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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of John Frewen, South Sea Whaler, 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 Frewen, South Sea Whaler
+       1904
+
+Author: Louis Becke
+
+Release Date: March 11, 2008 [EBook #24806]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN FREWEN, SOUTH SEA WHALER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+JOHN FREWEN, SOUTH SEA WHALER
+
+
+From "Chinkie's Flat And Other Stories"
+
+By Louis Becke
+
+
+Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company 1904
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Captain Ethan Keller, of the _Casilda_ of Nantucket, was in a very bad
+temper, for in four days he had lost two of the five boats the barque
+carried--one had been hopelessly stove by the dreaded "underclip" given
+her by a crafty old bull sperm-whale, and the other, which was in charge
+of the second mate, had not been seen for seventy hours. When last
+sighted she was fast to the same bull which had destroyed the first
+mate's boat; it was then nearly dark, and the whale, which was of an
+enormous size, although he had three irons in his body and was towing
+the whole length of line from the stove-in boat as well as that of the
+second mate, was racing through the water as fresh as when he had first
+been struck, three hours previously. Then the sun dipped below the
+sea-rim, and the blue Pacific was shrouded in darkness.
+
+"Why in thunder couldn't the dunderhead put a bomb into that fish before
+it came on dark?" growled the skipper to his other officers, as they
+sat down to a harried sapper in the spacious, old-fashioned cabin of the
+whaler.
+
+No one answered. Frewen, the missing officer, was as good a whaleman
+as ever drove an iron or gripped the haft of a steer-oar, and his
+half-caste boatsteerer Randall Cheyne was the best on the ship. But
+there was bad blood between young Frewen and his captain, and Cheyne was
+the cause of it.
+
+"If they cut and lose that whale," resumed Keller presently, "I'll haze
+the life out of them--by thunder, I will, if I break my back in doing
+it! Why, that is the biggest fish we've struck yet. If I had been in
+that boat, I'd have had that whale in his flurry two hours ago. Why, it
+appears to me that Frewen got too soared to even try to haul up and give
+him a bomb, let alone giving him the lance--which was easy enough."
+
+Just as he spoke, one of the boatsteerers entered the cabin and reported
+that some of the hands thought that they had heard the second mate's
+bomb gun.
+
+"All right," growled Keller, "tell the cooper to burn a flare."
+
+"I guess Frewen won't lose him," said Lopez, the first mate. "He told
+me long ago that he never yet had to out, and I don't think he'll do it
+now--unless something has gone wrong. That must have been his gun."
+
+"Huh!" sneered Keller, as he viciously speared a piece of salt pork with
+his fork, "we'll see all about that when daylight comes. You'll find Mr.
+Firwen and that yaller-hided Samoa buck back here for breakfast, but no
+whale."
+
+None of the men made any reply. They knew that Frewen would be the
+last man to lose a fish through any fault of his own, and only after
+carefully "drogueing" his line would he part company with it, and that
+only if the immense creature emptied the line tubs and "sounded." Then,
+to save the lives of those in the boat, he would have to cut.
+
+"Guess we'll see that whale to-morrow, anyway, whether Mr. Frewen is
+fast to him or not," said the third mate to the cooper, as they met on
+deck; "he's got a mighty lot of line hanging to him, and, just after the
+second mate got fast I saw him shaking his flukes and trying to kick out
+one of the two irons the mate hove into him."
+
+"Well, that is so; I hope we shall get him. The old man is pretty cranky
+over it. He hasn't a nice temper even when he's in a good humour, and
+there will be blue fire blazing if Mr. Frewen does lose the fish after
+all."
+
+For four hours the barque made short tacks to the eastward, in which
+direction the boat had been taken by the whale. The night was fine but
+dark, the sea very smooth, and the flares which were burnt at intervals
+on board the barque would render her visible many miles away, and a keen
+look-out was kept for the boat, but nothing could be discovered of it.
+
+Towards midnight the light air from the eastward died away, and was
+succeeded by a series of rather sharp rain squalls from the south-west,
+and Keller, fearing to miss the boat by running past her, hove-to till
+daylight.
+
+The dawn broke brightly, with a dead calm. Forty pairs of eyes eagerly
+scanned the surface of the ocean, and in a few minutes there came a
+cheering cry from aloft.
+
+"Dead whale, oh! Close to on the weather beam."
+
+"Can you see the boat?" cried Lopez.
+
+"No, sir," was the reply after a few seconds silence. "Can't see her
+anywhere."
+
+"Look on the other side of the whale, you bat!" growled the skipper.
+
+"She's not there, sir," was the reply.
+
+"Lower away your boats, Mr. Bock and Mr. Lopez," said Keller in more
+gracious tones to the third and first officers; "the second mate can't
+be far away, but why in thunder he didn't hang on to the whale last
+night I don't know. Take something to eat with you. You will have to tow
+that whale alongside--this calm is going to last all day."
+
+Five minutes later the two boats pushed off, and then, as they sped over
+the glassy surface of the ocean and the huge carcass of the whale was
+more clearly revealed, Bock called out to his superior officer that he
+could see a whift {*} on it.
+
+     * A wooden pole with a small pennon; used by whalers' boats
+     as a signal to the ship.
+
+Lopez nodded, but said nothing.
+
+They pulled up alongside, and the mate's boatsteerer stepped out on to
+the body of Leviathan and pulled out the whift pole, which was firmly
+embedded in the blubber.
+
+"There's a letter tied round the pole, sir," he said to his officer, as
+he got back to the boat again and passed the whift aft.
+
+The "letter" had been carefully wrapped in a strip of oilskin, and then
+tied around the whift pole by a piece of sail twine. It was a sheet of
+soiled paper with a few pencilled lines written on it. Lopez read it:--
+
+     "For the information of Ethan Keller, Haser: This whale was
+     struck, for the sake of his shipmates' lays, by Randall
+     Cheyne, the 'yaller-hided Samoan,' who has struck more
+     whales than old Haser Keller ever saw. If Haser Keller wants
+     us he will find us at Savage Island, where we shall be ready
+     for him.
+
+     (Signed) "R. Cheyne, Boatsteerer, "Casilda."
+
+"Where is Mr. Frewen, sir?" inquired the boatsteerer anxiously.
+
+"Gone for a picnic," replied the mate laconically. "Now, look lively,
+my lads. We've got to tow this fish to the ship and 'cut in' before the
+sharks save us the trouble."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The quarrel between Keller, a rough, blasphemous-mouthed, and
+violent-tempered man, and his second officer had arisen over a very
+simple matter.
+
+Frewen, one of the six sons of a struggling New Hampshire farmer, had
+received a better education than his brothers, for he was intended for
+the navy. But at sixteen years of age he realised the condition of the
+family finances, and shipped on a whaler sailing out of New London. From
+"'foremast hand with hayseed in his hair," he became boatsteerer; then
+followed rapid promotion from fourth to second officer's berth, and at
+the age of five-and-twenty he was as competent a navigator and as good
+a seaman and boatheader as ever trod a whaleship's deck. For like many a
+country-bred boy he had the sea instinct in his bones, inherited perhaps
+from his progenitors, who were of a seafaring stock in old Devonshire,
+in that town made for ever famous by Kingsley in "Westward Ho!"
+
+When Frewen joined the _Casilda_, Keller had taken a great fancy to
+the young man, whom he soon discovered was a very able officer, and who
+proved his ability as a good whaleman so amply during the first twelve
+months of the cruise by never losing a whale once he got fast, that
+Keller, who was as mean as he was brutal to his crew, relaxed his
+"hazing" propensities considerably. The _Casilda_ was always known as
+a "hard" ship and Keller as a "hazer"; but, on the other hand, she was
+also a lucky ship, and Lopes, the chief mate, who had sailed in her for
+many years, was a sterling good man, though a strict disciplinarian, and
+did much for the men to compensate them for Keller's outbursts of savage
+fury when anything went wrong. So Lopez, Frewen, and his fellow-officers
+"worked" together, and the crew "worked" with them, and the _Casilda_
+became a fairly happy ship, as well as a lucky one, for Keller, after
+long years, began to realise that it was bad policy to ill-treat a
+willing crew who would give him a "full" ship in another six months
+instead of deserting one by one or in batches at every island touched at
+in the South Seas.
+
+And Frewen was a mascotte, and his half-caste boat-steerer was another,
+for whenever a pod of whales were sighted the second mate's boat was
+invariably the first to get fast, and on one glorious day off Sunday
+Island Frewen's boat killed three sperms--a bull and two cows--and the
+four other boats each got one or two, so that for over a week, in a calm
+sea, and under a cloudless sky of blue by day and night, "cutting in"
+and "trying-out" went on merrily, and the cooper and his mates toiled
+like Trojans, setting-up fresh barrels; and the smoke and glare of the
+try-works from the deck of the _Casilda_ lit up the placid ocean for
+many a mile, whilst hordes of blue sharks rived and tore and ripped off
+the rich blubber from the whales lying alongside waiting to be
+cut-in, and Keller shot or lanced them by the score as he stood on the
+cutting-in stage or in one of the boats made fast to the chains on the
+free side.
+
+Fourteen months out, as the _Casilda_ was cruising northward, intending
+to touch at one of the Navigator's Islands (Samoa) to refresh, the first
+trouble occurred. Cheyne, Frewen's boatsteerer, who was a splendidly
+built, handsome young fellow of twenty-four years of age, received a
+rather severe injury to his right foot whilst a heavy baulk of timber
+was being "fleeted" along the deck. Frewen, who was much attached to
+him, dressed his foot as well as the rough appliances on board would
+allow, and then reported him to the captain as unfit for duty.
+
+Keller growled something about all "darned half-breeds" being glad of
+any excuse to shirk duty.
+
+Frewen took him up sharply: "This man is no shirker, sir. He is as good
+a man as ever 'stood up' to strike a whale. Did you ever see a better
+one?"
+
+Keller looked at his second officer with fourteen months' repressed
+brutality glowering in his savage eyes.
+
+"I'm the captain of this ship. Just you mind that. I reckon I can't be
+taught much by any college buster."
+
+Frewen's hands clenched, but he replied quietly, though he was inwardly
+raging at Keller's contemptuous manner--
+
+"Just so. You are the captain of this ship, and I know my duty, sir.
+But I am not the man to be insulted by any one. And I say that my
+boatsteerer is not fit for duty."
+
+Keller's retort was of so insulting a character that in another moment
+the two men--to the intense delight of the crew--were fighting on the
+after-deck. Lopes and the cooper, as in duty bound, sprang forward and
+seized their fellow-officer, but the captain, with an oath, bade them
+stand aside.
+
+"I'll pound you first," he cried hoarsely to Frewen, "then I'll kick you
+into the foc'sle."
+
+The fight lasted for fifteen minutes, and then Lopes and the third mate
+forced themselves between and separated them. Both men were terribly
+punished.
+
+"That will do, sir; that will do, Frewen," said the mate; "do you want
+to kill each other?"
+
+Keller had some good points about him and a certain amount of humour as
+well.
+
+"Haow much air yew hurt, Frewen?" he inquired. "I can't exactly see"
+(both his eyes were fast closing).
+
+"Pretty much like yourself," replied the officer; then he paused and
+held out his hand. "Shake hands, sir. I'm sorry we've had this turn."
+
+"Wa'al, it's mighty poor business, that's a fact," and Keller took the
+proffered hand, and then the matter apparently ended.
+
+Early in the morning on the following day whales were raised. There was
+a stiff breeze and a choppy sea. Three boats, of which Frewen's was one,
+were lowered. Cheyne, although suffering great pain, insisted on taking
+his place, and twenty minutes later his officer called out to him to
+"stand up," for they were close to the whale--a large cow, which was
+moving along very slowly, apparently unconscious of the boat's presence.
+
+Then for the first time during the voyage the half-caste missed striking
+his fish. Unable to sustain himself steadily, owing to his injured foot
+and the rough sea, he darted his iron a second or two too late. It fell
+flat on the back of the monstrous creature, which at once sounded in
+alarm, and next reappeared a mile to windward. For an hour Frewen kept
+up the chase, and then the ship signalled for all the boats to return,
+for the wind and sea were increasing, and it was useless for them
+to attempt to overtake the whales, which were now miles to windward.
+Neither of the other boats had even come within striking distance of a
+fish, and consequently Keller was in a vile temper when they returned,
+and the moment he caught sight of the half-caste boatsteerer he assailed
+him with a volley of abuse.
+
+The young man listened with sullen resentment dulling his dark face,
+then as he turned to limp for'ard the captain bade him make haste and
+get better, and not "try on any soldiering."
+
+He turned in an instant, his passion completely overmastering him: "I'm
+no 'soldier,' and as good a man as you, you mean old Gape Cod water-rat.
+I'll never lift another iron or steer a boat for you as long as I am on
+this ship."
+
+Five minutes later he was in irons with a promise of being kept on
+biscuit and water till he "took back all he had said" in the presence of
+the ship's company.
+
+"I'll lie here and rot first sir," he said to Lopez; "my father was an
+Englishman, and I consider myself as good a boatsteerer and as good a
+man as any one on board. But I do not mean any disrespect to you, sir."
+
+Lopez was sorry for the man, but could not say so. "Keep a still tongue
+between your teeth," he said roughly, "and I'll talk the old man round
+by to-morrow."
+
+"Do as you please, sir. But I won't lift an iron again as long as I am
+in this ship," he replied quietly.
+
+He kept his word. On the following morning he was liberated, and in a
+week's time he had recovered the use of his foot. Then, when the barque
+was off the Tonga Islands, a large "pod" of whales were sighted. It
+was a clear, warm day. The sea was as smooth as a lake, and only the
+faintest air was ruffling the surface of the water. Three miles away
+were two small, low-lying islands, clad with coco-palms, their white
+belting of beach glistening like iridescent pearl-shell under the
+glowing tropic sun.
+
+As the boats were lowered he said to Frewen, "You know what I have said,
+sir. I won't lift a harpoon again on this cruise; so don't ask me."
+
+Frewen did not believe him. "Don't be a fool, Randall. We'll show the
+old man something to-day."
+
+"_I_ will, sir, if it costs me my life."
+
+Five minutes later he was in his old place on the for'ard thwart,
+pulling stolidly, but looking intently at Frewen, whom he loved with a
+dog-like affection.
+
+Frewen singled out a large bull whale which was lying quite apart from
+the rest of the "pod" sunning himself, and sometimes rolling lazily
+from side to side, oblivious of danger. In another five minutes the boat
+would have been within striking distance.
+
+"Stand up, Randall," he said.
+
+The half-caste peaked and socketed his oar, and looked at the officer.
+
+"I refuse, sir," he said quietly.
+
+"Then come aft here," cried Frewen quickly, with hot anger in his tones.
+
+"No, sir, I will not. I said I would neither lift iron nor steer a boat
+again," was the dogged reply.
+
+There was no time to lose. Giving the steer oar to the man pulling the
+"after-tub oar," the officer sprang forward and picked up the harpoon
+just in time, Randall jumping aft smartly enough, and taking the tub
+man's oar. Ten seconds later Frewen had buried his harpoon up to the
+socket in the whale, and the line was humming as the boat tore through
+the water. Then, still keeping his place, he let the whole of one tub
+of line run out, and then hauled up on it and lanced and killed his fish
+quietly. Cheyne apparently took no notice, though his heart sank within
+him when Frewen came aft again, and looked at him with mingled anger and
+reproach.
+
+Some one of the boat's crew talked of what had occurred, though Frewen
+said nothing; and that night Cheyne was placed in irons by Keller's
+orders. At the end of a week he was still manacled and almost starving,
+but he steadfastly refused to do boatsteerer's duty. Then the captain
+no longer placed any check on himself, and he swore that he would either
+make the half-caste yield or else kill him. And he did his best to keep
+his word.
+
+Nearly a month passed, and then, at Frewen's suggestion, all the
+officers waited on the captain and begged him to release the unfortunate
+man; otherwise there was every prospect of the crew mutinying.
+
+"Is he willing to turn to again?" he asked.
+
+"Not as boatsteerer," replied Frewen.
+
+"Then he shall stay where he is," was the savage retort.
+
+Five or six days later Frewen went to Cheyne, who was now confined in
+the 'tween decks, and implored him to give in.
+
+"Very well, sir. To please you I will give in. But I mean to desert the
+first chance."
+
+"So do I. I am sick of this condition of things. There are three other
+men besides yourself in irons now."
+
+"Who are they, sir?"
+
+"Willis, Hunt, and Freeman." (The two latter belonged to his own boat,
+and had been ironed because they had refused to eat some bad beef.
+Frewen himself had told Keller that it was uneatable, and again angry
+words passed between them.)
+
+Cheyne was released and resumed his old place in Frewen's boat, and the
+officer then sounded the rest of his men, and found they were eager
+to leave the ship. So he made his plans, and he and Cheyne quietly got
+together a small supply of provisions and a second breaker of water.
+
+They waited till the ship was well among the Friendly Group, and Upolu
+Island was three hundred miles to the north, and then were given the
+needed opportunity--when the mate's boat was destroyed by the big bull
+whale, which was then struck by Cheyne.
+
+"Boys," shouted Frewen to his crew, as the boat tore through the water,
+"I'm not going to kill this whale awhile. He'll give us a long run, and
+is taking us dead to windward, away from the ship. But before it gets
+dark I'll give him a bomb."
+
+He successfully carried out his intention. Just as darkness was coming
+on he hauled up on his line and fired a bomb into the mighty creature;
+it killed it in a few seconds. Then they lay alongside of the floating
+carcase, spelled half an hour, had something to eat, and then Cheyne,
+who had a sense of humour, wrote the scrawl to Keller and tied it round
+the whift pole.
+
+"Now, lads," cried Frewen, "up sail! It is a fine dark night, and we
+should be forty or fifty miles away by daylight."
+
+And so, whilst the _Casilda_ burnt flare after flare throughout the
+night, the adventurers were slipping through the water merrily enough,
+oblivious of the cold rain squalls which overtook them at midnight, as
+they headed for Samoa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+When Frewen allowed Cheyne to write the pencilled note to Captain
+Keller, he did so with a double purpose, for he and Cheyne had carefully
+thought out and decided upon their plans. In the first place, the dead
+whale would convince the ship's company that he and his boat's crew had
+"done the square thing," by killing and leaving for their benefit the
+best and largest whale that had yet been taken, and that although
+they were deserting (and consequently losing their entire share of the
+profits of the cruise so far, which would be divided with their former
+shipmates) the rich prize they were leaving to the ship would prove of
+ten times the value of the boat in which they had escaped. In the second
+place he wished to put Keller on a false scent by naming Savage Island
+(or Nine, as it is generally known) as their destination; for Keller
+knew that the island was a favourite resort of runaway sailors, but that
+a suitable reward offered to the avaricious natives would be sure to
+effect the capture and return to the ship of any deserters from the
+_Casilda_.
+
+Cheyne's father was an English master mariner, who, tired of a seafaring
+life, had settled as a trader in the beautiful island of Manono in
+Samoa. He there married a daughter of one of the leading chiefs, and
+himself attained to some considerable influence and property, but lost
+his life in an encounter with a rebellious clan on the island of Upolu.
+He left two children: Randall, a lad of sixteen, and Marie, a girl
+two years younger. The boy went to sea in a whaler, and at the age
+of twenty-four had an established reputation as one of the smartest
+boatsteerers in the Pacific. Only once after four years' absence, had he
+returned to his native country, when he found that his sister, who had
+just arrived from Australia, where she had been educated, was about
+to be married to one of the few Europeans in the country--a well-to-do
+planter and merchant, named Raymond, and that his mother had also
+married again, and settled in New Zealand.
