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diff --git a/24446.txt b/24446.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b233b3b --- /dev/null +++ b/24446.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1400 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of John Corwell, Sailor And Miner; and, +Poisonous Fish, by Louis Becke + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: John Corwell, Sailor And Miner; and, Poisonous Fish + 1901 + +Author: Louis Becke + +Release Date: January 28, 2008 [EBook #24446] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER; and POISONOUS FISH + +By Louis Becke + +T. Fisher Unwin, 1901 + + + + +JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER + + + + +I + +"Am I to have no privacy at all?" demanded the Governor irritably as +the orderly again tapped at the open door and announced another visitor. +"Who is he and what does he want?" + +"Mr. John Corwell, your Excellency, master of the cutter _Ceres_, from +the South Seas." + +The Governor's brows relaxed somewhat. "Let him come in in ten minutes, +Cleary, but tell him at the same time that I am very tired--too tired to +listen unless he has something of importance to say." + +The day had indeed been a most tiring one to the worthy Governor of the +colony of New South Wales, just then struggling weakly in its infancy, +and only emerging from the horrors of actual starvation, caused by the +utter neglect of the Home authorities to send out further supplies of +provisions. Prisoners of both sexes came in plenty, but brought nothing +to eat with them; the military officers who should have helped him in +his arduous labours were secretly plotting against him, and their +spare time--and they had plenty--was devoted to writing letters home +to highly-placed personages imploring them to induce the Government +to break up the settlement and not "waste the health and lives of even +these abandoned convicts in trying to found a colony in the most awful +and hideous desert the eye of man had ever seen, a place which can never +be useful to man and is accursed by God." But the Governor took no heed. +Mutiny and discontent he had fought in his silent, determined way as +he fought grim famine, sparing himself nothing, toiling from dawn till +dark, listening to complaints, remedying abuses, punishing with swift +severity those who deserved it, and yet always preserving the same cold, +unbending dignity of manner which covered a highly-sensitive and deeply +sympathetic nature. + +But on this particular day, fatigue, the intense heat, which had +prevailed, a violent quarrel between the intriguing major commanding +the marines, and many other lesser worries, had been almost more than +he could bear, so it may well be imagined that he was more inclined for +rest than talk. + +Ten, twenty minutes, and then the thin, spare figure raised itself +wearily from the rude sofa. He must see his visitor. He had promised to +do so, and the sooner it was over the better. He called to the orderly. + +"Tell Mr.--Corwell you said?--to come in." + +A heavy step sounded on the bare floor, and one ot the finest specimens +of manhood Governor Arthur Phillip had ever seen in all his long naval +career stood before him and saluted. There was something so pleasant and +yet so manly in the handsome, cleanshaven and deeply-bronzed face, that +the Governor was at once attracted to him. + +"Be seated, Mr. Corwell," he said in his low, yet clear tones. "I am +very tired, so you must not keep me long." + +"Certainly not, your Excellency. But I thought, sir, that you would +prefer to hear the report of my voyage personally. I have discovered a +magnificent harbour north of the Solomon Islands, and----" + +"Ha! And so you came to me. Very sensible, very sensible of you. I am +obliged to you, sir. Tell me all about it." + +"Certainly, your Excellency; but I regret I have intruded on you this +evening. Perhaps, sir, you will permit me to call again to-morrow?" + +"No, no, not at all," was the energetic reply. I am always ready to hear +anything of this nature. + +"I knew that, sir, for the masters of the _Breckenbridge_ and another +transport told me that you were most anxious to learn of any discoveries +in the Pacific Islands." + +"Very true, sir. I am looking forward to hear from them and from the +masters of other transports which I am inducing to follow the whale +fishery on their return voyage to England _via_ Batavia. But so far I +have heard nothing from any one of them." + +Encouraged and pleased at the Governor's manner, the master of the +_Ceres_ at once produced a roughly executed plan and a detailed written +description of the harbour, which, he asserted with confidence, was one +of the finest in that part of the Pacific. A broad, deep stream of water +ran from the lofty range of mountains which traversed the island north +and south and fell into a spacious bay, on the shores of which was a +large and populous native village, whose inhabitants had treated Cornell +and the few men of his ship's company with considerable kindness, +furnishing them not only with wood and water, but an ample supply of +fresh provisions as well. + +During the two weeks that the _Ceres_ lay at anchor, Corwell and two or +three of his hands unhesitatingly trusted themselves among the natives, +who escorted them inland and around the coast. Everywhere was evidence +of the extraordinary fertility of the island, which, in the vicinity +of the seashore, was highly cultivated, each family's plantation being +enclosed by stone fences, while their houses were strongly built and +neatly constructed. The broad belt of the slopes of the mountains were +covered with magnificent timber, which Corwell believed to be teak, +equal in quality to any he had seen in the East Indies, and which he +said could be easily brought down to the seashore for shipment owing to +there being several other large streams beside the one on whose banks +the principal village was built. + +The Governor was much interested, and complimented the young seaman on +the manner in which he had written out his description of the place and +his observations on the character and customs of the inhabitants. + +"Such information as you have given me, Mr. Corwell, is always valuable, +and I give you my best thanks. I wish I could do more; and had I the +means, men, and money to spare I should send a vessel there and to other +islands in the vicinity to make further examination, for I believe +that from those islands to the northward we can obtain invaluable food +supplies in the future. The winds are more favourable for making a quick +voyage there