“This,” said the man, producing a photograph and laying it on the table, “is a portrait of a person named George Barcom, who, I have every reason to believe, was a sergeant of marines on the Flycatcher when she was on this station five years ago.”
“Take charge of that photograph, Mr. Hayling. Go ahead, Mr. Howlman.”
“This man, after deserting from the Flycatcher at a place in this group called Yasawa, managed to make his way to the island of Niuafou, where at that time I was in temporary charge of the Christian Cultivation Association's trading station. He came to the island in an open boat from the Yasawa Group, and was not suspected until quite recently.”
“Deuced long time finding him out. But proceed, sir.”
“Guilty as the man was of the crime of desertion, I must yet, perforce, say that he behaved himself very well. He was kindly received by the King Tepuaka (a very earnest seeker after the Light), and all went well for the space of four years.”
“Well, what happened then? Five minutes left,” and the Admiral looked at his watch.
“My story will soon be told, your Excellency. The man, who calls himself George Barcom, gained the affections of Tuilagi,{*} the youngest daughter of the King. She, although not a seeker after the truth, was yet beginning to display some interest in the teachings of Christianity, and was an exceedingly comely young woman.” Here Mr. Howlman clasped his fat hands together and cast up his eyes. “But her father, at my suggestion, objected to their union. One night Barcom and the poor, misguided girl were missing. They had fled in an open boat to another island called Anuda—one of those dark places of the earth where the good seed has not yet been sown.”
* Tuilagi—“Queen of the Sky”; a name common in Polynesia.
“And what was the nature and reason of your objection to their marriage?” said the Admiral quietly.
“I had every reason by this time to believe that the man was a deserter, and in my capacity as a preacher of the Gospel—though not ordained as such—I——”