236 THE ROMANCE OF THE SOUTH SEAS

Arthur, hell's abyss ; corpse on corpse, stench suffocating, fever
rampant. Oh ! see, listen ! the thud of that bayonet, dull
yet crisp, as it twists in the breast and grinds a rib ! God
have mercy ! Think of the wife, could she witness it ! Oh,
my love, my husband ! See the wretch, as down he falls in
agony untold, clutching the earth and gnawing the soil, as
with toes embedded against a spit and mouth agape, his
bleaching eye turns to the sky, and with one big gasp, " The
soul comes floating in a tide of gore. 1 '' What for ? And
children cry, " Father ! Where's daddy, darling daddy ? "
Hunger rages, thirst pathetic. And the devil's at the helm,
and hell's afloat — " clew up your royals and let her rip " — hell,
beside which the phantoms of Calvin are as protoplasm to the
King ! And the Czar in state, a Christian man, sends forth
his ukase and oaths thuswise : —

" So long as a rouble is left in all the Russias, so long as
a man exists fit to stab — able to sever a main artery — so long,
by Heaven, shall this war last ! " Great God !

Presto ! pass ! with the flash of the electric spark. A valley
in Tahiti !

A hut is yonder, walled with bamboo and thatched with
palm leaves. Twining around it are vines and flowers ; pigeons
are cooing their loves in the dovecot, and the river sings in a
rushing burr. On the roof is the family mess-pot, shaped like
the kava bowl so common in Fiji. The noble Tahitian, master
of the place and Nature's own gentleman — premier earl of the
whole Pacific — stands at the gate in wreath and pareu. His
stalwart limbs are those of Apollo — " Haeremai ! " " Come
hither, good friends ; all that I have is thine — the best of
all my house can afford." We go. He calls together all his
kin. " See ! I am blessed ; how great is the honour ! The
.white strangers have deigned to enter." " Yarana ! Yarana ! "
resounds from the grove and echoes back from the valley.
