magnanimous amity, rubbed noses with the white man, and of where those
noses were now--between the fingers of the Caucasian. He appeared
becomingly attentive, and did me the honour before I began my peroration
to change the pandanus flower from the ear next to me to the other.

I had just rounded off my last sentence when he pointed to a house, half-
native, half-European, in front of which was a staff bearing the British
flag. With the generosity which marks the Englishman away from home I
felt in my pockets and found a sixpence. I handed it to my companion;
and with a "Talofa" the only Tongan I knew--I passed into the garden of
the consulate. The consul himself came to the door when I knocked on the
lintel. After glancing at my card he shook me by the hand, and then
paused. His eyes were intently directed along the road by which I had
come. I looked back, and there stood the stalwart Tongan where I had
left him, gazing at the sixpence I had placed in his hand. There was a
kind of stupefaction in his attitude. Presently the consul said somewhat
tartly: "Ah, you've been to the Palace--the Crown Prince has brought you
over!"

It was not without a thrill of nervousness that I saw my royal guide flip
the sixpence into his mouth--he had no pocket--and walk back towards the
royal abode.

I told the consul just how it was. In turn he told his daughter, the
daughter told the native servants, and in three minutes the place was
echoing with languid but appreciative laughter. Natives came to the door
to look at me, and after wide-eyed smiling at me for a minute gave place
to others. Though I too smiled, my thoughts were gloomy; for now it
seemed impossible to go to the Palace and present myself to King George
and the Heir-Apparent. But the consul, and, still more, the consul's