and back than they are to those groups to the eastward; +but," and here he sighed, "our condition is such that I fear it will be +many years ere His Majesty will consent to such an undertaking. But much +may be done at private cost--perhaps in the near future." + +The young man remained silent for a moment or two; then with some +hesitation he said, as he took a small paper packet from his coat pocket +and handed it to the Governor, "Will your Excellency look at this and +tell me what it is. I--I imagine it is pure gold, sir." + +"Gold, gold!" and something like a frown contracted the Governor's pale +brows; "ever since the settlement was formed I've been pestered with +tales of gold, and a pretty expense it has run me into sending parties +out to search for it. Why, only six months ago a rascally prisoner +gulled one of my officers into letting him lead an expedition into the +bush--the fellow had filed down a brass bolt--" he looked up and caught +sight of the dark flush which had suddenly suffused his visitor's +face--"but I do not for a moment imagine you are playing upon my +credulity, Mr. Corwell." + +He untied the string and opened the packet, and in an instant an +exclamation of astonishment and pleasure escaped as he saw that the +folds of paper held quite three ounces of bright and flaky water-worn +gold. + +"This certainly _is_ gold, sir. May I ask where you obtained it?" + +"I made the voyage to Sydney Cove to tell your Excellency of two +discoveries--one was of the fine harbour, the other was of this gold, +which my wife (who is a native of Ternate) and myself ourselves washed +out of the bed of a small stream; the natives helped us, but attached +not the slightest value to our discovery. In fact, sir, they assured us +as well as they could that much more was to be had in every river on the +island." + +"Your wife was it, then, or yourself, who first recognised what it was?" + +"She did, sir. She has seen much of it in the hands of the Bugis and +Arab traders in her native country." + +The Governor moved his slender forefinger to and fro amid the shining, +heavy particles, then he pondered deeply for some minutes. + +"Tell me frankly, Mr. Corwell--why did you make a long voyage to this +settlement to tell _me_ of your discovery?" + +"In the hope, sir, that you would advise and perhaps assist me. My crew +are Malays and Chinese and would have murdered me if they knew what I +knew. Will your Excellency tell me the proper course to pursue so that I +may be protected in my discovery? I am a poor man, though my ship is my +own, but she is old and leaky and must undergo heavy repairs before she +leaves Sydney Cove again; my present crew I wish to replace by half a +dozen respectable Englishmen, and----" + +The Governor shook his head. "I will do all I can to help you, but I +cannot provide you with men. The island which you have visited may +have been discovered and taken possession of by France, two of whose +exploring ships were in these seas a few years ago, and even if that is +not the case I could not take possession of them for His Majesty, as I +have no commissioned officer to spare to undertake such a duty. Yet, if +such an officer were available, Mr. Corwell, I would be strongly tempted +to send him with you, hoist the British flag, and then urge the Home +Government to confirm my action and secure to you the right, subject +to the King's royalties, to work these gold deposits. But I am +powerless--much as I wish to aid you." + +A look of disappointment clouded the young captain's handsome features. + +"Would your Excellency permit me to endeavour to find three or four +seamen myself? There is a transport ready to sail for England, and I may +be able to get some men from her." + +"I doubt it. Unless you revealed the object of your voyage--which would +be exceedingly foolish of you--you could not induce them to make a +voyage in such a small vessel as yours to islands inhabited mostly +by ferocious savages. But this much I can and will do for you. I will +direct Captain Hunter of the _Sirius_, the only King's ship I have here, +to set his carpenters to work on your vessel as soon as ever you careen +her; I will supply you at my own private cost with arms and ammunition +and a new suit of sails. Provisions I cannot give you--God knows we +want them badly enough ourselves, although we are not now in such a bad +plight as we were ten months ago. Yet for all that I may be able to get +you a cask or two of beef." + +"That is most generous of you, sir. I will not, however, take the beef, +your Excellency. But for the sails and the repairs to my poor little +vessel I thank you, sir, most heartily and sincerely. And I pledge you +my word of honour, as well as giving you my written bond, that I will +redeem my obligations to you." + +"And if you fail I shall be content, for I well know that it will be no +fault of yours. But stay, Mr. Corwell; I must have one condition." + +"Name it, sir." + +"You too must pledge me your honour that you will not reveal the secret +of your discovery of gold to any one in the settlement. This I do not +demand--I ask it as a favour." + +Then the Governor took him, guardedly enough, into his confidence. With +a thousand convicts, most of them utter ruffians, guarded by a scanty +force or marines, the news of gold having been found would, he was +sure, have a disastrous effect, and lead to open revolt. The few small +merchant ships which were in port were partly manned by convict +seamen, and there was every likelihood of them being seized by gangs of +desperate criminals, fired with the idea of reaching the golden island. +Already a party of convicts had escaped with the mad idea of walking to +China, which they believed was only separated from Australia by a +large river which existed a few hundred miles to the northward of the +settlement. Some of them died of thirst, others were slaughtered by the +blacks, and the wounded and exhausted survivors were glad to make their +way back again to their gaolers. + +Cornell listened intently, and gave his promise readily. Then he rose to +go, and the Governor held out his hand. + +"Good evening, Mr. Cornell. I must see you again before you sail." + + + + +II + +One evening, three weeks later--so vigorously had the carpenter's mates +from the old frigate _Sirius_ got through their work--the _Ceres_ was +ready for sea. She was to sail on the following morning, and Corwell, +having just returned from the shore, where he had been to say goodbye +to the kind-hearted Governor, was pacing the deck with his wife, his +smiling face and eager tones showing that he was well pleased. + +He