Had there been a sixth I think I could not have borne
the infliction quietly. Strips of jerked beef were hanging from the
rafters, and by the light which was still burning I watched the cats
climb up stealthily, seize on some of these, descend, and disappear
through the window, making me a stepping-stone as before, but with
all their craft they let some of the strips fall, which awoke
Deborah, and next I saw Kaluna's magnificent eyes peering at us
under the curtain. Then the natives got up, and smoked and eat more
poi at intervals, and talked, and Kaluna and Deborah quarrelled,
jokingly, about the time of night she told me, and the moon through
the rain-clouds occasionally gave us delusive hopes of dawn, and I
kept moving my place to get out of the drip from the roof, and so
the night passed. I was amused all the time, though I should have
preferred sleep to such nocturnal diversions. It was so new, and so
odd, to be the only white person among eleven natives in a lonely
house, and yet to be as secure from danger and annoyance as in our
own home.
At last a pale dawn did appear, but the rain was still coming down
heavily, and our poor animals were standing dismally with their
heads down and their tails turned towards the wind.
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