+
+Satisfied as to his sister's future happiness, he saw her married, and
+again turned his face to the sea, although Raymond earnestly besought
+him to stay with and help him in his business. He made his way to
+Honolulu, and there joined the _Casilda_, then homeward bound, and, as
+has been related, he and the second officer soon became firm friends.
+
+At the south-east point of the island of Upelu, there is a town named
+Lepa, and for this place the boat was now steering. The principal chief
+of the district was a blood relation of Cheyne's mother, and he (Cheyne)
+knew that every hospitality would be given to himself and Frewen for as
+long a time as they chose to remain at Lepa.
+
+"After we have seen Mana'lio" (the chief) "we shall consider what we
+shall do," said the boatsteerer to Frewen. "I expect he will not like
+letting us leave him, but will be satisfied when he knows that you and I
+want to go to my sister's place. These big Samoan chiefe are very touchy
+in some things."
+
+On the afternoon of the third day out, the land was sighted, and just as
+the evening fires were beginning to gleam from the houses embowered in
+the palm-groves of Lepa, the boat grounded on the white hard beach, and
+in a few minutes the village was in a pleasurable uproar, as the white
+men were almost carried up to the chief's house by the excited natives,
+who at once recognised the stalwart Cheyne.
+
+Mana'lio made his relative and Frewen most welcome, and treated them
+as very honoured guests, whilst the rest of the boat's crew were taken
+possession of by the sub-chiefs and the people of the town generally,
+carried off to the _fale taupule_ or "town hall," and invited to a
+hurriedly prepared but ample repast.
+
+On the following morning, Frewen called the whole of his boat's crew
+together, and told them it would be best for them to separate. "Each of
+you four men say you don't want to go to sea again--not for a long time
+at any rate. Well, Mana'lio, the chief here, wants a white man to live
+with him. He will treat him well, and give him a house and land. Will
+you stay, Hunt?"
+
+"Yes, sir," was the instant reply.
+
+"Right. And you, Freeman, Chase, and Craik, can stay here in Lepa,
+and decide for yourselves which towns you will live in. In less than
+forty-eight hours half the chiefe on the island will be coming to
+Mana'lio for a white man. Cheyne here will give you some good advice--if
+you want the natives to respect you, and to get along and make money and
+a honest living, follow his advice."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," assented the men.
+
+"Now, here is another matter. Cheyne and I wish to be mates, and we want
+the boat."
+
+"Well, I guess _we_ have no claim on her, sir," said Hunt, turning to
+the others for confirmation of his remark.
+
+"Oh, yes you have--she is as much yours as she is mine. Anyway we all
+have a good right to her, as we have given the ship a whale worth a
+dozen new boats; and, besides that, by deserting we have forfeited our
+'lays' and have put money into Captain Keller's pocket as well as
+into those of the crew. Now, I have a little money with me--two hundred
+dollars. Will you four men take a hundred and divide it, and let Cheyne
+and me have the boat?"
+
+"Ay, ay, to be sure," they cried out in unison.
+
+That evening Frewen and Cheyne bade Mana'lio and the seamen goodbye, and
+accompanied by four stalwart and well-armed natives, stepped into the
+boat, hoisted her blue jean main-sail and jib, and amidst a chorus of
+farewells from the friendly people set off on a forty miles trip along
+the coast, their destination being the town of Samatau, at the extreme
+north-west of the island.
+
+For here, so Mana'lio had told them, Mrs. Raymond and her husband were
+living, the latter having purchased a large tract of land there which he
+was preparing for a cotton plantation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The boat sailed gently along the outer or barrier reef which fringed
+the coast of beautiful verdured Upolu, and then, as the sun sank, there
+shone out myriad stars upon the bosom of a softly heaving sea, and
+only the never-ceasing murmur of the surf as it beat against the coral
+barrier, or the cry of some wandering sea-bird, disturbed the warm
+silence of the tropic night.
+
+Leaving the boat to the care of their native friends at eight o'clock,
+Frewen and his comrade laid down amidships and were soon fast asleep,
+for the day had been a tiring one, and they needed more rest to recover
+from the effects of the three days they had spent on the open sea.
+
+Soon after daylight they were awakened by the steersman, who pointed out
+a large, lofty-sparred vessel. She was about five miles away, and being
+head on, Frewen was uncertain as to her rig, till an hour later, when he
+saw that she was a full-rigged ship.
+
+"Not the _Casilda_" he said to his comrade, and neither of them gave the
+strange vessel any further thought, especially as the wind had now died
+away, and, the sail being lowered, the crew bent to the oars under an
+already hot and blazing sun.
+
+Shortly before noon, the boat rounded a low headland and entered
+a lovely little bay, embowered in thick groves of coco-palms and
+breadfruit trees. The new house which Raymond had built was not
+visible from the bay, but there were some thirty or forty native houses
+clustered under the shade of the trees, a few yards up from the beach,
+on which they noticed a ship's longboat was lying.
+
+The moment Frewen's boat was seen, a strange clamour arose, and a number
+of natives, armed with muskets and long knives, rushed out of their
+houses, and took cover behind the rocks and trees, evidently with the
+intention of resisting his landing, and Frewen and Cheyne heard loud
+cries of "_Lemonte! Lemonte!_"
+
+"Back water!" cried Cheyne in his mother tongue to the crew; then he
+turned to Frewen: "There is something wrong on shore. 'Lemonte' is my
+brother-in-law's name, and they are calling for him." Then he stood up
+and shouted out--
+
+"Friends, do you not know me? I am Randall. Where is my sister and her
+husband?"
+
+A loud cry of astonishment burst from the natives, many of whom,
+throwing down their arms, sprang into the water, and clambering into the
+boat greeted the young man most affectionately; and then one of them,
+commanding silence, began talking rapidly to him.
+
+"We must get ashore quickly," said Cheyne to Randall. "My brother-in-law
+has a number of dead and dying people in his house. There has been a
+mutiny on board that ship--but come on, he'll tell us all about it."
+
+In another minute the boat was on the beach, and as Frewen and Cheyne
+jumped ont they were met by a handsome, dark-faced man about forty years
+of age, who grasped Cheyne's hands warmly.
+
+"I never expected to see you, Randall," he said quietly, "but I thank
+God that you _have_ come, and at such a time, too. Where is your ship?"
+
+"Three hundred miles away. But we will tell you our story another time.
+How is Marie?"
+
+"Well. She already hears the people shouting your name. Come to the
+house." Then he turned to Frewen and held out his hand. "My name is
+Raymond, and you are welcome to Samatau."
+
+"And mine is Frewen. I hope you will accept any assistance I can give."
+
+"Gladly. But I will tell you the whole story presently. I have two men
+dying in my house, three others wounded, and two dead."
+
+He led the way along a shady, winding path to the house, on the wide
+verandah of which were seated a number of natives of both sexes, who
+made way for them to pass with low murmurs of "_Talofa, aliia_," {*} to
+the two strangers. Then in another moment Marie Raymond stepped softly
+out from the sitting-room, and threw her arms round her brother's neck.
+
+     * "Greeting, gentlemen."
+
+"Thank God you are here, Randall," she said, leading the way into
+another room. "Tom will tell you of what has happened. I will return as
+soon as I can."
+
+"How is Captain Marston?" asked Raymond, as she stood for a moment with
+her hand on the handle of the door.
+
+"Still unconscious. Mrs. Marston is with him." She paused, and then
+turned her dark and beautiful tear-dimmed eyes to Frewen: "Tom, perhaps
+this gentleman might be able to do something. Will he come in and see?"
+
+Raymond drew him aside. "Go in and see the poor fellow. He can't last
+long--his skull is fractured."
+
+Frewen followed Mrs. Raymond into the large room, and saw lying on her
+own bed the figure of a man whose features were of the pallor of death.
+His head was bound up, and kneeling by his side, with her eyes bent
+upon his closed lids, was a woman, or rather a girl of twenty-two or
+twenty-three years of age. As, at the sound of footsteps, she raised her
+pale, agonised face, something like a gleam of hope came into it.
+
+"Are you a doctor?" she asked in a trembling whisper.
+
+The seaman shook his head respectfully. "No, madam; I would I were."
+
+He leant over the bed, and looked at the still, quiet face of the man,
+whom he could see was in the prime of life, and whose regular, clear-cut
+features showed both refinement and strength of character.
+
+"He still breathes," whispered the poor wife.
+
+"Yes, so I see," said Frewen, as he rose. Then he asked Mrs. Raymond
+a few questions as to the nature of the wound, and learned that in
+addition to a fractured skull a pistol bullet had entered at the back of
+the neck.
+
+"There is no hope, you think. I can see that by your face," said Mrs.
+Marston, suppressing a sob.
+
+"I cannot tell, madam. But I do think that his condition is very, very
+serious."
+
+She bent her head, and then sank on her knees again beside the bed, but
+suddenly she rose again, and placed her hand on Frewen's sleeve.
+
+"I know that my husband must die, no human aid can save him. But will
+you, sir, go and see poor Mr. Villari. Mr. Raymond has hopes for him at
+least. And he fought very bravely for my husband."
+
+Villari was the first mate of the ship, and was lying in another room,
+together with three wounded seamen. He was a small, wiry Italian, and
+when Frewen entered with Raymond and Mrs. Raymond, he waved his right
+hand politely to them, and a smile lit up his swarthy features. He had
+two bullet wounds, one a clean hole through the right shoulder, the
+other in the thigh. He had lost a great deal of blood, but none of his
+high courage, though Raymond at first thought he could not live.
+
+"I am not going to die," he said. "_Per Bacco_, no."
+
+Frewen spoke encouragingly to him and then turned his attention to the
+seamen, all of whom were Englishmen. None of them were severely wounded,
+and all that could be done for them had been done by Raymond and their
+own unwounded shipmates, of whom there were four.
+
+"Now I shall tell you the story," said Raymond to Frewen and Cheyne, as
+he led the way to the verandah, on which a table with refreshments had
+been placed. "But, first of all, do you see that ship out there? Well,
+that is the _Esmeralda_. She is now in the possession of the mutineers,
+and has on board forty-five thousand dollars. You see that she is
+becalmed?"
+
+"And likely to continue so for another three or four days, if I am any
+judge of the weather in this part of the Pacific," said Frewen, "I agree
+with you. And now, before I begin to tell you the story of the mutiny,
+I want to know if you two will help me to recapture her? You are seamen,
+and--"
+
+Both men sprang to their feet.
+
+"Yes, we will!"
+
+"Ah! I thought you would not refuse. Now wait a moment," and calling to
+a young native who was near, he bade him go to the chief of Samatau and
+ask him to come to the house as quickly as possible.
+
+"Malie, the chief of Samatau, will help us," he said to Frewen; "he has
+two hundred of the best fighting men in Samoa, and I shall ask him to
+pick out fifty. But we want a nautical leader--some one to take charge
+of the ship after we get possession of her."
+
+"Now here is the story of the mutiny, told to me by poor Mrs. Marston."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+"At daylight this morning, my wife and I were aroused by our servants,
+who excitedly cried to as to come outside. A boat, they said, was on the
+beach with a number of white men in it, some of whom were dead.
+
+"I went down to the beach at once, and five minutes later had all the
+unfortunate wounded and unwounded people assisted to the house, for
+they were completely exhausted by what they had undergone, and were also
+suffering from thirst. Two of their number had succumbed to their wounds
+in the boat a few hours previously, so Villari, the mate, told me.
+Marston, who had been shot in the neck, was unconscious, and his wife
+who, as you saw, is little more than a girl, was herself wounded in the
+arm by a musket ball.
+
+"We did all that we could do, and after Mrs. Marston had had an hour's
+rest, she and Villari told me their story.
+
+"The _Esmeralda_ is Marston's own ship, and left Valdivia, in Chile, for
+Manila about seven weeks ago. She is almost a new ship, only having been
+built at Aberdeen last year. Marston, who had just married, brought out
+a general cargo from London to Valdivia and other South American ports,
+and sold it at a very handsome profit. Whilst on the coast, fever broke
+out on board, and he lost his second mate and five A.B.'s, and the third
+mate and two others had to go into hospital. In their places he shipped
+a new second mate--a man named Juan Almanza--and twelve seamen, ten of
+whom were either Chilenos or Peruvians, and the remaining two Greeks.
+The former boatswain he promoted to the third mate's birth. Almanza
+proved to be a good officer, and the new men gave him satisfaction,
+though his agent at Valdivia had urged him not to take the two Greeks,
+who, he said, were likely to prove troublesome. Unfortunately he did not
+take the agent's advice, and said that he had often had Greeks with him
+on previous voyages, and found them very fair sailormen--much better
+than Chilenos or Mexicans.
+
+"He had been paid for his cargo mostly in silver dollars, and the money
+was brought on board in as quiet a manner as possible, and he believed
+without the new hands knowing anything about it. Poor fellow; he was
+fatally mistaken! In all it amounted to thirty-five thousand dollars,
+and in addition to this there was a further sum of two thousand pounds
+in English gold on board--Marston, I must tell you, is, I imagine, a
+fairly wealthy man, for his wife told me that he had the _Esmeralda_
+built at a cost of six thousand pounds.
+
+"He had been informed at Valdivia that a cargo of Chile flour, which
+could be bought very cheaply at Valparaiso, could be sold at a huge
+profit in Manila, and he thereupon bought a full cargo--six hundred
+tons--and sailed, as I have said, about seven weeks ago. All went well
+on board from the very first, although the English seamen did not much
+care about their foreign shipmates, who, however, did their duty after
+a fashion. Almanza, Mrs. Marston says, was in all respects an able
+and smart officer, and both she and her husband took a great liking to
+him--the scoundrel!
+
+"The two Greeks--who, by the way, called themselves and shipped under
+the English names of John Foster and James Ryan--the Levantine breed
+do that trick very often--were in Almanza's watch, as were six of the
+Chilenos; and the mate one night, coming on deck when it was his watch
+below, was surprised to find Almanza and the two Greeks engaged in an
+earnest conversation. His suspicions were aroused, and he reported the
+matter to the captain, who, however, made light of it, and said that
+Almanza had told him that Foster and Ryan had been shipmates with him
+on a Sydney barque some years before, and that it was only natural that
+Almanza would relax discipline a little, and condescend to chat for a
+few minutes with men who had sailed with him previously.
+
+"Ryan, the older of the two, had proved himself an excellent seaman, and
+both Marston and Villari felt sure, from the way in which he spoke to
+the other seamen, that he had at one time been an officer. In addition
+to Spanish he speaks both English and French remarkably well, and his
+manners and personal appearance are extremely good, and no one would
+take him to be a Greek. He, however, frankly admitted that his name was
+not Ryan and that he was a native of the island of Naxos in the AEgean
+Sea.
+
+"At this time, Mr. Frewen, the _Esmeralda_ was near these islands--in
+fact, Upolu was in sight; and Marston, knowing that there were some
+Europeans settled at the port of Apia, on the north side of the island,
+decided to put in there for fresh provisions, of which the ship was in
+need.
+
+"Perhaps his decision made the scoundrelly Almanza imagine that he
+suspected him, and was only touching at Apia to rid himself of
+his second officer and his Greek and Chileno accomplices, for Mrs.
+Marston--who shudders when she mentions Almanza's name--says that
+shortly after the ship's course was altered for Apia, he went for'ard on
+some excuse, but in reality to talk to the Greeks in the fore-peak. He
+was absent about a quarter of an hour, and then went about his duties as
+usual.
+
+"A little before six bells, Captain Marston was on the poop looking
+at the land through his glasses, Mrs. Marston was in her cabin sewing,
+Villari, with the boatswain and three A.B.'s (all Englishmen), were with
+the steward and third mate engaged in the lazzarette overhauling and
+re-stowing the provisions. Suddenly the captain was felled by a blow on
+the head dealt him from behind, and the mate and those with him were at
+the same moment ordered by Almanza to come up out of the lazzarette. He
+told them that he was in possession of the ship, and that they would be
+shot down if they attempted to resist. Villari and his men came up, and
+found the second mate and six of the mutineers in the cabin, all armed
+with pistols and cutlasses. Resistance was useless, and Almanza told
+Villari not to think of it. He (Villari) was then hustled into his own
+cabin and locked in, and the English seamen ordered on deck, where they,
+with the other Englishmen on board, were made to hoist out the longboat.
+Whilst this was being done Almanza, who had locked Mrs. Marston in her
+cabin, opened the door, and told her that she need feel no fear, but
+that she must come on deck to attend to her husband, who had been hurt
+She found Marston lying where he fell, and quite unconscious, with a
+Chileno standing guard over him. As the English members of the crew were
+hoisting out the longboat, Almanza told the steward--a negro--to get
+some provisions and some bottles of wine from the cabin. Then the two
+Greeks--who from the first had seemed bent on murder--interfered, and
+one of them suddenly raised his pistol and shot the unfortunate steward
+through the heart. The Chileno seamen applauded the act, and only
+Almanza's frenzied protests prevented them from slaughtering the unarmed
+Englishmen, the Greeks declaring that they (the mutineers) were only
+putting ropes round their necks by sparing any one of them--including
+Mrs. Marston.
+
+"For some minutes it seemed as if there was to be a conflict between
+Almanza and his followers, but the mutineers appeared to yield to his
+appeals, and assisted in getting the longboat out. The captain was then
+lowered into the boat, and then Mrs. Marston and all the Englishmen but
+two followed; when suddenly Villari, who had succeeded in forcing his
+door, sprang up from the cabin with a pistol in each hand, and singling
+out Almanza, shot him through the chest, and with the second shot
+wounded one of the Chilenos in the face. But in another instant he
+himself fell, for the Greeks and several of the gang fired at him
+simultaneously, and he was also given a fearful blow on the head with a
+belaying-pin, partly stunning him, and then thrown overboard to drown.
+The two men remaining on deck saved their lives by jumping overboard at
+the same time.
+
+"Most fortunately for the poor mate he fell near the boat, and was
+rescued by one of the seamen, who sprang overboard after him. But not
+satisfied with what they had already done, and enraged at the fall of
+their leader, the mutineers now began firing into the defenceless people
+in the boat at such a short range that it is marvellous that any one
+escaped.
+
+"Before they were able to pull out of range, the captain, third mate,
+and one of the seamen were mortally wounded, and two others and
+Mrs. Marston also were hit Then the mutineers, evidently bent on the
+slaughter of the whole party, began to lower away one of the heavy
+quarter-boats, but although she was actually put in the water the
+villains changed their minds for some reason, and the longboat was not
+pursued."
+
+"Ah!" said Frewen, "I expect they were afraid to leave the ship in case
+a breeze sprang up."
+
+"So Villari says. However, they then began firing round shot at the
+longboat from the two nine-pounders on the quarter-deck--the _Esmeralda_
+is armed with six guns--but made such bad practice that after half a
+dozen shots had been fired they gave up the attempt.
+
+"The ship at this time was in the Straits of Manono, and the boat was
+headed for the nearest land, which was Samatau--the four unwounded men
+keeping to the oars most manfully, only taking short spells every hour.
+As darkness came on they saw the lights of Samatau village, and came
+on without fear, for they knew that the natives of Samoa, though very
+warlike, were hospitable and friendly to Europeans. During the night the
+third mate and the badly wounded A.B. died, and poor Marston, who had
+never spoken since he had been first struck down, lay as you saw him a
+little while ago, without the slightest sign of returning consciousness.
+Villari, however, began to improve, and weak as he was, yet contrived
+to show one of the men how to dress Mrs. Marston's wound in a more
+efficient manner. He _is_ a plucky little fellow.
+
+"The boat would have reached here much sooner, only that Villari and his
+people could not find the passage through the reef, and several times
+struck on coral patches.
+
+"Well, that is the whole of the story--and a very dreadful one it is
+too. I do feel so for that poor little woman. Her heart is breaking."
+
+"Ay, indeed," said Frewen, "poor thing! She seems hardly more than a
+girl."
