Volume I Part 10 (2/2)

Having now acquaintedthe Parki, which could in any way be learned, I repaired to the quarter-deck, and suravely addressed thereater satisfaction than forthwith to return to the scene of theauthors But as there were only four of us in all; and the place of those islands holly unknown to ether out of our reach, since we possessed no instruht of returning thither was entirely useless The lastto the Hawaiian group, where the vessel belonged; though that would have been the , as it would, if successful, in restoring the ill-fated craft to her owners

But all things considered, it seemed best, I added, cautiously to hold on our way to the ard It was our easiest course; for ould ever have the wind froh we could not so nated, there was still a positive certainty, if we floated long enough, of falling in with islands whereat to refresh ourselves; and whence, if we thought fit, we reeable cli as we kept the sea, there was always so a friendly sail; in which event, our solicitude would be over

All this I said in theanxious, at once to assuht better quit the vessel forthwith, than remain on board subject to the outlandish caprices of Annatoo, who through Sa; and if Samoa proved docile, had no fear of his da h to persuade h he deferred to , aly part But of his courage, and savage honor, such as it was, I had little doubt

Then, wild buffalo that he was, tamed down in the yoke matrimonial, I could not but fancy, that if upon no other account, our societyless afflictive the tyranny of his spouse

For a hen-pecked husband, by the way, Sah, after all, I liked him; it was as you fancy a fiery steed withAlexander fancied Bucephalus; which wild horse, when he patted, he preferred holding by the bridle But more of Samoa anon

Our course determined, and the command of the vessel tacitly yielded up toin order

The tattered sails were replaced by others, dragged up fro was rove; blocks restrapped; and the slackened stays and shrouds set taught For all of which, ere -spike, which he swayed like a scepter

The little Parki's toilet being thus thoroughly ave her new rairacefully glided away; honest old Jarl at the hel her path, like some devoted old foster-father

As I stood by his side like a captain, or walked up and down on the quarter-deck, I felt no little i for the first time in my life, the command of a vessel at sea The novel circu; the wild and remote seas where ere; the character of my crew, and the consideration, that to all purposes, I ner, as well as commander of the craft I sailed

CHAPTER xxx Hints For A Full Length Of Sasthened by thus encountering Samoa; and the more I had to do with my Belisarius, thefallen in with a hero, who in various ways, could not fail of proving exceedingly useful

Like any man of mark, Samoa best speaks for himself; but we h, nay, an obelisk in stature, the savage was far fro Be not alarmed; but he wore his knife in the lobe of his dexter ear, which, by constant elongation al it exceedingly handy, and far less brigandish than the Highlander's dagger concealed in his leggins

But it was the mother of Sah and through in still another direction The htly pendent, peaked, and Gothic, and perforated with a hole; in which, like a Newfoundland dog carrying a cane, Samoa sported a trinket: a well polished nail

In other respects he was equally a coxco, for instance, which see but a vertical half of his person, frohtest stain Thus clapped together, as it were, he looked like a union of the uns; and your fancy was lost in conjecturing, where roamed the absent ones When he turned round upon you suddenly, you thought you saw so before

But there was one feature in Samoa beyond the reach of the innovations of art:--his eye; which in civilized e, ever shi+nes in the head, just as it shone at birth Truly, our eyes are s But alas, that in so ans should be lasses in spectacle ri out upon you there, like somebody in hieful as opal; in anger, glowing like steel at white heat

Belisarius, be it remembered, had but very recently lost an arht he had been born without it; so Lord Nelson- like and cavalierly did he sport the honorable stump

But no iven hiested by the native designation of the islands to which he belonged; the Saviian or Saator Islands The island of Upolua, one of that cluster, clai the special honor of his birth, as Corsica does Napoleon's, we shall occasionally hereafter speak of Samoa as the Upoluan; by which title he allant to pass over a lady But what shall be said of Annatoo? As I live, I can ly subjects, flattering would but liness should ever go unpainted, as soliness is that of the heart, seen through the face And though beauty be obvious, the only loveliness is invisible

CHAPTER xxxI Rovings Alow And Aloft