Something beside curiosity and the spirit of adventure had made Dick decide to push on towards Marua (Palm Tree).  
The truth is Marua was calling to him. He wished to see it again if only for a moment. The hilltop and the groves¹ and the coloured birds sent their voices across the sea to Karolin just as Karolin had sent its appeal across the sea to Katafa when Katafa had lived at Palm Tree.
 
As a matter of fact those two islands were for ever at war in the battle ground of the human mind. In the old days natives of Karolin had gone to live on Marua, and Karolin had pursued them and brought them back, filling their minds with regret and longing² and pictures of the great sea spaces and free sea beaches of Karolin. In the same way natives of Marua had gone to live on Karolin and Marua had pursued them and brought them back, filling their minds with regret for the trees, the hilltop and the blue ring of the lagoon³.
 
Between Dick and Katafa there was only one faint suspicion of a dividing line, something that might increase with the years and make unhappiness the difference between Marua and Karolin: the pull of the two environments so vastly different, the call of the high island and the call of the atoll, of the land of Dick’s youth and the land of the youth of Katafa.
 
It is extraordinary how the soul of man can be pulled this way and that way by things and forms that seem inanimate and yet can talk—aye, and express themselves in the most beautiful poetry, strike in their own defence through the arms of men, follow without moving though the pursued be half a world away, and inspire a love as lasting⁴ as the love that a man or woman can inspire.
 
The love of a range of hills, what battles has it not won, and the view of a distant cloud, to what lengths may it not raise the soul of man—heights far above the plain where philosophy crawls, heights beyond the reach of thought.
 
With the suggestion of Aioma, the concealed⁵ longing in the mind of Dick began to show itself. He forgot Katafa; he forgot the bad men who had taken possession of Marua, old days began to speak again and the sound of the reef, so different from the voice of Karolin reef, began to be heard.
 
He watched Le Moan at the wheel, and noticed how her eyes followed the almost imperceptible track far to starboard where the water colours changed. She was steering⁶ by the current as well as by the sense of direction that told her that Karolin lay behind. He did not know the speed of the schooner⁷, but he had travelled the road when coming to Karolin with Katafa and he knew that soon, very soon, the hilltop of Marua must show.
 
He went forward and gazed ahead—nothing. The land gulls⁸ had been left behind and in all that sea to the north there was nothing. He came aft to find Poni again at the wheel, and as he came he crossed Le Moan who was going forward; she did not look at him and he scarcely looked at her. Le Moan, for Dick, was the girl who had saved them by killing⁹ Carlin and fighting with Rantan till he was overcome; but to him, personally, she was nothing. So cunningly had she hidden her heart and mind that not by a glance or the least shade of expression had she betrayed her secret to him. Kanoa only suspected—but he was her lover.
 
Aioma was squatted¹⁰ on the deck near the steersman, eating bananas and flinging the skins over his shoulder and the rail.
 
“Aioma,” said Dick, “there is no sight of Marua yet, but soon we will see it lifted to the sky, with the trees—it calls to my heart. You have seen it?”
 
“I was one of those who chased Makara and his men to Marua,” said Aioma, “we fought with them and slew¹¹ them on the beach; aie, those were good times when Uta Matu led us and Laminai beat the drum—taromba—that is only beaten for victory, and will never be beaten again, since it went away with Laminai and has never returned. Tell me one thing, Taori. When you came to Karolin with Katafa, you made friends with the women and children, and Katafa told them a tale, how the canoes of Laminai had been broken by a storm, and all his men lost, and how the club of Matu was found by you on the reef of Marua and the gods had declared you were to be our chief. I was on the southern beach at that time and did not hear the tale, but the women and children took it without any talk, glad to have a man to lead them.
 
“Tell me, Taori, was that all the tale? I never asked you before and I know not why I ask you now.”
 
“Aioma,” said Dick, “there was more than that. Laminai and his men came through the woods of Marua and there was a great fight between them and me. I slew with my own hands Laminai and another man. Then, taking fright, all his men ran away and they fought with each oth............