"Is _that_ so?" yelled William Henry Thomas and proceeded to step jauntily over the rail and _walk_ in our direction. I knew he couldn't swim a stroke and yet here he was, performing an apparent miracle right in our faces. Then it suddenly dawned on me--he was walking on the coral branches! It was not a particularly pleasant interview. [Illustration: Lupoba-Tilaana, Mist on the Mountain] [Illustration Note: LUPOBA-TILAANA. MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN Readers of the text may have noticed that animal life plays a very unimportant part in the life of the Filbertines. Exception must be made in the case of a magnificent ooka-snake, the only one on the islands, which was the proudest possession of lovely Lupoba, who later became the wife of Herman Swank. The ooka-snake lives entirely upon cocoanut milk which gives him a gentle disposition admirably adapted for petting. Mr. Swank has confessed that his wife's fondness for the creature stirred in him a very real jealousy which, in view of the charming testimony of her portrait, we can well understand. A painting of Mrs. Swank by her husband has recently been purchased by the Corcoran Art Gallery of Washington, D.C.] After apologizing for our absence, which we attributed to illness, we broke the news as gently as possible that we were married. "Well," said William Henry Thomas, "so be I ... the lady's on board." "You old land-crab!" blazed Whinney. "Who married you?" "She did," he replied. "But who performed the ceremony?" asked Swank. "Me," answered William Henry. In vain we tried to explain the necessity of proper rites. His only rejoinder was, "You're too late." But what made our sailor-man maddest was the information that the yawl had to be moved. "Here I be as snug as a bug in a rug," he stormed, "an' you go gallivantin' round marrying an' what all, an' now you show up an boost me out. Its e-viction, that's what it is, e-viction." This was a long speech for William Henry Thomas; fortunately it was his last. While he was delivering it I heard a slight splash and turned just in time to see a seal-like form slip over the Kawa's counter and disappear. I watched in vain for her reappearance. Doubtless like all Filbertines she could stay under water for hours at a time. After that Thomas sullenly did Triplett's bidding and half-heartedly assisted in the work of getting the Kawa into the atoll. It was an arduous task. For four days we labored, working our vessel close in shore opposite a clearing in the forest, where the outer island was not more than quarter of a mile wide and free from trees. Instructed by Triplett, we paved the highway to the lagoon with cocoanuts. Our wives and friends thinking it was a game, assisted us. If they had known it was work they would, of course, have knocked off immediately. And then the promised storm broke and I saw Triplett's plan.