The times., 1900-12-30
Eo was short. squat Malay,
with face Like II skate. bar
ring his eyes, which were long,

d
narrow slits, apparently ex
| pressing nothing but Indifference 70 the
world in general. But they would light VI
sometimes with a merry twinkle. wheE
the old rogue would rarrate some OF his
past viilainies.
He came to Samoa In the old days, long
before treaties and imperial commission.
ers. aud other gilded vapities were dreami
of by us poor, hard working traders. He
seemed to have dropped from the sky
when one afternoon. as Tom Denison and
some of his friends sat on Charley the
Russians veranda drinking lager, he
marched up to them, sat down on the
steps, and said Good evening"
.Hello.'' said Scbluter, the skipper of the
Anna Goddefroy. WHO are you? Where
do you come FROM"
He waved a short, stumpy and black clay
pipe to and fro. and replied vaguely, "Oh,
from somewhere"
Some one laughed, surmising. correctly
enough. that he had run away from ship.
Thea they remember-t. hat no vessel had
even touched at Apia for month. Later on
he told Denison that he had jumped over
hoard from Bakers Island guanoman as
she was running down the coast and swan
ashore, landing at a point twenty miles
distant from Apia. The natives in the
various villages had given him food, so
when he reached the town he was not
hungry
What do you want, anyway" asked
Schluter
Some tobacco. please. And a dollar or
two. 1 can pay you back"
"When?" said Hamilton, the pilot. in
credulously.
The pipe described semi-circle. "Oh,
tomorrow night: before, perhaps"
They gave him some tobacco and matches
and four Bolivian Iron" half dollars. He
got up and went across to Volkner's CON-
bined store and grog shanty over the way.
Hes gone to. buy bottle of square
face" said Hamilton.
He deserves it," said Denison, gloom
lily. "A man Of mis- age who could jump
overheard and swim ashore to this rotten
country should be presented with case Of
gin-and knife to cut his throat with aft
er he had finished it,
In about ten minutes the old fellow
came out of Volkner's store, carrying two
or three stout fishing lines. several pack
StS Oi HUNS anu uttil d uuZth snip plS-
suits He grinned as he passed the group
on the veranda. and then, squattfng down
on the sward near by, began to uncoil the
lines and bend on the hooks. Denison was
interested, went over to him. and watched
the swift, skiIlful manner in which the
thin brown fingers worked.
Where are you going to fsh?" he en-
quired
The broad. fiat face lit up. Outside in
81.
Denison left him, and went aboard the
ancient cockroach-infested craft of which
he was the heartbroken supercargo. Half
an hour later REQ padded past the
schooner in a wretched old canoe, whose
outrigger was SO insecurely fastened that
ii threatened to come adrift every instant
The old man grinned as he recognized
Denison; then, pipe in mouth, he went
boldly out through the passage between
the lines Of the roaring surf into the tum-
bling blue beyond.
At 10 o'clock, Just as the supercargo and
the skipper were taking their last nip be-
fore turning In. the ancient slipped quiet
ly alongside in his canoe and clambered
On deck. In his right hand he carried a
big salmon-like fish weighing about TWEEN
ty pounds. Laying 1t down on the deck. he
pointed to 1t.
Plenty more in canoe like that You
want some more?"
Denison went to the side and looked
over. The canoe was loaded down to the
gunwale with the weight of fish-fish that
the lazy, Ioafins Apian natives caught
but rarely. The old man passed up two or
three more. took glass of grog. and pad
died ashore.
Next morning lie repaid the borrowed
money and showed Denison s15-the re-
suit of his first nights work in Samoa.
The saIoonkeepers and other white peo-
pie said he was treasure. Fish IN Apia
were dear and hard to get.
On the following Sunday marriage
procession entered the Rarotongan Chapel
In Matafele, and Tarreo otherwise 'Reo)
was united to one of the prettiest and
least disreputable native girls in the
town, whose parents recognized that
REQ was likely to prove an eminently
lucrative and squeezable son-in-laT- Dem
ison was best man, and gave the bride
q S. gold piece (having previosuly made
a private arrangement with the bride
groom that he was to receive value for il
in fish,.
'Reo's wife's relatives built the newly
married couple a house on Matautu
Point, and REQ spent s35 in giving the
brides local connections a feast. Then
the news spread, and Cousins and Sec
oud cousins and various breeds of aunts
and half uncles travelled up to Matautu
Point to partake of his hospitality He
did his best, but. in a day or SO. remarked
sadly that he could not catch fish fast
enough in o poor canoe. II he had a boat
he could make $50 a week, he said:
and S-tth $50 a week he could entertain
his wife's honored friends continuously
and in q befitting manner. The relatives
and thinking they had a good
thing. subscribed and bought a boat ton
sredit) from the German firm. giving a
mortgage on q piece of land as security.
Then they presented REQ with the boat
with many complimentary speeches, and
sat DOWN to chuckle at the way they
would make the old fool work. and the
old fool went straightway to the Amer
lean Consul and declared himself to be
A citizen of the United States. and de-
manded his country's protection, as he
'eared his wtfe's relatives wanted to jew
aim out of the boat they had given him.
The Consul wrote out something ter
flying on big sheet of paper and tack
ID it to the boat. and warned the sur
,rised relatives that an American man
if-war would protect REQ with her guns,
nd then REQ went inside his house and
,eat his wife with a canoe paddle, and
hased her violently out OF the place, anc
threatened her male relatives with a
arge knife and fearful language.
Then he took the boat round the other
ide of the island. and sold 1t for 5000 to
trader. and came back to Apia to Deni-
on. and asked for passage to TutuiIa:
nd the German firm entered into and
ook possession of the mortgaged land.
Ghile the infuriated relatives tore up and
Iown the beach, demanding Tarreo's
Hood in l0r,d vrica TorraO xvff 10
200 in his trousers pocket, sat on the
chooner's rail and looked at them stol-
dly and without ill-feeling.