The woman, Annatoo, was a native of a far-off, anonymous island to the westward:  whence, when quite young, she had been carried by the commander of a ship, touching there on a passage from Macao to Valparaiso.  At Valparaiso her protector put her ashore; most probably, as I afterward had reason to think, for a nuisance.

By chance it came to pass that when Annatoo’s first virgin bloom had departed, leaving nothing but a lusty frame and a lustier soul, Samoa, the Navigator, had fallen desperately in love with her.  And thinking the lady to his mind, being brave like himself, and doubtless well adapted to the vicissitudes of matrimony at sea, he meditated suicide—­I would have said, wedlock—­and the twain became one.  And some time after, in capacity of wife, Annatoo the dame, accompanied in the brigantine, Samoa her lord.  Now, as Antony flew to the refuse embraces of Caesar, so Samoa solaced himself in the arms of this discarded fair one.  And the sequel was the same.  For not harder the life Cleopatra led my fine frank friend, poor Mark, than Queen Annatoo did lead this captive of her bow and her spear.  But all in good time.

They left their port; and crossing the Tropic and the Line, fell in with a cluster of islands, where the shells they sought were found in round numbers.  And here—­not at all strange to tell besides the natives, they encountered a couple of Cholos, or half-breed Spaniards, from the Main; one half Spanish, the other half quartered between the wild Indian and the devil; a race, that from Baldivia to Panama are notorious for their unscrupulous villainy.

Now, the half-breeds having long since deserted a ship at these islands, had risen to high authority among the natives.  This hearing, the Parki’s captain was much gratified; he, poor ignorant, never before having fallen in with any of their treacherous race.  And, no doubt, he imagined that their influence over the Islanders would tend to his advantage.  At all events, he made presents to the Cholos; who, in turn, provided him with additional divers from among the natives.  Very kindly, also, they pointed out the best places for seeking the oysters.  In a word, they were exceedingly friendly; often coming off to the brigantine, and sociably dining with the captain in the cabin; placing the salt between them and him.

All things went on very pleasantly until, one morning, the half-breeds prevailed upon the captain to go with them, in his whale-boat, to a shoal on the thither side of the island, some distance from the spot where lay the brigantine.  They so managed it, moreover, that none but the Lahineese under Samoa, in whom the captain much confided, were left in custody of the Parki; the three white men going along to row; for there happened to be little or no wind for a sail.