Then, thrusting his hands into his pockets,
he walked up and down the deck with an enormous swagger, whistling
vociferously.
In about half-an-hour Jack and the teacher came on deck, and the
latter, bidding us a cheerful good-evening, entered his canoe and
paddled to the shore. When he was gone, Peterkin stepped up to Jack,
and, touching his cap, said--
"Well, captain, have you any communications to make to your
_men?_"
"Yes," cried Jack; "ready about, mind the helm, and clew up your
tongue, while I con the schooner through the passage in the reef. The
teacher, who seems a first-rate fellow, says it's quite deep, and good
anchorage within the lagoon close to the shore."
While the vessel was slowly advancing to her anchorage, under a light
breeze, Jack explained to us that Avatea was still on the island,
living amongst the heathens; that she had expressed a strong desire to
join the Christians, but Tararo would not let her, and kept her
constantly in close confinement.
"Moreover," continued Jack, "I find that she belongs to one of the
Samoan Islands, where Christianity had been introduced long before her
capture by the heathens of a neighbouring island; and the very day
after she was taken she was to have joined the Church which had been
planted there by that excellent body the London Missionary Society. The
teacher tells me, too, that the poor girl has fallen in love with a
Christian chief, who lives on an island some fifty miles or so to the
south of this one, and that she is meditating a desperate attempt at
escape.
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