"Almost as she struck Solepa and Sipi stood by me, and together we
sprang overboard into the white surf ... Give me some more grog, dear
friend of my heart. I am no boaster, nor am I a liar; but when I think
of that swim to the shore through the rolling seas with those two women,
my belly cleaves to my backbone and I become faint.... For the current
was against us, and neither Sipi nor Solepa were good swimmers, and many
times had we to clutch hold of the jagged coral, which tore our skins so
that our blood ran out freely, and had the sharks come to us then I
would not be here with thee to-night drinking this, thy good sweet grog
which thou givest me out of thy kind heart. Ta|pa|! When I look
into thy face and see thy kind eyes, I am young again. I love thee, not
alone because thou hast been kind to me in my poverty and paid the fines
of my granddaughter when she hath committed adultery with the young men
of the village, but because thou hast seen many lands and have upheld me
before the teacher, who is a circumcised but yet untatooed dog of a
Samoan. A man who is not tatooed is no better than a woman. He is a male
harlot and should be despised. He is only fit to associate with women,
and has no right to beget children....

"We three swam to the shore, and when the dawn came we saw that the
schooner stood high and dry on the reef and that Franka and his men were
trying to float her by throwing overboard the iron ballast and putting a
kedge anchor out upon the lee side of the reef. And at the same time we
saw three boats put off from the mainland. These boats were all painted
white, and when I saw them I said to Solepa, 'Be of good heart. Thy
husband is not dead, for here are three of his boats coming. He is not
dead. He is coming to seek thee.'"

"The three boats came quickly towards the schooner, but ere they reached