"And I have heard," he continued, "of a young man who was ill and feared he would get thin and be laughed at by the girls of his acquaintance. He asked his father to bury him, and the latter consented. When the youth had taken his place in the grave he asked to be strangled. The father scolded him, and told him to sit still and be buried just like other folks, and make no further trouble. Thereupon the youth became quiet, and the burial was completed."
"Can this really be true?" queried the youth.
"The story is found on page 475 of Erskine's 'Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific,'" said his informant, "and I have no doubt whatever of its truth. The evidence as to the former customs of the Feejeeans is so direct and positive that it cannot be doubted."
Fred lay awake for some time that night, his thoughts busy with the changes which had been wrought in the islands of the great ocean through the labors of the missionaries. Afterwards he watched the effect of the moonlight on the waters, and while watching fell asleep.
MOONLIGHT ON THE WATERS.