Excursions beyond the outer reef. Our aquatic wives. Premonitions. A picnic on the mountain. Hearts and flowers. Whinney delivers a geological dissertation. Babai finds a _fatu-liva_ nest. The strange flower in my wife's hair. CHAPTER VIII Swank's popularity on the Island. Whinney's jealousy. An artistic duel. Whinney's deplorable condition. An assembly of the Archipelago. Water-sports on the reef. The Judgment. CHAPTER IX More premonitions. Triplett's curious behavior. A call from Baahaabaa. We visit William Henry Thomas. His bride. The christening. A hideous discovery. Pros and Cons. Out heart-breaking decision. A stirrup-cup of lava-lava. CHAPTER X Once more the Kawa foots the sea. Triplett's observations and our assistance. The death of the compass-plant. Lost! An orgy of desperation. Oblivion and excess. The Kawa brings us home. Our reception in Papeete. A celebration at the Tiare. ILLUSTRATIONS THE AUTHOR AND HIS ISLAND BRIDE CAPTAIN EZRA TRIPLETT A BEWILDERED BOTANIST THE W.E. TRAPROCK EXPEDITION BABAI AND HER TAA-TAA WALTER E. TRAPROCK, F.R.S.S.E.U GATHERING DEW-FISH ON THE OUTER REEF HERMAN SWANK LUPOBA-TILAANA, MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN WATCHFUL WAITING GOLDEN HARMONIES WILLIAM HENRY THOMAS THE LAGOON AT DAWN (WHINNEY'S VERSION) THE LAGOON AT DAWN (SWANK'S VERSION) THE NEST OF A FATU-LIVA A FLEDGLING FATU-LIVA BAAHAABAA MOURNING THE DEPARTURE OF HIS FRIENDS CHAPTER I We get under way. Polynesia's busiest corner. Our ship's company. A patriotic celebration rudely interrupted. In the grip of the elements. Necessary repairs. A night vigil. Land ho! "Is she tight?" asked Captain Ezra Triplett. (We were speaking of my yawl, the Kawa). "As tight as a corset," was my reply. "Good. I'll go." In this short interview I obtained my captain for what was to prove the most momentous voyage of my life. The papers were signed forthwith in the parlor of Hop Long's Pearl-of-the-Orient Cafeteria and dawn of the following day saw us beyond the Golden Gate. I will omit the narration of the eventful but ordinary occurrences which enlivened the first six months of our trip and ask my reader to transport himself with me to a corner with which he is doubtless already familiar, namely, that formed by the intersection of the equator with the 180th meridian. This particular angle bears the same relation to the Southern Pacific that the corner of Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue does to the Atlantic Seaboard. More explorers pass a given point in a given time at this corner than at any other on the globe. [Footnote: See L. Kluck. _Traffic Conditions in the South Seas_, Chap. IV., pp. 83-92.]