The next morning at daybreak, for in this hot climate the body could be kept no longer, funeral rites were held over the remains of Captain Thornton. The body had been wrapped in many layers of palm leaves and then placed in a slender, light canoe; it was now resting on a bier formed of branches of bamboo. The mourners are already gathered around, Ahleka, Allen and Kaelea having each placed a handful of lime on their heads as a token of their grief, it being the outward mark of mourning bourn by these peculiar people. The melancholy chant was still kept up. Eight young men having lifted the bier upon their shoulders, the funeral march began. On each side of the bier walked eight young girls, each having upon her head the customary handful of lime, and bearing in her hand a long wand of waving feathers; holding the wands so as to form an arch over the canoe which contained the dead. After them came Ahleka and Kaelea, Allen and Maula and next Mabel and Etta walking on each side of Captain Gray; following these came the chiefs and their families and the people of the villages, each one carrying a stone in one hand and branches of flowers in the other. The procession moved slowly up the hill which was to be the burial place. The broad disc of the rising sun was now to be seen coming slowly above the sea, throwing broad shafts of light over the water, dyeing the sky coppery red which shaded into gold, then into the softest tints of yellow as the rays ascended. It was a sight never to be forgotten by any of the little group who stood for the first time on this funeral mountain, looking out over the grief bowed heads of the throng of people, beyond the tree embowered islands, beyond the reef with the surf glistening and ever changing in the rays of the rising sun, far out to the glorious ruler of day. The canoe was now placed upon the ground, the company turned, and raising their sprays of flowers toward the sun, chanting an invocation to the source of light and warmth. One after another they drew near the canoe, beginning with Ahleka and Allen, placing upon it the flowers held in their hands until it was hidden from view beneath a fragrant mound. After all the flowers were deposited, the stones were piled high over them, making a rocky monument to mark the resting place of Captain Thornton—the Alii Mahina. Then slowly they retraced their steps to the village. CHAPTER XVI. One morning, about a month after the death of Captain Thornton, as Etta and Mabel were preparing for their morning bath in the ocean, they grew confidential, as girls are apt to do when arranging their toilets together. “Mabel,” said Etta, “I envy you the freedom you enjoy in seeing Ahleka so often with none to interfere. How I wish I were in your place for I must meet Uala clandestinely, so that papa shall not know of our love. I hate to deceive papa, I am sure, but I don’t know what to do. Do you think I do right to meet him as I do?”