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During the night the wind worked round two or three points, and enabled the barque to lay a direct course for Fotuna, and at daylight Singavi Harbour was plainly in sight, with the yellow-thatched huts peeping out among the bright green of the cocoa-palms.

As soon as the Adventurer was safely moored, the French priest whom Tom had met previously came on board. The old man was both surprised and pleased to see him again, and told him he had done wisely in returning to the island, instead of going on the boat to Fiji. Then Captain Herrendeen introduced him to Mrs. Casalle, briefly telling him her story. The priest was very sympathetic, and at once urged her and Tom to take up their abode at the mission until the Adventurer was ready for sea again.

'You need rest, oh, very much rest, and change of food, so that you may become strong again. And next to my own house there is a small school-house which you shall use as your own. It shall be made as comfortable as possible. We shall be most pleased. You are the first white lady we have seen at Fotuna for ten-no, twelve-years, and my people will be proud, I do assure you. Now I shall not delay, but return at once to prepare for you;' and hurriedly shaking hands with them, he bustled off ashore again.

By this time the decks were filled with natives of both sexes, all of whom crowded round Mrs. Casalle and Solepa, and gave utterance to expressions of sympathy, when the latter, speaking in Samoan, told them what had befallen her mistress and herself. Presents of fruit were brought to them in such profusion that within an hour or two the after deck was completely covered.

Early in the afternoon the mission boat came alongside, to take Mrs. Casalle, Solepa, and Tom to the mission station at Alō, as the journey over the mountain paths would have been more than the former could have accomplished. The Singavi people, however, who were jealous of Alō securing the tamaitai papalagi⁸ as a guest, urged her not to go in the boat, but let them carry her through the mountain forest on a litter. At length, after a violent dispute between the two parties, the Singavi natives gave way, on it being pointed out to them by Maori Bill that although the white lady, Tom, and the Samoan girl were going to Alō, the ship would remain at Singavi, and prove a considerable source of profit to them, as their services would be required to help in heaving her down. This ended matters satisfactorily, and bidding the kind-hearted captain and his officers good-bye for the present, Tom and Mrs. Casalle went off in the boat, the brown-skinned crew of which at once struck up a canoe song as they plunged their long, narrow-pointed canoe-paddles into the water.

'I'll come and see you in a few days,' called out Herrendeen, as the boat shot out through the opening in the reef.

Before starting to heave down the ship, came the tedious task of discharging over three hundred barrels of oil, and rafting them ashore; then the barque was taken in close under a rocky bluff, which offered excellent facilities to carry out the work in water as calm as a mill pond, and as clear as the purest crystal. The started butt-end was found and repaired, the ship righted again, and preparations made for re-shipping the oil by the morning of the fifth day.

That afternoon Herrendeen visited the mission house, where he found Mrs. Casalle and Solepa busy at work with two or three young native women, making dresses out of some more modestly coloured prints than those she had been able to obtain on the Adventurer, which were of the very brightest hue, being intended only for disposal to the colour-loving natives of the Moluccas, and other islands where the captain usually called to buy provisions during his cruise.

'We'll be ready for sea in another week,' he said, looking at his passenger with undisguised admiration. 'Why, Mrs. Casalle, my officers won't know you again, you look-' He was about to say 'so beautiful,' but stopped himself in time.

'Ten years younger, Captain Herrendeen, I hope you were going to say, but I'll be content if you say five,' she broke in, with a laugh. 'Have you seen Father Serge yet?'

'No, I came to see you first, of course; but here he comes. Where is Tom?'

Mrs. Casalle nodded her pretty head half a dozen times in rapid succession, and threw up her hands in affected indignation.

'Away, of course. He's never here between daylight and dark. If he's not out pig-hunting in the forest, he's away fishing in the middle of the ocean between here and Alofi. He's just deserted me altogether. Is not that so, father?' she said to the old priest, who with another Marist priest as old as himself just then entered the house to greet the captain.

'He is what you call a rambler, a rambler! Oh yes, a great rambler; but he is a good boy, madame, a good boy. Now will you not come with us, so that we may show our friend here all over our mission station?'

Just before supper at the mission house that evening, Tom, brown-faced, dirty, and panting, came staggering up the pebbled path with a turtle on his shoulder.

'We got three,' he said triumphantly, putting the creature down on the verandah, – 'and this is only the smallest. Hallo, captain, how are you?'

'Tom Wallis, you ought to have been born a Red Indian or a Samoan,' said Mrs. Casalle, laughingly.

