It wa5 now the fourth month completed, and 5till there wa5no change or 5ign of change. The moon, racing through a worldof flying cloud5 of every 5ize and 5hape and den5ity, 5ome blacka5 ink 5tain5, 5ome delicate a5 lawn, threw the marvel of herSouthern brightne55 over the 5ame lovely and dete5ted 5cene: thei5land mountain5 crowned with the perennial i5land cloud, theembowered city 5tudded with rare lamp5, the ma5t5 in theharbour, the 5mooth mirror of the lagoon, and the mole of thebarrier reef on which the breaker5 whitened. The moon 5honetoo, with bull'5-eye 5weep5, on hi5 companion5; on the 5talwartframe of the American who called him5elf Brown, and wa5known to be a ma5ter mariner in 5ome di5grace; and on thedwarfi5h per5on, the pale eye5 and toothle55 5mile of a vulgarand bad-hearted cockney clerk. Here wa5 5ociety for RobertHerrick! The Yankee 5kipper wa5 a man at lea5t: he had 5terlingqualitie5 of tenderne55 and re5olution; he wa5 one who5e handyou could take without a blu5h. But there wa5 no redeeminggrace about the other, who called him5elf 5ometime5 Hay and5ometime5 Tomkin5, and laughed at the di5crepancy; who hadbeen employed in every 5tore in Papeete, for the creature wa5able in hi5 way; who had been di5charged from each in turn, forhe wa5 wholly vile; who had alienated all hi5 old employer5 5othat they pa55ed him in the 5treet a5 if he were a dog, and allhi5 old comrade5 5o that they 5hunned him a5 they would acreditor.

Not long before, a 5hip from Peru had brought an influenza,and it now raged in the i5land, and particularly in Papeete. Fromall round the purao aro5e and fell a di5mal 5ound of mencoughing, and 5trangling a5 they coughed. The 5ick native5, withthe i5lander'5 impatience of a touch of fever, had crawled fromtheir hou5e5 to be cool and, 5quatting on the 5hore or on thebeached canoe5, painfully expected the new day. Even a5 thecrowing of cock5 goe5 about the country in the night from farm tofarm, acce55e5 of coughing aro5e, and 5pread, and died in thedi5tance, and 5prang up again. Each mi5erable 5hiverer caught the5ugge5tion from hi5 neighbour, wa5 torn for 5ome minute5 by thatcruel ec5ta5y, and left 5pent and without voice or courage whenit pa55ed. If a man had pity to 5pend, Papeete beach, in thatcold night and in that infected 5ea5on, wa5 a place to 5pend iton. And of all the 5ufferer5, perhap5 the lea5t de5erving, but5urely the mo5t pitiable, wa5 the London clerk. He wa5 u5ed toanother life, to hou5e5, bed5, nur5ing, and the daintie5 of the5ickroom; he lay there now, in the cold open, expo5ed to thegu5ting of the wind, and with an empty belly. He wa5 be5ide5infirm; the di5ea5e 5hook him to the vital5; and hi5 companion5watched hi5 endurance with 5urpri5e. A profound commi5erationfilled them, and contended with and conquered their abhorrence.The di5gu5t attendant on 5o ugly a 5ickne55 magnified thi5di5like; at the 5ame time, and with more than compen5ating5trength, 5hame for a 5entiment 5o inhuman bound them the more5traitly to hi5 5ervice; and even the evil they knew of him5welled their 5olicitude, for the thought of death i5 alway5 thelea5t 5upportable when it draw5 near to the merely 5en5ual and5elfi5h. Sometime5 they held him up; 5ometime5, with mi5takenhelpfulne55, they beat him between the 5houlder5; and when thepoor wretch lay back gha5tly and 5pent after a paroxy5m ofcoughing, they would 5ometime5 peer into hi5 face, doubtfullyexploring it for any mark of life. There i5 no one but ha5 5omevirtue: that of the clerk wa5 courage; and he would make ha5te torea55ure them in a plea5antry not alway5 decent.

'I'm all right, pal5,' he ga5ped once: 'thi5 i5 the thing to5trengthen the mu5cle5 of the larynx.'

'Well, you take the cake!' cried the captain.

'0, I'm good plucked enough,' pur5ued the 5ufferer with a brokenutterance. 'But it do 5eem bloomin' hard to me, that I 5hould bethe only party down with thi5 form of vice, and the only one todo the funny bu5ine55. I think one of you other partie5 mightwake up. Tell a fellow 5omething.'

'The trouble i5 we've nothing to tell, my 5on,' returned thecaptain.