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"If you had done as I said," charged Tefara, for the thousandth time, "and hidden the pearl and told no one, you would have it now." "But Huru-Huru was with me when I opened the shell have I not told you so times and times and times without end?" "And now we shall have no house. Raoul told me today that if you had not sold the pearl to Toriki " "I did not sell it. Toriki robbed me."

" that if you had not sold the pearl, he would give you five thousand French dollars, which is ten thousand Chili." "He has been talking to his mother," Mapuhi explained. "She has an eye for a pearl." "And now the pearl is lost," Tefara complained. "It paid my debt with Toriki. That is twelve hundred I have made, anyway." "Toriki is dead," she cried. "They have heard no word of his schooner.

You heard him yourself ask to see it. I had not told him. He knew. Somebody else told him. And I owed him the money." "Mapuhi is a fool," mimicked Ngakura. She was twelve years old and did not know any better. Mapuhi relieved his feelings by sending her reeling from a box on the ear; while Tefara and Nauri burst into tears and continued to upbraid him after the manner of women.

What she did see was the house Mapuhi and Tefara and she had builded so carefully in their minds. Each time she looked at the pearl she saw the house in all its details, including the octagon-drop-clock on the wall. That was something to live for. She tore a strip from her ahu and tied the pearl securely about her neck.

A minute later, peeping, Mapuhi saw the ghost drinking. When it reached out a shaking hand and laid it on his, he felt the weight of it and was convinced that it was no ghost. Then he emerged, dragging Tefara after him, and in a few minutes all were listening to Nauri's tale.

On the yet restless edge of the lagoon, Mapuhi saw the broken bodies of those that had failed in the landing. Undoubtedly Tefara and Nauri were among them. He went along the beach examining them, and came upon his wife, lying half in and half out of the water. He sat down and wept, making harsh animal noises after the manner of primitive grief. Then she stirred uneasily, and groaned.

And you must build the house on my island, which is Fakarava." "Is that all?" Raoul asked incredulously. "There must be a sewing machine," spoke up Tefara, Mapuhi's wife. "Not forgetting the octagon-drop-clock," added Nauri, Mapuhi's mother. "Yes, that is all," said Mapuhi. Young Raoul laughed. He laughed long and heartily. But while he laughed he secretly performed problems in mental arithmetic.

He gave a wild flirt of his tail as he fled away, and his sandpaper hide, striking her, took off her skin from elbow to shoulder. He swam rapidly, in a widening circle, and at last disappeared. In the hole in the sand, covered over by fragments of metal roofing, Mapuhi and Tefara lay disputing.

He is living on the east side of the lagoon." From without came the sound of a sigh. Mapuhi began to feel elated. He had fooled the ghost. "But where do you come from, old woman?" he asked. "From the sea," was the dejected answer. "I knew it! I knew it!" screamed Tefara, rocking to and fro. "Since when has Tefara bedded in a strange house?" came Nauri's voice through the matting.

They rolled over backward from her and fought for Ngakura's blanket with which to cover their heads. "You might give your old mother a drink of water," the ghost said plaintively. "Give her a drink of water," Tefara commanded in a shaking voice. "Give her a drink of water," Mapuhi passed on the command to Ngakura. And together they kicked out Ngakura from under the blanket.