Part 8 (2/2)

Father Damien heard, and a rush of enthusiasiven faithfully and without her and more difficult was offered Without aas it had done more than ten years before, when the letter which had decided his career had come to him

'Some fresh priests have arrived at Hawaii,' he said; 'they can take o to Molokai'

And he went, without losing an hour, for a cattle-boat was sailing that very day for the island of the outcasts

Every Monday a s any fresh cases of leprosy that had broken out since the departure of the last boat On the shore were the friends and relations of the doo tears as bitter as those of the Athenians in the old story, when the shi+p each ninth year left the port with the cargo of youths and maidens for the Minotaur Molokai was only seven hours distance froes lie situated, are high precipices guarded by a rough sea

Inland there are dense groves of trees, huge tree-ferns, and thick ed birds have their ho-tailed white bo'sun birds; but as a whole Molokai cannot compare in beauty with the islands which Father Damien had left behind him

A hospital had been built for the worst cases, and when Father Damien arrived it was quite full He at once went to see the poor people and did all he could to relieve them a little; and when that was i to the their graves, if nobody else could be found to do so The rest of the lepers had taken fright, and had built themselves wretched houses, or, rather, sheds, of branches of the castor-oil trees, bound together with leaves of sugar-cane or with coarse grass They passed their ti, and very rarely took the trouble to wash either theether their fault Molokai, unlike many of the other islands, was very badly off for water, and the lepers had to carry from some distance all that they used Under these circumstances it was perhaps natural that they should use as little as possible

Such was the state of things when Father Damien reached Molokai, and in spite of his own efforts, aided soood-natured of the lepers, such it rerown indifferent to theirdrunk Happily the end was at hand; for when a violent gale had blon all their huts it was plain, even to the must be done, and Father Daht they were in

In a very short time a shi+p arrived with materials to enable the lepers to have comfortable houses, and carpenters to put them up Of course these carpenters lived quite separate fro as they did not touch the lepers, or anything used by the the disease; while in order to hastentalents to advantage, and with the help of soood many of the simpler houses, in which the poorer people were to live Those ere richer, or who had rich friends, could afford more comforts; but all the houses were round, so that no daht affect the done, Father Dae clean and healthy unless it had a better supply of water He had been too busy since he cas, but now he began to make serious inquiries, and found to his joy that there existed at no very great distance a large and deep lake of cold fresh water, which had never been known to run dry At his request, pipes were sent over from Honolulu by the next steamer, and Father Damien was never happier in his life than when he and so thees with their own hands Of course there were still some who preferred to be dirty, but for the most part the lepers were thankful indeed for the boon

Little by little things began to i and queen of the islands were always ready and eager to do all they could to benefit the poor lepers and to carry out Father Daood food were sent weekly to the island, a shop was opened, some Sisters of Mercy came to nurse the sick and look after the children, a doctor established himself in the island, and one or two more priests and helpers arrived to share Father Damien's labours and to comfort him when he felt depressed and sad; while fro into Molokai from Honolulu filled with the relations and friends of the poor stricken people The sick and the healthy could not, of course, touch each other--_that_ was forbidden--but they ether, and what happiness it hed anchor, and good-byes were shouted across the water No doubt hearts were heavy both on deck and on the shore, where the green cliffs reave the exiles soreat deal in their lives

Now anyone would have thought that, after all Father Damien had done and obtained for theratitude to their priest But ae number who met him sullenly, with downcast faces, and spoke evil of hireeted them as cheerfully as he did the rest, but he kneell the cause of their dislike, and he could take no steps to remove it The reason was not far to seek; he had tried, and at last succeeded, in putting down the rew all over the island, and made those who drank it, not stupid, but almost mad He had been at Molokai for ten years before their enmity died out, and that was only when they knew that he, like the delayed, fell upon him When he first suspected it he consulted some of the doctors then on the island, as, besides the one always living there, there were others who careat precautions They laughed at his words, and told hi as ever he was, and that no one else could have done what he had done for ten years without catching the disease, but as he had escaped so far he was probably safe to the end Father Damien did not contradict them He saw that they really believed what they stated, and were not seeking to soothe his fears; but he went to a German doctor who had not been present with the rest and told hiht,'

said the doctor after a pause, and Father Damien went out and sat in a lonely place by the sea

[Illustration: Father Damien went out and sat in a lonely place by the sea]

In a little while he had faced it all and was ain--and more; as his condition beca with a neer Those who had turned a deaf ear to hier a man apart from them, whose health had been preserved by some sort of charm, but one of themselves

And the awful curse had not fallen on hiht it, wilfully, deliberately, for their sakes Thus, out of his very distress, cae he grew more cheerful than he had ever been before, till the people wondered at him He heldup, held classes for the boys, and taught theaium The boys were pleasant, well-est names, some native nicknames, others picked up by their fathers froiven to their sons, whereas often they should have been kept for their daughters In the class of Father Conradi there were Mrs Tompkins, The Emetic, Susan, Jane Peter, Eyes of Fire, The River of Truth, The First Nose, The Windohile in Honolulu, from which many of them had come, lived their friends, Mrs Oyster, The Man who Washes his Dimples, Poor pussy, The Stomach, and The Tired Lizard We should like to knohat their sisters were called, but they were not Father Conradi's business The Father also took the greatest interest in the experi on in their school, not only to stop the spread of the disease, but to cure it, for a healing oil had been discovered which had worked ed the love ofthe exiles, whose an which could play forty tunes, a present froan was never absent from any of the entertainments which, with the priests and doctors for audience, the lepers got up from time to time It even played its part in a performance on one Christmas Day, which consisted of scenes from Belshazzar's feast Unluckily it was so dark that it was not easy for the audience to know exactly as going on, but they _did_ perceive that the Babylonish king sat the whole time with his head on his arms and his arms on the table, like the Dormouse in the play of 'Alice in Wonderland' However, the actors were intensely pleased with themselves, and that was all that mattered

Father Damien lived for nearly six years after he beca as he was able he took his part in all that was going on, even helping to build the churches (there were five of them noith his own hands It was only three weeks before his death that his strength gave out, and he laid hi that he would nevermore rise from it So he died, with his friends around him and the noise of the sea in his ears His task was done, for he had 'set alight a fire'

in Molokai 'which should never be put out'

THE CONSTANT PRINCE

When, so Alfonso of Spain on the occasion of his lish princess, the lord land were Spaniards by birth Can any of you tellat your history books ere their names?