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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3818-h.zip b/3818-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2c92c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/3818-h.zip diff --git a/3818-h/3818-h.htm b/3818-h/3818-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2715c2d --- /dev/null +++ b/3818-h/3818-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6205 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of By Reef and Palm, by Louis Becke +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of By Reef and Palm, 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: By Reef and Palm + +Author: Louis Becke + +Posting Date: June 20, 2009 [EBook #3818] +Release Date: March, 2003 +First Posted: September 24, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY REEF AND PALM *** + + + + +Produced by Col Choat. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +By Reef and Palm +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Louis Becke +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<H4> + <A HREF="#intro">INTRODUCTION</A><BR> + <A HREF="#challis">CHALLIS THE DOUBTER</A><BR> + <A HREF="#blood">"'TIS IN THE BLOOD"</A><BR> + <A HREF="#revenge">THE REVENGE OF MACY O'SHEA</A><BR> + <A HREF="#rangers">THE RANGERS OF TIA KAU</A><BR> + <A HREF="#pallou">PALLOU'S TALOI</A><BR> + <A HREF="#basket">A BASKET OF BREAD-FRUIT</A><BR> + <A HREF="#enderby">ENDERBY'S COURTSHIP</A><BR> + <A HREF="#charley">LONG CHARLEY'S GOOD LITTLE WIFE</A><BR> + <A HREF="#burr">THE METHODICAL MR BURR OF MAJURU</A><BR> + <A HREF="#great">A TRULY GREAT MAN</A><BR> + <A HREF="#doctor">THE DOCTOR'S WIFE</A><BR> + <A HREF="#alida">THE FATE OF THE ALIDA</A><BR> + <A HREF="#bluejacket">THE CHILIAN BLUEJACKET</A><BR> + <A HREF="#brantley">BRANTLEY OF VAHITAHI</A><BR> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="intro"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INTRODUCTION +</H3> + +<P> +When in October, 1870, I sailed into the harbour of Apia, Samoa, in the +ill-fated ALBATROSS, Mr Louis Becke was gaining his first experiences +of island life as a trader on his own account by running a cutter +between Apia and Savai'i. +</P> + +<P> +It was rather a notable moment in Apia, for two reasons. In the first +place, the German traders were shaking in their shoes for fear of what +the French squadron might do to them, and we were the bearers of the +good news from Tahiti that the chivalrous Admiral Clouet, with a very +proper magnanimity, had decided not to molest them; and, secondly, the +beach was still seething with excitement over the departure on the +previous day of the pirate Pease, carrying with him the yet more +illustrious "Bully" Hayes. +</P> + +<P> +It happened in this wise. A month or two before our arrival, Hayes had +dropped anchor in Apia, and some ugly stories of recent irregularities +in the labour trade had come to the ears of Mr Williams, the English +Consul. Mr Williams, with the assistance of the natives, very cleverly +seized his vessel in the night, and ran her ashore, and detained Mr +Hayes pending the arrival of an English man-of-war to which he could be +given in charge. But in those happy days there were no prisons in +Samoa, so that his confinement was not irksome, and his only hard +labour was picnics, of which he was the life and soul. All went +pleasantly until Mr Pease—a degenerate sort of pirate who made his +living by half bullying, half swindling lonely white men on small +islands out of their coconut oil, and unarmed merchantmen out of their +stores—came to Apia in an armed ship with a Malay crew. From that +moment Hayes' life became less idyllic. Hayes and Pease conceived a +most violent hatred of each other, and poor old Mr Williams was really +worried into an attack of elephantiasis (which answers to the gout in +those latitudes) by his continual efforts to prevent the two +desperadoes from flying at each other's throat. Heartily glad was he +when Pease—who was the sort of man that always observed LES +CONVENANCES when possible, and who fired a salute of twenty-one guns on +the Queen's Birthday—came one afternoon to get his papers "all +regular," and clear for sea. But lo! the next morning, when his vessel +had disappeared, it was found that his enemy Captain Hayes had +disappeared also, and the ladies of Samoa were left disconsolate at the +departure of the most agreeable man they had ever known. +</P> + +<P> +However, all this is another story, as Mr Kipling says, and one which I +hope Mr Becke will tell us more fully some day, for he knew Hayes well, +having acted as supercargo on board his ship, and shared a shipwreck +and other adventures with him. +</P> + +<P> +But even before this date Mr Becke had had as much experience as falls +to most men of adventures in the Pacific Ocean. +</P> + +<P> +Born at Port Macquarrie in Australia, where his father was clerk of +petty sessions, he was seized at the age of fourteen with an intense +longing to go to sea. It is possible that he inherited this passion +through his mother, for her father, Charles Beilby, who was private +secretary to the Duke of Cumberland, invested a legacy that fell to him +in a small vessel, and sailed with his family to the then very new +world of Australia. However this may be, it was impossible to keep +Louis Becke at home; and, as an alternative, a uncle undertook to send +him, and a brother two years older, to a mercantile house in +California. His first voyage was a terrible one. There were no +steamers, of course, in those days, and they sailed for San Francisco +in a wretched old barque. For over a month they were drifting about the +stormy sea between Australia and New Zealand, a partially dismasted and +leaking wreck. The crew mutinied—they had bitter cause to—and only +after calling at Rurutu, in the Tubuai Group, and obtaining fresh food, +did they permit the captain to resume command of the half-sunken old +craft. They were ninety days in reaching Honolulu, and another forty in +making the Californian coast. +</P> + +<P> +The two lads did not find the routine of a merchant's office at all to +their taste; and while the elder obtained employment on a sheep ranche +at San Juan, Louis, still faithful to the sea, got a berth as a clerk +in a steamship company, and traded to the Southern ports. In a year's +time he had money enough to take passage in a schooner bound on a +shark-catching cruise to the equatorial islands of the North Pacific. +The life was a very rough one, and full of incident and +adventure—which I hope he will relate some day. Returning to Honolulu, +he fell in with an old captain who had bought a schooner for a trading +venture amongst the Western Carolines. Becke put in $1000, and sailed +with him as supercargo, he and the skipper being the only white men on +board. He soon discovered that, though a good seaman, the old man knew +nothing of navigation. In a few weeks they were among the Marshall +Islands, and the captain went mad from DELIRIUM TREMENS. Becke and the +three native sailors ran the vessel into a little uninhabited atoll, +and for a week had to keep the captain tied up to prevent his killing +himself. They got him right at last, and stood to the westward. On +their voyage they were witnesses of a tragedy (in this instance +fortunately not complete), on which the pitiless sun of the Pacific has +looked down very often. They fell in with a big Marshall Island sailing +canoe that had been blown out of sight