We spent the entire day together, I in an agony of soul which I could not quite conceal and which my beloved tried to dispel by the tenderest tributes of her consuming love. I cannot speak more of what lies too deeply in my heart. [Illustration: A Fledgling Fatu-Liva] [Illustration Note: A FLEDGLING FATU-LIVA It was by the rarest good fortune that Dr. Traprock was able to secure what is probably the only living specimen now in captivity of the hitherto unknown fatu-liva bird. Immediately upon his arrival at Papeete efforts were made to secure a mother bird of any kind which would hatch out the four fatu-liva eggs then in the explorer's possession. Owing to their angular and uncomfortable shape it was found impossible to keep a bird brooding for more than three minutes at a time. After much effort one egg was finally hatched from which was derived the handsome specimen shown in the illustration. The youngster is now doing finely in the Bronx aviary. Unfortunately he is a male, so that his hope of posterity rests entirely upon the success of another expedition to the Filbert Islands.] It was a tragic trio which reassembled on the Kawa's deck as the late afternoon sun spread its golden hand across the lagoon. The purple shadow of the Mountain rested on our tiny craft but a shadow yet deeper shrouded our hearts. Each of us carried the consciousness of a terrible duty. We ought to leave the Filberts. Broken-heartedly we talked over the situation. "Getting worse," was Whinney's report. "Saw Baahaabaa scratching his leg this morning--probably got it." Poor Baahaabaa, how my heart ached for him. "We ought to leave," I said. It was the first time any of us had dared state the hideous truth in plain words. They fell like lead on our spirits. Swank's sensitive soul was perhaps the most harrowed of all. He sat moaning on the taffrail taking little or no part in the discussion. All at once he sprang up with blazing eyes. "I can't do it!" he shouted. "I can't--and I won't. Blessed little Lupoba,--my Mist-on-the-Mountain. How can I desert you? How can we any of us desert our wives--let us stay, let us live, and, if we must, let us die. Love is more than life." It was a powerful appeal. Overwrought as I was, I nearly succumbed to the false reasoning which was but the expression of my desire. And then once more the vision of those deadly inroads of disease rose before me. "Whinney," I asked, "is there no cure for this awful thing? No antitoxin?" He shook his head sadly. "We have been studying it for years. The only hope is in their complete isolation. If we stay here ... and a second epidemic breaks out.... "; he shrugged hopelessly and Swank buried his face in the bilge-sponge. "Enough!" I said sternly. "Triplett, when can we leave?" "Tonight, sir," he answered with his old subservience. "I've got her completely stored, watered and ready." "Come on," I said shortly. "We must get William Henry Thomas."