The good
hours of the twenty-four drew on; the hateful,
poisonous day-fly of Nukahiva was beginning to desist
from its activity; the land-breeze came in refreshing
draughts; and the club-men gathered together for the
hour of absinthe. To the commandant himself, to the
man whom he was then contending with at billiards--a
trader from the next island, honorary member of the
club, and once carpenter's mate on board a Yankee war-
ship--to the doctor of the port, to the Brigadier of
Gendarmerie, to the opium-farmer, and to all the white
men whom the tide of commerce, or the chances of
shipwreck and desertion, had stranded on the beach of
Tai-o-hae, Mr. Loudon Dodd was formally presented; by
all (since he was a man of pleasing exterior, smooth
ways, and an unexceptionable flow of talk, whether in
French or English) he was excellently well received;
and presently, with one of the last eight bottles of
beer on a table at his elbow, found himself the rather
silent centre-piece of a voluble group on the verandah.
Talk in the South Seas is all upon one pattern; it is a
wide ocean, indeed, but a narrow world: you shall never
talk long and not hear the name of Bully Hayes, a naval
hero whose exploits and deserved extinction left Europe
cold; commerce will be touched on, copra, shell,
perhaps cotton or fungus; but in a far-away, dilettante
fashion, as by men not deeply interested; through all,
the names of schooners and their captains will keep
coming and going, thick as may-flies; and news of the
last shipwreck will be placidly exchanged and debated.
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