+
+"However, please God, we shall get her husband's ship back," and
+Raymond's dark eyes sparkled. "Ah! here comes the chief. He will not
+fail us. He is one of the most renowned fighters in Samoa, is he not,
+Randall?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Malie, the supreme chief of the district, was indeed, as Raymond said,
+one of the most renowned fighters, not only on Upoln, but in all Samoa,
+and Frewen, as he shook hands with him, thought he had never seen so
+noble and imposing a figure. He was a man of about sixty years of age,
+with closely-cropped white hair and thick moustache, but so youthful was
+he in his carriage, and so smooth was the bright copper-red of his skin,
+that he seemed more like a man of thirty whose hair and moustache had
+become prematurely blanched. The upper portion of his huge but yet
+beautifully proportioned and muscular figure was bare to the waist,
+around which was wrapped many folds of tappa cloth bleached to a snowy
+whiteness, which accentuated the startling contrast of the bright blue
+tattooing which reached from his waist to his knees. Depending from his
+neck, and falling in a long loop across a broad chest scarred by many
+wounds, was a simple yet beautiful ornament consisting of some hundreds
+of discs of gleaming pearl-shell, perforated at the sides, and strung
+together by a thin cord of human hair. In his right hand he carried a
+_fui_, or fly-wisp, made of coco-nut fibre, and Frewen noticed during
+the conversation that followed that he used this with the dainty grace
+that characterises a Spanish lady with her fan.
+
+Accompanying the chief was a tall, thin old man, named Talitaua, who
+was Malie's _tulafale_ or orator--a position which in Samoa is one
+much coveted and highly respected, for the _tulafale_ is in reality a
+Minister of War, and on his public utterances much depends. If he is
+possessed of any degree of eloquence, he can either avert or bring about
+war, just as he chooses to either inflame or subdue the passions of his
+audience when, rising and supporting himself on his polished staff of
+office, he first scans the expectant faces of the throng seated on the
+ground before him ere he opens his lips to speak. On this occasion,
+however, Talitaua had merely come with Malie as a personal friend
+anxious to learn privately what he would probably have to communicate
+to the assembled people as soon as the discussion with Raymond was
+concluded. Both he and the chief had already heard full details of the
+mutiny from Raymond, and they guessed that the planter had something
+further and of importance to say to them concerning it. After the usual
+courtesies so rigidly observed on visits of ceremony had passed between
+them and Raymond, they patiently awaited him to begin, though very
+curious to learn what was the occasion of Frewen's and Cheyne's
+unlooked-for appearance. Their natural politeness, however, as well as
+the never-to-be-infringed-upon Samoan etiquette, utterly forbade them to
+make even the slightest allusion to the matter; they would, they knew,
+learn in good time.
+
+Seating themselves on chairs in European fashion at one side of the
+table, whilst Raymond and his two companions occupied those opposite,
+they first made inquiry as to the wounded men and Mrs. Marston, and the
+planter answered their polite queries. Then after a pause Raymond began
+by saying--
+
+"This _alii_ {*} is named Mr. Frewen. He is an officer of a _vaa
+soia_,{**} and is a friend of my wife's brother, and therefore is a
+friend of mine--and thine also, Malie toa o Samatau,{***} and Talitaua."
+
+     * Chief--gentleman.
+
+     ** A whale-ship.
+
+     *** His full title, "Malie, warrior of Samatau." The present
+     King Malietoa of Samoa is a descendant.
+
+The chief and his orator bent their heads, but said nothing beyond a
+simple _Lelei, lelei lava_ ("Good, very good").
+
+Then Raymond went to the point as quickly as possible, and asked the
+chief if he would assist him, Frewen, and Cheyne in recapturing the ship
+from the mutineers. Speaking, of course, in Samoan, he said--
+
+"As thou seest, Malie, the wind hath died away, and the ship is
+becalmed, so that the murderers on board cannot escape us if we do but
+act soon and come upon them suddenly."
+
+The chief thought for a few moments, then answered--
+
+"I will not refuse thee anything in reason that thou asketh me, Lemonti.
+But yet my people must be told of what is in thy mind."
+
+"True. They shall know. But before I unfold to thee my plan to take
+this ship by surprise so that but little or no blood may be shed, I will
+pledge myself to the people of Samatan and to thee to act generously
+to them for the help they will give. The captain is hurt to death
+and cannot speak, and the lady his wife is too smitten with grief to
+consider aught but her husband, so on her behalf do I speak; for she is
+my countrywoman, and it would be a shameful thing for me did I not help
+her."
+
+Then he went on, and dearly and lucidly detailed his scheme to the
+chief, afterwards translating his remarks into English for the benefit
+of Frewen, who listened with the keenest interest. Cheyne, of course,
+understood Samoan perfectly.
+
+Raymond's plan was simple enough.
+
+He proposed to take the _Casilda's_ boat, and with Frewen, Cheyne, and
+a few natives go boldly off and board the ship, and representing
+himself as a trader anxious to buy European provisions, begin to work
+by throwing the mutineers off their guard, by warning them of the danger
+the ship was in through being in so close to the land during a calm, for
+the currents in the Straits of Manono were very strong and she would
+be carried on to the reef unless she was towed out of the danger
+limit towards which he would say (and truthfully enough) that she was
+drifting. The mutineers, he felt convinced, would feel so alarmed that
+they would listen to and accept his suggestion to let him engage the
+services of half a dozen native boats, whose united efforts would soon
+place the ship out of danger by towing her out of the danger zone.
+Then he and those with him would bide their time, and at a given signal
+spring upon the mutineers, who would be completely off their guard.
+
+He entered into the details so minutely that not only Frewen and Cheyne,
+but Malie as well, expressed the warmest admiration and approval. Then
+he told Malie exactly what to do when he (the chief) saw the whale-boat
+leaving the ship to return to the shore, and Malie listened carefully to
+his instructions and promised that they should be carried out exactly as
+he desired.
+
+Then the stalwart chief and his orator rose to take their leave, for
+they had to call the people together and acquaint them with what was to
+be done.
+
+"Have no fear, Lemonti, that the calm will break," he said in reply to a
+fear expressed by the planter that a breeze might, after all, spring
+up and carry the ship too far off the land for the attempt to be made.
+"'Tis a calm that will last for many days. Look at the mountains of
+Savai'i"--and he pointed out the cloud-capped summits of the range that
+traverses the great island of Savai'i--"when the clouds lie white and
+heavy and low down it meaneth no wind for many days, not as much as
+would stir a palm-leaf. But there will be rain at night--much rain."
+
+"The better for our purpose," said Raymond, as the chief left the house.
+"Now, Randall, we must hurry along. Take half a dozen of my people, and
+let them catch a couple of pigs and plenty of fowls; then cut about
+a dozen or so large bunches of bananas and get enough other
+fruit--pineapples, sugar-cane, guavas, and young coco-nuts as will
+make a big show in the boat. Mr. Frewen and I will join you in about a
+quarter of an hour, and then you and he can show the natives how to stow
+the things, as I have suggested to the chief."
+
+Returning to the house he sought out his wife.
+
+"Marie, we are going to recapture that ship. Don't be alarmed, and don't
+say anything to poor Mrs. Marston till you see us returning; but you may
+tell the mate."
+
+Mrs. Raymond never for one instant thought of trying to dissuade her
+husband from a mission which she felt was full of danger. She kissed
+him, and said, "Tell me what to get ready, Tom."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+It was three o'clock in the afternoon, and the decks of the _Esmeralda_
+gleamed dazzlingly white under the burning rays of the Samoan sun, as
+she lay motionless upon a sea as calm as some sheltered mountain lake
+or reed-margined swamp hidden away in the quiet depths of the primeval
+forest. Twenty miles away to the south and east of the ship, the
+purple-grey crests of the mountains of Savai'i rose nearly five thousand
+feet in air, and, nearer the long verdant slope of beautiful Upolu
+stretched softly and gently upwards from the white beaches of the
+western point to the forest-clad sides of Mount Tofoa--ten miles
+distant. Still nearer to the ship, and shining like a giant emerald
+lying within a circlet of snow, was the island of Manono, the home or
+birthplace of all the chiefly families of Samoa for many centuries
+back. Almost circular in shape, and in no place more than fifty feet
+in height, it was covered with an ever-verdant forest of breadfruit,
+pandanus, orange and palm-groves, broken here and there by the
+russet-hued villages of the natives, built just where the shining beach
+met the green of the land. And the whole seemed to float on the bosom of
+the lagoon, which, completely encompassed by the barrier reef, slumbered
+peacefully--its waters undisturbed except when they moved responsive to
+the gently-flowing current from the blue ocean beyond, or were rippled
+by the paddle of a fisherman's canoe. A mile beyond Manono, and midway
+between it and the "iron-bound" coast of Savai'i, was the little
+volcanic isle of Apolima--once in olden times the fortress that guarded
+the passage through the straits, now occupied only by a few families of
+fisher-folk dwelling in peace and plenty in the village nestling at the
+foot of the long-extinct volcano. Overhead a sky of wondrous spotless
+blue.
+
+  *                 *                 *                 *                 *
+
+On the quarter-deck of the _Esmeralda_ three of the mutineers were
+seated together under the shade of a small temporary awning, engaged
+in an earnest conversation. A fourth person--Almanza--who was at that
+moment the subject of their conversation, was lying in the captain's
+stateroom, immediately beneath them; the rest of the gang were idling
+about on the main or fore decks smoking their inevitable cigarettes, and
+waiting till the Levantine "Ryan," whom they now recognised as leader,
+called them to hear the result of the discussion.
+
+The Chileno, who was seated with Ryan and Foster, was named Rivas, and
+had recommended himself to them by reason of his ferocious and merciless
+disposition. Long before the mutiny occurred he, with the Greeks, had
+insisted upon the necessity of murdering not only the captain, first
+officer, steward, and all the English seamen, but Mrs. Marston as
+well. Almanza, however, protested so strenuously that they reluctantly
+consented not to resort to murder, if it could possibly be avoided; but
+their lust for slaughter was too great to be controlled when Villari
+made his gallant attempt to aid his captain.
+
+On the top of the skylight was spread a chart, at which Ryan was
+looking, trying to find out as near as he could the ship's position.
+He could read English, and easily recognised the islands of Apolima and
+Manono, both of which were shown on the chart.
+
+"That is where we are now, or about there," he said, taking a pencil in
+his hand and making a mark on the spot. "But we are drifting towards the
+reefs, and must anchor once we get into soundings--or else go ashore."
+
+"Do you think he is going to die?" inquired Rivas, with a gesture
+towards the cabin.
+
+"How can I tell, comrade?" replied the Greek with an angry snarl. "Only
+that we want him badly to navigate the ship, it would be best for us if
+he does die--for two reasons."
+
+His fellow-scoundrels nodded assent. The two reasons they knew were,
+firstly, that Almanza had proved to be too timorous as regarded the
+taking of life, and secondly that his death would give them a greater
+share of plunder.
+
+"Well, what are we to do?" asked Rivas.
+
+"What can we do?" exclaimed Foster fiercely, as he shook his
+black-haired, greasy and ear-ringed head. "We must wait and see if he
+gets better--unless we drift ashore in the night and get our throats cut
+by los Indios over there," and he indicated the islands.
+
+"Bah!" growled his countryman. "Did I not tell you that I heard the
+captain say over and over again that these people are not savages? But
+what we do want is a breeze, so that we can work off the land--for how
+are a few men going to tow a heavy ship like this against a two-knot
+current? We could not move her." Then he called out, with a sneering
+inflection in his tones, "Come aft, comrades, and we shall drink to our
+_brave_ captain's speedy recovery."
+
+The rest of the mutineers but one obeyed with alacrity, just as the man
+who remained, and who was standing on the topgallant foc'sle, gave a
+loud cry--
+
+"A boat is coming from the shore!"
+
+In an instant confusion ensued; but Ryan, picking up Marston's glass,
+angrily bade them be silent. The boat had approached to within a mile of
+the ship, and Ryan saw that she was pulling four oars.
+
+"It is not the captain's boat, _amigos_," he said, "and there seem to be
+only a few people in her. But be ready."
+
+The _Esmeralda_, in addition to the six guns she carried, was
+plentifully provided with small-arms--enough for a crew of thirty men;
+and all of these, as well as the big guns, were kept loaded, for
+after the escape of the captain's boat the mutineers had worked most
+energetically to put the ship in a state of defence--both Almanza and
+Ryan recognising the possibility of the survivors of Marston's party
+reaching Apia, and there obtaining assistance to enable them to
+recapture the ship.
+
+The boat came on steadily, the blades of her four oars flashing in the
+bright sunlight. Ryan continued to look at her, and felt quite satisfied
+when he saw she contained but seven persons, three of whom were
+Europeans, and four natives.
+
+"It is a whale-boat," he cried; "and there are three white men in her
+and four natives. She is very deep in the water, and I can see a lot of
+green stuff in the bows." (These were the bunches of bananas, purposely
+stowed in a pile for'ard, so as to indicate the boat's peaceful
+mission.)
+
+The mutineers--with the exception of the two Greeks--who remained on the
+quarter-deck, dressed in Mars-ton's and Villari's clothes--stood in the
+waist. All were armed with pistols, and a number of loaded muskets were
+lying along the waterways close to their hands, if needed.
+
+When within easy speaking distance of the ship Ryan went to the rail and
+hailed the boat.
+
+"Boat ahoy!"
+
+The four oars ceased pulling, and Frewen, who was steering, stood up and
+answered the hail.
+
+"Good morning, captain. I've seen you since daylight. You are drifting
+too close in, so I've come off to warn you to tow off."
+
+"Come on board, please," replied the Greek, who, as Frewen spoke, saw
+that the boat was deeply-laden with fruit; and the cackling of fowls
+and sudden squeal of a pig convinced him that everything was right. And
+then, in a few minutes, Frewen and Raymond clambered up the side and
+walked quickly aft to where Ryan stood on the poop.
+
+"How do you do, captain?" said Frewen, holding out his hand. "Where are
+you from, sir?"
+
+"Valparaiso to Batavia," was the glib reply, as the mutineer shook
+hands with his visitors. "Are you living on shore there?" and he nodded
+towards Samatau.
+
+"Yes, this is my partner. We have a cotton plantation there. We have
+brought you off a boatload of fresh provisions. Perhaps you can spare
+us a cask of salt beef in exchange? Pork is the only meat we have on
+shore."
+
+"Very well, I can easily do that," was the reply.
+
+Frewen went to the side and hailed the watchful Cheyne.
+
+"Pass up all that stuff, Randall," he said.
+
+Aided by the Chileno seamen, Cheyne and the four natives soon cleared
+the boat of the livestock and fruit, whilst Ryan, who had not yet asked
+his visitors below, continued to talk to them on deck, although he
+told one of the crew, whom he addressed as "steward," to bring up
+refreshments.
+
+"Now, captain," continued Frewen, speaking in the most friendly
+manner, "you must set to and tow your ship away from here as quietly
+as possible, or you will go ashore if this calm lasts. You can't anchor
+anywhere near here, the water is too deep."
+
+"Perhaps you will help me? I am short-handed. Twelve of my crew took
+the longboat and deserted from me during the voyage, and I am in a tight
+place."
+
+"Oh, well, captain, we must try and help you out of it to the best
+of our ability." He raised his glass. "I am glad to have met you,
+Captain------," and he paused.
+
+"Ryan is my name. The ship is the _Esmeralda_."
+
+"And a beautiful ship she is, too. You must be proud to command such a
+splendid vessel, sir."
+
+"She is a fine ship," was the brief reply. "Now will you please tell me
+how you are going to help me?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Frewen seemed to think for a moment or two ere he replied; then he
+looked at Raymond inquiringly.
+
+"How long would it take to send to Falealili,{*} and ask Tom Morton, the
+trader, to come with his two boats and help the captain?" he asked.
+
+     * A large native town on the south side of Upolu.
+
+"A day at least--too long altogether with such a strong current setting
+the ship towards the reef."
+
+"Ah, yes, I daresay it would," he said meditatively; then, as if struck
+with a sudden inspiration, he added quickly, "What about Malie? He has
+any number of boats--a dozen at least."
+
+"Just the man!" replied Raymond. "He will let the captain have all the
+boats and men to man them that are wanted--but he'll want to be paid for
+it."
+
+"Certainly," interrupted the mutineer, who little imagined how adroitly
+he was being meshed. "I'll pay anything reasonable. Who is he?"
+
+"Oh, he is a big chief living quite near me, and a decent enough fellow.
+He has a number of large native-built boats. The natives call them
+_taumualua_, which means sharp at both ends.{*} They seat from six to
+eight paddlers on each side. Five, or even four such boats, well manned,
+would make the ship move along. Three or four hours' towing will put her
+into the edge of the counter current setting to the south and eastward
+away from the land, and then she'll be out of danger, no matter how long
+the calm lasts."
+
+In a few minutes it was decided that the boat should return to the
+shore, where Raymond was to see the chief and arrange with him to
+provide five or six well-manned _taunwalua_, which Frewen said should be
+alongside to receive the tow-lines within two or three hours.
+
+As he (Frewen) was about to go over the side Ryan made a half apology
+for the ship's crew carrying arms, at which the young man smiled and
+said--
+
+"Oh, a good many captains that touch at Samoa for the first time keep
+their crews armed, imagining the natives might try to cut them off. But
+the Samoans are a different kind of people to the savages of the Western
+Pacific; there has only been one ship cut off in this group, and that
+must have occurred fifty years ago."{**}
+
+     * These boats are usually built from the wood of the
+     breadfruit-tree. Not a single nail is used in their
+     construction; every plank is joined to its fellow by
+     lashings of coconut fibre.
+
+     ** A fact.
+
+Just as he had taken his seat beside Raymond and Cheyne, the Greek said
+politely--
+
+"If there is no necessity for both of you gentlemen to go on shore
+again, won't one of you stay on board and have some supper?"
+
+This was just the invitation that Frewen was looking for, but he
+appeared to hesitate for a moment or two.
+
+"Thank you, captain, I think I will. There is certainly nothing for me
+to do on shore that my partner cannot do as well or better than myself.
+And I should like to hear any news from Europe that you may have to
+tell."
+
+As he clambered up the side again the boat pushed off, and the stalwart
+native crew sent her, now she was lightened of her load of provisions,
+skimming through the water.
+
+When the American returned to the quarter-deck, Ryan introduced to
+him "Mr. Foster, my second mate," and added that in addition to the
+misfortune of losing twelve of his crew when coming through the Paumotu
+Group, his chief officer had accidentally shot himself, and shattered
+his collar-bone.
+
+"Indeed!" said Frewen, with an air of concern, instantly surmising that
+the injured man was either Almanza or the Chileno sailor whom Villari
+had shot. "Is he getting on all right?"
+
+"Not at all well--and unfortunately I do not know anything about a
+fractured collar-bone."
+
+Frewen replied, with perfect truth, that he had seen several broken
+collar-bones. Perhaps he might be of assistance.
+
+"Captain Ryan" thanked him, and said he would at once go down, see how
+the injured man was getting on, and would send for him in ten minutes or
+so. Meanwhile would Mr. Frewen join Mr. Foster in a glass of wine.
+
+The young whaling officer sat down near the skylight, and as the
+dark-faced, dirty-looking ruffian seated opposite passed him, with an
+amiable grin, a decanter of excellent sherry, wondered which of the two
+Levantines was the greater cut-throat of the two. Ryan, as he called
+himself, was somewhat of a dandy. He did not wear ear-rings; and
+Villari's clothes--which fitted him very well--made him look as if he
+had been used to dress well all his life. Foster, on the other hand, who
+was arrayed in poor Marston's garments, was the typical Greek seaman one
+might meet any day in almost any seaport town of importance. He was
+a fairly tall man, well and powerfully built, but his hawk-like and
+truculent visage inspired the American with a deeper aversion than
+that with which he regarded Ryan--who, however, was in reality the more
+tigerish-natured of the two.
