TUESDAY,JULY 16.-It rained in the night,sudden and loud,in Gilbert Island fashion.Before the day,the crowing of a cock aroused me and I wandered in the compound and along the street.
The squall was blown by,the moon shone with incomparable lustre,the air lay dead as in a room,and yet all the isle sounded as under a strong shower,the eaves thickly pattering,the lofty palms dripping at larger intervals and with a louder note.In this bold nocturnal light the interior of the houses lay inscrutable,one lump of blackness,save when the moon glinted under the roof,and made a belt of silver,and drew the slanting shadows of the pillars on the floor.Nowhere in all the town was any lamp or ember;not a creature stirred;I thought I was alone to be awake;but the police were faithful to their duty;secretly vigilant,keeping account of time;and a little later,the watchman struck slowly and repeatedly on the cathedral bell;four o'clock,the warning signal.It seemed strange that,in a town resigned to drunkenness and tumult,curfew and reveille should still be sounded and still obeyed.
The day came,and brought little change.The place still lay silent;the people slept,the town slept.Even the few who were awake,mostly women and children,held their peace and kept within under the strong shadow of the thatch,where you must stop and peer to see them.Through the deserted streets,and past the sleeping houses,a deputation took its way at an early hour to the palace;the king was suddenly awakened,and must listen (probably with a headache)to unpalatable truths.Mrs.Rick,being a sufficient mistress of that difficult tongue,was spokeswoman;she explained to the sick monarch that I was an intimate personal friend of Queen Victoria's;that immediately on my return I should make her a report upon Butaritari;and that if my house should have been again invaded by natives,a man-of-war would be despatched to make reprisals.It was scarce the fact -rather a just and necessary parable of the fact,corrected for latitude;and it certainly told upon the king.He was much affected;he had conceived the notion (he said)that I was a man of some importance,but not dreamed it was as bad as this;and the missionary house was tapu'd under a fine of fifty dollars.