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diff --git a/12798-0.txt b/12798-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..beab5b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/12798-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6470 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12798 *** + + * * * * * + ***NOTE TO READERS*** + +This file is encoded using the ASCII character set. + +The text in this file contains a number of characters not contained in +the standard ASCII character set. To enable the display of these +characters the following alternatives have been placed in the text: + + A macron is indicated by the character | immediately after the + accented letter. For example a| is used to indicate the letter a + with a macron diacritical. + + A breve is indicated by the character ~ immediately after the + accented letter. For example a~ is used to indicate the letter a + with a breve diacritical. + +The characters | and ~ only appear in the text to indicate the +diacritical accents. + + * * * * * + +_By_ ROCK & POOL +On An Austral Shore + +_By_ LOUIS BECKE + +AUTHOR OF "PACIFIC TALES," +"BY REEF AND PALM," ETC., ETC. + +New Amsterdam Book Company +156 FIFTH AVENUE: NEW YORK CITY: MCMI + + + + +CONTENTS + +BY ROCK AND POOL + +SOLEPA + +THE FISHER FOLK OF NUKUFETAU + +MRS. MACLAGGAN'S BILLY + +AN ISLAND MEMORY + +A HUNDRED FATHOMS DEEP + +ON A TIDAL RIVER + +DENISON GETS ANOTHER SHIP + +JACK SHARK'S PILOT + +THE "PALU" OF THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC + +THE WILY "GOANNER" + +THE TA~NIFA OF SAMOA + +ON BOARD THE _TUCOPIA_ + +THE MAN IN THE BUFFALO HIDE + + * * * * * + +A CRUISE IN THE SOUTH SEAS--HINTS TO INTENDING TRAVELLERS + + + + +_By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore_ + + +The quaint, old-fashioned little town faces eastward to the blue +Pacific, whose billows, when the wind blows from any point between north +and east, come tumbling in across the shallow bar in ceaseless lines of +foaming white, to meet, when the tide is on the ebb, the swift current +of a tidal river as broad as the Thames at Westminster Bridge. On the +south side of the bar, from the sleepy town itself to the pilot station +on the Signal Hill, there rises a series of smooth grassy bluffs, whose +seaward bases touch the fringe of many small beaches, or start sheer +upward from the water when the tide is high, and the noisy swish and +swirl of the eager river current has ceased. + +As you stand on the Signal Hill, and look along the coast, you see a +long, long monotonous line of beach, trending northward ten miles from +end to end, forming a great curve from the sandspit on the north side of +the treacherous bar to the blue loom of a headland in shape like the +figure of a couchant lion. Back from the shore-line, a narrow littoral +of dense scrub, impervious to the rays of the sun, and unbroken in its +solitude except by the cries of birds, or the heavy footfall of wild +cattle upon the thick carpet of fallen leaves; and then, far to the +west, the dimmed, shadowy outline of the main coastal range. + + * * * * * + +It is a keen, frosty morning in June--the midwinter of Australia--and as +the red sun bursts through the sea-rim, a gentle land breeze creeps +softly down from the mountain forest of gums and iron-barks, and blows +away the mists that, all through a night of cloudless calm, have laid +heavily upon the surface of the sleeping ocean. One by one the doors of +the five little white-painted, weather-boarded houses which form the +quarters of the pilot-boat's crew open, and five brown, hairy-faced men, +each smoking a pipe, issue forth, and, hands in pockets, scan the +surface of the sea from north to south, for perchance a schooner, trying +to make the port, may have been carried along by the current from the +southward, and is within signalling distance to tell her whether the bar +is passable or not. For the bar of the Port is as changeable in its +moods as the heart of a giddy maid to her lovers--to-day it may invite +you to come in and take possession of its placid waters in the harbour +beyond; to-morrow it may roar and snarl with boiling surf and savage, +eddying currents, and whirlpools slapping fiercely against the grim, +black rocks of the southern shore. + +Look at the five men as they stand or saunter about on the smooth, +frosty grass. They are sailormen--one and all--as you can see by their +walk and hear by their talk; rough, ready, and sturdy, though not so +sturdy nor so square-built as your solid men of brave old Deal; but a +long way better in appearance and character than the sponging, +tip-seeking, loafing fraternity of slouching, lazy robbers who on the +parades of Brighton, Hastings, and Eastbourne, and other fashionable +seaside resorts in this country, lean against lamp-posts with "Licensed +Boatman" writ on their hat-bands, and call themselves fishermen, though +they seldom handle a herring or cod that does not come from a +fishmonger's shop. These Australians of British blood are leaner in +face, leaner in limb than the Kentish men, and drink whiskey instead of +coffee or tea at early morn. But see them at work in the face of danger +and death on that bar, when the surf is leaping high and a schooner lies +broadside on and helpless to the sweeping rollers, and you will say that +a more undaunted crew never gripped an oar to rescue a fellow-sailorman +from the hungry sea. + +One of them, a grey-haired, deeply-bronzed man of sixty, with his neck +and hands tatooed in strange markings, imprinted thereon by the hands of +the wild natives of Tucopia, in the South Seas, with whom he has lived +forty years before as one of themselves, is mine own particular friend +and crony, for his two sons have been playmates with my brothers and +myself, who were all born in this quaint old-time seaport of the first +colony in Australia; this forgotten remnant of the dread days of the +awful convict system, when the clank of horrible gyves sounded on the +now deserted and grass-grown streets, and the swish of the hateful and +ever active "cat" was heard within the walls of the huge red-brick +prison on the bluff facing the sea. Oh, the old, old memories of those +hideous times! How little they wounded or troubled our boyish minds, as +we, bent on some fishing or hunting venture along the coast, walked +along a road which had been first soddened by tears and then dried by +the panting, anguished breathings of beings fashioned in the image of +their Creator, as they toiled and died under the brutal hands of their +savage task-masters--the civilian officials of that cruel "System" +which, by the irony of fate, the far-seeing, gentle, and tender-hearted +Arthur Phillip, the founder of Australia, was first appointed to +administer. + +But away with such memories for the moment. Over the lee side with them +into the Sea of the Past, together with the clank of the fetters and the +hum of the cat and the merciless laws of the time; sink them all +together with the names of the military rum-selling traducers of the +good Phillip, and of ill-tempered, passionate sailor Bligh of the +_Bounty_--honest, brave, irascible, vindictive; destroyer of his ship's +company on that fateful adventure to Tahiti, hero of the most famous +boat-voyage the world has ever known; sea-bully and petty "hazer" of +hapless Fletcher Christian and his comrades, gallant officer in battle +and thanked by Nelson at Copenhagen; conscientious governor of a +starveling colony gasping under the hands of unscrupulous military +money-makers, William Bligh deserves to be remembered by all men of +English blood who are proud of the annals of the most glorious navy in +the world. + + * * * * * + +But ere we descend to the beach to wander by rock and pool in this +glowing Australian sun, the warm, loving rays of which are fast drying +the frost-coated grass, let us look at these square, old-time monuments +to the dead, placed on the Barrack Hill, and overlooking the sea. There +are four in all, but around them are many low, sunken headstones of +lichen-covered slabs, the inscriptions on which, like many of those on +the stones in the cemetery by the reedy creek, have long since vanished. + +There, indeed, if you care to brave the snake-haunted place you will +discover a word, or the part of a word--"Talav----," "Torre----Vedras," +"Vimiera," or "Badaj----," or "Fuentes de On----," and you know that +underneath lies the dust of men who served their country well when the +Iron Duke was rescuing Europe from the grip of the bloodstained +Corsican. On one, which for seventy years has faced the rising sun and +the salty breath of the ocean breeze, there remains but the one glorious +word, "Aboukir!" every indented letter thickly filled with grey moss and +lichen, though the name of he who fought there has disappeared, and +being but that of some humble seaman, is unrecorded and unknown in the +annals of his country. How strange it seems! but yet how fitting that +this one word alone should be preserved by loving Nature from the +decaying touch of Time. Perhaps the very hand of the convict mason who +held the chisel to the stone struck deeper as he carved the letters of +the name of the glorious victory. + +But let us away from here; for in the hot summer months amid these +neglected and decaying memorials of the dead, creeping and crawling in +and out of the crumbling masonry of the tombs, gliding among the long, +reedy grass, or lying basking in the sun upon the fallen headstones, are +deadly black and brown snakes. They have made this old, time-forgotten +cemetery their own favourite haunting place; for the waters of the creek +are near, and on its margin they find their prey. Once, so the shaky old +wharfinger will tell you, a naval lieutenant, who had been badly wounded +in the first Maori war, died in the commandant's house. He was buried +here on the bank of the creek, and one day his young wife who had come +from England to nurse him and found him dead, sat down on his grave and +went to sleep. When she awoke, a great black snake was lying on her +knees. She died that day from the shock. + +The largest of these four monuments on the bluff stands nearest to the +sea, and the inscription on the heavy flat slab of sandstone which +covers it is fairly legible:-- + + Sacred to the Memory of + JAMES VAUGHAN, + Who was a Private in Captain + Fraser Allan's Company + of the 40th Regiment, +Who died on the 24th November, 1823, + of a Gunshot Wound Received + on the 20th Day of the Month, + when in Pursuit of a + Runaway Convict. + Aged 25 years. + +The others record the names of the "infant son and daughters of Mr. G. +Smith, Commissariat Storekeeper," and of "Edward Marvin, who died 4th +July, 1821, aged 21 years." + +Many other sunken headstones denote the last resting-places of soldiers +and sailors, and civilian officials, who died between 1821 and 1830, +when the little port was a thriving place, and when, as the old gossips +will tell you, it made a "rare show, when the Governor came here, and +Major Innes--him as brought that cussed lantana plant from the +Peninsula--sent ninety mounted men to escort him to Lake Innes." + + * * * * * + +The tide is low, and the flat _congewoi_-covered ledges of reef on the +southern side of the bar lie bare and exposed to the sun. Here and there +in the crystal pools among the rocks, fish have been left by the tide, +and as you step over the _congewoi_, whose teats spurt out jets of +water to the pressure of your foot, large silvery bream and gaily-hued +parrot-fish rush off and hide themselves from view. But tear off a piece +of _congewoi,_ open it, and throw the sanguinary-coloured delicacy into +the water, and presently you will see the parrot-fish dart out eagerly, +and begin to tear it asunder with their long, irregular, and needle-like +teeth, whilst the more cautious and lordly bream, with wary eye and +gentle, undulating tail, watch from underneath a ledge for a favourable +moment to dash out and secure a morsel. + +In some of the wider and shallower ponds are countless thousands of +small mullet, each about three or four inches in length, and swimming +closely together in separated but compact battalions. Some, as the sound +of a human footstep warns them of danger, rush for safety among the +submerged clefts and crevices of their temporary retreat, only to be +mercilessly and fatally enveloped by the snaky, viscous tentacles of the +ever-lurking octopus, for every hole and pool among the rocks contains +one or more of these hideously repulsive creatures. + +Sometimes you will see one crawling over the _congewoi_, changing from +one pool to another in search of prey; its greeny-grey eyes regard you +with defiant malevolence. Strike it heavily with a stick, or thrust it +through with a spear, and in an instant its colour, which a moment +before was either a dark mottled brown or a mingled reddish-black, +changes to a ghastly, horrible, marbled grey; the horrid tentacles +writhe and cling to the weapon, or spread out and adhere to the +surrounding points of rock, a black, inky fluid is ejected from the +soft, pulpy, and slimy body; and then, after raining blow after blow +upon it, it lies unable to crawl away, but still twisting and turning, +and showing its red and white suckers--a thing of horror indeed, the +embodiment of all that is hateful, wicked, and malignant in nature. + +Some idea of the numbers of these crafty and savage denizens of the +limpid pools may be obtained by dropping a baited fishing line in one of +the deeper spots. First you will see one, and then another, thin end of +a tentacle come waveringly out from underneath a ledge of rock, and +point towards the bait, then the rest of the ugly creature follows, and +gathering itself together, darts upon the hook, for the possession of +which half a dozen more of its fellows are already advancing, either +swimming or by drawing themselves over the sandy bottom of the pool. +Deep buried in the sand itself is another, a brute which may weigh ten +or fifteen pounds, and which would take all the strength of a strong man +to overcome were its loathsome tentacles clasped round his limbs in +their horrid embrace. Only part of the head and the half-closed, +tigerish eyes are visible, and even these portions are coated over with +fine sand so as to render them almost undistinguishable from the bed in +which it lies awaiting for some careless crab or fish to come within +striking distance. How us boys delighted to destroy these big fellows +when we came across one thus hidden in the sand or _débris_ on the +bottom! A quick thrust of the spear through the tough, elongated head, +a vision of whirling, outspread, red and black snaky tentacles, and then +the thing is dragged out by main strength and dashed down upon the +rocks, to be struck with waddies or stones until the spear can be +withdrawn. Everything, it is said, has its use in this world, and the +octopus is eminently useful to the Australian line fisherman, for the +bream, trevally, flathead, jew-fish, and the noble schnapper dearly love +its tough, white flesh, especially after the creature has been held over +a flame for a few minutes, so that the mottled skin may be peeled off. + +But treacherous and murderous Thug of the Sea as he is, the octopus has +one dreaded foe before whom he flees in terror, and compresses his body +into the narrowest and most inaccessible cleft or endeavours to bury +himself in the loose, soft sand--and that foe is the orange-coloured or +sage-green rock eel. Never do you see one of these eels in the open +water; they lie deep under the stones or twine their lithe, slippery +bodies among the waving kelp or seaweed. Always hungry, savage-eyed, and +vicious, they know no fear of any living thing, and seizing an octopus +and biting off tentacle after tentacle with their closely-set, +needle-like teeth and swallowing it whole is a matter of no more moment +to them than the bolting of a tender young mullet or bream. In vain does +the Sea Thug endeavour to enwrap himself round and round the body of one +of these sinuous, scaleless sea-snakes and fasten on to it with his +terrible cupping apparatus of suckers--the eel slips in and out and +"wolfs" and worries his enemy without the slightest harm to itself. +Some of them are large--especially the orange-coloured variety--three or +four feet in length, and often one will raise his snaky head apparently +out of solid rock and regard you steadily for a moment. Then he +disappears. You advance cautiously to the spot and find a hole no larger +than the circumference of an afternoon tea cup, communicating with the +water beneath. Lower a baited hook with a strong wire snooding, and +"Yellowskin" will open wide his jaws and swallow it without your feeling +the slightest movement of the line. But you must be quick and strong of +hand then, or you will never drag him forth, for slippery as he is he +can coil his length around a projecting bit of rock and defy you for +perhaps five or ten minutes; and then when you do succeed in tearing him +away and pull him out with the hook buried deep in his loose, pendulous, +wrinkled and corduroyed throat, he instantly resolves himself into a +quivering Gordian knot, winding the line in and about his coils and +knotting it into such knots that can never be unravelled. + +Here and there you will see lying buried deep in the growing coral, or +covered with black masses of _congewoi_ such things as iron and copper +bolts, or heavy pieces of squared timber, the relics of the many wrecks +that have occurred on the bar--some recent, some in years long gone by. +Out there, lying wedged in between the weed and kelp-covered boulders, +only visible at low water, are two of the guns of the ill-fated +_Wanderer_, a ship, like her owner, famous in the history of the +colony. She was the property of a Mr. Benjamin Boyd, a man of flocks and +herds and wealth, who founded a town and a great whaling station on the +shores of Twofold Bay, where he employed some hundreds of men, bond and +free. He was of an adventurous and restless disposition, and after +making several voyages to the South Seas, was cruelly cut off and +murdered by the cannibal natives of Guadalcanar in the Solomon Islands, +in the "fifties." The captain, after beating off the savages, who, +having killed poor Boyd on shore, made a determined attempt to capture +the ship, set sail for Australia, and in endeavouring to cross in over +the bar went ashore and became a total wreck. Here is a description +written by Judge McFarland of the _Wanderer_ as she was in those days +when Boyd dreamed a dream of founding a Republic in the South Sea +Islands with his wild crew of Polynesians and a few white fellow +adventurers:-- + +"She was of 240 tons burthen; very fleet, and had a flush deck; and her +cabins were fitted up with every possible attention to convenience, and +with great elegance; and had she been intended as a war craft, she could +scarcely have been more powerfully armed, for she carried four brass +deck-guns--two six-pounders and two four-pounders--mounted on carriages +resembling dolphins, four two-pounder rail guns--two on each side--and +one brass twelve-pounder traversing gun (which had seen service at +Waterloo)--in all thirteen serviceable guns. Besides these, there were +two small, highly-ornamented guns used for firing signals, which were +said to have been obtained from the wreck of the _Royal George_ at +Spithead. There were also provided ample stores of round shot and grape +for the guns, and a due proportion of small arms, boarding pikes, +tomahawks, &c." + +Half a mile further on, and we are under the Signal Hill, and standing +on one side of a wide, flat rock, through which a boat passage has been +cut by convict hands, when first the white tents of the soldiers were +seen on the Barrack Hill. And here, at this same spot, more than a +hundred years ago, and thirty before the sound of the axe was first +heard amid the forest or tallow-woods and red gum, there once landed a +strange party of sea-worn, haggard-faced beings--six men, one woman, and +two infant children. They were the unfortunate Bryant party--whose +wonderful and daring voyage from Sydney to Timor in a wretched, +ill-equipped boat, ranks second only to that of Bligh himself. For Will +Bryant, an ex-smuggler who was leader, had heard of Bligh's voyage in +the boat belonging to the _Bounty_; and fired with the desire to escape +with his wife and children from the famine-stricken community on the +shores of Port Jackson, he and his companions in servitude stole a small +fishing-boat and boldly put to sea to face a journey of more that three +thousand miles over an unknown and dangerous ocean. A few weeks after +leaving Sydney they had sighted this little nook when seeking refuge +from a fierce north-easterly gale, and here they remained for many days, +so that the woman and children might gain strength and the seams of the +leaking boat be payed with tallow--their only substitute for oakum. +Then onward they sailed or rowed, for long, long weary weeks, landing +here and there on the coast to seek for water and shell-fish, harried +and chased by cannibal savages, suffering all the agonies that could be +suffered on such a wild venture, until they reached Timor, only by a +strange and unhappy fate to fall into the hands of the brutal and +infamous Edwards of the _Pandora_ frigate, who with his wrecked ship's +company, and the surviving and manacled mutineers of the _Bounty_, who +had surrendered to him, soon afterwards appeared at the Dutch port. +Bryant, the daring leader, was so fortunate as to die of fever, and so +escaped the fate in store for his comrades. 'Tis a strange story indeed. + + * * * * * + +At the end of the point of brown, rugged rocks which form a natural +breakwater to this tiny boat harbour, the water is deep, showing a pale +transparent green at their base, and deep inpenetrable blue ten fathoms +beyond. To-day, because it is mid-winter, and the wind blows from the +west, the sea is clearer than ever, and far down below will be discerned +lazily swimming to and fro great reddish-brown or bright blue groper, +watching the dripping sides of the rock in hope that some of the active, +gaily-hued crabs which scurry downwards as you approach may fall in--for +the blue groper is a _gourmet_, disdaining to eat of his own tribe, and +caring only for crabs or the larger and more luscious crayfish. Stand +here when the tide is high and the surf is sweeping in creamy sheets +over the lower ledges of rocks; and as the water pours off torrent-like +from the surface and leaves them bare, you may oft behold a huge +fish--aye, or two or three--lying kicking on its side with a young +crayfish in its thick, fleshy jaws, calmly waiting for the next sea to +set him afloat again. Brave fellows are these gropers--forty, fifty, up +to seventy pounds sometimes, and dangerous fish to hook in such a place +as this, where a false step may send a man headlong into the surf below +with his line tangled round his feet or arms. But on such a morning as +this one might fall overboard and come to no harm, for the sea is +smooth, and the kelp sways but gently to the soft rise and fall of the +water, and seldom in these cold days of June does Jack Shark cruise in +under the lee of the rocks. It is in November, hot, sweltering November, +when the clinking sand of the shining beach is burning to the booted +foot, and the countless myriads of terrified sea salmon come swarming in +over the bar on their way to spawn in the river beyond, that he and his +fellows and the bony-snouted saw-fish rush to and fro in the shallow +waters, driving their prey before them, and gorging as they drive, till +the clear waters of the bar are turned into a bloodied froth. At such a +time as this it might be bad to fall overboard, though some of the local +youths give but little more heed to the tigers of the sea than they do +to the accompanying drove of harmless porpoises, which join in the +onslaught on the hapless salmon. + +A mile eastward from the shore there rises stark and clear a great +dome-shaped rock, the haunt and resting-place of thousands of +snow-white gulls and brown-plumaged boobies. The breeding-place of the +former is within rifle-shot--over there on that long stretch of +banked-up sand on the north side of the bar, where, amid the shelter of +the coarse, tufted grass the delicate, graceful creatures will sit three +months hence on their fragile white and purple-splashed eggs. The +boobies are but visitors, for their breeding-places are on the bleak, +savage islands far to the south, amid the snows and storms of black +Antarctic seas. But here they dwell together, in unison with the gulls, +and were the wind not westerly you could hear their shrill cries and +hoarse croaking as they wheel and eddy and circle above the lonely rock, +on the highest pinnacle of which a great fish-eagle, with neck thrown +back upon his shoulders and eyes fixed eastward to the sun, stands +oblivious of their clamour, as creatures beneath his notice. + +Once round the southern side of the Signal Hill the noise of the bar is +lost. Between the hill and the next point--a wild, stern-looking +precipice of black-trap rock--there lies a half a mile or more of +shingly strand, just such as you would see at Pevensey Bay or Deal, but +backed up at high-water mark with piles of drift timber--great dead +trees that have floated from the far northern rivers, their mighty +branches and netted roots bleached white by the sun and wind of many +years, and smelling sweet of the salty sea air. Mingled with the lighter +bits of driftwood and heaps of seaweed are the shells of hundreds of +crayfish--some of the largest are newly cast up by the sea, and the +carapace is yellow and blue; others are burnt red by exposure to the +sun; while almost at every step you crush into the thin backs and +armoured tails of young ones about a foot in length, the flesh of which, +by some mysterious process of nature, has vanished, leaving the skin, +muscles, and beautiful fan-like tail just as fresh as if the crustaceans +were alive. Just here, out among those kelp-covered rocks, you may, on a +moonlight night, catch as many crayfish as you wish--three of them will +be as much as any one would care to carry a mile, for a large, +full-grown "lobster," as they are called locally, will weigh a good ten +pounds. + +Once round the precipice we come to a new phase of coastal scenery. From +the high land above us green scrub-covered spur after spur shoots +downward to the shore, enclosing numerous little beaches of coarse sand +and many coloured spiral shells--"Reddies" we boys called them--with +here and there a rare and beautiful cowrie of banded jet black and +pearly white. The sea-wall of rock has here but few pools, being split +up into long, deep, and narrow chasms, into which the gentle ocean swell +comes with strange gurglings and hissings, and groan-like sounds, and +tiny jets of spray spout up from hundreds of air-holes through the +hollow crust of rock. Here for the first time since the town was left, +are heard the cries of land birds; for in the wild apple and rugged +honeysuckle trees which grow on the rich, red soil of the spurs they are +there in plenty--crocketts, king parrots, leatherheads, "butcher" and +"bell" birds, and the beautiful bronze-wing pigeon--while deep within +the silent gullies you constantly hear the little black scrub wallabies +leaping through the undergrowth and fallen leaves, to hide in still +darker forest recesses above. + +There are snakes here, too. Everywhere their sinuous tracks are visible +on the sand, criss-crossing with the more defined scratchy markings of +those of iguanas. The latter we know come down to carry off any dead +fish cast ashore by the waves, or to seize any live ones which may be +imprisoned in a shallow pool; but what brings the deadly brown and black +snakes down to the edge of _salt_ water at night time? + +Point after point, tiny bay after bay, and then we come to a wider +expanse of clear, stoneless beach, at the farther end of which a huge +boulder of jagged, yellow rock, covered on the summit with a thick +mantle of a pale green, fleshly-leaved creeper, bearing a pink flower. +It stands in a deep pool about a hundred yards in circumference, and as +like as not we shall find the surface of the water covered by thousands +of green-backed, red-billed garfish and silvery mullet, whose very +numbers prevent them from escaping. Scores of them leap out upon the +sand, and lie there with panting gill and flapping tail. It is a great +place for us boys, for here at low tides in the winter we strip off, and +with naked hands catch the mullet and gars and silvery-sided trumpeters, +and throw them out on the beach, to be grilled later on over a fire of +glowing honeysuckle cobs, and eaten without salt. What boy does care +about such a thing as salt at such times, when his eye is bright and his +skin glows with the flush of health, and the soft murmuring of the sea +is mingling in his ears with the thrilling call of the birds, and the +rustling hum of the bush; and the yellow sun shines down from a glorious +sky of cloudless blue, and dries the sand upon his naked feet; and the +very joy of being alive, and away from school, is happiness enough in +itself! + +For here, by rock and pool on this lonely Austral beach, it is good and +sweet for man or boy to be, and, if but in utter idleness, to watch and +listen--and think. + + + + +_Solepa_ + + +The last strokes of the bell for evening service had scarce died away +when I heard a footstep on the pebbly path, and old Pâkía, staff in hand +and pipe dangling from his pendulous ear-lobe, walked quietly up the +steps and sat down cross-legged on the verandah. All my own people had +gone to church and the house was very quiet. + +"Good evening, Pâkía," I said in English, "how are you, old man?" + +A smile lit up the brown, old, wrinkled face as he heard my voice--for I +was lying down in the sitting-room, smoking my after-supper pipe--as he +answered in the island dialect that he was well, but that his house was +in darkness and he, being lonely, had come over to sit with me awhile. + +"That is well, Pâkía, for I too am lonely, and who so good as thee to +talk with when the mind is heavy and the days are long, and no sail +cometh up from the sea-rim? Come, sit here within the doorway, for the +night wind is chill; and fill thy pipe." + +He came inside as I rose and turned up the lamp so that its light shone +full on his bald, bronzed head and deeply tatooed arms and shoulders. +Laying down his polished staff of _temana_ wood, he came over to me, +placed his hand on my arm, patted it gently, and then his kindly old +eyes sought mine. + +"Be not dull of heart, _taka taina_.[1] A ship will soon come--it may be +to-morrow; it must be soon; for twice have I heard the cocks crow at +midnight since I was last here, three days ago. And when the cocks crow +at night-time a ship is near." + +"May it be so, Pâkía, for I am weary of waiting. Ten months have come +and gone since I first put foot on this land of Nukufetau, and a ship +was to have come here in four." + +He filled his pipe, then drawing a small mat near my lounge, he squatted +on the floor, and we smoked in silence, listening to the gentle lapping +of the lagoon waters upon the inner beach and the beating, never-ceasing +hum of the surf on the reef beyond. Overhead the branches of the palms +swayed and rustled to the night-breeze. + +Presently, as I turned to look seaward, I caught the old man's dark eyes +fixed upon my face, and in them I read a sympathy that at that time and +place was grateful to me. + +"Six months is long for one who waits, Pâkía," I said. "I came here but +to stay four months and trade for copra; then the ship was to call and +take me to Ponapé, in the far north-west. And Ponapé is a great land to +such a man as me." + +"_Etonu! Etonu!_ I know it. Thrice have I been there when I sailed in +the whaleships. A great land truly, like the island called Juan +Fernandez, of which I have told thee, with high mountains green to the +summits with trees, and deep, dark valleys wherein the sound of the sea +is never heard but when the surf beats hard upon the reef. Ah! a fine +land--better than this poor _motu_, which is as but a ring of sand set +in the midst of the deep sea. Would that I were young to go there with +thee! Tell me, dost know the two small, high islands in the _ava_[2] +which is called Jakoits? Hast seen the graves of two white men there?" + +"I know the islands well; but I have never seen the graves of any white +men there. Who were they, and when did they die?" + +"Ah, I am a foolish old man. I forget how old I am. Perhaps, when thou +wert a child in thy mother's arms, the graves stood up out of the +greensward at the foot of the high cliff which faces to the south. Tell +me, is there not a high wall of rock a little way back from the landing +beach?... Aye!... that is the place ... and the bones of the men are +there, though now great trees may grow over the place. They were both +good men--good to look at, tall and strong; and they fought and died +there just under the cliff. I saw them die, for I was there with the +captain of my ship. We, and others with us, saw it all." + +"Who were they, Pâkía, and how came they to fight?" + +"One was a trader, whose name was Preston; he lived on the mainland of +Ponapé, where he had a great house and oil store and many servants. The +name of the other man was Frank. They fought because of a woman." + +"Tell me the story, Pâkía. Thou hast seen many lands and many strange +things. And when ye come and sit and talk to me the dulness goeth away +from me and I no longer think of the ship; for of all the people on this +_motu_, to thee and Temana my servant alone do I talk freely. And Temana +is now at church." + +The old man chuckled. "Aye, he is at church because Malepa, his wife, is +so jealous of him that she fears to leave him alone. Better would it +please him to be sitting here with us." + +I drew the mat curtain across the sitting-room window so that we could +not be seen by prying eyes, and put two cups, a gourd of water, and some +brandy on the table. Except my own man, Temana, the rest of the natives +were intensely jealous of the poor old ex-sailor and wanderer in many +lands, and they very much resented his frequent visits to me--partly on +account of the occasional glass of grog which I gave him, and partly +because he was suspected of still being a _tagata po-uriuri, i.e._, a +heathen. This, however, he vigorously denied, and though Maréko, the +Samoan teacher, was a kind-hearted and tolerant man for a native +minister, the deacons delighted in persecuting and harassing the ancient +upon every possible opportunity, and upon one pretext or another had +succeeded in robbing him of his land and dividing it among his +relatives; so that now in his extreme old age he was dependent upon one +of his daughters, a woman who herself must have been past sixty. + +I poured some brandy into the cups; we clicked them together and said, +"May you be lucky" to each other. Then he told me of Solepa. + + * * * * * + +"There were many whaleships came to anchor in the three harbours of +Ponapé in those days. They came there for wood and water and fresh +provisions, before they sailed to the cold, icy seas of the south. I was +then a boat-steerer in an English ship--a good and lucky ship with a +good captain. When we came to Ponapé we found there six other +whaleships, all anchored close together under the shelter of the two +islets. All the captains were friends, and the few white men who lived +on shore were friends with them, and every night there was much singing +and dancing on board the ships, for, as was the custom, every one on +board had been given a Ponapé girl for wife as long as his ship stayed +there; and sometimes a ship would be there a long time--a month perhaps. + +"The trader who lived in the big house was one of the first to come on +board our ship; for the captain and he were good friends. They talked +together on the poop deck, and I heard the trader say that he had been +away to Honolulu for nearly a year and had brought back with him a young +wife. + +"'Good,' said my captain, 'to-night I shall come ashore and drink +_manuia!_[3] to ye both.' + +"The trader was pleased, and said that some of the other captains could +come also, and that he had sent a letter to the other trader, Frank, who +lived on the other side of the island, bidding him to come and greet the +new wife. At these words the face of Stacey--that was my captain's name, +became dark, and he said-- + +"'You are foolish. Such a man as he is, is better away from thy +house--and thy wife. He is a _manaia_, an _ulavale_[4]. Take heed of my +words and have no dealings with him.' + +"But the man Preston only laughed. He was a fool in this though he was +so clever in many other things. He was a big man, broad in the shoulders +with the bright eye and the merry laugh of a boy. He had been a sailor, +but had wearied of the life, and so he bought land in Ponapé and became +a trader. He was a fair-dealing man with the people there, and so in +three or four years he became rich, and bought more land and built a +schooner which he sent away to far distant islands to trade for +pearl-shell and _loli_ (beche-de-mer). Then it was that he went to +Honolulu and came back with a wife. + +"That day ere it became dark I went on shore with my captain; some of +the other captains went with us. The white man met them on the beach, +surrounded by many of his servants, male and female. Some were of +Ponapé, some from Tahiti, some from Oahu, and some from the place which +you call Savage Island and we call Niué. As soon as the captains had +stepped out upon the beach and I had bidden the four sailors who were +with me to push off to return to the ship, the trader, seeing the +tatooing on my arms, gave a shout. + +"'Ho,' he cried, turning to my captain, 'whence comes that boat-steerer +of thine? By the markings on his arms and chest he should be from the +isles of the Tokelau.' + +"My captain laughed. 'He comes from near there. He is of Nukufetau.' + +"Then let him stay on shore to-night, for there are here with me a man +and a woman from Nanomaga; they can talk together. And my wife Solepa, +too, will be well pleased to see him, for her mother was a Samoan, and +this man can talk to her in her mother's tongue.' + +"'So I too went up to the house with the white men, but would not enter +with them, for I was stripped to the waist and could not go into the +presence of the lady. Presently the man and woman from Nanomaga sought +me out and embraced me and made much of me and took me into another part +of the house, where I waited till one of my shipmates returned from the +ship bringing my jumper and trousers of white duck and a new Panama hat. +Ta|pa|! I was a fine-looking man in those days, and women looked at +me from the corner of the eye. And now--look at me now! I am like a +blind fish which is swept hither and thither by the current against the +rocks and sandbanks. Give me some more grog, dear friend; when I talk of +the days of my youth my belly yearns for it, and I am not ashamed to +beg. + +"Presently, after I had dressed myself, I was taken by the Nanomea man +into the big room where Solepa, the white man's wife, was sitting with +the white men. She came to me and took my hand, and said to me in Samoan +_'Talofa, Pâkía, e ma|lolo| ea oe?'_[5] and my heart was glad; for +it was long since I heard any one speak in a tongue which is akin to +mine own.... Was she beautiful? you ask. Ta|pa|! All women are +beautiful when they are young, and their eyes are full and clear and +their voices are soft and their bosoms are round and smooth! All I can +remember of her is that she was very young, with a white, fair skin, and +dressed like the _papalagi_[6] women I have seen in Peretania and +Ita|lia and in Chili and in Sydney. + +"As I stood before her, hat in hand and with my eyes looking downward, +which is proper and correct for a modest man to do when a high lady +speaks to him before many people, a white man who had been sitting at +the far end of the room came over to me and said some words of greeting +to me. This was Franka[7]--he whom my captain said was a _manaia_. He +was better clothed than any other of the white men, and was proud and +overbearing in his manner. He had brought with him more than a score of +young Ponapé men, all of whom carried rifles and had cutlasses strapped +to their waists. This was done to show the people of Jakoits that he was +as great a man as Preston, whom he hated, as you will see. But Preston +had naught for him but good words, and when he saw the armed men he bade +them welcome and set aside a house for them to sleep in, and his +servants brought them many baskets of cooked food--taro and yams, and +fish, turtle, and pork. All this I saw whilst I was in the big room. + +"After I had spoken with the lady Solepa I returned to where the man +from Nanomaga and his wife were awaiting me. They pressed me to eat and +drink, and by and by sent for a young girl to make kava. Ta|pa|! +that kava of Ponapé! It is not made there as it is in Samoa--where the +young men and women chew the dried root and mix it in a wooden _tanoa_ +(bowl); there the green root is crushed up in a hollowed stone and but +little water is added, so that it is strong, very strong, and one is +soon made drunk. + +"The girl who made the kava for us was named Sipi. She had eyes like the +stars when they are shining upon a deep mountain pool, and round her +smooth forehead was bound a circlet of yellow pandanus leaf worked with +beads of many colours and fringed with red parrakeet feathers; about her +waist were two fine mats, and her bosom and hands were stained with +turmeric. I sat and watched her beating the kava, and as her right arm +rose and fell her short, black wavy hair danced about her cheeks and hid +the red mouth and white teeth when she smiled at me. And she smiled at +me very often, and the man and woman beside me laughed when they saw me +regard her so intently, and asked me was it in my mind to have her for +my wife. + +"I did not answer at once, for I knew that if I ran away from the ship +for the sake of this girl I would be doing a foolish thing, for I had +money coming to me when the ship was _oti folau_ (paid off). But, as I +pondered, the girl bent forward and again her eyes smiled at me through +her hair; and then it was I saw that on her head there was a narrow +shaven strip from the crown backward. Now, in Tokelau, this fashion is +called _tu tagita_, and showeth that a girl is in her virginity. When I +saw this I was pleased, but to make sure I said to my friends, 'Her hair +is _tu tagita_. Is she a virgin?' + +"The woman of Nanomaga laughed loudly at this and pinched my hand, then +she translated my words to the girl who looked into my face and laughed +too, shaking her head as she put one hand over her eyes-- + +"'Nay, nay, O stranger,' she said, 'I am no virgin; neither am I a +harlot. I am respectable, and my father and mother have land. I do not +go to the ships.' Then she tossed her hair back from her face and began +to beat the kava again. + +"Now, this girl pleased me greatly, for there were no twists in her +tongue; so, when the kava-drinking was finished I made her sit beside +me, and the Nanomaga woman told her I would run away from the ship if +she would be my wife. She put her face to my shoulder, and then took +the circlet from her forehead and bound it round my bared arm, and I +gave her a silver ring which I wore on my little finger. Then, together +with the Nanomaga man and his wife, we made our plans.... Ah! she was a +fine girl. For nearly a year was she wife to me until she sickened and +died of the _meisake elo_[8] which was brought to Ponapé by the +missionary ship from Honolulu. + +"So the girl and I made our plans, and my friends promised to hide me +when the time came for me to run away. We sat long into the night, and I +heard much of the man called Franka and of the jealousy he bore to +Preston. He was jealous of him because of two reasons; one was that he +possessed such a fine house and so much land and a schooner, and the +other was that the people of Jakoits paid him the same respect as they +paid one of their high chiefs. So that was why Franka hated him. His +heart was full of hatred, and sometimes when he was drunk in his own +house at Ro|an Kiti he would boast to the natives that he would one +day show them that he was a better man than Preston. Sometimes his +drunken boastings were brought to the ears of Preston, who only laughed +and took no heed, and always gave him the good word when they met, which +was but seldom, for Jakoits and Kiti are far apart, and there was bad +blood between the people of the two places. And then--so the girl Sipi +afterwards told me--Franka was a lover of grog and a stealer of women, +and kept a noisy house and made much trouble, and so Preston went not +near him, for he was a quiet man and no drinker, and hated dissension. +And, besides this, Franka took part in the wars of the Kiti people, and +went about with a following of armed men, and such money as he made in +trading he spent in muskets and powder and ball; for all this Preston +had no liking, and one day he said to Franka, 'Be warned, this fighting +and slaying is wrong; it is not correct for a white man to enter into +these wars; you are doing wrong, and some day you will be killed.' Now +these were good words, but of what use are good words to an evil heart? + +"So we pair sat talking and smoking, and the girl Sipi made us more +kava, and then again sat by my side and leant her face against my +shoulder, and presently we heard the sounds of music and singing from +the big house. We went outside to see and listen, and saw that Preston +was playing on a _pese laakau_[9] and Solepa and the captain of my ship +were dancing together--like as white people dance--and two of the other +captains were also dancing in the same fashion. All round the room were +seated many of the high chiefs of Ponapé with their wives, dressed very +finely, and at one end of the room stood a long table covered with a +white cloth, on which was laid food of all kinds and wine and grog to +drink--just as you would see in your own country when a rich man gives a +feast. Presently as we looked, we saw Franka walk into the room from a +side door and look about. His face was flushed, and he staggered +slightly in his steps. He went over to the table and poured out some +grog, and then beckoned to Preston to come and drink with him, but +Preston smiled and shook his head. How could he go when he was making +the music? Then Franka struck his clenched fist on the table in anger, +and went over to Preston, just as the dancers had stopped. + +"'Why will ye not drink with me?' he said in a loud voice so that all +heard him. 