So it was with Te Kop.He led me to the ocean side;and for an hour or two we sat smoking and talking on the resplendent sand and under the ineffable brightness of the moon.My friend showed himself very sensible of the beauty and amenity of the hour.'Good night!Good wind!'he kept exclaiming,and as he said the words he seemed to hug myself.I had long before invented such reiterated expressions of delight for a character (Felipe,in the story of OLALLA)intended to be partly bestial.But there was nothing bestial in Te Kop;only a childish pleasure in the moment.He was no less pleased with his companion,or was good enough to say so;honoured me,before he left,by calling me Te Kop;apostrophised me as 'My name!'with an intonation exquisitely tender,laying his hand at the same time swiftly on my knee;and after we had risen,and our paths began to separate in the bush,twice cried to me with a sort of gentle ecstasy,'I like you too much!'From the beginning he had made no secret of his terror of the king;would not sit down nor speak above a whisper till he had put the whole breadth of the isle between himself and his monarch,then harmlessly asleep;and even there,even within a stone-cast of the outer sea,our talk covered by the sound of the surf and the rattle of the wind among the palms,continued to speak guardedly,softening his silver voice (which rang loud enough in the chorus)and looking about him like a man in fear of spies.The strange thing is that I should have beheld him no more.In any other island in the whole South Seas,if I had advanced half as far with any native,he would have been at my door next morning,bringing and expecting gifts.But Te Kop vanished in the bush for ever.My house,of course,was unapproachable;but he knew where to find me on the ocean beach,where I went daily.I was the KAUPOI,the rich man;my tobacco and trade were known to be endless:he was sure of a present.I am at a loss how to explain his behaviour,unless it be supposed that he recalled with terror and regret a passage in our interview.Here it is:
'The king,he good man?'I asked.
'Suppose he like you,he good man,'replied Te Kop:'no like,no good.'