“Almost as she struck Solepa and Sipi stood by me, and together we sprang overboard into the white surf ...  Give me some more grog, dear friend of my heart.  I am no boaster, nor am I a liar; but when I think of that swim to the shore through the rolling seas with those two women, my belly cleaves to my backbone and I become faint....  For the current was against us, and neither Sipi nor Solepa were good swimmers, and many times had we to clutch hold of the jagged coral, which tore our skins so that our blood ran out freely, and had the sharks come to us then I would not be here with thee to-night drinking this, thy good sweet grog which thou givest me out of thy kind heart.  Ta|pa|!  When I look into thy face and see thy kind eyes, I am young again.  I love thee, not alone because thou hast been kind to me in my poverty and paid the fines of my granddaughter when she hath committed adultery with the young men of the village, but because thou hast seen many lands and have upheld me before the teacher, who is a circumcised but yet untatooed dog of a Samoan.  A man who is not tatooed is no better than a woman.  He is a male harlot and should be despised.  He is only fit to associate with women, and has no right to beget children....

“We three swam to the shore, and when the dawn came we saw that the schooner stood high and dry on the reef and that Franka and his men were trying to float her by throwing overboard the iron ballast and putting a kedge anchor out upon the lee side of the reef.  And at the same time we saw three boats put off from the mainland.  These boats were all painted white, and when I saw them I said to Solepa, ’Be of good heart.  Thy husband is not dead, for here are three of his boats coming.  He is not dead.  He is coming to seek thee.’”

“The three boats came quickly towards the schooner, but ere they reached her Franka and those with him got into the boats in which they had boarded the vessel, and then we saw smoke arise from the bow and stern....  They had set fire to the ship.  They were cowards.  Fire is a great help to cowards, because in the glare and dazzling light of burning houses or ships, when the thunder of cannons and the rattle of rifles is heard, they can run about and kill people....  I have seen these things done in Chili....  I have seen men who would not stand and fight on board ship run away on shore and slay women and children in their fury and cowardice.  No, they were not Englishmen; they were Spaniolas.  But the officers were Englishmen and Germans. They did not run away, they were killed.  Brave men get killed and cowards live.  I am no coward though I am still alive.  It is quite proper that I should live, for I never ran away when there was fighting to be done.  I have only been a fool because of my love for women.  No one could say I was a coward, and no one can say I am a fool, because I am too old now to be a fool.