<i Tenez, voila le Capitaine Brunot>," said Tiare, one day when I was fitting together what she could tell me of Strickland."He knew Strickland well; he visited him at his house."I saw a middle-aged Frenchman with a big black beard, streaked with gray, a sunburned face, and large, shining eyes.He was dressed in a neat suit of ducks.I had noticed him at luncheon, and Ah Lin, the Chinese boy, told me he had come from the Paumotus on the boat that had that day arrived.Tiare introduced me to him, and he handed me his card, a large card on which was printed <i Rene Brunot>, and underneath, <i Capitaine au Long Cours.> We were sitting on a little verandah outside the kitchen, and Tiare was cutting out a dress that she was making for one of the girls about the house. He sat down with us.
"Yes; I knew Strickland well," he said."I am very fond of chess, and he was always glad of a game.I come to Tahiti three or four times a year for my business, and when he was at Papeete he would come here and we would play.When he married" -- Captain Brunot smiled and shrugged his shoulders -- "<i enfin>, when he went to live with the girl that Tiare gave him, he asked me to go and see him.I was one of the guests at the wedding feast." He looked at Tiare, and they both laughed."He did not come much to Papeete after that, and about a year later it chanced that I had to go to that part of the island for I forgot what business, and when I had finished it I said to myself: `<i Voyons>, why should I not go and see that poor Strickland?' I asked one or two natives if they knew anything about him, and I discovered that he lived not more than five kilometres from where I was.So I went.I shall never forget the impression my visit made on me.I live on an atoll, a low island, it is a strip of land surrounding a lagoon, and its beauty is the beauty of the sea and sky and the varied colour of the lagoon and the grace of the cocoa-nut trees; but the place where Strickland lived had the beauty of the Garden of Eden.Ah, I wish I could make you see the enchantment of that spot, a corner hidden away from all the world, with the blue sky overhead and the rich, luxuriant trees. It was a feast of colour.And it was fragrant and cool.
Words cannot describe that paradise.And here he lived, unmindful of the world and by the world forgotten.I suppose to European eyes it would have seemed astonishingly sordid.The house was dilapidated and none too clean.Three or four natives were lying on the verandah.You know how natives love to herd together.There was a young man lying full length, smoking a cigarette, and he wore nothing but a <i pareo>"The <i pareo> is a long strip of trade cotton, red or blue, stamped with a white pattern. It is worn round the waist and hangs to the knees.
"A girl of fifteen, perhaps, was plaiting pandanus-leaf to make a hat, and an old woman was sitting on her haunches smoking a pipe.Then I saw Ata.She was suckling a new-born child, and another child, stark naked, was playing at her feet.When she saw me she called out to Strickland, and he came to the door.He, too, wore nothing but a <i pareo>.He was an extraordinary figure, with his red beard and matted hair, and his great hairy chest.His feet were horny and scarred, so that I knew he went always bare foot.He had gone native with a vengeance.He seemed pleased to see me, and told Ata to kill a chicken for our dinner.He took me into the house to show me the picture he was at work on when I came in.In one corner of the room was the bed, and in the middle was an easel with the canvas upon it. Because I was sorry for him, I had bought a couple of his pictures for small sums, and I had sent others to friends of mine in France.And though I had bought them out of compassion, after living with them I began to like them.Indeed, I found a strange beauty in them.Everyone thought I was mad, but it turns out that I was right.I was his first admirer in the islands."He smiled maliciously at Tiare, and with lamentations she told us again the story of how at the sale of Strickland's effects she had neglected the pictures, but bought an American stove for twenty-seven francs.
"Have you the pictures still?" I asked.
