Nation

just because they think they deserve it. There’s a judge and jury, and if they were found guilty, they would be hanged by the hangman, neatly and properly. He’d have his breakfast first, very calmly, and perhaps say a prayer. He would hang them calmly and without anger, because at that moment he would be the Law. That’s how it works.]
    “But everyone saw him shoot Ataba!”
    [Correct. So everyone should have decided what to do.]
    “How could they? They didn’t know what I know! And you know what they’re like! They had four pistols between them! If I hadn’t got them out of the way, they’d have shot other people! They were talking about taking over the island!”
    [Yes. What you did was murder, even so.]
    “What about the hangman? Doesn’t he do murder, then?”
    [No, because enough people say it isn’t. That’s what a courtroom is for. It’s where the law happens.]
    “And that makes it right? Didn’t God say ‘Thou shalt not kill’?”
    [Yes. But after that it got complicated.]
    There was movement in the doorway, and her hand raised the pistol. Then her brain lowered it.
    “Good,” said Mau. “I do not want to be shot a second time. Remember?”
    The tears started again. “I’m sorry about that. I thought you were…I thought you were a savage,” Daphne managed.
    “What’s a savage?”
    She pointed the pistol toward Foxlip. “Someone like him.”
    “He’s dead.”
    “I’m sorry. He insisted on drinking his beer.”
    “We saw the other one run off toward the low forest. He was bleeding and snorting like a sick pig.”
    “He wouldn’t drink his beer!” Daphne sobbed. “I’m sorry—I brought Locaha here.”
    Mau’s eyes gleamed. “No, they brought him, and you sent him away full,” he said.
    “More are going to come! They talked about it,” Daphne managed. Mau said nothing but put an arm around her. “Tomorrow I want a trial,” she said.
    “What’s a trial?” said Mau. He waited for a while, but the only reply was a snore. He sat with her, watching the eastern sky darken. Then he carefully settled her down on her mat, hoisted the rigid body of Foxlip over his shoulder, and went down to the beach. The Unknown Woman watched him load the body into a canoe and paddle out into the ocean, where Foxlip went over the side with a lump of coral tied to his foot, to be eaten by whatever was hungry enough to eat carrion.
    She saw him return and go back up the mountain, where Milo and Cahle had been watching over the body of Ataba, so that he would not become a ghost.
    In the morning they followed Mau down to the beach, where the Unknown Woman and a few others joined them. The sun was rising now, and Mau was not surprised to see the gray shadow drifting beside him. At one point, Milo walked through it without noticing.
    Two more deaths, Hermit Crab , said Locaha.
    “Do they make you happy?” growled Mau. “Then send this priest to the Perfect World.”
    How can you ask that, little hermit crab who does not believe?
    “Because he did. And he cared, which is more than his gods did.”
    No bargains, Mau, even for another.
    “At least I’m trying!” Mau yelled. Everyone stared at him.
    The shadow faded.
    On the edge of the reef, above the dark current, Mau tied broken coral to the old man and watched him sink beyond the reach of sharks.
    “He was a good man!” he shouted to the sky. “He deserved better gods!”
     
    Down in the steams of the low forest, someone shivered.
    It had not been a good night for Arthur Septimus Polegrave, who would have been known to his friends, if he’d had any friends, as “Septic.” He knew he was dying, he just knew it. He must be. There couldn’t be a single thing in this jungle that hadn’t tried to bite, peck, or sting him during the last dark soupy hour. There were spiders—giant, horrible things, waiting at nose height in every path—there were the insects, every one armed, by the feel of it, with red-hot needles. Things had bitten his ears and climbed up his trousers. Things had trodden on him. In the middle of the night something horrible had flopped down from the trees and onto his head, which it had tried to unscrew. As soon as he could see clearly, he would take his chances and make a run for the boat and a getaway. All in all, he thought as he pulled something with far too many legs out of his ear, things were about as bad as they could get.
    There was a rustling in the tree above him, and he looked up just as a well-fed