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'It was that yarning last night about going home that put me up to it, said the captain. 'Well, 'and over, said the clerk. 'I'll 'ave a shy, and he retired a little distance to the shade of a canoe. The others remained under the purao.
And yet not one of them had figured in a court of justice; two were men of kindly virtues; and one, as he sat and shivered under the purao, had a tattered Virgil in his pocket.
And yet even the coco-palm must be helped in infancy with some extraneous nutriment, and through much of the low archipelago there is planted with each nut a piece of ship's biscuit and a rusty nail. The pandanus comes next in importance, being also a food tree; and he, too, does bravely. A green bush called miki runs everywhere; occasionally a purao is seen; and there are several useless weeds.
Presently, under the same purao where they had shivered the night before, he cast himself down, and groaned aloud, and ground his face into the sand. "Don't speak to me, don't speak to me. I can't stand it," broke from him. The other two stood over him perplexed. "Wot can't he stand now?" said the clerk. "'Asn't he 'ad a meal? I'm lickin' my lips."
Presently, under the same purao where they had shivered the night before, he cast himself down, and groaned aloud, and ground his face into the sand. 'Don't speak to me, don't speak to me. I can't stand it, broke from him. The other two stood over him perplexed. 'Wot can't he stand now? said the clerk. ''Asn't he 'ad a meal? I'M lickin' my lips.
"It was that yarning last night about going home that put me up to it," said the captain. "Well, 'and over," said the clerk. "I'll 'ave a shy," and he retired a little distance to the shade of a canoe. The others remained under the purao.
The captain fell suddenly grave. 'I'm coming to that, said he. 'I want to speak with Herrick here. You, Hay or Huish, or whatever your name is you take a weed and the other bottle, and go and see how the wind is down by the purao. I'll call you when you're wanted! 'Hay? Secrets? That ain't the ticket, said Huish.
And there are still others, less pliable, less capable, less fortunate, perhaps less base, who continue, even in these isles of plenty, to lack bread. At the far end of the town of Papeete, three such men were seated on the beach under a purao tree. It was late.
'You are yet in time, said he; 'a spirit has just run past my door carrying the soul of your child wrapped in the leaf of a purao; but I have a spirit stronger and swifter who will run him down ere he has time to eat it. Wrapped in a leaf: like other things edible and corruptible. Or take an experience of Mr. Donat's on the island of Anaa.
It was wafted ashore from the graceful clipper-bottomed schooners, where they lay moored close in like dinghies, and their crews were stretched upon the deck under the open sky or huddled in a rude tent amidst the disorder of merchandise. But the men under the purao had no thought of sleep.
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