of our men, whom we thought long dead, were put ashore from one of the
schooners, and the schooners hoisted their sails and ran out through
the passage for the Solomons.

"The six men who were put ashore were the first to catch the
devil-devil the skippers sent back after us."

"A great sickness came," I interrupted, for I recognized the trick.
The schooner had had measles on board, and the six prisoners had been
deliberately exposed to it.

"Yes, a great sickness," Oti went on. "It was a powerful devil-devil.
The oldest man had never heard of the like. Those of our priests that
yet lived we killed because they could not overcome the devil-devil.
The sickness spread. I have said that there were ten thousand of us
that stood hip to hip and shoulder to shoulder on the sandbank. When
the sickness left us, there were three thousand yet alive. Also,
having made all our cocoanuts into copra, there was a famine.

"That fella trader," Oti concluded, "he like 'm that much dirt. He
like 'm clam he die KAI-KAI (meat) he stop, stink 'm any amount. He
like 'm one fella dog, one sick fella dog plenty fleas stop along him.
We no fright along that fella trader. We fright because he white man.
We savve plenty too much no good kill white man. That one fella sick
dog trader he plenty brother stop along him, white men like 'm you
fight like hell. We no fright that damn trader. Some time he made
kanaka plenty cross along him and kanaka want 'm kill m, kanaka he
think devil-devil and kanaka he hear that fella mate sing out, Yah!
Yah! Yah!' and kanaka no kill 'm."