'Art thou too great a man to drink with me again?' + +"'Nay,' answered the other jestingly and taking no heed of Franka's rude +voice and angry eyes, 'not so great that I cannot drink with all my +friends tonight, be they white or brown,' and so saying he bade every +one in the room come to the great table with him and drink _manuia_ to +him and his young wife. + +"So the nine white men--Preston, and Franka, and the seven whaleship +captains, and Nanakin, the head chief of Ponapé, and many other lesser +chiefs, all gathered together around the table and filled their glasses +and drank _manuia_ to the bride, who sat on a chair in the centre of the +room surrounded by the chiefs' wives, and smiled and bowed when my +captain called her name and raised his glass towards her. Then after +this he again took up the _pese laakau_ and began to play, and my +captain and Solepa danced again. Suddenly Franka pushed his way through +the others and rudely placed his hand on her arm. + +"'Come,' he said, 'leave this fellow and dance with me.' + +"She cried out in terror, and then silence fell upon all as my captain +withdrew his right arm from her waist and struck Franka on the mouth; it +was a strong blow, and Franka staggered backwards and then fell near to +the open door. As he rose to his feet again my captain came up to him +and bade him leave quickly. 'We want no drunken bullies here,' he said, +and at that moment Franka drew a pistol and pointed it at his chest. I +leapt upon him and as we struggled together the pistol went off, but the +bullet hurt no one. + +"Then there was a great commotion, and my captain and Preston ran to my +aid and seized Franka. They dragged him out of the room, and with words +of scorn and contempt threw him out amongst his own people who were +gathered together outside the house, with their muskets in their hands. +But already Nanakin and his chiefs had summoned their fighting men; they +came running towards us from all directions, and surrounding Franka and +his men, drove them away and bade them beware of ever returning to +Jakoits. + +"When they had gone, my captain called me to him, and, turning to the +other white men, said, 'This man hath saved my life. He hath a brave +heart. I shall do much for him in the time to come.' Then he and the +others all shook my hand and praised me, and I was silent and said +nothing, for I was ashamed to think I was about to run away from such a +good captain. + +"In the morning we went back to the ship, and the boats were then sent +away to fill and bring off casks of water. Every time my boat went I +took something with me; tobacco and clothing and other things which I +had in my sea chest. Sipi and some other girls met us at the watering +place, and they took these from me and put them in a place of safety. +That afternoon as the boats were about to leave the shore for the last +time, towing the casks, I slipped into the forest which grew very +densely on both sides of the little river, and ran till I came to the +spot where Sipi was awaiting me. Then together we went inland towards +the mountains and kept on walking till nightfall. That night we slept in +the forest; we were afraid to make a fire lest it should be seen by some +of Nanakin's people and betray us, for I knew that my captain would +cause a great search to be made for me. When dawn came we again set out +and went on steadily till we came to the summit of the range of +mountains which divides the island. There was a clear space on the side +of the mountain; a great village had once stood there, so Sipi told me, +but all those who had dwelt there had long since died, and their ghosts +could be heard flitting to and fro at night time. Far below us we could +see the blue sea, and the long waving line of reef with the surf beating +upon it, and within, anchored in the green water, were the seven ships +and Preston's schooner. + +"All that day and the next the girl and I worked at building a little +house for us to live in until the ships had gone. We had no fear of any +one seeking us out in that place, for it had a bad name and none but +travelling parties from Ro|an Kiti ever passed there. Sipi had brought +with her a basket of cooked food; in the deserted plantations we found +plenty of bananas and yams, and in the stream at the foot of the valley +we caught many small fish. Four days went by, and then one morning we +saw the ships set their sails and go to sea. We watched them till they +touched the sky rim and disappeared; then we went back to Jakoits. + +"The white man and Solepa were sitting under the shade of a tree in +front of their house. I went boldly up to him and asked him to give me +work to do. At first he was angry, for he and my captain were great +friends, and said he would have naught to do with me. Why did I run away +from such a good man and such a good ship? There were too many men like +me, he said, in Ponapé, who had run away so that they might do naught +but wander from village to village and eat and drink and sleep. Then +again he asked why I had run away. + +"'Because of her,' I said, pointing to the girl Sipi, who was sitting at +the gate with her face covered with the corner of her mat. 'But I am no +_tafao vale_.[10] I am a true man. Give me work on thy ship.' + +"He thought a little while, then he and Solepa talked together, and +Solepa bade Sipi come near so that she might talk to her. Presently he +said to me that I had done a foolish thing to run away for the sake of +the girl when I had money coming to me and when the captain's heart was +filled with friendship towards me for turning aside Franka's pistol. + +"I bent my head, for I was ashamed. Then I said, 'I care not for the +money I have lost, but I am eaten up with shame for running away, for my +captain was a good captain to me.' + +"This pleased him, for he smiled and said, 'I will try thee. I will make +thee boatswain of the schooner, and this girl here shall be servant to +my wife.' + +"So Sipi became servant to Solepa, and I was sent on board the schooner +to help prepare her for sea. My new captain gave us a house to live in, +and every night I came on shore. Ah, those were brave times, and Preston +made much of me when he found that I was a true man and did my work +well, and would stand no saucy words nor black looks from those of the +schooner's crew who thought that the boatswain should be a white man. + +"Ten days after the whaleships had sailed, the schooner was ready for +sea. We were to sail to the westward isles to trade for oil and +tortoiseshell, and then go to China, where Preston thought to sell his +cargo. On the eve of the day on which we were to leave, the mate, who +was an old and stupid Siamani,[11] went ashore to my master's house, and +I was left in charge of the schooner. Sipi, my wife, was with me, and we +sat together in the stern of the ship, smoking our _sului_ (cigarettes) +and talking of the time when I should return and buy a piece of land +from her father's people, on which I should build a new house. There +were six native sailors on board, and these, as the night drew on, +spread their mats on the fore deck and went to sleep. Then Sipi and I +went into the cabin, which was on deck, and we too slept. + +"How long we had slumbered I cannot tell, but suddenly we were aroused +by the sound of a great clamour on deck and the groans and cries of +dying men, and then ere we were well awakened the cabin door was opened +and Solepa was thrust inside. Then the door was quickly closed and +fastened on the outside, and I heard Franka's voice calling out orders +to hoist sails and slip the cable. + +"There was a lamp burning dimly in the cabin, and Sipi and I ran to the +aid of Solepa, who lay prone upon the floor as if dead. Her dress was +torn, and her hands and arms were scratched and bleeding, so that Sipi +wept as she leant over her and put water to her lips. In a little while +she opened her eyes, and when she saw us a great sob broke from her +bosom and she caught my hand in hers and tried to speak. + +"Now, grog is a good thing. It is good for a weak, panting woman when +her strength is gone and her soul is terrified, and it is good for an +old man who is despised by his relations because he is bitten with +poverty. There was grog in a wicker jar in the cabin. I gave her some in +a glass, and then as the dog Franka, whose soul and body are now in +hell, was getting the schooner under way, she told me that while she and +Preston were asleep the house was surrounded by a hundred or more of +men from Ro|an Kiti, led by Franka. They burst in suddenly, and Franka +and some others rushed into their sleeping-room and she was torn away +from her husband and carried down to the beach. + +"'Is thy husband dead?' I asked. + +"'I cannot tell,' she said in a weak voice. 'I heard some shots fired +and saw him struggling with Franka's men. That is all I know. If he is +dead then shall I die too. Give me a knife, so that I may die.' + +"As she spoke the schooner began to move, and again we heard Franka's +voice calling out in English to some one to go forward and con the ship +whilst he steered, for the night was dark and he, clever stealer of +women as he was, did not know the passage out through the reef, and +trusted to those with him who knew but little more. Then something came +into my mind, and I took Solepa's hand in mine. + +"'I will save thee from this pig Franka,' I said quickly, 'he shall +never take thee away. Sit ye here with Sipi, and when ye hear the +schooner strike, spring ye both into the sea and swim towards the two +islands which are near.' + +"In the centre of the deck cabin was a hatch which led into the hold. +There was no deck between, for the vessel was but small. I took my knife +from the sheath and then lifted the hatch, descended, and crawled +forward in the darkness to the fore hatch, up which I crept very +carefully, for I had much in my mind. I saw a man standing up, holding +on to the fore stay. He was calling out to Franka every now and then, +telling him how to steer. I sprang up behind him, and as I drove my +knife into his back with my left hand, I struck him with my right on his +neck and he fell overboard. He was a white man, I think for when my +knife went into his back he called out 'Oh Christ!' But then many native +men who have mixed with white people call out 'Oh, Christ,' just like +white men when they are drunk. Anyway, it does not matter now. + +"But as I struck my knife into him, I called out in English to put the +helm hard down, for I saw that the schooner was very near the reef on +the starboard hand. Franka, who was at the wheel, at once obeyed and was +fooled, for the schooner, which was now leaping and singing to the +strong night wind from the mountains smote suddenly upon the coral reef +with a noise like the felling of a great forest tree, and began to grind +and tear her timbers. + +"Almost as she struck Solepa and Sipi stood by me, and together we +sprang overboard into the white surf ... Give me some more grog, dear +friend of my heart. I am no boaster, nor am I a liar; but when I think +of that swim to the shore through the rolling seas with those two women, +my belly cleaves to my backbone and I become faint.... For the current +was against us, and neither Sipi nor Solepa were good swimmers, and many +times had we to clutch hold of the jagged coral, which tore our skins so +that our blood ran out freely, and had the sharks come to us then I +would not be here with thee to-night drinking this, thy good sweet grog +which thou givest me out of thy kind heart. Ta|pa|! When I look +into thy face and see thy kind eyes, I am young again. I love thee, not +alone because thou hast been kind to me in my poverty and paid the fines +of my granddaughter when she hath committed adultery with the young men +of the village, but because thou hast seen many lands and have upheld me +before the teacher, who is a circumcised but yet untatooed dog of a +Samoan. A man who is not tatooed is no better than a woman. He is a male +harlot and should be despised. He is only fit to associate with women, +and has no right to beget children.... + +"We three swam to the shore, and when the dawn came we saw that the +schooner stood high and dry on the reef and that Franka and his men were +trying to float her by throwing overboard the iron ballast and putting a +kedge anchor out upon the lee side of the reef. And at the same time we +saw three boats put off from the mainland. These boats were all painted +white, and when I saw them I said to Solepa, 'Be of good heart. Thy +husband is not dead, for here are three of his boats coming. He is not +dead. He is coming to seek thee.'" + +"The three boats came quickly towards the schooner, but ere they reached +her Franka and those with him got into the boats in which they had +boarded the vessel, and then we saw smoke arise from the bow and +stern.... They had set fire to the ship. They were cowards. Fire is a +great help to cowards, because in the glare and dazzling light of +burning houses or ships, when the thunder of cannons and the rattle of +rifles is heard, they can run about and kill people.... I have seen +these things done in Chili.... I have seen men who would not stand and +fight on board ship run away on shore and slay women and children in +their fury and cowardice. No, they were not Englishmen; they were +Spaniolas. But the officers were Englishmen and Germans. _They_ did not +run away, they were killed. Brave men get killed and cowards live. I am +no coward though I am still alive. It is quite proper that I should +live, for I never ran away when there was fighting to be done. I have +only been a fool because of my love for women. No one could say I was a +coward, and no one can say I am a fool, because I am too old now to be a +fool. + +"As Franka and those with him left the burning schooner and rowed +towards the islands, the three boats from the shore changed their course +and followed him. Franka and his men were the first to reach the land, +and they quickly ran up the beach and crouched behind the bushes which +grew at high-water mark. They all had guns, and Sipi and Solepa and I +saw them waiting to shoot. We were hiding amid the roots of a great +banyan tree, and could see well. As the boats drew near Solepa watched +them eagerly, and then began to weep and laugh at the same time when she +saw her husband Preston was steering the one which led. She was a good +woman. She loved her husband. I was pleased with her, and told her to be +of good cheer, for I was sure that Preston and his people would kill +Franka and those with him, for as they rowed they made no noise. No one +shouted nor challenged; they came on and on, and the white man Preston +stood up with the steer oar in his hand, and his face was as a stone in +which was set eyes of fire. When his boat was within twenty fathoms of +the beach the rowers ceased, and he held up his hand to those who +awaited his coming. + +"'Listen to me, men of Ro|an Kiti. We are as three to one of ye, and +ye are caught in a trap. Death is in my mouth if I speak the word. Tell +me, is my wife Solepa alive?' + +"No one answered, but suddenly Franka stepped out from behind the bushes +and pointed his rifle at him, and was about to pull the trigger when a +young man of his party who was of good heart seized him by the arm, and +cried out 'twas a coward's act; then two or three followed him, and +together they bore Franka down upon the sand; and one of them cried out +to Preston-- + +"'This is a wrong business. We were led astray by this man. We are no +cowards, and have no ill-will to thee. Thy wife is alive. She swam +ashore with two others when the ship struck. Are we dead men?' + +"Then, ere Preston could answer, Solepa leapt out from beneath the +banyan tree and ran through the men of Ro|an Kiti towards the beach, +and cried-- + +"'Oh, my husband, for the love of God let no blood be shed! I am well +and unharmed. Spare these people and spare even this man Franka, for he +is mad!' + +"Then Preston leapt out of the boat and put his arms around her waist +and kissed her, and then put her aside, and called to every one around +him-- + +"'These are my words,' he said. 'I am a man of peace, but this man +Franka is a robber and a dog, and hath stolen upon me in the night and +slain my people, and his hands are reddened with blood. And he hath put +foul dishonour on me by stealing Solepa my wife, and carrying her away +from my house as if she were a slave or a harlot. And there is no room +here for such a man to live unless he be a better man than I. But I am +no murderer. So stand aside all! Let him rise and rest awhile, and then +shall we two fight, man to man. Either he or I must die.' + +"Then many men of both sides came to him and said, 'Let this thing be +finished. You are a strong man. Take this robber and slay him as you +would slay a pig.' But he put them aside, and said he would fight him +man to man, as Englishmen fought. + +"So when Franka was rested two cutlasses were brought, and the two men +stood face to face on the sand. I kept close to Franka, for I meant to +stab him if I could, but Preston angrily bade me stand back. Then the +two crossed their swords together and began to fight. It was a great +fight, but it did not last long, for Preston soon ran his sword through +Franka's chest. I saw it come out through his back. But as he fell and +Preston bent over him he thrust his cutlass into Preston's stomach and +worked it to and fro. Then Preston fell on him, and they died together. + +"There was no more bloodshed. Solepa and Sipi and I dressed the dead man +in his best clothes, and the Ro|an Kiti men dressed Franka in his +best clothes, and a great funeral feast was made, and we buried them +together on the little island. And Solepa went back again to Honolulu in +a whaleship. She was young and fair, and should have soon found another +husband. I do not know. But Sipi was a fine wife to me." + + + + +_The Fisher Folk of Nukufetau_ + +Early one morning, about a week after I had settled down on Nukufetau as +a trader, I opened my chest of fishing-gear and began to overhaul it. In +a few minutes I was surrounded by an eager and interested group of +natives, who examined everything with the greatest curiosity. + +Now for the preceding twelve months I had been living on the little +island of Nanomaga, a day's sail from Nukufetau; and between Nanomaga +and Nukufetau there was a great bitterness of long standing--the +Nanomagans claimed to be the most daring canoe-men and expert fishermen +in all the eight isles of the Ellice Group, and the people of Nukufetau +resented the claim strongly. The feeling had been accentuated by my good +friend the Samoan teacher on Nanomaga, himself an ardent fisherman, +writing to his brother minister on Nukufetau and informing him that +although I was not a high-class Christian I was all right in all other +respects, and a good fisherman--"all that he did not know we have taught +him, therefore," he added slyly, "let your young men watch him so that +they may learn how to fish in deep and rough water, such as ours." +These remarks were of course duly made public, and caused much +indignation, neither the minister nor his flock liking the gibe about +the deep, rough water; also the insinuation that anything about fishing +was to be learnt from the new white man was annoying and uncalled for. + +I must here mention that the natives of De Peyster's Island (Nukufetau) +caught all the fish they wanted in the smooth and spacious waters of the +lagoon, and were not fond of venturing outside the barrier reef, except +during the bonito season, or when the sea was very calm at night, to +catch flying-fish. Then, too, the currents outside the reef were swift +and dangerous, and the canoes had either to be carried a long distance +over the coral or paddled a couple of miles across the lagoon to the +ship passage before the open sea was gained. Hudson's Island +(Nanomaga)--a tiny spot less than four miles in circumference--had no +lagoon, and all fishing was done in the deep water of the ocean. The +natives were used to launching their canoes, year in and year out, to +face the wildest surf, and were, in consequence, wonderfully expert, and +in the history of the island there is only one instance of a man having +been drowned. The De Peyster people, by reason of the advantage of their +placid lagoon, had no reason to risk their lives in the surf in this +manner, and so, naturally enough, they were not nearly as skilful in the +management of their frail canoes when they had to face a sweeping sea on +the outer or ocean reef. + +Just as I was placing some coils of heavy, deep-sea lines upon the +matted floor, Marèko the native teacher, fat, jovial, and +bubbling-voiced, entered in a great hurry, and hardly giving himself +time to shake hands with me, announced in a tone of triumph, that a body +of _atuli_ (baby bonito) had just entered the passage and were making +their way up the lagoon. + +In less than ten seconds every man, woman, and child on the island, +except the teacher and myself, were agog with excitement and bawling and +shouting as they rushed to the beach to launch and man the canoes, the +advent of the _atuli_ having been expected for some days. In nearly all +the equatorial islands of the Pacific these beautiful little fish make +their appearance every year almost to a day, with unvarying regularity. +They remain in the smooth waters of lagoons for about two weeks, +swimming about in incredible numbers, and apparently so terrified of +their many enemies in their own element, and the savage, keen-eyed +frigate birds which constantly assail them from above, that they +sometimes crowd into small pools on the inner reef, and when the tide is +low, seek to hide themselves by lying in thick masses under the +overhanging ledges of coral rock. Simultaneously--or at least within a +day or two at most--the swarming millions of _atuli_ are followed into +the lagoons by the _gatala_--a large black and grey rock-cod (much +esteemed by the natives for the delicacy of its flavour) and great +numbers of enormous eels. At other times of the year both the _gatala_ +and the eels are never or but rarely seen inside the lagoons, but are +occasionally caught outside the reef at a good depth--forty to sixty +fathoms. As soon, however, as the young bonito appear, both eels and +rock-cod change their normal habits, and entering the lagoons through +the passages thereto, they take up their quarters in the deeper +parts--places which are fringed by a labyrinthine border of coral +forest, and are at most ten fathoms deep. Here, when the _atuli_ are +covering the surface above, the eels and rock-cod actually rise to the +surface and play havoc among them, especially during moonlight nights, +and in the daytime both rock-cod and eels may be seen pursuing their +hapless prey in the very shallowest water, amidst the little pools and +runnels of the coral reef. It is at this time that the natives of +Nukufetau and some other islands have some glorious sport, for in +addition to the huge eels and rock-cod many other deep-sea fish flock +into the shallower lagoon waters--all in pursuit of the _atuli_--and all +eager to take the hook. + + * * * * * + +As soon as the natives had left the house, Marèko turned to me with a +beaming smile. "Let them go on first and net some _atuli_ for us for +bait," he said, "you and I shall follow in my own canoe and fish for +_gatala_. It will be a great thing for one of us to catch the first +_gatala_ of the season. Yesterday, when I was over there," pointing to +two tiny islets within the lagoon, "I saw some _gatala_. The natives +laugh at me and say I am mistaken--that because the _atuli_ had not come +there could be no _gatala_. Now, _I_ think that the big fish came in +some days ago, but the strong wind and current kept the _atuli_ outside +till now. Come." + +I needed no pressing. In five minutes I had my basket of lines (of white +American cotton) ready, and joined Marèko. His canoe (the best on the +island, of course) was already in the water and manned by his two sons, +boys of eight and twelve respectively. I sat for'ard, the two youngsters +amidships, the father took the post of honour as _tautai_ or steersman, +and with a chuckle of satisfaction from the boys, off we went in the +wake of about thirty other canoes. + +Oh, the delight of urging a light canoe over the glassy water of an +island lagoon, and watching the changing colours and strange, grotesque +shapes of the coral trees and plants of the garden beneath as they +vanish swiftly astern, and the quick _chip, chip_ of the flashing +paddles sends the whirling, noisy eddies to right and left, and frights +the lazy, many-hued rock-fish into the darker depths beneath! On, on, +till the half mile or more of shallow water which covers the inner reef +is passed, and then suddenly you shoot over the top of the submarine +wall, into deepest, loveliest blue, full thirty fathoms deep, and as +calm and quiet as an infant sleeping on its mother's bosom, though +perhaps not a quarter of a mile away on either hand the long rollers of +the Pacific are bellowing and thundering on the grim black shelves of +the weather coast. + +So it was on this morning, but with added delights and beauties; as +instead of striking straight across the lagoon to our rendezvous we had +to skirt the beaches of a chain of thickly wooded islets, which gave +forth a sweet smell, mingled with the odours of _nono_ blossoms; for +during the night rain had fallen after a long month of dry weather, and +Nature was breathing with joy. High overhead there floated some +snow-white tropic birds--those gentle, ethereal creatures which, to the +toil-spent seaman who watches their mysterious poise in illimitable +space, seem to denote the greater Mystery and Rest that lieth beyond all +things; and lower down, and sweeping swiftly to and fro with steady, +outspread wing and long, forked tail, the fierce-eyed, savage frigate +birds scanned the surface of the water in search of prey, and then +finding it not, rose without apparent motion to the cloudless canopy of +blue and became as but tiny black specks--and then, _swish_! and the +tiny black specks which but a minute ago were high in heaven are +flashing by your cheeks with a weird, whistling sound like winged +spectres. You look for them. They are gone. Already they are a thousand +feet overhead. Five of them. And all five are as motionless as if they, +with their wide, outspread wings, had never moved from their present +position for a thousand years. + +"Chip, chip," and "chunk, chunk," go our paddles as we now head eastward +towards the rising sun in whose resplendent rays the tufted palms of the +two islets stand clearly out, silhouetted against the sea rim beyond. +Now and again we hear, as from a long, long distance, the echoes of the +voices of the people in the canoes ahead; a soft white mist began to +gather over and then ascend from the water, and as we drew near the +islets the occasional thunder of the serf on Motuluga Reef we heard +awhile ago changed into a monotonous droning hum. + +"_Aue_!" said Marèko the _tautai_, with a laugh, as he ceased paddling +and laid his paddle athwartships, "'tis like to be a hot day and calm. +So much the better for our fishing, for the water will be very clear. +Boy, give me a coconut to drink." + +"Take some whisky with it, Marèko," I said, taking a flask out of my +basket. + +"_Isa_! Shame upon you! How can you say such a thing to me, a minister!" +And then he added, with a reproachful look, "and my children here, too." +He would have winked, but he dared not do so, for one of his boys had +turned his face aft and was facing him. I, however, made him a hurried +gesture which he quite understood. Good old Marèko! He was an honest, +generous-hearted, broad-minded fellow, but terribly afraid of his +tyrannical deacons, who objected to him smoking even in the seclusion of +his own curatage, and otherwise bullied and worried him into behaving +exactly as they thought he should. + +By the time we reached the islets the _atuli_ catching had begun, and +more than a hundred natives were encircling a considerable area of water +with finely-meshed nets and driving the fish shoreward upon a small +sandy beach, where they were scooped up in gleaming masses of shining +blue and silver by a number of women and children, who tumbled over and +pushed each other aside amidst much laughter and merriment. + +On the larger of the two islets were a few thatched huts with open +sides. One of these was reserved for the missionary and the white man, +and hauling our canoe up on the beach at the invitation of the people, +we sat down under a shed whilst the women grilled us some of the +freshly-caught fish. This took barely over ten minutes, as fires had +already been lighted by the children. The absence of bread was made up +for by the flesh of half-grown coconuts and cooked _puraka_--gigantic +species of taro which thrives well in the sandy soil of the Equatorial +islands of the Pacific. Just as we had finished eating and were +preparing our lines we heard loud cries from the natives who were still +engaged among the _atuli_, and three or four of them seizing spears +began chasing what were evidently some large fish. Presently one of them +darted his weapon, and then gave a loud cry of triumph, as he leapt into +the water and dragged out a large salmon-like fish called "utu", which +was at once brought ashore for my inspection. The man who had struck +it--an active, wiry old fellow named Viliamu (William) was panting with +excitement. Some large _gatala_, he said, had just made their appearance +with the _utu_ and were pursuing the small fish; therefore would we +please hurry forward with our preparations. Then the leader of the +entire party stood up and bellowed out in bull-like tones his +instructions. The canoes were all to start together, and when the ground +was reached all lines were to be lowered simultaneously; there was to be +no crowding. The white man and missionary, however, if they wished, +could start first and make a choice of position. + +"No, no," I said, "let us all start fair." + +This was greeted with a chorus of approval, and then leaving the women +and children to attend to the camp, we hurried back to the canoes. Just +as we were leaving the hut I had a look at the _utu_--a fish I had never +before seen. It was about three feet in length, and only for its head +(which was coarse and clumsy) much like a heavy salmon. The back was +covered with light green scales, the sides and belly a pure silver, and +the fins and tail tipped with yellow. It weighed about 20 lbs., and +presented a very handsome appearance. + +The fishing-ground to which we were now paddling was not half a mile +from the islets, and lay between them and the outer reef which formed +its northern boundary. It consisted of a series of deep channels or +connected pools running or situated amidst a network of minor reefs, the +surfaces of which were, for the most part, bare at low water. Generally +the depth was from eight to ten fathoms; in places, however, it was much +deeper, and I subsequently found that there were spots whereon I could +stand (on the coral ledge) and drop my line into chasms of thirty-two or +thirty-three fathoms. Here the water was almost as blue to the eye as +the ocean, and here the very largest fish resorted--such as the _pura_, +a species of rock-cod, and a blue-scaled groper, the native name of +which I cannot now recall. + +It must have been nearly ten o'clock when the canoes were all in +position, and the word was given to let go lines. The particular spot in +which we were congregated was about three acres in extent and about +seven fathoms in depth, with water as clear as crystal; and even the +dullest eye could discern the smallest pebble or piece of broken coral +lying upon the bottom, which was generally composed of patches of coarse +sand surrounded by an interlacing fringe of growing coral, or white, +blue, or yellow boulders. A glance over the side showed us that the +_gatala_ had arrived; we could see numbers of them swimming lazily to +and fro beneath, awaiting the flowing tide which would soon cover the +lagoon from one shore to the other with swarms of young bonito, as they +swam about in search of such places as that in which we were now about +to begin fishing. + +Each man had baited his hook with the third of an _atuli_--at this stage +of their life about four inches long and exactly the colour and shape of +a young mackerel--and within five minutes after "_Tu'u tau kafa_!" +("Let go lines!") had been called out several of the canoes around our +own began to pull up fish--four to six pounders. I was fishing with a +white cotton line, with two hooks, and Marèko with the usual native +gear--a hand-made line of hibiscus bark with a barbless hook made from a +long wire nail, with its point ground fine and well-curved inwards. We +both struck fish at the same moment, and I knew by the zigzag pull that +I had two. Up they came together--three spotted beauties about eighteen +inches in length and weighing over 5 lbs. each. Then I found the +advantage of the native style of hook; Marèko simply put his left thumb +and forefinger into the fish's eye, had his hook free in a moment, had +baited, lowered again and was pulling up another before I had succeeded +in freeing even my first hook which was firmly fixed in the fish's +gullet, out of sight. I soon put myself on a more even footing by +cutting off the small one and a half inch hooks I had been using and +bending on two thick and long-shanked four inchers. These answered +beautifully, as although the barbs caused me some trouble, their stout +shanks afforded a good grip and leverage when extracting them from the +hard and keen-toothed jaws of the struggling fish. Then, too, I had +another advantage over my companions; I was wearing a pair of seaboots +which effectually protected my feet from either the terrible fins or the +teeth of the fish in the bottom of the canoe. + +I had caught my eighth fish, when an outcry came from a canoe near us, +as a young man who was seated on the for'ard thwart rose to his feet and +began hauling in his line, which was standing straight up and down, taut +as an iron bar, the canoe meanwhile spinning round and round although +the steersman used all his efforts to keep her steady. + +"What is it, Tuluia?" called out fifty voices at once. "A shark?" + +"My mother's bones!" said old Viliamu with a laugh of contempt. "'Tis an +eel, and Tuluia, who was asleep, has let it twist its tail around a +piece of coral. May he lose it for his stupidity." + +We all ceased fishing to watch, and half a dozen men began jeering at +the lad, who was too excited to heed them. Old Viliamu, who was in the +next canoe, looked down, and then cried out that he could see the eel, +which had taken several turns of its body around a thick branch of +growing coral. + +"His head is up," he called out to the youth, "but you cannot move him, +he has too many turns in and out among the coral." Then paddling up +alongside he again looked at the struggling creature, then felt the line +which was vibrating with the tension. Stepping out of his own craft into +that of the young man, the line was placed in his hands without an inch +of it being payed out, for once one of these giant eels can get his head +down he will so quickly twine the line in and out among the rugged coral +that it is soon chafed through, if of ordinary thickness. But the +ancient knew his work well, as we were soon to see. Taking a turn of the +line well up on his forearm and grasping it with his right a yard lower +down, he waited for a second or two, then suddenly bent his body till +his face nearly touched the water, then he sprang erect and with +lightning-like rapidity began to haul in hand _under_ hand [12] amid +loud cries of approval as the wriggling body of the eel was seen +ascending clear of the coral. The moment it reached the surface, a +second native, with unerring aim sent a spear through it and then a blow +or two upon the head with a club carried for the purpose took all +further fight out of the creature, which was then lifted out of the +water and dropped into the canoe. Here the end of its tail was quickly +split open and we saw no more of him for the time being. + +To capture an eel so soon was looked upon as a lucky omen, to have lost +it would have been a presage of ill-fortune for the rest of the day, and +the incident put every one in high good humour. By this time the tide +was flowing over the flatter parts of the reef and young bonito could be +seen jumping out of the water in all directions. Immense bodies were, so +I was assured by the natives, now coming into the lagoon from the sea, +and would continue to do so till the tide turned, when those in the +passage, unable to face a six-knot current, would be carried out again, +to make another attempt later on. + +By this time every canoe was hauling in large rock-cod almost as quick +as the lines could be baited, and the bottom of our own craft presented +a gruesome sight--a lather of blood and froth and kicking fish, some of +which were over 20 lbs. weight. Telling the two boys to cease fishing +awhile and stun some of the liveliest, I unthinkingly began to bale out +some of the ensanguined water, when a score of indignant voices bade me +cease. Did I want to bring all the sharks in the world around us? I was +asked; and old Viliamu, who was a sarcastic old gentleman, made a mock +apology for me-- + +"How should he know any better? The sharks of Tokelau have no teeth, +like the people there, for they too are eaters of _fala_." + +This evoked a sally of laughter, in which of course I joined. I must +explain that the natives of the Tokelau Group, among whom I had lived, +through constantly chewing the tough drupes of the fruit of the _fala_ +(pandanus palm) wear out their teeth prematurely, and are sometimes +termed "toothless" by other natives of the South Pacific. However, I was +to have my own little joke at Viliamu's expense later on. + +Just at this time a sudden squall, accompanied by torrents of rain, came +down upon us from the eastward, and whilst Marèko and his boys kept us +head to wind--none of the canoes were anchored--I took the opportunity +of getting ready two of my own lines, each treble-hooked, for the boys. +Their own were old and rotten, and had parted so often that they were +now too short to be of use, and, besides that, the few remaining hooks +of soft wire were too small. As soon as the squall was over I showed +Marèko what I had done. He nodded and smiled, but said I should try and +break off the barbs--his boys did not understand them as well as +native-made hooks. This was quickly accomplished with a heavy knife, and +the youngsters began to haul up fish two and three at a time at such a +rate that the canoe soon became deep in the water outside and very full +inside. + +"A few more, Marèko," I said, "and then we'll go ashore, unload, and +come back again. I want to tease that old man." + +We caught all we could possibly carry in another quarter of an hour, and +I was confident that our take exceeded that of any other canoe. This was +because the natives would carefully watch their stone sinkers descend, +and use every care to keep them from being entangled in the coral, +whilst my line, which had a 12 oz. leaden sinker, would plump quickly to +the bottom in the midst of the hungry fish; consequently, although I +lost some hooks by fouling and now and then dragged up a bunch of coral, +I was catching more fish than any one else. And I was not going to let +my reputation suffer for the sake of a few hooks. So we coiled up our +lines on the outrigger platform, and taking up our paddles headed +shoreward, taking care to pass near Viliamu's canoe. He hailed me and +asked me for a pipe of tobacco. + +"I shall give it to you when we return," I said. + +"When you return! Why, where are you going?" he asked. + +"On shore, you silly old woman! I have been showing these boys how to +fish for _gatala_, and we go because the canoe is sinking. When we +return these two _tamariki_ (infants) shall show _you_ how to fish now +that they have learnt from me." + +There was a loud laugh at this, and as the old man took the jest very +good-naturedly I brought up alongside, showed him our take, and gave him +a stick of tobacco. The astonishment of himself and his crew of three at +the quantity of fish we had afforded me much satisfaction, though I +could not help feeling that our luck was not due to my own skill alone. + +Returning to the islets we were just in time to escape two fierce +squalls, which lasted half an hour and raised such a sea that the +remaining canoes began to follow us, as they were unable to keep on the +ground. During our absence the women and children had been most +industrious; the weather-worn, dilapidated huts had been made habitable +with freshly-plaited _kapaus_--coarse mats of green coconut leaves, the +floors covered with clean white pebbles, sleeping mats in readiness, and +heaps of young drinking nuts piled up in every corner, whilst outside +smoke was arising from a score of ground ovens in which taro and puraka +were being cooked, together with bundles of _atuli_ wrapped in leaves. + +Etiquette forbade Marèko and myself counting our fish until the rest of +the party returned, although the women had taken them out of the canoe +and laid them on the beach, where the pouring rain soon washed them +clean and showed them in all their shining beauty. Among them were two +or three parrot-fish--rich carmine, striped with bands of bright yellow, +boneless fins, and long protruding teeth in the upper jaw showing out +from the thick, fleshy lips; and one _afulu_--a species of deep-water +sand mullet with purple scales and yellow fins. + +Whilst awaiting the rest of the canoes I drew the teacher into our hut +and pressed him to take some whisky. He was wet, cold, and shivering, +but resolutely declined to take any. "I should like to drink a little," +he said frankly, "but I must not. I cannot drink it in secret, and yet I +must not set a bad example. Do not ask me, please. But if you like to +give some to the old men do so, but only a very little." I did do so. As +soon as the rest of the party landed I called up four of the oldest men +and gave each of them a stiff nip. They were all nude to the waist, and +like all Polynesians who have been exposed to a cold rain squall, were +shivering and miserable. After each man had taken his nip and emitted a +deep sigh of satisfaction I observed that hundreds of old white men +saved their lives by taking a glass of spirits when they were wet +through--they had to do so by the doctor's orders. + +"That is true," said one old fellow; "when men grow old, and the rain +falls upon them it does not run off their skins as it would from the +smooth skins of young men. It gets into the wrinkles and stays there. +But when the belly is warmed with grog a man does not feel the cold." + +"True," I said gravely, as I poured some whisky out