Adventure Magazine Cover, April 1916 — page 78: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

76 the donor was itching to see the working effect of her industry. “Maiti,” he said. ‘Maiti!’ The talk drifted to copra and shell and hawkbill turtle, and presently the monarch rose ponderously from the settee which creaked it’s relief. “T go now,” he said. ‘‘You come ashore soon, I show fahine all my present.”’ He puffed himself laboriously up the com- panionway, attended by Boyle, and puffed himself down the sideladder to his waiting whaleboat. ‘“‘A most agreeable person,” said Mrs. Boyle as the skipper returned to the cabin. ‘“‘But I wish he wouldn’t stare so.” ‘“You have made an impression, my dear. He seldom sees a woman of your style.”’ As a general rule, compliments from her husband were regarded as a suspicious com- modity by Mrs. Boyle, but she accepted this one as currency. “T shall love to see the things in his store- house,” she said. _ The skipper, remembering pictures that had been cajoled from waterfront saloons to catch the robust fancy of Tamatau, hesi- tated. “Don’t think you'll care for it much,” he said. , “The man’s respectable, isn’t he?”’ The use of this adjective in connection with the South Sea ruler was so strange to Boyle that he gasped. “Oh, Lord, yes. In that way,” he an- swered., ‘“‘Then I shall go there first and visit with the ladies afterward.” It was a busy afternoon for the skipper, spent in making arrangements for loading a cargo, and it was close to twilight before he returned to his whaleboat. ‘“‘Where’s Mrs. Boyle?” he asked of the waiting Jimmy, whose vigil had been be- guiled by the company of a slim, golden- skinned, midnight hair-and-eyed young lady of Totulu. Jimmy had a ma-u (gardenia) wreath about his neck and the friendship seemed to have passed the first stages. The skipper eyed them sharply, and the girl with a poorly staged attempt at unconsciousness walked off to the village, swinging her lis- some hips. “No philanderin’, Jimmy,” said Boyle. “Er name’s Fuatina,” answered Jimmy, dodging the issue. d Adventure “T don’t care what her name is. I said no philanderin’, my son, and I meant it. A friendly interest for the good of trade, but no mix-ups. Where’s Mrs. Boyle?” “She’s hover wiv the wimmin in the queenery. Bin there two ’ours hor more. ’Ere she is, now!”’ Escorted by a score of queens and lesser ladies, Mrs. Boyle came to the boat request- ing to be rowed aboard prompthy, as “she was hungry.” ‘The ladies,’”’ she announced later in the privacy of the cabin, “‘are interesting, but the king is a beast.” ‘“‘What’s wrong?” asked Boyle quickly. ““He took me to that stuffy storehouse of his, filled up with junk like a second-hand shop. ‘There were pictures on the walls that were worse than indecent. I couldn’t look anywhere but what I saw one. I think, seeing I am your wife, you might have warned me.” “My dear——”’ “But that was nothing! didn’t want to show me anything. wanted to look at my teeth.” “Your teeth?” “T said my teeth, Captain Boyle.” ‘You must have been mistaken.”’ “T can read signs as well as the next per- son, I believe. I tell you he wanted me to open my mouth and let him see my teeth, as if he had been a dentist. But I told him exactly what I thought of him, and though he didn’t appear to understand all of it, I don’t think he’ll care to renew the acquaint- ance in a hurry. Is supper ready?” It was. And the lady’s teeth were rele- gated to more pleasant purposes than the amusement of a monarch. Captain Boyle wisely set aside the sub- ject, resolving to open it later with Tama- tau. But the explanation came naturally in the evening. The creature He JIMMY had repaired the worn valves of the orchestrion and the entire population, fixed and visiting, of Totulu and it’s lagoon, assembled on the beach to hear the strains—using the word advisedly—of the new records. Mrs. Boyle was the only absentee, having retired early after the excitements of the day. The con- cert was a grand success, ““Come, oh, my hero” being first favorite, with “My Hoolah Boolah Maid” a close second. But the searchlight made the supreme CoOMmichoooks CO