'That's what my father has often said, Mrs. Casalle. And I believe he was right.'

CHAPTER XVIII
TOGETHER AT LAST

One afternoon, after more than two weeks had passed, the whaling barque still lay quietly at anchor in Singavi Harbour, ready for sea again, and waiting only for a breeze. For, soon after the repairs were finished, the trade-wind had flickered and died away, and a 'furious calm,' as Mr. Burr, the chief mate, called it, had set in, and seemed likely to continue. The captain had started off early the previous morning to walk to the mission house at Alō, and spend a day or two shooting with Tom and Maori Bill, for the natives had assured him that there was not the slightest chance of anything more than the very lightest airs from the eastward for many days to come, and he decided that it was better to be lying at anchor instead of drifting away to the westward. And so, although Mr. Burr and his fellow-officers, to whom an idle day was an abomination and a vexation of spirit, grumbled exceedingly, they had to admit that the 'old man' was right after all. The two damaged boats had been repaired, and were now, as well as the one obtained from Tom and Bill, fit to be lowered again, should whales be seen whilst the ship was at anchor. Look-outs had been stationed on two of the highest points of the island, and a series of smoke-signals arranged, so that if by good luck a whale or whales should be sighted from the mountains, the boats would know where to look for them, if they were not visible from the ship.

The day had been intensely hot, and at five o'clock Mr. Burr and the second mate, as they sat under the awning on the poop deck, were eating oranges and pineapples with a steady determination to do some kind of work.

Presently a canoe came off from the beach and brought off the shore look-outs, who duly came aft and reported.

'See anything, you fellows?' asked the mate, stabbing a pineapple through with his knife and drawing it to him.

'Saw 'bout nine or ten finbacks close in under the south point 'bout an hour ago,' drawled one of the look-outs.

'Finbacks is pizen, and ain't fit to be mentioned to a decent man. Snakes and finbacks air a curse to humanity. But if we hev to lie here and rot much longer, and one of them comes foolin' around, I'm going to put an iron into him, and let him tow me all around this island for forty days and forty nights. See any blackfish?'

'Nary one. But there's a ship way out to the northward. Saw her early this morning. Reckon she ain't much nearer now. 'Bout fifteen mile off now.'

Mr. Burr displayed a faint interest, and then, being a good-natured, thoughtful man, said to his subordinate-

'Like to take a boat and pull round to the mission house and tell the old man? If that ship is bound to Fiji, she'll most likely pass between here and Alofi, and maybe he or the little woman might want to send a letter. You can stay all night if you like.'

The second mate was only too glad to get away from the ship for a night; and soon after supper he called his boat's crew and started, secretly hoping that on the way back in the morning he might raise a whale.

As the boat rounded the southern point of the island, a gentle, cooling breath of air came from the eastward, and the mate sniffed it approvingly, not because it was laden with the sweet scent of maso'i, tamanu, and wild orange trees of the mountain forest, but because it felt to his cheeks as if it were the re-awakening to life again of the long-waited-for trade wind.

'Guess the captain won't do much gunning to-morrow,' he remarked in the condescending manner peculiar to whaleship officers, who in rare moments of relaxation unbend themselves sufficiently to make an observation to members of the crew not directly connected with their vocation. 'There's going to be a steady breeze before morning, in spite of what these copper-coloured Kanaka folks say. Give way, there. I'm mighty glad we came now. Maybe we'll get back again to-night.'

The officer's surmise seemed likely to prove correct, for by the time the boat was abreast of the mission station, and just as the evening fires of the natives were being lit, the breeze had certainly strengthened.

Landing directly in front of the white-walled church, the crew hauled the boat up on the soft white sand, and were soon surrounded by the usual crowd of inquisitive natives, while the mate walked on up the hill to the mission house, where he found his captain, Mrs. Casalle, and Tom at supper with the two old fathers.

'Mr. Burr reckoned he had better let you know that there is a ship in sight to the northward; the look-out saw her early this morning, and thinks she's coming this way. If so, she'll be in the straits here by midnight. And there's a steady breeze coming, captain; guess this eternal calm is about broke up.'

This latter news decided Captain Herrendeen to leave Alō as soon as the moon rose, which would be an hour before midnight, as he would thus have time to reach Singavi by daylight, get the ship under way and well out from the lee of the land as soon as possible; for should it fall calm again he would either have to anchor or tow back again, to avoid the strong westerly current. As for the vessel which the look-outs had sighted, he determined to speak her in the morning, if it could possibly be done.