had reason to be pleased, for unusual luck had attended him. Not +only had his ship been thoroughly and efficiently repaired, but he had +replaced six of his untrustworthy Malays by four good, sturdy British +seamen, one of whom he had appointed mate. These men had arrived at +Sydney Cove in a transport a few days after his interview with the +Governor; the transport had been condemned, and Corwell, much to his +delight, found that out of her crew of thirty, four were willing to come +with him on what he cautiously described as a "voyage of venture to the +South Seas." All of them had served in the navy, and the captain of the +transport and his officers gave them excellent characters for sobriety +and seamanship. Out of the sixty or seventy pounds which still remained +to him he had given them a substantial advance, and the cheerful manner +in which they turned to and helped the carpenters from the frigate +convinced him that he had secured decent, reliable men, to whom he +thought he could reveal the real object of his voyage later on. + +***** + +Two years before Cornell had been mate of a "country" ship employed +in trading between Calcutta and the Moluccas. The Ternate agent of the +owners of the ship was an Englishman named Leighton, a widower with one +daughter, whose mother had died when the girl was fifteen. With this +man the young officer struck up a friendship, and before six months had +passed he was the acknowledged suitor of Mary Leighton, with whom he +had fallen in love at first sight, and who quickly responded to his +affection. She was then twenty-two years of age, tall and fair, +with dark hazel eyes, like her English mother, and possessed of such +indomitable spirit and courage that her father often laughingly declared +it was she, and not he, who really managed the business which he +controlled. + +And she really did much to help him; she knew his weak, vacillating, and +speculative nature would long since have left them penniless had he +not yielded to her advice and protests on many occasions, Generous +and extravagantly hospitable, he spent his money lavishly, and had +squandered two or three fortunes in wild business ventures in the Indian +Seas instead of saving one. Latterly, however, he had been more careful, +and when Corwell had made his acquaintance he had two vessels--a +barque and a brig--both of which were very profitably engaged in the +Manila-China trade, and he was now sanguine or mending his broken +fortunes. + +Isolated as were father and daughter from the advantages of constant +intercourse with European society, the duty of educating the girl was +a task of love to her remaining parent, who, before he entered "John +Company's" service, had travelled much in Europe. Yet, devoted as he was +to her, and looking forward with some dread to the coming loneliness of +life which would be his when she married, he cheerfully gave his consent +to her union with John Cornell, for whom he had conceived a strong +liking, and who, he knew, would make her a good husband. + +They were married at Batavia, to which port they were accompanied by Mr. +Leighton, who, during the voyage, had pressed Corwell to leave his then +employment and join him in a venture which had occupied his mind for the +past year. This was to despatch either the barque or brig, laden with +trade goods, to the Society Islands in the South Pacific, to barter for +coconut oil and pearl shell. + +Leighton was certain that there was a fortune awaiting the man who +entered upon the venture, and his arguments so convinced the young man +that he consented. + +On arrival at Batavia they found there the officers and crew of a +shipwrecked English vessel, and one of the former eagerly took Corwell's +place as chief mate, his captain offering no objection. A few weeks +after Mr. Leighton hired the _Ceres_ to take himself, his daughter, and +her husband back to Ternate, eager to begin the work of fitting out one +of his vessels for the voyage that was to bring them fortune. He, it was +arranged, was to remain at Ternate, Mary was to sail with her husband to +the South Seas. + +But a terrible shock awaited them. As the _Ceres_ sailed up to her +anchorage before Mr. Leighton's house, his Chinese clerk came on board +with the news that the barque had foundered in a typhoon, and the brig +had been plundered and burnt by pirates within a few miles of Canton. +The unfortunate man gave one last appealing look at his daughter and +then fell on the deck at her feet He never spoke again, and died in a +few hours. When his affairs came to be settled up, it was found that, +after paying his debts, there was less than four hundred pounds left--a +sum little more than that which Corwell had managed to save out of his +own wages. + +"Never mind, Jack," said Mary. "'Tis little enough, but yet 'tis enough. +And, Jack, let us go away from here. I should not care now to meet any +of the people father knew in his prosperity." + +Cornell kissed his wife, and then they at once discussed the future. +Half an hour later he had bought the _Ceres_ from her captain (who was +also the owner), paid him his money and taken possession. Before the +week was out he had bought all the trade goods he could afford to pay +for, shipped a crew of Malays and Chinese, and, with Mary by his side, +watched Ternate sink astern as the _Ceres_ began her long voyage to the +South Seas. + +After a three weeks' voyage along the northern and eastern shores of New +Guinea the _Ceres_ came to an anchor in the harbour which Cornell had +described to the Governor. The rest of his story, up to the time of his +arrival in Sydney Cove, the reader knows. ***** + +Steadily northward under cloudless skies the high-pooped, bluff-bowed +little vessel had sailed, favoured by leading winds nearly all the way, +for four-and-twenty days, when, on the morning of the twenty-fifth, +Corwell, who had been up aloft scanning the blue loom of a lofty island +which lay right ahead, descended to the deck with a smiling face. + +"That is not only the island itself, Mary, but with this breeze we have +a clear run for the big village in the bay; I can see the spur on the +southern side quite clearly." + +"I'm so glad, Jack, dear. And how you have worried and fumed for the +past three days!" + +"I feared we had got too far to the westward, my girl," he said. Then +telling the mate to keep away a couple of points, he went below to pore +over the plan of the harbour, a copy of which had been taken by the +Governor, As he studied it his wife's fingers passed lovingly through +and through his curly locks. He looked up, put his arm around her waist, +and swung