The whaleboat slid up to a rocky ledge, and my luggage and I were
put ashore. Exploding Eggs, who had insisted on accompanying me,
took it into his charge, and with it balanced on his shoulders we
sauntered along the road to the village where the French gendarme had
lost his nose to the mad _namu_-drinker.




CHAPTER VII

Idyllic valley of Vait-hua; the beauty of Vanquished Often; bathing
on the beach; an unexpected proposal of marriage.


The beach followed the semi-circle of the small bay, and was hemmed
in on both sides by massive black rocks, above which rose steep
mountains covered with verdure. The narrow valley itself sloped
upward on either hand to a sheer wall of cliffs. In the couple of
miles from the water's edge to the jungle tangle of the high hills
were thousands upon thousands of cocoanut-palms, breadfruit-, mango-,
banana-, and lime-trees, all speaking of the throng of people that
formerly inhabited this lovely spot, now so deserted. The tiny
settlement remaining, with its scattered few habitations, was
beautiful beyond comparison. A score or so of houses, small, but
neat and comfortable, wreathed with morning-glory vines and shaded
by trees, clustered along the bank of a limpid stream crossed at
intervals by white stepping-stones. Naked children, whose heads were
wreathed with flowers, splashed in sheltered pools, or fled like