of land, and had drifted six +hundred miles to the westward. Out of her complement of fifty people, +thirty were dead. They gave them provisions and water, and left them to +make Strong's Island (Kusaie), which was in sight. Becke and the chief +swore Marshall Island BRUDERSCHAFT with each other. Years afterwards, +when he came to live in the Marshall Group, the chief proved his +friendship in a signal manner. +</P> + +<P> +The cruise proved a profitable one, and from that time Mr Becke +determined to become a trader, and to learn to know the people of the +north-west Pacific; and returning to California, he made for Samoa, and +from thence to Sydney. But at this time the Palmer River gold rush had +just broken out in North Queensland, and a brother, who was a bank +manager on the celebrated Charters Towers goldfields, invited him to +come up, as every one seemed to be making his fortune. He wandered +between the rushes for two years, not making a fortune, but acquiring +much useful experience, learning, amongst other things, the art of a +blacksmith, and becoming a crack shot with a rifle. Returning to +Sydney, he sailed for the Friendly Islands (Tonga) in company with the +king of Tonga's yacht—the TAUFAAHAU. The Friendly Islanders +disappointed him (at which no one that knows them will wonder), and he +went on to Samoa, and set up as a trader on his own account for the +first time. He and a Manhiki half-caste—the "Allan" who so frequently +figures in his stories—bought a cutter, and went trading throughout +the group. This was the time of Colonel Steinberger's brief tenure of +power. The natives were fighting, and the cutter was seized on two +occasions. When the war was over he made a voyage to the north-west, +and became a great favourite with the natives, as indeed seems to have +been the case in most of the places he went to in Polynesia and +Micronesia. Later on he was sent away from Samoa in charge of a vessel +under sealed orders to the Marshall Islands. These orders were to hand +the vessel over to the notorious Captain "Bully" Hayes. (Some day he +promises that he will give us the details of this very curious +adventure). He found Hayes awaiting him in his famous brig LEONORA in +Milli Lagoon. He handed over his charge and took service with him as +supercargo. After some months' cruising in the Carolines they were +wrecked on Strong's Island (Kusaie). Hayes made himself the ruler of +the island, and Mr Becke and he had a bitter quarrel. The natives +treated the latter with great kindness, and gave him land on the lee +side of the island, where he lived happily enough for five months. +Hayes was captured by an English man-of-war, but escaped and went to +Guam. Mr Becke went back in the cruiser to the Colonies, and then again +sailed for Eastern Polynesia, trading in the Gambiers, Paumotus, and +Easter and Pitcairn Islands. In this part of the ocean he picked up an +abandoned French barque on a reef, floated her, and loaded her with +coconuts, intending to sail her to New Zealand with a native crew, but +they went ashore in a hurricane and lost everything. Meeting with Mr +Tom de Wolf, the managing partner of a Liverpool firm, he took service +with him as a trader in the Ellice and Tokelau Groups, finally settling +down as a residential trader. Then he took passage once more for the +Carolines, and was wrecked on Peru, one of the Gilbert Islands (lately +annexed), losing every dollar that he possessed. He returned to Samoa +and engaged as a "recruiter" in the labour trade. He got badly hurt in +an encounter with some natives, and went to New Zealand to recover. +Then he sailed to New Britain on a trading venture, and fell in with, +and had much to do with, the ill-fated colonising expedition of the +Marquis de Ray in New Ireland. A bad attack of malarial fever, and a +wound in the neck (labour recruiting or even trading among the blacks +of Melanesia seems to have been a much less pleasant business than +residence among the gentle brown folk of the Eastern Pacific) made him +leave and return to the Marshall Islands, where Lailik, the chief whom +he had succoured at sea years before, made him welcome. He left on a +fruitless quest after an imaginary guano island, and from then until +two years ago he has been living on various islands in both the North +and South Pacific, leading what he calls "a wandering and lonely but +not unhappy existence," "Lui," as they call him, being a man both liked +and trusted by the natives from lonely Easter Island to the faraway +Pelews. He is still in the prime of life, and whether he will now remain +within the bounds of civilisation, or whether some day he will return to +his wanderings, as Odysseus is fabled to have done in his old age, I fancy +that he hardly knows himself. But when once the charm of a wild roving +life has got into a man's blood, the trammels of civilisation are irksome +and its atmosphere is hard to breathe. It will be seen from this +all-too-condensed sketch of Mr Becke's career that he knows the Pacific +as few men alive or dead have ever known it. He is one of the rare men +who have led a very wild life, and have the culture and talent +necessary to give some account of it. As a rule, the men who know don't +write, and the men who write don't know. +</P> + +<P> +Every one who has a taste for good stories will feel, I believe, the +force of these. Every one who knows the South Seas, and, I believe, +many who do not, will feel that they have the unmistakable stamp of +truth. And truth to nature is a great merit in a story, not only +because of that thrill of pleasure hard to analyse, but largely made up +of associations, memories, and suggestions that faithfulness of +representation in picture or book gives to the natural man; but because +of the fact that nature is almost infinitely rich, and the unassisted +imagination of man but a poor and sterile thing, tending constantly +towards some ossified convention. "Treasure Island" is a much better +story than "The Wreckers," yet I, for one, shall never cease to regret +that Mr Stevenson did not possess, when he wrote "Treasure Island," +that knowledge of what men and schooners do in wild seas that was his +when he gave us "The Wreckers." The detail would have been so much +richer and more convincing. +</P> + +<P> +It is open to any one to say that these tales are barbarous, and what +Mrs Meynell, in a very clever and amusing essay, has called +"decivilised." Certainly there is a wide gulf separating life on a +Pacific island from the accumulated culture of centuries of +civilisation in the midst of which such as Mrs Meynell move and have +their being. And if there can be nothing good in literature that does +not spring from that culture, these stories must stand condemned. But +such a view is surely too narrow. Much as I admire that lady's +writings, I never can think of a world from which everything was +eliminated that did not commend itself to the dainty taste of herself +and her friends, without a feeling of impatience and suffocation. It +takes a huge variety of men and things to make a good world. And +ranches and CANONS, veldts and prairies, tropical forests and coral +islands, and all that goes to make up the wild life in the face of +Nature or among primitive races, far and free from the artificial +conditions of an elaborate civilisation, form an element in the world, +the loss of which would be bitterly felt by many a man who has never +set foot outside his native land. +</P> + +<P> +There is a certain