But to find the whole machine thus glow with the reverberation of religious zeal, surprised him beyond words; and he laboured in vain, as he walked, to piece together into any kind of whole his odds and ends of knowledge--to adjust again into any kind of focus with itself, his picture of the man beside him.
'What brought you here to the South Seas ?' he asked presently.
'Many things,' said Attwater.

'Youth, curiosity, romance, the love of the sea, and (it will surprise you to hear) an interest in missions.
That has a good deal declined, which will surprise you less.

They go the wrong way to work; they are too parsonish, too much of the old wife, and even the old apple wife.

CLOTHES, CLOTHES, are their idea; but clothes are not Christianity, any more than they are the sun in heaven, or could take the place of it! They think a parsonage with roses, and church bells, and nice old women bobbing in the lanes, are part and parcel of religion.

But religion is a savage thing, like the universe it illuminates; savage, cold, and bare, but infinitely strong.' 'And you found this island by an accident ?' said Herrick.
'As you did!' said Attwater.