her to a seat on his knees. + +"I think, Mary, I can tell the men now." + +"I'm sure you can! The sooner you take them into your confidence the +better." + +Corwell nodded. During the voyage he had watched the mate and three +white seamen keenly, and was thoroughly satisfied with them. The +remainder of the crew--three Manila men and two Penang Malays--did their +duty well enough, but both he and his wife knew from long experience +that such people were not to be trusted when their avarice was aroused. +He resolved, therefore, to rely entirely upon his white crew and the +natives of the island to help him in obtaining the gold. Yet, as he +could not possibly keep the operations a secret from the five men +he distrusted, he decided, as a safeguard against their possible and +dangerous ill-will, to promise them double wages from the day he found +that gold was to be obtained in payable quantities. As for the mate and +three other white men, they should have one-fifth of all the gold won +between them, he keeping the remaining four-fifths for himself and wife. + +He put his head up the companion-way and called to the man whom he had +appointed mate. + +"Come below, Mallett, and bring Totten, Harris, and Sam with you." + +Wondering what was the matter the four men came into the cabin. As soon +as they were standing together at the head of the little table, the +captain's wife went quietly on deck to see that none of the coloured +crew came aft to listen. + +"Now, men," said Corwell, "I have something important to tell you. I +believe I can trust you." + +Then in as few words as possible he told them the object of the +voyage and his intentions towards them. At first they seemed somewhat +incredulous, but when they were shown some of the gold their doubts +vanished, and they one and all swore to be honest and true to him and to +obey him faithfully whether afloat or ashore, in fair or evil fortune. + +From his scanty store of liquor the captain took a bottle of rum, and +they drank to their future success; then Corwell shook each man's hand +and sent him on deck. + +Just before dusk the _Ceres_ ran in and dropped her clumsy, +wooden-stocked anchor in the crystal-clear water, a few cables' length +away from the village. As the natives recognised her a chorus of +welcoming shouts and cries pealed from the shore from five hundred +dusky-hued throats. + + + + +III + +A blazing, tropic sun shone in mid-heaven upon the motionless waters of +the deep, land-locked bay in which the Ceres lay, with top-mast struck +and awnings spread fore and aft. A quarter of a mile away was the beach, +girdled with its thick belt of coco-palms whose fronds hung limp and hot +in the windless air as if gasping for breath. Here and there, among +the long line of white, lime-washed canoes, drawn up on the sand, +snowy white and blue cranes stalked to and fro seeking for the small +thin-shelled soldier crabs burrowing under the loose _debris_ of leaves +and fallen palm-branches to escape the heat. + +A few yards back from the level of high-water mark clustered the houses +of the native village, built on both sides of the bright, fast-flowing +stream which here, as it debouched into the sea, was wide and shallow, +showing a bottom composed of rounded black stones alternating with rocky +bars. Along the grassless banks, worn smooth by the constant tread of +naked feet, grew tall many-hued crotons, planted and carefully tended +by their native owners, and shielded from the rays of the sun by the +ever-present coco-palms. From either side of the bank, looking westward +towards the forest, there was a clear stretch of water half a mile in +length, then the river was hidden from view, for in its course from the +mountains through the heavily-jungled littoral it took many bends and +twists, sometimes running swiftly over rocky, gravelly beds, sometimes +flowing noiselessly through deep, muddy-bottomed pools and dank, steamy +swamps, the haunt of the silent, dreaded alligator. + +At the head of the straight stretch of water of which I have spoken +there was on the left-hand bank of the river an open grassy sward, +surrounded by clumps of areca and coco-palms, and in the centre stood +a large house, built by native hands, but showing by various external +signs that it was tenanted by people other than the wild inhabitants of +the island. Just in front of the house, and surrounded by a number of +canoes, the boat belonging to the _Ceres_ was moored to the bank, +and under a long open-sided, palm-thatched shed, were a number of +brown-skinned naked savages, some lying sleeping, others squatting on +their hams, energetically chewing betel nut. + +As they talked and chewed and spat out the scarlet juice through their +hideous red lips and coaly black teeth, a canoe, paddled by two natives +and steered by Mallet, the mate of the _Ceres_, came up the river. The +instant it was seen a chorus of yells arose from the natives in the long +hut, and Mary Corwell came to the open doorway of the house and looked +out. + +"Wake up, wake up, Jack!" she cried, turning her face inwards over her +graceful shoulder, "here is Mallet." + +Her voice awoke her husband, who in an instant sprang from his couch and +joined her, just as Mallet--a short, square-built man of fifty--stepped +out of the canoe and walked briskly towards them, wiping his broad, +honest face with a blue cotton handkerchief. + +"Come inside, Mallet. 'Tis a bit cooler in here. I'm sorry I sent you +down to the ship on such a day as this." + +Mallet laughed good-naturedly. "I didn't mind it, sir, though 'tis a +powerful hot day, and the natives are all lying asleep in their huts; +they can't understand why us works as we do in the sun. Lord, sir! How +I should like to see old Kingsdown and Walmer Castle to-day, all a-white +with snow. I was born at Deal." + +Mary Cornell brought the old seaman a young coconut to drink, and her +husband added a little rum; Mallet tossed it off and then sat down. + +"Well, sir, the ship is all right, and those chaps aboard seem content +enough. But I'm afeared that the worms are a-getting into her although +she is moored right abreast of the river. So I took it on me to tell +Totten and Harris to stay aboard whilst I came back to ask you if it +wouldn't be best for us to bring her right in to the fresh water, and +moor her here, right abreast o' the house. That'll kill any worms as +has got into her timbers. And we can tow her in the day after to-morrow, +when there will be a big tide." + +"You did quite right, Mallet. Very likely the worms have got into her +timbers in spite of her being abreast of the river's mouth. I