monotony, perhaps, about these stories. To some +extent this is inevitable. The interest and passions of South Sea +Island life are neither numerous nor complex, and action is apt to be +rapid and direct. A novelist of that modern school that fills its +volumes, often fascinatingly enough, by refining upon the shadowy +refinements of civilised thought and feeling, would find it hard to ply +his trade in South Sea Island society. His models would always be +cutting short in five minutes the hesitations and subtleties that ought +to have lasted them through a quarter of a life-time. But I think it is +possible that the English reader might gather from this little book an +unduly strong impression of the uniformity of Island life. The loves of +white men and brown women, often cynical and brutal, sometimes +exquisitely tender and pathetic, necessarily fill a large space in any +true picture of the South Sea Islands, and Mr Becke, no doubt of set +artistic purpose, has confined himself in the collection of tales now +offered almost entirely to this facet of the life. I do not question +that he is right in deciding to detract nothing from the striking +effect of these powerful stories, taken as a whole, by interspersing +amongst them others of a different character. But I hope it may be +remembered that the present selection is only an instalment, and that, +if it finds favour with the British public, we may expect from him some +of those tales of adventure, and of purely native life and custom, +which no one could tell so well as he. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PEMBROKE. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="challis"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHALLIS THE DOUBTER +</H3> + +<H4> +The White Lady And The Brown Woman +</H4> + +<P> +Four years had come and gone since the day that Challis, with a dull +and savage misery in his heart, had, cursing the love-madness which +once possessed him, walked out from his house in an Australian city +with an undefined and vague purpose of going "somewhere" to drown his +sense of wrong and erase from his memory the face of the woman who, his +wife of not yet a year, had played with her honour and his. So he +thought, anyhow. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +You see, Challis was "a fool"—at least so his pretty, violet-eyed wife +had told him that afternoon with a bitter and contemptuous ring in her +voice when he had brought another man's letter—written to her—and +with impulsive and jealous haste had asked her to explain. He was a +fool, she had said, with an angry gleam in the violet eyes, to think +she could not "take care" of herself. Admit receiving that letter? Of +course! Did he think she could help other men writing silly letters to +her? Did he not think she could keep out of a mess? And she smiled the +self-satisfied smile of a woman conscious of many admirers and of her +own powers of intrigue. +</P> + +<P> +Then Challis, with a big effort, gulping down the rage that stirred +him, made his great mistake. He spoke of his love for her. Fatuity! She +laughed at him, said that as she detested women, his love was too +exacting for her, if it meant that she should never be commonly +friendly with any other man. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Challis looked at her steadily for a few moments, trying to smother the +wild flood of black suspicion aroused in him by the discovery of the +letter, and confirmed by her sneering words, and then said quietly, but +with a dangerous inflection in his voice— +</P> + +<P> +"Remember—you are my wife. If you have no regard for your own +reputation, you shall have some for mine. I don't want to entertain my +friends by thrashing R——, but I'm not such a fool as you think. And +if you go further in this direction you'll find me a bit of a brute." +</P> + +<P> +Again the sneering laugh—"Indeed! Something very tragic will occur, I +suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Challis grimly, "something damned prosaic—common enough +among men with pretty wives—I'll clear out." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you would do that now," said his wife, "I hate you quite +enough." +</P> + +<P> +Of course she didn't quite mean it. She really liked Challis in her own +small-souled way—principally because his money had given her the +social pleasures denied her during her girlhood. With an unmoved face +and without farewell he left her and went to his lawyer's. +</P> + +<P> +A quarter of an hour later he arose to go, and the lawyer asked him +when he intended returning. +</P> + +<P> +"That all depends upon her. If she wants me back again, she can write, +through you, and I'll come—if she has conducted herself with a +reasonable amount of propriety for such a pretty woman." +</P> + +<P> +Then, with an ugly look on his face, Challis went out; next day he +embarked in the LADY ALICIA for a six months' cruise among the islands +of the North-west Pacific. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +That was four years ago, and to-day Challis, who stands working at a +little table set in against an open window, hammering out a ring from a +silver coin on a marline-spike and vyce, whistles softly and +contentedly to himself as he raises his head and glances through the +vista of coconuts that surround his dwelling on this lonely and almost +forgotten island. +</P> + +<P> +"The devil!" he thinks to himself, "I must be turning into a native. +Four years! What an ass I was! And I've never written yet—that is, +never sent a letter away. Well, neither has she. Perhaps, after all, +there was little in that affair of R——'s.... By God! though, if +there was, I've been very good to them in leaving them a clear field. +Anyhow, she's all right as regards money. I'm glad I've done that. It's +a big prop to a man's conscience to feel he hasn't done anything mean; +and she likes money—most women do. Of course I'll go back—if she +writes. If not—well, then, these sinful islands can claim me for their +own; that is, Nalia can." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +A native boy with shaven head, save for a long tuft on the left side, +came down from the village, and, seating himself on the gravelled space +inside the fence, gazed at the white man with full, lustrous eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, TAMA!" said Challis, "whither goest now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon, Tialli. I came to look at thee making the ring. Is it of soft +silver—and for Nalia, thy wife?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, O shaven-head, it is. Here, take this MASI and go pluck me a young +nut to drink," and Challis threw him a ship-biscuit. Then he went on +tapping the little band of silver. He had already forgotten the violet +eyes, and was thinking with almost childish eagerness of the soft glow +in the black orbs of Nalia when she should see his finished handiwork. +</P> + +<P> +The boy returned with a young coconut, unhusked. "Behold, Tialli. This +nut is a UTO GA'AU (sweet husk). When thou hast drunk the juice give it +me back, that I may chew the husk which is sweet as the sugar-cane of +Samoa," and he squatted down again on the gravel. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Challis drank, then threw him the husk and resumed his work. Presently +the boy, tearing off a strip of the husk with his white teeth, said, +"Tialli, how is it that there be no drinking-nuts in thy house?