+
+As they sat talking, Frewen happened to look along the deck for'ard, and
+caught sight of a seaman with the lower part of his face bandaged.
+He was standing at the galley door talking to some one inside, but
+happening to see the American looking at him, he hurriedly slipped round
+the for'ard end of the galley out of sight.
+
+"Ah," thought Frewen, "that is the other fellow that Villari put out of
+action--the man below is Almansa."
+
+His surmise he found was correct, for at the end of a quarter of an
+hour, Ryan, who had been giving Almansa all the news in the interval,
+appeared and asked him to come below and see the chief officer. He led
+the way below, and entering the officer's cabin, said--
+
+"Here is the gentleman from the shore, Mr. Almanza. Let him see your
+hurt."
+
+The leader of the mutineers was evidently in great pain, and feverish as
+well, and Frewen in a few seconds found by examination that a splinter
+of the fractured bone had been driven into the muscles of the shoulder,
+where it seemed to be firmly embedded, although one end of it could
+almost be felt by gentle pressure, so close was it under the skin. The
+bullet itself had come out at the side of the neck.
+
+Telling them that, although he was no doctor, he was sure that it was
+most important that the splinter of bone should be removed, he offered
+to attempt it. The fractured collar-bone, he assured them, would knit of
+itself if the patient kept quiet.
+
+In those days the medicine chests of even fine ships like the
+_Esmeralda_ were but poorly equipped, when contrasted with those to
+be found on much smaller vessels thirty years later, when antiseptic
+surgery and anaesthetics were beginning to be understood. But Almanza,
+who was in agony, begged the visitor to do what he could; and without
+further hesitation, Frewen took from the medicine chest what he
+considered was the most suitable knife, made an incision, and in less
+than five minutes had the splintered piece of bone out. Then came the
+agonising but effective sailor's styptic--cotton wool soaked in Friar's
+Balsam.
+
+Almanza tried to murmur his thanks, but feinted, and when he came
+to again, he found himself much freer from pain, and the poor negro
+steward's successor standing beside him with a tumbler of wine and
+water.
+
+"You must keep very quiet," said Frewen, as he turned to leave the
+room, speaking coldly, for although he was very sympathetic with any one
+suffering pain, he could not but remember what the man before him had
+done.
+
+Returning on deck, he found Foster and Ryan talking on the poop, whilst
+the crew of Chilenos were sitting about on the hatches eating pineapples
+and bananas, and drinking coconuts. Even a non-seafaring man would have
+thought that there was a lack of discipline displayed, but Frewen, whose
+life had been spent on whaleships where the slightest liberty on the
+part of foc'sle hands towards the after-guard meets with swift and stern
+punishment, felt as if he would have liked to have kicked them all in
+turn, and then collectively.
+
+"Never mind," he thought to himself, "I trust they are all reserved for
+higher things--they all deserve the gallows, and I sincerely trust they
+will get it."
+
+Both Ryan and Foster, he could see, had not the slightest doubt of
+his and Raymond's _bona-fides_, and at supper both men were extremely
+affable to him. At the same time he thought he could perceive that they
+were anxious as to what had become of the captain's boat, for they asked
+him casually if there was any shipping at Apia, or at any of the other
+ports in the group.
+
+"Only the usual local trading vessels," he replied. "Whenever a stranger
+comes in--even if it is only a native craft--I get the news at my place
+by runners in an hour or two."
+
+And Almanza's mind, too, was at rest, for when he was groaning in agony
+in his bank, and he was told that a boat from the shore was coming
+alongside, he had started up and reached for his pistols. But Ryan had
+satisfied him completely.
+
+"We could have shot every one of them before the boat came alongside,
+had we wanted to, _amigo_," he said.
+
+"Had they no arms?" asked the wounded man.
+
+"None--not so much as a cutlass even. Diego, Rivas, and Garcia, who
+helped them to discharge the boat, saw everything taken out of her but
+the oars and sails. There was a big man--a half-caste, who was dressed
+like a white man--in charge of the four Samoans. I asked him to come on
+deck and have a glass of grog; but he said his crew did not want him
+to leave the boat. They were frightened, he said, because our men had
+pistols in their belts."
+
+Almanza gave a sigh of relief. "And you are sure they will return and
+tow us?"
+
+"Sure, _amigo_."
+
+And just as supper was over, and Frewen and Ryan returned to the deck, a
+sailor called out that the whale boat and five others were in sight.
+
+"Ah, my partner is not the man to lose time in an important matter like
+this, Captain Ryan," said Frewen; "your tow-line will be tautened out
+before the three hours we mentioned."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+Soon after Raymond and the old chief with his followers had set out for
+the ship, and when the swift tropic night had closed in upon the island,
+Captain Marston died. He was conscious when his kindly host and Randall
+Cheyne had returned, and before he passed away, thanked the planter
+sincerely for all that he had done for his wife, his crew, and himself;
+for he well knew that his end was near.
+
+"I fear that nothing will ever be heard of my ship again," he said, in
+a whisper. "They will scuttle or burn her. My poor wife!" and he
+pressed her hand. "But thank God, Amy, you will not be quite penniless.
+Mercado" (his agent in Valparaiso) "will have about two or three
+thousand pounds to pay you for some cargo he bought from me. You must
+go there. He is an honourable man, and will not seek to evade his
+liabilities. I know him well."
+
+Raymond, whose heart was overflowing with pity for the dying man, could
+no longer restrain himself. At first he had decided not to say a word
+to Marston about the intended recapture of the ship, for fear it would
+excite him; but now, when he saw how calmly and collectedly he spoke of
+her future to his wife, he changed his mind, and, bending down, said:--
+
+"Captain Marston, I must say a few words to you and Mrs. Marston. I did
+not intend to do so just now, but I know that they will bring you peace
+of mind, and help you to recovery. I have good news for you."
+
+Marston looked at him eagerly, and his wife, with her hands clasped,
+moved a little nearer to the planter, who was speaking in very low tones
+so as not to disturb or excite a man whom he knew was dying bodily, but
+whose brain was alive.
+
+"Is it about my ship?"
+
+"Yes. She is within six miles of this house, lying becalmed, and, before
+midnight, will be recaptured by some good friends of mine, and at anchor
+in this bay by daylight."
+
+Marston's lips quivered, and the agonising look of inquiry and doubt in
+his eyes was so piteous to behold that Raymond went on more rapidly.
+
+"You may absolutely rely upon what I say. The _Esmeralda_ has been in
+sight since early in the forenoon. I boarded her this morning with the
+express purpose of seeing if it were possible to recapture her, and
+have only just returned. And I assure you on my word of honour that she
+_shall_ be recaptured before midnight, without bloodshed, I trust; for
+the mutineers are completely off their guard, believing I am returning
+with fifty natives in several boats to tow the ship out of danger,
+purely out of kindness to their leader."
+
+"You are indeed a good friend," murmured Marston slowly and haltingly.
+"My wife has told me your name... I know my time is short. If you
+recapture my ship... she is worth six thousand pounds, and the specie on
+board amounts to nine thousand. I commend my wife to your care------"
+
+Raymond pressed his hand, and urged him not to say anything further, but
+Marston, whose eyes were now lightened by that ephemeral light so often
+seen in the eyes of the dying, went on--
+
+"I commend my wife to your care... and Villari--is he dead?"
+
+"No, Harry," whispered Mrs. Marston, "he is not dead, but badly
+wounded."
+
+"Poor Villari... a born sailorman, though an Italian.... Mr. Raymond,
+Amy... Let him command.... I should have taken his advice... And give
+him five hundred pounds, Amy.... You, Mr. Raymond, will be entitled to a
+third of the value of the ship and her cargo... You understand?"
+
+"I will not take a penny," said Raymond, as he rose. "Now I must be
+going. But have no fear for the _Esmeralda_. She will be at anchor in
+this bay to-morrow morning."
+
+Marston put his hand gently over towards him, and pressing it softly,
+Raymond withdrew.
+
+His wife met him at the door. Her dark, Spanishlike face showed traces
+of tears, but she smiled bravely as he put his arms around her and
+kissed her.
+
+"Tom, dear, you must not be angry. I have not been crying for fear that
+something may happen to you if there is a fight with those dreadful men
+on board the ship--for I am _sure_ that you will come back to me and our
+little one safe and sound--but I do so pity poor Mrs. Marston, Tom, if
+Captain Marston dies."
+
+"I think that there is no possible hope of his recovery, dear."
+
+"Then she must stay with us, Tom, for some time, until she is stronger.
+She will need to have a woman's care soon."
+
+Raymond kissed his wife again. "As you will, Marie; you always think of
+others. And I shall be very glad if she will stay with us."
+
+Ten minutes later she walked down to the beach, and watched her husband
+and Malie with his followers depart, and then she slowly returned home
+along a winding path bordered by shaddock trees, whose slender branches
+were weighted down with the great golden-hued fruit. As she reached the
+verandah steps a pretty little girl of four years of age ran up to her,
+and held out her arms to be taken up.
+
+"Where has father gone, Muzzie?" she said in English, and then rapidly
+added in Samoan, "_Ua alu ia i moana?_" ("Has he gone upon the sea?")
+
+"Yes, Loise. He has gone upon the sea, but will soon return. Where is
+Malu?"
+
+"Here, lady," replied a woman's voice in the soft Samoan tongue, and a
+pleasant-faced, grey-haired woman of fifty came down the steps, and took
+the child from her mother's arms, and as she did so, whispered, "The
+tide hath turned to the ebb."{*}
+
+     * Note by the Author.--Nearly all Polynesians and
+     Micronesians believed most firmly that the dissolution of
+     soul from body always (excepting in cases of sudden death by
+     violence or accident) occurred when the tide is on the ebb.
+     From a long experience of life in the Pacific Islands, the
+     writer is thoroughly imbued with and endorses that belief.
+     The idea of the passing away of life with the ebbing of the
+     tide will doubtless seem absurd to the European and
+     civilised mind, but it must be remembered that an inborn and
+     inherited belief, such as this, does, with many so-called
+     semi-savage races, produce certain physical conditions that
+     are well understood by pathologists.
+
+"Ay, good Malu. I know it. So keep the child within thy own room, so
+that the house may be quiet."
+
+Old Malu, who had nursed Mrs. Raymond's mother, bent her head in assent,
+and went inside, and her mistress sat down in one of the cane-work
+lounge chairs on the wide verandah and closed her eyes, for she was
+wearied, physically and mentally. Her nerves had been strained greatly
+by the events of the day, and now the knowledge that within a few feet
+of where she sat, a life was passing away, and a woman's heart was
+breaking, saddened her greatly.
+
+"I must not give way," she thought. "I must go and see how the wounded
+men are doing."
+
+But ere she knew it, there came the low but hoarse murmuring cries of
+myriad terns and gulls flying homewards to the land, mingled with the
+deep evening note of the blue mountain pigeons; and then kindly slumber
+came, and rest for the troubled brain and sorrowing heart.
+
+She had slept for nearly an hour when a young native girl servant, who
+had been left to wait upon Mrs. Marston, came quickly but softly along
+the verandah and touched her arm.
+
+"Awake, Marie,{*} and come to the white lady."
+
+     * It will doubtless strike the reader as being peculiar that
+     an educated and refined woman such as I have endeavoured to
+     portray in Mrs. Raymond would allow a servant to address her
+     by her Christian name. But the explanation is very simple:
+     In many European families living in Polynesia and in
+     Micronesia the native servants usually address their masters
+     and mistresses and their children by their Christian names--
+     unless it is a missionary household, when the master would
+     be addressed as "Misi "(Mr.) and the mistress as "Misi
+     fafine "(Mrs.). The difference does not in the least imply
+     that the servant speaks to the lay white man and his wife in
+     a more familiar manner than he would to his spiritual
+     teacher. No disrespect nor rude familiarity is intended--
+     quite the reverse; it is merely an affectionate manner of
+     speaking to the employer, not _as_ an employer, but as the
+     friend of the household generally. It is related of the
+     martyred missionary John Williams, that a colleague of his
+     in Tahiti once reproved a native youth for addressing Mr.
+     Williams as "Viriamu" (Williams) instead of "Misi Yiriamu"
+     (Mr. Williams), whereupon the pioneer of missionary
+     enterprise in the South Seas remarked--" It does not matter,
+     Mr. -----, I  infinitely   prefer  to  be  called
+     'Viriamu'  than 'Tione Viriamu Mamae' (the Sacred, or
+     Reverend, John Williams)."
+
+She rose and followed the girl to the room where Marston lay. His wife
+was kneeling by him with her lips pressed to his.
+
+Marie Raymond knelt beside her, and passed her arm around her waist.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Closely followed by the five native boats, that in which Raymond was
+seated with Malie, and which was steered by Randall Cheyne, first came
+alongside, and the latter called out to Foster, who was standing in the
+waist, to pass down the end of the tow line. This was at once done,
+and then, as Malie and Raymond left the boat and ascended to the deck,
+Cheyne went ahead with his tow line, and was soon joined by the native
+craft, and within a quarter of an hour the _Esmeralda_ was moving
+through the water.
+
+The instructions given to the half-caste by the chief and Frewen were
+to tow the ship to the south-east, with the land on the port hand. This
+would not only take her out of danger, but would prevent suspicion being
+engendered in the minds of the mutineers by their seeing that she was
+actually being taken away from, instead of towards the land. Both Frewen
+and Malie had decided that she was not to be re-captured till she was
+well into soundings, for events might arise which would necessitate her
+being brought to an anchor, especially if continuous heavy rain should
+fall during the night.
+
+As soon as Raymond and the stalwart chief ascended to the poop, the
+pseudo-captain received them most affably, complimented them on the
+smart manner in which the boats had gone ahead with the line, and then
+asked them to take some refreshment The offer was accepted, for neither
+had had the inclination to eat anything on shore--they, like their men,
+were too eager to get possession of the ship to trouble about food.
+
+Ryan sat at the table with them as they ate, and repeated his fiction
+regarding the accident to his chief officer, at which the planter
+politely expressed his concern. Then the mutineer, in a casual sort of
+a way, asked Raymond if there had been any English or American war-ships
+cruising about Samoa lately.
+
+"No, not for a long time, but I did hear that the American corvette
+_Adams_ was expected here last year, but she must have passed by here,
+and gone on to Fiji There is always work for a man-of-war there at any
+time--the Fijians are a rough lot, and hardly a month passes without
+some European trader or sailor being killed and eaten, or else badly
+hurt. Even at the present time all the people living in the eastward
+islands of the Fiji Group are rank cannibals. It is a place to be
+avoided."
+
+"Ah, well, I won't go near there," said the mutineer, somewhat
+meditatively.
+
+"No, of course not," said the planter; "I suppose that your course for
+Batavia will take you to the northwest after you leave here--Fiji is six
+hundred miles to the south-west."
+
+"I did think of putting in there when my mate met with his
+accident--thought I would find a doctor there; but now, thanks to your
+friend, I shall not need one for him--he is much better already."
+
+"That is fortunate," said Raymond: "he might have died before you could
+reach the port of Levuka in Fiji. And besides that, I doubt if you would
+find a doctor living there. I have never heard of any medical man being
+settled in Fiji. On the other hand you could have left him on shore,
+where he would at least have met with good nursing from some of the
+English ladies there; and you could easily have obtained another mate;
+there are dozens of ex-skippers and mates idling about in Fiji."
+
+Ryan had learnt all he wanted to know, and he changed the subject. He
+was still anxious about Almanza not living--for no one could tell what
+might occur to the _Esmeralda_ if he died and the ship was left without
+a navigator. He (Ryan) and Foster would have had no objection to ridding
+themselves of him, were either one of them able to navigate the ship as
+far as the Philippine Islands. They had all three previously agreed with
+the rest of the crew as to their future plans, after they had disposed
+of Marston and those who were faithful to him. When within sight of
+Luzon--and abreast of Manila--the ship was to be scuttled, and the
+mutineers with their plunder in two boats were to make for a part of the
+coast where there was a village, well-known to Rivas and Garcia.
+Here the money was to be divided, and every man was to shift for
+himself--some to go to Manila, others taking passage to that den of
+thieves, the Portuguese settlement of Maoao, where they meant to enjoy
+themselves after their manner.
+
+When Raymond and the chief returned on deck, they found the ship was
+making good progress through the smooth sea, the natives in the boats
+singing a melodious chorus as, all in perfect unison, they plunged their
+broad-bladed paddles in the water, and the tow line surged and shook off
+thousands of phosphorescent drops at every united stroke. The night was
+dark, but not quite starless, and presently Frewen, who was talking to
+Foster, remarked that some heavy rain would fall in a short time.
+
+"Our natives won't like that," said Raymond to "Captain Ryan"; "like all
+Kanakas, they hate being wetted with rain, though they will spend half a
+day in the rivers bathing and playing games in the water."
+
+"A few bottles of grog will keep up their courage," said Frewen,
+"especially some rum. Have you any to spare, captain?"
+
+"Any amount."
+
+"Then I'll tell Cheyne to let the boats come alongside in turn, and
+we'll give all the natives a good rousing nip before the rain comes."
+
+He walked for'ard and stood on the topgallant foc'sle and gave a loud
+hail.
+
+"Boat ahoy!"
+
+The singing ceased in an instant, and then Randall's voice answered--
+
+"Hallo! what is it?"
+
+"Come aboard and get a glass of grog. Tell the men in the other boats
+they can follow in turn."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," replied the half-caste in such loud tones that he was
+heard distinctly on the after-deck, "they'll be glad enough of it; we'll
+get plenty of cold fresh water presently outside, and some rum to put
+inside will be just the thing."
+
+Both Raymond and the two Greeks laughed, and then a minute or two later
+Cheyne and his boat's crew were alongside, and were given a pint of rum
+between them. They drank it off "neat," and after lighting their pipes,
+went back to their boat, and let another come alongside. She was manned
+by a dozen natives, who were all given a stiff glass of grog. They
+remained but a few minutes, and then went off to give place to the third
+boat, in which were twenty men. They scrambled over the side, laughing
+and talking, and then, just as the first five or six of them had been
+served, the rain poured suddenly down and made such a terrific noise
+that the shouts of the men in the other boats could not be heard, and
+the ship was at once enveloped in a thick steamy mist, which rendered
+even objects on deck invisible.
+
+"It will only last about ten minutes," shouted Frewen to Ryan as they,
+with Raymond and Malie, took shelter in the companion-way.
+
+"Where are all those men of yours?" asked the mutineer somewhat
+anxiously.
+
+Frewen's answer reassured him. "All bolted for shelter," he said with a
+laugh, "without even waiting to get their grog. I hope your men will let
+them crawl in somewhere." Then turning to Malie, he said in English--
+
+"Call to them, Malie."
+
+Malie stepped out on the deck, and presently Ryan and the others heard
+him speaking. In a minute or two I he reappeared with three or four
+stalwart natives, all dripping wet, and said something to Raymond, who
+translated the remark to Ryan.
+
+"All the others have bolted like rabbits, some into the galley, and
+others into the foc'sle," he said.
+
+In less than the ten minutes predicted by Frewen the rain ceased as
+if by magic; the natives gathered together again on the main deck,
+completed their grog drinking, went into their boat again, and poshed
+off to resume their labour.
+
+In the course of another half an hour every one of the native boats'
+crews had had his small tumblerful of neat rum, and then, as their
+paddles plunged into the placid water, once more they sang their
+chorus--
+
+"_Ala, tamaaitii, Alo foe!_" ("Pull, boys, pull!")
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Six bells struck, and then once more the stars went out, and the sky
+changed from blue to dull grey.