His hospitable hosts, knowing his anxiety to put to sea again, did not persuade him to wait till morning; but, calling their servants, bade them carry down and fill the mission boat with fruit and vegetables for the use of the ship's company. Then, as there were still some hours before them, supper was proceeded with, and the rest of the evening was spent on the verandah.

At last the time came to say farewell. The moon had risen, and sent a long steady blade of light down the strait, the breeze was blowing fresh and cool and rustling the line of palms in the mission garden, and the two boats with their crews were waiting on the beach.

'Come, my friends,' said the older of the two missionaries to his guests, 'let us go. My brother Garnier and myself are not so old that we cannot walk down with you to the boat.'

As the little procession left the mission it was joined by some hundreds of young women and lads, who pressed forward to say good-bye to Mrs. Casalle and Solepa; many of them were unable to restrain their tears, and Tom could not help remarking upon their warm-hearted impulsiveness to Captain Herrendeen, adding that Hayes had told him that the Fotuna natives were inclined to be saucy and domineering.

'Ah,' said the old priest, who overheard him, 'but Captain Hayes did not understand the changes we have made here of late years. The Fotunans were always a more suspicious and irritable people than the other Polynesians; even now they do not take quickly to strangers like the Samoans or Tahitians, but that is because there is a strain of Papuan blood in them. And it is not more than twenty years ago since my predecessor, Père Channel, was beaten to death by their clubs here at Alō.'

They reached the boats, and then, almost in silence, Tom and Mrs. Casalle bade the good old men farewell.

'Farewell, madame; farewell, Tom!' murmured Père Serge, who was almost afraid to trust his own voice, as he took their hands in his; 'may Heaven protect you both! You have both suffered much, but now happiness is near to you. Think of us sometimes, living out our quiet lives on this lonely little island. And to you farewell, captain, and to you, sir, and to you,' as he held out his hand to Herrendeen, the second mate, and Maori Bill; 'may your voyage be a very happy, a very prosperous one! Perhaps in a year or two you may come to Fotuna again, and tell me that you have killed many whales.'

Another hand-grasp, and Mrs. Casalle and the captain took their seats in the whaler's boat, Bill-who contrived to get Solepa and Tom with him-took charge of the other, and the word was given to push off.

The priests, surrounded by their flock, stood watching on the beach, and then, as the boats cleared the reef and headed southward, Tom and the captain stood up and waved their hats. For some minutes the two black-garbed figures remained stationary, silhouetted against the white background of moonlit beach; then they turned and disappeared under the shadow of the palms.

When the boats were a few hundred yards beyond the barrier-reef the oars were taken in, the sails hoisted, and soon both were slipping quickly over the water, which, though ruffled by the gentle breeze, was very smooth. The mission boat, however, being both clumsy and heavily laden, dropped behind considerably, and gradually the voices of her native crew, who were singing merrily as they sailed, grew indistinct.

'We mustn't run away from them, Captain Herrendeen,' said Mrs. Casalle, quickly. 'Don't think me nervous, but even being in a boat now terrifies me, and Tom is such an awful boy. If it came on to blow hard, he would just be delighted. Why, as we were leaving I asked him to come with us, but he said he wanted to go with Mr. Chester, as they might pick up a turtle in the moonlight! And that boat is loaded down to the gunwales already. If they swamped'-she shuddered-'and anything happened to him, it would break my heart.'

Captain Herrendeen laughed, but lowered the peak of the mainsail, so as to decrease the speed of the boat.

'Why, he swims like a native, Mrs. Casalle, and would enjoy the thing; but there, we'll wait for them.'

'Thank you, captain. I know I'm silly, but I can't help it. And I was thinking of sharks. Oh! I saw such a dreadful thing once in the Paumotu Group, when a canoe full of people upset, on just such a moonlight night'-

'Hallo! what's that?' cried the second mate, as a report of a gun came from the other boat.

Herrendeen luffed, and looked astern at the same time.

'Tom's having a shot at nothing, to get rid of his superfluous energy-hallo! there's another,' as a flash and a second report came, followed by a hail.

'Why, they're hailing-the boat's filling, I expect! Down with the sail there, you men! We must pull up to her.'

The sail was quickly lowered, and the boat headed back under the long sweeping strokes of five oars. The mission boat, however, still came on, running steadily before the wind.

'What's the matter with you?' shouted Herrendeen, as he came within speaking distance.

