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diff --git a/24953-8.txt b/24953-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bcf023 --- /dev/null +++ b/24953-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1376 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Flemmings And "Flash Harry" Of Savait, 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: The Flemmings And "Flash Harry" Of Savait + From "The Strange Adventure Of James Shervinton and Other + Stories" - 1902 + +Author: Louis Becke + +Release Date: March 29, 2008 [EBook #24953] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLEMMINGS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE FLEMMINGS and "FLASH HARRY" OF SAVAIT + +From "The Strange Adventure Of James Shervinton and Other Stories" - 1902 + +By Louis Becke + +T. FISHER UNWIN, 1902 + +LONDON + + + + +THE FLEMMINGS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +On a certain island in the Paumotu Group, known on the charts as Chain +Island, but called Anaa by the people themselves, lived a white man +named Martin Flemming, one of those restless wanderers who range the +Pacific in search of the fortune they always mean to gain, but which +never comes to them, except in some few instances--so few that they +might be counted on one's fingers. + +Two years had come and gone since Flemming had landed on the island +with his wife, family, and two native servants, and settled down as a +resident trader at the large and populous village of Tuuhora, where he +soon gained the respect and confidence--if not the friendship--of the +Anaa people, one of the proudest, most self-reliant, and brave of any +of the Polynesian race, or their offshoots. For though he was a keen +business man, he was just and honest in all his transactions, never +erring, as so many traders do, on the side of mistaken generosity, but +yet evincing a certain amount of liberality when the occasion justified +it--and the natives knew that when he told them that tobacco, or +biscuit, or rice, or gunpowder had risen in price in Tahiti or New +Zealand, and that he would also be compelled to raise his charges, they +knew that his statement was true--that he was a man above trickery, +either in his business or his social relations with them, and would not +descend to a lie for the sake of gain. + +Flemming, at this time, was about forty years of age; his wife, who +was an intelligent Hawaiian Islander, was ten years his junior, and the +mother of his three half-caste children--a boy of thirteen, another of +ten, and a girl of six. Such education as he could give them during +his continuous wanderings over the North and South Pacific had been but +scanty; for he was often away on trading cruises, and his wife, though +she could read and write, like all Hawaiian women, was not competent to +instruct her children, though in all other respects she was everything +that a mother should be, except, as Flemming would often tell her, she +was too indulgent and too ready to gratify their whims and fancies. +However, they were now not so much under her control, for soon after +coming to the island, he found that one of the three Marist Brothers +living at the mission was able to, and willing to give them a few hours' +instruction several times a week. For this, Flemming, who was really +anxious about his children's welfare, made a liberal payment to the +Mission, and the arrangement had worked very satisfactorily--Father +Billot, who was a good English scholar, giving them their lessons in +that language. + +I must now make mention of the remaining persons constituting the +trader's household--the two servants--one a man about thirty years +of age, the other not more than eighteen or nineteen. They were both +natives of Arorai (Hurd Island), one of the Eingsmill Group, and +situated something less than three degrees south of the Equator. +They had both taken service with him on their own island six years +previously, and had followed his and his family's fortunes ever since, +for they were both devotedly attached to the children; and when, a year +after he had settled on their island, misfortune befell him through +the destruction of his trading station by fire, and he found himself a +ruined man, they refused to leave him, and declared they would work +for him without payment until he was again in a position to begin +trading--no matter how long it might be ere that took place. + +For some months after the loss of all his property, Flemming worked +hard and lived meanly. Most fortunately for him, he had a very good +whaleboat, and night after night, and day after day, he and his two +faithful helpers, as long as the weather held fine, toiled at the +dangerous pursuit of shark-catching, cutting off the fins and tails, and +drying them in the sun, until finally he had secured over a ton's weight +of the ill-smelling commodity, for which he received Ł60 in cash from +the master of a Chinese-owned trading barque, which touched at the +island, and this amount enabled him to leave Arorai, and begin trading +elsewhere--in the great atoll of Butaritari, where owing to his +possessing a good boat, sturdy health, and great pluck and resolution, +his circumstances so mended that he came to look on the incident of the +fire as the best thing that could have happened. + +In appearance these two men were like nearly all the people of the +Kingsmill Group--dark-skinned, strongly built, and with a certain +fierceness of visage, born of their warlike and quarrelsome nature, and +which never leaves them, even in their old age. The elder of the two, +whose native name was Binoké, but who had been given the nickname of +"Tommy Topsail-tie," had this facial characteristic to a great degree, +and was, in addition, of a somewhat morbid and sullen disposition, +disliking all strangers. But he was yet the veriest slave to Flemming's +children, who tyrannised over him most mercilessly, for young as they +were, they knew that his savage heart had nothing in it but adoration +and affection for both them and their parents. Nobal, the younger man, +who also had a nickname--"Jack Waterwitch" (taken from a colonial +whaler in which he had once sailed) was of a more genial nature, and +had constituted himself the especial guardian and playmate of the little +girl Medora, who spoke his native tongue as well as himself; while Tommy +Topsail-tie was more attached, if it were possible, to Flemming's eldest +boy Robert, than to any other member of the family. + +After two or three years' successful trading in the northern islands of +the Kingsmill Group, Flemming had sold out his trading interests very +satisfactorily, and, always eager to go further afield, had sailed for +the Paumotu