Page:Off For Hawaii.djvu/101

Rh Oliver. "He and old Delverez would make a good team, wouldn't they?"

"They would make a mighty bad team," I replied, with a shudder. "Now that I know he is alive I don't want to see him again."

"Right you are," concluded Dan. "Come in to supper. I am as hungry as two bears and could swallow a sole-leather steak."

"How about a dish of poi?" laughed Oliver, referring to the great national staple of Hawaii. Poi is made of the taro root, baked and mashed into a paste, after which it is allowed to ferment for two days. We had tried the dish on first landing and had found it not at all to our liking, Oliver declaring that he would rather eat decayed cabbage leaves.

"No, I draw the line at poi," answered Dan, with a decided shake of his curly head. "Anything else goes, but no poi in mine, please."

Upon inquiry we learned that Rulukoa was situated in the center of the Iao valley, at a place where there was a beautiful waterfall called by the same name. We were told that we could easily find the village without a guide, and set off on horseback the second day after landing.

The scenery was certainly grand, and more than once we stopped to take in the vast mountains and the valley with its endless profusion of flowers and tropical plants.