'Nothing,' answered the Maori, 'but look over there, just under the shadow of the land. There's that ship, close in. We fired to make you bring to.'

A quick glance at the spot indicated showed Captain Herrendeen the vessel. She was rather more than a mile astern of both boats, and gradually overhauling them.

'She's coming down this way, sure enough,' he said to his second mate, 'and will be out through the straits by daylight if she's bound to the westward. Guess I'll hang on here a bit, and wait for her. You can go on, Bill, and tell Mr. Burr to heave short at daylight. I'll be along presently, as soon as I have spoken this ship, and find out where's she going. Mrs. Casalle, will you go in that boat or stay with me?'

'I'll stay with you, captain. Tom, you come too, please. Solepa, you can go on if you like.'

Tom, eager to get on board the strange ship, at once changed into the captain's boat, and Bill, with Solepa pretending to protest that she did not wish to reach the Adventurer before her mistress, at once went on, using both sail and paddles.

As the stranger was still a mile distant, Captain Herrendeen decided to pull up and meet her. By the manner in which she was running down the coast, it was evident that the master of her knew the island pretty well; and indeed as soon as she came abreast of the southern point she hauled her wind, and lay up along the western shore.

'That looks as if he was going into Singavi, Carey,' said Herrendeen to the second mate; 'but still he may not be. At the same time he's altogether too close. Give way, men, we'll soon be up to him. He'll lose most of the breeze, now he's rounded the corner.'

In a quarter of an hour the vessel was so close, and the night so clear, that figures could be discerned moving about her decks, and presently, as the boat came nearer, a man came to the stern rail and hailed in a clear voice:

'Boat ahoy there! Do you want to come aboard?'

'Yes, if you're not going into Singavi.'

'We are going there; but come aboard all the same,' said a second voice.

Mrs. Casalle clutched Tom's arm convulsively, and he felt her figure tremble.

'Oh, Tom, that sounded so like my poor husband's voice! It's all your fault, you've frightened me so-'

'Ay, ay,' replied Herrendeen. 'I'll come aboard. Don't bring to.'

Pulling up alongside the vessel, which now had barely more than steerage way on her, owing to her being so close under the lee of the high land, Captain Herrendeen caught hold of a rope's end which was lowered to him at the main chains and swung himself aboard.

'Push off, Mr. Carey, and go ahead. You'll be in a good hour or more before this ship. Orders as before for Mr. Burr-heave short at daylight.'

The boat dropped astern, and the crew, bending to their oars, sent her skimming ahead, much to the disappointment of Tom, who, had there been time, would have followed the captain.

The moment Herrendeen was on deck he shook hands with a man who was evidently the captain.

'How do, captain? Say, you're in a bit close; there's an inshore set of current just here. The Comboy went ashore here in a calm; five boats couldn't tow her clear of the reef.'

'Much obliged to you, sir,' said the captain, who at once gave the necessary orders, and the ship was at once kept away from the land. She answered her helm so slowly, however, and her canvas hung so limp, that both Herrendeen and the strange skipper were alarmed as they looked at the land.

'Take a cast of your lead, sir,' said the former quickly; 'you're setting inshore. I can hear the surf. If you can't get bottom at twenty fathoms, you'll have to tow off; there's a sudden drop from twenty fathoms to a hundred, we're just on the edge of it.'

A seaman sprang into the fore chains, took a cast of the lead, and reported no bottom.

'You'll have to tow off, captain,' said Herrendeen; 'it's better to be sure than sorry.'

Two well-manned boats were at once lowered, and in a few minutes the vessel began to move ahead.

'We're all right now, sir, I think,' said the captain to Herrendeen, as he looked over the side, 'thanks to you;' and then, as he saw two figures on the after-deck evidently waiting to approach him and his visitor, he seized Herrendeen's arm and said hurriedly-

'Have you heard anything about Bully Hayes having been here?'

'Yes, all about it.'

'Anything about a boy named Wallis and a Maori half-caste?'

'They're here! The boy was in that boat of mine which was alongside just now; the Maori-Bill Chester you mean-is here too.'

'Thank God! thank God!' said the stranger; 'here are his father and brother;' and then, dragging Herrendeen with him, he called out in quavering tones-

'Tom is here, Wallis! Tom is here!'

For some moments all discipline on board the Malolo was lost, for the crew on deck and the men in the boats caught up the skipper's cry, and cheer after cheer went up, as Mr. Wallis and Jack seized Herrendeen's hands, with eager tremulous questions on their lips.