Group, choosing Anaa as his home, for he thought he should +like the people, and do very well as a trader, for the island was but a +few days' sail from Tahiti in the Society Group, where there was always +a good market for his produce, and where he could replenish his stock of +trade goods from the great mercantile firm of Brander--in those days the +Whiteleys of the South and Eastern Pacific. + +One afternoon, about six o'clock, when work at the trading station had +ceased for the day, and the store door had been shut and locked by Mrs. +Flemming, the trader was seated on his shady verandah, smoking a cigar +and listening to the prattle of his little daughter, when his two boys +raced up to him from the beach, and noisily asked him permission to take +the smallest of the boats (a ship's dinghy) and go fishing outside the +reef until the morning. They had just heard some natives crying out +that a vast shoal of _tau tau_--a large salmonlike fish, greatly prized +throughout the South Seas--had made their appearance, and already some +canoes were being got ready. + +"Who is going with you, boys?" asked Flemming, looking at their +deeply-bronzed, healthy faces--so like his own, though his hair had now +begun to grizzle about his sunburnt temples. + +"Jack and Tom, and two Anaa men," they replied, "they sent us to ask you +if they could come. They have finished the new roof for the oil-shed, +and want to go very badly. Say 'yes,' father." + +"All right boys. You may go. Tell your mother to give you plenty to eat +to take with you--for it's only six o'clock, and I suppose you won't be +home till daylight." + +The delighted boys tore into the house to get their fishing tackle, +whilst their mother, telling them to make less clamour, filled an empty +box with biscuit, bread, and tinned meats enough for the party of +six, and in less than ten minutes they were off again, shouting their +goodbyes as they raced through the gate, followed by a native woman +carrying the heavy box of food. + +Martin Flemming turned to his wife with a smile lighting up his somewhat +sombre face. + +"We shall have a quiet house to-night, Kaiulani," he said, calling her +by her Hawaiian name. + +"Which will be a treat for us, Martin. Those boys really make more noise +every day. And do you know what they have done now?" + +He shook his head. + +"They have a live hawkbill turtle in their room--quite a large one, +for I could scarcely move it--and have painted its back in five or six +colours. And they feed it on live fish; the room smells horribly." + +Flemming laughed. "I thought I could smell fresh paint about the house +yesterday. Never mind, 'Lani. It won't hurt the turtle." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +At seven o'clock on the following morning the boys had not returned, +and Martin Flemming, just as his wife brought him his cup of coffee, was +saying that they probably were still fishing, when he heard a sound that +made him spring to his feet--the long, hoarse, bellowing note of a conch +shell, repeated three times. + +"That's a call to arms!" he cried, "what does it mean, I wonder. Ah, +there is another sounding, too, from the far end of the village. I must +go and see what is the matter." + +Scarcely, however, had he put his foot outside his door when he heard +his boys' voices, and in another moment he saw them running or rather +staggering along the path together with a crowd of natives, who were all +wildly excited, and shouting at the top of their voices. + +"Father, father," and the eldest boy ran to him, and scarcely able to +stand, so exhausted was he, he flung himself down on the verandah steps, +"father, Jack and Tom, and the two Anaa men... been stolen by a strange +ship... we must... we must save them." + +Hastening inside, Flemming returned with a carafe of cold water, and +commanding the boys not to try to speak any more just then, he poured +some over their wrists, and then gave them a little in a glass to drink. +When they were sufficiently "winded," they told him their story, which +was, briefly, this. + +In company with two canoes, they had put out to sea and began fishing. +Then they parted company--the boat pulling round to the other side of +Anaa, where they fished with fair success till daylight. Suddenly a +small white-painted barque appeared, coming round the north end of +the island. She was under very easy canvas, and when she saw the boat, +backed her main-yard, and ran up her ensign. + +"They want us to come aboard," said Bob, hauling in his line. "Up lines +everybody." + +His companions at once pulled up their lines, and took to the oars, and +in a few minutes they were alongside the ship, and an officer leant over +the side of the poop, and asked them to come aboard. + +The boys ascended first, the four natives following; the former were at +once conducted into the barque's cabin, where the captain, an old +man with a white moustache, asked them their names, and then began to +question them as to the number of natives on the island, &c., when they +started to their feet with alarmed faces as they heard a sudden rush of +feet on deck, followed by oaths and cries, and Walter the younger of the +two, fancied, he heard his brother's name called by Jack Waterwitch. + +"Sit down, boys, sit down," said the captain, dropping his suave +manner, and speaking angrily, "you can go on deck and be off on shore +presently." As he spoke a man came below, and made a sign to him. + +"All right, sir." + +The captain nodded, and then told the boys to go on deck and get into +their boat. They at once obeyed, but the moment they reached the deck +they were surrounded by five or six of the crew, who hustled them to +the gangway, and forced them over the side, despite their struggles, and +their loud cries to their native friends, of whom they could see nothing +whatever. + +The boat's line was cast off, and as she fell astern the boys saw that +a number of sailors were aloft, loosing her light sails, and in a few +minutes she was some distance away from them, heading to the eastward +with a light breeze. As quickly as possible the two boys set the boat's +sail, and sailing and pulling, they ran straight for the weather side of +the island, crossed over the reef into the lagoon, and gave the alarm to +the first people they met. + +"Good lads," said Flemming, "you have done all that you could do. We +shall see presently what can be done to save our men." + +Then turning to his wife, he bade her get ready enough provision for +his three boats, and have them launched and manned by their usual crews, +whilst he went to the mission to consult with Father Billot and the +chiefs, for he had already heard from one of the excited natives that +the