[Frontispiece: _I had my first look at the helmsman._] THE PEARL LAGOON _By_ CHARLES NORDHOFF _ILLUSTRATED BY_ ANTON OTTO FISCHER BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT 1924 BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS PUBLICATIONS ARE PUBLISHED BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA _To_ _WALTER AND SARAH C. W. NORDHOFF_ DEAR PARENTS AND UNDERSTANDING FRIENDS WHOSE GRANDCHILDREN, I HOPE, WILL ONE DAY READ THIS BOOK PREFACE For some months past, my daily stint at the typewriter has been cheered by an ambitious hope: that this story might prove entertaining to the young--the finest of all audiences. They are too wise even to glance at so dull a thing as a preface, but to you older people, who are responsible for what the young ones read, I have a word to say. I make no claim, in the pages which follow, to have done more than muster the familiar marionettes and put them through their paces before your eyes. In one respect, nevertheless, I venture to commit myself. I know the islands fairly well--white man and native; skipper, trader, and pearl-diver; the sea, the lagoons, the small and lonely bits of land; and I can vouch for the genuineness of the story's atmosphere. As for the story, there is nothing in it which has not happened, or might not happen to-day--for Romance, like the sea itself, is ever old and ever new. C. N. TAHITI, 1924 CONTENTS I. The Coming of the Schooner II. The Pearls of Iriatai III. Aboard the Tara IV. At Faatemu V. Iriatai VI. The End of the Shark--the Beginning of the Diving VII. South Sea Fishermen VIII. I Turn Pearl-Diver IX. The Cave of the Shark-God X. The Cholita Comes to Iriatai XI. Piracy XII. Boarders! XIII. Tahiti ILLUSTRATIONS _I had my first look at the helmsman_ . . . . . . Frontispiece "_You're Charlie, eh?_" _he said, when he had looked me up and down with a smile that took me back to the evenings by our fireside, ten years before_ _The shark reared almost vertically beneath the swimmer and, opened his great jaws_ _Next moment the wave burst over the gunwale, and we were struggling in the sea_ THE PEARL LAGOON _O Kahiki, land of the far-reaching ocean, Land where Olopana dwelt! Within is the land, outside is the sun! Indistinct are the sun and the land when approaching. Perhaps you have seen it? I have seen it. I have surely seen Kahiki._ I THE COMING OF THE SCHOONER