From Sydney she had a run of nearly two thousand miles before reaching the neighborhood of Fiji, and then began the part of the journey which interested Dave most. From one wondrous beauty-spot to another they went, sometimes lying at anchor off an island and sending a dory ashore to do the trading, and sometimes poking their nose so close to the land that it was possible to tie up against a tree. In some places a white man had established himself and did a thriving, if lonely, business by accumulating copra and other native products and driving a hard bargain with Captain Peters. One man in particular Dave remembered. He had built a wooden bungalow facing the sea, and the chief article of furniture it contained was a wheezy old harmonium on which its owner played comic songs, ten years old, extremely badly. In response to a pressing invitation Captain Peters and some of the men, including Tempest and Dave, paid a visit to the bungalow and took coffee there. One of the crew fetched an accordion from the ship, and for the first time in history a concert was held on the island, before a rapturous audience of fifty or sixty niggers who crowded around the bungalow. “It’s the accordion they’re listening to,” the trader explained. “The beggars thought the harmonium was a sort of magic when I first got it, and I had no end of a game with ’em, but familiarity breeds contempt. I remember the time when they used to bring any one who was sick, an’ let ’em listen to the strains of a vaudeville ditty that Sydney and New York had forgotten, and ’pon my word the patient used to get well again straight away. They’re funny creatures, natives. They’ve only got to make up their minds that they’re going to die and even ‘Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay’ on the old wheeze bag won’t save ’em.” In some places the natives displayed a keenness for bargaining which would not have disgraced a dealer in second-hand clothes. The _Manihiki_ had passed beyond the Fiji Islands and was working among the Tonga group when an incident occurred which might have led to serious consequences but for the prompt action of Captain Peters. No boat had called at this particular island for nearly a year, and the natives had an exaggerated notion of the value of their accumulated wares. After a good deal of haggling between Captain Peters and the dusky traders, conducted in fragments of English and disjointed words in the native lingo, a bargain was struck, and all hands set to work on the task of stowing the copra away. While this was being done, however, the natives set up a noisy chattering among themselves, a disagreement having arisen, apparently as to what they were to get in exchange. Two members of the crew stood guarding the knives, brightly colored cloth and ornaments which had been selected as the “price” of the copra, the last of which had just been put into the hold, when the chattering developed into a howl, and there were signs of an ugly rush.