barque was still very near the land, and almost becalmed; and he +knew that the Anaa natives would to a man assist him in recovering the +four men from captivity. + +Half way to the mission house, he met the priest himself, hurrying along +the shaded path, to tell him the further news that the two canoes which +had accompanied the boat had just returned, after narrowly escaping +capture by the barque. It appeared that they, too, had seen the barque +crawling along under the lee of the land and close in to the reef, just +as daylight broke, and from the number of boats she carried--she had +two towing, as well as three others on deck--they imagined her to be +a whaler. They paddled up alongside without the slightest suspicion +of danger, and three or four of their number in the first canoe were +clambering up the side when they suddenly sprang overboard, just as +three or four grapnels with light chains were thrown from the bulwarks +over the canoes so as to catch their outriggers, and capsize them. Most +fortunately, however, only one of the grapnels caught--it fell upon the +wooden grating or platform between the outrigger and the hull of +one canoe, and was quickly torn away by the desperate hands of the +natives--in less than a minute both canoes were clear of the ship, and +racing shoreward without the loss of a single man. No attempt was made +to follow them in the barque's boats, her ruffianly captain and crew +evidently recognising that there was no chance of overtaking them when +the land was so near. + +"The villains!" exclaimed Flemming, as he and the priest set off at a +run to the house of the head chief, who had just sent an urgent message +for them to come and meet him and his leading men in counsel, "she must +be a slaver from the coast of South America." + +The consultation with the chiefs was a hurried one, and a resolution +to board the barque and recapture the four men if possible, was quickly +arrived at. Over thirty canoes, and five or six boats, manned and armed +by nearly two hundred of the picked men of the island, and led by Martin +Flemming and three chiefs, were soon underway, and passing out through +the narrow passage in the reef, went northward till they rounded the +point, and saw the barque about five miles away. She had every stitch of +canvas set, but was making little more than steerage way, for only the +faintest air was filling her upper canvas. + +The canoes and boats, at Flemming's suggestion, approached her in a +half-circle, his own boat leading. It was his intention to recover the +men if possible, without bloodshed, and he would first make an attempt +to board the slaver--for such she was--and alone try to achieve the +men's liberation by pointing out to the captain that his ship would be +captured and destroyed by the infuriated natives if he refused. If he +did refuse there would be a heavy loss of life--of that he (Flemming) +was certain. + +Apparently no notice was taken by the barque of the approaching +flotilla, until it was within three quarters of a mile, then she hauled +up her mainsail, came slowly to the wind, and began firing with two of +the four guns she carried--nine-pounders. Flemming at once ordered all +the other boats and canoes to cease pulling and paddling, and he went on +alone. He was not again fired at till he came within a quarter of a mile +of the vessel, when a volley of musketry was fired, together with the +two heavy guns, both of which were loaded with grape. How any one of +them in the boat escaped was a marvel, for the bullets lashed the water +into foam only a few yards ahead, and some, ricochetting, struck and +damaged two of the oars. + +To advance in face of such a fire would be madness. The barque evidently +carried a large and well-armed crew, so he slewed round and pulled +towards the little fleet, as those on the slaver yelled derisively, and +again began firing with the nine-pounders, and small arms as well. + +And then, to his bitter rage and disappointment, a puff of wind came +over from the westward, and the barque's sails filled. In ten minutes +she was slipping through the water so quickly that she was leaving them +astern fast, and in another hour she had swept round the south end of +the land, and they saw her no more. + +Sad and dejected, he and his native friends returned to Tuuhora, and +drawing up their boats and canoes, went to their homes in silence. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TEN years had passed, and fortune had proved kind to Martin Flemming and +his family, who were now, with the exception of the eldest son, settled +on the island of Barotonga, one of the Cook's Group. + +For some years after the abduction of the four unfortunate natives, +Flemming had tried every possible means of ascertaining their fate, and +at first thought that he would succeed, for within a few weeks after +the visit of the barque to Anaa, there came news of similar outrages +perpetrated by three vessels, through the Ellice, Line Islands and +Paumotu Group. One of these vessels was a barque, the others were brigs, +and all sailed under Peruvian colours, though many of the officers were +Englishmen. + +In one instance they had descended upon the unsuspecting inhabitants of +the island of Nukulaelae in the Ellice Group, and carried off almost the +entire population, and at Easter Island--far to the eastward, over +three hundred unfortunate natives were seized under circumstances of the +grossest treachery and violence, and manacled together, taken away to +end their days as slaves in working the guano deposits on the Chincha +Islands, off the coast of South America. + +Though not then a rich man, Flemming at his own expense made a long and +tedious voyage to the Ghinchas. By the time he arrived there nearly a +year had elapsed since the four men had been stolen, and he found that +both the British and French Governments had compelled the Peruvian +Government to restore all of the wretched survivors--there were but +few, alas!