any fear of that now, for I have made a real job of it." Then
advancing with the horrid tumour in his hands he showed it in
triumph to the crowd beneath, who groaned again and threw
themselves on to their faces. Doubtless now it is the most sacred
relic of Orofena.

When Marama came out of the anesthetic, Bickley gave him
something which sent him to sleep for twelve hours, during all
which time his people waited beneath. This was our dangerous
period, for our difficulty was to persuade them that he was not
dead, although Bickley had assured them that he would sleep for a
time while the magic worked. Still, I was very glad when he woke
up on the following morning, and two or three of his leading men
could see that he was alive. The rest was lengthy but simple,
consisting merely in keeping him quiet and on a suitable diet
until there was no fear of the wound opening. We achieved it
somehow with the help of an intelligent native woman who, I
suppose, was one of his wives, and five days later were enabled
to present him healed, though rather tottery, to his affectionate
subjects.

It was a great scene, which may be imagined. They bore him away
in a litter with the native woman to watch him and another to
carry the relic preserved in a basket, and us they acclaimed as
gods. Thenceforward we had nothing to fear in Orofena--except
Bastin, though this we did not know at the time.

All this while we had been living on our ship and growing very
bored there, although we employed the empty hours in conversation
with selected natives, thereby improving our knowledge of the