Close to where we lay, squatting upon their haunches, were some
eight or ten noble-looking chiefs--for such they subsequently
proved to be--who, more reserved than the rest, regarded us with
a fixed and stern attention, which not a little discomposed our
equanimity. One of them in particular, who appeared to be the
highest in rank, placed himself directly facing me, looking at me
with a rigidity of aspect under which I absolutely quailed. He
never once opened his lips, but maintained his severe expression
of countenance, without turning his face aside for a single
moment. Never before had I been subjected to so strange and
steady a glance; it revealed nothing of the mind of the savage,
but it appeared to be reading my own.

After undergoing this scrutiny till I grew absolutely nervous,
with a view of diverting it if possible, and conciliating the
good opinion of the warrior, I took some tobacco from the bosom
of my frock and offered it to him. He quietly rejected the
proffered gift, and, without speaking, motioned me to return it
to its place.

In my previous intercourse with the natives of Nukuheva and Tior,
I had found that the present of a small piece of tobacco would
have rendered any of them devoted to my service. Was this act of
the chief a token of his enmity? Typee or Happar? I asked
within myself. I started, for at the same moment this identical
question was asked by the strange being before me. I turned to
Toby, the flickering light of a native taper showed me his
countenance pale with trepidation at this fatal question. I
paused for a second, and I know not by what impulse it was that I