--to their homes. Over one hundred of the wretched beings had +perished of disease in the hot and stifling holds of the slavers; scores +of them, attempting to regain their liberty, had been shot down, and the +fearful toil in the guano pits of the Ghincha Islands carried off many +more. + +At the Chincha Islands he was unable to gain any definite information +about the four men, but was told that the British Consul at Gallao might +be able to tell him what had become of them--whether they had died or +had been among those restored to their homes. So to Gallao be went, for +he was ever bearing in mind the grief of his children at the loss of +their dear "Tommy Topsail-tie" and "Jacky Waterwitch," and his promise +to them that if they and their Anaa companions were alive he would bring +them back. + +But a bitter disappointment awaited him at Gallao--for the Consul, who +had been largely instrumental in forcing the Peruvian Government to +liberate the captured people, gave him absolute proof that none of the +four men had reached the Ghinchas, for he had obtained a great deal of +information from the survivors, all of which he had carefully recorded. + +"Here is what Vili, a native of Nukulaelae, told me, Mr. Flemming. He +was one of those who were captured by the barque, and was rather well +treated by the captain on account of his speaking English, being put +into the mate's watch as he had been to sea for many years in whale +ships. He says:-- + +'After we of Nukulaelae had been on board the barque for about twenty +days, we came to an island in the Paumotus, where the captain tried to +capture two canoes full of natives but failed, though quite soon after +he seized four from a boat, and they were carried down into the hold +and ironed, for they had fought very hard and all were much hurt and +bleeding. I spoke to them and they told me that they had been out +fishing with the two sons of a white man, who was a trader on the +island. The captain did not hurt the two boys, but let them go. Then a +lot of canoes and boats came off and the ship fired her cannons at them, +and drove them away. + +'Next day we met another ship, a small schooner, flying the German flag, +and her captain came on board our ship and had a long talk with our +captain, and presently an officer and six men came down into the hold, +and took the irons off nine men and drove them on deck. Among these men +were the four who were taken from the boat. The captain of the schooner +paid our captain money for them, and took them on board his vessel, +which then sailed away.' + +"Now, Mr. Flemming," resumed the Consul, "that is all I can tell you. +I have written to the British Consul at Apia in Samoa, and at Levuka in +Fiji, asking them to endeavour to find out the schooner's name and trace +the nine men. I have no doubt but that she was some Fijian or Samoan +'blackbirder,' and that the poor devils are working on some of the +plantations in either Fiji, Samoa or Tonga. There is, therefore, good +reason for you to hope that you will succeed in your search. I shall +gladly give you all the assistance in my power to facilitate your +enquiries." + +Returning to Anaa, Flemming, through the aid of the French authorities +in Tahiti, placed himself in communication with the British Consuls in +Fiji and Samoa, telling them the details of the capture of the four +men and of their transference with five others to another vessel, and +enclosing a sum of money--all he could spare--to be given to Tommy +Topsail-tie so that he and his three companions might be enabled to find +their way back to Anaa. + +At the end of another long weary year of hopeful expectation, he +received replies from the Consuls, returning the money he had sent, and +saying that after most careful inquiries, they could learn nothing of +the nine men; but that they (the Consuls) had strong reason to believe +that the schooner to which they had been transferred was a notorious +German "blackbirder" named the _Samoa_, though the captain and the crew +swore they knew nothing of the matter. + +"It is quite possible," they said in their joint report, "that some or +all of the men are on one of the German plantations in Samoa or Tonga, +and that you will yet discover them. But the German Consuls will give +us no assistance, and absolutely decline to permit us to send any one to +visit the plantations, unless the managers or owners are agreeable. And, +as you can imagine, the owners and managers are _not_ agreeable, and +have declined in terms of great rudeness to even supply us with the +names of any of their labourers, or the names of the various islands +from which they come." + +But even in face of this Flemming did not despair, and told his wife and +children, who could not restrain their tears when they read the Consuls' +report, that he would not let the matter rest. He had several friends +in Samoa and Fiji--merchants, traders and ship captains, and to them he +wrote asking them to institute enquiries quietly, and let him know the +result. + +After spending another five years on Anaa, during which time he had +heard nothing of the missing men, he determined to settle on Rarotonga, +where there was an excellent opportunity of making money. His eldest +boy by this time was almost a grown man, and was earning his living as a +supercargo of a trading vessel, running between Auckland in New Zealand +and the various groups of islands in the South Pacific. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +In the quiet little harbour of Mulifanua, situated at the western end of +the island of Upolu, a fine-looking brigantine was lying at anchor, and +the captain and supercargo were pacing the deck together enjoying their +after-breakfast pipes. + +The brigantine was the _Maori Maid_ of Auckland, Captain Heselton, +and the supercargo was young Robert Flemming. The vessel had run into +Mulifanua Harbour owing to her having struck on a reef a few days +previously whilst beating up against the south-east trades from Wallis +Island to Leone Bay, a port on the island of Tutuila, one of the Samoan +Group, and as she was leaking rather seriously her captain decided to +run into Mulifanua, put her on the beach, and get at the leak or leaks. + +"There is no need for you to stay on board, Bob," said Heselton +presently to his young supercargo. "Go ashore and stay ashore until we +are ready for sea again. All going well we'll find out where the damage +is by this time to-morrow, and be afloat again in a few days. But there +is nothing to keep you aboard, and you might as well put in your time +shooting or otherwise enjoying yourself; why not go and have a look at +Goddeffroy's big plantation? It's only about a couple of miles away." + +"Thank you, captain, I think I shall. As you know for years past I have +always been hoping that during one of our cruises, I might come across +some native or other on one of these plantations who might be able to +tell me something about those four poor fellows who were collared by +that Peruvian barque ten years ago. And this plantation of Goddeffroy's +is one of the biggest in the South Seas--there are over seven hundred +labourers, Line Islanders, Solomon Islanders, New Britain niggers and +heaven knows what else." + +"Well, you'll have a good chance now. And look here, Bob--take your +time, a day or two more or less doesn't matter to us. I shall have +plenty to do even after I get at this confounded leak. The rigging wants +setting up badly, so we may be here any time under a week." + +"Right. I'll go and have a look at the plantation; and if the manager is +a decent sort of a Dutchman he might put me up. If he's a hog--which +he probably is--I'll go to the native village, sleep there to-night and +have a day's pigeon-shooting to-morrow." + +Just then a boat was seen putting off from the shore, manned by Samoans, +but steered by a white man, who as soon as he came on deck introduced +himself as the local trader. He was a quiet, good-natured old fellow--an +Englishman--and as soon as he learned of the mishap to the brigantine, +at once offered to get a gang of natives to assist in beaching her; and +then pressed Flemming to make his house his home during the stay of the +vessel. + +"Thank you," replied the young man, "I shall be very pleased. I want to +have a look at the big plantation here and try to have a yarn with some +of the Eingsmill Island labourers." Then he told the trader, who was +much interested, the object he had in view. + +"I'm sure that the manager will let you talk to any of the labourers," +he said, "for he's one of the 'White men' kind of Dutchmen. His name +is Knorr. He succeeded a regular brute of a man who used to flog the +plantation hands right and left. A lot of them have run away during the +past six or seven years and have taken to the mountains. They are all +armed, and sometimes, when they are in want of food, will lay the Samoan +villages under tribute, and if any resistance is shown, they set fire to +the houses. The Samoans are terribly afraid of them, for there are two +or three cannibal Solomon Islanders among them, and a Samoan has a holy +terror of a man-eater." + +"Why don't the Dutchmen capture the beggars?" asked the captain. "There +are enough of them in Samoa." + +The old trader laughed--"Ay, too many, sir; too many for us poor English +traders. But they have tried, time and time again, to capture these +fellows, but only got badly mauled in two or three fights. There is a +standing reward of two hundred dollars for every one of them, dead or +alive, and about a year ago ten flash young Samoan _manaias_{*} set out, +well armed and well primed with grog, to surprise the escapees, who were +known to be living in an almost inaccessible part of the mountains. Only +four of the ten came back; the other six were shot down one by one as +they were climbing the side of a mountain, and these four were made +prisoners by the outlaws, who gave them such a fright that they will +never get over it. It was as good as any novel to hear them talk about +it, I can assure you." + + * Warriors or rather would-be warriors--young men whom the + local white men usually speak of as "bucks,"--i.e., flashy, + saucy fellows. + +"Go on, tell us the whole yarn," said the skipper of the _Maori Maid_, +as he pushed a decanter of brandy towards his visitor, and take a cigar. +"It's pleasant to meet an Englishman in these Dutchman-infested islands, +especially when he has a good yarn to spin." + +"The yarn isn't a pleasant one, captain," said the trader. "It's a +d------d unpleasant one, but it's true, sir." + +He lit a cigar and then resumed: "Well, after six of these flash young +fellows were shot down, the other four dropped their rifles and cried +out, _Fia ola! Fia ola!_ (Quarter! Quarter!) and in a few minutes about +a dozen of the escapees made their appearance, took away their rifles +and cartridges, and tying their arms behind their backs made them march +in front of them up the mountain-side till they came to a bit of a +thicket in which were four or five small huts. Telling their prisoners +to sit down, half of their number went away, returning in half an hour +with the six heads of the men who had been shot. + +"Take these heads back with you," said one of the outlaws, who could +speak Samoan, "and tell all Mulifanua that we are strong men. We fear +no one, for we have plenty of guns and cartridges, and five hundred men +such as you cannot take us. And say to the chief of the village, that on +every fourth day, food for us must be brought to the foot of the eastern +spur of the mountain. If this be not done, then shall we kill all whom +we meet--men, women or children. Now go and tell the man who flogged +us that some day we shall cook and eat his head, for we are very strong +men.' + +"Well, the four poor trembling beggars were liberated, and carrying +the six heads of their comrades, they went back, and their story so +terrified the people of Mulifanua that no further attempt was ever made +to capture the outlaws. And although the Germans don't know of it, the +villagers are to this very day, gentlemen, supplying these dangerous +devils with food, and I know for a fact that sometimes two or three of +them come down from the mountains and sleep in the village without fear. +They have never troubled me; but very often a native boy or girl will +come to me and buy a 28-lb. bag of shot, caps and powder, and I know +perfectly well that it is for the 'wild men,' as the people here call +the escaped men. Every one of them has not only a rifle, but a shot-gun +as well, for they one night broke into the plantation store and carried +off all the rifles and guns they could find." + +"Take care, Bob, that they don't take some pot shots at you," said the +captain, with a laugh, as his supercargo rose to get ready to go ashore +with the trader. + +"They would if they thought Mr. Hemming was a German from the +plantation," said the trader, seriously, "so you had better not go too +far away when you are shooting, unless you take a native guide with you. +For, as I have said before, these men and the people of the village +are now, I really believe, in secret friendship, or rather alliance--an +alliance born out of terror on one side and savage desperation on the +other." + +A few minutes later young Flemming and the trader were being pulled +ashore. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The German manager of the great plantation proved to be, as the old +trader had said, "one of the white-men kind of Dutchmen." He received +the young supercargo most hospitably, and insisted upon his remaining to +lunch, and when Flemming told him frankly of the long quest for the four +missing men, he at once became deeply sympathetic. + +"You shall see every one of the six or seven hundred natives I have +working for me, Mr. Flemming. They are all now scattered about in +different portions of the plantation, but at five o'clock, when they +knock off, I shall have them all mustered. But I am almost certain that +you will not find any one of the nine who were transferred from the +Peruvian slaver to the German 'black-birder,' for I have always taken +an interest in these people, and know pretty well from where they all +come. My predecessor here was very rough with them--the less I say about +him the better--and there is now quite a number of runaways living in +the bush. They have defied all efforts to capture them. Who they are, +and where they come from, I cannot well tell, for the former manager +never kept an accurate account of the numbers of new arrivals brought +here by the various labour vessels, nor did he specify in his books, as +he should have done, from what particular islands they came. 