, Simi. The wind is fair and the passage through the reef is wide, and the ship on the right hand is a good guide. See, her masts stand out clear against the sky. And give me the tiller, for thou and Lucia are tired. So sleep sleep till the dawn, and Tematau and Tepi and I shall keep watch through the night.
As soon as it could be cooked, they brought us an ample meal of hot baked fowls, pigeons, and fish, with a great quantity of vegetables taro, yams, breadfruit, and sweet potatoes. The very smell of it, Tepi whispered to me, made his teeth clash together! We remained with these hospitable people for four days.
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