Chapter 43

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man standing at the companionway. It was Rairi, an expression of angry astonishment on his handsome, sullen face. He glanced swiftly about him, seemed to arrive at a decision, and bounded across the deck. Before I could cry out, he was over the rail and into the lagoon. The appearance of my uncle, dressed in a scarlet waistcloth and brandishing an axe, smothered the shout on my lips. "Eh, Fatu!" he cried, as his eye fell on the gigantic figure of the mate. "Have you got them safe…