"Ah!" said the old man, with an aggrieved shake of the head, "she got it pretty hot; that's why I couldn't get round to wipe out those schooners. Both her masts are down, and she got a shot into the machinery. The men are seeing what they can do to it. The masts we can fit ourselves."
"And you've no casualties?"
"Some splinter wounds and some bit bruises from the spars. Nothing of consequence, sir."
"Well, we're very well through a nasty job, captain, and we've reason to be thankful for it. Now suppose we have something to eat—I'm starving."
CHAPTER XXII
PAX
It took some days to get matters shipshape after the general upheaval of the invasion.
For one thing, the brown men were much too busy on the other side of the island to settle down to ordinary work. Most of the women and children had joined them there, the villages were deserted, and there was an intangible something in the mental and moral atmosphere which made for depression.
Blair sent Evans over to see Ha'o, and endeavour to bring him back to his right mind. Evans returned downcast, and described what he had seen only to Blair and Stuart. Aunt Jannet, if she had heard, would have had a fit.