for myself; "true, +quite true, my dear friends. And in these islands it is very bad for an +old man to be exposed to much rain. That is why I am disturbed in my +mind. See, there is Marèko, your minister. He, like you, is old; he is +wet and cold. And he shivers. And he will not take a mouthful of this +_rom_ because he fears scandal. Now if he should become ill and die I +should be a disgraced man. This _rom_ is now not _rom_; it is medicine. +And Marèko should take some even as you have taken it--to keep away +danger." + +The four old fellows arose to the occasion. They talked earnestly +together for a minute, and then formed themselves into a committee, +requested me to head them as a deputation with the whisky, and then +waited upon their pastor, who was putting on a dry shirt in another hut. +I am glad to say that under our united protests he at last consented to +save his life, and felt much better. + +Presently the women announced that the ovens were ready to be opened. As +soon as the fish were counted, and the rain having ceased, we all +gathered round the canoes and watched each one emptied of its load. As I +imagined, our party had taken the most fish, and not only the most, but +the heaviest as well. Marèko added to my blushing honours by informing +the company that as a fisherman and a knowledgable man generally I +justified his brother minister's opinion and would prove an acquisition +to the community. We then inspected the first eel caught, and a truly +huge creature it was, quite nine feet in length, and in girth at its +thickest part, as near as I could guess with a piece of line, thirty +inches. The line with which it was caught was made of new four-stranded +coir-cinnet, as thick as a stout lead pencil, and the hook a piece of +3/6 or 1/2 inch iron with a 6-inch shank, once used as a fish spear, +without a barb! The natives seemed much pleased at the interest +displayed, and told me that sometimes these eels grew to _elua gafa_ +(_i.e._, two fathoms), but were seldom caught, and asked me if I had +tackle strong enough for such. Later on I showed them a 27-stranded +American cotton line 100 fathoms long, with a 4-inch hook, curved in the +shank, as thick as a pencil, and "eyed" for a twisted wire snooding. +They had never seen such beautiful tackle before, and were loud in their +expressions of admiration, but thought the line too thin for a very +heavy fish. I told them that at Nanomaga I had caught _palu_ (a +nocturnal feeding fish of great size) in over sixty fathoms with that +same line. + +"That is true," said one of them politely, "we were told that you and +Tiaki (one Jack O'Brien, an old trader) of Funafuti have caught many +_palu_ with your long lines; but the _palu_ is a weak fish even when he +is a fathom long. And as he comes up he grows weaker and weaker, and +sometimes he bursts open when he comes to the surface. Now if a big +eel--an eel two fathoms long--" + +"If he was three fathoms long he could not break this line," I replied +positively. + +They laughed and told me that when I hooked even a small eel, one half a +fathom in length, I would change my opinion. + +Soon after our midday meal was over, and we were preparing to return to +our fishing-ground with an ample supply of fresh bait, the sky to +windward became black and threatening, and through the breaks in the +long line of palms on the weather side of the island, which permitted +the horizon to be viewed, we could see that a squall of unusual violence +was coming. All the canoes were at once hauled up on the lee-side of the +islets, the huts were secured by ropes as quickly as possible, and every +one hurried under shelter. In a few minutes the wind was blowing with +astonishing fury, and the air was full of leaves, sticks, and other +_débris_, whilst the coco-palms and other trees on the islets seemed +likely to be torn up by the roots. This lasted about ten minutes. Then +came a sudden lull, followed by a terrific and deafening downpour of +rain; then more wind, another downpour, and the sun was out again! + +As soon as the squall was over, I walked round to the weather side of +the islet with some children. We found the beach covered with some +thousands of _atuli_ and beautiful little garfish which had been driven +on shore by the force of the wind. We were soon joined by women carrying +baskets, which they filled with fish and carried back to the camp. On +returning, we again launched the canoes and started off again--to meet +with some disappointment, for although the _gatala_ still bit freely and +several eels were also taken, some scores of the small, pestilent, +lagoon sharks were swimming about and played havoc with our lines. These +torments are from two to four feet in length, and their mouths, which +are quite out of proportion to their insignificant size, are set with +rows of teeth of razor-like keenness. The moment a baited hook was seen +one of these little wretches would dart at it like lightning, and +generally bit the line through just above the hook. So quick were they, +that one could seldom even feel a tug unless the hook got fast in their +jaws. Taking off my sinker, and bending on a big hook with a wire snood, +I abandoned myself to their destruction, and as fast as I hauled one +alongside it was stunned, cut into three or four pieces, and thrown +overboard to be devoured by its fellows. Many of the Ellice and Tokelau +islanders regard these young sharks as a delicacy, as their flesh is +very tender, and has not the usual unpleasant smell. In one of these +young sea lawyers we found no less than five hooks, with pieces of line +attached; these were duly restored to their owners. + +Another two hours passed, during which we had fairly good sport, then +the rain began to fall so heavily that we gave up for the day. We spent +the first part of the evening in the huts, eating, smoking, and talking, +and overhauling our tackle for the next day. It had been intended that +about midnight we should all go crayfishing in the shallow waters along +the shore of the islets, but this idea had to be abandoned in +consequence of the rain having soaked the coco palms--the dead branches +of which are rolled and plaited into a cylindrical form and used as +torches. The method of catching crayfish is very simple: a number of +men, each carrying a _kaulama_ torch about 6 feet in length in the left +hand, and a small scoop net in the right, walk waist-high through the +water; the crayfish, dazed by the brilliant light, are whipped up into +the nets and dropped into baskets carried by the women and children who +follow. They can only be caught on dark, moonless nights. + + * * * * * + +When we returned to the village our spoils included besides a great +number of fish, a few turtle and some young frigate birds. The latter +were captured for the purpose of being tamed. I made many subsequent +visits to the two islets, sometimes alone and sometimes with my native +friends, and on each occasion I left these lovely little spots with a +keen feeling of regret, for they are ideal resting-places to him who +possesses a love of nature and the soul of a fisherman. + + + + +_Mrs. MacLaggan's "Billy"_ + + +When Tom Denison was quite a young man he was earning a not too +dishonest sort of a living as supercargo of a leaky old ketch owned by +Mrs. Molly MacLaggan of Samoa, which in those days was the Land of +Primeval Wickedness and Original and Imported Sin, Strong Drink, and +Loose Fish generally. Captain "Bully" Hayes also lived in Samoa; his +house and garden adjoined that of Mrs. MacLaggan, and at the back there +was a galvanised iron cottage, inhabited by a drunken French carpenter +named Leger, whose wife was a full-blooded negress, and made kava for +Denison and "Bully" every evening, and used to beat Billy MacLaggan on +the head with a pole about six times a day, and curse him vigorously in +mongrel Martinique French. Billy MacLaggan was Mrs. Molly's male goat, +and as notorious in Samoa as Bully Hayes himself. + +I want to try and tell this story as clearly as possible, but there are +so many people concerned, and so many things which really happened +together, though each one seemed to come before the other a little and +try and get into the general jumble, and every one was so confused, +some fatuous people blaming the goat, and some Denison, who was +generally disliked by the Germans, while Mrs. Molly said it was caused +by the man with the bucket of milk, and Captain Hayes who had bribed him +to do it, and nearly caused bloodshed, as the German officer who was +insulted by Hayes had shot a lot of people in duels, or if he had not +shot them he had stuck his sword into them in fifteen places, more or +less. + +Now let me explain: First of all there was Mrs. Molly, who was the +hostess; then there was Hamilton, the Apia pilot and his wife; the +manager of the big German firm at Matafale (he wore gold spectacles, and +was very fond of Mrs. Molly, who was a widow); then there was Bully +Hayes, and old Coe the American consul, and young Denison; all these +were some of the local guests, and lived in Samoa, the rest were +officers from a German man-of-war lying in port, and the usual +respectable town loafers. Then there were Leger, the bibulous carpenter; +'_Liza,_ his black wife; a white policeman named Thady O'Brien, and a +loafing scoundrel of a Samoan named Mataiasi, called "Matty" for +brevity, who was the public flogger, and milked Mrs. MacLaggan's herd of +seven imported Australian cows; and lastly the goat, and about thirty or +forty of Bully Hayes's crew, and as many Samoans, who came to look at +the dancing and see what they could steal, Leger and his wife and the +policeman and the town flogger had charge of the refreshment tables, +which for the sake of coolness had been laid out upon the wide, back +verandah, and handsomely decorated with pot plants and flags from the +man-of-war, and blanc-manges and jellies, and tipsy cake, and cold roast +pigeons and chickens were lying around as if they weren't worth two +cents. + +The big wholesale store, which formed part of Mrs. Molly's house and +establishment, made a fine ballroom. All the barrels of whisky and +Queensland rum, and the cases of lager beer and Holland's gin, had been +stowed neatly on each side, and covered over with flags and orange +blossoms by Denison and Bully Hayes and his men, and the orange blossoms +killed the smell of the rum so much that strangers would have thought it +was sherry. + +Everything went on beautifully for the first two hours, and then Mrs. +Molly asked Denison to take out a very pretty young half-caste lady and +get her a drink of milk. When they reached the side table where the milk +should have been, they found it all gone; but O'Brien the policeman said +that Mataiasi had just started off to milk another cow. + +Just then Hayes came out to the refreshment tables with a lady on his +arm. She was thirsty, and so "Bully" opened a large bottle of champagne, +and she and he and Denison and the young half-caste lady drank it; then +they drank another, and all went oft together to see Mataiasi milking +the cow, which was tied up to a coconut tree just outside the fence. The +cow was a yellow cow, and was standing very quietly, and just beside her +Billy MacLaggan (who caused all this trouble) was lying down, working +his jaws to and fro and making curious, snorting sounds in the bright +and gorgeous moonlight. I forgot to say that Wm. MacLaggan was the +largest and ugliest goat ever known to the memory of man, and had been +taught every vice and wickedness any goat could be taught, and it is as +natural for a goat to imbibe sin as it is for him to eat a cactus, or a +hedgehog, or a tract. + +Hayes addressed the goat by his Christian name, and asked him how he +did, and Billy looked at Hayes for a second or two out of his green, +sharky eyes, then he rose in a dignified manner, and came over to him to +be scratched under the chin. Then he blew himself out, snorted, and +rubbed his horns against the captain's knee: and Hayes remarked to +Denison that the poor beggar wanted a drink, and proposed to give him a +"proper one." + +The goat knew perfectly well what "drink" meant, and made his vicious +tail quiver; then he followed them back to the house, and stood at the +foot of the steps waiting for Hayes and Tom to come out again. + +On the other side of the courtyard was Mrs. MacLaggan's laundry. The +door was wide open and the place was in darkness, and no one took any +notice when presently Tom sauntered out of the ballroom, picked up a +large plateful of tipsy-cake, and, being kind to animals, gave a piece +to William, who followed him into the laundry for the rest; then Hayes +came in with a quart bottle of champagne, shut the door and struck a +light. Then he opened the bottle of fizz and poured it out into a deep, +enamelled starching-dish, and Billy MacLaggan drank thereof, and then +raised his head, with his immoral-looking beard hanging in a sodden +point like a wet deck-swab, and asked for more. That is, he asked as +well as any Christian and civilised goat could ask, by standing up on +his hind legs like a circus-horse and making strange, unearthly noises. +Then he rammed his wicked old nose into the dish again, and pushed it +all round the room, trying to sop up more liquor, which wasn't there, +and trod on Denison's canvas-slippered foot, and knocked over the little +tin kerosene oil lamp which was standing on the floor, and when Hayes, +with loud and blasphemous remarks grabbed at the ironing-blanket of the +laundry-table to extinguish the flames, he pulled the table down on the +top of Denison and himself and the goat and everything, for the blanket +was nailed on at the four corners, and when he was down on his hands and +knees, the goat being exceedingly alarmed and half-drunk, and smelling +his own hair burning, put his head down and charged at the universe in +general, or anything else he could hit, and he hit Hayes fair on the +temple with a noise like a ship's mainmast going by the board; then the +people outside burst in the door, and the creature, with a bull-like +bellow, charged out among them, and landed his bony head into the +stomach of Mataiasi, who was carrying the bucket of milk, and was afraid +to put it down when he saw him coming; then in some way the handle of +the iron bucket got on Billy MacLaggan's horns, which simply made him +thirst for gore, for he thought he was being made fun of because he was +in liquor. With the bucket swinging and clattering and banging around, +he made a dash up on the verandah, among the pretty muslin-clad ladies +and white-duck suited men, creating havoc and destruction, and smelling +of kerosene and burnt hair and ancient goat, and uttering horrible, +blood-curdling _bah-h-h-s_, till he got into the card-table corner, and +mistaking the wide glass window for an open door, he promptly jumped +through it, and fell with a shower of glass outside on to the verandah +again, where Thady O'Brien and the fat German with the spectacles fell +on him, and tried to hold him down, and the spectacles were ground into +dust and otherwise damaged, and some of the ladies endeavouring to +escape out of the hideous _mélée_ fell with him, and then the goat +struggled to his feet with the bucket squashed flat against his +forehead, and his horns covered with lace, and tulle, and bits of kid +gloves, and planted one of his cloven forefeet into the shirt-front of a +German officer, and smashed his watch. Then with another roar of +defiance he burst through and disappeared into the wilderness at the +back of Mrs. MacLaggan's garden, where he was followed by Leger, the +drunken carpenter, and his wife, and nineteen Samoans, all armed with +rifles. The army fired at him for two hours, and about midnight returned +and reported him riddled with bullets, whereupon Mrs. Molly, who was a +little hysterical at the awful mess and wreckage caused by the brute, +thanked them and gave them ten dollars. + +Now it so happened that Billy MacLaggan was not killed at all, for about +two o'clock in the morning, as Bully Hayes and Tom Denison were sitting +on the verandah of the former's house at Matautu Point, drinking brandy +and soda, and dabbing arnica bandages on their various contusions, Pilot +Hamilton hailed them from the front gate. He had just left the dance +with his wife, and was quite sober--for Samoa. He asked them to come on +with him to his place, as Billy MacLaggan, he said, was lying down in +Mrs. Hamilton's kitchen, and seemed poorly, and that he hoped Hayes +would forgive the poor thing, which was only a dumb animal. So Hayes and +Denison went and saw William, who was now sober and looked sorry. They +dressed his wounds, and Tom Denison took him on board early in the +morning, intending to take him to sea till the memory of his misdeeds +had toned down a bit, for Billy was a great institution in Samoa, and +had many friends. Hardly a white man in the place, no matter how hard up +he was, but would stand Billy a bottle of lager or a chew of tobacco. (I +forgot to mention that Billy would drink anything and chew anything, +except cigarettes, at which he snorted with contempt.) Now Denison's +little vessel was lying quite near the German man-of-war, and was to +sail next day for the Solomons if the captain was sober, and he +(Denison) had a lot of work to do to get the ship ready, and whilst he +was poring over accounts in the cabin about noon, a boat ran alongside +and Bully Hayes came into the cabin. + +"Where's Billy?" he said. "Quick, get him into my boat at once. There's +a search-party coming on board, and the widow is going to give you the +dirty kick-out, Tom Denison. There's been the devil to pay over that +cursed goat, but I'm going to save his life all the same. But if she +does sack you, you can come to me for a berth." + +Billy, who was placidly eating bananas on the main deck, was at once +seized and hoisted over the side into Hayes's boat, which shoved off, +leaving Hayes on board to explain things to Tom. + +It seemed that when the fat German manager--the man with spectacles--I +mean the man who had the spectacles until Billy MacLaggan came in--the +man who was courting Mrs. Molly--fell on the top of the goat, some other +man trod on his face, and Leger (who was not sober enough to tell one +person from another) said that he saw Tom Denison do it. Seven natives, +male and female, swore that at the time alleged Tom was out on the beach +bathing his crushed toe in the salt water, and using solemn British +oaths; but Leger, who disliked Denison, who had once kicked him +overboard violently for being drunk, not only stuck to the story, but +said that Hayes and Tom had set the goat on fire on purpose to break up +the dance and cause annoyance to the Germans present; also he vaguely +hinted that they, Denison and Hayes, would have driven the seven cows +into the ballroom but couldn't find them. Then Mrs. MacLaggan promised +the fat man to sack Denison on the following morning, and at midnight, +as I have said, word was brought in that Billy had been shot. But about +ten in the morning Leger heard from some native that the goat was as +well as ever, and on board Denison's vessel, and being a mean, spiteful +little hound, off he trotted to the German manager, and said that +Captain Hayes and Mr. Denison had rescued the creature. At that very +moment the manager was talking to some German officers, one of whom was +the man whose watch had been smashed, and as every German in Samoa hated +Hayes most fervently, it was at once concluded that Hayes had trained, +or suborned, or bribed, or corrupted the goat to do it. So a young +lieutenant went and called upon Hayes, and demanded satisfaction for his +friend, and Hayes was exceedingly rude to him, but said that if the man +with the broken watch liked to meet Billy MacLaggan with his own +weapons, and fight him in a goatsmanlike manner, for fifty dollars a +side, he (Hayes) would put up Billy's fifty. Then the lieutenant asked +for a written apology for his friend, and Hayes said that Billy couldn't +write, and, anyway, he was Mrs. Molly's goat. If the man with the +smashed nickel wanted an apology, why the blazes didn't he approach Mrs. +MacLaggan? he asked. + +Whilst Hayes was telling all this to Tom, pulling his thick beard and +laughing loudly, as they paced the little vessel's deck, the +search-party came on board to recover the goat. The leader bore a letter +from Mrs. MacLaggan to Tom, informing him that his services as +supercargo were no longer required, also that he could come ashore at +once and be paid off, as his conduct was heartless, and the consuls said +it might lead to serious complications, as it had been done with intent +to insult the citizens of a friendly nation, one of whom, as he was +aware, had made the natives cut down the price of copra half a cent. +Under these circumstances, &c. + +Tom grinned and showed the letter to Hayes. Then he turned to the mate. + +"I've got the sack, Waters. You're in charge of this rotten, filthy old +hooker now until the old man is sober." + +He packed up his traps, went ashore, drew his money from Mrs. +MacLaggan's cashier, and bade him goodbye. + +"Where's the goat, Tom?" + +"On board Bully Hayes' ship. His crool, crool mistress shall see him no +more! Never more shall his plaintive call to his nannies resound o' +nights among the sleeping palm-groves of the Vaisigago Valley; +never----" + +The cashier jumped up out of his chair and seized the dismissed +supercargo by the collar. + +"Stop that bosh, you rattlebrained young ass, and come and take a +farewell drink." + +"Never more will he butt alike the just and the unjust, the fat and +bloated German merchant nor the herring-gutted Yankee skipper, nor the +bare--ah--um--legged Samoan, nor the gorgeous consul in the solar topee. +Gone is the glory of Samoa with Billy MacLaggan. Goodbye for the +present, Wade, old man--I am not so proud of my new dignity--I am to be +supercargo of the brig _Rona_--as to refuse to drink with you, though +you are but a cashier. And give my farewell to the widow, and tell her +that I bear her no ill-will, for I leave a dirty little tub of a +cockroach-infested ketch for a swagger brig, where I shall wear white +suits every day and feel that peace of mind which--" + +"Oh, do dry up, you young beggar," said the good-natured cashier, whose +laughter proved so infectious that Tom joined in. + +"Come then, Wade, just another ere we part." + +Now as these two were drinking in the cashier's office it happened that +Thady O'Brien, the policeman (he was chief of the municipal police, and +fond of drink) saw them, and invited himself to join them and also to +express his sorrow at Denison's "misfortune," as he called it, for +Denison was a lovable sort of youth, and often gave him drink on board. +So they all sat down, Wade in the one chair, and Tom and the policeman +on the table, and had several more drinks, and just then Mrs. MacLaggan +came to the door, holding a note in her hand. She bowed coldly to Tom, +whose three stiff drinks of brandy enabled him to give her a reproachful +glance. + +"Captain Hayes wants to buy one or two of the nanny-goats, to take away +with him to Ponapé, Mr. Wade," she said. "I shall be glad to let him +have them. Please tell Leger and Mataiasi to catch them at once." + +Then Mrs. MacLaggan went away, and Tom and O'Brien went down to the +jetty to wait for a boat to take them on board--Tom to his duty, and +O'Brien because he was thirsty again. Presently Leger and Mataiasi and a +large concourse of native children came down, carrying two female goats, +who, imagining they were to be cast into the sea, began to cry with +great violence, and were immediately answered in a deep voice by Billy +MacLaggan from over the water, whereupon Leger started to run off and +tell Mrs. MacLaggan that Billy was alive, and on board the _Rona_, and +Denison put out his foot and tripped him, and was at once assailed by +Leger's black wife, who hit him on the head with a stick, and then +herself was pushed backwards off the jetty into the water by Mr. +O'Brien, taking several children and one of the goats with her, and in +less than two minutes there was as pretty a fight as ever was seen. +Several native police ran to help their superior officer, and a lot of +dogs came with them; the dogs bit anybody and everybody +indiscriminately, but most of them went for Leger and Denison, who were +lying gasping together on the jetty, striving to murder each other; then +a number of sailors belonging to a whaleship joined in, and tried to +massacre or otherwise injure and generally maltreat the policemen, and +by the time the boat from the _Rona_ came to the rescue the jetty looked +like a battlefield, and one goat was drowned, and the new supercargo was +taken on board to have his excoriations attended to, for he was in a +very bad state. + +That is the end of the story, which I have told in a confused sort of +away, I admit, because there are so many things in it, though I could +tell a lot more about the adventures of Billy MacLaggan, after he went +to sea with Captain Bully Hayes. + + + + +_An Island Memory_ + +CHAPTER I + + +From early dawn wild excitement had prevailed in the great native +village on the shores of Port Lele, and on board two ships which were +anchored on the placid waters of the land-locked harbour. As the fleecy, +cloud-like mist which, during the night, had enveloped the forest-clad +spurs and summit of Mont Buache, was dispelled by the first airs of the +awakened trade wind and the yellow shafts of sunrise, a fleet or canoes +crowded with natives put off from the sandy beach in front of the king's +house, and paddled swiftly over towards the ships, the captains of which +only awaited their arrival to weigh and tow out through the passage. + +As the mist lifted, Cayse, the master of the _Iroquois_ of Sagharbour, +stepped briskly up on the poop, and hailed the skipper of the other +vessel, a small, yellow-painted barque of less than two hundred tons. + +"Are you ready, Captain Ross?" + +"All ready," was the answer; "only waiting for the military," and then +followed a hoarse laugh. + +Cayse, a little, grizzled, and leathern-faced man of fifty, replied by +an angry snarl, then turned to his mate, who stood beside him awaiting +his orders. + +"Get these natives settled down as quickly as possible, Mr. North, then +start to heave-up and loose sails. I reckon we'll tow out in an hour. +The king will be here presently in his own boat. Hoist it aboard." + +North nodded in silence, and was just moving on to the main deck, when +Cayse stopped him. + +"You don't seem too ragin' pleased this mornin', Mr. North, over this +business. Naow, as I told you yesterday, I admire your feelin's on the +subject, but I can't afford--" + +The mate's eyes blazed with anger. + +"And I tell you again that I won't have anything to do with it. I know +my duty, and mean to stick to it. I shipped for a whaling voyage, and +not to help savages to fight. Take my advice and give it up. Money got +in this way will do you no good." + +Cayse shifted his feet uneasily. + +"I can't afford to sling away the chance of earnin' two or three +thousan' dollars so easy. An' you'll hev to do your duty to me. Naow, +look here--" + +North raised his hand. + +"That will do. I have said I will do my duty as mate, but not a hand's +turn will I take in such bloody work as you and the skipper of that +crowd of Sydney cut-throats and convicts are going into for the sake of +six thousand dollars." + +"Well, I reckon we can do without you. Any one would think we was going +piratin', instead of helping the king of this island to his rights. +Naow, just tell me--" + +Again the mate interrupted him. + +"I am going for'ard to get the anchor up, and will obey all your orders +as far as the working of the ship is concerned--nothing more." + +An hour later the two vessels, their decks crowded with three hundred +savages, armed with muskets, spears, and clubs, were towed out through +the narrow, reef-bound passage, and with the now freshening trade wind +filling their sails, set a course along the coast which before sunset +would bring them to Leassé, on the lee side of the island. But +presently, in response to a signal from the _Lucy May_, the whaler lay +to; a boat put off from the smaller ship, and Captain Ross came +alongside, clambered over the bulwarks and joined Cayse and the young +king of Port Lele, who were awaiting him on the poop, to discuss with +him the plan of surprise and slaughter of the offending people of +Leassé. + + * * * * * + +Nearly a week before the _Iroquois_ had run into Port Lele to refresh +before proceeding westward and northward to the Bonin Islands in +pursuance of her cruise. Charlik, the king, was delighted to see Cayse, +for in the days when his father was king the American captain had +conveyed a party of one hundred Strong's Islanders from Port Lele to +MacAskill's Island, landed them in his boats during the night, and stood +off and on till daylight, when they returned reeking from their work of +slaughter upon the sleeping people, and bringing with them some scores +of women and children as captives. For this service the king had given +Cayse half a ton of turtle-shell, and the services of ten young men as +seamen for as long a time as the _Iroquois_ cruised in the Pacific on +that voyage. When Charlik's father was dying, he called his head chiefs +around him, and gave the boy into their care with these words--"Here die +I upon my mat like a woman, long before my time, and to-morrow my spirit +will hear the mocking laughs of the men of Môut and Leassé, when they +say, 'Sikra is dead; Sikra was but an empty boaster.'" + +Then his son spoke. + +"Not many days shall they laugh. They shall be destroyed all, all, all +of them." + +The king touched his son's hand. + +"Those are good words. But be not too hasty. Wait till the American +comes again. He will help with his men and guns. But he is a greedy man. +Yet spare nothing; give him all the silver and gold money I have stored +by for his return, and all the turtle-shell that can be gathered +together. And let there be not even one little child left in Môut or +Leassé." + +Charlik was a lad or seventeen when his savage old father died, and for +a year after his death he harried and distressed his people by his +exactions. All day long the men toiled at making coconut oil, and at +night time they watched along the beaches for the hawk-bill turtle; the +oil they put into huge butts, which stood in the king's boat-sheds, and +the costly turtle-shell was taken by the young ruler and locked up in +the seamen's chests which lined the inside wall of the great +council-house. And no man durst now fire a musket at a wild pig, for +powder and ball had been made _tapu_--such things were given up to the +chiefs, lest they might be wasted, and every morning three young men +climbed up the rugged side of Mont Buache, to keep a look-out for the +ship whose captain would help their master to wreak a bloody vengeance +upon the rebellious people of Leassé. + +At the end of the sixteenth month of watching, a sail appeared coming +from the southward, and the watchers on the mountain-top sped down to +the king's house, and sinking upon their knees in the courtyard of coral +slabs, whispered their news to one of the king's serving-men, who, with +a musket in his hand and a cutlass girt around his naked waist, stood +sentry before the youthful despot's sleeping-room. + +"Good," said the king to Kanka, his head chief; "'tis surely the +American Késa,[13] for this is the month in which he said he would +return. Let the women make ready a great feast, and launch my three +boats, so that if the wind fail, when the sun is high, they may help to +drag the ship into Lele." + +Then came the sound of beating drums, and the long, mournful note of the +conch-shells calling the wild people together to prepare for the ship. +Turtle were lifted from their walled-in prison holes on the reef, hogs +were strangled, and the king's wives went hither and thither among his +slave women, bidding them hasten to kindle the ovens, whilst children +went out into the great canework cage, wherein were hundreds of the +king's wild pigeons, and seizing the birds, began to pluck them alive. + +An hour passed. Charlik, sitting in a European chair, was watching the +wild bustle and excitement around him in the courtyard, when his eye +fell on the three messengers, who, with bent head and bended knees, were +awaiting his further commands. + +Beckoning to a young, light-skinned woman, who stood near him, he bade +her bring him three of his best pearl-shell bonito hooks. They were +brought, and taking them from her, he threw them to the men. + +"Ye have watched well," he said. "There is thy reward. Now go and eat +and sleep." + +With eyes sparkling with pleasure, the young men each took up his +precious gift, and with crouching forms crept slowly over to the further +side of the courtyard, where they were waited upon by women with food. + +Presently the fair young woman--his sister Sè--returned to her brother's +side. + +"The ship is near," she said, and then her voice faltered; "but it is +not the ship of Késa. It is but a small ship, and she hath but two +boats. Késa's had five." + +"What lies are these?" said the young savage fiercely. "Go look again." + +The girl left him, to return a few minutes later with grey-headed old +Kanka, who in response to an inquiring look from his master, bent his +head and said slowly-- + +"'Tis a strange ship--one that never before have we seen in Lele." + +The youth made him no answer. He merely raised his arm and pointed his +finger at the three messengers. + +"Then they have lied to me. Bring them here to me." + +Kanka stepped over to where the fated men were sitting. They rose at his +behest, and crept over to the king; behind them, at some invisible sign +given by him, followed a man with a heavy club of _toa_ wood. The +clamour which had filled the courtyard ceased, and terrified silence +fell. One by one the messengers knelt upon the coral flags--no need for +them to ask for mercy from Charlik, the savage son of a bloodstained +father. The bearer of the club held the weapon knob downward, and +watched the king's face for the signal of death. He nodded, and then, +one after another of the men were struck and fell prone upon the stones. +With scowling eyes Charlik regarded them for a moment or two in silence, +then he turned unconcernedly away, as some of his slaves came forward +and carried the bodies out of sight. + +Suddenly he sprang to his feet, as a loud, long cry, first from a single +throat, and then echoed and reechoed by a hundred more, came upward from +the beach. + +"A ship! A ship! Another ship! The ship of Késa!" + +Bidding his sister and the old chief Kanka to come with him, Charlik +quickly left the house, and walking through a grove of breadfruit trees, +reached a spot from where he had a full view of the open sea. There +right in the passage was a small barque; and, almost within hail, and +just rounding the northern horn of the reef was a larger vessel, one +glance at which told Charlik that it was the American whaler for which +he had so long waited. In less than an hour they were at anchor abreast +of the king's house, and the two captains were being rowed ashore. They +met on the beach. The master of the smaller vessel was a tall, +broad-shouldered man, armed with a pair of pistols and a cutlass. +Striding over the sand he held out his hand to the American. + +"Good day. My name's Ross, barque _Lucy May_, of Sydney, from the New +Hebrides to Hong Kong with sandalwood." + +"Glad to meet ye. My name is Cayse, ship _Iroquois_, bound on a sperm +whalin' cruise." + +Further speech was denied them, for suddenly the thronging and excited +natives around them drew aside right and left as Charlik, with a face +beaming with smiles, came up to Cayse with outstretched hand, and +greeted him warmly in English. Then he turned quickly to the Englishman +and shook hands with him also, and asked him from whence he came. + +"From Sydney. I came here to get wood, water, and provisions." + +"Good. You can get all you want. Have you muskets and bullets to sell?" + +"I can spare you some." + +"Ah, that is good. I want plenty, plenty. Now come to my house and eat +and drink; then we can talk." + +It was well on towards sunset before Charlik and Cayse had finished +their talk. Ross meanwhile had gone on board the barque for some +firearms which he was giving the king in exchange for several boatloads +of provisions. When he returned, with two of his crew carrying six +muskets, a keg of powder, and a bag of bullets, Cayse met him on the +threshold of the king's house. + +"Come inside, mister. The king wants to talk to you on a matter of +business. I reckon you an' me together can do what he wants done. But +jest come along with me first. I want to show you the kind of fellow he +is when he gets upset." + +The master of the sandalwooder followed the American across the wide +courtyard to some native houses. Stopping in front of one, from which +the low murmur of women's voices, broken now and then by a wailing cry, +proceeded, he desired Ross to look in through the doorway. A small fire +of coconut shells was burning in the centre of the room, and _by_ its +light Ross saw several women crouched round the bodies of three men, +performing the last offices for the dead. They looked at the white +strangers with apathetic indifference, but ceased their labours whilst +Ross bent down and examined the still faces. His scrutiny was brief, +but it was enough. + +Cayse gave a sniggering laugh. "I reckon you'll feel sorter startled, +mister, when I tell you that you were the cause of those men getting +clubbed, hey?" + +Ross frowned angrily. "What are you driving at? What the devil had I to +do with it?" + +"On'y this. You see I'm the white-headed boy with this young island +cock, an' he's been expectin' to see the _Iroquois_ for quite a time. +Your barque happened to heave in sight first, an' these three fellows +who were standin' mast-head watch up thar on the mountain, came tearin' +down an' reported that it was my old hooker. Charlik bein' a most +impatient young fellow, had 'em clubbed on the spot; he should hev +waited another five minutes. Come on, he's ready to talk business with +us now." + +In the centre of the big council room Charlik, attended by his sister, +was seated upon a mat. A couple of brightly burning ship's lanterns +suspended from the beams overhead, revealed the figures of a score of +armed natives, seated with their backs to the canework walls of the +room; midway between them and the young king were two seamen's chests, +beside which crouched the half-naked, tatooed form or old Kanka. + +Followed by the sailors carrying the muskets, the two captains walked +over the soft, springy floor of mats, and seated themselves facing the +young man. His eye lit up at the sight of the arms, and then he desired +Ross to tell his men to withdraw. Then as the sound of their footsteps +died away, he looked at Cayse and said briefly-- + +"Go on, capèn. You talk." + +Cayse went into the subject at once. + +"Captain Ross, do you want to earn three thousand dollars?" + +"Don't mind." + +"Neither do I. Well, just listen. The king here has three thousand +dollars in cash and three thousand dollars' worth of coconut ile and +turtle-shell. Now, if you and I will help him to do a bit of fightin' +it's ours. The money and shell is here in this room, the ile is in the +sheds near by. If you agree, the king will hand us over the money now, +and we can ship the ile in the morning." + +Ross thought a moment, then he said suspiciously-- + +"Why are you giving me a chance?" + +"Not from any feelin' of affection for you, mister," answered Cayse with +his peculiar snarl, "but because I ain't able to do the whole business +myself--if I could I wouldn't ask _you_ to come in. Now, I noticed this +mornin' that you carry a big crew, and have six guns, and I reckon thet +you hev to use 'em sometimes in your business?" + +Ross laughed grimly. "All of us sandalwooding ships carry a few +nine-pounders as well as plenty of small arms. We are allowed to do so +by the Governor of New South Wales." + +"Just so. Well, now, listen. This island is governed by two chiefs; +this one here, Charlik, has most people, but the other lot, who live on +the lee side of the island, rebelled against his father more'n ten years +ago. They've had a good many fights, an' in the last one these Lele +people got badly whipped. Charlik is the proper king, but ever since a +white man named Ledyard went to live with the Leassé people, they've +refused to pay tribute. This Ledyard is the cause of all the trouble, +and he has taught his natives how to fight European fashion. There's +only about six hundred of 'em altogether--men, women, and +children--eh, Charlik?" + +The young chief nodded in assent. + +"Now, by a bit of luck, news came up the other day by one of Charlik's +spies that Ledyard has gone away to Ponapé in a cutter he has built. It +will take him two or three weeks to go there and back, and now is the +time for Charlik to wipe out old scores--the Leassé people won't stand +much of a chance agin' a night attack by three hundred of Charlik's +people. If Ledyard was there it would be different." + +Ross soon made his decision. He was a man utterly without pity, and +Cayse who, while inciting others to slaughter for the sake of his own +gain, yet had some grains of compunction in his nature, almost shuddered +when the master of the _Lucy May_ laughed hoarsely and said-- + +"It's a bargain--just the thing that my crowd could tackle and carry +through themselves. Two voyages ago me and my beauties wiped out every +living soul on one of the Cartaret's Islands. I'll tell you the yarn +some day. But look here, king, can't we make another deal about the +women and children. Let me keep as many of them as I have room for +aboard, and I'll pay for them in muskets and powder and bullets." + +"What do you want with them?" + +"Sell them to old Abba Dul, the king of the Pelews. I've done business +with him before." + +Charlik called Kanka over to him, and the two spoke in low tones. Then +the young ruler of Lele shook his head. + +"No. There must be but one left to live--the white man's wife. Now we +shall count this money." + +The boxes were carried over directly under the rays of the lamps and +opened, the bags containing the money lifted out, the coins counted, and +then evenly divided between the two wolves. + +On the following morning the casks of oil were rolled down to the beach +and rafted off to the two ships, and before dawn, on the fourth day, +Ross and his fellow-ruffian sent word ashore to the king that all was +ready, and that he and his fighting men could come on board at once and +proceed on their dreadful mission. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +As the two captains and their ferocious young employer sat on the +snow-white poop of the _Iroquois_ and discussed the plan of attack, the +ship and barque kept closely together, so closely that North, who had +not yet placed foot on board the sandalwooder, had now an opportunity of +looking down upon her decks, and watching the actions of those who +manned her. A more ragged and desperate looking lot of ruffians he had +never seen in his life; and their wild, unkempt appearance was in +perfect accord with the _Lucy May_ herself, whose dirty, yellow sides +were stained from stem to stern with long streaks and broad patches of +iron-rust. Aloft she was in as equally a bad condition, and North and +his fellow-officers, used to the trimness and unceasing care of a +whaleship's sails and running gear, looked with contempt at the disorder +and neglect everywhere visible. On deck, however, some attempt at +setting things ship-shape were being made by the two mates and +boatswain, the six guns were being overhauled, and a pile of muskets +lying on the main hatch were being examined and passed up to the poop +one by one, to old Kanka, who was in command of the contingent of Lele +natives on board the barque. Similar preparations with small arms were +being made on board the _Iroquois_ by her crew which, largely composed +of Chilenos, Portuguese, and Polynesians, had eagerly accepted the offer +of twenty dollars for each man for a few hours' fighting. North alone +had spoken against and tried to dissuade his fellow-officers from taking +any active part in the expedition, but his remonstrances fell upon +unheeding ears. The details of the scheme to surprise the unsuspecting +inhabitants of the two villages had filled him with unutterable horror +and indignation, and all sorts of wild plans formed in his brain to +prevent the accomplishment of the cruel deed. For the consequences of +such interference to himself he cared nothing. He was alone in the +world, and had no thought beyond that of making enough money to enable +him to one day buy a ship of his own. Once, as he passed the trio on the +poop, and glanced at the smooth, olive-coloured features of the young +king, who, with anticipative zest, was fondling a rifle which Ross had +brought on board for him, he felt inclined to whip a belaying-pin out of +the rail and bring it crashing down upon his skull. Had there been any +other ship but the _Lucy May_ near, he would have left the _Iroquois_ +that moment. But help was coming to his troubled mind. + +An hour before sunset the two vessels ran into a little harbour, then +called Port Lottin, but now known as South Harbour by the few wandering +whalers which sometimes touch at the island. Here, ere it became dark, +the natives, with fourteen of the _Lucy May's_ crew under Ross, were +landed. They were to march at early morning, cross the mountain range +which intervened between South Harbour and Leassé, and then, hidden by +the dense forest, await the appearance of the ships off the doomed +villages on the following afternoon. The six boats--two from the _Lucy +May_ and four from the _Iroquois_--were to pull ashore as soon as the +ships were off Leassé and take up positions, three to the north and +three to the south, so as to cut off all who attempted to escape along +the beaches from the attack which would be made by Ross. Charlik was to +command one of the boat parties, Cayse the other, and should any canoes +with fugitives attempt to gain the open sea, they were to be sunk by the +_Lucy May's_ guns, for she was to anchor in such a position that an +escaping canoe would have to pass within fifty yards of her. + + * * * * * + +Eight bells had struck, and North, who had declined to join the captain +and his fellow-officers at supper, was sitting in his cabin smoking and +listening to the soft hum of the surf on the barrier reef a mile away. +On deck all was quiet, only the fourth mate and three of the hands were +keeping watch, the rest of the crew who were not turned in had gone +ashore to witness a dance given by King Charlik's warriors. + +Suddenly he heard a footfall on the cabin deck, and then some one said +in a low voice-- + +"May I come in, sir?" + +North, recognising the voice as that of a young man named Macy, his own +harpooner, at once bade him enter. + +Macy, a sunburnt, blue-eyed youth, closed the cabin door behind him, and +held up his finger to enjoin silence. + +"I've only just now heard, sir, that you will not take a hand in this +work which is going on. Neither will I, sir; for those damned savages +are going to kill all the poor women and children. I've come to ask you +what I'm to do if I'm ordered away in the boat? My God! Mr. North, must +we all be turned into a gang of murderers like those fellows on the +_Lucy May!_" + +The officer shook the young seaman's hand. "I for one will have no hand +in it, my lad; and I wish there were more of us on board of our way of +thinking. I wish we could leave the ship. I would rather die of thirst +on the open ocean ... Macy, my lad, will you stand to me?" + +"Stand to you, sir! Aye, Mr. North. If you mean to take to our boat, +sir, I am with you." + +"No," answered North in a whisper. "That, after all, would only save us +two from being mixed up in this murderous business--I want to prevent it +altogether. Have you heard how far it is across the island to this place +Leassé?" + +"Seven miles, sir, over the mountains." + +"And twenty by the boats! Macy, I am determined to leave the ship +to-night, cut across the island, and save the poor people from massacre. +Will you come? We may pay for it with our lives." + +The harpooner raised his rough hand. "We must all die some day, sir." + +For some minutes they conversed in whispered tones; then Macy slipped on +deck, and North took his pistols from their racks, filled his coat +pockets with ammunition, and then followed him. His own boat was lying +astern. + +Telling the cooper, who was the only one of the afterguard on deck, that +he was going ashore to look at the dance, and that only Macy and another +hand need come with him, North ordered the boat to be hauled alongside. +A quarter of an hour later he and Macy stepped out upon the shore under +the shadow of a high bluff, and quite out of view from Ross and his +party, although the many camp-fires cast long lines of light across the +sleeping waters of the little harbour. + +Informing the boat-keeper that they should return in a couple of hours, +the two men first walked along the beach in the direction of the +encampment. Then once out of sight from the boat, they struck inland +into a deep valley through which, Macy said, a narrow track led up to +the range, and then downwards to the two villages. After a careful +search the track was found, and the bright stars shining through the +canopy of leaves overhead gave them sufficient light to pursue their +way. For two hours they toiled along through the silent forest, hearing +no sound except now and then the affrighted rush of some startled wild +boar, and, far distant, the dull cry of the ever-restless breakers upon +the coral reef. At last the summit of the range was reached, and they +sat down to rest upon the thick carpet of fallen leaves which covered +the ground. Here North took a spirit-flask from his jacket, and Macy and +he drank in turns. + +"Do you know, sir," said Macy, as he returned the flask to the officer, +"that there's a white man living at this village?" + +"He's not there now, Macy. He's gone away to another island in his +cutter." + +"I know that, sir. I've heard all about it from one of the chaps on the +_Lucy May_. The man's name is Ledyard, and this young devil's-limb of a +king hates him like poison--for two reasons. One is, that Ledyard, who +settled in Leassé a few years ago, taught the people there how to use +their muskets in a fight, when Charlik's father tried to destroy them +time and again; the other is that his wife is a white woman--or almost a +white woman, a Bonin Island Portuguese--and Charlik means to get her. +When Ledyard comes back in his cutter he will walk into a trap, and be +killed as soon as he steps ashore." + +North struck his hand upon the ground. "And to think that I have sailed +with such a villain as Cayse, who--" + +"That's not all. Ledyard has two children. Charlik has given orders for +them to be killed, as he says he only wants the woman! Ross, I believe, +wanted him to spare 'em, but the young cut-throat said 'No.' I heard all +this from two men--the chap from the _Lucy May_ and one of Charlik's +fighting men, who speaks English and seems to have a soft place in his +heart for Ledyard." + +The mate of the _Iroquois_ sprang to his feet. "The cold-blooded +wretches! Come on, Macy. We _must_ get there in time." + +For another two hours they made steady progress through the darkened +forest aisles, and then as they emerged out upon a piece of open +country, they saw far beneath them the gleaming sea. And here, amidst a +dense patch of pandanus palms, the path they had followed came to an +end. Pushing their way through the thorny leaves, which tore the skin +from their hands and faces, Macy exclaimed excitedly-- + +"We're all right, sir. I can see a light down there. It must be a fire +on the beach." + +Heedless of the unknown dangers of the deep descent, and every now and +then tripping and falling over the roots of trees and fallen timber, +they again came out into the open, and there, two hundred feet below +them, they saw the high-peaked, saddle-backed houses of Leassé village +standing clearly out in the starlight. But at this point their further +progress was barred by a cliff, which seemed to extend for half a mile +on both sides of them. Cautiously feeling their way along its ledge they +sought in vain for a path. + +"We must hail them, Macy. There will be sure to be plenty of them who +can speak a little English and show us the way to get down." + +Returning as quickly as possible to the spot immediately over the +village, the officer gave a long, loud hail. + +"_Below there, you sleepers!_" + +The hoarse, shrieking notes of countless thousands of roosting +sea-birds, as they rose in alarm from their perches in the forest trees, +mingled with the barking of dogs from the village, and then came a wild +cry of alarm from a human throat. + +Waiting for a few moments till the clamour had somewhat subsided, the +two men again hailed in unison. + +"_Below there! Awake, you sleepers!_" + +Another furious outburst of yelping and barking--through which ran the +quavering of voices of the affrighted natives--smote the stillness of +the night. Then the bright light of torches of coconut leaves flashed +below, nude figures ran swiftly to and fro among the houses, and then +came a deep-voiced answering hail in English-- + +"_Hallo there! Who hails_?" + +"Two white men," was the officer's quick reply. "We cannot get down. +Bear a hand with a torch; we have lost the track." Then as something +flashed across his mind, he added, "Who are you? Are you a white man?" + +"Yes. I am Tom Ledyard." + +"Thank God for that! Send a light quickly. You and your people are in +deadly danger." + +In a few minutes the waiting men saw the gleam of torches amid the trees +to their right, and presently a tall, bearded, white man appeared, +followed by half a dozen natives. All were armed with muskets, whose +barrels glinted and shone in the firelight. + +Springing forward to meet him, North told his story in as few words as +possible. + +Ledyard's dark face paled with passion. "By heaven, they shall get a +bloody welcome! Now, come, sir; follow me. You must need rest badly." + +As they passed through the village square, now lit up by many fires and +filled with alarmed natives, Ledyard called out in his deep tones-- + +"Gather ye together, my friends. The son of the Slaughterer is near. +Send a man fleet of foot to Môut and bid him tell Nena, the chief, and +his head men to come to my house quickly, else in a little while our +bones will be gnawed by Charlik's dogs." + +Then with North and Macy besides him, he entered his house, the largest +in the village. A woman, young, slender, and fair-skinned, met them at +the door. Behind her were some terrified native women, one of whom +carried Ledyard's youngest child in her arms. + +"'Rita, my girl," said Ledyard, placing his hand on his wife's shoulder +and speaking in English, "these are friends. They have come to warn us. +That young hell-pup, Charlik, is attacking us tomorrow. But quick, girl, +get something for these gentlemen to eat and drink." + +But North and the harpooner were too excited to eat, and, seated +opposite their host, they listened eagerly to him as he told them of his +plans to repel the attack; of the bitter hatred that for ten years had +existed between the people of Leassé and the old king; and then--he set +his teeth--how that Sé, the friendly sister of the young king, had once +sent a secret messenger to him telling him to guard his wife well, for +her brother had made a boast that when Leassé and Môut were given to the +flames only Cerita should be spared. + +"Then, ten days ago, Mr. North, thinking that this young tiger-cub +Charlik knew that these people here were well prepared to resist an +attack, I left in my cutter on a trading voyage to Ponapé. Three days +out the vessel began to make water so badly that I had to beat back. I +only came ashore yesterday." + +He rose and walked to and fro, muttering to himself. Then he spoke +again. + +"Mr. North, and you, my friend"--turning to Macy--"have saved me and +those I love from a sudden and cruel death. What can I do to show my +gratitude? You cannot now return to your ship; will you join your +fortunes with mine? I have long thought of leaving this island and +settling in Ponapé. There is money to be made there. Join me and be my +partners. My cutter is now hauled up on the beach--if she were fit to go +to sea we could leave the island to-night. But that cannot be done. It +will take me a week to put her in proper repair--and to-morrow we must +fight for our lives." + +North stretched out his hand. "Macy and I will stand by you, Ledyard. We +do not want to ever put foot again on the deck of the _Iroquois_." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The story of that day of bloodshed and horror, when Charlik and his +white allies sought to exterminate the whole community, cannot here be +told in _all_ its dreadful details. Seventy years have come and gone +since then, and there are but two or three men now living on the island +who can speak of it with knowledge as a tale of "the olden days when we +were heathens." Let the rest of the tale be told in the words of one of +those natives of Leassé, who, then a boy, fought side by side with +Ledyard, North, and Macy. + + * * * * * + +"The sun was going westward in the sky when the two ships rounded the +point and anchored in what you white men now call Coquille Harbour. We +of Leassé, who watched from the shore, saw six boats put off, filled +with men. There pulled inside the reef, and went to the right towards +Môut; three went to the left. Letya (Ledyard), with the two white +strangers who had come to him in the night, and two hundred of our men, +had long before gone into the mountains to await Charlik and his +fighting men, and their white friends. They--Letya and the Leassé +people--made a trap for Charlik's men in the forest. Charlik himself was +in the boats with the other white men. He wanted to see the people of +Leassé and Môut driven into the water, so that he might shoot at them +with a new rifle which Késa or the other ship captain--I forget +which--had given to him. But he wanted most of all to get Cerita, the +wife of Letya, the white man. Only Cerita was to live. These were +Charlik's words. He did not know that her husband had returned from the +sea. Had he known that, he would not have given all his money and all +his oil to the two white captains to help him to make Leassé and Môut +desolate and give our bones to his dogs to eat. + +"It was a great trap--the trap prepared by Letya; and Charlik's men and +the white men with them fell in it. They fell as a stone falls in a deep +well, and sinks and is no more seen of men. + +"This was the manner of the trap: The path down the cliff was between +two high walls of rock; at the foot of the cliff was a thick clump of +high pandanus trees growing closely together. In between these trees +Letya built a high barrier of logs, encompassing the outlet of the path +to Leassé. This barrier was a half circle; the two ends touched the edge +of the cliff, and the centre was hidden among the pandanus trees. On the +top of this barrier the men of Leassé waited with loaded muskets; lower +down on the ground were others, they too had loaded muskets. On the top +of the cliff where the path led down, fifty men were hidden. They were +hidden in the thick scrub which we call _oap. Oap_ is a good thing in +which to hide from an enemy, and then spring from and slay him suddenly. + +"I, who was then a boy, saw all this. I heard Letya, our white man, tell +the head of our village that Charlik's men would enter into the trap and +perish. Then kava was made, and Letya and the head men drank. Kava is +good, but rum is better to make men fight. We had no rum, but we had +great love for Letya and his wife, and his two children, and great hate +for Charlik. So we said, 'If this is death, it is death,' and every man +went to his post--some to the barrier at the foot of the cliff, and some +to the thicket of _oap_ on the summit. Cerita, the wife of Letya the +Englishman, was weeping. She was weeping because Nená, the chief of +Môut, was waiting in the house to kill her if her husband should be +slain. But she did not weep because of the fear of death; it was for her +children she wept. That is the way of women. What is the life of a child +to the life of a man? + +"Nená was my father's brother. He was a brave man, but was too old to +fight, for his eyes were dimmed by many years. So he sat beside Cerita +and her two children, with a long knife in his hand and waited. He +covered his face with a mat and waited. It was right for him to do this, +for Letya was a great man; and his wife, although she was a foreigner, +was an honoured woman. Therefore though Nená might not look upon her +face at other times, he could kill her if Letya said she must die. This +was quite right and correct. A wife must be guided by her husband and do +what is right and correct, and avoid scandal. + +"For many hours the women in the houses waited in silence. Then suddenly +they heard the thunder of two hundred guns, and the roaring of voices, +then more muskets. They ran out of the houses and looked up to the +cliff, and lo! the sky was bright as day, for when Charlik's people and +the white men walked into the trap in the darkness, Letya and our people +set alight great heaps of dry leaves and scrub, which were placed all +along the barrier of logs. This was done so that they could see better +to shoot. There were thirty or forty of Charlik's men killed by that +volley. The white man who was leading them was very brave; he tried to +climb over the barrier, but fell back dead, for a man named Sru thrust a +whale-lance into his heart. All this time the other white men and the +rest of Charlik's people were firing their muskets, but their bullets +only hit the heavy logs of the barrier, and Letya and our people killed +them very easily by putting their muskets through the spaces. When the +sailors saw their captain fall, they tried to run away, and the Lele +warriors ran with them. But when they reached the path which led up +between the cliff, it too was blocked, and many of them became jammed +together between the walls, and these were all killed very easily--some +with bullets, and some with big stones. Then those that were left ran +round and found inside the trap, trying to get out. They were like rats +in a cask, and our people kept killing them as they ran. Some of +them--about thirty--did climb over, but all were killed, for when they +jumped down on the other side our people were there waiting. At last +four of the sailors made a big hole by tearing out two posts, and rushed +out, followed by the Lele men. Letya was the first man to meet the +sailors, and he told them to surrender. Two of them threw down their +arms, but the other two ran at Letya, and one of them ran his cutlass +into him. It went in at the stomach, and Letya fell. We killed all these +white sailors, but some of the Lele men escaped. That was a great pity, +but then how can these things be helped?" The two strange white men who +were fighting beside Le|tya, picked him up, and they carried him into +his house. He was not dead, but he said, 'I shall soon die, take me to +my wife.' I did not go with them to the house. I went into the barrier +with the other youths to kill the wounded. It is a foolish thing not to +kill wounded men; they may get better and kill you. So we killed them. +There were fourteen white men slain in that fight beside their captain. + +"Before it was daylight some of our men set out along the beach to look +for the boats. They did not want to kill any more white men, but they +did want to kill Charlik. They were very fortunate, for before they had +gone far on their way they saw three of the boats coming along close in +to the beach. So they hid behind some rocks. Charlik was in the first +boat; he was standing in the bow pointing out the way. When he came very +close they all fired together, and Charlik's life was gone. He fell dead +into the sea. Then the boats all turned seaward, and pulled hard for the +ships. Then before long, we saw the other three boats going back to the +ships; in these last were four of Charlik's men who had escaped. The +boats were quickly pulled up, and the ships sailed away, for those on +board were terrified when they heard that all the white men they had +sent to fight were dead. + +"Letya did not die at once--not for two days. Cerita his wife and two +white men watched beside him all this time. Before he died he called the +head men to him, and said that he gave his small ship to the two white +men, together with many other things. All his money he gave to his wife, +and told her she must go away with the white men, who would take her +back to her own people. To the head men he gave many valuable things, +such as tierces of tobacco and barrels of powder. This was quite right +and proper, and showed he knew what was correct to do before he died. We +buried him on the little islet over there called Bèsi. + +"The two white men and Cerita and her two children went away in the +little ship. But they did not go to Cerita's country: they remained at +Ponapé, and there the tall man of the two--the officer--married Cerita. +All this we learnt a year afterwards from the captain of a whaling ship. +It was quite right and proper for Letya's widow to marry so quickly, and +to marry the man who had been a friend to her husband." + + + + +_A Hundred Fathoms Deep_ + + +There is still a world or discovery open to the ichthyologist who, in +addition to scientific knowledge, is a lover of deep-sea fishing, has +some nerve, and is content to undergo some occasional rough experiences, +if he elects to begin his researches among the many island groups of the +North and South Pacific. I possessed, to some extent, the two latter +qualifications; the former, much to my present and lasting regret, I did +not. Nearly twenty-six years ago the vessel in which I sailed as +supercargo was wrecked on Strong's Island, the eastern outlier of the +fertile Caroline Archipelago, and for more than twelve months I devoted +the greater part of my time to traversing the mountainous island from +end to end, or, accompanied by a hardy and intelligent native, in +fishing, either in the peculiarly-formed lagoon at the south end, or two +miles or so outside the barrier reef. + +The master of the vessel, I may mention, was the notorious, over +maligned, and genial Captain Bully Hayes, and from him I had learnt a +little about some of the generally unknown deep-sea fish of Polynesia +and Melanesia. He had told me that when once sailing between Aneityum +and Tanna, in the New Hebrides, shortly after a severe volcanic eruption +on the former island had been followed by a submarine convulsion, his +brig passed through many hundreds of dead and dying fish of great size, +some of which were of a character utterly unknown to any of his native +crew--men who came from all parts of the North and South Pacific. More +remarkable still, some of these fish had never before been seen by the +inhabitants of the islands near which they were found. There were, he +said, some five or six kinds, but they were all of the groper family. +One of three which was brought on board was discovered floating on the +surface when the ship was five miles off Tanna. A boat was lowered, but +on getting up to it, the crew found they were unable to lift it from the +water; it was, however, towed to the ship, hoisted on board, and cut +into three parts, the whole of which were weighed, and reached over 300 +lbs. In colour it was a dull grey, with large, closely-adhering scales +about the size of a florin; the fins, tail, and lips were blue. Another +one, weighing less, had a differently-shaped head, with a curious, +pipe-like mouth; this was a uniform dull blue. A similar upturning from +the ocean's dark depths of strange fish occurred during a submarine +earthquake near Rose Island, a barren spot to the south-west of Samoa. +The disturbance threw up vast numbers of fish upon the reefs of Manua, +the nearest island of the group, and the natives looked upon their great +size and peculiar appearance with unbounded astonishment. + +Without desiring to bore the reader with unnecessary details of my own +experiences in the South Seas, but because the statement bears on the +subject of this article--a subject which has been my delight since I was +a boy of ten years of age--I may say that, nine years after the loss of +Captain Hayes's vessel on Strong's Island, I was again shipwrecked on +Peru, one of the Gilbert, or, as we traders call them, the "Line" +Islands. Here I was so fortunate as to take up my residence with one of +the local traders, a Swiss named Frank Voliero, who was an ardent +deep-sea fisherman, and whose catches were the envy and wonder of the +wild and intractable natives among whom he lived; for he had excellent +tackle, which enabled him to fish at depths seldom tried by the natives, +who have no reason to go beyond sixty or eighty fathoms. In the long +interval that had elapsed since my fishing days in the Carolines and my +arrival at Peru Island, I had gained such experience in my hobby in many +other parts of the Pacific as falls to few men, and the desire to fish +in deep water, and get something that astonished the natives of the +various islands, had become a passion with me. Voliero and myself went +out together frequently, and, did space permit, I should like to +describe the fortune that attended us at Peru, as well as my fishing +adventures at Strong's Island. + +In a former work I have endeavoured to describe that extraordinary +nocturnal-feeding fish, the _palu_, and the manner of its capture by +the Malayo-Polynesian islanders of the Equatorial Pacific, and in the +present article I shall try to convey to my readers an idea of deep-sea +fishing in the South Seas generally. When I was living on the little +island of Nanomaga (one of the Ellice Group, situated about 600 miles to +the north-west of Samoa), as the one resident trader, I found myself +in--if I may use the term--a marine paradise, as far as fishing went. +The natives were one and all expert fishermen, extremely jealous of +their reputation of being not only the best and most skilful men in +Polynesia in the handling of their frail canoes in a heavy surf, but +also of being deep-learned in the lore of deep-sea fishing. + +My arrival at the island caused no little commotion among the young +bloods, each of whose chances of gaining the girl of his heart, and +being united to her by the local Samoan missionary teacher, depended in +a great measure upon his ability to provide sustenance for her from the +sea; for Nanomaga, like the rest of the Ellice Group, is but little more +than a richly-verdured sandbank, based upon a foundation of coral, and +yielding nothing to its people but coconuts and a coarse species of +taro, called puraka. The inhabitants, in their low-lying atolls, possess +no running streams, no fertile soil, in which, as in the mountainous +isles of Polynesia, the breadfruit, the yam, and the sweet potato grow +and flourish side by side with such rich and luscious fruits as the +orange and banana, and pineapple--they have but the beneficent coconut +and the evergiving sea to supply their needs. And the sea is kind to +them, as Nature meant it to be to her own children. + +The native missionary at Nanomaga was a Samoan. He was intended by +nature to be a warrior, a leader of men; or--and no higher praise can I +give to his dauntless courage--a boat-header on a sperm whaler. Strong +of arm and quick of eye, he was the very man to either throw the harpoon +or deal the death-giving thrust or the lance to the monarch of the ocean +world; but fate or circumstance had made him a missionary instead. He +was a fairly good missionary, but a better fisherman. + +Three miles from Nanomaga is a submerged reef, marked on the chart as +the Grand Coral Reef, but known to the natives as Tia Kau, "the reef." +It is in reality a vast mountain of coral, whose bases lie two hundred +fathoms deep, with a flattened summit of about fifty acres in extent, +rising to within five fathoms of the surface of the sea. This spot is +the resort of incredible numbers of fish, both deep-sea haunting and +surface swimming. Some of the latter, such as the _pala_ (not the +_palu_)--a long, scaleless, beautifully-formed fish, with a head of bony +plates and teeth like a rip-saw--are of great size, and afford splendid +sport, as they are game fighters and almost as powerful as a porpoise. +They run to over 100 lbs., and yet are by no means a coarse fish. In the +shallow water on the top of this mountain reef there are some eight or +nine varieties of rock cod, none of which were of any great size; but +far below, at a depth of from fifty to seventy fathoms, there were some +truly monstrous fish of this species, and I and my missionary friend had +the luck to catch the four largest ever taken--221 lbs., 208 lbs., 118 +lbs., and 111 lbs. I had caught when fishing for schnapper, in thirty +fathoms off Camden Haven, on the coast of New South Wales, a mottled +black and grey rock cod, which weighed 83 lbs., and was assured by the +Sydney Museum authorities that such a weight for a rock cod was rare in +that part of the Pacific, but that _bêche-de-mer_ fishermen on the Great +Barrier Reef had occasionally captured fish of the same variety of +double that size and weight. + +Not possessing a boat, we fished from a canoe--a light, but strong and +beautifully constructed craft, with "whalebacks" fore and aft to keep it +from being swamped by seas when facing or running from a surf. The +outrigger was formed of a very light wood, called _pua_, about fourteen +inches in circumference. With the teacher and myself there usually went +with us a third man, whose duty it was to keep the canoe head to wind, +for anchoring in deep water in such a tiny craft was out of the +question, as well as dangerous, should a heavy fish or a shark get foul +of the outrigger. Capsizes in the daytime we did not mind, but at night +numbers of grey sharks were always cruising around, and they were then +especially savage and daring. + +Leaving the pretty little village, which was embowered in a palm grove +on the lee side of the island, we would, if intending to fish on the Tia +Kau, make a start before dawn, remain there till the canoe was loaded to +her raised gunwale pieces with the weight of fish, and then return. +Night fishing on the Tia Kau by a single canoe was forbidden by the +_kaupule_ (head men) as being too dangerous on account of the sharks, +and so usually from ten to twenty canoes set out together. If one did +come to grief through being swamped, or capsized by having the outrigger +fouled by a shark, there was always assistance near at hand, and it +rarely happened that any of the crew were bitten. In 1872, however, a +fearful tragedy occurred on the Tia Kau, when a party of seventy +natives--men, women, and children--who were crossing to the neighbouring +Island of Nanomea, were attacked by sharks when overtaken on the reef by +a squall at night. Only two escaped to tell the tale.[14] + +If, however, we meant to try for _takuo_, a huge variety of the +mackerel-tribe, or _lahe'u_, a magnificent bream-shaped fish, we had no +need to go so far as the dangerous Tia Kau; three or four cable-lengths +from the beach, and right in front of the village, we could lie in water +as smooth as glass, and seventy fathoms in depth. Our bait was +invariably flying-fish, freshly caught, or the tentacles of an octopus. +My lines were of white American cotton, and I generally used two hooks, +one below and one above the sinker, both baited with a whole +flying-fish, while my companions preferred wooden or iron hooks, of +their own manufacture, and lines made from hibiscus bark or coconut +fibre. + +I shall always remember with pleasure my first _lahe'u_. I was +accompanied by the native teacher alone, and we paddled off from the +village just after evening service, and brought to about a quarter of a +mile outside the reef. The rest of the islanders had gone round in +their canoes to the weather side of the little island to fish for +_takuo_, for we were expecting a _malaga_, or party of visitors from the +Island of Nukufetau in a day or two, and unusual supplies of fish had to +be obtained, to sustain, not only the island's record as the fishing +centre of the universe, but the people's reputation for hospitality. It +had been my suggestion to the teacher that he and I, who were unable to +accompany the others, should try what we could do nearer home. The night +was brilliantly starlight, and the sea as smooth as glass--so smooth +that there was not even the faintest swell upon the reef. The trade wind +was at rest, and not the faintest breath of air moved the foliage of the +coco palms lining the white strip of beach. Now and then a splash or a +sudden commotion in the water around us would denote that some hapless +flying-fish had taken an aerial flight from a pursuing _pala_, or that a +shark had seized a turtle in his cruel jaws. Lighting our pipes, we +lowered our lines together according to island etiquette, and touched +bottom at thirty fathoms; then hauled in a fathom or two of line to +avoid fouling the coral. In a few minutes my companion hooked an _utu_, +a sluggish fish, somewhat like a salmon in appearance, with shining +silvery scales and a broad flat head. As he was hauling in, and I was +looking over the side of the canoe to watch it coming up, I felt a +sharp, heavy tug at my own line, and, before I could check it, thirty or +forty yards of line whizzed through my fingers with lightning speed. + +"_Lahe'u!_" shouted the teacher, hurriedly making his own line fast, +and whipping up his paddle. "Don't give out any more line or he will run +under the reef, and we shall lose him." + +I knew by the vibration and hum of the line as soon as I had it well in +hand that there was a heavy and powerful fish at the end. Ioane, +disregarding the _utu_ as being of no importance in comparison to a +_lahe'u_, was plunging his paddle rapidly into the water, and +endeavouring to back the canoe seaward into deeper water, but, in spite +of his efforts and my own, we were being taken quickly inshore. For some +two or three minutes the canoe was dragged steadily landward, and I knew +that once the _lahe'u_ succeeded in getting underneath the overhanging +ledge of reef, there would be but little chance of our taking him except +by diving, and diving on a moonless night under a reef, and freeing a +fish from jagged branches of coral, is not a pleasant task, although an +Ellice Islander does not much mind it. Finding that I could not possibly +turn the fish, I asked Ioane what I should do. He told me to let go a +few fathoms of line, brace my knee against the thwart, and then trust to +the sudden jerk to cant the fish's head one way or the other. I did as I +was told. Out flew the line, and then came a shock that made the canoe +fairly jump, lifted the outrigger clear out of the water, and all but +capsized her. But the ruse was successful, for, with a furious shake, +_lahe'u_ changed his course, and started off at a tremendous rate, +parallel with the reef, and then gradually headed seaward. + +"Let him go," said Ioane, who was carefully watching the tautened-out +line, and steering at the same time. "'Tis a strong fish, but he is _man +tonu_ (truly hooked), and will now tire. But give him no more line, and +haul up to him." + +For fully five minutes the canoe went flying over the water, and I +continued to haul in line fathom by fathom, until I caught sight of, +deep down in the water right ahead, a great phosphorescent boil and +bubble. Then the pace began to slacken, as the gallant fighter began to +turn from side to side, shaking his head and making futile breaks from +port to starboard. Bidding me come amidships with the line, Ioane took +in his paddle, and picked up the harpoon which we always carried on the +outrigger platform in case of meeting a turtle. Nearer and nearer came +the great fish, till, with a splash of phosphorescent light and spray, +he came to the surface, beating the water with his forked and bony tail, +and still trying to get a chance for another downward run. Then Ioane, +waiting his opportunity, sent the iron clean through him from side to +side, and I sat down and watched, with a thrill of satisfaction and a +sigh of relief, his final flurry. In a few minutes we hauled him +alongside, drew the harpoon, and with some difficulty managed to get him +over the side and lower him into the bottom of the canoe amidships, +where he lay fore and aft, his curved back standing up nearly a foot and +a half above the raised gunwale. Although not above four feet in length, +he was nearly three in depth, and about sixteen inches thick at the +shoulder--a truly noble fish. + +"We have done well," said the teacher, with a pleased laugh, as he +hauled in his own line and dropped a 6-lb. _utu_ into the canoe. "There +will be much talk over this to-morrow, for these people here are very +conceited, and think that no one but themselves can catch _lahe'u_ and +_pala_. They will know better now, when they see this one." + +We returned to the shore within two hours from the time we left, with my +_lahe'u_, an _utu_, and five or six salmon-like fish called _tau-tau_, +all nocturnal feeders, and all highly thought of by the natives, +especially the latter. The _lahe'u_ we hung up under the missionary's +verandah, and at daylight I had the intense satisfaction of seeing a +crowd of natives surrounding it, and of hearing their flattering +allusions to myself as a _papalagi masani tonu futi íka_--a white man +who really could fish like a native. + + + + +_On a Tidal River_ + + +The English visitor to the Eastern Colonies of Australia who is in +search of sport with either rod or hand line can always obtain excellent +fishing in the summer months even in such traffic-disturbed harbours as +Sydney, Newcastle, and other ports; but on the tidal rivers of the +eastern and southern seaboard he can, every day, catch more fish than he +can carry during seven months of the year. In the true winter months +deep sea fishing is not much favoured, except during the prevalence of +westerly winds, when, for days at a time, the Pacific is as smooth as a +lake; but in the rivers, from Mallacoota Inlet, which is a few miles +over the Victorian boundary, to the Tweed River on the north of New +South Wales, the stranger may fairly revel not only in the delights of +splendid fishing but in the charms of beautiful scenery. He needs no +guide, will be put to but little expense, for the country hotel +accommodation is good and cheap; and, should he visit some of the +northern rivers where the towns, or rather small settlements, are few +and far between, he will find the settlers the embodiment of British +hospitality. + +Some three years ago the writer formed one of the crew of a little +steamer of fifty tons named the _Jenny Lind_, which was sent out along +the coast in the endeavour to revive the coast whaling industry. Through +stress of weather we had frequently to make a dash for shelter, towing +our sole whaleboat, to one of the many tidal rivers on the coast between +Sydney and Gabo Island. Here we would remain until the weather broke, +and our crew would literally cover the deck with an extraordinary +variety of fish in the course of a few hours. Then, at low tide, we +could always fill a couple of cornsacks with excellent oysters, and get +bucketfuls of large prawns by means of a scoop net improvised from a +piece of mosquito netting; game, too, was very plentiful on the lagoons. +The settlers were generally glad to see us, and gave us so freely of +milk, butter, pumpkins, &c., that, despite the rough handling we always +got at sea from the weather, we grew quite fat. But as the greater part +of my fishing experience was gained on the northern rivers of the colony +of N.S. Wales it is of them I shall write. + +Eighteen hours' run by steamer from Sydney is the Hastings River, on the +southern bank of which, a mile from the bar, is the old-time town of +Port Macquarie, a quaint, sleepy little place of six hundred +inhabitants, who spend their days in fishing and sleeping and waiting +for better times. There are two or three fairly good hotels, very pretty +scenery along the coast and up the river, and a stranger can pass a +month without suffering from ennui--that is, of course, if he be fond +of fishing and shooting; if he is not he should avoid going there, for +it is the dullest coast town in New South Wales. The southern shore, +from the steamer wharf to opposite the bar, is lined with a hard beach, +on which at high tide, or slack water at low tide, one may sit down in +comfort and have great sport with bream, whiting, and flathead. As soon +as the tide turns, however, and is well on the ebb or flow, further +fishing is impossible, for the river rushes out to sea with great +velocity, and the incoming tide is almost as swift. On the other side of +the harbour is a long, sandy point, called the North Shore, about a mile +in length. This, at the north end, is met by a somewhat dense scrub, +which lines the right bank of the river for a couple of miles, and +affords a splendid shade to any one fishing on the river bank. The outer +or ocean beach is but a few minutes' walk from the river, and a +magnificent beach it is, trending in one great unbroken curve to Point +Plomer, seven miles from the township. + +Before ascending the river on a fishing trip one has to provide one's +self with a plentiful supply of cockles, or "pippies," as they are +called locally. These can only be obtained on the northern ocean beach, +and not the least enjoyable part of a day's sport consists in getting +them. They are triangular in shape, with smooth shells of every +imaginable colour, though a rich purple is commonest. As the back wash +leaves the sands bare these bivalves may be seen in thick but irregular +patches protruding from the sand. Sometimes, if the tide is not low +enough, one may get rolled over by the surf if he happen to have his +back turned seaward. Generally I was accompanied by two boys, known as +"Condon's Twins." They were my landlord's sons, and certainly two of the +smartest young sportsmen--although only twelve years old--ever met with. +Both were very small for their age, and I was always in doubt as to +which was which. They were always delighted to come with me, and did not +mind being soused by a roller now and then when filling my "pippy" bag. +Pippies are the best bait one can have for whiting (except prawns) in +Australia, for, unlike the English whiting, it will not touch fish bait +of any sort, although, when very hungry, it will sometimes take to +octopus flesh. Bream (whether black or silvery), flathead, trevally, +jew-fish, and, indeed, all other fish obtained in Australia, are not so +dainty, for, although they like "pippies" and prawns best, they will +take raw meat, fish, or octopus bait with readiness. Certain species of +sea and river mullet are like them in this respect, and good sport may +be had from them with a rod in the hot months, as Dick and Fred, the +twins aforesaid, well knew, for often would their irate father +wrathfully ask them why they wasted their time catching "them worthless +mullet." + +But let me give an idea of one of many days' fishing on the Hastings, +spent with the "Twins." Having filled a sugar bag with "pippies" on the +ocean beach, we put on our boots and make our way through the belt of +scrub to where our boat is lying, tied to the protruding roots of a +tree. Each of us is armed with a green stick, and we pick our way pretty +carefully, for black snakes are plentiful, and to tread on one may mean +death. The density of the foliage overhead is such that but little +sunlight can pierce through it, and the ground is soft to our feet with +the thick carpet of fallen leaves beneath. No sound but the murmuring of +the sea and the hoarse notes of countless gulls breaks the silence, for +this side of the river is uninhabited, and its solitude disturbed only +by some settler who has ridden down the coast to look for straying +cattle, or by a fishing party from the town. Our boat, which we had +hauled up and then tied to the tree, is now afloat, for the tide has +risen, and the long stretches of yellow sandbanks which line the channel +on the farther side are covered now with a foot of water. As we drift up +the river, eating our lunch, and letting the boat take care of herself, +a huge, misshapen thing comes round a low point, emitting horrid +groanings and wheezings. It is a steam stern-wheel punt, loaded with +mighty logs of black-butt and tallow wood, from fifty feet to seventy +feet in length, cut far up the Hastings and the Maria and Wilson Rivers, +and destined for the sawmill at Port Macquarie. + +In another hour we are at our landing-place, a selector's abandoned +homestead, built of rough slabs, and standing about fifty yards back +from the river and the narrow line of brown, winding beach. The roof had +long since fallen in, and the fences and outbuildings lay low, covered +with vines and creepers. The intense solitude of the place, the +motionless forest of lofty grey-boled swamp gums that encompassed it on +all sides but one, and the wide stretch of river before it were +calculated to inspire melancholy in any one but an ardent fisherman. +Scarcely have we hauled our boat up on the sand, and deposited our +provisions and water in the roofless house, when