should +have thought of this before." + +"Ah, Jack," said his wife, with a smile, "we have thought too much of +our gold-getting and too little of the poor old _Ceres_." + +"Well, I shall think more of her now, Mary. And as the rains will be +on us in a few days--so the natives say--and we can do no more work for +three months, I think it will be as well for us to sail the _Ceres_ over +to that chain of lagoon islands about thirty miles from here. I fear to +remain here during the wet season, on account of the fever." + +After further discussion it was decided that Jack and Mallet, with some +natives, should make an early start in the morning for their mining +camp, six miles away, at the foot of the range, and do a long, last +day's work, returning to the house on the following day. Meanwhile a +message was to be sent to Harris and Totten to bring the vessel into the +creek as soon as the tide served, which would be in forty-eight hours. +Then, whilst she lay for a week in the fresh water, so as to kill the +suspected _teredo navalis_ worms, which Mallet feared had attacked her, +she was to be made ready for the short voyage of thirty miles over to a +cluster of islands enclosing a spacious lagoon, where Corwell intended +to beach her till the rainy season was over, when he would return to +work a very promising stream in another locality. Already he and his +men, aided by the natives, had, in the four months that had passed since +they arrived, won nearly five hundred ounces of gold, crude as were +their appliances. + +"Jack," said his wife, "I think that, as you will be away all day and +night, to-morrow I shall go on board and see what I can do. I'll make +the men turn to and give the cabin a thorough overhauling. Marawa, the +chiefs wife, has given me a lot of sleeping-mats, and I shall throw +those old horrible flock mattresses overboard, and we shall have nice +clean mats instead to lie on." + +* * * * * + +At daylight Mallet aroused the natives who were to accompany him and the +captain, and then told off two of them to make the boat ready for Mrs. +Corwell. Then he returned to the house and called out-- + +"The boat is ready, sir." + +"So am I, Mallet," replied Mary, tying on her old-fashioned sun-hood. +Then she turned to her husband. "Jack, darling, this will be the very +first time in our married life that I have ever slept away from you, and +it shall be the last, too. But I _do_ want to surprise you when you see +our cabin again." + +She put her lips up to him and kissed him half a dozen times. "There, +that's a good-night and good morning three times over. Now I'm ready." + +Corwell and Mallet walked down to the boat with her and saw her get in. +She kissed her hand to them and in a few minutes was out of sight. + + + + +IV + +A light, cool breeze, which had set in at daylight, was blowing when +Mary Corwell boarded the _Ceres_. Totten and Harris met her at the +gangway, caps in hand. Poor Sam, their former shipmate, had died of +fever a month before. They were delighted to hear that she intended to +remain on board, and Harris at once told Miguel, the scoundrelly-faced +Manila cook, to get breakfast ready. + +"And you must have your breakfast with me," said Mary, "and after that +you must obey _my_ orders. I am to be captain to-day." + +* * * * * + +As she and the two seamen sat aft under the awning, at their breakfast, +Selak, the leading Malay, and his fellows squatted on the fore-hatch and +talked in whispers. + +"I tell thee," said Selak, "that I have seen it. On the evening of the +day when the man Sam died and was buried, I was sitting outside the +house. It was dark, and the Tuan Korwal thought I had returned to the +ship. I crept near and listened. They were speaking of what should be +done with the dead man's share of the gold. Then I looked through the +cave side of the house, and--dost remember that white basin of thine, +Miguel?" + +The Manila man nodded. + +"The white woman, at a sign from her husband, went into the inner room +and brought it out and placed it on the table. It was full to the brim +with gold! and there was more in a bag!" + +His listeners drew nearer to him, their dark eyes gleaming with avarice. + +"Then the Tuan said, 'None of Sam's gold will I or my wife touch. Let it +be divided among you three. It is but fair.' + +"They talked again, and then Mallet said to the Tuan, 'Captain, it shall +be as you wish. But let it all go together till the time comes for thee +to give us our share.' + +"I watched the white woman take the basin and the bag, put them into +a box, and place the box in a hole in the ground in her sleeping-room. +Then I came away, for my heart was on fire with the wrong that hath been +done to us." + +He rose to his feet and peered round the corner of the galley. Mary and +the two seamen were eating very leisurely. + +"Three of them are here now and will sleep aboard to-night. God hath +given them into our hands!" + +"And what of the other two?--they are strong men," asked a wizen, +monkey-faced Malay, nicknamed Nakoda (the captain). + +"Bah! What is a giant if he sleeps and a kriss is swept across his +throat, or a spear is thrust into his back from behind? They, too, shall +die as quickly as these who sit near us. Now listen. But sit thou out on +the deck, Miguel, so that thou canst warn us if either of those accursed +dogs approach." + +The cook obeyed him silently. + +"_This_ it is to be. To-night these three here shall die in their sleep, +silently and without a sound. Then we, all but thou, Nakoda, shall take +the boat and go to the house. Both the Tuan and Mallet sleep heavily, +and"--he drew his hand swiftly across his tawny throat. + +"And then?" queried Nakoda. + +"And then the gold--the gold, or our share of which we have been +robbed--is ours, and the ship is ours, and I, Selak, will guide ye all +to Dobbo in the Aru Islands, where we shall be safe, and become great +men." + +"But," muttered another man, "what if these black sons of Shaitan here +of the Island turn upon us after we have slain the white men?" + +Selak laughed scornfully. "The sound of a gun terrifies them. They are +cowards, and will not seek to interfere with us." + +***** + +Night had fallen. The two white seamen, tired out with their day's work, +had spread their mats on the poop, and were sound in slumber. Below in +the cabin, the captain's wife lay reading by the light of a lamp; and +Selak, standing in the waist, could see its faint reflection shining +through the cabin door, which opened on to the main deck. Sitting on +the fore-deck, with their hands clutching their knives, his companions +watched him. + +At last the