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because, O turtle-head, my wife is away; and there are no men in the +village to-day; and because the women of this MOTU [Island or country.] +I have no thought that the PAPALAGI [Foreigner] may be parched with +thirst, and so come not near me with a coconut." This latter in jest. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay, Tialli. Not so. True it is that to-day all the men are in the bush +binding FALA leaves around the coconut trees, else do the rats steal up +and eat the buds and clusters of little nuts. And because Nalia, thy +wife, is away at the other White Man's house no woman cometh inside the +door." +</P> + +<P> +Challis laughed. "O evil-minded people of Nukunono! And must I, thy +PAPALAGI, be parched with thirst because of this?" +</P> + +<P> +"FAIAGA OE, Tialli, thou but playest with me. Raise thy hand and call +out 'I thirst!' and every woman in the village will run to thee, each +with a drinking-nut, and those that desire thee, but are afraid, will +give two. But to come inside when Nalia is away would be to put shame +on her." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The white man mused. The boy's solemn chatter entertained him. He knew +well the native customs; but, to torment the boy, he commenced again. +</P> + +<P> +"O foolish custom! See how I trust my wife Nalia. Is she not even now +in the house of another white man?" +</P> + +<P> +"True. But, then, he is old and feeble, and thou young and strong. None +but a fool desires to eat a dried flying-fish when a fresh one may be +had." +</P> + +<P> +"O wise man with the shaven crown," said Challis, with mocking good +nature, "thou art full of wisdom of the ways of women. And if I were +old and withered, would Nalia then be false to me in a house of another +and younger white man?" +</P> + +<P> +"How could she? Would not he, too, have a wife who would watch her? And +if he had not, and were NOFO NOA (single), would he be such a fool to +steal that the like of which he can buy—for there are many girls +without husbands as good to look on as that Nalia of thine. And all +women are alike," and then, hearing a woman's voice calling his name, +he stood up. +</P> + +<P> +"Farewell, O ULU TULA POTO (Wise Baldhead)," said Challis, as the boy, +still chewing his sweet husk, walked back to the native houses clustered +under the grove of PUA trees. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Ere dusk, Nalia came home, a slenderly-built girl with big dreamy eyes, +and a heavy mantle of wavy hair. A white muslin gown, fastened at the +throat with a small silver brooch, was her only garment, save the folds +of the navy-blue-and-white LAVA LAVA round her waist, which the +European-fashioned garment covered. +</P> + +<P> +Challis was lying down when she came in. Two girls who came with her +carried baskets of cooked food, presents from old Jack Kelly, Challis's +fellow-trader. At a sign from Nalia the girls took one of the baskets +of food and went away. Then, taking off her wide-brimmed hat of FALA +leaf, she sat down beside Challis and pinched his cheek. +</P> + +<P> +"O lazy one! To let me walk from the house of Tiaki all alone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Alone! There were two others with thee." +</P> + +<P> +"Tapa Could I talk to THEM! I, a white man's wife, must not be too +familiar with every girl, else they would seek to get presents from me +with sweet words. Besides, could I carry home the fish and cooked fowl +sent thee by old Tiaki? That would be unbecoming to me, even as it +would be if thou climbed a tree for a coconut,"—and the daughter of +the Tropics laughed merrily as she patted Challis on his sunburnt +cheek. +</P> + +<P> +Challis rose, and going to a little table, took from it the ring. +</P> + +<P> +"See, Nalia, I am not lazy as thou sayest. This is thine." +</P> + +<P> +The girl with an eager "AUE!" took the bauble and placed it on her +finger. She made a pretty picture, standing there in the last glow of +the sun as it sank into the ocean, her languorous eyes filled with a +tender light. +</P> + +<P> +Challis, sitting on the end of the table regarding her with half-amused +interest as does a man watching a child with a toy, suddenly flushed +hotly. "By God! I can't be such a fool as to begin to LOVE her in +reality, but yet ... Come here, Nalia," and he drew her to him, and, +turning her face up so that he might look into her eyes, he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Nalia, hast thou ever told me any lies?" +</P> + +<P> +The steady depths of those dark eyes looked back into his, and she +answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Nay, I fear thee too much to lie. Thou mightst kill me." +</P> + +<P> +"I do but ask thee some little things. It matters not to me what the +answer is. Yet see that thou keepest nothing hidden from me." +</P> + +<P> +The girl, with parted lips and one hand on his, waited. +</P> + +<P> +"Before thou became my wife, Nalia, hadst thou any lovers?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, two—Kapua and Tafu-le-Afi." +</P> + +<P> +"And since?" +</P> + +<P> +"May I choke and perish here before thee if I lie! None." +</P> + +<P> +Challis, still holding her soft brown chin in his hand, asked her one +more question—a question that only one of his temperament would have +dared to ask a girl of the Tokelaus. +</P> + +<P> +"Nalia, dost thou love me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, ALOFA TUMAU (everlasting love). Am I a fool? Are there not Letia, +and Miriami, and Eline, the daughter of old Tiaki, ready to come to +this house if I love any but thee? Therefore my love is like the +suckers of the FA'E (octopus) in its strength. My mother has taught me +much wisdom." +</P> + +<P> +A curious feeling of satisfaction possessed the man, and next day +Letia, the "show" girl of the village, visiting Challis's store to buy +a tin of salmon, saw Nalia, the Lucky One, seated on a mat beneath the +seaward side of the trader's house, surrounded by a billowy pile of +yellow silk, diligently sewing. +</P> + +<P> +"Ho, dear friend of my heart! Is that silken dress for thee? For the +love of God, let me but touch it. Four dollars a fathom it be priced +at. Thy husband is indeed the king of generosity. Art thou to become a +mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Away, silly fool, and do thy buying and pester me not." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Challis, coming to the corner of the house, leant against a post, and +something white showed in his hand. It was a letter. His letter to the +woman of violet eyes, written a week ago, in the half-formed idea of +sending it some day. He read it through, and then paused and looked at +Nalia. She raised her head and smiled. Slowly, piece by piece, he tore +it into tiny little squares, and, with a dreamy hand-wave, threw them +away. The wind held them in mid-air for a moment, and then carried the +little white flecks to the beach. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" said the bubbling voice of Letia, the Disappointed. +</P> + +<P> +"Only a piece of paper that weighed as a piece of iron on my bosom. But +it is gone now." +</P> + +<P> +"Even so," said Letia, smelling the gaudy label on the tin of salmon in +the anticipative ecstasy of a true Polynesian, "PE SE MEA +FA'AGOTOIMOANA (like a thing buried deep in ocean). May God send me a +white man as generous as thee—a whole tin of SAMANI for nothing! Now +do I know that Nalia will bear thee a son." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +And that is why Challis the Doubter has never turned up again. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="blood"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"'TIS IN THE BLOOD" +</H3> + +<P> +We were in Manton's Hotel at Levuka-Levuka in her palmy days. There +were Robertson, of the barque ROLUMAH; a fat German planter from the +Yasawa Group; Harry the Canadian, a trader from the Tokelaus, and +myself. +</P> + +<P> +Presently a knock came to the door, and Allan, the boatswain of our +brig, stood hat in hand before us. He was a stalwart half-caste of +Manhiki, and, perhaps, the greatest MANAIA (Lothario) from Ponape to +Fiji. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain say to come aboard, please. He at the Consul's for papers—he +meet you at boat," and Allan left. +</P> + +<P> +"By shingo, dot's a big fellow," said Planter Oppermann. +</P> + +<P> +"Ay," said Robertson, the trading skipper, "and a good man with his +mauleys, too. He's the champion knocker-out in Samoa, and is a match +for any Englishman in Polynesia, let alone foreigners"—with a sour +glance at the German. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good-bye all," I said. "I'm sorry, Oppermann, I can't stay for +another day for your wedding, but our skipper isn't to be got at +anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +The trading captain and Harry walked with me part of the way, and then +began the usual Fiji GUP. +</P> + +<P> +"Just fancy that fat-headed Dutchman going all the way to Samoa and +picking on a young girl and sending her to the Sisters to get educated +properly! As if any old beach-girl isn't good enough for a blessed +Dutchman. Have you seen her?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," I said; "Oppermann showed me her photo. Pretty girl. Says she's +been three years with the Sisters in Samoa, and has got all the virtues +of her white father, and none of the vices of her Samoan mammy. Told me +he's spent over two thousand dollars on her already." +</P> + +<P> +Robertson smiled grimly. "Ay, I don't doubt it. He's been all round +Levuka cracking her up. I brought her here last week, and the +Dutchman's been in a chronic state of silly ever since. She's an +almighty fine girl. She's staying with the Sisters here till the +marriage. By the Lord, here she is now coming along the street! Bet a +dollar she's been round Vagadace way, where there are some fast Samoan +women living. 'Tis in the blood, I tell you." +</P> + +<P> +The future possessor of the Oppermann body and estate WAS a pretty +girl. Only those who have seen fair young Polynesian half-castes—before +they get married, and grow coarse, and drink beer, and smoke like a +factory chimney—know how pretty. +</P> + +<P> +Our boat was at the wharf, and just as we stood talking Allan sauntered +up and asked me for a dollar to get a bottle of gin. Just then the +German's FIANCEE reached us. Robertson introduced Harry and myself to +her, and then said good-bye. She stood there in the broiling Fijian sun +with a dainty sunshade over her face, looking so lovely and cool in her +spotless muslin dress, and withal so innocent, that I no longer +wondered at the Dutchman's "chronic state of silly." +</P> + +<P> +Allan the Stalwart stood by waiting for his dollar. The girl laughed +joyously when Harry the Canadian said he would be at the wedding and +have a high time, and held out her soft little hand as he bade her +adieu and strolled off for another drink. +</P> + +<P> +The moment Harry had gone Allan was a new man. Pulling off his straw +hat, he saluted her in Samoan, and then opened fire. +</P> + +<P> +"There are many TEINE LALELEI (beautiful girls) in the world, but there +is none so beautiful as thou. Only truth do I speak, for I have been to +all countries of the world. Ask him who is here—our supercargo—if I +lie. O maid with the teeth of pearl and face like FETUAO (the morning +star), my stomach is drying up with the fire of love." +</P> + +<P> +The sunshade came a little lower, and the fingers played nervously with +the ivory handle. I leant against a coconut tree and listened. +</P> + +<P> +"Thy name is Vaega. See that! How do I know? Aha, how do I? Because, +for two years or more, whenever I passed by the stone wall of the +Sisters' dwelling in Matafele, I climbed up and watched thee, O Star of +the Morning, and I heard the other girls call thee Vaega. Oho! and some +night I meant to steal thee away." +</P> + +<P> +(The rascal! He told me two days afterwards that the only time he ever +climbed the Mission wall was to steal mangoes.) +</P> + +<P> +The sunshade was tilted back, and displayed two big, black eyes, +luminous with admiring wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"And so thou hast left Samoa to come here to be devoured by this fat +hog of a Dutchman! Dost thou not know, O foolish, lovely one, that she +who mates with a SIAMANI (German) grows old in quite a little time, and +thy face, which is now smooth and fair, will be coarse as the rind of a +half-ripe bread-fruit, because of the foul food these swine of Germans +eat?" +</P> + +<P> +"Allan," I called, "here's the captain!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a quick clasp of hands as the Stalwart One and the Maid +hurriedly spoke again, this time in a whisper, and then the white +muslin floated away out of sight. +</P> + +<P> +The captain was what he called "no' so dry"—viz. half-seas over, and +very jolly. He told Allan he could have an hour to himself to buy what +he wanted, and then told me that the captain of a steam collier had +promised to give us a tug out at daylight. "I'm right for the +wedding-feast after all," I thought. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +But the wedding never came off. That night Oppermann, in a frantic +state, was tearing round Levuka hunting for his love, who had +disappeared. At daylight, as the collier steamed ahead and tautened our +tow-line, we could see the parties of searchers with torches scouring +the beach. Our native sailors said they had heard a scream about ten at +night and seen the sharks splashing, and the white liars of Levuka +shook their heads and looked solemn as they told tales of monster +sharks with eight-foot jaws always cruising close in to the shore at +night. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Three days afterwards Allan came to me with stolid face and asked for a +bottle of wine, as Vaega was very sea-sick. I gave him the wine, and +threatened to tell the captain. He laughed, and said he would fight any +man, captain or no captain, who meddled with him. And, as a matter of +fact, he felt safe—the skipper valued him too much to bully him over +the mere stealing of a woman. So the limp and sea-sick Vaega was +carried up out of the sweating foc'sle and given a cabin berth, and +Allan planked down two twenty-dollar pieces for her passage to the +Union Group. When she got better she sang rowdy songs, and laughed all +day, and made fun of the holy Sisters. And one day Allan beat her with +a deal board because she sat down on a band-box in the trade-room and +ruined a hat belonging to a swell official's wife in Apia. And she +liked him all the better for it. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The fair Vaega was Mrs Allan for just six months, when his erratic +fancy was captivated by the daughter of Mauga, the chief of Tutuila, +and an elopement resulted to the mountains. The subsequent and +inevitable parting made Samoa an undesirable place of residence for +Allan, who shipped as boatsteerer in the NIGER of New Bedford. As for +Vaega, she drifted back to Apia, and there, right under the shadow of +the Mission Church, she flaunted her beauty. The last time I saw her +was in Charley the Russian's saloon, when she showed me a letter. It +was from the bereaved Oppermann, asking her to come back and marry him. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you going?" I said. +</P> + +<P> +"E PULE LE ATUA (if God so wills), but he only sent me twenty dollars, +and that isn't half enough. However, there's an American man-of-war +coming next week, and these other girls will see then. I'll make the +PAPALAGI [foreign] officers shell out. TO FA, ALII [Good-bye]." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="revenge"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE REVENGE OF MACY O'SHEA +</H3> + +<H4> +A Story Of The Marquesas +</H4> + +<BR> + +<H4> +I. +</H4> + +<P> +Tikena the Clubfooted guided me to an open spot in the jungle-growth, +and, sitting down on the butt of a twisted TOA, indicated by a sweep of +his tattooed arm the lower course of what had once been the White Man's +dwelling. +</P> + +<P> +"Like unto himself was this, his house," he said, puffing a dirty clay +pipe, "square-built and strong. And the walls were of great blocks made +of PANISINA—of coral and lime and sand mixed together; and around each +centre-post—posts that to lift one took the strength of fifty men—was +wound two thousand fathoms of thin plaited cinnet, stained red and +black. APA! he was a great man here in these MOTU (islands), although +he fled from prison in your land; and when he stepped on the beach the +marks of the iron bands that had once been round his ankles were yet +red to the sight. There be none such as he in these days. But he is now +in Hell." +</P> + +<P> +This was the long-deferred funeral oration of Macy O'Shea, sometime +member of the chain-gang of Port Arthur, in Van Dieman's Land, and +subsequently runaway convict, beachcomber, cutter-off of whaleships, +and Gentleman of Leisure in Eastern Polynesia. And of his many known +crimes the deed done in this isolated spot was the darkest of all. +Judge of it yourself. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The arrowy shafts of sunrise had scarce pierced the deep gloom of the +silent forest ere the village woke to life. Right beside the +thatch-covered dwelling of Macy O'Shea, now a man of might, there +towers a stately TAMANU tree; and, as the first faint murmur of women's +voices arises from the native huts, there is a responsive twittering +and cooing in the thickly-leaved branches, and further back in the +forest the heavy, booming note of the red-crested pigeon sounds forth +like the beat of a muffled drum. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +With slow, languid step, Sera, the wife of Macy O'Shea, comes to the +open door and looks out upon the placid lagoon, now just rippling +beneath the first breath of the trade-wind, and longs for courage to go +out there—there to the point of the reef—and spring over among the +sharks. The girl—she is hardly yet a woman—shudders a moment and +passes her white hand before her eyes, and then, with a sudden gust of +passion, the hand clenches. "I would kill him—kill him, if there was +but a ship here in which I could get away! I would sell myself over and +over again to the worst whaler's crew that ever sailed the Pacific if +it would bring me freedom from this cruel, cold-blooded devil!" +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +A heavy tread on the matted floor of the inner room and her face pales +to the hue of death. But Macy O'Shea is somewhat shy of his two years' +wife this morning, and she hears the heavy steps recede as he walks +over to his oil-shed. A flock of GOGO cast their shadow over the lagoon +as they fly westward, and the woman's eyes follow them—"Kill him, yes. +I am afraid to die, but not to kill. And I am a stranger here, and if I +ran a knife into his fat throat, these natives would make me work in +the taro-fields, unless one wanted me for himself." Then the heavy step +returns, and she slowly faces round to the blood-shot eyes and +drink-distorted face of the man she hates, and raises one hand to her +lips to hide a blue and swollen bruise. +</P> + +<P> +The man throws his short, square-set figure on a rough native sofa, +and, passing one brawny hand meditatively over his stubbly chin, says, +in a voice like the snarl of a hungry wolf: "Here, I say, Sera, slew +round; I want to talk to you, my beauty." +</P> + +<P> +The pale, set face flushed and paled again. "What is it, Macy O'Shea?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ho, ho, 'Macy O'Shea,' is it? Well, just this. Don't be a fool. I was +a bit put about last night, else I wouldn't have been so quick with my +fist. Cut your lip, I see. Well, you must forget it; any way, it's the +first time I ever touched you. But you ought to know by now that I am +not a man to be trifled with; no man, let alone a woman, is going to +set a course for Macy O'Shea to steer by. And, to come to the point at +once, I want you to understand that Carl Ristow's daughter is coming +here. I want her, and that's all about it." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The woman laughed scornfully. "Yes, I know. That was why"—she pointed +to her lips. "Have you no shame? I know you have no pity. But listen. I +swear to you by the Mother of Christ that I will kill her—kill you, if +you do this." +</P> + +<P> +O'Shea's cruel mouth twitched and his jaws set, then he uttered a +hoarse laugh. "By God! Has it taken you two years to get jealous?" +</P> + +<P> +A deadly hate gleamed in the dark, passionate eyes. "Jealous, Mother of +God! jealous of a drunken, licentious wretch such as you! I hate +you—hate you! If I had courage enough I would poison myself to be free +from you." +</P> + +<P> +O'Shea's eyes emitted a dull sparkle. "I wish you would, damn you! Yet +you are game enough, you say, to kill me—and Malia?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. But not for love of you, but because of the white blood in me. I +can't—I won't be degraded by you bringing another woman here." +</P> + +<P> +"'Por Dios,' as your dad used to say before the devil took his soul, +we'll see about that, my beauty. I suppose because your father was a +d——d garlic-eating, ear-ringed Dago, and your mother a +come-by-chance Tahiti half-caste, you think he was as good as me." +</P> + +<P> +"As good as you, O bloody-handed dog of an English convict. He was a +man, and the only wrong he ever did was to let me become wife to a +devil like you." +</P> + +<P> +The cruel eyes were close to hers now, and the rough, brawny hands +gripped her wrists. "You spiteful Portuguese quarter-bred ——! Call me +a convict again, and I'll twist your neck like a fowl's. You she-devil! +I'd have made things easy for you—but I won't now. Do you hear?" and +the grip tightened. "Ristow's girl will be here to-morrow, and if you +don't knuckle down to her it'll be a case of 'Vamos' for you—you can +go and get a husband among the natives," and he flung her aside and +went to the god that ran him closest for his soul, next to women—his +rum-bottle. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +O'Shea kept his word, for two days later Malia, the half-caste daughter +of Ristow, the trader at Ahunui, stepped from out her father's +whaleboat in front of O'Shea's house. The transaction was a perfectly +legitimate one, and Malia did not allow any inconvenient feeling of +modesty to interfere with such a lucrative arrangement as this, whereby +her father became possessed of a tun of oil and a bag of Chilian +dollars, and she of much finery. In those days missionaries had not +made much head-way, and gentlemen like Messrs Ristow and O'Shea took +all the wind out of the Gospel drum. +</P> + +<P> +And so Malia, dressed as a native girl, with painted cheeks and bare +bosom, walked demurely up from the boat to the purchaser of her +sixteen-years'-old beauty, who, with arms folded across his broad +chest, stood in the middle of the path that led from the beach to his +door. And within, with set teeth and a knife in the bosom of her blouse +bodice, Sera panted with the lust of Hate and Revenge. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The bulky form of O'Shea darkened the door-way. "Sera," he called in +English, with a mocking, insulting inflection in his voice, "come here +and welcome my new wife!" +</P> + +<P> +Sera came, walking slowly, with a smile on her lips, and, holding out +her left hand to Malia, said in the native language, "Welcome!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why," said O'Shea, with mocking jocularity, "that's a left-handed +welcome, Sera." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye," said the girl with the White Man's blood, "my right hand is for +this"—and the knife sank home into Malia's yellow bosom. "A cold bosom +for you to-night, Macy O'Shea," she laughed, as the value of a tun of +oil and a bag of Chilian dollars gasped out its life upon the matted +floor. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4> +II +</H4> + +<P> +The native drum was beating. As the blood-quickening boom reverberated +through the village, the natives came out from their huts and gathered +around the House of the Old Men, where, with bound hands and feet, +Sera, the White Man's wife, sat, with her back to one of the +centre-posts. And opposite her, sitting like a native on a mat of +KAPAU, was the burly figure of O'Shea, with the demon of disappointed +passion eating away his reason, and a mist of blood swimming before his +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The people all detested her, especially the soft-voiced, slender-framed +women. In that one thing savages resemble Christians—the deadly hatred +with which some women hate those of their sex whom they know to be +better and more pure than themselves. So the matter was decided +quickly. Mesi—so they called O'Shea—should have justice. If he +thought death, let it be death for this woman who had let out the blood +of his new wife. Only one man, Loloku the Boar Hunter, raised his voice +for her, because Sera had cured him of a bad wound when his leg had +been torn open by the tusk of a wild boar. But the dull glare from the +eyes of O'Shea fell on him, and he said no more. Then at a sign from +the old men the people rose from the mats, and two unbound the cords of +AFA from the girl, and led her out into the square, and looked at +O'Shea. +</P> + +<P> +"Take her to the boat," he said. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Ristow's boat had been hauled up, turned over, and covered with the +rough mats called KAPAU to keep off the heat of the sun. With +staggering feet, but undaunted heart, the girl Sera was led down. Only +once she turned her head and looked back. Perhaps Loloku would try +again. Then, as they came to the boat, a young girl, at a sign from +O'Shea, took off the loose blouse, and they placed her, face downwards, +across the bilge of the boat, and two pair of small, eager, brown hands +each seized one of hers and dragged the white, rounded arms well over +the keel of the boat. O'Shea walked round to that side, drawing through +his hands the long, heavy, and serrated tail of the FAI—the gigantic +stinging-ray of Oceana. He would have liked to wield it himself, but +then he would have missed part of his revenge—he could not have seen +her face. So he gave it to a native, and watched, with the smile of a +fiend, the white back turn black and then into bloody red as it was cut +to pieces with the tail of the FAI. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The sight of the inanimate thing that had given no sign of its agony +beyond the shudderings and twitchings of torn and mutilated flesh was, +perhaps, disappointing to the tiger who stood and watched the dark +stream that flowed down on both sides of the boat. Loloku touched his +arm—"Mesi, stay thy hand. She is dead else." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," said O'Shea, "that would be a pity; for with one hand shall she +live to plant taro." +</P> + +<P> +And, hatchet in hand, he walked in between the two brown women who held +her hands. They moved aside and let go. Then O'Shea swung his arm; the +blade of the hatchet struck into the planking, and the right hand of +Sera fell on the sand. +</P> + +<P> +A man put his arms around her, and lifted her off the boat. He placed +his hand on the blood-stained bosom and looked at Macy O'Shea. +</P> + +<P> +"E MATE! [Dead!]" he said. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="rangers"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE RANGERS OF THE TIA KAU +</H3> + +<P> +Between Nanomea and Nanomaga—two of the Ellice Group—but within a few +miles of the latter, is an extensive submerged shoal, on the charts +called the Grand Cocal Reef, but by the people of the two islands known +as Tia Kau (The Reef). On the shallowest part there are from four to +ten fathoms of water, and here in heavy weather the sea breaks. The +British cruiser BASILISK, about 1870, sought for the reef, but reported +it as non-existent. Yet the Tia Kati is well known to many a Yankee +whaler and trading schooner, and is a favourite fishing-ground of the +people of Nanomaga—when the sharks give them a chance. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +One night Atupa, Chief of Nanomaga, caused a huge fire to be lit on the +beach as a signal to the people of Nanomea that a MALAGA, or party of +voyagers, was coming over. Both islands are low—not more than fifteen +feet above sea-level—and are distant from one another about +thirty-eight miles. The following night the reflection of the answering +fire on Nanomea was seen, and Atupa prepared to send away his people in +seven canoes. They would start at sundown, so as to avoid paddling in +the heat (the Nanomagans have no sailing canoes), and be guided to +Nanomea, which they expected to reach early in the morning, by the far +distant glare of the great fires of coconut and pandanus leaves kindled +at intervals of a few hours. About seventy people were to go, and all +that day the little village busied itself in preparing for the +Nanomeans gifts of foods—cooked PURAKA, fowls, pigs, and flying-fish. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Atupa, the heathen chief, was troubled in his mind in those days of +August 1872. The JOHN WILLIAMS had touched at the island and landed a +Samoan missionary, who had pressed him to accept Christianity. Atupa, +dreading a disturbing element in his little community, had, at first, +declined; but the ship had come again, and the chief having consented +to try the new religion, a teacher landed. But since then he and his +sub-chiefs had consulted the oracle, and had been told that the shades +of Maumau Tahori and Foilagi, their deified ancestors, had answered +that the new religion was unacceptable to them, and that the Samoan +teacher must be killed or sent away. And for this was Atupa sending off +some of his people to Nanomea with gifts of goodwill to the chiefs to +beseech them to consult their oracles also, so that the two islands +might take concerted action against this new foreign god, whose priests +said that all men were equal, that all were bad, and He and His Son +alone good. