_Vailima_, _July_ 12, 1893.
MY DEAR DR. CONAN DOYLE,—The _White Company_ has not yet turned up; but
when it does—which I suppose will be next mail—you shall hear news of me.
I have a great talent for compliment, accompanied by a hateful, even a
diabolic frankness.
Delighted to hear I have a chance of seeing you and Mrs. Doyle; Mrs.
Stevenson bids me say (what is too true) that our rations are often
spare. Are you Great Eaters? Please reply.
As to ways and means, here is what you will have to do. Leave San
Francisco by the down mail, get off at Samoa, and twelve days or a
fortnight later, you can continue your journey to Auckland per Upolu,
which will give you a look at Tonga and possibly Fiji by the way. Make
this a _first part of your plans_. A fortnight, even of Vailima diet,
could kill nobody.
We are in the midst of war here; rather a nasty business, with the
head-taking; and there seem signs of other trouble. But I believe you
need make no change in your design to visit us. All should be well over;
and if it were not, why! you need not leave the steamer.—Yours very
truly,