open door into the narrow passage, and thence to the kitchen. There
she saw that the back door, leading out on the other side of the
house, was open, and she knew that he had come down from the road
and entered on that side. She threw her eyes around, looking for
the negro girls; but they were away, and she remembered that there
was no human being within sound of her voice but this man who had
told her that he was as a wolf thirsty after her blood!

"Give me food at once," he said.

"And will you go if I give it you?" she asked.

"I will knock out your brains if you do not," he replied, lifting
from the grate a short, thick poker which lay there. "Do as I bid
you at once. You also would be like a tiger if you had fasted for
two days, as I have done."

She could see, as she moved across the kitchen, that he had already
searched there for something that he might eat, but that he had
searched in vain. With the close economy common among his class in
the islands, all comestibles were kept under close lock and key in
the house of Mr. Bergen. Their daily allowance was given day by day
to the negro servants, and even the fragments were then gathered up
and locked away in safety. She moved across the kitchen to the
accustomed cupboard, taking the keys from her pocket, and he
followed close upon her. There was a small oil lamp hanging from
the low ceiling which just gave them light to see each other. She
lifted her hand to this to tare it from its hook, but he prevented
her. "No, by Heaven!" he said, "you don't touch that till I've done
with it. There's light enough for you to drag out your scraps."