we hear a commotion in +the river--a swarm of fish called "tailer" are making havoc among a +"school" of small mullet, many of which fling themselves out upon the +sand. Presently all is quiet again, and we get our lines ready. + +For whiting and silvery bream rather fine lines are used, but we each +have a heavy line for flathead, for these fish are caught in the tidal +rivers on a sandy bottom up to three feet and four feet in length. They +are in colour, both on back and belly, much like a sole, of great width +across the shoulders, and then taper away to a very fine tail. The head +is perfectly flat, very thin, and armed on each side with very sharp +bones pointing tailward; a wound from one of these causes intense +inflammation. The fins are small--so small as to appear almost +rudimentary--yet the fish swims, or rather darts, along the bottom with +amazing rapidity. They love to lie along the banks a few feet from the +shore, where, concealed in the sand, they can dart out upon and seize +their prey in their enormous "gripsack" mouths. The approach of a boat +or a person walking along the sand will cause them to at once speed like +lightning into deep water, leaving behind them a wake of sand and mud +which is washed off their backs in their flight. Still, although not a +pleasing fish to look at, the flathead is of a delicious and delicate +flavour. There are some variations in their shades of colour, from a +pale, delicate grey to a very dark brown, according to their habitat, +and, although most frequent in very shallow water, they are often caught +in great quantities off the coast in from ten to fifteen fathoms of +water. Gut or wire snoodings are indispensable when fishing for +flathead, else the fish invariably severs the line with his fine +needle-pointed teeth, which are set very closely together. Nothing comes +amiss to them as food, but they have a great love for small mullet or +whiting, or a piece of octopus tentacle. + +Baiting our heavy lines with mullet--two hooks with brass-wire snoods to +each line--we throw out about thirty yards, then, leaving two or three +fathoms loose upon the shore, we each thrust a stick firmly into the +sand, and take a turn of the line round it. As the largest flathead +invariably dart upon the bait, and then make a bolt with it, this plan +is a good one to follow, unless, of course, they are biting freely; in +that case the smaller lines for bream and whiting, &c., are hauled in, +for there is more real sport in landing an 8-lb. flathead than there is +in catching smaller fish, for he is very game, and fights fiercely for +his life. + +Having disposed our big lines, we bait the smaller ones with "pippies," +and not two minutes at the outside elapse after the sinkers have touched +bottom when we know we are to have a good time, for each of us has +hooked a fish, and three whiting are kicking on the sand before five +minutes have expired. Then for another hour we throw out and haul in +again as quickly as possible, landing whiting from 6 oz. to nearly 2 +lbs. in weight. One of the "Twins" has three hooks on his line, and +occasionally lands three fish together, and now and again we get small +bream and an occasional "tailer" of 2 lbs. or 3 lbs. As the sun mounts +higher the breeze dies away, the heat becomes very great, and we have +frequent recourse to our water jar--in one case mixing it with whisky. +Then the whiting cease to bite as suddenly as they have begun, and move +off into deeper water. Just as we are debating as to whether we shall +take the boat out into mid-stream, Twin Dick gives a yell as his stick +is suddenly whipped out of the sand, and the loose line lying beside it +rushes away into the water. But Dick is an old hand, and lets his fish +have his first bolt, and then turns him. "By Jingo! sir, he's a big +fellow," he cries, as he hauls in, the line now as taut as a telegraph +wire, and then the other twin comes to his aid, and in a few minutes the +outline of the fish is seen, coming in straight ahead as quick as they +can pull him. When he is within ten feet of the beach the boys run up +the bank and land him safely, as he turns his body into a circle in his +attempts to shake out the hook. Being called upon to estimate his +weight, I give it as 11 lbs., much to the twins' sorrow--they think it +15 lbs. + +Half an hour passes, and we catch but half a dozen silvery bream and +some small baby whiting, for now the sun is beating down upon our heads, +and our naked feet begin to burn and sting, so we adjourn to the old +house and rest awhile, leaving our big lines securely tied. But, though +the breeze for which we wait comes along by two o'clock, the fish do +not, and so, after disinterring our takes from the wet sand wherein we +had buried them as caught to prevent them being spoilt by the sun, we +get aboard again and pull across to the opposite bank of the river. +Here, in much deeper water, about fifteen feet right under the clayey +bank, we can see hundreds of fine bream, and now and then some small +jew-fish. Taking off our sinkers, we have as good and more exciting +sport among the bream than we had with the whiting, catching between +four and five dozen by six o'clock. Then, after boiling the billy and +eating some fearfully tough corned meat, we get into the boat again, +hoist our sail, and land at the little township just after dark. + +Such was one of many similar day's sport on the Hastings, which, with +the Bellinger, the Nambucca, the Macleay, and the Clarence, affords good +fishing practically all the year round. Then, besides these tidal +rivers, there are at frequent intervals along the coast tidal lagoons +and "blind" creeks where fish congregate in really incredible +quantities. Such places as Lake Illawarra and Lake Macquarie are fishing +resorts well known to the tourist; but along the northern coast, where +the population is scantier, and access by rail or steamer more +difficult, there is an absolutely new field open to the sportsman--in +fact, these places are seldom visited for either fishing or shooting by +people from Sydney. During November and December the bars of these +rivers are literally black with incredible numbers of coarse +sea-salmon--a fish much like the English sea-bass--which, making their +way over the bars, swim up the rivers and remain there for about a week. +Although these fish, which weigh from 6 lbs. to 10 lbs., do not take a +bait and are rather too coarse to eat, their roes are very good, +especially when smoked. They are captured with the greatest of ease, +either by spearing or by the hand; for sometimes they are in such dense +masses that they are unable to manoeuvre in small bays; and the urchins +of coastal towns hail their yearly advent with delight. They usually +make their first appearance about the second week in November, and are +always followed by a great number of very large sharks and saw-fish, +which commit dreadful havoc in their serried and helpless ranks. +Following the sea-salmon, the rivers are next visited in January by +shoals of very large sea-mullet--blue-black backs, silvery bellies and +sides, and yellow fins and tails. These, too, will not take a bait, but +are caught in nets, and, if a steamer happens to be on the eve of +leaving for Sydney, many hundreds of baskets are sent away; but they +barely pay the cost of freight and commission, I believe. There are +several varieties of sea-mullet, one or two of which will take the hook +freely, and I have often caught them off the rocky coast of New South +Wales with a rod when the sea has been smooth. The arrival of the big +sea-mullet denotes that the season for jew-fish is at its height; and if +the stranger to Australian waters wants exciting sport let him try +jew-fishing at night. In deep water off the coast these great fish are +occasionally caught during daylight, but a dull, cloudy night is best, +when they may be caught from the beach or river bank in shallow water. +Very stout lines and heavy hooks are used, for a 90-lb. or l00-lb. +jew-fish is very common. Baiting with a whole mullet or whiting, or one +of the tentacles of an octopus, the most amateurish fisherman cannot +fail to hook two or three jew-fish in a night. (Even in Sydney harbour I +have seen some very large ones caught by people fishing from ferry +wharves.) They are very powerful, and also very game, and when they rise +to the surface make a terrific splashing. At one place on the Hastings +River, called Blackman's Point, a party of four of us took thirteen +fish, the heaviest of which was 42 lbs. and the lightest 9 lbs. Next +morning, however, the Blackman's Point ferryman, who always set a line +from his punt when he turned in, showed us one of over 70 lbs. When they +grow to such a size as this they are not eaten locally, as the flesh is +very often full of thin, thread-like worms. The young fish, however, are +very palatable. + +The saw-fish, to which I have before alluded as harrying the swarms of +sea-salmon, also make havoc with the jew-fish, and very often are caught +on jew-fish lines. They are terrible customers to get foul of (I do not +confound them with the sword-fish) when fishing from a small boat. Their +huge bone bill, set on both sides with its terrible sharp spikes, their +great length, and enormous strength, render it impossible to even get +them alongside, and there is no help for it but either to cut the line +or pull up anchor and land the creature on the shore. Even then the task +of despatching one of these fish is no child's play on a dark night, for +they lash their long tails about with such fury that a broken leg might +be the result of coming too close. In the rivers of Northern Queensland +the saw-fish attain an enormous size, and the Chinese fishermen about +Cooktown and Townsville often have their nets destroyed by a saw-fish +enfolding himself in them. Alligators, by the way, do the same thing +there, and are sometimes captured, perfectly helpless, in the folds of +the nets, in which they have rolled themselves over and over again, +tearing it beyond repair with their feet, but eventually yielding to +their fate. + +The schnapper, the best of all Australian fish, is too well known to +English visitors to describe in detail. Most town-bred Australians +generally regard it as a purely ocean-loving fish, or at least only +frequenting very deep waters in deep harbours, such as Sydney, Jervis +Bay, and Twofold Bay. This is quite a mistake, for in many of the +rivers, twenty or more miles up from the sea, the writer and many other +people have not only caught these beautiful fish, but seen fishermen +haul in their nets filled with them. But they seldom remain long, +preferring the blue depths of ocean to the muddy bottoms of tidal +rivers, for they are rock-haunting and surf-loving. + +Of late years the northern bar harbours and rivers of New South Wales +have been visited by a fish that in my boyhood's days was unknown even +to the oldest fisherman--the bonito. Although in shape and size they +exactly resemble the ocean bonito of tropic seas, these new arrivals are +lighter in colour, with bands of marbled grey along the sides and belly. +They bite freely at a running bait--_i.e.,_ when a line is towed astern, +and are very good when eaten quite fresh, but, like all of the mackerel +tribe, rapidly deteriorate in a few hours after being caught. The +majority of the coast settlers will not eat them, being under the idea +that, as they are all but scaleless, they are "poisonous." This silly +impression also prevails with regard to many other scaleless fish on the +Australian coast, some of which, such as the trevally, are among the +best and most delicate in flavour. The black and white rock cod is also +regarded with aversion by the untutored settlers of the small coast +settlements, yet these fish are sold in Sydney, like the schnapper, at +prohibitive prices. + +In conclusion, let me advise any one who is contemplating a visit to +Australia, and means to devote any of his time to either river or sea +fishing, to take his rods with him; all the rest of his tackle he can +buy as cheap in the colonies as he can in England. Rods are but little +used in salt-water fishing in Australia, and are rather expensive. Those +who do use a rod are usually satisfied with a bamboo--a very good rod +it makes, too, although inconvenient to carry when travelling--but the +generality of people use hand lines. And the visitor must not be +persuaded that he can always get good fishing without going some +distance from Sydney or Melbourne. That there is some excellent sport to +be obtained in Port Jackson in summer is true, but it is lacking in a +very essential thing--the quietude that is dear to the heart of every +true fisherman. + + + + +_Denison Gets Another Ship_ + + +Owing to reduced circumstances, and a growing hatred of the hardships of +the sea, young Tom Denison (ex-supercargo of the South Sea Island +trading schooner _Palestine_) had sailed from Sydney to undertake the +management of an alleged duck-farm in North Queensland. The ducks, and +the vast area of desolation in which they suffered a brief existence, +were the property of a Cooktown bank, the manager of which was Denison's +brother. He was a kind-hearted man, who wanted to help Tom along in the +world, and, therefore, was grieved when at the end of three weeks the +latter came into Cooktown humping his swag, smoking a clay pipe, and +looking exceedingly tired, dirty, and disreputable generally. However, +all might have gone well even then had not Mrs. Aubrey Denison, the +brother's wife, unduly interfered and lectured Tom on his "idle and +dissolute life," as she called it, and made withering remarks about the +low tastes of sailors other than captains of mail steamers or officers +in the Navy. Tom, who intended to borrow £10 from his brother to pay his +passage back to Sydney to look for a ship, bore it all in silence, and +then said that he should like to give up the sea and become a +missionary in the South Seas, where he was "well acquainted with the +natives." + +Mrs. Aubrey (who was a very refined young lady) smiled contemptuously, +and turned down the corners of her pretty little mouth in a manner that +made the unsuccessful duck-farmer boil with suppressed fury, as she +remarked that _she_ had heard of some of the shocking stories he had +been telling the accountant and cashier of the _characters_ of the +people in the South Seas, and _she_ quite understood _why_ he wished to +return there and re-associate with his vulgar and wicked companions. +Now, she added, had he stuck bravely to work with the ducks, the Bank +(she uttered the word "Bank" in the tone of reverence as one would say +"The Almighty") would have watched his career with interest, and in time +his brother would have used his influence with the General Manager to +obtain a position for him, Tom Denison, in the Bank itself! But, judging +from _her_ knowledge of his (Tom's) habits and disposition, she would be +doing wrong to hold out the slightest hope for him now, and------ + +"Look here, Maud, you're only twenty-two--two years older than me, and +you talk like an old grandmother;" and then his wrath overpowered his +judgment--"and you'll look like one before you're twenty-five. Don't you +lecture _me_. I'm not your husband, _thank Heaven above_! And damn the +bank and its carmine ducks." (He did not say "carmine," but I study the +proprieties, and this is not a sanguinary story.) + +From the weatherboard portals of the bank Tom strode out in undisguised +anger, and obtained employment on a collier, discharging coals. Then, by +an extraordinary piece of good luck, he got a billet as proof-reader on +the North Queensland _Trumpet Call_, from which, after an exciting three +weeks, he was dismissed for "general incompetency and wilful neglect of +his duties." So with sorrow in his heart he had turned to the +ever-resourceful sea again for a living. He worked his passage down to +Sydney in an old, heart-broken, wheezing steamer named the _You Yangs_, +and stepped jauntily ashore with sixteen shillings in his pocket, some +little personal luggage rolled up in his blanket, and an unlimited +confidence in his own luck. + +Two vessels were due from the South Sea Islands in about a month, and as +the skippers were both well known to and were on friendly terms with +him, he felt pretty certain of getting a berth as second mate or +supercargo on one of them. Then he went to look for a quiet lodging. + +This was soon found, and then realising the fact that sixteen shillings +would not permit him viewing the sights of Sydney and calling upon the +Governor, as is the usual procedure with intellectual and dead-broke +Englishmen who come to Australia with letters of introduction from +people who are anxious to get rid of them, he tried to get temporary +employment by applying personally at the leading warehouses and +merchants' offices. The first day he failed; also the second. On the +third day the secretary of a milk company desired him to call again in +three days. He did, and was then told by the manager that he "might +have something" for him in a month or two. This annoyed Tom, as he had +put on his sole clean collar that morning to produce a good impression. +He asked the official if six months would not suit him better, as he +wanted to go away on a lengthy fishing trip with the Attorney-General. +The manager looked at him in a dignified manner, and then bade him an +abrupt good-day. + +A week passed. Funds were getting low. Eight shillings had been paid in +advance for his room, and he had spent five in meals. But he was not +despondent; the _Susannah Booth_, dear, comfortable old wave-puncher, +beloved of hard-up supercargoes, was due in a week, and, provided he +could inspire his landlady with confidence until then, all would be +well. + +But the day came when he had to spend his last shilling, and after a +fruitless endeavour to get a job on the wharves to drive one of the many +steam winches at work discharging cargo from the various ships, he +returned home in disgust. + +That night, as he sat cogitating in his bedroom over his lucklessness, +his eye fell on a vegetable monstrosity from Queensland, presented to +him by one of the hands on board the _You Yangs_. It was a huge, dried +bean-pod, about four feet long, and contained about a dozen large black +beans, each about the size of a watch. He had seen these beans, after +the kernels were scooped out, mounted with silver, and used as +match-boxes by bushmen and other Australian gentry. It at once occurred +to him that he might sell it. Surely the thing ought to be worth at +least five shillings. + +In two minutes he was out in the street, but to his disgust found most +of the shops closed, except the very small retail establishments. + +Entering a little grocery store, he approached the proprietor, a man +with a pale, gargoyle-like face, and unpleasant-looking, raggedy teeth, +and showing him the bean, asked him to buy it. + +The merchant looked at it with some interest and asked Tom what it was +called. + +Tom said it was a _Locomotor Ataxy_. (He didn't know what a _locomotor +ataxy_ was; but it sounded well, and was all the Latin he knew, having +heard from his mother that a dissolute brother of hers had been +afflicted with that complaint, superinduced by spirituous liquors.) + +The grocer-man turned the vegetable over and over again in his hand, and +then asked the would-be vendor if he had any more. Tom said he hadn't. +The _locomotor ataxy_, he remarked, was a very rare bean, and very +valuable. But he would sell it cheap--for five shillings. + +"Don't want it," said the man rudely, pushing it away contemptuously. +"It's only a faked-up thing anyway, made of paper-mashy." + +Tom tried to convince him that the thing was perfectly genuine, and +actually grew on a vine in North Queensland; but the Notre Dame +gargoyle-featured person only heard him with a snort of contempt. It was +obvious he wouldn't buy it. So, sneeringly observing to the grocer that +no doubt five shillings was a large sum for a man in such a small way of +business as he was, Tom went out again into the cold world. + +He tried several other places, but no one would even look at the thing. +After vainly tramping about for over two hours, he turned away towards +his lodging, feeling very dispirited, and thinking about breakfast. + +Turning up a side street called Queen's Place, so as to make a short cut +home, he espied in a dimly-lighted little shop an old man and a boy +working at the cobbler trade. They had honest, intelligent faces, and +looked as if they wanted to buy a _locomotor ataxy_ very badly. He +tapped at the door and then entered. + +"Would you like to buy this?" he said to the old man. He did not like to +repeat his foolish Latin nonsense, for the old fellow had such a worn, +kindly face, and his honest, searching eyes met his in such a way that +he felt ashamed to ask him to buy what could only be worthless rubbish +to him. + +The cobbler looked at the monstrosity wonderingly. "'Tis a rare big +bean," he said, in the trembling quaver of old age, and with a mumbling +laugh like that of a pleased child. "I'll give you two shillin's for it. +I suppose you want money badly, or else you wouldn't be wanderin' about +at ten o'clock at night tryin' to sell it. I hope you come by it honest, +young man?" + +Tom satisfied him on this score, and then the ancient gave him the two +shillings. Bidding him good-night, Tom returned home and went to bed. + +(Quite two years after, when Denison returned to Sydney from the South +Seas with more money "than was good for his moral welfare," as his +sister-in-law remarked, he sought out the old cobbler gentleman and +bought back his _locomotor ataxy_ bean for as many sovereigns as he had +been given shillings for it.) + +Next morning he was down at the wharves before six o'clock, smoking his +pipe contentedly, after breakfasting sumptuously at a coffee-stall for +sixpence. There was a little American barque lying alongside the +Circular Quay, and some of the hands were bending on her head-sails. Tom +sat down on the wharf stringer dangling his feet and watching them +intently. Presently the mate appeared on the poop, smoking a cigar. He +looked at Tom critically for a moment or so, and then said-- + +"Looking for a ship, young feller?" + +The moment Tom heard him speak, he jumped to his feet, for he knew the +voice, last heard when the possessor of it was mate of the island +trading schooner _Sadie Caller_, a year before in Samoa. + +"Is that you, Bannister?" he cried. + +"Reckon 'taint no one else, young feller. Why, Tom Denison, is it you? +Step right aboard." + +Tom was on the poop in an instant, the mate coming to him with +outstretched hand. + +"What's the matter, Tom? Broke?" + +"Stony!" + +"Sit down here and tell me all about it. I heard you had left the +_Palestine_. Say, sling that dirty old pipe overboard, and take one of +these cigars. The skipper will be on deck presently, and the sight of it +would rile him terrible. He hez his new wife aboard, and she considers +pipes ez low-down." + +Tom laughed as he thought of Mrs. Aubrey, and flung his clay over the +side. "What ship is this, Bannister?" + +"The _J.W. Seaver_, of 'Frisco. We're from the Gilbert Islands with a +cargo of copra." + +"Who is your supercargo?" + +"Haven't got one. Can't get one here, either. Say, Tom, you're the man. +The captain will jump at getting you! Since he married he considers his +life too valuable to be trusted among natives, and funks at going ashore +and doing supercargo's work. Now you come below, and I'll rake out +enough money to get you a high-class suit of store clothes and shiny +boots. Then you come back to dinner. I'll talk to him between then and +now. He knows a lot about you. I'll tell him that since you left the +_Palestine_ you've been touring your native country to 'expand your +mind.' _She's_ Boston, as ugly as a brown stone jug, and highly +intellectual. _He's_ all right, and as good a sailor-man as ever trod a +deck, but _she's_ boss, runs the ship, and looks after the crew's +morals. Thet's why we're short-handed. But she'll take to you like +lightning--when she hears that you've been 'expanding your mind.' Buy a +second-hand copy of Longfellow's, poems, and tell her that it has been +your constant companion in all your wanderings among vicious cannibals, +and she'll just decorate your cabin like a prima-donna's boudoir, darn +your socks, and make you read some of her own poetry." + +That afternoon, Mr. Thomas Denison, clean-shirted and looking eminently +respectable and prosperous, and feeling once more a man after the +degrading duck episode in North Queensland, was strolling about George +Street with Bannister, and at peace with the world and himself. For the +skipper's wife had been impressed with his intellectuality and modest +demeanour, and was already at work decorating his cabin--as Bannister +had prophesied. + + + + +_Jack Shark's Pilot_ + + +Early one morning as we in the _Palestine_, South Sea trading schooner, +were sailing slowly between Fotuna and Alofa--two islands lying to the +northward of Fiji--one of the native hands came aft and reported two +large sharks alongside. The mate at once dived below for his shark hook, +while I tried to find a suitable bit of beef in the harness cask. Just +as the mate appeared carrying the heavy hook and chain, our skipper, who +was lying on the skylight smoking his pipe, although half asleep, +inquired if there were "any pilot fish with the brutes." + +"Yes, sir," said a sailor who was standing in the waist, looking over +the side, "there's quite a lot of 'em. I've never seen so many at one +time before. There's nigh on a dozen." + +The captain was on his feet in an instant. "Don't lower that hook of +yours just yet, Porter," he said to the mate. "I'm going to get those +pilot fish first. Tom, bring me up my small fishing line." + +"They won't take a hook, will they?" I inquired. + +"Just you wait and see, sonny. Ever taste pilot fish?" + +"No. Are they good to eat?" + +"Best fish in the ocean, barring flying-fish," replied the skipper, as, +after examining his line, he cut off both hook and leaden sinker and +bent on a small-sized _pa_--a native-made bonito hook cut out from a +solid piece of pearl-shell. + +Then jumping up into the whaleboat which hung in davits on the starboard +quarter he waited for the sharks to appear, and the mate and I leant +over the side and watched. We had not long to wait, for in a few minutes +one came swimming quickly up from astern, and was almost immediately +joined by the other, which had been hanging about amidships. They were +both, however, pretty deep down, and at first I could not discern any +pilot fish. The captain, however, made a cast and the hook dropped in +the water, about fifty feet in the rear of the sharks; he let it sink +for less than half a minute, and then began hauling in the line as +quickly as possible, and at the same moment I saw some of the pilot fish +quite distinctly--some swimming alongside and some just ahead of their +detestable companions, which were now right under the counter. Then +something gleamed brightly, and the shining hook appeared, for a second +or two only, for two of the "pilots" darted after it with lightning-like +rapidity, and presently one came to the surface with a splash, +beautifully hooked, and was swung up into the boat. + +"Now for some fun," cried the captain, as tossing the fish to us on deck +he again lowered the hook. This time it had barely touched the surface +of the water when away went the line with a rush right under our keel. + +"This is a big fellow," said the skipper, and up came another dark blue +and silver beauty about a foot in length, dropping off the hook just in +time as he was hoisted clear of the gunwale. Then, in less than ten +minutes--so eager were they to rush the hook the moment it struck the +water--five more were jumping about upon the deck or in the boat. Then +came a calamity, the eighth fish dropped off when half way up and took +the hook with him, having swallowed it and bitten through the line. + +The captain jumped on deck again and began rooting out his bag for +another small-sized _pa_, but to his disgust could not find one ready +for use--none of them having the actual "hook" portion lashed to the +shank, and the operation of lashing one of these cleverly-made native +hooks takes some little time and patience, for the holes which are bored +through the base of the "hook" part in order to lash it to the shank are +very small, and only very fine and strong cord, such as banana-fibre, +can be used. However, while the irate captain was fussing over his task, +the mate and I were watching the movements of the sharks and their +little friends with the greatest interest, having promised the captain +not to lower the shark hook till he had caught the rest of the pilot +fish, for he assured us that they would most likely disappear after the +sharks were captured. (I learned from my own experience afterward that +he was mistaken, for when a shark is caught at sea his attendants will +frequently remain with the ship for weeks, or until another shark +appears, in which case they at once attach themselves to him.) + +Both sharks were now swimming almost on the surface, so close to the +ship that they could have been caught in a running bowline or harpooned +with the greatest ease; and in fact our native crew, who were very +partial to shark's flesh, had both harpoon and bowline in readiness in +case the cunning brutes would not take a bait. They were both of great +size--the largest being over twelve or thirteen feet in length. With the +smaller one were three pilot fish, one swimming directly under the end +of its nose, the others just over its eyes; the larger had but one +attendant, which kept continually changing its position, sometimes being +on one side, then on another, then disappearing for a few moments +underneath the monster's belly, or pressing itself so closely against +the creature's side that it appeared as if it was adhering to it. I had +never before seen these fish at such close quarters, and their +extraordinary activity and seeming attachment to their savage companions +was most astonishing to witness; occasionally when either of the sharks +would cease moving, they would take up a position within a few inches of +its jaws, remain there a few seconds, and then swim under its belly and +reappear at the tail, then slowly make their way along its back or sides +to the hideous head again. Sometimes, either singly or all together, +they would dart away on either side, but quickly returned, never being +absent more than a minute. These brief excursions showed them to be +extremely swift, yet when they returned to their huge companions they +instantly became--at least to all appearance--intensely sluggish and +languid in their movements, and swam in an undecided, indefinite sort of +manner as if thoroughly exhausted. But this was but in appearance, for +suddenly they would again shoot away along the surface of the water with +lightning-like rapidity, disappear from view of the keenest eye, and, +ere you could count five, again be beside the vessel swimming as +leisurely, if not as lazily, as if they were incapable of quickening +their speed. + +Having his line ready again, the captain now began fishing from the +stern, and succeeded in catching three of the remaining four, the last +one (which our natives said was the fish which had swallowed the first +hook) refusing even to look at the tempting bit of iridescent +pearl-shell. Then the impatient mate lowered his bait over the stern, +having first passed the line outboard and given the end to three or four +of the crew, who stood in the waist ready to haul in. The smaller of the +two sharks was at once hooked, and when dragged up alongside amidships +struggled and lashed about so furiously that the big fellow came +lumbering up to see what was the matter, and Billy Rotumah, our native +boatswain, who was watching for him, promptly drove a harpoon socket +deeply into him between the shoulders; then, after some difficulty, a +couple of running bowlines settled them both in a comfortable position +to be stunned with an axe. + +The schooner was at this time within a few miles of a small village on +Alofa, named Mua, and presently a boat manned by natives boarded us to +sell yams, taro, pineapples, and bananas, all of which we bought from +them in exchange for the sharks' livers and some huge pieces of flesh +weighing two or three hundred pounds. These people (who resemble the +Samoans in appearance and language) were much impressed and terrified +when they saw the pilot fish which had been caught, and told our crew +that ours would be an unlucky ship--that we had done a dangerous and +foolish thing. Their feeling on the subject was strong; for when I asked +them if they would take two or three of the fish on shore to Father +Hervé, one of the French priests living on Fotuna, who was an old +friend, they started back in mingled terror and indignation, and +absolutely declined to even touch them. Taking one of the pilot fish up +I held it by the head between my forefinger and thumb and asked the +natives if they did not consider it good to look at. + +"True," replied a fine, stalwart young fellow, speaking in Samoan, "it +is good to look at," and then he added gravely, "_Talofa lava ia te +outou i le vaa nei, ua lata mai ne aso malaia ma le tiga|_" ("Alas for +all you people on this ship, there is a day of disaster and sorrow near +you"). + +I tried to ascertain the cause of their terror, but could only elicit +the statement that to kill a pilot fish meant direful misfortune. No +sensible man, they asserted, would do such a senseless and _saua_ +(cruel) thing, and to eat one was an abomination unutterable. + +As soon as our visitors had left I hurried to make a closer examination +of our prizes before the cook took possession of them. Of the eleven, +only one was over a foot in length, the rest ranged from five to ten +inches. The beautiful dark blue of the head and along the back, so +noticeable when first caught, had now lost its brilliancy, and the four +wide vertical black stripes on the sides had also become dulled, +although the silvery belly was still as bright as a new dollar. The eyes +were rather large for such a small fish, and all the fins were +blue-black, with a narrow white line running along the edges. Their +appearance even an hour after death was very handsome, and in shape they +were much like a very plump trout. In the stomachs of some we found +small flying squid, little shrimps, and other Crustacea. + +Our Manila-man cook, although not a genius, certainly knew how to fry +fish, and that morning we had for breakfast some of Jack Shark's +pilots--the most delicately-flavoured deep-sea fish I have ever +tasted--except, perhaps, that wonderful and beautiful creature, the +flying-fish. + + + + +_The "Palu" of the Equatorial Pacific_ + + +During a residence of half a lifetime among the various island-groups of +the North-western and South Pacific, I devoted much of my spare +time--and I had plenty of it occasionally--to deep-sea fishing, my +tutors being the natives of the Caroline, Marshall, Gilbert, and Ellice +Groups. + +The inhabitants of the last-named cluster of islands are, as I have +said, the most skilled fishermen of all the Malayo-Polynesian peoples +with whom it has been my fortune to have come in contact. The very +poverty of their island homes--mere sandbanks covered with coconut and +pandanus palms only--drives them to the sea for their food; for the +Ellice Islanders, unlike their more fortunate prototypes who dwell in +the forest-clad, mountainous, and fertile islands of Samoa, Tahiti, +Raratonga, &c., live almost exclusively upon coconuts, the drupes of the +pandanus palm, and fish. From their very infancy they look to the sea as +the main source of their food-supply, either in the clear waters of the +lagoon, among the breaking surf on the reef, or out in the blue depths +of the ocean beyond. From morn till night the frail canoes of these +semi-nude, brown-skinned, and fearless toilers of the sea may be seen by +the voyager paddling swiftly over the rolling swell of the wide Pacific +in chase of the _bonito_, or lying motionless upon the water, miles and +miles away from the land, ground-fishing with lines a hundred fathoms +long. Then, as the sun dips, the flare of torches will be seen along the +sandy beaches as the night-seekers of flying-fish launch their canoes +and urge them through the rolling surf beyond the reef, where, for +perhaps three or four hours, they will paddle slowly to and fro, just +outside the white line of roaring breakers, and return to the shore with +their tiny craft half-filled with the most beautiful and wonderful fish +in the world. The Ellice Island method of catching flying-fish would +take too long to explain here, much as I should like to do so; my +purpose is to describe a very remarkable fish called the _palu_, in the +capture of which these people are the most skilful. The catching of +flying-fish, however, bears somewhat on the subject of this article, as +the _palu_ will not take any other bait but a flying-fish, and therefore +a supply of the former is a necessary preliminary to _palu_ fishing. + +Let us imagine, then, that the bait has been secured, and that a party +of _palu_-fishers are ready to set out from the little island of +Nanomaga, the smallest but most thickly populated of the Ellice Group. +The night must be windless and moonless, the latter condition being +absolutely indispensable, although, curiously enough, the fish will +take the hook on an ordinary starlight night. Time after time have I +tried my luck with either a growing or a waning moon, much to the +amusement of the natives, and never once did I get a _palu_, although +other nocturnal-feeding fish bit freely enough. + +The tackle used by the natives is made of coconut cinnet, four or +eight-stranded, of great strength, and capable of holding a fifteen-foot +shark should one of these prowlers seize the bait. The hook is made of +wood--in fact, the same as is used for shark-fishing--about one inch and +a half in diameter, fourteen inches in the shank, with a natural curve; +the barb, or rather that which answers the purpose of a barb, being +supplied by a small piece lashed horizontally across the top of the end +of the curve. These peculiar wooden hooks are _grown_; the roots of a +tree called _ngiia_, whose wood is of great toughness, are watched when +they protrude from a bank, and trained into the desired shape; specimens +of these hooks may be seen in almost any ethnographical museum. To sink +the line, coral stones of three or four pounds weight are used, attached +by a very thin piece of cinnet or bark, which, when the fish is struck, +is always broken by its struggles, and falls off, thus releasing the +line from an unnecessary weight. It is no light task hauling in a thick, +heavy line, hanging straight up and down for a length of from +seventy-five to a hundred fathoms or more! + +Each canoe is manned by four men, only two of whom usually fish, the +other two, one at the bow and the other at the stern, being employed in +keeping the little craft in a stationary position with their paddles. +If, however, there is not much current all four lower their lines, one +man working his paddle with one hand so as to keep from drifting. My +usual companions were the resident native teacher and two stalwart young +natives of the island--Tulu'ao and Muli'ao; and I may here indulge in a +little vanity when I say that my success as a _palu_-fisher was regarded +as something phenomenal, only one other white man in the group, a trader +on the atoll of Funafuti, having ever caught a _palu_, or, in fact, +tried to catch one. But then I had such beautiful tackle that even the +most skilled native fisherman had no chance when competing with me. My +lines were of twenty-seven-strand white American cotton, as thick as a +small goose-quill, and easily handled, never tangling or twisting like +the native cinnet; and my hooks were the admiration and envy of all who +saw them. They were of the "flatted" Kirby type, eyed, but with a curve +in the shank, which was five inches in length, and as thick as a +lead-pencil. I had bought these in Sydney, and during the voyage down +had rigged them with snoodings of the very best seizing wire, intending +to use them for shark-fishing. I had smaller ones down to three inches, +but always preferred using the largest size, as the _palu_ has a large +mouth, and it is a difficult matter in a small canoe on a dark night to +free a hook embedded in the gullet of a fish which is awkward to handle +even when exhausted, and weighing as much as sixty or seventy pounds; +while I also knew that any unusual noise or commotion would be almost +sure to attract some of those most dangerous of all night-prowlers of +the Pacific, the deep-water blue shark. + +Paddling out due westward from the lee side of the island, where the one +village is situated, we would bring-to in about seventy or eighty +fathoms. As I always used leaden sinkers, my companions invariably let +me lower first to test the depth, as with a two or three-pound lead my +comparatively thin line took but little time in running out and touching +bottom. A whole flying-fish was used for one bait by the natives, it +being tied on to the inner curve of the great wooden hook, whilst I cut +one in half, fore-and-aft, and ran my hook through it lengthwise. + +The utmost silence was always observed; and even when lighting our pipes +we were always careful not to let the reflection of the flame of the +match fall upon the water, on account of the sharks, which would at once +be attracted to the canoe, and hover about until they were rewarded for +their vigilance by seizing the first _palu_ brought to the surface. +Sometimes a hungry shark will seize the outrigger in his jaws, or get +foul of it, and upset the canoe, and a capsize under such circumstances +is a serious matter indeed. For this reason the canoes are never far +apart from each other; if one should be attacked or disabled by a shark +the others at once render assistance, and the shark is usually thrust +through with a lance if he is too big to be captured and killed. All +haste is then made to get away from the spot, leaving the disturber of +the proceedings to be devoured by his companions, whom the scent of +blood soon brings upon the scene. + +With ordinary luck we would get our first _palu_ within an hour of +lowering our lines. At such a great depth as eighty or ninety fathoms a +bite would scarcely be felt by one of my companions on his thick, heavy, +and clumsy line; but on mine it was very different, and there was hardly +an occasion on which I did not secure the first fish. Like most +bottom-haunting fish in very deep water the _palu_ makes but a brief +fight. If he can succeed in "getting his head," he will at once rush +into the coral forest amid which he lives, and endeavour to save himself +by jamming his body into a cleft or chasm of rock, and let the hook be +torn from his jaws, which are soft, boneless, and glutinous. Once, +however, he is dragged clear of the coral he seems to lose all heart; +and, although he makes an occasional spurt, he grows weaker and weaker +as he is dragged toward the surface, and when lifted into the canoe is +apparently lifeless, his large eyes literally standing out of his head, +and his stomach distended like a balloon. So enormous is the distention +of the bladder that sometimes it will protrude from the mouth, and then +burst with a noise like a pistol-shot! Perhaps some of my readers will +smile at this, but they could see the same thing occur with other +deep-sea fish besides the _palu_. In the Caroline and Marshall Islands +there is a species of grey groper which is caught in a depth ranging +from one hundred to one hundred and fifty fathoms; these fish, which +range up to two hundred pounds, actually burst their stomachs when +brought to the surface; for the air in the cavities of the body expands +on the removal of the great pressure which at such depths keeps it +compressed. + +Now as to the appearance of the _palu_. When first caught, and seen by +the light of a lantern or torch, it is a dark, silvery grey in colour, +with prickly, inverted scales--like the feathers of a French fowl of a +certain breed. The head is somewhat cod-shaped, with eyes quite as large +as a crown-piece; the teeth are many, small, and soft, and bend to a +firm pressure; and the bones in the fin and tail are so soft and +flexible that they may be bent into any shape, but when dried are of the +appearance and consistency of gelatine. The length of the largest _palu_ +I have seen was five feet six inches, with a girth of about forty +inches. This one was caught in about ninety fathoms of water; and when I +opened the stomach I found it to contain five or six undigested fish, +about seven inches in length, of