'Natives' +he considered to be a sufficient designation, and 'three years' or +'six years' indicated the time for which they were engaged. He left the +identification of themselves and their islands to the captains of the +various vessels which, at the end of their time, take them back again." + +"I wonder if it is possible that the four men I am looking for are among +the outlaws," said Flemming. + +"Possible, quite possible," replied the manager, "but you will never be +able to see them if they are. The gang is very desperate and determined, +and though they have no animus against me personally, they would shoot +me, or you, or any white man who attempted to get into communication +with them." + +After a little further conversation with the manager, Flemming said he +would have a few hours' pigeon-shooting, returning in time to see the +plantation hands mustered. Knorr wished him to take a Samoan guide, but +the young man laughingly reminded him that he was half a native himself, +and from his infancy almost had been used to wandering about the +mountain forests of the islands of Micronesia and Polynesia; so, bidding +his host good morning, he shouldered his gun and set off, and in another +hour was ascending the first spur of the mountain range, which traverses +the island of Upolu from one end to the other. + +He had a reason for declining the services of a guide, for he had +determined to attempt to reach the outlaws' refuge, and, at the risk +of his life, finding out if Tommy Topsail-tie and Jack Waterwitch were +among them. The old trader had told him that one of their number was a +very big man, whose legs, back, and neck were tattooed as the Kingsmill +Islanders tattoo, and he (Flemming) had formed the idea, since his +conversation with the manager of the plantation, that this big man was +Binoké--the dear friend of his boyhood's days, the ever-wanted "Tommy +Topsail-tie" of his brother and his sister Medora, the man who, with +Jack Waterwitch, had stood to his father and mother in their poverty and +distress, and had toiled night and day for them without recompense. + +As he walked over the soft carpet of fallen leaves which covered the +mountain-side so thickly that no sound came from his footsteps, +he listened carefully. He knew that he was proceeding in the right +direction for the outlaws' refuge--the direction the plantation manager +had impressed on him to avoid--and after a two hours' stiff climb he +found himself on the summit of the spur and overlooking the harbour. Far +below him he could see the _Maori Maid_ being hauled on to the beach, +and eight miles away the beautiful little island of Manono lay basking +in the sun on a sea of deepest, glorious blue. + +Suddenly he heard a sound, a faint, soft creeping on the ground +somewhere near him, and he knew that it was the sound of a human +footstep, and that he was watched. + +He laid down his gun, and stood up and pretended to closely scan +the thick, leafy canopy of the mighty trees overhead, as if he were +searching for pigeons. Then his voice rang out clearly, and echoed and +re-echoed in the grey and silent forest aisles. + +"Binoké, Binoké! 'Tis I! Nobal, Nobal! 'Tis I who call! Tis I, Papu +(Bob), of Anaa! I, who have sought thee long. Binoké! Nohal!" + +Then came a sudden rush of feet and brown, naked bodies from all around, +and in another moment the young man was almost lifted off hid feet by +Tommy Topsail-tie, who, clasping his mighty arms around him, pressed him +passionately to his bosom. + +"My boy, my boy!... See, 'tis I, Binoké, thy friend, thy slave, thy +Binoké!" and then the savage creature wept as only wild people such as +he was weep from excess of joy. + +In a few minutes Flemming was hurried along by the friendly hands of +six or eight of the "wild men" to their refuge further up on the +mountain-side, where he found not only "Jack Waterwitch," but one of +the Anaa natives, who had been carried off ten years before; the other +native of Anaa, he was told by Tommy Topsail-tie, had died a year or two +previously. There were, he found, twelve natives in all--Topsail-tie, +who was their leader, Jack Waterwitch, the Anaa man, four Solomon +Islanders, and five others from various islands. + +For an hour or more the young man conversed with his old friends, who +delightedly agreed to leave their mountain retreat and go on board the +brigantine as soon as she was ready to sail. The remaining eight men, +however, refused to leave, although Flemming told them that they could +all come down from the mountain at night-time, and be very easily stowed +away on board, and that even if they were discovered the captain would +be able to protect them, should the German manager make any demand +for them to be delivered over to him. But all his arguments were in +vain--they shook their heads and said that never, again would they go, +willingly or unwillingly, upon the deep sea. + +Then the supercargo and Topsail-tie made their plans, and after spending +another hour or so with the escapees, Flemming shook hands with them +all, and guided by Nobal, returned to the base of the mountain. + +Here he parted from his companion, who quickly plunged into the forest +again, and reached the plantation just as the manager was mustering the +plantation hands for his inspection. Not deeming it advisable to tell +his host of the discovery he had just made, he yet tried to display as +much interest as possible, and after walking up and down the triple rows +of men and looking at them rapidly one by one, he said that there was no +one of them whom he had ever seen before. Then the manager dismissed the +men, and Flemming, thanking him for his kindness, hurried on board and +told his story to Captain Heselton. + +Two days afterwards the _Maori Maid_ was sailing slowly out through +Mulifanua passage. Flemming, with the skipper beside him, was standing +on the poop, looking for'ard. + +"Tell them they can come up on deck now, boatswain," he cried, "we are a +good mile off the land." + +And then the three of the four men from whom he and his brother had +parted ten years before rushed up from the hold, knelt at his feet, and +laughing and sobbing like