Jack Finland was Farmer Carwell's nephew; a smart, alert second mate on board a coasting tramp. He should have shipped on a better boat, but Tera lived at Grimleigh, and Grimleigh was a port of call. He had sailed among the islands of Eden below Capricorn: he knew the looks of a coral atoll, and the beauty of the women who wandered on the South Sea beaches. After a prolonged stay in the islands, a fit of home-sickness had brought him back to the grimy port whence he had set sail many years before. Here he had seen Tera exiled from her Southern paradise, and here, with the impetuosity of a sailor, he had declared his love. That she returned it was natural enough; for Jack Finland was as splendid a young man as ever set foot ashore to beguile the hearts of maidens. Tera, with her inherent love for physical beauty, had surrendered at once to his wooing. "But I fear we may not marry," she said, as they strolled along. "My guardian--this Mr. Johnson--wishes that I should be his wife." "He wishes what he won't get, then, Tera. You wouldn't throw yourself away on an ugly devil-dodger like him? No, my dear, you shall marry me; and we will go to the South Seas for our honeymoon." "With you, Jack!--ah, how I should love that! At Koiau my father is a great chief. He will admit you to our family; he will place his tabu on you; and when Buli goes into the darkness we shall rule, my dear." The girl sighed, and tightened her clasp on Jack's arm. "But this thing cannot be. My father has sent Korah Brand Misi" [missionary] "to carry me back to Koiau." "But you won't go, Tera?" "I must. Jack. If I do not, Mr. Johnson will make me his wife." "I'll wring his neck first." "Ah!" Tera's eyes gleamed with a savage light. "If we were in my land you could do that; but here"--she shrugged her shoulders--"they would lock you in prison. No, Jack, here you must not kill." "Worse luck," grumbled Finland, whose wanderings had made a barbarian of him; "still, you ain't going to marry Johnson." "Oh no! I shall buy him if I can. Listen, Jack. When I left Koiau, my father gave me pearls to sell here. But I have never sold them--oh no! I had no need to sell them. Mr. Johnson is poor--he wants money--I will give those pearls to him if he lets me go free." "Then this missionary chap will collar you, Tera; and I don't take much stock in that lot." "If I go with Misi, you come also, Jack. In Koiau we may marry." "In Koiau your father may make you marry some big chief," said Jack, wisely, "and I should be left out in the cold." Before Tera could protest that she would be nobody's wife save his, Johnson appeared, hurrying towards them with an angry look on his face. In the silver moonlight he could see the lovers plainly, and their attitude sent a thrill of rage through his heart. "Bithiah," he said harshly, "this is not an hour for you to be out. Come! My mother is waiting for us." "Tera is free to come and go as she pleases," struck in Finland, hotly.