the groper species, and for which the +natives of the island had no name or knowledge of beyond the appellation +_ika kehe_--"unknown fish"--that is, fish which are only seen when taken +from the stomach of a deep-sea fish, or are brought to the surface or +washed ashore after some submarine disturbance. + +The flesh of the _palu_ is greatly valued by the natives of the +equatorial islands of the Pacific for its medicinal qualities as a +laxative, whilst the oil with which it is permeated is much used as a +remedy for rheumatism and similar complaints. Within half an hour of its +being taken from the water the skin changes to a dead black, and the +flesh assumes the appearance of whale blubber. Generally, the fish is +cooked in the usual native ground-oven as quickly as possible, care +being taken to wrap it closely up in the broad leaves of the _puraka_ +plant--a species of gigantic taro--in order that none of the oil may be +lost. Thinking that the oil, which is perfectly colourless and with +scarcely any odour, might prove of value, I once "tried out" two of the +largest fish taken, and obtained a gallon. This I sent to a firm of +drug-merchants in Sydney; but unfortunately the vessel was lost on the +passage. + +The _palu_ does not seem to have a wide habitat. In the Tonga Islands it +is, I believe, very rare; and in Fiji, Samoa, and other mountainous +groups throughout Polynesia the natives appear to have no knowledge of +it, although they have a fish possessing the same peculiar +characteristics, but of a somewhat different shape. I have fished for it +without success at half a dozen places in Samoa, in New Britain, and New +Ireland. But it is generally to be found about the coasts of any of the +low-lying coral islands of the Union (or Tokelau) Group, the Ellice, +Gilbert, Marshall, and part of the Caroline archipelagoes. The Gilbert +Islanders call it _te ika ne peka_--a name that cannot well be +translated into bald English, though there is a very lucid Latin +equivalent. + +In 1882 I took passage from the Island of Nukufetau in the Ellice Group +for the Caroline Islands. The vessel was a fine brigantine of 160 tons, +and was named the _Orwell_. She was, unfortunately, commanded by an +incompetent, obstinate, self-willed man, who, though a good seaman, had +no meteorological knowledge and succeeded in losing the ship, when lying +at anchor, on Peru Island, in the Gilbert Group, ten days after leaving +Nukufetau, simply through disregarding the local trader's advice to put +to sea. Disastrous as was the incident to me, for I lost trade goods and +personal effects to the value of over a thousand pounds, and came ashore +with what I stood in--to wit, a pyjama suit--and a bag of Chili dollars, +I had reason to afterwards congratulate myself from a fisherman's point +of view. + +Living on the island was a Swiss, Frank Voliero, whom I have before +mentioned. He was an ardent deep-sea fisherman, and was on that account +highly respected by the natives, who otherwise did not care for him, as +he was of an exceedingly quarrelsome disposition. He was an expert +_palu_ man, and he and I therefore quickly made Island _bruderschaft_. +During the three months I remained on Peru we had many fishing trips, +and caught not less than fifty _palu_. The largest of these was +evidently a patriarch, for although he was in rather poor condition he +weighed 136 lbs. and was 6 feet 10 inches in length. Another, hooked at +a depth of eighty-five fathoms, was only 5 feet 2 inches, and weighed +129 lbs. Its stomach contained a small octopus with curiously stunted +tentacles, almost as thick at the tips as they were at the base, but in +all other respects similar to those found in shallow water upon the +reefs and in the lagoon. + +Both Voliero and myself tried many kinds of bait for _palu,_ believing +that the native theory that the fish would only take flying-fish was +wrong. We found that on Peru, any elongated fish, such as gars, silvery +mullet, or young bonito, were acceptable, and that the tentacle of an +octopus, after the outer skin was removed, answered just as well. Yet +further southward among the Pacific Isles, flying-fish is the only bait +they will take! Evidently, therefore, the _palu_, at the great depths in +which it lives, is attracted by a brightly-hued fish whose habitat is on +the surface of the ocean. Why this is so must be decided by +ichthyologists, for there are no bright, silvery-scaled fish inhabiting +the ocean at such depths as eighty or a hundred fathoms. And why is it +that the _palu,_ quiescent by day, and feeding only at night, so eagerly +seizes a hook baited with a flying-fish--a fish which never descends +more than a few fathoms below the surface, and which the _palu_ can +never possibly see except when it is lowered by human hands to, or sinks +to the bottom? + +Of the marvellous efficacy of the _palu_-oil in a case of acute +rheumatism I can speak with knowledge. The second mate of an +island-trading schooner of which I was the supercargo, was landed at +Arorai, in the Line Islands, unable to move, and suffering great agony. +After two days' massaging with _palu_-oil he recovered and returned to +his duties. + +[Since this was written I have learned that Mr. E.R. Waite, of the +Sydney Museum, has described the _palu_ as the _Ruvettus pretiosus_, +"which hitherto was known only from the North Atlantic, and whose +recorded range is now enormously increased. The Escolar--to give it its +Atlantic name--has been taken at depths as great as three and four +hundred fathoms, but can only be taken at night in September and the +early part of October." I should very much like to learn how the _palu_ +is taken at a depth of four hundred fathoms--eight hundred yards!] + + + + +_The Wily "Goanner"_ + + +In the early part of the year 1899 a settler named Hardy, residing at +Glenowlan, in the Rylstone district of New South Wales, about 150 miles +from Sydney, lost numbers of his lambs during the lambing season. +Naturally enough, dingoes were suspected, but none were seen. Then other +sheep--men began to lose lambs, and a close watch was set, with the +result that iguanas, which are very numerous in this part of the +country, were discovered to be the murderers of the little "baa-baa's." +The cause of this new departure in the predatory habits of the +"goanner"--which hitherto had confined his evil deeds to nocturnal +visits to the fowl-yards--is stated to be the extermination of the +opossum, which has driven the cunning reptile to seek for another source +of food. And, as before the shooting of kangaroos, wallabies, and +opossums was resorted to as a means of livelihood by hundreds of bushmen +who had no other employment open to them, the young of these marsupials +furnished the iguana with an ample supply of food, the theory is very +probably correct. Poison will be the only method of destroying or +reducing the numbers of the iguana, who, robber as he is, yet has his +good points, as has even the sneaking, blood-loving native cat--for both +are merciless foes to snakes of all kinds; and 'tis better to have an +energetic and hungry native cat and a score of wily iguanas working +havoc among the tenants of your fowl-house than one brown or an equally +deadly "bandy-bandy" snake within half a mile. + +In that part of New South Wales in which the writer was born--one of the +tidal rivers on the northern coast--both snakes and iguanas were +plentiful, and a source of continual worry to the settlers. + +On one occasion some boyish companions and myself set to work to build a +raft for fishing purposes out of some old and discarded blue gum rails +which were lying along the bank of the river. Boy-like, we utterly +disregarded our parents' admonition to put on our boots, and, aided by a +couple of blackfellows, we moved about the long grass on our bare feet, +picking up the heavy rails and carrying them on our shoulders, one by +one, down to the sandy beach, where we were to lash them together. +Presently we came across a very heavy rail, about eight feet long, +twelve inches in width, and two inches thick. It was no sooner up-ended +than we saw half a dozen "bandy-bandies"--the smallest but most deadly +of Australian snakes, not even excepting the death-adder--lying beneath! +We gave a united yell of terror and fled as the black and yellow banded +reptiles--none of which were over eighteen inches in length nor thicker +than a man's little finger--wriggled between our feet into the long +grass around us. For some minutes we were too frightened at our escape +to speak; but soon set to work to complete the raft. Presently one of +the blackfellows pointed to a tall honeysuckle-tree about fifty feet +away, and said with a gleeful chuckle, "Hallo, you see him that 'pfeller +goanner been catch him bandy-bandy?" + +Sure enough, an iguana, about three feet in length, was scurrying up the +rough, ridgy bark of the honeysuckle with a "bandy-bandy" in his jaws. +He had seized the snake by its head, I imagine, for we could see the +rest of its form twisting and turning about and enveloping the body of +its capturer. In a few seconds we saw the iguana ascend still higher, +then he disappeared with his hateful prey among the loftier branches. No +doubt he enjoyed his meal. + +About a year or so later I was given another instance of the "cuteness" +of the wicked "goanner." My sister (aged twelve) and myself (two years +younger) were fishing with bamboo rods for mullet. We were standing, one +on each side, of the rocky edges of a tiny little bay on the coast near +Port Macquarie (New South Wales). The background was a short, steep +beach of soft, snow-white sand, fringed at the high-water margin with a +dense jungle of wild apple and pandanus-trees. + +The mullet bit freely, and as we swung the gleaming, bright-silvered +fish out of the water on to the rocks on which we stood, we threw them +up on to the beach, and left them to kick about and coat themselves with +the clean, white sand--which they did in such an artistic manner that +one would imagine they considered it egg and breadcrumb, and were +preparing themselves to fulfil their ultimate and proper use to the +_genus homo_. + +My sister had caught seven and I five, when, the sun being amidships, we +decided to boil the billy of tea and get something to eat; young mullet, +roasted on a glowing fire of honeysuckle cobs were, we knew, very nice. +So, laying down our rods on the rocks, we walked up to the beach--just +in time to see two "goanners"--one of them with a wriggling mullet in +his mouth--scamper off into the bush. + +A careful search revealed the harrowing fact that nine of the twelve +fish were missing, and the multitudinous criss-cross tracks on the sand +showed the cause of their disappearance. My sister sat down on a hollow +log and wept, out of sheer vexation of spirit, while I lit a fire to +boil the billy and grill the three remaining mullet. Then after we had +eaten the fish and drank some tea, we concocted a plan of deadly +revenge. We took four large bream-hooks, bent them on to a piece of +fishing-line, baited each hook with a good-sized piece of octopus (our +mullet bait), and suspended the line between two saplings, about three +inches above the leaf-strewn ground. Then, feeling confident of the +success of our murderous device, we finished the billy of tea and went +back to our fishing. We caught a couple of dozen or more of fine mullet, +each one weighing not less than 1-1/2 lbs.; and then the incoming tide +with its sweeping seas drove us from the ledge of rocks to the beach, +where we changed our bamboo rods for hand-lines with sinkers, and flung +them, baited with chunks of mullet, out into the breaking surf for +sea-bream. By four in the afternoon we had caught more fish than we +could well carry home, five miles away; and after stringing the mullet +and bream through the gills with a strip of supple-jack cane, we went up +the beach to our camp for the billy can and basket. + +And then we saw a sight that struck terror into our guilty souls--a +_Danse Macabre_ of three writhing black and yellow, long-tailed +"goanners," twisting, turning and lashing their sinuous and scaly tails +in agony as they sought to free their widely-opened jaws from the cruel +hooks. One had two hooks in his mouth. He was the quietest of the lot, +as he had less purchase than the other two upon the ground, and with one +hook in his lower and one in his upper jaw, glared upwards at us in his +torture and smote his sides with his long, thin tail. + +"Oh, you wicked, wicked boy!" said my partner in guilt--at once shifting +the responsibility of the whole affair upon me--"you ought to be ashamed +of yourself for doing such a thing! You know well enough that we should +never hurt a poor, harmless iguana. Oh, _do_ take those horrible hooks +out of the poor things' mouths and let them go, you wicked, cruel boy!" + +With my heart in my mouth I crept round through the scrub, knife in +hand. + +"Go on, you horrible, horrible, coward!" screamed my sister; "one would +think that the poor things were alligators or sharks. Oh, my goodness, +if you're so frightened, I'll come and do it myself." With that she +clambered up into the branches of a pandanus-tree and looked at me +excitedly, mingled with considerable contempt and much fear. + +Being quite wise enough not to attempt to take the hooks out of the +"goanners'" mouths, I cut the two ends of the line to which they hung. +They instantly sought refuge on the tree trunks around them; but as each +"goanner" selected his individual tree, and as they were still connected +to each other by the line and the hooks in their jaws, their attempts to +reach a higher plane was a failure. So they fell to upon one another +savagely. + +"Come away, you wicked, thoughtless boy," said my sister, weepingly. "I +shall never come out with you again; you cruel thing." + +Then, overcoming my fear, I valiantly advanced, and gingerly extending +my arm, cut the tangled-up fishing line in a dozen places; and with my +bamboo fishing-rod disintegrated the combatants. They stood for a few +seconds, panting and open-mouthed, and then, with the hooks still fast +in their jaws, scurried away into the scrub. + + + + +_The Ta~nifa of Samoa_ + + +Many years ago, at the close of an intensely hot day, I set out from +Apia, the principal port of Samoa, to walk to a village named Laulii, a +few miles along the coast. Passing through the semi-Europeanised town of +Matautu, I emerged out upon the open beach. I was bound on a +pigeon-shooting trip to the mountains, but intended sleeping that night +at Laulii with some native friends who were to accompany me. With me was +a young Manhiki half-caste named Allan Strickland; he was about +twenty-two years of age and one of the most perfect specimens of +athletic manhood in the South Pacific.[15] For six months we had been +business partners and comrades in a small cutter in which we traded +between Apia and Sava'ii--the largest island of the Samoan group; and +now after some months of toil we were taking a week's holiday together, +and enjoying ourselves greatly, although at the time (1873) the country +was in the throes of an internecine war. + +A walk of a mile brought us to the mouth of the Vaivasa River, a small +stream flowing into the sea from the littoral on our right. The tide was +high and we therefore hailed a picket who were stationed in the trenches +on the opposite bank and asked them in a jocular manner not to fire at +us while we were wading across. To our surprise, for we were both well +known to and on very friendly terms with the contending parties, half a +dozen of them sprang up and excitedly bade us not to attempt to cross. + +"Go further up the bank and cross to our _olo_ (lines) in a canoe," +added a young Manono chief whose family I knew well, "there is a +_ta~nifa_ about. We saw it last night." + +That was quite enough for us--for the name _Ta~nifa_ sent a cold chill +down our backs. We turned to the right, and after walking a quarter of a +mile came to a hut on the bank at a spot regarded as neutral ground. +Here we found some women and children and a canoe, and in less than five +minutes we were landed on the other side, the women chorusing the +dreadful fate that would have befallen us had we attempted to cross at +the mouth of the river. + +"_E lima gafa le umi!_" ("'Tis five fathoms long!") cried one old dame. + +"And a fathom wide at the shoulders," said another bare-bosomed lady, +with a shudder. "It hath come to the mouth of the Vaivasa because it +hath smelt the blood of the three men who were killed in the river here +two days ago." + +"We'll hear the true yarn presently," said my companion as we walked +down the left-hand bank of the river. "There must be a _ta~nifa_ +cruising about, or else those Manono fellows wouldn't have been so +scared at us wanting to cross." + +As soon as we reached the young chief's quarters, we were made very +welcome, and were obliged to accept his invitation to remain and share +supper with himself and his men--all stalwart young natives from the +little island of Manono--a lovely spot situated in the straits +separating Upolo from Savaii. Placing our guns and bags in the care of +one of the warriors, we took our seats on the matted floor, filled our +pipes anew, and, whilst a bowl of kava was being prepared, Li'o, the +young chief told us about the advent of the _ta~nifa_. + +Let me first of all, however, explain that the _ta~nifa_ is a somewhat +rare and greatly-dreaded member of the old-established shark family. By +many white residents in Samoa it was believed to occasionally reach a +length of from twenty to twenty-five feet; as a matter of fact it seldom +exceeds ten feet, but its great girth, and its solitary, nocturnal habit +of haunting the mouths of shallow streams has invested it even to the +native mind with fictional powers of voracity and destruction. Yet, +despite the exaggerated accounts of the creature, it is really a +dreadful monster, rendered the more dangerous to human life by the +persistency with which it frequents muddied and shallow water, +particularly after a freshet caused by heavy rain, when its presence +cannot be discerned. + +Into the port of Apia there fall two small streams--called "rivers" by +the local people--the Mulivai and the Vaisigago, and I was fortunate to +see specimens of the _ta~nifa_ on three occasions, twice at the +Vaisigago, and once at the mouth of the Mulivai, but I had never seen +one caught, or even sufficiently exposed to give me an idea of its +proportions. Many natives, however--particularly an old Rarotongan named +Hapai, who lived in Apia, and was the proud capturer of several +_ta~nifa_--gave me a reliable description, which I afterwards +verified. + +A _ta~nifa_ ten feet long, they assured me, was an enormously bulky and +powerful creature with jaws and teeth much larger than an ocean-haunting +shark of double that length; the width across the shoulders was very +great, and although it generally swam slowly, it would, when it had once +sighted its prey, dart along under the water with great rapidity without +causing a ripple. At a village in Savaii, a powerfully built woman who +was incautiously bathing at the mouth of a stream was seized by one of +these sharks almost before she could utter a cry, so swiftly and +suddenly was she attacked. Several attempts were made to capture the +brute, which continued to haunt the scene of the tragedy for several +days, but it was too cunning to take a hook and was never caught. + +This particular _ta~nifa_, which had been seen by the young Manono +chief and his men on the preceding evening had made its appearance soon +after darkness had fallen and had cruised to and fro across the mouth of +the Vaivasa till the tide began to fall, when it made its way seaward +through a passage in the reef. It was, so Li'o assured me, quite eight +feet in length and very wide across the head and shoulders. The water +was clear and by the bright starlight they had discerned its movements +very easily; once it came well into the river and remained stationary +for some minutes, lying under about two feet of water. Some of the +Manono men, hailing a picket of the enemy on the opposite bank of the +river, asked for a ten minutes' truce to try and shoot it; this was +granted, and standing on top of the sandy trench, half a dozen young +fellows fired a volley at the shark from their Sniders. None of the +bullets took effect and the _ta~nifa_ sailed slowly off again to +cruise to and fro for another hour, watching for any hapless person who +might cross the river. + +Just as the kava was being handed round, some children who were on watch +cried out that the _ta~nifa_ had come. Springing to his feet, Li'o +again hailed the enemy's picket on the other side, and a truce was +agreed to, so that "the white men could have a look at the +_ma|lie_"--shark. + +Thirty or forty yards away was what seemed to be a huge, irregular and +waving mass of phosphorus which, as it drew nearer, revealed the +outlines of the dreaded fish. It came in straight for the mouth of the +creek, passed over the pebbly bar, and then swam leisurely about in the +brackish water, moving from bank to bank at less than a dozen feet from +the shore. The stream of bright phosphorescent light which had +surrounded its body when it first appeared had now, owing to there being +but a minor degree of phosphorus in the brackish water, given place to +a dulled, sickly, greenish reflection, accentuated however by thin, +vivid streaks, caused by the exudation from the gills of a streaming, +viscid matter, common to some species of sharks, and giving it a truly +terrifying and horrible appearance. Presently a couple of natives, +taking careful aim, fired at the creature's head; in an instant it +darted off with extraordinary velocity, rushing through the water like a +submerged comet--if I may use the illustration. Both of the men who had +fired were confident their bullets had struck and badly wounded the +shark, but were greatly disgusted when, ten minutes later, it again +appeared, swimming leisurely about, at ten fathoms from the beach. + +Three days later, as we were returning to Apia, we were told by our +native friends that the shark still haunted the mouth of the Vaivasa; +and I determined to capture it. I sent Allan on board the cutter for our +one shark hook--a hook which had done much execution among the sea +prowlers. Although not of the largest size, being only ten inches in the +shank, it was made of splendid steel, and we had frequently caught +fifteen-feet sharks with it at sea. It was a cherished possession with +us and we always kept it--and the four feet of chain to which it was +attached--bright and clean. + +In the evening Allan returned, accompanied by the local pilot (a Captain +Hamilton) and the fat, puffing, master of a German barque. They wanted +"to see the fun." We soon had everything in readiness; the hook, baited +with the belly-portion of a freshly-killed pig (which the Manono people +had commandeered from a bush village) was buoyed to piece of light _pua_ +wood to keep it from sinking, and then with twenty fathoms of brand-new +whale line attached, we let it drift out into the centre of the passage. +Then making our end of the line fast to the trunk of a coconut tree, we +set some children to watch, and went into the trenches to drink some +kava, smoke, and gossip. + +We had not long to wait--barely half an hour--when we heard a warning +yell from the watchers. The _ta~nifa_ was in sight. + +Jumping up and tumbling over each other in our eagerness we rushed out; +but alas! too late for the shark; for instead of approaching in its +usual leisurely manner, it made a straight dart at the bait, and before +we could free our end of the line it was as taut as an iron bar, and the +creature, with the hook firmly fastened in his jaw, was ploughing the +water into foam, amid yells of excitement from the natives. Then +suddenly the line fell slack, and the half-a-dozen men who were holding +it went over on their backs, heels up. + +In mournful silence we hauled it in, and then, oh woe! the hook, our +prized, our beautiful hook, was gone! and with it two feet of the chain, +which had parted at the centre swivel. That particular _ta~nifa_ was +seen no more. + +Nearly two months later, two _ta~nifa_ of a much larger size, appeared +at the mouth of the Vaivasa. Several of the white residents tried, night +after night, to hook them, but the monsters refused to look at the +baits. Then appeared on the scene an old one-eyed Malay named 'Reo, who +asserted he could kill them easily. The way in which he set to work was +described to me by the natives who witnessed the operations. Taking a +piece of green bamboo, about four feet in length, he split from it two +strips each an inch wide. The ends of these he then, after charring the +points, sharpened carefully; then by great pressure he coiled them up +into as small a compass as possible, keeping the whole in position by +sewing the coil up in the fresh skin of a fish known as the _isuumu +moana_--a species of the "leather-jacket." Then he asked to be provided +with two dogs. A couple of curs were soon provided, killed, and the +viscera removed. The coils of bamboo were then placed in the vacancy and +the skin of the bellies stitched up with small wooden skewers. That +completed the preparation of the baits. + +As soon as the two sharks made their appearance, one of the dead dogs +was thrown into the water. It was quickly swallowed. Then the second +followed, and was also seized by the other _ta~nifa_. The creatures +cruised about for some hours, then went off, as the tide began to fall. + +On the following evening they did not turn up, nor on the next; but the +Malay insisted that within four or five days both would be dead. As soon +as the dogs were digested, he said, the thin fish-skin would follow, the +bamboo coil would fly apart, and the sharpened ends penetrate not only +the sharks' intestines, but protrude through the outer skin as well. + +Quite a week afterwards, during which time neither of the _ta~nifa_ +had been seen alive, the smaller of the two was found dead on the beach +at Vailele Plantation, about four miles from the Vaivasa. It was +examined by numbers of people, and presented an extremely interesting +sight; one end of the bamboo spring was protruding over a foot from the +belly, which was so cut and lacerated by the agonised efforts of the +monster to free itself from the instrument of torture, that much of the +intestines was gone. + +That the larger of these dreaded fish had died in the same manner there +was no reason to doubt; but probably it had sunk in the deep water +outside the barrier reef. + + + + +_On Board the "_Tucopia_." + + +The little island trading barque _Tucopia_, Henry Robertson, master, lay +just below Garden Island in Sydney Harbour, ready to sail for the +Friendly Islands and Samoa as soon as the captain came on board. At nine +o'clock, as Bruce, the old, white-haired, Scotch mate, was pointing out +to Mrs. Lacy and the Reverend Wilfrid Lacy the many ships around, and +telling them from whence they came or where they were bound, the second +mate called out-- + +"Here's the captain's boat coming, sir." + +Bruce touched his cap to the pale-faced, violet-eyed clergyman's wife, +and turning to the break of the poop, at once gave orders to "heave +short," leaving the field clear to Mr. Charles Otway, the supercargo of +the _Tucopia_, who was twenty-two years of age, had had seven years' +experience of general wickedness in the South Seas, thought he was in +love with Mrs. Lacy, and that, before the barque reached Samoa, he would +make the lady feel that the Reverend Wilfrid was a serious mistake, and +that he, Charles Otway, was the one man in the world whom she could love +and be happy with for ever. So, being a hot-blooded and irresponsible +young villain, though careful and decorous to all outward seeming, he +set himself to work, took exceeding care over his yellow, curly hair, +and moustache, and abstained from swearing in Mrs. Lacy's hearing. + + * * * * * + +A week before, Mr. and Mrs. Lacy had called at the owner's office and +inquired about a passage to Samoa in the _Tucopia_, and Otway was sent +for. + +"Otway," said the junior partner, "can you make room on the _Tucopia_ +for two more passengers--nice people, a clergyman and his wife." + +"D----all nice people, especially clergymen and their wives," he +answered promptly--for although the youngest supercargo in the firm, he +was considered, the smartest--and took every advantage of the fact. "I'm +sick of carting these confounded missionaries about, Mr. Harry. Last +trip we took two down to Tonga--beastly hymn-grinding pair, who wanted +the hands to come aft every night to prayers, and played-up generally +with the discipline of the ship. Robertson never interfered, and old +Bruce, who is one of the psalm-singing kidney himself, encouraged the +beasts to turn the ship into a floating Bethel." + +"Mr. Harry" laughed good-naturedly. "Otway, my boy, you mustn't put on +so much side--the firm can't afford it. If you hadn't drunk so much +whisky last night you would be in a better temper this morning." + +"Oh, if you've got some one else to take my billet on the _Tucopia_, +why don't you say so, instead of backing and filling about, like a +billy-goat in stays? _I_ don't care a damn if you load the schooner up +to her maintop with sky-pilots and their dowdy women-kind. I've had +enough of 'em, and I hereby tender you my resignation. I can get another +and a better ship to-morrow, if--" + +"Sit down, you cock-a-hoopy young ass," and "Mr. Harry" hit the +supercargo a good-humoured but stiff blow in the chest. "These people +aren't missionaries; they're a cut above the usual breed. Man's a +gentleman; woman's as sweet as a rosebud. Now look here, Otway; we give +you a pretty free hand generally, but in this instance we want you to +stretch a point--you can give these people berths in the trade-room, +can't you?" + +The supercargo considered a moment. "There's a lot returning this trip. +First, there's the French priest for Wallis Island--nice old buffer, but +never washes, and grinds his teeth in his sleep--he's in the cabin next +to mine; old Miss Wiedermann for Tonga--cabin on starboard side--fussy +old cat, who is always telling me that she can distinctly hear +Robertson's bad language on deck. But her brother is a good sort, and so +I put up with her. Then there's Captain Burr, in the skipper's cabin, +two Samoan half-caste girls in the deck-house--there's going to be +trouble over those women, old Bruce says, and I don't doubt it--and the +whole lot will have their meals in the beastly dog-kennel you call a +saloon, and I call a sweat-box." + +"Thank you, Mr. Otway. Your elegant manner of speaking shows clearly +the refining influence of the charming people with whom you associate. +Just let me tell you this--you looked like a gentleman a year or two +ago, but become less like one every day." + +"No wonder," replied Otway sullenly, "the Island trade is not calculated +to turn out Chesterfields. I'm sick enough of it, now we are carrying +passengers as well as cargo. I suppose the firm will be asking us +supercargoes to wear uniform and brass buttons soon, like the ticket +collector on a penny ferry." + +"Quite likely, my sulky young friend--quite likely, if it will pay us to +do so." + +"Then I'll clear out, and go nigger-catching again in the Solomons. +That's a lot better than having to be civil to people who worry the soul +out of you, are always in the way at sea, and a beastly nuisance in +port. Why, do you know what old Miss Weidermann did at Manono, in Samoa, +when we were there buying yams three months ago?" + +"No; what did she do?" + +"Got the skipper and myself into a howling mess through her infernal +interference; and if the chiefs and old Mataafa himself had not come to +our help there would have been some shooting, and this firm could never +have sent another ship to Manono again. It makes me mad when I think of +it--the silly old bundle of propriety and feminine spite." + +"Tell me all about it, Otway. 'Twill do you good, I can see, to unburden +yourself of some of your bad temper. Shut that door, and we'll have a +brandy-and-soda together." + +"Well," said Otway, "this is what occurred. I was ashore in the village, +buying and weighing the yams, the skipper was lending me a hand, and +everything was going on bully, when Mataafa and his chiefs sent an +invitation to us to come up to his house and drink kava. Of course such +an invitation from the native point of view was a great honour; and +then, besides that, it was good business to keep in with old Mataafa, +who had just given the Germans a thrashing at Vailele, and was as proud +as a dog with two tails. So, although I hate kava, I accepted the +invitation with 'many expressions of pleasure,' and felt sure that as +the old fellow knew me of old, and I knew he wanted to buy some rifles, +that I should get the bulk of a bag of sovereigns his mongrel, low-down +American secretary was carrying around. So oft went the skipper and I, +letting the yams stand over till we returned; the barque was lying about +a mile off the beach. Mataafa was very polite to us, and during the kava +drinking I found out that he had about three hundred sovereigns, and +wanted to see the Martini-Henrys we had on board. Of course I told him +that it would be a serious business for the ship if he gave us +away--imprisonment in a dreadful dungeon in Fiji, if not hanging at the +yard-arm or a man-of-war--and the old cock winked his eye and laughed. +Then, as time was valuable, we at once concocted a plan to get the +rifles--fifty--ashore without making too much of a show. Well, among +some of the women present there were two great swells, one was the +_taupo_, or town maid, of Palaulae in Savaii, and the other was a niece +of Mataafa himself. These two, accompanied by a lot of young women of +Manono, were to go off on board the barque in our boats, ostensibly to +pay their respects to the white lady on board, and invite her on shore, +so as to get her out of the way; then I was to pass the arms out of the +stern ports into some canoes which would be waiting just as it became +dark. About five o'clock they started off in one boat, leaving me and +the skipper to follow in another. I had sent a note off to the mate +telling him all about the little game, and to be mighty polite to the +two chief women, who were to be introduced to Miss Weidermann, give the +old devil some presents of mats, fruits, and such things, and ask her to +come ashore as Mataafa's guest. + +"Well, something had gone wrong with the Weidermann's temper; for when +the women came on board she was sulking in her cabin, and refused to +show her vinegary face outside her state-room door. Thinking she would +get over her tantrum in a few minutes, the mate invited the two Samoan +ladies and their attendants down into the cabin, where they awaited her +appearance, behaving themselves, of course, very decorously, it being a +visit of ceremony. + +"Presently Old Cat-face opened her door, and then, without giving the +native ladies time to utter a word, she launched out at them in her +bastard-mongrel Samoan-Tongan. The first thing she said was that she +knew the kind of women they were, and what had brought them on board! +How dared such brazen, shameless cattle come into the cabin! Into the +same cabin as a white lady! The bold, half-naked, disgraceful hussies, +etc., etc. And then she capped the thing by calling to the steward to +come and drive them out! + +"Not one of the native women could answer her. They were all simply +dumbfounded at such a gross insult, and left the cabin in silence. The +mate tried to smooth things over, but one of the women--Mataafa's +niece--gave him a look that told him to say no more. In half an hour the +whole lot of them were back on the beach, and came up to the chiefs +house, where the skipper and myself were having a final drink of kava +with old Mataafa and his _faipule_.[16] The face of the elder of the two +women was blazing with anger, and then, pointing to the captain and +myself, she gave us such a tongue-lashing for sending her off to the +ship to be shamed and insulted, that made us blush. Old Mataafa waited +until she had finished, and then, with an ugly gleam in his eye but +speaking very quietly, asked us what it meant. + +"What _could_ we say but that it was no fault of ours; and then, by a +happy inspiration, I added that although Miss Weidermann was generally +well-conducted enough, she sometimes got blazing drunk, and made a beast +of herself. This explanation satisfied the chiefs, if not the women, and +everything went on smoothly. And as it was then nearly dark, and I was +determined that Mataafa should get his rifles, half a dozen of his men +took us off in their canoes, and we went on board. The skipper and I had +fixed up as to what we should do with the Weidermann creature. She was +seated at the cabin table waiting to open out on us, but the skipper +didn't give her a chance. + +"'Go to your cabin at once, madam,' he said solemnly, 'and I trust you +will not again leave it in your present condition. Your conduct is +simply astounding. _Steward, see that you give Miss Weidermann no more +grog_.' + +"The poor old girl thought that either he or she herself was going mad, +but he gave her no time to talk. The captain opened her state-room door, +gently pushed her in, and put a man outside to see that she didn't come +out again. Then we handed out the rifles through the stern-ports to the +natives in the canoes, and sent them away rejoicing. And that's the end +of the yarn, and Miss Weidermann nearly went into a fit next morning +when we told her that no less than thirty respectable native women had +taken their oaths that she was mad drunk, and abused them vilely." + +The junior partner laughed loudly at the story, and Otway, with a more +amiable look on his face, rose. + +"Well, I'll do what I can for these people. I'll make room for them +somehow. Where are they going?" + +"Samoa. They have an idea of settling down there, I think, for a few +months, and then going on to China. They have plenty of money, +apparently." + +"Oh, well, tell them to come on board to-morrow, and I'll show them what +can be done for them." + + * * * * * + +So the Rev. and Mrs. Lacy did come on board, and Mr. Charles Otway was +vanquished by just one single glance from the lady's violet eyes. + +"It would have been such a dreadful disappointment to us if we could not +have obtained passages in the _Tucopia_," she said, in her soft, sweet +voice, as she sank back in the deck-chair he placed before her. "My +husband is so bent on making a tour through Samoa. Now, do tell me, Mr. +Otway, are these islands so very lovely?" + +"Very, very lovely, Mrs. Lacy," replied Otway, leaning with his back +against the rail and regarding her with half-closed eyes; "as sweet and +fair to look upon as a lovely woman--a woman with violet eyes and lips +like a budding rose." + +She gave him one swift glance, seemingly in anger, yet her eyes smiled +into his; then she bent her head and regarded the deck with intense +interest. Otway thought he had scored. She was sure _she_ had. + +Otway had just shown her and her husband his own cabin, and had told +them that they could occupy it--he would make himself comfortable in the +trade-room, he said. This was after the first look from the violet eyes. + + * * * * * + +Robertson, the skipper, came aboard, shook hands with Mrs. Lacy and her +husband, nodded to the other passengers, dived below for a moment or +two, and then reappeared on deck, full of energy, blasphemy, and anxiety +to get under way. In less than an hour the smart barque was outside the +Heads, and heeling over to a brisk south-westerly breeze. Two days later +she was four hundred miles on her course. + +The Rev. Wilfrid Lacy soon made himself very agreeable to the rest of +the passengers, who all agreed that he was a splendid type of parson, +and even Otway, who had as much principle as a rat and began making love +to his wife from the outset, liked him. First of all, he was not the +usual style of travelling clergyman. He didn't say grace at meals, he +smoked a pipe, drank whisky and brandy with Otway and Robertson, told +rattling good stories, and displayed an immediate interest when the +skipper mentioned that the second mate was a "bit of a bruiser," and +that there were gloves on board; and the second mate, a nuggety little +Tynesider, at once consented to a friendly mill as soon as he was off +duty. + +"Wilfrid," said Mrs. Lacy, "you'll shock every one. I can see that +Captain Robertson wonders what sort of a clergyman you are." + +Robertson saw the merry light in her dark eyes, and then laughed aloud +as he saw Miss Weidermann's face. It expressed the very strongest +disapproval, and during the rest of the meal the virgin lady preserved a +dismal silence. The rest of the passengers, however, "took" to the +clerical gentleman at once. With old Father Roget--the Marist +missionary who sat opposite him--he soon entered into an animated +conversation, while the two De Boos girls, vivacious Samoan half-castes, +attached themselves to his wife. Seated beside Otway was another +passenger, an American skipper named Burr, who was going to Apia to take +command of a vessel belonging to the same firm as the _Tucopia_. He was +a silent, good-looking man of about sixty, and possessed of much caustic +humour and a remarkable fund of smoking-room stories, which, on rare +occasions, he would relate in an inimitable, drawling manner, as if he +was tired. The chief mate was a deeply but not obtrusively religious +Scotsman; the second officer, Allen, was a young man of thirty, an +excellent seaman, but rough to the verge of brutality with the crew. +Bruce, on the other hand, was too easy-going and patient. + +"I never want to raise my hand against a man," he said one day, as a +protest, when Allen gave one of the crew an unmerciful cuff which sent +him down as if he had been shot. + +"Neither do I," replied Allen, "I prefer raising my foot. But it's +habit, Mr. Bruce, only habit." + +For five days the barque ran steadily on an E.N.E. course, then on the +sixth day the wind hauled, and by sunset it was blowing hard from the +eastward with a fast-gathering sea. By two in the morning Robertson and +his officers knew that they were in for a three-days' easterly gale; a +few hours later it was decided to heave-to, as the sea had become +dangerous, and the little vessel was straining badly. Just after this +had been done, the gale set in with redoubled fury, and when Mrs. Lacy +came on deck shortly before breakfast, she shuddered at the wild +spectacle. Coming to the break of the poop, she clasped the iron rail +with both hands, and gazed fearfully about her. + +"You had better go below, ma'am," said the second mate, who was standing +near, talking to Otway, "there's some nasty, lumpy seas." + +Then he gave a yell. + +"Look out there!" + +Springing to Mrs. Lacy's side, he clasped his left arm around her waist, +and held on tightly to the iron rail with his right, just as a vast +mountain of water took the barque amidships, fell on her deck with +terrific force, and fairly buried her from the topgallant foc'scle to +the level of the poop. In less than half a minute the galley, for'ard +deck-house, long-boat, which was lying on the main hatch, and the port +bulwarks had vanished, together with three poor seamen who were asleep +in the deck-house. The fearful crash brought the captain flying on deck. +One glance showed him that there was no chance of saving the men--to +attempt to lower a boat in such a sea was utterly impossible, and would +be madness itself. He sighed, and then took off his cap. Allen and Otway +followed his example. + +"Is there no hope for them?" Mrs. Lacy whispered to Otway. + +"None," replied the supercargo in a low voice. "None." Then he urged her +to go below, as it was not safe for her to remain on deck. She went at +once, and met her husband just as he was leaving their cabin. + +"What is the matter, Nell?" he asked, as he saw that tears were in her +eyes. + +"Three poor men have been carried overboard, Wilfrid. They were in the +deck-house asleep ten minutes ago--now they are gone! Oh, isn't it +dreadful, dreadful!" And then she sat down beside him and wept silently. + +Breakfast was a forlorn meal--Robertson and his officers were not +present, and Otway took the captain's seat. He, too, only remained to +drink a cup of coffee, then hurriedly went on deck. Lacy rose at the +same time, but at the foot of the companion, Otway motioned him to stop. + +"Don't come on deck awhile, if you please," he said, "and tell the +ladies to keep to the cabin." + +"Anything fresh gone wrong?" + +"Yes," replied the supercargo, looking steadily at the clergyman--"the +ship is making water badly. Don't you hear the pumps going? Tell the +ladies not to come on