children, threw their brown arms around his +legs. + +Binoké rose, and stretching out his huge right arm towards the rising +sun, turned his black eyes on "the boy" he so loved. + +"Is it to the east we sail, Papu?" + +"Ay, to the east, Binoké, far, far to the east, to a fair, fair land +with green mountains and falling streams. And there awaits us my father +and mother, and my brother, and Medora. And they will be well content +with me, for never hast thou and Nobal been forgotten." + + + + + +"FLASH HARRY" OF SAVAIT + +Nearly thirty years ago, when the late King Malietoa of Samoa was +quietly arming his own adherents and conciliating his rebel chiefs in +order to combine against the persistent encroachments of the Germans, +I was running a small trading cutter between Upolu and Savaii, the two +principal islands of the group. + +One day I arrived in Apia Harbour with a cargo of yams which I was +selling to an American man-of-war, the _Resacca_. I went alongside at +once, had the yams weighed and received my money from the paymaster, +and then went ashore for a bathe in the Vaisigago River, a lovely little +stream which, taking its rise in the mountains, debouches into Apia +Harbour. Here I was joined by an old friend, Captain Hamilton, the local +pilot, who, stripping off his clothes, plunged into the water beside me. + +As we were laughing and chatting and thoroughly enjoying ourselves, +a party of natives--young men and boys--emerged from the trees on the +opposite bank, and casting off their scanty garments, boisterously +entered the water and began disporting themselves, and then to my +surprise I saw that their leader was a white man, tattoed in every +respect, like a Samoan. He appeared to be about thirty years of age, was +clean-shaven, and had bright red hair. + +"Who is that fellow?" I inquired. + +"One of the biggest scoundrels in the Pacific," replied my companion, +"'Flash Harry' from Savaii. He deserted from either the _Brisk_ (or the +_Zealous_) British man-of-war, about seven years ago, and although the +commanders of several other British warships have tried to get him, they +have failed. He is the pet _protégé_ of one of the most powerful chiefs +in Savaii, and laughs at all attempts to catch him. To my knowledge he +has committed four atrocious murders, and, in addition to that, he is +a drunken, foul-mouthed blackguard. He only comes to Apia +occasionally--when there is no British man-of-war about--and paints +the town red, for although he is merely a loafing beachcomber, he is +liberally supplied with money by his chief, and possesses an extensive +harem as well. He simply terrorises the town when he breaks out, and +insults every timid European, male and female, whom he meets." + +"Why doesn't some one put a bullet through him?" + +"Ah, now you're asking! Why? Porter" (a respectable Samoan trader) +"told him that he would riddle him if he came inside his fence, and the +scoundrel knows _me_ well enough not to come into my place with anything +but a civil word on his foul tongue; but then you see, Porter and I +are Americans. If either or both of us shot the man no commander of an +American man-of-war would do more than publicly reprimand us for taking +the law into our own hands; but if you or any other Englishman killed +the vermin, you would be taken to Fiji by the first man-of-war that +called here, put on your trial for murder, and, if you escaped hanging, +get a pretty turn of penal servitude in Fiji gaol." + +We finished our bathe, dressed, and set out for Hamilton's house on +Matautu Point, for he had asked me to have supper with him. On our way +thither we met the master of a German barque, then in port, and were +chatting with him in the middle of the road, when Mr. "Flash Harry" and +his retinue of _manaia_ (young bucks) overtook us. + +The path being rather narrow we drew aside a few paces to let them pass, +but at a sign from their leader they stopped. He nodded to Hamilton and +the German captain (neither of whom took any notice of him) then fixed +his eyes insolently on me and held out his hand. + +"How do yer do, Mister. You're a nice sort of a cove not to come and see +me when you pass my place in your cutter"--then with sudden fury as I +put my hands in my pockets--"you, you young cock-a-hoopy swine, do you +mean to say you don't mean to shake hands with a white man?" + +"Not with you, anyway," I answered. + +"Then the next time I see you I'll pull your ------ arm out of the +socket," he said, with an oath, and turning on his heel he went off with +his following of bucks. All of them were armed with rifles and the long +beheading knives called _Nifa oti_ (death-knife), and as we three had +nothing but our fists we should have had a bad time had they attacked +us, for we were in an unfrequented part of the beach and would have been +half murdered before assistance came. But in Samoa in those days street +brawls were common. + +"The next time you _do_ meet him," said Hamilton as we resumed our walk, +"don't give him a chance. Drill a hole through him as soon as he gets +within ten paces, and then clear out of Samoa as quick as you can." + +* * * * * + +Quite a month after this I had to visit the little port of Asaua on +the Island of Savaii; and as I was aware that "Flash Harry" was in the +vicinity of the place on a _malaga_, or pleasure trip, I kept a sharp +lookout for him, and always carried with me in my jumper pocket a small +but heavy Derringer, the bullet of which was as big as that of a Snider +rifle. I did not want to have my arm pulled out of the socket, and knew +that "Flash Harry," being twice my weight almost, would give me a sad +time if he could once get within hitting distance of me, for like most +men-of-war's men he was very smart with his hands, and I was but a +stripling--not yet twenty. + +I had come to Asaua with a load of timber to be used in the construction +of a church for the French Mission, and in the evening went to the +resident priest to obtain a receipt for delivery. As he could not +speak English and I could not speak French we had to struggle along in +Samoan--to our mutual amusement. However, we got along very well, and I +was about to accept his hospitable offer to remain and have sapper with +him when a young chief whom I knew, named Ulofanua ("Top of a High +Tree") came in hurriedly and told us that "Flash Harry" and ten or +fifteen young men, all more or less drunk, were coming to the village +that night with the avowed intention of boarding the cutter under the +pretence of trading, seizing all the liquor and giving me a father of a +beating--the latter to avenge the insult of a month before. + +Laughingly telling the priest that under the circumstances discretion +was the better part of valour, I bade him goodbye, walked down to my +boat, which was lying on the beach, and with two native sailors pulling, +we started for the cutter, a mile away. The night was beautifully calm, +but dark, and as I was not well acquainted with the inner part of Asaua +Harbour and could not see my way, I several times ran the boat on +to submerged coral boulders; and, finally, lost the narrow channel +altogether. + +Then I told one of my men, a sturdy, splendid specimen of a native of +the Gilbert Islands named Te Manu Uraura ("Bed Bird") to come aft +and take the steer oar, knowing that his eyesight, like that of all +Polynesians, was better than that of any white man. + +"Come here, Te Manu, and steer, I'll take your oar. Your eyes are better +than mine." + +The poor fellow laughed good-naturedly, and I little thought that this +simple request of mine would be the cause of his being a cripple for +life. He came aft, took the steer oar from me, and I, seating myself on +the after thwart, began to pull. We were at this time about thirty yards +from the beach, and between it and the inner reef of the harbour. We +sent the boat along for two or three hundred yards without a hitch, +and I was thinking of what my cook would have for my supper, when we +suddenly plumped into a patch of dead coral and stuck hard and fast. + +Knowing that the tide was falling, we all jumped out, and pushed the +boat off into deeper water as quickly as possible, just as half a dozen +bright torches of coco-nut leaves flared up on the shore and revealed +the boat dimly to those who were holding them. + +At first I imagined that the chief of the village had sent some of his +people to help us through the channel, but I was quickly undeceived when +I heard "Flash Harry's" voice. + +"I've got you now, my saucy young quarter-deck-style-of-pup. Slew round +and come ashore, or I'll blow your head off." + +One glance ashore showed me that we were in a desperate position. "Flash +Harry," who was all but stark-naked--he had only a girdle of _ti_ tree +leaves round his waist--was covering the boat with his Winchester rifle, +and his followers, armed with other guns, were ready to fire a volley +into us, although most of them were pretty well drunk. + +"They can't hit us, Te Manu," I cried to the Gilbert Islander, whose +inborn fighting proclivities were showing in his gleaming eyes and +short, panting breaths, "most of them have no cartridges in their guns, +and they are all too drunk to shoot straight. Let us go on!" + +Te Manu gripped the haft of the steer oar and swung the boat's head +round, and then I and the other native at the bow oar--a mere boy of +sixteen--pulled for all we were worth just as "Flash Harry" dropped on +one knee and fired. + +Poor Te Manu swayed to and fro for a few moments and then cried out, "He +has broken my hand, sir! But go on, pull, pull hard!" + +Under a spattering fire from the beachcomber's drunken companions we +pulled out into deeper water and safety, and then, shipping my oar, I +sprang to Te Manu's aid. The bullet had struck him in the back of the +right hand and literally cut off three of the poor fellow's knuckles. +I did what I could to stop the loss of blood, and told him to sit +down, but he refused, and although suffering intense pain, insisted on +steering with his left hand. As soon as we reached the cutter I at +once hove up anchor and stood along the coast before a strong breeze +to Matautu Harbour, where I was able to have the man's hand properly +attended to. He never recovered the use of it again except in a slight +degree. + +I never saw "Flash Harry" again, for a few months later I left Samoa +for the Caroline Group, and when I returned a year afterwards I was told +that he had at last found the country too hot for him and had left the +island in a German "blackbirder" bound to the Solomon Islands. + +***** + +Quite six years had passed, and then I learnt, in a somewhat curious +manner, what became of him. One day in Sydney, New South Wales, three +captains and myself met for lunch at the Paragon Hotel, on Circular +Quay. We were all engaged in the South Sea trade, and one of the +company, who was a stranger to me, had just returned from the Solomon +Islands, with which group and its murderous, cannibal people he was very +familiar. (He was himself destined to be killed there with his ship's +company in 1884.) He was a young man who had had some very narrow +escapes and some very thrilling experiences, some of which he narrated. + +We were talking of the massacre of Captain Ferguson and the crew of the +Sydney trading steamer _Ripple_, by the natives of Bougainville Island +in the Solomon Group, when our friend remarked-- + +"Ah, poor Ferguson ought to have been more careful. Why, the very +chief of that village at Numa Numa--the man who cut him down with a +tomahawk--had killed two other white men. Ferguson knew that, and yet +would allow him to come aboard time after time with hundreds of his +people, and gave him and them the run of his ship. I knew the fellow +well. He told me to my face, the first time I met him, that he had +killed and eaten two white men." + +"Who were they?" I asked. + +"One was a man trading for Captain MacLeod of New Caledonia; the other +chap was some beachcombing fellow who had been kicked ashore at Numa +Numa by his skipper. I heard he came from Samoa originally. Anyway the +chief told me that as soon as the ship that had put the man ashore had +sailed, he was speared through the back as he was drinking a coco-nut. + +"When they stripped off his clothes to make him ready for the oven, they +found he was tattoed, Samoan fashion, from the waist to the knees. Then, +as he had red hair, they cut off his head and smoke-dried it, instead of +eating it with the rest of the body; they kept it as an ornament for the +stem of a big canoe. A white man's head is a great thing at any time for +a canoe's figurehead in the Solomons, but a white man's head with red +hair is a great _mana_" (mascotte). + +Then I told him that I had known the man, and gave him his antecedents. + +"Ah," he said, "I daresay if you had been there you would have felt as +if you could have eaten a bit of the beggar yourself." + +"I certainly do feel pleased that he's settled," I replied, as I thought +of poor Red Bird's hand. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Flemmings And "Flash Harry" Of +Savait, by Louis Becke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLEMMINGS *** + +***** This file should be named 24953-8.txt or 24953-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/9/5/24953/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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