to a guest but only for a moment.

"We are met," he said--I translate freely--"we are met to witness the
emulation of friends." Could anything be more delicate?

"We have with us tonight, in this corner, Wanooa-Potonopoa (Whinney),
the Man with his Eye in a Box" (this was plainly a reference to
Whinney's camera)--"while in this corner, we have Mainaue Ahiiahi,
Tattooer-of-Rainbows. Both boys are members of this island."

The applause was enormous but Swank had the grace to rise and kiss his
finger-tips toward the audience which immediately put him on a friendly
footing.

After a few more speeches by Baahaabaa the exhibits were unveiled. Of
course, the result was foregone. I must admit that Whinney's was not
hung to advantage. The two pictures were placed against tufts of _haro_
at forty yards distance where, naturally, the detail of the photograph
lost something of its effectiveness. Swank's picture on the contrary
blazed like a pin-wheel. The further you got from it the better it
looked.

A characteristic point in the competition was that Swank had introduced
figures into his composition where no figures had existed. "What do
I care?" he said to my objection. "I was there, wasn't I? And you were
there? There may have been others."

A mighty roar followed the unveiling, a shout of such force that tons
of breadfruit and thousands of cocoanuts fell from the adjacent trees.
But it was plain to see whom the shouting was for. Then Baahaabaa made