deck--say it is not safe. And if the old +Weidermann girl hears the pumps, and gets inquisitive, tell her that a +lot of water got into the hold when that big sea tumbled aboard. She's +an inquisitive old ass, and would be bound to tell the other ladies that +the ship is in danger." + +Lacy nodded. "All right, I'll see to her. How long has the ship been +leaking?" + +"For quite a long time. And there is fourteen inches in her, and it's as +much as we can do to keep it under." + +"That is serious." + +Otway nodded. "Yes, it is serious in weather like this. Now I must go. +Daresay we may give you a call in the course of the morning. Ever try a +spell at old-fashioned brake pumps? Fine exercise." + +"I'm ready now if you want me," was the quiet answer. + +The _Tucopia_ was indeed in a pretty bad case. Immediately after the +fatal sea had swept her decks the carpenter had sounded the well and +found fifteen inches of water, some little of which had got below +through the fore-scuttle, but the greater portion, it was soon evident, +was the result of a leak. The barque was a comparatively new vessel, and +Robertson and his officers, after two hours' pumping, came to the +conclusion that she had either strained herself badly or a butt-end had +started somewhere. + +For two hours the crew worked at the pumps, taking a spell of ten +minutes every half-hour, Otway, the American captain Burr, and Mr. Lacy +all lending a hand. Then the well was sounded, and showed two inches +less. + +Robertson ordered the men to come aft and get a glass of grog. They +trooped down into the cabin wet and exhausted, and the steward served +them each out half a tumblerful of good French brandy. They drank it +off, and then went on deck again to have a smoke before resuming +pumping. A quarter of an hour later the pumps choked. There were a +hundred tons of coal in the lower hold, and some of the small of it had +been drawn up. By the time the carpenter had them cleared the water had +gained seven inches, and the little barque was labouring heavily. Again, +however, the willing crew turned to and pumped steadily for another +hour, but only succeeded in reducing the water by an inch or two. Then +Robertson called his officers together and consulted. + +"We can't keep on like this much longer," he said, "the water is gaining +on us too fast. And we can't run before such a sea as this, in our +condition; we should be pooped in less than five minutes. We shall have +to take to the boats in another couple of hours, unless a change takes +place. Mr. Allen, and you, Mr. Otway, see to the two boats, and get them +in readiness." + +Then he went below to the passengers. They were all seated in the main +cabin, and looked anxiously at him as he entered. + +"I am sorry to tell you, ladies," he said quietly, "that the ship is +leaking so badly that I fear we shall have to abandon her. The men +cannot keep on pumping much longer, now that we are three hands short. +Fortunately we have two good boats, and, if we must take to them, shall +have no trouble in reaching land." + +They heard him in silence, then the old priest opened his state-room +door, and came out. + +"That is bad news indeed, captain," he said gently. "Still we must bow +to God's will, and trust to His guidance and protection. And you and +your officers and crew are good and brave seamen." + +"Thank you, father. We'll do all right if we have to take to the boats. +And you must try and cheer up the ladies. Now I must leave you all for +awhile. We will stick to the pumps for another hour or two." + +"Captain," said Sarah de Boos, a tall, finely built young woman of +twenty, "let my sister and myself and our servant help the men at the +pump. _Do_, please. We are all three very strong, and our help is surely +worth having." + +Robertson patted her soft cheek with his big, sunburnt hand. "You are +your father's daughter, Sarah, and I thank you. Of course your help +would be something; three fine lusty young women"--he tried to +smile--"but it's too dangerous for you to be on deck. All the bulwarks +are gone, and nasty lumping seas come aboard every now and then." + +"I'm not afraid of a life-line hurting my waist," was the prompt answer, +"and neither is Sukie--are you Sukie? Go on deck, captain, and Sukie and +I and Mina" (the servant) "will just kick off our boots and follow you." + +"And I too," broke in old Father Roget. "Surely I am not too old to +help." + +In less than five minutes the two half-caste girls, the native woman +Mina, and the old priest, were working the starboard brake, three seamen +being on the lee side. Every now and then, as the barque took a heavy +roll to windward, the water would flood her deck up to the workers' +knees; but they stuck steadily to their task for half an hour, when they +gave place to Burr, the carpenter, the Rev. Wilfrid, and three native +seamen. + +In the cabin Mrs. Lacy sat with ashen-hued face beside Miss Weidermann, +their hands clasped together, and listening to the wild clamour of the +wind and sea. Presently the two De Boos girls, Lacy, Father Roget, and +Mina, came below to rest awhile, the water streaming from their sodden +garments. The old priest, thoroughly exhausted, threw himself down upon +the transom locker cushions. + +"Wilfrid," said Mrs. Lacy coming over to him and placing her shaking +hand on his shoulder, "cannot I do something? Oh, Miss De Boos, I wish I +were brave, like you. But I am not--I am a coward, and I hate myself for +it." + +The Rev. Wilfrid smiled tenderly at her as he drew her to him for a +moment. "Don't worry, little woman. You can't do anything--yes, you can, +though! Get me my pipe and fill it for me. My hands are wet and +cramped." + +Sukie De Boos, whose firm, rounded bosom and strong square shoulders +made a startling contrast, as they revealed their shape under her +soddened blouse, to Mrs. Lacy's fragile figure, impulsively put her +hands out, and taking Mrs. Lacy's face between them, kissed her twice. + +"Dear Mrs. Lacy," she said, "don't be frightened, please. Now get Mr. +Lacy's pipe, and I'll rummage the steward's pantry and get some food for +us all to eat. Mr. Otway told me to tell you and Miss Weidermann to eat +something, as maybe we may not get anything for some hours. So I'm just +going to stay here and see that every one _does_ eat. I'll set you a +good example." + +In a few minutes she laid upon the table an assortment of tinned meats, +bread, and some bottled beer, and some brandy for Father Roget and Lacy. +Otway came down, followed by the steward, and nodded approval. + +"That's right, Sukie. Eat as much as you can. I'll take a drink myself. +Here's luck to you, Sukie. Perhaps we won't have to make up a boating +party after all. But there's nothing like being ready. So will you, Mr. +Lacy, lend a hand here with the steward, and pass up our provisions to +the second mate? The captain will be down in a minute, and will tell you +ladies what clothing to get ready. For my part I'll be jolly glad if we +do have to take to the boats, where we shall be nice and comfy, instead +of rolling about in this beastly way--I'll be sea-sick in another ten +minutes. Old Bruce says he felt sick an hour ago. Come on, steward." + +The assumed cheerfulness of his manner produced a good effect, and even +old Miss Weidermann plucked up heart a little as she saw him +nonchalantly light a cigar as he disappeared with the steward below into +the lazzarette. + +On deck Robertson and the mate were talking in low tones, as they +assisted the second mate with the boats. There was now nearly three feet +of water in the hold, and every one knew that the barque could not keep +afloat much longer. Fortunately the violence of the wind had decreased +somewhat, though there was still a mountainous sea. + +Both the old mate and the captain knew that the two small quarter boats +would be dangerously overladen, and their unspoken fears were shared by +the rest of the officers and crew. But another hour would perhaps make a +great difference; and then as the two men were speaking a savage sea +smote the _Tucopia_ on the starboard bow, with such violence that she +trembled in every timber, and as she staggered under the shock and then +rolled heavily to windward, she dipped the starboard quarter boat under +the water; it filled, and as she rose again, boat and davits went away +together. + +Robertson groaned and looked at the mate. + +"It is God's will, sir," said the old Scotsman quietly. + +Robertson nodded. "Tell Allen and the others to come here," he said. + +The Tynesider, followed by Captain Burr, Otway, and the carpenter, came. + +"Mr. Allen," said the captain, "you are the best man in such an +emergency as this. You handle a boat better than any man I know. There +is now only one boat left, and you must take charge of her. You will +have to take a big lot of people--the four women, the parson, the old +French priest, Mr. Otway, Captain Burr, the carpenter, and the five +men." + +"I guess I'll stand out, and stick to the ship," said Burr in a lazy, +drawling manner, "I don't like bein' crowded up with a lot of wimmen." + +"Neither do I, said Otway. + +"Same here, captain," said the carpenter, a little grizzled man of +sixty. + +Robertson shook hands with each of them in turn. "I knew you were +_men_," he said simply. "Come below and let's have a drink together, and +then see to the boat." + +"What's all this, skipper?" said Allen, with an oath, "d'ye think I'm +going to save my carcase and let you men drown? I'll see you all damned +first!" + +"You'll obey orders," growled the captain, "and my orders are that you +take charge of that boat. And don't give me any lip. You are a married +man and have children. None of us who are standing by the ship are +married men. By God, my joker, if you don't know your duty, I'll teach +you. Are you going to let these four women go adrift in a boat to perish +when you can save them?" + +Allen looked the captain squarely in the face and then put out his hand. + +"I understand you, sir. But I don't like doing it. The ship won't keep +afloat another hour. But, as you say, I've a wife and kids to consider." + + * * * * * + +Followed by the others, Robertson went below, and told his passengers to +get ready for the boat. The old French priest, exhausted by his labour +at the pumps, was still lying on the transom cushions, sleeping; the +Rev. Lacy was seated at the table smoking his pipe (all the ladies were +in their state-rooms). He rose as the men entered, and looked at them +inquiringly. + +"We're in a bit of a tight place," said the captain, as he coolly +poured out half a tumblerful of brandy, "but I'm sending you, Mr. Lacy, +and Father Roget, and the ladies away with Mr. Allen in one of the +boats. Allen is a man whom I rely upon. He'll bring you ashore safely. +He's a bit rough in his talk, but he's one of God's own chosen in a +boat, and a fine sailor man--better than the mate, Captain Burr, or +myself; isn't that so, Mr. Bruce?" + +The white-haired old mate bent his head in acknowledgment. Then he stood +up stiff and stark, his rough bony hands clasped upon his chest. + +"I'll no' deny but that Mr. Allen is far and awa' the best man to have +charge o' the boat. But as there is a meenister here, surely he will now +offer up a prayer to the Almighty for those in peril on the sea, and +especially implore Him to consider a sma' boat, deep to the gunwales." + +He looked at the clergyman, who at first made no reply, but stood with +downcast eyes. The men looked at him expectantly; he put one hand on the +table, and then slowly raised his face. + +"I think, gentlemen, that ... that Father Roget is the older man." He +spoke haltingly, and a flush dyed his smooth, clean-shaven face from +brow to chin. "Will you not ask him?" Then his eyes dropped again. + +Robertson, who was in a hurry, and yet had a sincere but secret respect +for old Bruce's unobtrusive religious feelings, now backed up his mate's +request. + +"I think, sir, that as the mate says, a bit of a short prayer would not +be out of place just now, seeing the mess we are in. And that poor old +gentleman over there is too done up to stand on his feet. So will you +please begin, sir. Steward, call the ladies. We can no longer disguise +from them, Mr. Lacy, that we are in a bad way--as bad a way as I have +ever been in during my thirty years at sea." + +In a couple of minutes the two De Boos girls, Miss Weidermann, and the +native girl Mina, came out of their cabins; and when the steward said +that Mrs. Lacy felt too ill to leave her berth, her husband could not +help giving an audible sigh of relief. Then he braced up and spoke with +firmness. + +"Please shut Mrs. Lacy's door, steward. Mr. Bruce, will you lend me your +church service--I do not want to go into my cabin for my own. My wife, I +fear, has given way." + +The mate brought the church service, and then whilst the men stood with +bowed heads, and the women knelt, the clergyman, with strong, +unfaltering voice read the second of the prayers "To be used in Storms +at Sea." He finished, and then sitting down again, placed one hand over +his eyes. + +"_The living, the living shall praise Thee_." + +It was the old mate who spoke. He alone of the men had knelt beside the +women, and when he rose his face bore such an expression of calmness and +content, that Otway, who five minutes before had been silently cursing +him for his "damned idiotcy," looked at him with a sudden mingled +respect and wonder. + +Stepping across to the clergyman, Bruce respectfully placed his hand on +his shoulder, and as he spoke his clear blue eyes smiled at the still +kneeling women. + +"Cheer up, sir. God will protect ye and your gude wife, and us all. You, +his meenister, have made supplication to Him, and He has heard. Dinna +weep, ladies. We are in the care of One who holds the sea in the hollow +of His hand." + +Then he followed the captain and the others on deck, Otway alone +remaining to assist the steward. + +"For God's sake give me some brandy," said Lacy to him, in a low voice. + +Otway looked at him in astonishment. Was the man a coward after all? + +He brought the brandy, and with ill-disguised contempt placed it before +him without a word. Lacy looked up at him, and his face flushed. + +"Oh, I'm not funking--not a d----d bit, I can assure you." + +Otway at once poured out a nip of brandy for himself, and clinked his +glass against that of the clergyman. + +"Pon my soul, I couldn't make it out, and I apologise. But a man's +nerves go all at once sometimes--can't help himself, you know. Mine did +once when I was in the nigger-catching business in the Solomon Islands. +Natives opened fire on us when our boats were aground in a creek, and +some of our men got hit. I wasn't a bit scared of a smack from a bullet, +but when I got a scratch on my hand from an arrow, I dropped in a blue +funk, and acted like a cur. Knew it was poisoned, felt sure I'd die of +lockjaw, and began to weep internally. Then the mate called me a rotten +young cur, shook me up, and put my Snider into my hand. But I shall +always feel funky at the sight even of a child's twopenny bow and arrow. +Now I must go." + +The clergyman nodded and smiled, and then rising from his seat, he +tapped at the door of his wife's state-room. She opened it, and then +Otway, who was helping the steward, heard her sob hysterically. + +"Oh, Will, Will, why did you? How could you? I love you, Will dear, I +love you, and if death comes to us in another hour, another minute, I +shall die happily with your arms round me. But, Will dear, there is a +God, I'm sure there _is_ a God.... I feel it in my heart, I feel it. And +now that death is so near to us----" + +Lacy put his arms around her, and lifted her trembling figure upon his +knees. + +"There, rest yourself, my pet." + +"Rest! Rest?" she said brokenly, as Lacy drew her to him. "How can I +rest when I think of how I have sinned, and how I shall die! Will dear, +when I heard you reading that prayer--" + +"I _had_ to do it, Nell." + +"Will, dear Will.... Perhaps God may forgive us both.... But as I sat +here in my dark cabin, and listened to you reading that prayer, my +husband's face came before me--the face that I thought was so dull and +stupid. And his eyes seemed so soft and kind--" + +"For God's sake, my dear little woman, don't think of what is past. We +have made the plunge together----" + +The woman uttered one last sobbing sigh. "I am not afraid to die, Will. +I am not afraid, but when I heard you begin to read that prayer, my +courage forsook me. I wanted to scream--to rush out and stop you, for it +seemed to me as if you were doing it in sheer mockery." + +"I can only say again, Nell, that I could not help myself; made me feel +pretty sick, I assure you." + +Their voices ceased, and presently Lacy stepped out into the main cabin, +and then went on deck again. + +Robertson met him with a cheerful face. "Come on, Mr. Lacy. I've some +good news for you--we are making less water! The leak must be taking up +in some way." Then holding on to the rail with one hand, he shouted to +the men at the pumps. + +"Shake her up, boys! shake her up. Here's Mr. Lacy come to lend a hand, +and the supercargo and steward will be with you in a minute. Now I'm +going below for a minute to tell the ladies, and mix you a bucket of +grog. Shake her up, you, Tom Tarbucket, my bully boy with a glass eye! +Shake her up, and when she sucks dry, I'll stand a sovereign all round." + +The willing crew answered him with a cheer, and Tom Tarbucket, a +square-built, merry faced native of Savage Island, who was stripped to +the waist, shouted out, amid the laughter of his shipmates-- + +"Ay, ay, capt'in, we soon make pump suck dry if two Miss de Boos girl +come." + +Robertson laughed in response, and then picking up a wooden bucket from +under the fife rail, clattered down the companion way. + +"Where are you, Otway? Up you get on deck, and you too, steward. The +leak is taken up and 'everything is lovely and the goose hangs high.' Up +you go to the pumps, and make 'em suck. I'll bring up some grog +presently." + +Then as Otway and the steward sprang up on deck, the captain stamped +along the cabin in his sodden sea boots, banging at each door. + +"Come out, Sarah, come out Sukie, my little chickabiddies--there's to be +no boat trip for you after all. Miss Weidermann, I've good news, good +news! Mrs. Lacy, cheer up, dear lady. The leak has taken up, and you can +go on deck and see your husband working at the pumps like a number one +chop Trojan. Ha! Father Roget, give me your hand. You're a white man, +sir, and ought to be a bishop." + +As he spoke to the now awakened old priest, the two De Boos girls, Mrs. +Lacy and Miss Weidermann, all came out of their cabins, and Robertson +shook hands with them, and lifting Sukie de Boos up between his two +rough hands as if she were a little girl, he kissed her, and then made a +grab at Sarah, who dodged behind Mrs. Lacy. + +"Now, father, don't you attempt to come on deck. Mrs. Lacy, just you +keep him here. Sukie, my chick, you and Sarah get a couple of bottles of +brandy, make this bucket full of half-and-half, and bring it on deck to +the men." + +As he noisily stamped out of the cabin again, the old priest turned to +the ladies, and raised his hand-- + +"A brave, brave man--a very good English sailor. And now let us thank +God for His mercies to us." + +The four ladies, with Mina, knelt, and then the good old man prayed +fervently for a few minutes. Then Sukie de Boos and her sister flung +their arms around Mrs. Lacy, and kissed her, and even Miss Weidermann, +now thoroughly unstrung, began to cry hysterically. She had at first +detested Mrs. Lacy as being altogether too scandalously young and pretty +for a clergyman's wife. Now she was ready to take her to her bosom (that +is, to her metaphorical bosom, as she had no other), for she believed +that Mr. Lacy's prayer had saved them all, he being a Protestant +clergyman, and therefore better qualified to avert imminent death than a +priest of Rome. + +Sukie and Sally de Boos mixed the grog, took it on deck, and served it +out to the men at the pumps. + +The carpenter sounded the well, and as he drew up the iron rod, the +second mate gave a shout. + +"Only seven inches, captain." + +"Right, my boy. Take a good spell now, Mr. Allen. Mr. Bruce, we can give +her a bit more lower canvas now. She'll stand it. Mr. Lacy, and you +Captain Burr, come aft and get into some dry togs. The glass is rising +steadily, and in a few hours we'll feel a bit more comfy." + +He prophesied truly, for the violence of the gale decreased rapidly, +and when at the end of an hour the pumps sucked, the crew gave a cheer, +and tired out as they were, eagerly sprang aloft to repair damages and +then spread more sail, Sarah and Susan de Boos hauling and pulling at +the running gear from the deck below. They were both girls of splendid +physique, and, in a way, sailors, and had Robertson allowed them to do +so, would have gone aloft and handled the canvas with the men. + +By four o'clock in the afternoon the little barque, with her wave-swept, +bulwarkless decks, now drying under a bright sun, was running before a +warm, good-hearted breeze, and the pumps were only attended to twice in +every watch. + +Mrs. Lacy, Miss Weidermann, the De Boos girls, and the French priest +were seated on the poop deck, on rugs and blankets spread out for them +by Otway and the steward. Lacy, with Captain Burr, was pacing to and fro +smoking his pipe, and laughing heartily at Sukie de Boos's attempts to +make his wife smoke a cigarette. Presently old Bruce came along with the +second mate and some men to set a new gaff-topsail, and the ladies rose +to go below, so as to be out of the way. + +"Nae, nae, leddies, dinna go below," said the old mate cheerfully, +"ye'll no' hinder us. And the sight o' sae many sweet, bonny faces will +mak' us work a' the better. And how are ye now, Mrs. Lacy? Ah, the pink +roses are in your cheeks once mair." And then he stepped quickly up to +the young clergyman and took his hand. + +"Mr. Lacy, ye must pardon me, but I'm an auld man, and must hae my way. +Ye're a gude, brave man;" then he added in a low voice, "and ye called +upon Him, and He heard us." + +"Thank you, Mr. Bruce," Lacy answered nervously, as he saw his wife's +eyes droop, and a vivid blush dye her fair cheeks. Then he plucked the +American captain by the sleeve and went below, and Sukie de Boos laughed +loudly when in another minute they heard the pop of a bottle of soda +water. She ran to the skylight and bent down. + +"You're a pair of exceedingly rude men. You might think of Father +Roget--even if you don't think of us poor women. Mr. Otway, come here, +you horrid, dirty-faced, ragged creature! Go below and get a glass of +port wine for Father Roget, a bottle of champagne for Mrs. Lacy and my +sister and myself, and a cup of tea for Mrs. Weidermann, and bring some +biscuits, too." + +"Come and help me, then," said the supercargo, who was indeed +dirty-faced and ragged. + +Sukie danced towards the companion way with him. Half-way down he put +his arms round her and kissed her vigorously. She returned his kisses +with interest, and laughingly smacked his cheek. + +"Let me go, Charlie Otway, you horrid, bold fellow. Now, one, two, +three, or I'll call out and invoke the protection of the clergy, above +and below--those on board this ship I mean, not those who are in heaven +or elsewhere." + + * * * * * + +Ten days later the _Tucopia_ sailed into Apia Harbour and dropped +anchor inside Matautu Point just as the evening mists were closing their +fleecy mantle around the verdant slopes of Vailima Mountain. + +The two half-caste girls, with their maid and Mr. and Mrs. Lacy, came to +bid Otway and the captain a brief farewell, before they went ashore in +the pilot boat to D'Acosta's hotel in Matafele. + +"Now remember, Otway, and you, Captain Robertson, and you, Captain Burr, +you are all to dine with us at the hotel the day after to-morrow. And +perhaps you, too, Father Roget will reconsider your decision and come +too." It was Lacy who spoke. + +The gentle-voiced old Frenchman shook his head and smiled--"Ah no, it +was impossible," he said. The bishop would not like him to so soon leave +the Mission. But the bishop and his brothers at the Mission would look +forward to have the good captain, and Mr. Burr, and Mr. Otway, and the +ladies to accept his hospitality. + +Mrs. Lacy's soft little gloved hand was in Otway's. + +"I thank you, Mr. Otway, very, very sincerely for your many kindnesses +to me. You have indeed been most generous to us both. It was cruel of us +to take your cabin and compel you to sleep in the trade-room. But I +shall never forget how kind you have been." + +All that was good in Otway came into his vicious heart and voiced softly +through his lips. + +"I am only too glad, Mrs. Lacy.... I am indeed. I didn't like giving up +my cabin to strangers at first, and was a bit of a beast when Mr. Harry +told me we were taking two extra passengers. But I am glad now." + +He turned away, and went below with burning cheeks. Before the storm he +had tried his best, late on several nights, to make Lacy drunk, and to +keep him drunk; but Lacy could stand as much or more grog than he could +himself; and when he heard that passionate, sobbing appeal, "Oh, Will, +Will, how could you?" his better nature was stirred, and his fierce +sensual desire for her changed into a sentimental affection and respect. +He knew her secret, and now, instead of wishing to take advantage of it, +felt he was too much of a man to abuse his knowledge. + + * * * * * + +Supper was over, and as the skipper, Burr, and Otway paced the +quarter-deck before going ashore to play a game or two of billiards and +meet some friends, a boat came alongside, and a man stepped on deck and +inquired for the captain. As he followed Robertson down the companion, +Otway saw that he was a well-dressed, rather gentlemanly-looking young +man of about five and twenty. + +"Who's that joker, I wonder?" he said to Burr; "not any one living in +Samoa, unless he's a new-comer. Hope he won't stay long--it's eight +o'clock now." + +Ten minutes later the steward came to him. + +"The captain wishes to see you, sir." + +Otway entered the cabin. Robertson, with frowning face, motioned him to +a seat. The strange gentleman sat near the captain smoking a cigar, and +with some papers in his hands. + +"Mr. Otway, I have sent for you. This gentleman has a warrant for the +arrest of Mr. Lacy, issued by the New Zealand Government and initialled +by the British Consul here." + +Otway rose to the occasion. He nodded to the stranger and sat down +quietly. + +"Yes, sir?" he asked inquiringly of Robertson. + +"You will please tell my supercargo your business, mister," said the +captain gruffly to the stranger; "he can tell you all you wish to +know--that is, if he cares to do so. I don't see that your warrant holds +any force here in Samoa. You can't execute it. There's no government +here, no police, no anything, and the British Consul can't act on a +warrant issued from New Zealand. It is of no more use in Samoa than it +would be at Cape Horn." + +"Now, sir, make haste," said Otway with a mingled and studied insolence +and politeness. He already began to detest the stranger. + +"I am a detective of the police force of New Zealand, and I have come +from Auckland to arrest William Barton, alias the Rev. Wilfrid Lacy, on +a charge of stealing twenty thousand, five hundred pounds from the +National Bank of Christchurch, of which he was manager. I believe that +twenty thousand pounds of the money he has stolen is on board this +vessel at this moment, and I now demand access to his cabin." + +"Do you? How are you going to enforce your demand, my cocksure friend?" + +Otway rose, and placing his two hands on the table, looked insultingly +at the detective. "What rot you are talking, man!" + +The detective drew back, alarmed and startled. + +"The British Consul has endorsed my warrant to arrest this man," he +said, "and it will go hard with any one who attempts to interfere with +me in the performance of my duty." + +Otway shot a quick, triumphant glance at the captain. + +"The Consul is, and always was, a silly old ass. You have come on a +fool's errand; and are going on the wrong tack by making threats. That +idiotic warrant of yours is of no more use to you than a sheet of fly +paper--Samoa is outside British jurisdiction. The High Commissioner for +the Western Pacific would not have endorsed such a fool of a document, +and I'll report the matter to him.... Now, sit down and tell me what you +_do_ want, and I'll try and help you all I can. But don't try to bluff +us--it's only wasting your time. Steward, bring us something to drink." + +As soon as the steward brought them "something to drink" Otway became +deeply sympathetic with the detective, and Robertson, who knew his +supercargo well, smiled inwardly at the manner he adopted. + +"Now, just tell us, Mr.--O'Donovan, I think you said is your name--what +is all the trouble? I need hardly tell you that whilst both the captain +and myself felt annoyed at your dictatorial manner, we are both sensible +men, and will do all in our power to assist you. Our firm's reputation +has to be studied--has it not, captain? We don't want it to be +insinuated that we helped an embezzler to escape, do we?" + +"Certainly not," replied Robertson, puffing slowly at his cigar, +watching Otway keenly through his half-closed eyelids, and wondering +what that astute young gentleman was driving at. "I guess that you, Mr. +Otway, will do all that is right and cor-rect." + +"Thank you, sir," replied Otway humbly, and with great seriousness, "I +know my duty to my employers, and I know that this gentleman may be led +into very serious trouble through the dense stupidity of the British +Consul here." + +He turned to Mr. O'Donovan--"Are you aware, Mr. O'Donikin--I beg your +pardon, O'Donovan--that the British Consul here is not, officially, the +British Consul. He is merely a commercial agent, like the United States +Consul. Neither are accredited by their Governments to act officially on +behalf of their respective countries, and even if they were, there is no +extradition treaty with the Samoan Islands, which is a country without a +recognised government. Of course, Mr. O'Donovan, you are acting in good +faith; but you have no more legal right nor the power to arrest a man in +Samoa, than you have to arrest one in Manchuria or Patagonia. Of course, +old Johns (the British Consul) doesn't know this, or he would not have +made such a fool of himself by endorsing a warrant from an irresponsible +judge of a New Zealand court. But as I told you, I shall aid you in +every possible way." + +O'Donovan was no fool. He knew that all that Otway had said was +absolutely correct, but he braced himself up. + +"I daresay what you say may be right, Mr. Supercargo. But I've come from +New Zealand to get this joker, and by blazes I mean to get him, and take +him back with me to New Zealand. And I mean to have those twenty +thousand sovereigns to take back as well." + +"Well, then, why the devil don't you go and get your man? He's at Joe +D'Acosta's hotel with his wife." + +"I don't want to be bothered with him just yet. I have no place to put +him into. The Californian mail boat from San Francisco is not due here +for another ten days. But I know that he hasn't taken his stolen money +ashore yet, and you had better hand it over to me at once. I can get +_him_ at any time." + +Otway leant back in his chair and laughed. + +"I don't doubt that, Mr. O'Donovan. If you have enough money to do it, +you can do as you say--get this man at any time. But you want to have +some guns behind you to enforce it; and then his capture won't affect +our custody of the money. If the Consul instigates you to make an attack +on the ship, you will do so at your peril, for we shall resist any +piratical attempt." + +O'Donovan's face fell. "You said you would assist me?" + +"So I will," replied Otway, lying genially, "But you must point out a +way. The High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, in Fiji, is the only +man who could give you power to arrest the man and convey him to New +Zealand, and the moment you show me the High or the Deputy High +Commissioner's order to hand over the money, and Lacy's other effects, +I'll do so." + +The detective made his last stroke. + +"I can take the law into my own hands and chance the consequences. The +Consul will supply me with a force--" + +Robertson smiled grimly, and pointed to the rack of Snider rifles around +the mizen-mast at the head of the table. + +"You and your force will have a bad time of it then, and be shot down +before you can put foot on my deck. I've never seen a shark eat a +policeman, but there seems a chance of it now." + +O'Donovan laughed uneasily, then he changed his tactics. + +"Now look here, gentlemen," he said confidentially, leaning across the +table, "I can see I'm in a bit of a hole, but I'm a business man, and +you are business men, and I think we understand one another, eh? As you +say, my warrant doesn't hold good here in Samoa. But the Consul will +back me up, and if I can take this chap back to New Zealand it means a +big thing for me. Now, what's your figure?" + +"Two hundred each for the skipper and myself," answered Otway promptly. + +"Done. You shall have it." + +"When?" + +"Give me till to-morrow afternoon. I've only a hundred and fifty pounds +with me, and I'll have to raise the rest." + +"Very well, it's a deal. But mind, you'll have to take care to be here +before the parson. He's coming off at eleven o'clock." + +"Trust me for that, gentlemen." + +"I'm sorry for his wife," said Otway meditatively. + +O'Donovan grinned. "Ah, I haven't told you the yarn--she's not his wife! +She bolted from her husband, who is a big swell in Auckland, a Mr.----." + +"How did you get on their tracks?" + +"Sydney police found out that two people answering their description had +sailed for the Islands in the _Tucopia_, and cabled over to us. We +thought they had lit out for America. I only got here the day before +yesterday in the _Ryno_, from Auckland." + +Otway paid him some very florid compliments on his smartness, and then +after another drink or two, the detective went on shore, highly pleased. + +As soon as he was gone, Otway turned to Robertson. + +"You won't stand in my way, Robertson, will you?" he asked--"I want to +see the poor devils get away." + +"You take all the responsibility, then." + +"I will," and then he rapidly told the skipper his plan, and set to +work by at once asking the second mate to get ready the boat and then +come back to the cabin. + +"All ready," said Allen, five minutes later. + +"Then come with the steward and help me with this gear." + +He unlocked the door of Lacy's state-room, lit the swinging candle, and +quickly passed out Mr. and Mrs. Lacy's remaining luggage to the second +mate and steward. Three small leather trunks, marked "Books with Care," +were especially heavy, and he guessed their contents. + +"Stow them safely in the boat, Allen. Don't make more noise than you can +help. I'll be with you in a minute." + +Going into his own cabin, he took a large handbag, threw into it his +revolver and two boxes of cartridges, then carried it into the +trade-room, and added half a dozen tins of the brand of tobacco which he +knew Lacy liked, and then filled the remaining space with pint bottles +of champagne. Then he whipped up a sheet or two of letter paper and an +envelope from the cabin-table, thrust them into his coat pocket, and, +bag in hand, stepped quickly on deck. The old mate was in his cabin, and +had not heard anything. + +"Give it to her, boys," he said to the crew, taking the steer-oar in his +hand, and heading the boat towards a small fore-and-aft schooner lying +half a mile away in the Matafele horn of the reef encircling Apia +Harbour. + +The four native seamen bent to their oars in silence, and sped swiftly +through the darkness over the calm waters of the harbour. The schooner +showed no riding light on her forestay, but, on the after deck under the +awning, a lamp was burning, and three men--the captain, mate, and +boatswain--were playing cards on the skylight. + +Otway jumped on deck, just as the men rose to meet him. + +"Great Ascensial Jehosophat! Why, it's you, Mr. Otway?" cried the +captain, a little clean-shaven man, as he shook hands with the +supercargo. "Well, now, I was just wondering whether I'd go ashore and +try and drop across you. Say, tell me now, hev you any good tinned beef +and a case of Winchesters you can sell me?" + +"Yes, both," replied Otway, shaking hands with the three in turn--they +were all old acquaintances, especially Le Brun, the mate. "But come +below with me, Revels; I've important business, and it has to be done +right away--this very night." + +Revels led the way below into the schooner's cabin, and at once produced +a bottle of Bourbon and a couple of glasses. + +"No time to drink, Revels.... All right, just a little, then. Now, tell +me, do you want to make--and make it easy--five hundred pounds?" + +"Guess I do." + +"Are you ready for sea?" + +"I was thinking of sailing on a cruise among the Tokelau Islands in a +day or two." + +"Then don't think of it. If you put to sea to-night for a longer voyage, +I can guarantee you that you will get five hundred pounds--if you will +take two passengers on board, and put to sea as soon as they come +alongside." + +"Where do they want to go?" + +"That I can't say. Manila or Hongkong, most likely. It'll pay you." + +"Is the money safe?" + +Otway struck his hand on the table. "Safe as rain, Revels. They have +plenty. I have it here alongside, and if you don't get five hundred +sovereigns paid you when you have dropped Samoa astern, you can come +back with your passengers, and I'll give you fifty pounds myself." + +"Friends of yours?" + +"Yes." + +"That's enough fur me, Otway. Now, just tell me what to do." + +"Tell your mate to get your boat ready to go ashore, while I write a +note." + +He took a sheet of paper, and hurriedly wrote in pencil: + + "DEAR LACY,--Don't hesitate to follow my instructions. There's a man + here from New Zealand. Tried to get access to your cabin; bluffed + him. You and your wife must follow bearer of this note to his boat, + which will bring you to a schooner. The captain's name is Revels. He + expects you, and you can trust him. Have pledged him my word that + you will give him £500 to land you at Manila or thereabouts; also + that you will hand it to him as soon as the schooner is clear of the + land. _All_ your luggage is on board the schooner, awaiting you. + Allen helped me. You might send him a present by Revels. Goodbye, + and all good luck. One last word--_be quick, be quick_!" + +"Boat is ready," said Revels. + +"Right," and Otway closed the letter and handed it to the mate. "Here +you are, Le Brun. Now, listen. Pull in to the mouth of the creek at the +French Mission, just beside the bridge. Leave your boat there and then +take this letter to D'Acosta's Hotel and ask to see Mr. Lacy. If he and +his wife have gone out for a walk, you must follow them and give him the +letter; but I feel pretty sure you'll find them on the verandah. Bring +them off on board as quickly and as quietly as possible. No one will +take any notice of the boat in the creek. Oh! and tell Mr. Lacy to be +dead sure not to bring anything in the way of even a small bag with +him--Joe D'Acosta might wonder. I'll settle the hotel bill later on. Are +you clear?" + +"Clear as mud," replied Le Brun, a big, black-whiskered Guernsey man. + +"Then goodbye." + +The schooner's boat, manned by two hands only, pushed off, and then +Revels turned to Otway. + +"Shall I heave short so as to be ready?" + +"Heave short, be d----d!" replied Otway testily. "No, just lie nice and +quiet, and as soon as you have your passengers on board slip your cable. +I'll see that your anchor is fished up for you. And even if you lost +your anchor and a few fathoms of chain it doesn't matter against five +hundred sovereigns. The people on shore would be sure to hear the sound +of the windlass pawls, and there's a man here from Auckland--a +detective--who might make a bold stroke, get a dozen native bullies and +collar you. So slip, my boy, slip. There's a fine healthy breeze which +will take you clear of the reef in ten minutes." + +The two men shook hands, and Otway stepped into his boat, which he +steered in towards the principal jetty. + +Jumping out he walked along the roadway which led from Matafele to Apia. +As he passed the British Consul's house he saw Mr. O'Donovan standing on +the verandah talking to the Consul. He waved his hand to them, and +cheerfully invited the detective to come along to "Johnnie Hall's" and +play a game of billiards. + +Mr. O'Donovan, little thinking that Otway had a purpose in view, took +the bait. The Consul knew Otway, and, in a measure, dreaded him, for the +supercargo's knowledge of certain transactions in connection with the +sale of arms to natives, in which he (the Consul) had taken a leading +and lucrative part. So when he saw the supercargo of the _Tucopia_ +beckoning to O'Donovan he smiled genially at him, and hurriedly told the +detective to go. + +"He's a most astute and clever young scoundrel, Mr. O'Donovan, and in a +way we are at his mercy. But you shall have the four hundred pounds in +the morning--not later than noon. This man Barton must be brought to +justice at any cost." + +"Just so, sir; and you will get a hundred out of the business, any way," +replied O'Donovan, who had gauged the Consul's morality pretty fairly. + +As Otway and the detective walked towards the hotel known as "Johnny +Hall's" the former said lazily-- + +"Look here, Mr. O'Donovan. Are the skipper and myself to get those four +hundred sovs to-morrow or not? To tell you the exact truth, I have a +fair amount of doubt about your promise. Where are you going to get the +money?" + +"That's all right, Mr. Otway. You're a business man. And you and the +skipper will have your two hundred each before one o'clock to-morrow. +The Consul is doing the necessary." + +"Right, my boy," said Otway effusively. "Now we'll play a game or two at +Johnny's and have some fun with the girls." + +By eleven o'clock Mr. O'Donovan was comfortably half drunk, and Otway +led him out on to the verandah to look at the harbour, shimmering under +the starlight. They sat down on two cane lounges, and the supercargo's +keen eye saw that Revel's schooner had gone. He breathed freely, and +then brought Mr. O'Donovan a large whisky and soda. + + * * * * * + +In the morning Mr. O'Donovan and Mr. William Johns, the British Consul, +were in a state of frenzy on discovering that Mr. and Mrs. Lacy had +escaped during the night in the schooner _Solafanua_. The Consul knew +that Otway was at the bottom of the matter, but dared not say so, but +O'Donovan, who had more pluck and nothing to lose, lost his temper and +came on board the _Tucopia_ just as she was being hauled up on the beach +to get at the leak. + +"You're a dirty sweep," he said to Otway. + +The supercargo hit him between the eyes, and sent him down. Allen picked +him up, dumped him into the boat alongside, and sent him ashore. + +When the _Tucopia_ lay high and dry on Apia beach Otway and old Bruce +walked round under her counter and looked for the leak. As the skipper +had surmised, a butt-end had started, but the gaping orifice was now +choked and filled with a large piece of seaweed. + +"The prayer of one of God's ain ministers has saved us," said the Scotch +mate, pointing upward. + +"No doubt," replied Otway, who knew that the good old man had heard +nothing of what had happened. + + + + +_The Man in the Buffalo Hide_ + + +Twelve years ago in a North Queensland town I was told the story of "The +Man in the Buffalo Hide" by Ned D----. He (D----) was then a prosperous +citizen, having made a small fortune by "striking it rich" on the +Gilbert and Etheridge Rivers goldfields. Returning from the arid wastes +of the Queensland back country to Sydney, he tired of leading an +inactive life, and hearing that gold had been discovered on one of the +Solomon Islands, he took passage thither in the Sydney whaling barque +_Costa Rica_ packet, and though he returned to Australia without +discovering gold in the islands, he had kept one of the most interesting +logs of a whaling cruise it has ever been my fortune to read. The master +of the whaleship was Captain J.Y. Carpenter, a man who is well known +and highly respected, not only in Sydney (where he now resides), but +throughout the East Indies and China, where he had lived for over thirty +years. And it was from Captain Carpenter who was one of the actors in +this twice-told tragedy, that D----heard this story of Chinese +vengeance. He (D----) related it to me in '88, and I wish I could write +the tale as well and vividly as he told it. However, I wrote it out for +him then and there. Much to our disgust the editor of the