fortune, and he had left behind him that fortune, a marble tomb, and
Mlle. N----.




CHAPTER XXIV

A journey to Nuka-hiva; story of the celebration of the fête of Joan
of Arc, and the miracles of the white horse and the girl.


Père Victorien said that I must not leave the Marquesas before I
visited the island of Nuka-hiva seventy miles to the northward and
saw there in Tai-o-hae, the capital of the northern group of islands,
a real saint.

"A wonderful servant of Christ," he said, "Père Simeon Delmas. He is
very old, and has been there since the days of strife. He has not
been away from the islands for fifty years, but God preserves him for
His honor and service. Père Simeon would be one of the first in our
order were he in Europe, but he is a martyr and wishes to earn his
crown in these islands and die among his charges. He is a saint, as
truly as the blessed ones of old.

"It was he who planned the magnificent celebration of the feast of
Joan of Arc some years ago, and as to miracles, I truly believe that
the keeping safe of the white horse during the terrible storm and
perhaps even the preservation of a maiden worthy to appear in the
armor of the Maid, are miracles as veritable as the apparition at