+
+"Very heavy rain will fall again presently," said Raymond to the leader
+of the mutineers, "and as the ship is well now in the counter current
+and out of danger, the chief would like to call his men alongside for a
+rest. But we'll tow you for another mile or so after the rain ceases--if
+you wish it."
+
+Ryan was keenly anxious to put as much distance between the land and
+the _Esmeralda_ as possible, for he was haunted by the fear that the
+captain's boat had been picked up by some ship which might be sighted at
+any time. The further away from the land, the safer he would feel.
+
+"I should like them to tow me along for another hour or two, after the
+rain is oyer," he said. "I will pay liberally."
+
+Raymond spoke to the chief in Samoan and told him the captain's request,
+and Malie answered in the same language.
+
+"As you will, Lemonti. But why toil any longer? My men are all ready and
+anxious. We can take the ship now at any time, once my men are here."
+
+"And I, too, am ready, Alalia. But it was in my mind to wait and see if,
+when the bell strikes eight, half of the _auva'a_ (ship's crew) would
+not go below to sleep, so that we shall have less disturbance."
+
+"What matters it?" said Alalia with good-humoured contempt; "there are
+less than a score of them, and when the word is spoken they will be as
+easily overpowered and bound as a strong man can overpower and bind a
+child."
+
+"Then let it be as you say," said Raymond in the same quiet tones; "let
+us call the men on board, and, when the bell is struck at midnight,
+we shall seize those evil men together--as the bell is struck the last
+time."
+
+"Good!" said the chief, as he nonchalantly rolled himself a cigarette in
+a piece of dried banana leaf which he took from his tappa waist cloth.
+"I will tell them how to act."
+
+"What does he say?" asked Ryan.
+
+"He is quite willing, but he says his men are really tired now, and want
+a good long spell. They are not used to such work, and he does not
+want to give them cause for grumbling. They are very touchy sometimes.
+However, after the next downpour clears off, they will tow you another
+two or three miles." (And Raymond meant this literally, for he, Frewen,
+and the chief wanted to see the _Esmeralda_ at anchor off Samatau by
+daylight.)
+
+At a call from Raymond the boats came alongside, and as the crews
+clambered on deck Malie told them how to dispose themselves about the
+ship so that when the signal was given the mutineers could be seised
+without their being afforded any opportunity of resistance. Five or six
+of his best men followed him aft, whilst the others mingled with the
+crew, most of them going down into the foc'sle. The Chilenos, however,
+although satisfied of the friendly intentions of their visitors, were
+still a little nervous, for, despite the fact that none of the natives
+carried even so much as a knife, the wild appearance they presented was
+somewhat disconcerting to men who had never before come in contact with
+what they termed "savages." Fully one half of Malie's followers were
+men of such stature that the undersized though wiry Chilenos looked like
+dwarfs beside them; then, in addition to this, their immense "mops" of
+bright golden hair--dyed that colour by the application of lime--and
+their wonderfully tatooed bodies, with the first intricate lines
+beginning at the waist and ending at the knees, accentuated the velvety
+and rich reddish brown of their skins. Each of the Chileno seamen still
+carried a brace of pistols in his belt and a cutlass hung by his side,
+but the natives apparently took no notice of such a manifestation of
+distrust, and they and the mutineers exchanged cigars and cigarettes as
+if they were the best friends in the world.
+
+Suddenly the rain fell, and all other sounds were deadened by the
+downpour; it continued for three-quarters of an hour, and then, as
+Frewen remarked, ceased with a "snap."
+
+In the main cabin Raymond, with Malie, was seated at the table talking
+to Ryan; on the poop and under the shelter of the temporary awning
+were Cheyne, Frewen, Foster, the ruffianly Rivas, and two other of the
+Ghileno seamen, with three of the natives who had accompanied Cheyne and
+his Mend from Lepa.
+
+Five minutes before eight bells Foster turned to Rivas, and, speaking in
+Spanish, told him to go for'ard and tell the hands that there would be
+no watch below that night, all hands were to stay on deck till daylight.
+
+Frewen gave Cheyne a glance, and the half-caste sauntered off after
+Rivas, whilst the three Samoans moved nearer towards the two Ghilenos.
+
+"Mr. Foster" went to the skylight and looked down into the cabin at the
+clock, which was placed so that it could be seen by any one standing
+beside the binnacle. Then he looked at a handsome gold watch, which two
+days previously had been in Villari's vest pocket, and, stepping to the
+break of the poop, called out--
+
+"Eight bells!"
+
+The big bell under the topgallant foc'sle sent out its deep, sonorous
+clang, and as the last note was struck, "Mr. Foster" went over on his
+back with a crash, and in another five seconds Frewen had turned him
+over on his face and was lashing his hands behind him. The Greek was too
+stunned to even try to speak, and when he came to again he found lying
+beside him Rivas and the other two Ghileno sailors, with half a dozen
+Samoans standing guard over them.
+
+Down in the cabin Raymond and Malie had been equally as quick, and when
+Frewen and Cheyne came below they found "Captain" Ryan, together with
+the Chileno who was acting as steward, tied hand and foot and lying
+outside Captain Maraton's stateroom door.
+
+"Everything all right, Mr. Frewen?" inquired Raymond.
+
+"Everything. All the gentry up for'ard are bussed up comfortably like
+fowls for cooking. No one has been hurt; Malie's men simply picked the
+mongrels up by the scruff of their necks and then tied them up. The ship
+is ours."
+
+"Then you are in command, Mr. Frewen. Please give your orders."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Raymond. But first let me see to the distinguished Senor
+Almanza."
+
+He opened the door of Almanza's stateroom. The Chilian was asleep.
+Frewen was about to touch and awaken him but pity for a badly wounded
+man predominated, so he let him lie undisturbed.
+
+"Now, Mr. Raymond, I am at your service. Will you ask Malie to man his
+boats, and we will start towing again."
+
+"With pleasure. But let us first call our good men together and drink
+success to ourselves and the _Esmeralda_. And then, whilst we are being
+towed towards Samatau, we can overhaul poor Captain Marston's cabin. All
+the specie, so this scoundrel tells me"--and he pointed to the Chileno
+steward--"is still in a safe in the captain's cabin, and has not yet
+been touched. But it was to be divided to-morrow."
+
+And then Randall Cheyne sprang on deck and shouted out in Samoan--
+
+"Friends, the ship is ours! Let ten men remain on board to guard these
+murderers, and the rest take to the boats and tow the ship to Samatau."
+
+The willing natives answered him with a loud "Ave!" and ten minutes
+later the _Esmeralda_ was again moving through the water.
+
+An hour before daylight her cable rattled through her hawse-pipe, and
+she swung quietly to her anchor in Samatau Bay.
+
+
+END OF BOOK I
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Twelve months had come and gone, and Frewen, now "Captain" Frewen, was
+seated in the office of Ramon Mercado, the Valparaiso agent of the late
+captain and owner of the _Esmeralda_, which had arrived in port the
+previous day.
+
+The worthy merchant--a little stout man with merry, twinkling eyes--was
+listening to the detailed story of the capture of the ship by the
+mutineers, her subsequent recapture, and of all that had occurred since
+she had been brought to an anchor in front of Raymond's house in Samatau
+Bay. Mercado himself, four months previously, had received a letter from
+Mrs. Marston, acquainting him with what had occurred up to the time of
+her husband's death, and telling him that the _Esmeralda_, as soon as a
+crew could be obtained, would sail under Frewen's command for Manila,
+and from there proceed to Newcastle, in New South Wales, and load a
+cargo of coal for Valparaiso. This letter had reached him by an American
+whale-ship which had touched at Samoa (a month or two after the
+_Esmeralda_ had sailed for Manila), and which, after cruising among the
+Galapagos Islands, had, as the master had told Mrs. Marston would be
+very likely, called at Valparaiso to refit.
+
+* * * * *
+
+A few days after the burial of Captain Marston his wife asked Frewen
+to take command of the ship, as Villari would be incapacitated for some
+months.
+
+Villari himself had at first strenuously, and even somewhat bitterly,
+protested.
+
+"Why should Mr. Frewen, much as he has done to help you to recapture
+the ship, be given command?" he said excitedly to Raymond. "Does Mrs.
+Marston distrust me? Do I not possess her confidence as I did that of
+her husband? Beg her to come to me. Surely she will not give the command
+of the ship to a stranger! I tell you, Mr. Raymond, that I would give my
+life for Mrs. Marston, as I was ready to give it for her husband," and
+his dark eyes blazed.
+
+"There is no reflection either upon your integrity or ability, Mr.
+Villari," said the planter. "But here is the situation--and I am sure
+your own sound sense will make you approve of Mrs. Marston asking Mr.
+Frewen to take charge of the _Esmeralda_. And, before I go any further,
+I must tell you that Mr. Frewen not only did not seek the position, but
+said pointedly to Mrs. Marston--only an hour or two ago--that he would
+be quite satisfied to sail with you as mate. He is as honest as the sun.
+Pray do not for one moment imagine that he has supplanted you."
+
+"Then let him come with me as mate," urged the Italian.
+
+Raymond shook his head. "It is quite out of the question your taking
+command, Mr. Villari. You will not be able to get about for some months,
+and I, as a business man, see the necessity of the ship proceeding on
+her voyage as quickly as possible. She has a cargo that will bring a
+large sum of money to Mrs. Marston if it is delivered in Manila in
+good time. But in this humid climate it would become worthless in a
+few months. And it was purely my suggestion to Mrs. Marston to ask Mr.
+Frewen to take charge. She is, as you know, almost heartbroken at the
+calamity which has overtaken her. And then your remaining here will,
+I am sure, be a source of comfort to her, for she has the very highest
+opinion of you."
+
+Villari's eyes sparkled with pleasure. "What! Is not Mrs. Marston
+sailing in the _Esmeralda?_"
+
+"No; it will be better for her to remain here until the youngster comes.
+My wife and I will be only too glad to have her with us. It would be
+impossible for her to go to sea now her poor husband is dead. And she
+knows no one in Manila. So you must be content to remain here at Samatau
+as my welcome guest. Frewen will take the ship to Manila, and then
+decide as to his future course. He thinks that after selling the
+cargo at Manila he should proceed to Australia for a cargo of coal for
+Valparaiso. I think it a very sensible suggestion, especially as he can
+then see poor Marston's agent there and settle up with him regarding
+some money due to Marston."
+
+The Italian's face assumed a placid appearance. "You are quite right,
+Mr. Raymond. And I shall be content to remain here. _Per Bacco!_
+Mr. Frewen is a gentleman, and I wish him all good lack with the
+_Esmeralda_. But I should like the lady to know that I am prepared to
+return to the ship this moment if she so wishes it."
+
+"She does know it, Mr. Villari. You have her full esteem and
+confidence--as you had that of her poor husband, who just before he died
+anxiously inquired about you, and said that he regretted not taking your
+advice concerning the two Greeks."
+
+"Ah! Mr. Raymond," and the man raised and clenched his right hand, "I
+was a fool! I suspected that mischief was afoot that night when I found
+Almanza and the two Greeks talking together; I simply reported the
+matter to the captain, who thought nothing of it. Had I done my duty I
+should have watched, for no one can trust a Greek."
+
+"Do not reproach yourself, Mr. Villari. I may as well tell you that poor
+Captain Marston, when he was inquiring about you just before he died,
+spoke in the highest terms of you, and asked Mrs. Marston to see that
+you were given five hundred pounds."
+
+Villari raised himself on his elbow. "I swear to you, Mr. Raymond, that
+I do not want any money--compensation--reward--gift--call it what you
+will--for doing my duty as a seaman. Captain Marston was not only my
+captain, but my friend. And I would give my life for his wife. Tell her
+from me that it will hurt me if she even speaks of this money to me."
+
+"As you will, Mr. Villari," said Raymond kindly, who saw that the
+Italian was excited. "I will tell her to-morrow. But I trust you will
+now understand that Mr. Frewen had no desire to supplant you in any
+way."
+
+"I understand. Can I see him now, for there is much that I have to tell
+him about the ship--things that he would like to know."
+
+So Frewen came in, and he and the Italian mate had quite a long talk
+about the _Esmeralda_, and when they parted they did so with a feeling
+of growing friendship.
+
+Anxious to obtain a reliable crew as quickly as possible, Frewen, on the
+following day, sent Randall Gheyne to Lepi to see if he could persuade
+the men who had deserted from the _Casilda_ to come and help man the
+_Esmeralda_. But they were all too enamoured of island life to accept
+the offer he made them, which was generous enough--two hundred and fifty
+dollars each for the voyage to Manila. So Cheyne came back disappointed,
+and Frewen then went to Apia in the _Casilda's_ whale-boat, and
+succeeded in engaging ten natives of Niue,{*} who, with half a dozen
+Samoans, made up a sufficient complement for the ship.
+
+     * Niue, the "Savage Island" of Captain Cook. The natives
+     are always in great request as seamen. Even to the present
+     day most of the trading vessels carry a few Niue seamen.
+
+During this time Almansa and his fellow-mutineers had been confined on
+board the ship, guarded by a number of Malie's warriors. Then to the
+joy of Raymond and Frewen there came into Apia Harbour a British gunboat
+bound from the Phoenix Islands to Sydney, and within forty-eight hours
+the planter, accompanied by the unwounded survivors of the English crew
+of the _Esmeralda_, were on board, and related the tale of the mutiny to
+the captain of the man-of-war.
+
+"I am letting myself in for a lot of trouble, Mr. Raymond," said the
+captain of the warship, "but I do not see how I can avoid it. I suppose
+that as the _Esmeralda_ is a British ship and is now in distress I must
+be a sort of fairy godmother and take these beastly mongrels of Chilenos
+and Greeks to Sydney to be hanged on the evidence of these men whom you
+have brought. By the way, Mrs. Marston can have a passage with me if she
+wishes it."
+
+Raymond thanked him, and said Mrs. Marston wished to remain at Samatau
+with his (Raymond's) wife for an indefinite time.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Raymond. I should be delighted to give her a passage to
+Sydney, and I'm delighted she can't come. You understand me? I cannot
+refuse a passage to a lady in such circumstances as Mrs. Marston, but
+the _Virago_ is a man-of-war, and--you know."
+
+Raymond laughed. "I think I know what you mean, Captain Armitage; a
+lady passenger on a man-of-war would be a bit of a trial. But on Mrs.
+Marston's behalf I thank you sincerely."
+
+"That's all right," said the bluff commander of the _Virago_; "now you
+can get home, and in a day or so I'll come round to Samatau and take
+these mutineering scoundrels into custody. Pity you did not get your
+Samoan friend Malie to hang or shoot them out of hand. It would have
+saved Her Majesty's Government something in food, and me much trouble."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+"I must congratulate you, captain," said the merchant, when Frewen had
+finished his story; "and I trust you will always retain command of the
+_Esmeralda_. She is a beautiful ship, and, ever since you took charge,
+has proved herself a lucky one."
+
+"I certainly have had great luck. We had a beautiful passage to Manila
+from Samoa, and from Manila to Newcastle I made the quickest run on
+record, and from there to Valparaiso we were only thirty-five days."
+
+Some further conversation followed regarding the future movements of the
+ship, and it was arranged that she should load Chilian flour for Sydney,
+and from there proceed to Samoa for orders from her owner.
+
+Three weeks later, Frewen bid the hospitable Meroado goodbye, and sailed
+for Sydney. The merchant had sold the cargo brought from Newcastle very
+satisfactorily, and in addition to the amount given him for this, Frewen
+also received from Mercado over two thousand pounds belonging to Captain
+Marston's estate.
+
+The crew of the _Esmeralda_ consisted of twenty men, ten of whom were
+either Englishmen, Americans, and Scandinavians, and ten stalwart
+natives of Savage Island. The first officer was a Dane named Petersen,
+whom Frewen had engaged at Samoa. He was an excellent seaman, and took a
+great pride in the ship; the second officer was Randall Cheyne; and the
+third, a sturdy old Yorkshireman of sixty, with the frame and voice of a
+bull. Frewen was as satisfied with his officers as he was with his crew,
+and the exceedingly good fortune which had attended him since he had
+taken charge at Samatau had put him in a very pleasant frame of mind,
+and he was eagerly looking forward to meeting Mrs. Marston and rendering
+an account of his stewardship. When he reached Sydney from Manila he
+had placed a considerable sum to her credit, and learned that Captain
+Armitage, of the _Virago_, who had conveyed to Sydney the specie which
+was on board the _Esmeralda_ when the mutiny had occurred, had safely
+deposited it in her name in the leading bank there. He found that
+the mutineers had been tried and sentenced; two of them, "Foster" and
+"Ryan," going to the gallows, whilst Almanza and the Chileno seamen all
+received long terms of imprisonment. The trial had aroused considerable
+excitement, and so, when the _Esmeralda_ arrived, she was visited by
+many hundreds of people. In Sydney Harbour in those days might be seen
+numbers of the finest sailing vessels in the world; many of them were
+noted "crack" passenger ships trading between London and Sydney and
+Melbourne, but not one of them surpassed the _Esmeralda_ in her graceful
+lines and beautiful appearance. Then, too, the extraordinarily quick
+passage she had made from Manila gave her further fame, and nearly
+all the ship masters in port called on board, and paid Frewen many
+compliments. Through the manager of the bank in which he had deposited
+the money for Mrs. Marston, he was introduced to an excellent agent--a
+Mr. Beilby--who was a shipowner as well, and had for many years employed
+a fleet of small vessels in the South Sea Islands trade.
+
+The voyage across the Pacific from Valparaiso to Sydney was
+disappointing--calms and light, variable winds being met with for nearly
+a month; and then between Australia and New Zealand, two weeks of savage
+westerly gales tried the ship's weatherly qualities to the utmost.
+However, after a passage of nearly seven weeks, she once more dropped
+anchor in the deep, blue waters of the most beautiful harbour in the
+southern hemisphere.
+
+The agent at once came on board, and Frewen was glad to receive two
+letters from him--one from Raymond, the other from Mrs. Marston. The
+latter afforded him great pleasure to read, and was to the effect
+that she would be very glad to see him back in Samoa, as she wished to
+consult him in regard to a project of Mr. Raymond's.
+
+"What the project is, he will himself explain to you in writing. I shall
+be very pleased if you and he come to an arrangement, especially as I
+have made up my mind to remain here at Samatau indefinitely with Mrs.
+Raymond, or somewhere near her, and as her husband may be away from her
+for many months at a time (this, however, all depends upon yourself)
+this will be equally as pleasant for her as for me. I feel that I have
+a home here, and in fact I may remain in Samoa altogether. Anyway, Mr.
+Raymond is now in treaty with Malie for a piece of land adjoining his
+own estate. If he secures it for me, I am having a house built upon it."
+
+Raymond's letter was a voluminous one, but Frewen soon became deeply
+engrossed in its contents.
+
+"My dear Frewen (let us now drop the 'Sir' and 'Captain,' for I am sure
+we each regard the other as a friend), I am now starting on a very long
+letter, and have but little time in which to finish it, for the _Dancing
+Wave_, by which I am sending it, leaves Apia to-morrow at daylight, and
+it will take a native runner all his time to cross over the mountains
+with it to Apia."
+
+Then he went on to say that, about six months previously, Malie had been
+approached by a German gentleman (who had just arrived from Hamburg) and
+asked if he would sell a large tract of land near Samatau. The chief
+at once consulted Raymond, who could not help feeling some natural
+curiosity as to the object of the German gentleman making such a large
+purchase of land so far away from the principal port of the group
+(Apia). Malie could give him no information on the subject--all he knew
+was that he (Malie) had been offered a very fair price for a tract of
+country that he was willing to lease, but not to sell, for on it were
+several villages, and the soil was of such fertility that the people
+would deeply resent their chief parting with it and making them remove
+to less productive lands.