little journal +to whom we sent the MS., considered it a fairy tale, and cut it down to +some two or three hundred words. I mention these apparently unnecessary +details merely that the reader may not think that the tale is fiction, +for two years or so after, Captain Carpenter corroborated my friend's +story. + + * * * * * + +It was after the Taeping rebellion had been stamped out in blood and +fire by Gordon and his "Ever Victorious Army," and the Viceroy (Li Hung +Chang) had taken up his quarters in Canton, and was secretly torturing +and beheading those prisoners whom he had sworn to the English +Government to spare. + +Carpenter was in command of a Chinese Government despatch vessel--a +side-wheeler--which was immediately under the Viceroy's orders. She was +but lightly armed, but was very fast, as fast went in those days. His +ship had been lying in the filthy river for about a week, when, one +afternoon, a mandarin came off with a written order for him to get ready +to proceed to sea at daylight on the following morning. Previous +experience of his estimable and astute Chinese employers warned him not +to ask the fat-faced, almond-eyed mandarin any questions as to the +steamer's destination, or the duration of the voyage. He simply said +that he would be ready at the appointed time. + +At daylight another mandarin, named Kwang--one of much higher rank than +his visitor of the previous day--came on board. He was attended by +thirty of the most ruffianly-looking scoundrels--even for Chinamen--that +the captain had ever seen. They were all well armed, and came off in a +large, well-appointed boat, which, the mandarin intimated with a polite +smile, was to be towed, if she was too heavy to be hoisted aboard. A +couple of hands were put in her, and she was veered astern. Then the +anchor was lifted, and the steamer started on her eighty miles trip down +the river to the sea, the mandarin informing the captain that he would +name the ship's destination as soon as they were clear of the land. + +Most of Carpenter's officers were Europeans--Englishmen or +Americans--and one or two of them who spoke Chinese, attempted to enter +into conversation with the thirty braves, and endeavour to learn the +object of the steamer's mission. Their inquiries were met either with a +mocking jest or downright insult, and presently the mandarin, who +hitherto had preserved a smiling and affable demeanour as he sat on the +quarter-deck, turned to the captain with a sullen and ferocious aspect, +and bade him remind his officers that they had no business to question +the servants of the "high and excellent Viceroy." + +But though neither Carpenter nor any of his officers could learn aught +about this sudden mission, one of their servants, a Chinese who was +deeply attached to his master, whispered tremblingly to him that the +mandarin and the thirty braves were in quest of one of the Viceroy's +most hated enemies--a noted leader of the Taepings who had escaped the +bloodied hands of Li Hung Chang, and whose retreat had been betrayed to +the cruel, merciless Li the previous day. + +Once clear of the land, the mandarin, with a polite smile and many +compliments to Carpenter on the skilful and expeditious manner in which +he had navigated the steamer down the river, requested him to proceed to +a certain point on the western side of the island of Formosa. + +"When you are within twenty miles of the land, captain," he said +suavely, "you will make the steamer stop, and my men and I will leave +you in the boat. You must await our return, which may be on the +following day, or the day after, or perhaps longer still. But whether I +am absent one, or two, or six days, you must keep your ship in the +position I indicate as nearly as possible. You must avoid observation +from the shore, you must be watchful, diligent, and patient, and, when +you see my boat returning, you must make your engines work quickly, and +come towards us with all speed. High commendation and a great reward +from the serene nobleness of our great Viceroy--who has already +condescended to notice your honourable ability and great integrity in +your profession--awaits you." Then with another smile and bow he went to +his cabin. + +As soon as the steamer reached the place indicated by the mandarin the +engines were stopped. The boat, which was towing astern, was hauled +alongside, and the thirty truculent "braves," with a Chinese pilot and +the ever-smiling mandarin, got into her and pushed off for the shore. +That they were all picked men, who could handle an oar as well as a +rifle, was very evident from the manner in which they sent the big boat +along towards the blue outline of the distant shore. + + * * * * * + +For two days Carpenter and his officers waited and watched, the steamer +lying and rolling about upon a long swell, and under a hot and brazen +sun. Then, about seven o'clock in the morning, as the sea haze lifted, a +look-out on the foreyard hailed the deck and said the boat was in sight. +The steamer's head was at once put towards her under a full head of +steam, and in another hour the mandarin and his braves were alongside. + +The mandarin clambered up on deck, his always-smiling face (which +Carpenter and his officers had come to detest) now darkly exultant. + +"You have done well, sir," he said to the captain; "the Viceroy himself, +when my own miserable worthlessness abases itself before him, shall know +how truly and cleverly you and your officers (who shall be honoured for +countless ages in the future) have obeyed the behests which I have had +the never-to-be-extinguished honour to convey from him to you. There is +a prisoner in the boat--a prisoner who is to be tried before those high +and merciful judges whose Heaven-sent authority your valorous commander +of the Ever Victorious Army has upheld." + +Carpenter, being a sailor man before all else, swallowed the mandarin's +compliments for all they were worth, and I can imagine him giving a +grumpy nod to the smiling minion of the Viceroy as he ordered "the +prisoner" to be brought on deck, and the boat to be veered astern for +towing. + +The official interposed oilily. There was no need, he said, to tow the +boat to Canton if she could not be hoisted on board, and was likely to +impede the steamer's progress. Some of his braves could remain in her, +and the insignia of the Viceroy which they wore would ensure both their +and the boat's safety--no pirates would touch them. + +The captain said that to tow such a heavy boat for such a long distance +would certainly delay the steamer's arrival in Canton by at least six or +eight hours. The mandarin smiled sweetly, and said that as speed was +everything the most honourable navigator, whom he now had the privilege +to address, and who was so soon to be distinguished by his mightiness +the Viceroy, could at once let the boat which had conveyed his worthless +self into the sunshine of his (the captain's) presence, go adrift. + +At a sign from Kwang, six of his cutthroats clambered down the side into +the boat, which was at once cast oft; the steamer was sent along under a +full head of steam, and the captain was about to ascend the bridge when +the mandarin stayed him, and requested that a meal should be at once +prepared in the cabin for the prisoner, who, he said, was somewhat +exhausted, for his capture was only effected after he had killed three +and wounded half a dozen of "the braves." So courageous a man, he added +softly, whatever his offence might be, must not be allowed to suffer the +pangs of hunger and thirst. + +Carpenter gave the necessary order to the steward with a sensation of +pleasure, feeling that he had done the suave and gentle-voiced Kwang an +injustice in imagining him to be like most Chinese officials--utterly +indifferent and callous to human suffering. Then he stepped along the +deck towards the bridge just as two of the braves lifted the prisoner to +his feet, which a third had freed from a thong of hide, bound so tightly +around them that it had literally cut into the flesh. His hands were +tied in the same manner, and round his neck was an iron collar, with a +chain about six feet in length which was secured at the end to another +band around the waist of one of the "braves." + +As the prisoner stood erect, Carpenter saw that he was a man of +herculean proportions and over six feet three or four inches in height. +His arms and naked chest were cut, bleeding and bruised, and a bamboo +gag was in his mouth; but what at once attracted the captain's attention +and sympathy was the man's face. + +So calm, steadfast, and serene were his clear, undaunted eyes; so proud, +lofty, and contemptuous and yet so dignified his bearing, as he glanced +at his guards when they bade him walk, that Carpenter, drawing back a +little, raised his hand in salute. + +In an instant the deep, dark eyes lit up, and the tortured, distorted +mouth would have smiled had it not been for the cruel gag. But twice he +bent his head, and his eyes did that which was denied to his lips. + +Captain Carpenter was deeply moved. The man's heroic fortitude, his +noble bearing under such physical suffering, the tender, woman-like +resignation in the eyes which could yet smile into his, affected him so +strongly that he could not help asking one of the "braves" the +prisoner's name. + +An insolent, threatening gesture was the only answer. But the prisoner +had heard, and bent his head in acknowledgment. When he raised it again +and saw that Carpenter had now taken off his cap, tears trickled down +his cheeks. In another moment he was hurried along the deck into the +cabin, and half a dozen "braves" stood guard at the door to prevent +intrusion, whilst the gag was removed, and the victim of the Viceroy's +vengeance was urged to eat. Whether he did so or not was never known, +for half an hour afterwards he was removed to one of the state-rooms, +where he was closely guarded by Kwang's cutthroats. When he was next +seen by Carpenter and the officers of the steamer the gag was again in +his mouth, but the calm, resolute eyes met theirs as it trying to tell +them that the heroic soul within the tortured body knew no fear, and +felt and appreciated their sympathy. + +On the afternoon of the third day after leaving Formosa the steamer +ploughed her way up the muddy waters of the river, and came to an anchor +off the city at a place which was within half a mile of the Viceroy's +residence. The mandarin requested the captain to fire three guns, and +hoist the Chinese flag at both the fore and main peaks. + +This signal was, so Kwang condescended to say, to inform His +Illustriousness the Ever-Merciful Viceroy that he, Kwang, his crawling +dependent, guided by Carpenter's high intelligence, and supreme and +honoured skill as a navigator, had achieved the object which His +Illustriousness desired. + +The captain listened to all this "flam," bowed his acknowledgments, and +then suddenly asked the mandarin the prisoner's name. + +Again the fat, complacent face darkened, and almost scowled. "No," he +replied sullenly, he himself "was not permitted" to know the prisoner's +name. His crime? He did not know. When was he to be tried? To-morrow. +Then he rose and abruptly requested the captain to ask no more +questions. But, he added, with a smile, he could promise him that he +should at least see the captive again. + +In a few minutes a boat came off, and the prisoner, closely guarded, and +with his face covered with a piece of cloth, was hurried ashore. + + * * * * * + +Four days had passed--days of heat so intense that even the Chinese crew +of the steamer lay about the decks under the awning, stripped to their +waists, and fanning themselves languidly. During this time the captain +and his officers, by careful inquiries, ascertained that the unfortunate +prisoner was a brother of one of the Wangs, or seven "Heavenly Kings," +who had led the Taeping forces, and that for a long time past the +Viceroy had made most strenuous efforts to effect his capture, being +particularly exasperated with him, not only for his courage in the +field, and the influence he had wielded over the unfortunate Taepings, +who were wiped out by Gordon and the Ever-Victorious Army, but also +because he refused to accept Li Hung Chang's sworn word to spare his +life if he surrendered; for well he knew that a death by torture awaited +him. Gordon himself, it was said, revolver in hand, and with tears of +rage streaming down his face, had sought to find and shoot the Viceroy +for the cruel murder of other leaders who had surrendered to him under +the solemn promise of their lives being spared. + +Late in the afternoon, a messenger came on board with a note to the +captain. It was from the mandarin Kwang, and contained but a line. +"Follow the bearer, who will guide you to the prisoner." + +An hour later Carpenter was conducted through a narrow door which was +set in a very high wall of great thickness. He found himself in a garden +of the greatest beauty, and magnificent proportions. Temples and other +buildings of the most elaborate and artistic design and construction +showed here and there amid a profusion of gloriously-foliaged trees and +flowering shrubs. No sound broke the silence except the twittering of +birds; and not a single person was visible. + +The guide, who had not yet uttered a single word, now turned and +motioned Carpenter to follow him along a winding path, paved with white +marble slabs, and bordered with gaily-hued flowers. Suddenly they +emerged upon a lovely sward of the brightest green, in the centre of +which a fountain played, sending its fine feathery spray high in air. + +On one side of the fountain were a number of "braves" who stood in a +close circle, and, as Carpenter approached, two of them silently stepped +out of the cordon, brought their rifles to the salute, and the guide +whispered to him to enter. + +Within the circle was Kwang, who was seated in his chair of office. He +rose and greeted the captain politely. + +"I promised you that you should again see the criminal in whom you and +your officers took such a deep and benevolent interest. I now fulfil +that promise--and leave you." And, with a malevolent smile, he bowed and +disappeared. + +The guide touched Carpenter's arm. + +"Look," he said in a whisper. + + * * * * * + +Within a few inches of a wavering line of spray from the fountain, +purposely diverted so as to fall upon the grass, lay what appeared at +first sight to be a round bundle tied up in a buffalo hide. A black +swarm of flies buzzed and buzzed over and around it. + +"Draw near and look," said the harsh voice of the officer who commanded +the grim, silent guard, as he stepped up to the strange-looking bundle, +and waved his fan quickly to and fro over a protuberance in the centre. + +A black cloud of flies arose, and revealed a sight that will haunt +Carpenter to his dying day--the purpled, distorted face of a living man. +The eyelids had been cut off, and only two dreadful, bloodied, glaring +things of horror appealed mutely to God. The victim's knees had been +drawn up to his chin, and only his head was visible; for the fresh +buffalo hide in which his body had been sewn, fitted tightly around his +neck. + +Shuddering with horror, and yet fascinated with the dreadful spectacle, +Carpenter asked the officer how long the prisoner had been tortured. + +"Four days," was the reply. + +For the buffalo, the hide of which was to be the prisoner's death-wrap, +was in readiness the moment the steamer arrived, and ten minutes after +the signal was hoisted, the creature was killed, the hide stripped off, +and the prisoner sewn up in it, only his head being left free. + +Then he was carried to a heated room, so that the hide should contract +quickly. From there he was taken to the fountain, where his eyelids were +cut off, and then he was laid upon the ground, his mouth just within a +few inches of a spray from the fountain. + +And the Viceroy came, saw, approved, and smiled, and assigned to Kwang +the honoured post of watching his hated enemy die under slow and +agonising torture. To attract the flies, honeyed water was applied to +the prisoner's shaven head and face. And the guards, now and then as his +thirst increased, offered him brine to drink. + +"He is still alive," the brutal-faced Tartar officer said genially, as +he touched one of the dreadful eyeballs, and the poor, tortured +creature's lips moved slightly. + +Sick at heart and almost overcome with horror, Captain Carpenter, with +quickened footsteps, passed through the cordon of guards, and followed +his guide from the dreadful spot. + +In a few minutes he was without the wall, and a sigh of relief broke +from him as he set out towards the river. + + + + +A CRUISE IN THE SOUTH SEAS + +(HINTS TO INTENDING TRAVELLERS) + + + + + +_A Cruise in the South Seas_ + +(HINTS TO INTENDING TRAVELLERS) + + +The traveller who makes a hurried trip in an excursion steamer through +the Cook, Society, Samoan, or Tongan Islands has but little opportunity +of seeing anything of the social life of the natives, or getting either +fishing or shooting; for it is but rarely that the vessel remains for +more than forty-eight hours at any of the ports visited. Personally, if +I wanted to have an enjoyable cruise among the various island groups in +the South Pacific I should avoid the "excursion" steamer as I would the +plague. In the first place, one sees next to nothing for his passage +money if he fatuously takes a ticket in either Sydney or New Zealand for +"a round trip to Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, and back." Certainly, he will +enjoy the sea voyage, for in the Australasian winter months the weather +in the South Seas is never very hot, and cloudless skies and a smooth +sea may almost be relied upon from April until the end of July. At such +places as Nukualofa, the little capital of the Tonga Islands, an +excursion steamer will remain for perhaps forty hours; at Apia, in +Samoa, forty-eight hours; and at Papeite, the capital of the French +island of Tahiti, forty-eight hours. At the two latter places the +traveller will be charmed by the lovely scenery, and disgusted by the +squalid appearance of the natives; for within the last ten years great +changes have occurred, and the native communities inhabiting the island +ports, such as Apia and Papeite, have degenerated into the veriest +loafers, spongers, and thieves. The appearance of a strange European in +any of the environs of Apia is the signal for an onslaught of beggars of +all ages and both sexes, who will pester his life out for tobacco; if he +says he does not smoke, they say a sixpence will do as well. If he +refuses he is pretty sure to be insulted by some half-naked ruffian, and +will be glad to get back to the ship or to the refuge of an hotel. And +yet, away from the contaminating influences of the town the white +stranger will meet with politeness and respect wherever he +goes--particularly if he is an Englishman--and will at once note the +pleasing difference in the manners of the natives. Yet it must now be +remembered that Samoa--with the exception of the beautiful island of +Tutuila--is German territory, and German officials are none too effusive +to Englishmen or Americans--in Samoa. + +But if any one wants to spend an enjoyable time in the South Seas let +him avoid the "excursion ship" and go there in a trading steamer. There +are several of these now sailing out of Australasian ports, and there is +a choice of groups to visit. If a four months' voyage is not too long, a +passage may be obtained in a small, but fairly fast and comfortable +boat of 600 tons sailing from Sydney, which visits over forty islands in +her cruise from Niué or Savage Island, ten days' steam from Sydney, to +Jaluit in the Marshall Islands. But this particular cruise I would not +recommend to any one in search of a variety of beautiful scenery, for +nearly all of the islands visited are of the one type--low-lying sandy +atolls, densely verdured with coco-palms, and very monotonous from their +sameness of appearance. Their inhabitants, however, are widely different +in manners, customs, and general mode of life. To the ethnologist such a +cruise among the Ellice, Gilbert, and Marshall Islands would no doubt be +full of interest; but to the traveller in search of either beautiful +scenery or sport (except fishing) they would be disappointing. + +Let us suppose that the intending traveller desires to make a stay of +some two or three months in the Samoan Group. He can reach there easily +enough from Sydney or Auckland by steamer once a month, either by one of +the Union Steamship Company's regular traders or by one of the San +Francisco mail boats. From Sydney the voyage occupies eight days, from +Auckland five. The outfit required for a three or four months' stay is +not a large one--light clothing can be bought almost as cheaply in Samoa +as in Sydney, a couple of guns with plenty of ammunition (for cartridges +are shockingly dear in the Islands), a large and varied assortment of +deep-sea tackle, a rod for fresh-water or reef fishing, and a good +waterproof and rugs for camping out, as the early mornings are sometimes +very chilly. And there is one other thing that is worth while taking, +even though it may cost from £30 to £50 or so in Sydney--a good +secondhand boat, with two suits of sails. Thus provided the sportsman +can sail all along the coasts of Savaii and Upolu, and be practically +independent of the local storekeepers. To hire a boat is very expensive, +and to travel in native craft is horribly uncomfortable, and risky as +well. And such a boat can always be sold again for at least its cost. + +A stay of two or three days, or at most a week, in Apia is quite long +enough, and the stranger will get all the information he requires about +the outlying districts from the Consuls or any of the old white +residents. Such provisions as are needed--tea, sugar, flour, biscuits, +tinned or other meats, &c.--can be had at fairly cheap rates; but a +large stock should be taken, for, besides the keep of the native crew +of, say, four men, it must always be borne in mind that a white visitor +is expected to return the hospitality he receives from the native chiefs +by making a present, and the Samoans are particularly susceptible to the +charms of tinned meats, sardines, salmon, and _falaoa_ (bread or +biscuit). That such a return should be made is only just and natural, +though I am sorry to say that very often it is not. Then, again, it is +very easy to stow away in the trade box in the boat eight or ten pieces +of good print, cut off in pieces of six fathoms (which is enough to make +a woman's gown), about 30 lbs. of twist negrohead tobacco (twenty to +thirty sticks to the pound), half a gross of lucifer matches, and such +things as cotton, scissors, combs, &c., and powder, caps, and a bag of +No. 3 shot for pigeon shooting. Now, this seems a lot of articles for a +man to take on a short Samoan _malaga_ (journey), but it is not, and for +the £50 which it may cost for such an outfit (exclusive of the boat and +crew's wages) the traveller will see more of the people and their mode +of life, be more hospitably received, and spend a pleasanter time than +if he were cruising about in a 1,000-ton yacht. The wages or boatmen and +native sailors in Samoa are usually $15.00 per month, but many will +gladly go on a _malaga_ (the general acceptance of the word is a +pleasure trip) for much less, for there is but little work, and much +eating and drinking. But, as sailors, the Samoans are a wretched lot, +and the local living Savage Islanders, as the natives of Niué Island are +called, are far better, especially if there is any wind or a beat to +windward in a heavy sea. These Savage Island "boys" can always be +obtained in Apia. They are good seamen and very willing to work; but +they have to be fed entirely by their white employer, for the Samoans +seldom make a present of food to a crew of Niué boys, for whom they +profess a contempt and designate _au puáa_--_i.e._, pigs. + +The Samoan Group consists of five islands, trending from west by north +to east by south. The two largest are Upolu and Savaii. Tutuila, and the +Manua Group of three islands are too far to the windward to attempt in a +small boat against the south-east trades. And it would take quite three +months to visit the principal villages on the two large islands, staying +a few days at each place. + +The best plan is to make to windward along the coast of Upolu after +leaving Apia. A large boat cannot be taken all the way inside the reef, +owing to the many coral patches which, at low tide, render this course +impracticable. The first place of any importance is Saluafata, fifteen +miles from Apia (I must mention that Apia is in the centre of Upolu, and +on the north side), then Falifa|, an exquisitely pretty place, and +then Fa|goloa Bay and village, eight miles further on. This is the +deepest indentation in Samoa, except the famous Pa|go Pa|go Harbour +on Tutuila, and the scenery is very beautiful. After leaving Fa|goloa, +the open sea has to be taken, for there is now no barrier reef for ten +miles, where it begins at Samusu village, to the towns of Aleipata and +Lepa|, two of the best in the group, and inhabited by cleanly and +hospitable people. This is the weather point of Upolu, and after leaving +Lepa| the boat has a clear run of over sixty miles before the glorious +trades to the lee end of the island--that is, unless a stay is made at +the populous towns of Falealilli, Sa|fata, Lafa|ga, and Falelatai, +on the southern coast. The scenery along this part of the island is +enchanting, but sudden squalls at night-time are sometimes frequent, +from December to March, and 'tis always advisable to run into a port at +sunset. + +Two miles off the lee end of Upolu is the low-lying island of Manono, +which is, however, enclosed in the Upolu barrier reef. It is only about +three miles in circumference, exceedingly fertile, and is the most +important place in the group, owing to the political influence wielded +by the chiefly families who have always made it their home. A mile from +Manono, and in the centre of the deep strait separating Upolu from +Savaii, is a curiously picturesque spot, an island named Apolima.[17] It +is an extinct crater, but has a narrow passage on the north side, and is +inhabited by about fifty people, who are delighted to see any _papalagi_ +(foreigner) who is venturesome enough to make a landing there. + +Savaii is distant about ten miles from Upolu. Its coast is for the most +part _itu papa_--i.e., iron bound--but there are five populous towns +there--Palaulae, Salealua, Asaua, Matautu, and Safune. After making the +round of Savaii, the boat has to make back to Manono, and then can +proceed inside the reef all the way to Apia, making stoppages at the +many minor villages which stud the shore at intervals of every few +miles. + +These _malaga_ by boat along the coast or from one island to another are +much in favour with many of the white residents of Samoa, who find their +life in Apia very monotonous. European ladies frequently accompany their +husbands, and sometimes quite a large party is made up. More than +five-and-twenty years ago, when the writer was gaining his first +experiences of Samoan life, it was his good fortune to be one of such a +party, and a right merry time he had of it among the natives; for in +those days, although there was party warfare occasionally, the group +was free from the savage hatreds and dissensions--largely fomented by +the interference and intrigues of unscrupulous traders and incapable +officials--which for the past ten or twelve years have made it +notorious. + +In travelling in Samoa one need not always rely upon native hospitality. +Though most of the white traders at the outlying villages nowadays make +nothing beyond a scanty living, they are as a rule very hospitable and +pleased to see and entertain white visitors as well as their poor means +will allow, and in nine cases out of ten would feel hurt if they were +ignored and the native teacher's house visited first; for between the +average trader and the native teacher there is always a natural and yet +reasonable jealousy. And here let me say a word in praise of the Samoan +teacher--in Samoa. Away from his native land, in charge of a mission +station in another part of Polynesia or Melanesia, he is too often +pompous and overbearing alike to his flock and to the white trader. Here +he is far from the control and supervision of the white missionaries, +who only visit him twice in the year, and consequently he thinks himself +a man of vast importance. But in Samoa his superiors are prompt to curb +any inclination he may evince to ride the high horse over his flock or +interfere with any matter not strictly connected with his charge. So, in +Samoa, the native teacher is generally a good fellow, the soul of +hospitality, and anxious to entertain any chance white visitor; and +although the Samoans are not bigoted ranters like the Tongans or +Fijians, and the teachers have not anything like the undue and improper +influence over the people possessed by the native ministers in Tonga or +Fiji, to needlessly offend one would be resented by the villagers and +make the visitor's stay anything but pleasant. As for the white +missionaries in Samoa, all I need say of them is that they are +gentlemen, and that the words "Mission House" are synonymous in most +cases with warm welcome to the traveller. + +Travelling inland in Savaii or crossing Upolu from north to south, or +_vice-versâ,_ is very delightful, though one misses much of the lovely +scenery that unfolds itself in a panorama-like manner when sailing along +the coast. One journey that can easily be accomplished in a day is that +from Apia to Safata. Carriers are easily obtainable, and some splendid +pigeon shooting can be had an hour or two after leaving Apia till within +a few miles of Safata. Pigeons are about the only game to be had in +Samoa, though the _manutagi_, or ring-dove, is very plentiful, but one +hardly likes to shoot such dear little creatures. Occasionally one may +get a wild duck or two and some fearful-looking wild fowls--the progeny +of the domestic fowl. Wild pigs are not now plentiful in Upolu though +they are in Savaii, but they are exceedingly difficult to shoot and the +country they frequent is fearfully rough. In some of the streams there +are some very good fish, running up to 2 lbs. or 3 lbs. They bite +eagerly at the _ula_ or freshwater prawn, and are excellent eating; and +yet, strange to say, very few of the white residents in the group even +know of their existence. This applies also to deep-sea fishing; for +although the deep water outside the reefs and the passages leading into +the harbours teem with splendid fish, the residents of Apia are content +to buy the wretched things brought to them by women who capture them in +nets in the shallow water inside the reef. Once, during my stay on +Manono, a young Manhiki half-caste and myself went out in our boat about +a mile from the land, and in thirty fathoms of water caught in an hour +three large-scaled fish of the groper species. These fish, though once +familiar enough to the people of the island, are now never fished for, +and our appearance with our prizes caused quite an excitement in the +village, everyone thronging around us to look. And yet there are two or +three varieties of groper--many of them weighing 50 lbs. or 60 +lbs.--which can be caught anywhere on the Samoan coast; but the Samoan +of the present day has sadly degenerated, and, except bonito catching, +deep-sea fishing is one of the lost arts. But at almost any place in the +group, except Apia, great quantities of fish are caught inside the reefs +by nets, and one may always be sure of getting a splendid mullet of some +sort for either breakfast or supper. + +Let us suppose that a party of Europeans have arrived at a village, and +are the guests of the chief and people generally. Food is at once +brought to them, even before any visits of ceremony are paid, for the +news of the coming of a party of travellers has doubtless been brought +to the village the previous day by a messenger from the last +stopping-place. The repast provided may be simple, but will be ample, +baked pork most likely being the _pièce de résistance,_ with roast +fowl, baked pigeons, breadfruit (if in season), and yams or taro, with a +plentiful supply of young drinking-coconuts. (Should the host be the +local teacher, some deplorable tea and a loaf of terrible bread are sure +to be produced.) This preliminary meal finished, the formalities begin +by a visit from the chief and his _tulafale,_ or "talking-man," +accompanied by the leading citizens. The talking-man then makes a +speech, welcoming the guests, and is by no means sparing of "buttery" +phrases which indicate the intense delight, &c., of the inhabitants of +the village at having the honoured privilege of entertaining such noble +and distinguished visitors, &c. A suitable reply is made by the guests +(through an interpreter, if no one among them can speak Samoan), and +then follows a ceremonious brewing and drinking of kava. This is a most +important function in Samoa, and to the stranger unaccustomed to the +manner of making the beverage, the ordeal of drinking it is an +exceedingly trying one. It is prepared as follows: The dried kava root +is cut up in thin slices and handed to a number of young women, who +masticate it and then deposit it in a large wooden _tanoa_, or bowl. +Water is then added in sufficient quantity till the _tanoa_ is +half-filled with a thin yellowish-green liquid, which is carefully +strained by a thick "swab" of the beaten bark of the _fau_-tree. This +straining operation is performed only by a very experienced lady, and is +watched in respectful silence. Then the drink is handed round in a +polished bowl of coconut-shell. But for a full description of all the +details of a kava-drinking, let me commend my readers to the best and +most charming book ever written on South Sea life, "South Sea Bubbles," +by the late Earl of Pembroke and Dr. Kingsley. Nowadays, however, many +Samoan households, out of deference to European tastes, have the kava +root grated instead of being chewed. + +The kava-drinking over, all stiffness and formality disappears for the +time, and the visitors are surrounded by the villagers, eager to learn +the latest news from Apia, and from the world abroad. The discussion of +political matters always has a strong attraction for Samoans, who are +anxious to learn the state of affairs in Europe, and their knowledge and +shrewdness is surprising. Should there be any white ladies present, the +brown ones make much of them. The Samoans are a fine, handsome race, and +the faces and figures of many of the young women are very attractive; +but the practice of cutting off their long, flowing black hair, and +allowing it to grow in a short, stiff "frizz" is all too common, and +detracts very much from an otherwise handsome and graceful appearance, +especially when the hair is coated with lime in order to change its +colour to red. Many of the men, particularly those of chiefly rank, are +of magnificent stature and proportions, and their walk and carriage are +in consonance. + +An announcement that the visitors intend to go pigeon shooting is warmly +applauded, and each white man is at once provided with a guide, for, +unless he has had experience of the Samoan forest, he will return with +an empty bag, as, however plentiful the birds may be, their habit of +hiding in the branches of the lofty _tamanu_ and _masa'oi_-trees render +them difficult of detection. The natives themselves are very good shots, +and very rarely fail to bring down a bird, even when nothing more than a +scarlet leg or a blue-grey feather is visible. The guns they use are +very common, cheap German affairs, but are specially made for Samoa, +being very small bored and long in the barrel. The best time is in the +early morning and towards the cool of the evening, when the birds are +feeding on _masa'oi_ and other berries; during the heat of the day they +seldom leave their perches, though their deep crooning note may be heard +everywhere. In the mountainous interiors of Upolu and Savaii there is +but little undergrowth; the ground is carpeted with a thick layer of +leaves, dry on the top, but rain and dew-soaked beneath, and simply to +breathe the sweet, cool mountain air is delightful. At certain times of +the year the birds are very fat, and I have very often seen them +literally burst when striking the ground after being shot in high trees. +Their flavour is delicious, especially if they are hung for a day. I may +here remark that, in New Britain, precisely the same species of pigeon +is very often quite uneatable through feeding upon Chili berries, which +in that island grow in profusion. In shooting in a Samoan forest one has +nothing to fear from venomous reptiles, for, although there are two or +three kinds of snakes, they are rarely ever seen and quite harmless. +Scorpions and centipedes--the latter often six inches in length--there +are in plenty, but these detestable vermin are more common in European +habitations than in the bush. At the same time, mosquitoes are a +terrible annoyance anywhere in the vicinity of water, and delight in +attacking the tender skin of the stranger. Then, again, beware of +scratching any exposed part of the skin, for, unless it is quickly +covered by plaister or otherwise attended to, an irritating sore, which +may take months to heal, will often result. + +There are, during the visit of a travelling party to a Samoan town, no +fixed times for meals. You are expected to eat much and often. During +the day there will be continuous arrivals of people bringing baskets of +provisions as presents, which are formally presented--with a speech. The +speech has to be responded to, and the bringers of the presents treated +politely, as long as they remain, and they remain until their +curiosity--and avarice--is satisfied. A return present must be sent on +the following day; for although Samoans designate every present of food +or anything else made to a party of visitors as an "alofa"--_i.e.,_ a +gift of love--this is but a hollow conventionalism, it being the +time-honoured custom of the country to always give a _quid pro quo_ for +whatever has been received. Yet it must not be imagined that they are a +selfish people; if the recipients of an "alofa" of food are too poor to +respond otherwise than by a profusion of thanks, the donors of the +"alofa" are satisfied--it would be a disgrace for their village to be +spoken of as having treated guests meanly. + +After evening service--conducted on week-days in each house by the head +of the family--another meal is served. Then either lamps or a fire of +coconut-shells is lit, and there is a great making of _sului_, or +cigarettes of strong tobacco rolled in dry banana leaf, and there is +much merry jostling and shoving among the young lads and girls for a +seat on the matted floor, to hear the white people talk. A dance is sure +to be suggested, and presently the _fale po-ula,_ or dance-house, is lit +up in preparation, as the dancers, male and female, hurry away to adorn +themselves. Much has been said about the impropriety of Samoa dancing by +travellers who have only witnessed the degrading and indecent +exhibitions, given on a large scale by the loafing class of natives who +inhabit Apia and its immediate vicinity. The natives are an adaptive +race, and suit their manners to their company, and there are always +numbers of sponging men and _paumotu_ (beach-women) ready to pander to +the tastes of low whites who are willing to witness a lewd dance. But in +most villages, situated away from the contaminating influences of the +principal port, a native _siva_, or dance, is well worth witnessing, and +the accompanying singing is very melodious. It is, however, true, that +on important occasions, such as the marriage of a great chief, &c., that +the dancing, decorous enough in the earlier stages of the evening, +degenerates under the influence of excitement into an exhibition that +provokes sorrow and disgust. And yet, curiously enough, the dancers at +these times are not low class, common people, but young men and women +of high lineage, who, led by the _taupo_, or maid of the village, cast +aside all restraint and modesty. In many of the dances the costumes are +exceedingly pretty, the men wearing aprons made of the yellow and +scarlet leaves of the _ti_ or dracoena plant, with head-dresses formed +of pieces of iridescent pearl-shell, intermixed with silver coins and +scarlet and amber beads, and the hair of both sexes is profusely adorned +with the scarlet flowers of the hibiscus, while from their necks depend +large strings of _sea-sea, masa'oi,_ and other brightly-coloured and +sweet-smelling berries. Of late years the Tahitian fashion of wearing +thick wreaths of orange or lemon blossoms has come into vogue. + +Before concluding these remarks upon Samoa, I must mention that the +climate is very healthy for the greater part of the year; but in the +rainy season, December to March, the heat is intense, and sickness is +often prevalent, especially in Apia. Still fever, such as is met with in +the New Hebrides and the Solomon Group, "the grave of the white man in +the South Seas," is unknown, and one may sleep in the open air with +impunity. Before setting out from Apia the services of a competent +interpreter should be secured--a man who thoroughly understands the +Samoan _customs_ as well as the language. Plenty of reliable half-castes +can always be found, any one of whom would be glad to engage for a very +moderate payment. Too often the pleasures of such a trip as I have +described have been marred by the interpreter's lack of tact and +knowledge of the idiosyncrasies of the inhabitants of the various +districts and villages. The mere fact of a man being able to speak the +language fairly well is not the all in all; for the Samoans are a highly +sensitive people, and the omission by the interpreter of a chief's +titles, &c., when the guests are responding through him to an address of +welcome, would be considered "shockingly bad form." + +But the reader must not imagine that the Samoan Group is the only one in +the South Pacific where an enjoyable holiday may be spent. The French +possession of the Society Islands, of which the pretty town Papeite, in +the noble island of Tahiti, is the capital, rivals, if not exceeds, +Samoa in the magnificence of its scenery, and the natives are a highly +intelligent race of Malayo-Polynesians who, despite their being citizens +of the French Republic, never forget that they were redeemed from +savagery by Englishmen, and a _taata Peretane_ (Englishman) is an +ever-welcome guest to them. The facilities for visiting the different +islands of the Society Group are very good, for there is quite a fleet +of native and European-owned vessels constantly cruising throughout the +archipelago. To cross the island of Tahiti from its south-east to its +north-west point is one of the most delightful trips imaginable. Then +again, the Hervey or Cook's Group, which consist of the fertile islands +of Mangaia, Rarotonga, Atui, Aitutaki, and Mauki, are well worth +visiting. The people speak a language similar to that of Tahiti, and +they are a fine, hospitable race, albeit a little over-civilised. Both +of these groups can be reached from Auckland by sailing vessels, but +not direct from Sydney. As for the lonely islands of the North Pacific, +they are too far afield for any one to visit but the trader or the +traveller to whom time is nothing. + + * * * * * + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +1: Literally, "clear crony." + +2: Port. + +3: Happiness. + +4: A libertine, profligate. + +5: My love to you, Pâkía; are you well? + +6: White foreigners. + +7: Frank. + +8: Small-pox. + +9: An accordion. + +10: Idler, gad about--a Samoan expression. + +11: German. + +12: The Tokelau and Ellice Islanders are much amused at the white man's + method of hauling in a heavy fish hand _over_ hand. This to them is + "_faka fafine_"--i.e., like a woman. + +13: Cayse. + +14: NOTE BY THE PUBLISHER.--This incident is related by the author in + "By Reef and Palm" under the title of "The Rangers of the Tia Kau." + +15: PUBLISHER'S NOTE.--This Alan Strickland is the "Allan" who has so + frequently figured in the author's other tales of South Sea life, + notably in the works entitled "By Reef and Palm" and "The Ebbing of + the Tide." + +16: Councillors. + +17: _Apo! lima_! "Be quick with your hand!" The passage is narrow and + dangerous, even for canoes, and the steersman, as he watches the + rolling surf, calls out _Apo, lau lima_! to his crew--an expression + synonymous to our nautical, "Pull like the devil!" + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore, +and Other Stories, by Louis Becke + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12798 *** |