that the boat did not capsize.

Mauki was of a different breed, and escape being impossible while
Bunster lived, he was resolved to get the white man. The trouble was
that he could never find a chance. Bunster was always on guard. Day
and night his revolvers were ready to hand. He permitted nobody to
pass behind his back, as Mauki learned after having been knocked down
several times. Bunster knew that he had more to fear from the
good-natured, even sweet-faced, Malaita boy than from the entire
population of Lord Howe; and it gave added zest to the programme of
torment he was carrying out. And Mauki walked small, accepted his
punishments, and waited.

All other white men had respected his tambos, but not so Bunster.

Mauki's weekly allowance of tobacco was two sticks. Bunster passed
them to his woman and ordered Mauki to receive them from her hand. But
this could not be, and Mauki went without his tobacco. In the same way
he was made to miss many a meal, and to go hungry many a day. He was
ordered to make chowder out of the big clams that grew in the lagoon.
This he could not do, for clams were tambo. Six times in succession he
refused to touch the clams, and six times he was knocked senseless.
Bunster knew that the boy would die first, but called his refusal
mutiny, and would have killed him had there been another cook to take
his place.

One of the trader's favorite tricks was to catch Mauki's kinky locks
and bat his head against the wall. Another trick was to catch Mauki
unawares and thrust the live end of a cigar against his flesh. This
Bunster called vaccination, and Mauki was vaccinated a number of times