among the passengers from one of the other coaches who had occasionally visited the cassowary and listened as the novel symposium progressed was a brown-bearded, middle-aged gentleman with a tanned face and merry eye. that he was of the navy the colonel had soon learned, and to the naval officer he now addressed himself:

"lieutenant, you, necessarily, have visited many parts of the world and must have become acquainted with the facts of many a pretty romance or rough adventure. i believe you mentioned the circumstance that you were stationed for a time in the samoan islands. can you tell us a tale of samoa?"

the lieutenant smiled: "i'll tell you a tale of samoa, a little one," he said. "i was a witness to its main incident, and it interested me. it was this way:

a samoan idyl

una loa was a samoan girl, and she was[185] fair to look upon. they have festivities in their season in samoa as we have here, and, as here, there are rivalries among the young women. there are tests of beauty, too, and she who can show the most beautiful headdress of flowers is counted the most charming among the maidens. she is as the jersey heifer which takes the first prize at the annual fair in some prosperous county; she is as the lithe and graceful and beautiful creature who doesn't fall over her train at the receptions at the court of england; she is an adornment to the society in which she moves, and, in samoa, it must of course be the best society, must consist of those who enter into the contest exhibiting the sublimity of all head-gear—for head-gear is a woman's glory.

there was stationed upon one of the islands of the samoan group—there is no use of mentioning the island in particular—a young gentleman who had been sent out under the auspices of the department of agriculture of the united states, and, to speak more definitely, from that branch of the department which is known as the weather bureau. his business was to sit at the top of a somewhat illy-constructed tower and note the variations of wind[186] and temperature and all that sort of thing, and then send his report to the department at washington, when he could catch a steamer, which didn't always often happen, for this was some time ago. still he sat up in the tower and took notes and glowered, and made the best of things, and the work in this region of mild latitude and much lassitude did not wear upon him to such an extent that he could not fall in love, not in the purely abstract way that he loved some things either, as for instance, the equation of the parabola, but vigorously and deeply.

he fell in love to such an extent that he became personally interested in the contest among the fair samoans as to whom among the belles should show the most ardent and effective floral decoration of her mass of hair on the day appointed.

now, be it known that the atlantic ocean is the atlantic ocean, that the washington monument is the washington monument. they exist as they are. be it known also, that the hair of a samoan beauty, a great burnished mass, also exists as it is and is rarely washed between the rising of the sun and the dropping[187] into the ocean of the same luminary, or at any other time.

the name of the young man connected with the weather bureau was john thompson. that is not a very poetic name, but john thompson can love just as hard as everard argyle. this john thompson did anyhow, and he vowed that his sweetheart should win in the contest of flowery decorations of the heads of the maidens. this resolve came upon him some six weeks before the time of trial. he visited una loa.

"how long is it, sweetheart, since you let your hair down?" said he.

"i do not remember," said she.

"that is all right," said he.

now, john thompson had entertained certain ideas regarding agricultural speculation in the samoan islands, and had imported for experimental purposes various small quantities of assorted delicate fertilizers—powdered bone and ammonia, or something of that sort. here was material, and inspiration for action comes to a man sometimes in a way which makes it seem to him as if all the ancient gods were behind him and beside him, aiding him in every way. this sublimity of inspiration came to john thompson at this moment.[188]

this is how the man, thus sublimated, reasoned: "all the other girls must, necessarily, as in the past, wear cut flowers, which must, to an extent, wither before the judgment of the wise ones is declared. i will make a real, living garden of my darling's head, a garden in which shall bloom, not only flowers of the islands here, but of europe and america, and all countries of the world. above one of her dark eyes shall dangle such a bunch of glowing and living pansies as the islanders have never seen; the phlox shall lift itself aloft from her coronet; sweet peas and old-fashioned pinks shall adorn one side of her shapely head, while the other side will be blazing with tossing poppies. she shall appear among the contestants with such a crest as never a queen has worn, though the jewelers of all ages have struggled to make a surpassing crown."

and the man did his work. "eh," he said, as he patted the matted mass of dusky hair, "talk about farms in the states! here is an area of the right kind for the support of a family! talk about landscape gardening! i'll show them what real landscape gardening is!"

he did.

he planted right and left with ardor and good [189]judgment, for he was not only an enthusiast but had the artist's gift. una loa yielded because she had the trust which every girl should have in a real lover of good character. as thompson sowed and sowed, she submitted with all hopefulness and slept each night with her neck upon a little log, that each flower plant might grow without abrasion or disturbance. she saw but little of her kin, save a sister who stayed beside her, for thompson was arrogant—said he was making a botanical experiment—and allowed none to visit her.

the day of the contest came, as the world went round and round. at the appointed hour, all the samoan maidens appeared together, each with her head in the halo and glory of fair flowers. but there was no contest. una loa stood among them all like a bright spirit from somewhere. the fragrance from the flowers upon her head sapped itself into the senses of all who were near her, and there was a glittering, a very splendor of brilliant, multicolored and flaming humming-birds about her queenly head. there was no discussion among the judges. the award could but go to una loa, and so it went!

they say that there is a laziness, which is not, after all, a laziness, begotten in those who[190] dwell among the islands in the southern seas. it is but adaptation, possibly most sensible. thompson has resigned from the weather bureau and married una loa. he is keeping a cigar-store in south apia and is doing tolerably well.

and the listeners agreed that the lieutenant had at least looked upon a romance as genuine as simple.