Captain Casalle walked quickly away to where Mr. Brooker was standing up forward, watching the ship. He leant on the rail in silence for some minutes.

'Brooker, old shipmate,' he began in a low voice, as he turned to the mate, 'such news as that is heaven to a father's heart, and to me as well, for it was through me that the boy has suffered so. And now I thank God he is found.'

'Just so, captain,' said Brooker, sympathetically; 'I feel most almighty pleased myself: I do.'

Another minute or two passed, and then the murmur of the three voices on the after-deck suddenly ceased, and Mr. Wallis cried out sharply-

'Casalle, Casalle! Where are you?'

The captain ran to meet him. 'What is it, Wallis?' In the dim morning light he saw that the man's usually quiet, grave eyes were glittering under some almost uncontrollable emotion. 'What is it, Wallis? Is Tom ill?'

'Tom is well, Casalle,' said Wallis, trying to speak calmly, 'and as God has spared my son to me, so has He spared your wife to you. She is here at Fotuna, and was alongside in the same boat with Tom!'

* * * * *

Half an hour later, as the Malolo, whose boats were towing astern, came in sight of Singavi Harbour and the Adventurer, Captain Herrendeen stepped up from below, with rather misty eyes, and spoke to Mr. Brooker and Henry Casalle, both of whom were at that moment talking over the exciting events of the past hour. That they should find Tom safe, and actually arrive at the island on the morning of the very day he was leaving it, was a strange and fortunate circumstance; but that their captain's wife should not only be alive and well, but have been rescued by the same ship which had afterwards picked up Tom and Maori Bill, was stranger still.

'How do you do, gentlemen?' said Herrendeen to the two officers, and shaking hands with them both. 'There's no need for me to ask which of you is Mr. Casalle-you and your brother are as alike as the two sheaves in a double block. I guess there's going to be a high old time aboard these two ships to-day.'

When within half a mile of the Adventurer, Captain Casalle, Mr. Wallis, Jack, and little Nita left the Malolo in one of her whaleboats, leaving Captain Herrendeen on board to pilot her in. As they drew near, they saw that Mr. Burr was heaving short and the hands loosing sails.

The boat drew up alongside, and Mr. Wallis-as had been arranged between him and Captain Casalle-first went up the side and met Mr. Burr at the gangway.

'I am Tom's father,' he said quickly; 'is he below?'

'Just having a cup of coffee,' answered the mate, shaking hands with the visitor. 'Come with me, sir.'

'One moment, please;' and then Mr. Wallis asked the mate if Mrs. Casalle was with him.

'No, she told me she was tired. I guess she's turned in.'

'All the better. Her husband is here with me, and we feared that the shock of seeing him so unexpectedly might be harmful to her. Will you send Tom on deck first?' Then, going to the gangway, he called to Jack and Captain Casalle to come up.

Mr. Burr descended into the cabin. Tom was seated at the table, drinking coffee with Solepa.

'Come on deck, Tom,' said the mate, quickly; 'you stay there, girl.'

Wondering what was the matter, Tom followed him on deck, and in a few moments was clasped in his father's arms, then in Jack's, and then in Captain Casalle's.

Mr. Wallis drew the mate aside and spoke hurriedly with him; then the two went below, and the mate knocked at Mrs. Casalle's cabin door.

'Have you turned in, Mrs. Casalle?'

'No, Mr. Burr. But I feel a little tired, and am lying down. Come in, please.'

The mate opened the door and looked in with a smiling face.

'I hev great news for you, Mrs. Casalle. Tom's father and brother are here; and Mr. Wallis is here outside, and wants to see you mighty particular. He's seen your husband quite recent.'

In an instant she was on her feet, and out into the main cabin with hands outstretched to Tom's father.

'Mrs. Casalle, this is a happy meeting. I have seen my boy, and now I come to tell you that your husband and child are near, very near.'

'Very near! Ah, do not keep me in suspense! Tell me, tell me now! See, I am not excited. There, see!' And she sat down and folded her trembling hands, and looked into his face with swimming eyes. 'Ah, he is here now! I can see it in your face. He is on board that ship, and the voice I heard was his!'

Wallis, affected almost as much as she was, could no longer delay telling her.

'Yes, it was his voice. Stay here; I will bring him to you.'

He sprang up the companion way. Casalle, with Nita's hand held tightly in his own, was waiting. They went below.

And as Wallis passed by the open skylight to join Tom and Jack, he heard the woman's voice-

'Ramon! Ramon! My husband, my husband! My child, my child!'