+
+On the spur of the moment--and feeling that there was some very good
+reason for the German making the chief such a substantial offer--Raymond
+said to Malie--
+
+"The German has offered you ten thousand dollars for the land, but will
+not lease it from you. Now I am not a rich man, and even if you were
+willing to sell it to me for five thousand dollars, I could not buy it.
+But I will lease it from you for one year. I will not disturb any of
+your people, but at the end of the year I will make you another offer.
+There is some mischief on foot, Malie. Let you and I go to Apia and find
+out who this man is, and why he is so eager to buy your land."
+
+They set out together, and at Apia gained all the information they
+desired. The German gentleman was the agent of a rich corporation of
+Hamburg merchants who wished to purchase all the available land in Samoa
+for the purpose of founding a colony, the principal industry of which
+would be cotton-growing. Cotton was bringing fabulous prices in Europe,
+and the corporation had already made purchases of land both in Fiji and
+Tahiti, and were using every effort to obtain more.
+
+Raymond quickly made up his mind as to his course of action. He had a
+hurried interview with two other English planters, and a partnership of
+three was formed in half an hour. They had then made an agreement with
+Malie and another chief to lease all the unoccupied country for many
+miles on each side of Samatau Bay.
+
+"Now," the letter went on, "here is what we purpose to do. We are going
+to found the biggest cotton and coffee plantation in all the South Seas,
+and will make a pile of money. But the one all-important thing is
+to have plenty of labour, and that we can only obtain from other
+islands--New Britain, the Solomon Group, and thereabouts, and also from
+the Equatorial Islands. But it is risky work recruiting labour with
+small, weakly-manned schooners. What is required is a big lump of a
+vessel, well armed, and with two crews--a white crew to work the ship
+and a native crew to work the boats. The _Esmeralda_ is just the ship.
+She can carry six hundred native passengers, and in two trips we shall
+have all the labourers we want, instead of getting them in drafts of
+fifty or sixty at a time by small schooners--which would always be
+liable to be cut off and all hands killed--especially in the Solomon
+Islands.
+
+"I laid our scheme before Mrs. Marston, and, to be as brief as possible,
+she is not only willing to let us charter her ship, but also wishes to
+take a share in the venture. But she wants you to keep command of the
+_Esmeralda_, as I trust you will."
+
+Then followed a long list of stores, trade goods, arms, ammunition, &c,
+&c, which Raymond wished Frewen to purchase in Sydney, and the letter
+concluded with a request for him to leave for Samatau as quickly as
+possible.
+
+On a separate sheet he made mention of Villari, saying that he had
+thoroughly recovered from his wound and was living at Apia.
+
+"To tell you the truth, we are all glad he has gone away from us, for he
+fell madly in love with Mrs. Marston, and proposed to her, and took
+her kindly rejection of him very badly. He then left the house, but has
+twice since come to see her. At last she began to get alarmed at
+his conduct, and finally I had to frankly tell him that he was an
+undesirable visitor. It stung him deeply, but he persists in writing her
+the most passionate letters, asking her to reconsider her decision. I
+am sorry for the fellow, as we all liked him. Frohmann, the new German
+doctor at Apia, told me that he believes the poor fellow is not 'all
+there' mentally."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Frewen showed his letters to the agent Beilby, who corroborated
+Raymond's statement in every particular regarding the money that could
+be made by growing cotton on an organised system with native labour,
+and with proper machinery to clean and pack it; and he also bore out the
+planter's remarks about the danger that attended small vessels employed
+in the black labour trade.
+
+"You have seen a good deal of the natives of the South Sea Islands,
+Captain Frewen, and know what desperate cut-throats are those of the
+Western Pacific Groups. Two small trading vessels of my own have been
+cut off within the last five years, and every soul massacred, and the
+vessels looted and then burnt. It is a most difficult matter to keep
+a swarm of natives off the decks of a vessel with a low freeboard, all
+they have to do is to step out of their canoes over the rail, and if
+they are bent on mischief they can simply overpower a small vessel's
+company by mere weight of numbers. You will be surprised to hear
+that, even now, some of the Sydney trading craft use the old-fashioned
+boarding nettings, and their skippers only allow a certain number
+of natives on board at a time. But with a large vessel like the
+_Esmeralda_, this very great source of danger--the low freeboard--is
+absent; and besides that, you can carry a crew large enough to squelch
+any attempt at a rising, if, after you get them on board, your gentle
+passengers took it into their heads to attempt to possess themselves of
+the ship."
+
+"Just so. And I have heard of several instances where Honolulu and
+Tahiti labour vessels have been captured, even though they carried large
+crews and were well armed."
+
+"Exactly! Just carelessness. You never know, when you have a hundred or
+so of these savages on board, what they may do. They all know that they
+are going to a foreign country to work on sugar or cotton plantations
+for three years, at the end of which they will be paid for their labour
+in guns, powder, beads, calicoes, &c, &c. Well, they come on board
+perfectly content, and all goes well for a week or two, until some of
+them begin to notice that the crew are not keeping such a good watch
+over them as they did when they first came on board. These fellows begin
+the mischief. 'Why should we not kill the white men on board?' (they
+will argue) 'and help ourselves to _everything_--guns, pistols, powder,
+and bullets, cutlasses, grog and tobacco, and all the other riches in
+the ship? It is much better than working for three years for one gun and
+one keg of powder and bag of bullets, a knife or two, and a few other
+things, and then bringing them back to our own country to be despoiled
+of them by our relations.' Do you understand, Captain Frewen?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Well, they lie low and wait, and when the opportunity comes the beggars
+set to work with a vengeance-Only three years ago one of the Hawaiian
+Islands labour vessels recruited ninety Gilbert Islands natives to work
+on the new sugar plantations near Honolulu. They behaved themselves
+splendidly--for they were well treated--for about a fortnight, and the
+skipper of the vessel (an old hand in the island trade) allowed them to
+lie on deck at night, feeling sure that they would give no trouble. More
+than this, he even told his officers and crew to discontinue carrying
+their Colts' pistols. The result was that one night, when the watch were
+taking in sail during a squall, the natives took possession of the brig,
+killed the mate and all the men of the watch who were on deck, and would
+certainly have slaughtered every one of the ship's company had it not
+been for the captain himself; who, hearing the noise, rushed up from
+below armed with a whale-ship bomb gun, loaded with slugs. He fired
+right into the mob of natives on the main deck, killed three or four,
+and wounded twice as many. Then the second mate and the rest of the
+watch below came tumbling up, headed by a big Nova Scotian A.B. He was a
+tremendously powerful fellow, and had armed himself with the carpenter's
+broad axe, and in a few minutes he cut down five of the natives, one of
+whom was the ringleader. Then the steward and supercargo turned up with
+nine-bore double-barrelled shot-guns, loaded with No. 1 shot, and they
+and the bluenose{*} practically saved the ship, or with their four shots
+they laid out nearly a dozen more natives, and the others bolted down
+to the hold and asked for quarter. Ah, Captain Frewen, there is nothing
+like buckshot or slogs to squash a mutiny. You most get some nine-bore
+guns made here to take away with you."
+
+     * A "bluenose" is a sailor's term for a Canadian or Nova
+     Scotian.
+
+"Thank you for the suggestion, Mr. Beilby. But whalers' bomb guns--which
+can be easily procured in Sydney--are better still. You can load them
+with a small charge of powder and crushed rock salt, which won't kill a
+man, but which will prevent him from doing any mischief for a long time.
+When I was a boatsteerer some years ago on a New Bedford whaler--the
+_Aaron Burr_--we had serious trouble with about thirty Portuguese
+negroes we picked up off the coast of Brazil. They were in two boats,
+and were deserters from a Brazilian man-of-war, which had gone ashore
+off Santos. Many of our men were down with fever of some sort, and
+these black gentry (who were all armed with knives), thinking that
+the after-guard was not able to cope with them, came aft and told our
+skipper that if he did not give them all the liquor they wanted they
+would throw him overboard, set fire to the ship, and go ashore again. He
+seemed to be very much frightened--he was an undersized, quiet man--and
+begged them to go on deck and remain there whilst he and the steward and
+such of the officers who were not ill with fever would get up a keg of
+rum from the lazzarette. Then--he spoke Spanish pretty well--he asked
+them not to be too hard on him. He would treat them as gentlemen, &c.,
+and, with apparently trembling hands, he gave them boxes of cigars, and
+addressed them as if they were caballeros of the highest rank whom he
+was delighted to honour. Some of them cursed him for an Americano, but
+the majority were too hugely elated at the prospect of a keg of ram to
+say more to him than to hurry up with it.
+
+"He did hurry up with a vengeance, for in five minutes he and the mate
+had each loaded a bomb gun with a heavy charge of sheet-lead slugs. They
+rushed on deck together, and with a warning cry to our men to get out
+of the way, they fired into the negroes, who were squatted about on the
+main hatch smoking their cigars and waiting for the rum. The effect was
+something terrifying, for although none of them were killed, fully
+half of them were wounded, and their groans and yells were something
+horrible. We did not give them much time to rally, for all of us who
+were well enough made a rush, and with belaying-pins and anything else
+which came to our hands drove them over the side into their boats."
+
+"Then get some of those bomb-guns, captain, by all means. I think I have
+seen one--a thing like a bloated blunderbuss without the bell mouth."
+
+"That's it," said Frewen with a laugh; "it is not a handsome weapon, but
+we whalemen do not go in for 'objects of bigotry and virtue.' A bomb-gun
+is made for a practical purpose--the stock is almost solid metal, and
+altogether it is no light weight."
+
+During the following two weeks both Frewen and the agent were very busy.
+The former, with a gang of shore carpenters, was engaged in preparing
+the 'tween decks of the ship for the reception of the native passengers,
+and constructing two movable gratings to go across the upper deck--one
+for'ard and the other aft--which, whilst they would practically allow
+the natives the free run of the deck, would yet prevent them from making
+any sudden onslaught on the crew.
+
+Beilby, whose long experience of the South Sea Islands trade especially
+fitted him for the task, devoted himself to the work of fulfilling
+Raymond's orders as to the trade goods required, and in three weeks the
+_Esmeralda_ was again ready for sea.
+
+And when, under full sail, she passed down the harbour towards Sydney
+Heads bound for beautiful Samoa, her captain's heart swelled with pride
+as the crews of a score of other ships cheered, "Bravo, _Esmeralda!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Under a shady wild orange-tree which grew just above high-water mark
+on the white beach of Samatau Bay, Marie Raymond and Mrs. Marston were
+seated together on a cane lounge imagining they were sewing, but in
+reality only talking on subjects dear to every woman's heart.
+
+Quite near them, and seated on mats, were the old nurse Malu, who held
+Mrs. Marston's baby-girl, and Raymond's own little daughter Loise, who
+was playing with a young native girl--Olivee--grey-haired old Main's
+assistant.
+
+It was early in the morning--an hour after breakfast--and the two ladies
+had come down to the beach to watch Raymond and his partners and some
+hundreds of natives working at a jetty being constructed from slabs of
+coral stone, and which was to be carried out into deep water.
+
+The day was delightfully bright, and the soft cool breath of the brave
+south-east trade wind, which rippled the blue of the ocean before them,
+stirred and swayed and made rhythmic music among the plumed crests of
+the graceful coco-palms above. And, as they talked, they heard, every
+now and then, Raymond's cheery voice giving orders, and the workmen's
+response, which was generally sung, some one among them improvising a
+chant--for the Samoans, like many other Polynesian peoples, love to work
+to the accompaniment of song.
+
+"Marie," said Mrs. Marston, as she let the piece of sewing which she
+held in her hand fall unheeded to the ground and looked dreamily out
+upon the blue ocean before them, "you must be a happy woman."
+
+"I am a very, very happy woman, Amy. And I shall be happier still if you
+decide to remain and live near us. Oh, Amy, if you only knew how I try
+not to think of the possibility of your going away from us--to think
+that when you do go, it means that I may never see you again."
+
+"I do not want to go away, Marie. I have told you the story of my life,
+and how very unhappy I was in my girlhood--an orphan without a friend in
+the world except my aunt, who resented my orphanage, and treated me as
+'a thorn in the flesh,' but I did not tell you that until I met you I
+never had a girl or woman friend in all my life. And now I feel that as
+I have found one, I cannot sever myself from her, now that my husband is
+dead and I and the babe are alone in the world."
+
+Marie Raymond passed her arms around her friend's waist. "Amy, dear,
+_do_ stay in Samoa. I, too, have no woman friend except some of my
+mother's people--who would give their lives for me. But I am not a white
+woman. My mother's blood--of which I _am_ proud--is in my veins, and
+when I was at school in Australia, it used to cut me to the heart to
+have to submit to insults from girls who took a delight in torturing and
+harassing me because of it. One day I lost control of myself; I heard
+them whispering something about 'the wild girl from the woods,' and I
+told them that my mother could trace her descent back for five hundred
+years in an unbroken line, whilst I was quite certain none of them would
+like to say who their grandfathers were. My words told, for there were
+really five or six girls in the school who had the convict taint. I was
+called before the principal, and asked to apologise. I refused, and said
+that I had only said openly and under the greatest provocation what more
+than a dozen other girls had told me!"
+
+"How did it end?"
+
+"In mutual apologies, and peace was restored. But I was never happy
+there--I loathe the memory of my school days, and was glad to come back
+to Samoa."
+
+"Neither were my English school days happy, but I even liked being at
+school in preference to staying with my aunt. I hated the thought of
+going to her for the holidays. She was a narrow-minded, selfish woman--a
+clergyman's widow, and seemed to take a delight in mortifying me by
+continually reminding me that all the money left by my father was
+L500, which would just pay for my education and no more. 'When you are
+eighteen,' she would say, 'you must not expect a home with me. Other
+girls go out as companions; you must do the same. Therefore try and fit
+yourself for the position.' Everything I did was wrong--according
+to her, I was rebellious, irreligious, too fond of dress, and lazy
+physically and mentally. The fact was, I was simply a half-starved,
+dowdy school-girl---often hungry for food and always hungry for love.
+If I had had a dog to talk to I should have been happier. My mother died
+when I was three years old, and my father two years later. Then, as I
+told you, I went out as governess to the Warrens when I was nineteen,
+and felt that I was a human being, for they were kind to me.
+Colonel Warren, a rough, outspoken old soldier with a red face and
+fierce-looking blue eyes under enormous white bushy eyebrows, was
+very kind to me, and so was his wife. I was not treated as so many
+governesses are treated in English families--as something between a
+scullery-maid and a housekeeper, for whom anything is good enough to
+eat, and any horrid, mean little room good enough to sleep in. When
+she came to say good-night to the children after hearing them say their
+prayers she would always ask me to come to her own room for an hour or
+two. I was very happy there. I was only a little over a year with them
+when I met and married Captain Marston." "Some day, Amy, you will
+marry again," "I don't know, Marie," said Mrs. Marston frankly. "I was
+thinking the other day that such a thing may be possible. I have no
+knowledge of the world, and am not competent to manage my business
+affairs. But there will be plenty of years to think of such a thing. I
+want to watch my baby grow up--I want her girlhood to be as bright and
+as full of love as mine was dull and loveless."
+
+Presently a native boy came along the path carrying two letters. He
+advanced, and handed one to Mrs. Marston, whose cheeks first paled,
+and then flushed with anger as she took it, for she recognised the
+handwriting.
+
+"There is another letter for thy husband, lady," he said to Mrs.
+Raymond, "which also cometh from the _papalagi_{*} Villari."
+
+     * Papalagi = foreigner.
+
+Mrs. Raymond directed him where to find her husband, and then was about
+to return to the house, but her friend, who had not yet opened the
+letter in her hand, asked her to stay.
+
+"Don't go, Marie. I shall not open this letter. It is too bad of Mr.
+Villari to again write to me. Shall I send it back, or take no notice of
+it?"
+
+"I hardly know what to say, Amy. He is very rude to annoy you in this
+way. Wait and hear what Tom thinks."
+
+A quarter of an hour later, the planter came up from the beach, and sat
+down beside the ladies.
+
+"I have a letter from Villari, Marie," he said, "and have brought it up
+to see what you and Mrs. Marston think of it."
+
+"Amy has also received one, Tom, but would not open it nor send it
+back till she had your advice. I think it is altogether wrong of him to
+persecute her in this way."
+
+"Oh, well, you'll be glad to know that he is sorry for what has
+occurred. Here is his letter to me, Mrs. Marston--please read it."
+
+The letter was a courteously worded and apparently sincere expression
+of regret for having forced his attentions upon Mrs. Marston, and asking
+Raymond and his wife to intercede for him with her. "It will give me
+the greatest joy if she will overlook my conduct, and accept my sincere
+apologies, if she does not, I shall carry the remembrance of her just
+anger to the end of my life. But when I think of her past friendliness
+to me, I am excited with the hope that her ever-kind heart will perhaps
+make her forget my unwarrantable presumption, which I look back upon
+with a feeling of wonder at my being guilty of such temerity." Then he
+went on to say that Raymond would be interested to learn that he had
+bought a small schooner of 100 tons called the _Lupetea_, on easy terms
+of payment, and that he hoped to make a great deal of money by running
+her in the inter-island trade. "I was only enabled to do this through
+Mrs. Marston's generosity," he concluded--"the L500 she gave me enabled
+me to make a good 'deal.' I leave Apia to-morrow for a cruise round
+Upolu, and as I find that I have some cargo for you, I trust that
+you, your wife, and Mrs. Marston will at least let me set foot on your
+threshold once more."
+
+"Well, the poor devil seems very sorry for having offended you so much
+by his persistence, Mrs. Marston," said the planter with a laugh, "and
+he writes such a pretty letter that I'm sure you won't withhold your
+forgiveness."
+
+"I don't think I can. But I must see what he has written to me," and she
+opened the letter. It contained but a very few lines in the same tenour
+as that to Raymond, deploring his folly and begging her forgiveness.
+
+"I'm very glad, Tom, that Amy sent him the L500, and that he had the
+sense not to again refuse it. It would always be embarrassing to you,
+Amy, whenever you met him."
+
+"It would indeed. But I doubt if he would have accepted it if it had
+not been for Mr. Raymond's strongly worded letter on the subject,"
+(The planter had sent the money to him in Apia with a note saying
+that whatever her feelings were towards him, Mrs. Marston would be
+additionally aggrieved if he refused to accept a bequest from her late
+husband; it would, he said, have the result of making the lady feel that
+his rejection of the gift was uncalled-for and discourteous.)
+
+"So that's all right," said Raymond, as he rose to return to the beach.
+"I always liked the man, as you have often heard me say. And you really
+must not be too angry with him, Mrs. Marston. These Italians--like all
+Latins--are a fearfully idiotic people in some things--especially where
+women are concerned. Now almost any decent Anglo-Saxon would have taken
+his gruelling quietly if a woman told him three times that she didn't
+want him. Frohmann thinks that that crack on the head has touched his
+brain a bit; and at the same time, you must remember, Mrs. Marston,
+that whether you like it or not, you won't be able to prevent men from
+falling in love with you--look at me, for instance!"
+
+Marie Raymond threw a reel of cotton at him--
+
+"Be off to your work!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A few days later the _Lupetea_ (White Pigeon) ran into the bay and
+Raymond boarded her. He greeted Villari in a friendly manner, and tried
+to put him at his ease by at once remarking that the ladies would be
+very glad to see him again when he had time to come up to the house.
+The schooner was loaded with a general cargo for the various traders and
+planters on the south side of the island, and that for Raymond consisted
+principally of about forty tons of yams for the use of the numerous
+local labourers already employed on the plantations.