light was lowered, and Mary closed her eyes and slept. + +The Malay waited patiently. One by one the remaining native fires on the +shore went out; and, presently, a chill gust of air swept down from the +mountains, and looking shoreward he saw that the sky to the eastward +was quickly darkening and hiding the stars--a heavy downpour of rain was +near. + +He drew his kriss from its tortoiseshell sheath and felt the edge, made +a gesture to the crouching tigers for'ard, and then stepped lightly +along the deck to the open cabin door; the other four crept after him, +then stopped and waited--for less than a minute. + +A faint, choking cry came from the cabin, and then Selak came out, his +kriss streaming with blood. + +"It is done," he whispered, and pointing to the poop he sprang up. + +"Hi, there! what's the matter?" cried Totten, who had heard the feint +cry; and then, too late, he drew his pistol from his belt and fired--as +Selak's kriss plunged into his chest. Poor Harris was slaughtered ere he +had opened his eyes. + +Spurning Totten's body with his naked foot, Selak cursed it. "Accursed +Christian dog! Would I could bring thee to life so that I might kill +thee again!" Then, as he heard the rushing hum of the coming rain +squall, and saw that the shore was hidden from view, as if a solid wall +of white stone had suddenly arisen between it and the ship, he grinned. + +"Bah! what does it matter? Had it been a cannon instead of a pistol it +could scarce have been heard on the shore in such a din." + +Ordering the bodies of the two seamen to be thrown overboard, Selak, the +most courageous, entered the cabin, took a couple of muskets from the +rack, and some powder and ball from the mate's berth, and returning to +his followers, bade them bring the boat alongside. + +"Throw the woman after them," he cried to Nakoda, as the boat pushed off +into the darkness, just as the hissing rain began. "We shall return ere +it is dawn." + +Nakoda would have sprung over the side after the boat, but he feared the +sharks even more than Selak's kriss; so running for'ard, he crept into +his bunk and lay there, too terrified to move. + +* * * * * + +Mallet and Corwell, with the natives, worked hard till near sunset, and +then ceased. + +"There's nearly five ounces in that lot, Mallet," said the captain, +pointing to two buckets of wash-dirt. "Let us have a bathe, and then get +something to eat before it is too dark." + +"The natives say we ought to get back to the house, sir, instead of +sleeping here tonight. They say a heavy storm is coming on, and we'll be +washed out of the camp." + +"Very well, Mallet I don't want to stay here, I can assure you. Tell +them to hurry up, then. Get the shovels and other gear, and let us start +as quickly as possible. It will take us a good three hours to get back +to the house." + +By sunset they started, walking in single file along the narrow, +dangerous mountain-path, a false step on which meant a fall of hundreds +of feet. + +Half-way down, the storm overtook them, but guided by the surefooted +natives they pressed steadily on, gained the level ground, and at last +reached the house about ten o'clock. + +"Now that we have come so far we might as well go on board and give +my wife a surprise," said Corwell to Mallet. "Look, the rain is taking +off." + +"Not for long, sir. But if we start at once we may get aboard afore it +starts again." + +Two willing natives, wet and shivering as they were, quickly baled out +a canoe, and in a few minutes they were off, paddling down towards the +sea. But scarce had they gone a few hundred yards when another sudden +downpour of rain blotted out everything around them. But the natives +paddled steadily on amid the deafening roar; the river was wide, and +there was no danger of striking anything harder than the hanging branch +of a tree or the soft banks. + +"I thought I heard voices just now," shouted Mallet. + +"Natives been out fishing," replied Corwell. + +As the canoe shot out through the mouth of the river into the open bay +the rain ceased as suddenly as it began, and the _Ceres_ loomed up right +ahead. + +"Don't hail them, Mallet. Let us go aboard quietly." + +They clambered up the side, the two natives following, and, wet and +dripping, entered the cabin. + +Corwell stepped to the swinging lamp, which burnt dimly, and pricked up +the wick. His wife seemed to be sound asleep on the cushioned transom +locker. + +"Mary," he cried, "wake up, dearest. We---- ... Oh my God,Mallet!" + +He sprang to her side, and kneeling beside the still figure, placed his +hand on the blood-stained bosom. + +"Dead! Dead! Murdered!" He rose to his feet, and stared wildly at +Mallet, swayed to and fro, and then fell heavily forward. + +As the two natives stood at the cabin door, gazing in wondering horror +at the scene, they heard a splash. Nakoda had jumped overboard and was +swimming ashore. + +***** + +Long before dawn the native war-drums began to beat, and when Selak +and his fellow-murderers reached the mouth of the river they ran into a +fleet of canoes which waited for them. They fought like the tigers they +were, but were soon overcome and made prisoners, tied hand and foot, and +carried ashore to the "House of the Young Men." The gold was taken care +of by the chief, who brought it on board to Corwell. + +"When do these men die?" he asked, + +"To-day," replied Corwell huskily; "to-day, after I have buried my +wife." + +On a little island just within the barrier reef, she was laid to rest, +with the never-ending cry of the surf for her requiem. + +At sunset, Corwell and Mallet left the ship and landed at the village, +and as their feet touched the sand the war-drums broke out with +deafening clamour. They each carried a cutlass, and walked quickly +through the thronging natives to the "House of the Young Men." + +"Bring them out," said Corwell hoarsely to the chief. + +One by one Selak and his fellow-prisoners were brought out and placed +on their feet, the bonds that held them were cut, and their hands +seized and held widely apart. And then Corwell and Mallet thrust their +cutlasses through the cruel hearts. + +***** + + + + +POISONOUS FISH OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS + +Many years ago I was sent with a wrecking party of native seamen to take +possession of a Swedish barque which had gone ashore on the reef of one +of the Marshall Islands, in the North Pacific. My employers, who had +bought the vessel for L100, were in hopes that she might possibly be +floated, patched up, and brought to Sydney. However, on arriving at the +island I found that she was hopelessly bilged, so we at