the awards and--the prizes were identical--two royal _rigolos_ of
mother-of-pearl, elaborately trimmed with corals and pendants of
limpid aquamarine. What tact, what grace and charm in these identical
rewards!

I am fortunate in being able to reproduce both masterpieces, so that
my readers may form their own decision. Personally, Whinney's photograph
seems to me to reproduce more completely my memories of "The Lagoon
at Dawn." But I may be wrong. Modern artists will probably back up the
popular judgment and on that memorable day in the Filberts I would
certainly have been in the minority.




CHAPTER IX

More premonitions. Triplett's curious behavior. A call from
Baahaabaa. We visit William Henry Thomas. His bride. The christening.
A hideous discovery. Pros and cons. Our heart-breaking decision. A
stirrup-cup of lava-lava.


It was two weeks after the great Competition before the celebrations
which followed it terminated, the tumult and the shouting died, and
the last of our amiable visitors paddled homeward, some being towed
by new-found wives, while not a few remained in our own community,
infusing our society with the novelty and fresh gossip of their islands.
Little by little we settled back into domestic quiet.