Mali explained their meaning with ready interpretation.

"No cry too much, them say," she observed, nodding her head sagely.

"Not good for Missy Queenie to cry too much.

Them say, kind lady, be comforted." There was genuine good-nature in the way they consoled her; and Felix was touched by the tenderness of those savage hearts; but the additional explanation, given him in Polynesian by his own Shadow, tended somewhat to detract from the disinterestedness of their sympathy.

"They say, 'It is good for the Queen of the Clouds to weep,'" Toko said, with frank bluntness; "'but not too much--for fear the rain should wash away all our yam and taro plants.'" By this time the little bride had roused herself from her stupor, and, smiling away as if nothing had happened, said a few words in a very low voice to Felix's Shadow.