+
+The _Lupetea_ was a rather handsome little vessel, well-fitted for the
+island trade, and carried besides Villari and the mate six hands, all of
+whom were Europeans, and Raymond at once recognised several of them
+as old _habituee_ of Apia beach--men whose reputation as loafers and
+boozers of the first water was pretty well known in Samoa. The mate,
+too, was one of the same sort. He was an old man named Hutton, and was
+such an incorrigible drunkard that for two years past he had found it
+increasingly difficult to get employment. He had in his time been mate
+of some large ships, but his intemperate habits had caused him to come
+down to taking a berth as mate or second mate on small coastal schooners
+whenever he could get the position.
+
+Before he returned to the shore the planter told Villari that he would
+be glad if he would come to dinner at seven o'clock.
+
+"We are a large party now, Mr. Villari. Besides Mrs. Marston and my wife
+and myself there are my two partners, Budd and Meredith, and two white
+overseers. The latter don't sleep in the house, but they have their
+meals with us."
+
+Villari accepted the invitation, and at six o'clock landed in his boat
+and met Raymond and his partners, who had just finished the day's work
+and were on their way to the house. On the verandah they were received
+by the ladies, and Mrs. Marston was glad to observe that the Italian
+took her outstretched hand without any trace of embarrassment, asked if
+her baby was thriving, and then greeted Mrs. Raymond, who said she was
+glad to see him looking so well, and wished him prosperity with the
+_Lupetea_.
+
+The dinner passed off very well. Villari made inquiries as to the
+whereabouts of the _Esmeralda_, and Mrs. Marston told him all that she
+knew, and added that if the ship had arrived in Sydney from Valparaiso
+about eight weeks before, as Frewen had indicated was likely in the
+last letter received from him, it was quite possible that he would be at
+Samatau within another ten or fourteen days, and then, as there was no
+necessity for concealment, she said it was very probable that the ship's
+next voyage would be to the Western Pacific to procure labourers for the
+new plantation.
+
+"You have no intention, I trust, of making the voyage in her, Mrs.
+Marston?" queried the Italian; "the natives, I hear, are a very
+treacherous lot."
+
+"No, indeed, Mr. Villari. I am staying here with Mrs. Raymond for quite
+a long time yet, I hope. It is quite likely, though, that before a year
+has gone she and I will be going to Sydney and our babies will make the
+trip with us. I have never been to Australia, and am sure I should enjoy
+being there if Mrs. Raymond were with me. I have two years' shopping to
+do."
+
+Rudd--one of Raymond's partners--laughed. "Ah, Mrs. Raymond, why go to
+Sydney when all of the few other white ladies here are satisfied with
+Dennis Murphy's 'Imporium' at Apia, where, as he says, 'Yez can get
+annything ye do be wantin' from a nadle to an anchor, from babies' long
+clothes to pickled cabbage and gunpowder.'"
+
+"Indeed, we are going there this day week," broke in Mrs. Raymond.
+"There are a lot of things Mrs. Marston and I want, and we mean to turn
+the 'Emporium' upside down. But we are not entirely selfish, Tom; we are
+buying new mosquito netting for you, Mr. Rudd, Mr. Meredith, Mr. Young,
+and Mr. Lorimer." (The two last-named were the overseers.)
+
+"How are you going, Marie?" asked Raymond with a smile; "we can't spare
+the cutter, and you don't want to be drowned in a _taumualua_.'
+
+"Ah! we are not the poor, weak women you think we are. We are quite
+independent--we are going to cross overland; and, more than that, we
+shall be away eight days."
+
+"Clever woman!" retorted Raymond. "It is all very well for you,
+Marie--you have crossed over on many occasions; but Mrs. Marston does
+not understand our mountain paths."
+
+"My dear Tom, don't trouble that wise head of yours. _I_ have azranged
+everything. Furthermore, the babies are coming with us! Serena, Olivee,
+and one of Malie's girls--and I don't know how many others are to be
+baby carriers. We go ten miles the first day along the coast, sleep at
+Falelatai that night; then cross the range to the little bush village at
+the foot of Tofua Mountain, sleep there, and then go on to Malua in the
+morning. At Malua we get Harry Bevere's boat, and _he_ takes us to Apia.
+Tom, it is a cut-and-dried affair, but now that I've told you of it, I
+may as well tell you that Malie has aided and abetted us--the dear old
+fellow. We shall be treated like princesses at every village all along
+the route, and I doubt very much if we shall do much walking at all--we
+shall be carried on _fata_" (cane-work litters).
+
+"All very well, my dear; but you and Malie have been counting your
+chickens too soon. Harry Revere is now in our employ, and I yesterday
+sent a runner to him to go off to Savai'i and buy us a hundred tons of
+yams; and he has left by now."
+
+"Oh, Tom!" and Mrs. Raymond looked so blankly disappointed that all her
+guests laughed. "Is there no other way of getting to Apia by water?"
+
+"No, except by _toumualua_--and a pretty nice time you and Sirs. Marston
+and the suffering infants would have in a native boat! On the other hand
+you can walk--you are bent on walking--and by going along the coast you
+can reach Apia in about four days. Give the idea up, Marie, for a month
+or so, when Malie and some of his people can take you and Mrs. Marston
+to Apia in comfort in the cutter."
+
+Villari turned his dark eyes to Mrs. Raymond--
+
+"Will you do me the honour of allowing me to take you and Mrs. Marston
+to Apia in the _Lupetea?_ I shall be delighted."
+
+"It is very kind of you, Captain Villari," said the planter's wife with
+a smile, as she emphasised the word "captain," "but when will you be
+sailing?"
+
+The Italian considered a moment.
+
+"I have some cargo for Manono, and some for the German trader at
+Paulaelae. I shall leave here at daylight to-morrow; be at Manono before
+noon; run across the straits to Paulaelae the same day, land a few cases
+of goods for the German, and be back here, if the breeze holds good, the
+day after to-morrow."
+
+"It is very kind of you, Mr. Villari," said Raymond.
+
+"Not at all, Mr. Raymond. It will be far easier for me to come back this
+way than to beat up to Apia against the trade wind and strong current on
+the north side."
+
+"True. I did not think of that. So there you are, Marie--'fixed up,' as
+Frewen would say. The schooner, I believe, is pretty smart, isn't she,
+Mr. Villari?"
+
+"Very fair, Mr. Raymond--especially on a wind. We should get to Apia in
+less than twenty-four hours if there is any kind of a breeze at all. And
+for such a small vessel her accommodation is really very good, so the
+ladies and children will be very comfortable, I hope."
+
+"Yes," said Meredith, "the _Lupetea_ is the best schooner in the group.
+I've made two or three trips in her to Fiji. She was built by Brander,
+of Tahiti, for a yacht, and he used to carry his family with him on
+quite long voyages. Took them to Sydney once."
+
+"Well, Captain Villari," said Mrs. Raymond, "we shall be ready for you
+the day after to-morrow. Be prepared for an infliction," and holding
+up her left hand, she began counting on her fingers: "Item, two babies;
+item, mothers of babies aforesaid; item, Serena, nurse girl; item,
+Olivee, nurse girl; item, one native boy named Lilo, who is a relative
+of Malie's, is Mrs. Marston's especial protege and wants to see the
+great City of Apia; item, baskets and baskets _and_ baskets of roasted
+fowls, mangoes, pineapples and other things which are for the use of the
+captain, officers, crew and passengers of the _Lupetea_."
+
+Villari laughed. "There will be plenty of room, Mrs. Raymond."
+
+An hour or so later he bade them all good-night, and went on board.
+
+The old mate was pacing to and fro on the main deck smoking his pipe,
+and Villari asked him to come below.
+
+He turned up the lamp and told Hutton to sit down.
+
+"Will you have a drink, Hutton?"
+
+"_Will_ I? You ought to know me by now."
+
+Villari went to his cabin and brought out a bottle of brandy. His
+dark eyes were flashing with excitement, as he placed it on the table
+together with two glasses.
+
+"Drink as much as you like to-night," he said; "but remember we lift
+anchor at daylight. We must be back here the day after to-morrow. There
+are passengers coming on board. You remember your promise to me?"
+
+Hutton half-filled his tumbler with brandy, and swallowed it eagerly
+before answering.
+
+"I do, skipper; I'll do any blessed thing in the world except cuttin'
+throats. I don't know what your game is, but I'm ready for anythink.
+If it's a scuttlin' job, you needn't try to show me nothin'. I'm an old
+hand at the game."
+
+Villari took a little brandy and sipped it slowly.
+
+"It is not anything like that; I am only taking away a woman whom I want
+to marry. She may give trouble at first. Will you stand by me?"
+
+The man laughed. "Is that all, skipper? Why, I thought it was somethink
+serious. You can depend on me," and he poured out some more liquor.
+
+"Here's luck to you, Captain. I consider as that fifty pound is in my
+pocket already."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+Two days later the schooner came sweeping round the western point of
+Samatau Bay and then hove-to abreast of the house. Villari at once went
+on shore, found his passengers ready to embark, and in half an hour
+they were all on board and the _Lupetea_ was spinning along the southern
+shore of Upolu at a great rate, for the wind was fresh and the sea very
+smooth. At midnight she was nearly abreast of a beautiful little harbour
+called Lotofanga, and Villari, who was on deck, told the mate to haul
+the head sheets to windward and ta lower the boat. This was done so
+quietly that the only one of the passengers who knew what had been done
+was the Samoan, Lilo--a bright, intelligent youth of about fifteen years
+of age. He was lying on the after-deck, and saw the mate and four hands
+go over the side into the boat, and then a trunk of clothing which
+belonged to Mrs. Raymond, and which, as the weather was fine, had been
+left on deck, was passed down. Wondering at this, he rose, and walking
+to the side, was looking at the boat, when a sailor roughly seized him
+by the shoulder and ordered him to go for'ard and stay there till he was
+called. Very unwillingly he obeyed, and then a second man told him to
+go below into the foc'sle, and made such a threatening gesture with
+a belaying-pin, that the boy, now beginning to feel alarmed, at once
+descended, and immediately the fore scuttle was closed and bolted from
+the deck. The place was in darkness except for one small slush lamp, and
+Lilo, taking his seat on a sailor's chest, looked round at the bunks.
+They were all unoccupied, and this fact increased his fears. He,
+however, was a courageous lad, and his first thought was to provide
+himself with some sort of weapon, and by the aid of the lamp he began
+searching the bunks. In a few minutes he found a sheath knife and belt,
+which he at once secured, and then again sat down to wait events.
+
+Meanwhile Villari was speaking to the mate.
+
+"You are quite sure you know the landing-place?" he asked.
+
+"Course I do. Didn't I tell you I've been at Loto-fanga half a dozen
+times? It's right abreast of the passage, and no one couldn't miss it
+on a clear night like this. But it's dead low tide. Why can't I put the
+woman and girl on the reef, and let 'em walk to the village? Then we
+don't run no risks of any natives a-seein' us and coming down to the
+boat."
+
+"Ha! that's a good idea. But is it quite safe? I don't want them to meet
+with any accident."
+
+"There ain't no danger. The reef is quite flat, with no pools in it, and
+they needn't even wet their feet. I've walked over it myself."
+
+"Very well then. Now stand by, for I'm going below. As soon as they are
+in the boat, push off and hurry all you can and get back. We must be out
+of sight of land by daylight."
+
+The cabin, which was lighted by a swinging lamp, was very quiet as
+Villari, first removing his boots, descended softly and bent oyer the
+sleeping figures of Olivee and Serena, who were lying on mats spread
+upon the floor outside the two cabins occupied by their mistresses. He
+touched Olivee on the shoulder, and awakened her.
+
+"Ask Mrs. Raymond to please dress and come on deck for a few minutes,"
+he said quietly to the girl in English, which she understood. She at
+once rose, and tapped at her mistress's door, and the Italian returned
+on deck.
+
+Wondering what could be the reason for such a request, Mrs. Raymond
+dressed herself as quickly as possible, and was soon on deck followed by
+the girl Olivee.
+
+"What is the matter, Mr. Villari?" she inquired, and then, as she looked
+at the man's face, something like fear possessed her. His eyes had the
+same strange expression that she had often noticed when he was looking
+at Mrs. Marston, and she remembered what the German doctor had said.
+
+"You must not be alarmed, Mrs. Raymond," he said, "but I am sorry to
+say that the schooner has begun to leak in an alarming and extraordinary
+manner, and the pumps are choked. For your own safety I am sending you
+and Mrs. Marston and your servants on shore. We are now just abreast of
+Lotofanga, and I am going to try and work the schooner in there and run
+her ashore on the beach."
+
+Mrs. Raymond, now quite reassured, was at once practical. "We can be
+ready in a minute, Mr. Villari. I will get little Loise, and----"
+
+"Do--as quickly as you can--and I will tell Mrs. Marston. I preferred
+letting you know first. She is very nervous, and it will allay her alarm
+when she finds that you are so cool. The boat is already alongside. Have
+you any valuables in your cabin? If so, get them together."
+
+"Nothing but a little money. All my other things are on deck in a
+trunk."
+
+"That is already in the boat; the mate told me it was yours."
+
+"Hurry up, please, ladies," and the mate's head appeared above the rail.
+
+"Just another minute, Hutton," said Villari, as he, Mrs. Raymond, and
+the Samoan girl all returned to the cabin together. The latter at once
+picked up the sleeping Loise, and her mother, as she wrapped her in a
+shawl, heard Villari rouse the girl Serena and tell her to awaken her
+mistress, and presently she heard his voice speaking to Mrs. Marston
+telling her not to be alarmed, but he feared the schooner might founder
+at any moment, and that he was sending her and Mrs. Raymond on shore.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Villari," she heard her friend say. "Have you told Mrs.
+Raymond?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "She is getting ready now--in fact, she _is_ ready."
+Then he returned to Mrs. Raymond's door, and met her just as she was
+leaving the cabin with the nurse and child.
+
+"Can I help you, Amy?" asked the planter's wife as she looked into Mrs.
+Marston's cabin.
+
+"No, dear. I did not quite undress, and I'll be ready in a minute. Baby
+is fast asleep. Is Loise awake?"
+
+"No, I'm glad to say. Olivee has her."
+
+"Please come on, Mrs. Raymond," said Villari, somewhat impatiently; "go
+on, Olivee, with the little girl."
+
+He let them precede him, and almost before she knew it, Mrs. Raymond
+found herself with the nurse and child in the boat, which was at once
+pushed off and headed for the shore.
+
+"Stop, stop!" cried the poor lady, clutching the mate by the arm. "Mrs.
+Marston is coming."
+
+"Can't wait," was the gruff rejoinder, and then, to her horror and
+indignation, she saw that the boat's crew were pulling as if their lives
+depended on their exertions.
+
+"Shame, shame!" she cried wildly. "Are you men, to desert them! Oh, if
+you have any feelings of humanity, turn back," and, rising to her feet,
+she shouted out at the top of her voice, "Captain Villari, Captain
+Villari, for God's sake call the boat back!"
+
+But no notice was taken, and a feeling of terror seized her when the
+brutal Hutton bade her "sit down and take it easy."
+
+As Villari stood watching the disappearing boat Mrs. Marston, followed
+by the girl Serena carrying her baby, came on deck.
+
+"What is wrong?" she asked anxiously. "Why has the boat gone? What does
+it mean?" and Yillari saw that she was trembling.
+
+"Return to your cabin, Mrs. Marston. No harm shall come to you.
+To-morrow morning I shall tell you why I have done this."
+
+A glimmering of the truth came to her, and she tried to speak, but no
+words came to her lips, as in a dazed manner she took the infant from
+Serena, and pressing it tightly to her bosom stepped back from him with
+horror, contempt, and blazing anger shining from her beautiful eyes.
+
+"Go below, I beg you," said Villari huskily. "Here, girl, take this,
+and give it to your mistress when you go below," and he placed a loaded
+Colt's pistol in the girl's hand. "No one shall enter the cabin till
+to-morrow morning. You can shoot the first man who puts his foot on the
+companion stairs."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A hot, blazing, and windless day, so hot that the branches of the
+coco-palms, which at early morn had swished and merrily swayed to the
+trade wind, now hung limp and motionless, as if they had suffered from
+a long tropical drought instead of merely a few hours' cessation of the
+brave, cool breeze, which for nine months out of twelve for ever made
+symphony in their plumed crests.
+
+On the shady verandah of a small but well-built native house Amy Marston
+was seated talking to an old, snowy-haired white man, whose bright but
+wrinkled face was tanned to the colour of dark leather by fifty years of
+constant exposure to a South Sea sun.
+
+"Don't you worry, ma'am. A ship is bound to come along here some time or
+another, an' you mustn't repine, but trust to God's will."
+
+"Indeed I try hard not to repine, Mr. Manning. When I think of all that
+has happened since that night, seven months ago, I have much for which
+to thank God. I am alive and well, my child has been spared to me, and
+in you, on this lonely island, I have found a good, kind friend, to whom
+I shall be ever grateful."
+
+"That's the right way to look at it, ma'am. Until you came here I had
+not seen a white woman for nigh on twenty years, and when I did first
+see you I was all a-trembling--fearing to speak--for you looked to me as
+if you were an angel, instead of----"
+
+"Instead of being just what I was--a wretched, half-mad creature, whom
+your kindness and care brought back to life and reason."
+
+The old man, who even as he sat leant upon a stick, pointed towards the
+setting sun, whose rays were shedding a golden light upon the sleeping
+sea.
+
+"Whenever I see a thing like that, Mrs. Marston, I feel in my heart,
+deep, deep down, that God is with us, and that I, Jim Manning, the old
+broken-down, poverty-stricken trader of Anouda, has as much share in
+His goodness and blessed love as the Pope o' Borne or the Archbishop o'
+Canterbury. See how He has preserved you, and directed that schooner to
+drift here to Anouda, instead of her going ashore on one of the Solomon
+Islands, where you and all with you would have been killed by savage
+cannibals and never been heard of again."
+
+Amy Marston left her seat, came over to the old man, and kneeling beside
+him, placed her hands on his.
+
+"Mr. Manning, whenever a ship does come, will you and your sons come
+away with me to Samoa, and live with me and the kind friends of whom I
+have told you. Ah, you have been so good to me and my baby that I would
+feel very unhappy if, when a ship comes and I leave Anouda, you were to
+stay behind. I am what is considered a fairly rich woman----"
+
+"God bless you, my child--for you are only a child, although you are a
+widow and have a baby--but you must not tempt me. I shall never leave
+Anouda. I have lived here for five-and-thirty years, and shall die here.
+I am now past seventy-six years of age, and every evening when the sun
+is setting, as it is setting now, I sit in front of my little house and
+watch it as I smoke my pipe, and feel more and more content and nearer
+to God. Now, Mrs. Marston, I must be going home. Where is Lilo?''
+
+"Out on the reef somewhere, fishing. Serena and the baby are in the
+breadfruit grove behind the village. I sent them there, as it is cooler
+than the house. I shall walk over there for them before it becomes too
+dark. Ah, here comes the breeze at last."
+
+"Lilo is a good boy, a good boy," said the old man as he rose and held
+out his hand; "he is very proud of calling himself your _tausea_,{*} and
+that he 'sailed' the _Lupetea_ so many hundreds of miles."
+
+     * Protector.
+
+"He is indeed a good boy. I do not think we should ever have reached
+land had it not been for him."
+
+As the bent figure of the old trader disappeared along the path that
+led to his own house, which was half a mile away, Mrs. Marston reseated
+herself, and with her sunbrowned hands folded in her lap, gazed dreamily
+out upon the glassy ocean, and gave herself up to reverie.
+
+  *            *            *            *            *
+
+When, in an agony of fear, she had obeyed Villari's request to go below,
+she had locked herself in her own cabin, and after putting her infant
+to sleep, had sat up with the girl Serena, waiting for the morning. The
+pistol which the Italian had given her she laid upon the little table,
+and Serena, who knew of Villari's infatuation for her mistress, sat
+beside her with a knife in her hand.