once set to work +to strip her of everything of value, especially her copper, which was +new. It was during these operations that I made acquaintance with both +poisonous and stinging fish. There were not more than sixty or seventy +natives living on the island, and some of these, as soon as we anchored +in the lagoon, asked me to caution my own natives--who came from various +other Pacific islands--not to eat any fish they might catch in the +lagoon until each one had been examined by a local man. I followed their +injunction, and for two or three weeks all went well; then came trouble. + +I had brought down with me from Sydney a white carpenter--one of the +most obstinate, cross-grained old fellows that ever trod a deck, but an +excellent workman if humoured a little. At his own request he lived on +board the wrecked barque, instead of taking up his quarters on shore in +the native village with the rest of the wrecking party. One evening as I +was returning from the shore to the schooner--I always slept on board--I +saw the old man fishing from the waist of the wreck, for it was high +tide, and there was ten feet of water around the ship. I saw him +excitedly haul in a good-sized fish, and, hailing him, inquired how many +he had caught, and if he were sure they were not poisonous? He replied +that he had caught five, and that "there was nothin' the matter with +them." Knowing what a self-willed, ignorant man he was, I thought I +should have a look at the fish and satisfy myself; so I ran the boat +alongside and clambered on board, followed by two of my native crew. The +moment we opened the fishes' mouths and looked down their throats we saw +the infallible sign which denoted their highly poisonous condition--a +colouring of bright orange with thin reddish-brown streaks. The old +fellow grumbled excessively when I told him to throw them overboard, and +then somewhat annoyed me by saying that all the talk about them being +unsafe was bunkum. He had, he said, caught and eaten just the same kind +of fish at Vavau, in the Tonga Islands, time and time again. It was no +use arguing with such a creature, so, after again warning him not to eat +any fish of any kind unless the natives "passed" them as non-poisonous, +I left him and went on board my own vessel. + +We had supper rather later than usual that evening, and, as the mate and +myself were smoking on deck about nine o'clock, we heard four shots in +rapid succession fired from the wreck. Knowing that something was wrong, +I called a couple of hands, and in a few minutes was pulled on board, +where I found the old carpenter lying writhing in agony, his features +presenting a truly shocking and terrifying appearance. His revolver lay +on the deck near him--he had fired it to bring assistance. I need not +here describe the peculiarly drastic remedies adopted by the natives to +save the man's life. They at first thought the case was a hopeless one, +but by daylight the patient was out of danger. He was never able to turn +to again as long as we were on the island, and suffered from the effects +of the fish for quite two or three years. He had, he afterwards told me, +made up his mind to eat some of the fish that evening to show me that he +was right and I was wrong. + +A few weeks after this incident myself and a native lad named Viri, +who was one of our crew and always my companion in fishing or shooting +excursions, went across the lagoon to some low sandy islets, where we +were pretty sure of getting a turtle or two. Viri's father and mother +were Samoans, but he had been born on Nassau Island, a lonely spot in +the South Pacific, where he had lived till he was thirteen years of +age. He was now fifteen, and a smarter, more cheerful, more intelligent +native boy I had never met. + +His knowledge of bird and fish life was a never-ending source of +pleasure and instruction to me, and the late Earl of Pembroke and Sir +William Flower would have delighted in him. + +It was dead low tide when we reached the islets, so taking our spears +with us we set out along the reef to look for turtle in the many +deep and winding pools which broke up the surface of the reef. After +searching for some time together without success, Viri left me and +went off towards the sea, I keeping to the inner side of the lagoon. +Presently in a shallow pool about ten feet in circumference I espied +a small but exceedingly beautiful fish. It was about four inches in +length, and two and a half inches in depth, and as it kept perfectly +still I had time to admire its brilliant hues--blue and yellow-banded +sides with fins and tail tipped with vivid crimson spots. Around the +eyes were a number of dark yellowish or orange-coloured rings, and the +eyes themselves were large, bright, and staring. It displayed no alarm +at my presence, but presently swam slowly to the side of the pool and +disappeared under the coral ledge. I determined to catch and examine +the creature, and in a few minutes I discovered it resting in such a +position that I could grasp it with my hand. I did so, and seizing it +firmly by the back and belly, whipped it up out of the water, but not +before I felt several sharp pricks from its fins. Holding it so as to +study it closely, I suddenly dropped it in disgust, as strange violent +pains shot through my hand. In another two minutes they had so increased +in their intensity that I became alarmed and shouted to Viri to come +back. Certainly not more than five or ten minutes elapsed before he +was with me; to me it seemed ages, for by this time the pain was +excruciating. A look at the fish told him nothing; he had never seen +one like it before. How I managed to get back to the schooner and live +through the next five or six hours of agony I cannot tell. Twice I +fainted, and at times became delirious. The natives could do nothing for +me, but said that the pain would moderate before morning, especially if +the fish was dead. Had its fins struck into my foot instead of my hand I +should have died, they asserted; and then they told the mate and myself +that one day a mischievous boy who had speared one of these abominable +fish threw it at a young woman who was standing some distance away. It +struck her on the foot, the spines penetrating a vein, and the poor girl +died in terrible agony on the following day. By midnight the pain I +was enduring began to moderate, though my hand and arm were swollen +to double the proper size, and a splitting headache kept me awake +till daylight. The shock to the system affected me for quite a week +afterward. + +During many subsequent visits to the Marshall Group our crews were +always