identified Ah Cho. It was only just now that the marks had become no
longer visible. That had been a blow. Half an inch nearer the centre and
it would have taken out his eye. Then Ah Cho forgot the whole happening in
a vision he caught of the garden of meditation and repose that would be his
when he returned to his own land.

He sat with impassive face, while the magistrate rendered the judgment.
Likewise were the faces of his four companions impassive. And they
remained impassive when the interpreter explained that the five of them had
been found guilty of the murder of Chung Ga, and that Ah Chow should have
his head cut off, Ah Cho serve twenty years in prison in New Caledonia,
Wong Li twelve years, and Ah Tong ten years. There was no use in getting
excited about it. Even Ah Chow remained expressionless as a mummy, though
it was his head that was to be cut off. The magistrate added a few words,
and the interpreter explained that Ah Chow's face having been most severely
bruised by Schemmer's strap had made his identification so positive that,
since one man must die, he might as well be that man. Also, the fact that
Ah Cho's face likewise had been severely bruised, conclusively proving his
presence at the murder and his undoubted participation, had merited him the
twenty years of penal servitude. And down to the ten years of Ah Tong, the
proportioned reason for each sentence was explained. Let the Chinagos take
the lesson to heart, the Court said finally, for they must learn that the
law would be fulfilled in Tahiti though the heavens fell.

The five Chinagos were taken back to jail. They were not shocked nor
grieved. The sentences being unexpected was quite what they were
accustomed to in their dealings with the white devils. From them a Chinago
rarely expected more than the unexpected. The heavy punishment for a crime
they had not committed was no stranger than the countless strange things
that white devils did. In the weeks that followed, Ah Cho often