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With a shriek of pain his jaws began to close and, on the instant, Kippy yanked the handle with all her might, opening the taa-taa to its full extent in the beast's very narrows. Choked though he was, unable for the moment to bite or expel the outer air and submerge, the brute was still dangerous.
Hundreds of times did I raise the welcoming hoopa-shell with the usual salutation "Lomi-lomi," "May you live for a thousand years and grow to enormous size." In a rest period Kippy and I swam to the reef where the younger set were sporting among the coral, diving for pearls which rolled on the purple floor.
Little did I realize that night how much I was to owe to the fatu-liva and her strange maternal gift which saved my life in one of the weirdest adventures that has ever befallen mortal man. It was a placid day on the sea and Kippy and I were returning from a ten-mile swim to a neighboring island whither I had been taken to be shown off to some relatives.
As for the giant, Ba'tiste, with his outlandish clothing, his corduroy trousers and high-laced, hob-nailed boots, his fawning, half-breed dog, his blazing shirt and kippy little knit cap, the surprise was all the greater. But that surprise, it seemed, did not extend to the other listener. Thayer had bobbed his head as though in deference to an authority.
You can only imagine the commotion which ensued when I tell you that, in the Filberts, for a man to pluck a flower from a woman's hair means only one thing. Poor Kippy was torn between love of me and what she thought was duty to my chief.
Skeptics have said that it would be impossible to lay a square egg. At exactly ten, by the shadow of the mountain on the atoll, William Henry Thomas stepped forth into the moonlight to face his ordeal alone. In the darkness we waited, Kippy clinging close to me. Then came a sound at which I could but shudder. It was a giggle, the voice plainly that of William Henry Thomas.
"Don't make me hit you with this, you cheap chiseler." Kippy looked at the bar. "Comin' in here," he said indignantly, looking to the crowd for support. "Bustin' up my rig, callin' names...." "I want a hundred credits," Retief said. "Now." "Highway robbery!" Kippy yelled. "Better pay up," somebody called. "Hit him, mister," someone else said.
Radiant Kippiputuonaa whom I soon called "Kippy" for short your name shall ever remain a blessed memory, the deepest and dearest wound in my heart. Kippy proposed that I should be marked for identification in the usual manner, but I shuddered at the thought. I was far too ticklish; I should have died under the needle! What days of joyous romping we had!
A broad-shouldered man with graying hair pushed through the crowd and looked around. "You heard 'em, Kippy. Give," he said. The shill growled but tucked his knife away. Reluctantly he peeled a bill from a fat roll and handed it over. The newcomer looked from Retief to Magnan. "Pick another game, strangers," he said. "Kippy made a little mistake." "This is small-time stuff," Retief said.
A blithe incident enlivened that peaceful period, preceding tragic events which must be told in their proper place. On the fairest of tropical mornings Kippy and I heard a gentle tapping at the trunk of our tree and, peering over the floor, saw below Baahaabaa, his face shining with happiness.
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