+
+"I cannot shoot with the little gun which hath six shots, lady," said
+the girl, "but I can drive this knife into his heart."
+
+Half an hour passed without their being disturbed, and then they heard
+Villari call out to let draw the head sheets, and in a few minutes the
+schooner was running before a sharp rain squall from the northward. As
+they sat listening to the spattering of the rain on the deck above, one
+of the skylight flaps was lifted, and, to their joy, their names were
+called by the boy Lilo.
+
+"Serena, Ami! 'Tis I, Lilo. Do not shoot at me," he cried, and at the
+same moment Villari came to the skylight and said--
+
+"The boy wants to stay below with you, Mrs. Marston. I did not know he
+was on board till a little while ago." Then the flap was lowered, and
+they saw no more of him till the morning.
+
+The delight of Lilo at finding Mrs. Marston and Serena together was
+unbounded, and for some minutes the boy was so overjoyed at seeing them
+again, that even Mrs. Marston, terrified and agitated as she was at
+Villari's conduct, had to smile when he took her feet in his hands and
+pressed them to his cheek. As soon as his excitement subsided, he told
+them of what had occurred after he had been put down into the foc'sle.
+
+About a quarter of an hour after the boat had gone, the scuttle was
+opened, and one of the sailors who were left on board told him to come
+up on deck. Villari was at the wheel, and was in a very bad temper, for
+he angrily demanded of the two seamen what they meant by keeping him on
+board, instead of sending him on shore in the boat. One of the men, who
+was called "Bucky" and who had evidently been drinking, made Villari
+a saucy answer, and said that he had kept the boy below with a view to
+making him useful. The mate, he said, "knew all about it," and Villari
+had better "keep quiet." In another moment Villari knocked him senseless
+with a belaying pin, and then, ordering the other man to let draw the
+head sheets, put the helm hard up, and the schooner stood away from the
+land, just as a rain squall came away from the northward. As soon as
+Bucky became conscious, Villari spoke to him and the other seaman,
+cautioned them against disobedience, and said that if they did their
+duty, he would divide a hundred pounds between them when the schooner
+reached Noumea in New Caledonia. The men then asked him whether he meant
+to leave the mate and the other four hands behind?
+
+"Yes, I do," he replied, "that is why I am giving you fifty pounds each.
+But if you try on any nonsense with me, I'll shoot you both. Now go
+for'ard and stand by to hoist the squaresail as soon as the squall dies
+away--this boy will lend a hand."
+
+As soon as the squaresail was set, Villari told Lilo to call down the
+skylight to Mrs. Marston.
+
+"He told me," concluded the boy, "that although I shall have to cook for
+every one on board, I was to be your servant, and that I was to always
+sleep in the cabin. And he himself is going to sleep in the deck house
+behind the galley, for I saw that he has a lamp in there, and all his
+things, and he asked me to bring him some writing paper, and ink, and
+pens. Where shall I get them?"
+
+Mrs. Marston found the articles for him, and Lilo at once took them to
+Villari, who was at the wheel.
+
+"Put them in the deck-house," he said, "and tell one of the men to come
+aft, and take the wheel. Then go below again and remain there. If any
+one puts foot in the cabin, you can shoot him with the pistol I gave to
+Serena."
+
+"Ami," said the boy anxiously, when he retained, "he is _vale_ (mad),
+for his eyes are the eyes of one who is mad. The land is now far astern,
+and the ship is speeding fast away from it. What doth this mean?"
+
+"I cannot tell thee, Lilo," she replied, speaking in Samoan, "but as
+thou sayest, he is mad. Let us trust in God to protect us."
+
+She rose and went into the main cabin, and looked at the tell-tale
+compass, which swung over the table, and saw that the schooner was
+heading south-west, which would be the course for New Caledonia.
+
+All that night the _Lupetea_ swept steadily and swiftly along over a
+smooth sea, and then at daylight, Mrs. Marston, who had fallen asleep,
+was aroused by a loud cry of alarm from Lilo.
+
+She sprang from her berth, and saw that the boy was kneeling beside
+Villari, who was lying dead at the foot of the companion, with a pistol
+in his hand.
+
+"He hath killed himself, Ami," said the boy. "As I sat here watching,
+I heard two shots on deck, and then the ship came to the wind, and as I
+was about to go on deck, Villari came down, and standing there, put the
+pistol to his head and killed himself."
+
+"Come on deck," she cried, "and see what has become of the men."
+
+Her fears that Villari had killed the two seamen were verified--they
+were both lying dead, one beside the wheel, and the other on the main
+deck. In the deckhouse was a wildly-incoherent and unfinished letter, to
+her containing expressions of the most passionate devotion, and begging
+her to pray for his soul.
+
+The first thing to be done was to consider how to dispose of the bodies
+of poor Villari and the unfortunate seamen. The land was now fifty miles
+distant, and Lilo, pointing to the eastern horizon, assured Mrs. Marston
+that bad weather was coming on, and that sail should be taken in as
+quickly as possible.
+
+"Let Serena and I cast the dead men overboard," he said; "'tis better
+than that we should keep them on board, for we know not how long it may
+be ere we get to land again."
+
+Mrs. Marston shuddered.
+
+"As you will, Lilo. When it is done, I will come on deck again and help
+with the sails."
+
+An hour later the schooner was racing under close-reefed canvas before a
+half-gale from the eastward.
+
+"Let us steer to the westward," Lilo had said to his mistress. "We
+cannot beat back to Samoa against such a wind as this, which may last
+many days. And straight to the west lieth Uea, on which live some white
+men who will succour us."
+
+There was no general chart on board, but Mrs. Marston knew that Uea
+(Wallis Island) was due west from Samoa, and distant about two or three
+hundred miles.
+
+For twelve hours the _Lupetea_ ran swiftly before a rapidly increasing
+sea, and by night time Lilo was so exhausted in trying to keep her from
+broaching to, that Serena came to his assistance. Neither he nor Mrs.
+Marston knew how to heave-to the vessel; but, fearful of running past
+Wallis Island in the night, they did the very thing they should not
+have done--lowered and made fast both mainsail and foresail, and let the
+vessel drive under bare poles.
+
+Worn out with his exertions, Lilo still stuck manfully to his steering,
+when, looking behind him, he saw a black, towering sea sweeping down
+upon the schooner. Uttering a cry of alarm, he let go the wheel, and
+darted into the cabin after Mrs. Marston, who had just left the deck.
+
+Then came a tremendous crash, and the _Lupetea_ shook and quivered in
+every timber, as the mighty avalanche of water fell upon and buried
+her; smashing the wheel to splinters, snapping off the rudder head, and
+sweeping the deck clean of everything movable.
+
+A month later the vessel drifted ashore on Anouda Island, just as Mrs.
+Marston was beginning to despair.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Darkness had fallen upon the little island, as with the girl Serena and
+her infant charge, Mrs. Man-ton was walking back to the house. Lilo had
+not yet returned, but as they emerged from the breadfruit grove, they
+heard the sound of many voices, and then came a cry that made their
+hearts thrill--
+
+"_Te vaka nui, Te vaka nui!_" ("A ship! a ship!") and almost at the same
+moment Lilo and a score of natives came rushing along the path in search
+of the white lady.
+
+"A ship! aship!" shouted Lilo, who was almost frantic with excitement,
+"your ship--your own ship! The ship that came to Samatau!"
+
+"How know you, Lilo?" cried Mrs. Marston tremblingly. "How can you tell
+it is my ship? And where is it?"
+
+As soon as the boy was able to make himself heard through the clamour
+of his companions, he told Mrs. Marston that whilst he was engaged in
+fishing along the shore of an unfrequented little bay on the north end
+of the island, he was startled by the sudden appearance of a large ship,
+which he instantly recognised as the _Esmeralda_. She came around a
+headland with a number of her hands aloft taking in sail, and dropped
+anchor about half a mile from the land. Lilo waited some time to see if
+a boat would come on shore, and also ran out to the edge of the reef,
+and tried to attract the attention of the people on board, but no notice
+was taken of him. Then, as darkness was coming on, he set off for the
+village at a run to tell his mistress.
+
+"We must hasten on board, Lilo," said Mrs. Marston, as she walked
+hurriedly along beside him to the house. "Run quickly to the old white
+man, and ask him to send his boat here for me."
+
+But Manning had already heard the news, and his boat had not only been
+launched, but, manned by half a dozen stalwart Anoudans, was at that
+moment coming down inside the reef. The old trader's half-caste son Joe
+was steering, and the moment the boat touched the beach, he sprang out
+and ran up to the house.
+
+"Father sent me for you, Mrs. Marston. The old man is nearly off his
+head with excitement. He has sent a native out on the reef to burn a
+blue light so that it can be seen by the people on board the ship, who
+will then know that there are white people here."
+
+"Thank you, Joe," she said, as, kissing her little Marie, and bidding
+Serena take her to Manning's house, and there await her return from the
+ship, she ran swiftly to the boat, which at once pushed off, accompanied
+by twenty or thirty canoes--all crowded with natives.
+
+"Look!" cried Joe Manning, "there is the blue light!"
+
+Half a mile away, on a projecting horn of the reef, the blue flame was
+shedding its brilliant light, and clearly revealing the all but nude
+figure of the man who held it.
+
+"Father said, Mrs. Marston, when he took those three blue lights ashore
+from the wreck of the _Lupetea_, that they might come in useful some
+night----" and then he uttered a yell of delight as a great rocket
+shot high up in air and burst; the ship had seen the blue light and was
+answering it!
+
+"Hurrah! she sees the blue light!" he cried, and then with voice and
+gesture he urged his crew to greater exertions. They responded with
+a will, and then, as a second rocket shot upward, a deep "_Aue!_" of
+admiration was chorused forth by the occupants of the canoes, which were
+trying hard to keep pace with the swift whale-boat.
+
+"We'll see her as soon as we get round the north end, ma'am," said the
+half-caste, as he swung the boat's head towards a passage through the
+surrounding reef. Mrs. Marston made no reply; she was too excited to
+speak, as with parted lips and eager eyes she sat gazing straight ahead.
+
+Ten minutes passed, and only the _swish, swish_ of the canoe paddles
+and the boat's oars broke the silence; then the high north point of the
+island was rounded, and the _Esmeralda_ lay before them, so close, that
+even though it was dark, figures could be seen moving about her decks,
+which were well lit up.
+
+Bidding his men cease pulling, and the natives in the canoes to keep
+silent for a moment, the burly half-caste hailed.
+
+"Ship ahoy!"
+
+"Hallo, there!" cried Prewen's well-remembered voice, "we see you. Come
+round on the port side."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," shouted Manning, and then, unable to restrain himself, he
+expanded his mighty chest and bawled out--
+
+"MRS. MARSTON IS HERE!"
+
+In a moment or two there came an outburst of cheering from the ship, and
+then amidst the shouts and yells of the Anouda natives the boat dashed
+alongside, and Mrs. Marston ascended the ladder. A crowd of men were
+at the gangway, and almost ere her foot had touched the deck Frewen had
+grasped her hand.
+
+"Thank God, we have found you at last, Mrs. Marston!"
+
+She tried to speak, and then would have fallen, had not Randall Cheyne
+sprung forward and caught her.
+
+"Carry her to the cabin, Randall," said Frewen, "the poor little woman
+has fainted."
+
+Half an hour later, the chief officer ran up on the poop-deck and called
+out--
+
+"All hands aft!"
+
+As the crew--who had been eagerly listening to Joe Manning's account
+of how Mrs. Marston had come to the island--crowded aft, the mate cried
+out--
+
+"Boys, I want volunteers to man the starboard quarter-boat to bring Mrs.
+Marston's baby on board."
+
+Such a wild rush was made for the boat falls that the good-natured
+officer had to interfere and pick out eight men, and with Lilo as pilot
+and himself in charge, the boat left the ship amid further cheering.
+
+In the cabin Mrs. Marston, now looking bright and happy, was telling her
+story to Frewen and Cheyne.
+
+"And now," she said, as she concluded, "I am the very happiest woman
+in all the world, and oh! Captain Frewen, when I think I shall see Mrs.
+Raymond within a few days, I feel almost hysterical. I'm sure I won't
+want to go to sleep for a week."
+
+Frewen laughed as he looked at the flashed, beautiful face. "Well, I
+don't think you'll get too much sleep to-night, for the men are as much
+excited as any one aft, and I sent word that they can have a bit of fun
+and make as much noise as they like until eight bells, and drink your
+and your baby's health seven times."
+
+"Ah! my poor little baby. How cruel of me to forget her! Oh, please let
+me go for her."
+
+"You are too late," said Frewen with a smile, "the mate has just gone,
+and he'll bring her to you before another hour has passed. He has taken
+your boy Lilo with him as pilot."
+
+Mrs. Marston sighed contentedly, and then looked round at the familiar
+cabin.
+
+"Oh, how I shall love to see Samatau again, Captain Frewen, and oh! how
+wonderful it is that the _Esmeralda_ of all ships should be the one to
+find me. If only Mrs. Raymond could know I was safe and on board talking
+to you of her!"
+
+"She will indeed be yery happy; and yet, do you know, Mrs. Marston,
+that she always said you were not dead, although when month after month
+passed by, and a most careful search had been made of all the islands
+within a radius of six hundred miles, and no trace of the _Lupetea_ was
+found, Mr. Raymond himself lost all hope."
+
+"How long was it before Mr. Raymond knew of what had occurred on board
+that night off Lotofanga?" she asked.
+
+"Mrs. Raymond herself told him on the following afternoon, when, to his
+astonishment, she arrived at Samatau in a native beat. It seems that
+after Hutton landed them--she, little Loise, and Olivee--on the reef,
+they were met by a party of natives who were returning from a fishing
+excursion. These people at once took them to the village, where, of
+course, they were very kindly treated.
+
+"Mrs. Raymond, who was half mad with anxiety for you, asked the chief
+to provide her with a boat to return to Samatau and tell her husband of
+what had happened. They left after an hour's rest and almost foundered
+in the same squall which overtook the _Lupetea_. However, they reached
+Samatau a little before sunset. Raymond at once sent Meredith and Rudd
+to Apia to charter two or even three local schooners to sail in search
+of the _Lupetea_, and for over a month whilst I was there a most
+unremitting search was kept up, and letters were sent all over the
+Pacific asking the traders at the various islands to keep a good
+look-out either for the schooner or any wreckage which might come
+ashore.
+
+"I arrived at Samatau in the _Esmeralda_ about a fortnight after Villari
+left there, and found Mrs. Raymond alone and distracted with fear for
+your safety. During the following week, one of the schooners which
+were out searching for you returned. Raymond was on board. He had been
+searching through the windward islands of the Fiji Group, but without of
+course finding a trace of the missing vessel. On the way back, though,
+they spoke a Tahitian barque, whose captain told them that the bodies of
+Hutton and the four men who were with him had been found on the reef at
+Savai'i a few days after the scoundrels had put Mrs. Raymond ashore at
+Lotofanga. The boat had evidently been driven ashore during the stormy
+weather which prevailed for three or four days afterwards.
+
+"After remaining ashore for a day only, Raymond again sailed--this time
+to make a search among the Friendly Islands; and I, with Mr. Rudd and
+Overseer Lorimer to assist me, sailed for the Solomon Group. We decided,
+instead of proceeding direct to the Solomons for our cargo of black
+humanity, to first cruise through the New Hebrides Group, in the hope we
+might learn something of the _Lupetea_."
+
+"It makes me feel as if I were a real missing princess, Captain Frewen."
+
+"So you were--until to-night. Well, from the New Hebrides we went north
+to the Solomons, where we were singularly fortunate in getting five
+hundred natives in a few weeks without any trouble. I landed them at
+Samatau without losing a single man, and they are now working on the new
+plantation as happy as sand-boys.
+
+"Raymond was at home when I returned, but there was still one vessel
+away looking for you--the cutter _Alrema and Niya_--and in fact we long
+since decided not to entirely abandon the search for a full year.
+
+"I left on a second trip for the Solomons just nine days ago, and we
+sighted this island early this morning. I did not think that we should
+hear anything of the _Lupetea_ so far to the westward--over a thousand
+miles from Samoa--but as three of our coloured crew are down with fever,
+I decided to anchor, leave them here in care of the natives, and also
+find out if any wreckage had been seen. We could not see any signs of
+houses on this side of the island, but did see a man making gestures to
+the ship from the reef; however, as I did not intend to go ashore until
+the morning, we did not lower a boat. You can imagine our surprise when
+the glare of a blue light was seen."
+
+"Mate's boat is alongside, sir," announced the bos'un.
+
+And in a few minutes the smiling Serena entered the cabin and placed
+little Marie in her mother's arms.
+
+  *            *            *            *            *
+
+Shortly after dawn the merry click of the windlass pawls told Mrs.
+Marston that the _Esmeralda_ was getting underweigh again for Samoa--for
+the projected voyage to the Solomon Islands was of course abandoned.
+Old Manning and his stalwart sons came off to say goodbye, and at Mrs.
+Marston's earnest request the trader consented to accept from her some
+hundreds of pounds' worth of trade goods from the well-filled storeroom
+of the _Esmeralda_.
+
+"Goodbye, Mrs. Marston, and God bless you and the little one, and give
+you all a safe passage to Samoa," he cried, as he descended the side
+into his boat.
+
+For many hours she remained on deck watching the green little island as
+it sunk astern, and thinking of the kindly-hearted old trader who had
+so cheered her by his simple piety and unobtrusive goodness. Then her
+thoughts turned joyfully to home--for the Raymonds' house was home to
+her--and she sighed contentedly as the gallant _Esmeralda_, with every
+stitch of canvas that could be set, slipped gracefully over the blue
+Pacific on an east-south-east course, for it was the month of November,
+and light westerly winds had set in.
+
+Two weeks on such a happy ship soon passed away, and then early one
+morning the grey dome of Mount Tofua stood out from the mantle of mist
+which hid its verdant sides; and ere the sun had dried the heavy night
+dews on the gaily-coloured crotons and waving pampas grass which grew
+just above the beach, the brave ship dropped anchor once more in Samatau
+Bay amidst a scene of the wildest confusion. For Raymond, as he had
+stood on the verandah with his wife, watching her sailing in, and
+wondering what had brought back Frewen so soon, saw this signal flying
+from her spanker gaff.
+
+                   O
+                   W
+                   S
+                   V
+
+                   B
+                   R
+                   C
+
+"What does it mean, Tom?" "Found. All well!" he shouted, and pitching
+his telescope clean over the tops of the wild orange-tree in front of
+the house, he rushed down to the beach, crying out the news as he ran.
+
+Boats, canoes, and _taumualuas_ by the score, all crowded with natives,
+who were shouting themselves hoarse, paddled furiously off to the ship;
+and ere her cable rattled through the hawse-pipe and the heavy anchor
+plunged down to its coral bed, her decks were filled with people, and
+Raymond, followed by the old chief Malie, was shaking hands warmly with
+"the missing princess" and her rescuer.
+
+*****
+
+It is night at Samatau, and the two ladies are sitting on the verandah.
+The house is very quiet.
+
+"Amy?"
+
+"Yes, Marie, dear."
+
+"Tom was asking me this morning if you have yet made up your mind to go
+on building that house."
+
+"Oh, dear, Marie. I have hardly given it a thought since I came
+back--and I've only been back a week!"
+
+"Amy?"
+
+"Marie?"
+
+"I suppose, dear, that Captain Frewen won't give up the _Esmeralda_
+altogether when he goes to America to see his people. He will come back,
+will he not?"
+
+Mrs. Marston blushed. "I--I think so, dear. Come inside, and I'll tell
+you."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's John Frewen, South Sea Whaler, by Louis Becke
+
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