them, and revolvers, and they made talk. It was only that they were
weary of killing us that they had stopped, they told us. And we told
them that we were sorry, that never again would we harm a white man,
and in token of our submission we poured sand upon our heads. And all
the women and children set up a great wailing for water, so that for
some time no man could make himself heard. Then we were told our
punishment. We must fill the three schooners with copra and
beche-de-mer. And we agreed, for we wanted water, and our hearts were
broken, and we knew that we were children at fighting when we fought
with white men who fight like hell. And when all the talk was
finished, the mate stood up and mocked us, and yelled, Yah! Yah! Yah!'
After that we paddled away in our canoes and sought water.

"And for weeks we toiled at catching beche-de-mer and curing it, in
gathering the cocoanuts and turning them into copra. By day and night
the smoke rose in clouds from all the beaches of all the islands of
Oolong as we paid the penalty of our wrongdoing. For in those days of
death it was burned clearly on all our brains that it was very wrong
to harm a white man.

"By and by, the schooners full of copra and beche-de-mer and our trees
empty of cocoanuts, the three skippers and that mate called us all
together for a big talk. And they said they were very glad that we had
learned our lesson, and we said for the ten-thousandth time that we
were sorry and that we would not do it again. Also, we poured sand
upon our heads. Then the skippers said that it was all very well, but
just to show us that they did not forget us, they would send a
devil-devil that we would never forget and that we would always
remember any time we might feel like harming a white man. After that
the mate mocked us one more time and yelled, Yah! Yah! Yah!' Then six