cautioned by the people of the various islands about eating +fish or shell-fish without submitting them to local examination. In the +Radack chain of this widely spread out archipelago we found that the +lagoons were comparatively free from poisonous fish, while the Ralick +lagoons were infested with them, quite 30 per cent, being highly +dangerous at all times of the year, and nearly 50 per cent at other +seasons. Jaluit Lagoon was, and is now, notorious for its poisonous +fish. It is a curious fact that fish of a species which you may eat with +perfect safety, say, in the middle of the month, will be pronounced by +the expert natives to be dangerous a couple of weeks later, and that +in a "school" of pink rock bream numbering many hundreds some may have +their poison highly developed, others in but a minor degree, whilst many +may be absolutely free from the taint. In the year 1889 the crew of a +large German ship anchored in one of the Marshall Islands caught some +very large and handsome fish of the bream kind, and the resident natives +pronounced them "good." Three or four days later some more were taken, +and the cook did not trouble to ask native opinion. The result was that +eight or nine men were taken seriously ill, and for some time the lives +of several were despaired of. Two of them had not recovered the use +of their hands and feet at the end of ten weeks, and their faces, +especially the eyes and mouth, seemed to be permanently, though slightly +distorted. All the men agreed in one particular, that at midday they +suffered most--agonising cramps, accompanied by shooting pains in the +head and continuous vomiting to the point of exhaustion, these symptoms +being very pronounced during the first week or eight days after the fish +had been eaten. + +That kind-hearted and unfortunate officer, Commodore J. G. Goodenough, +took an interest in the poisonous and stinging fish of the Pacific +Islands, and one day showed me, preserved in spirits of wine, a +specimen of the dreaded _no'u_ fish of the Hervey Group--one of the most +repulsive-looking creatures it is possible to imagine out of a child's +fairy book. The deadly poison which this fish ejects is contained in a +series of sacs at the base of the spines, and the commodore intended to +submit it to an analyist. By a strange coincidence this gallant seaman +a few months afterwards died from the effects of a poisoned arrow shot +into his side by the natives of Nukapu, one of the Santa Cruz group of +islands. + +This _no'u_ however, which is the _nofu_ of the Samoans, and is widely +known throughout Polynesia, and Melanesia under different names, does +not disguise its deadly character under a beautiful exterior like the +stinging fish of Micronesia, which I have described above. The +_nofu_ which is also met with on the coasts of Australia, is a devil +undisguised, and belongs to the angler family. Like the octopus or the +death-adder (_Acanthopis antarctica_) of Australia, he can assimilate +his colour to his environment. His hideous wrinkled head, with his +staring goggle eyes, are often covered with fine wavy seaweed, which in +full-grown specimens sometimes extends right down the back to the tail. +From the top of the upper jaw, along the back and sides, are scores of +needle-pointed spines, every one of which is a machine for the ejection +of the venom contained at the root. As the creature lies hidden in a +niche of coral awaiting its prey--it is a voracious feeder--it cannot be +distinguished except by the most careful scrutiny; then you may see that +under the softly waving and suspended piece of seaweed (as you imagine +it to be) there are fins and a tail. And, as the _nofu_ has a huge +mouth, which is carefully concealed by a fringe of apparently harmless +seaweed or other marine growth, he snaps up every unfortunate small fish +which comes near him. In the Pacific Islands the _nofu_ (_i.e._, "the +waiting one ") is generally a dark brown, inclining to black, with +splashes or blotches of orange, or marbled red and grey. In Australian +waters--I have caught them in the Parramatta river, Port Jackson--they +are invariably either a dark brown or a horrid, dulled yellow. + +Despite its poison-injecting apparatus this fish is eaten by the natives +of the Society, Hervey, and Paumotu groups of islands, in the South +Pacific, where its flesh is considered a delicacy. It is prepared for +cookery by being skinned, in which operation the venomous sacks are +removed. In 1882, when I was living on the island of Peru in the Gilbert +Group (the Francis Island of the Admiralty charts), a Chinese trader +there constantly caught them in the lagoon and ate them in preference +to any other fish. Here in Peru the _nofu_ would bury itself in the soft +sand and watch for its prey, and could always be taken with a hook. And +yet in Eastern Polynesia and in the Equatorial Islands of the Pacific +many deaths have occurred through the sting of this fish, children +invariably succumbing to tetanus within twenty-four hours of being +stung. + +A little more about poisonous fish, _i.e._, fish which at one time of +the year are good and palatable food and at others deadly. In the lagoon +island of Nukufetau (the "De Peyster Island" of the charts), where the +writer lived for twelve months, the fish both within the lagoon and +outside the barrier reef became highly poisonous at certain times of the +year. Flying-fish (which were never caught inside the lagoon) would be +safe to eat if taken on the lee side of the island, dangerous, or at +least doubtful, if taken on the weather side; _manini_, a small striped +fish much relished by the natives, would be safe to eat if caught on the +reef on the western side of the island, slightly poisonous if taken four +miles away on the inside shore of the eastern islets encompassing +the lagoon. Sharks captured outside the reef, if eaten, would produce +symptoms of poisoning--vomiting, excessive purging, and tetanus in a +modified form; if caught inside the reef and eaten no ill effects would +follow. Crayfish on one side of the lagoon were safe; three miles away +they were highly impregnated with this mysterious poison, the origin of +which has not yet been well defined by scientists. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of John Corwell, Sailor And Miner; and, +Poisonous Fish, by Louis Becke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND *** + +***** This file should be named 24446.txt or 24446.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/4/24446/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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