Also, In That Sub-Tropical City I Managed To Get Hold
Of A Skull, From Which I Extracted The Teeth Swiftly And Painlessly.
Thus Equipped, I Was Ready, Though Not Exactly Eager, To Tackle Any
Tooth That Get In My Way.
It was in Nuku-hiva, in the Marquesas,
that my first case presented itself in the shape of a little, old
Chinese.
The first thing I did was to got the buck fever, and I
leave it to any fair-minded person if buck fever, with its attendant
heart-palpitations and arm-tremblings, is the right condition for a
man to be in who is endeavouring to pose as an old hand at the
business. I did not fool the aged Chinaman. He was as frightened
as I and a bit more shaky. I almost forgot to be frightened in the
fear that he would bolt. I swear, if he had tried to, that I would
have tripped him up and sat on him until calmness and reason
returned.
I wanted that tooth. Also, Martin wanted a snap-shot of me getting
it. Likewise Charmian got her camera. Then the procession started.
We were stopping at what had been the club-house when Stevenson was
in the Marquesas on the Casco. On the veranda, where he had passed
so many pleasant hours, the light was not good - for snapshots, I
mean. I led on into the garden, a chair in one hand, the other hand
filled with forceps of various sorts, my knees knocking together
disgracefully.
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