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The night was calm when the seven canoes set out. Forty men and thirty +women and children were in the party, and the craft were too deeply +laden for any but the smoothest sea. On the AMA (outrigger) of each +canoe were the baskets of food and bundles of mats for their hosts, and +seated on these were the children, while the women sat with the men and +helped them to paddle. Two hours' quick paddling brought them to the +shoal-water of Tia Kau, and at the same moment they saw to the N.W. the +sky-glare of the first guiding fire. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +It was then that the people in the first canoe, wherein was Palu, the +daughter of Atupa, called out to those behind to prepare their ASU +(balers), as a heavy squall was coming down from the eastward. Then +Laheu, an old warrior in another canoe, cried out that they should +return on their track a little and get into deep water; "for," said he, +"if we swamp, away from Tia Kau, it is but a little thing, but here—" +and he clasped his hands rapidly together and then tore them apart. +They knew what he meant—the sharks that, at night-time forsaking the +deep waters, patrolled in droves of thousands the shallow waters of the +reef to devour the turtle and the schools of TAFAU ULI and other fish. +In quick, alarmed silence the people headed back, but even then the +first fierce squall struck them, and some of the frail canoes began to +fill at once. "I MATAGI! I MATAGI! (head to the wind)" a man called +out; "head to the wind, or we perish! 'Tis but a puff and it is gone." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +But it was more than a puff. The seven canoes, all abreast, were still +in shallow water, and the paddlers kept them dead in the teeth of the +whistling wind and stinging rain, and called out words of encouragement +to one another and to the women and children, as another black squall +burst upon them and the curling seas began to break. The canoe in which +was Atupa's daughter was the largest and best of all the seven, but was +much overladen, and on the outrigger grating were four children. These +the chief's daughter was endeavouring to shield from the rain by +covering them with a mat, when one of them, a little girl, endeavoured +to steady herself by holding to one of the thin pieces of grating; it +broke, and her arm fell through and struck the water, and in an instant +she gave a dull, smothered wail. Palu, the woman, seized her by her +hair and pulled the child up to a sitting posture, and then shrieked +with terror—the girl's arm was gone. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +And then in the blackness of night, lightened now by the white, +seething, boiling surge, the people saw in the phosphorescent water +countless hundreds of the savage terrors of the Tia Kau darting hither +and thither amongst the canoes—for the smell of blood had brought them +together instantly. Presently a great grey monster tore the paddle from +out the hands of the steersman of the canoe wherein were the terrified +Palu and the four children, and then, before the man for'ard could +bring her head to the wind, she broached to and filled. Like ravening +wolves the sharks dashed upon their prey, and ere the people had time +to give more than a despairing cry, those hideous jaws and gleaming +cruel teeth had sealed their fate. Maddened with fear, the rest of the +people threw everything out of the six other canoes to lighten them, +and as the bundles of mats and baskets of food touched the water the +sharks seized and bit, tore and swallowed. Then, one by one, every +paddle was grabbed from the hands of the paddlers, and the canoes +broached to and filled in that sea of death—all save one, which was +carried by the force of the wind away from the rest. In this were the +only survivors—two men. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The agony could not have lasted long. "Were I to live as long as he +whom the FAIFEAU (missionary) tells us lived to be nine hundred and +sixty and nine, I shall hear the groans and cries and shrieks of that +PO MALAIA, that night of evil luck," said one of the two who lived, to +Denison, the white trader at Nanomea. "Once did I have my paddle fast +in the mouth of a little devil, and it drew me backwards, backwards, +over the stern till my head touched the water. TAH! but I was strong +with fear, and held on, for to lose it meant death by the teeth. And +Tulua—he who came out alive with me, seized my feet and held on, else +had I gone. But look thou at this"—and he pointed to his scarred neck +and back and shoulders "ere I could free my FOE (paddle) and raise my +head, I was bitten thus by others. Ah, PAPALAGI, some men are born to +wisdom, but most are fools. Had not Atupa been filled with vain fears, +he had killed the man who caused him to lose so many of our people." +</P> + +<P> +"So," said the white man, "and wouldst thou have killed the man who +brought thee the new faith? Fie!" +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, that would I—in those days when I was PO ULI ULI [Heathen, lit. "In +the blackest night"]. But not now, for I am Christian. Yet had Atupa +killed and buried the stranger, we could have lied and said he died of a +sickness when they of his people came to seek him. And then had I now my +son Tagipo with me, he who went into the bellies of the sharks at +Tia Kau." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="pallou"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PALLOU'S TALOI +</H3> + +<H4> +A Memory Of The Paumotus +</H4> + +<P> +I stayed once at Rotoava—in the Low Archipelago, Eastern +Polynesia—while suffering from injuries received in a boat accident +one wild night. My host, the Rotoava trader, was a sociable old pirate, +whose convivial soul would never let him drink alone. He was by trade a +boat-builder, having had, in his early days, a shed at Miller's Point, +in Sydney, where he made money and married a wife. But this latter +event was poor Tom Oscott's undoing, and in the end he took his chest +of tools on board the THYRA trading brig, and sailed away to Polynesia. +Finally, after many years' wandering, he settled down at Rotoava as a +trader and boat-builder, and became a noted drinker of bottled beer. +</P> + +<P> +The only method by which I could avoid his incessant invitations to +"have another" was to get his wife and children to carry me down to his +work-shed, built in a lovely spot surrounded by giant PUKA trees. Here, +under the shade, I had my mats spread, and with one of his children +sitting at my head to fan away the flies, I lay and watched, through +the belt of coconuts that lined the beach, the blue rollers breaking on +the reef and the snow-white boatswain-birds floating high overhead. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Tom was in the bush one morning when his family carried me to the +boat-shed. He had gone for a log of seasoned TOA wood [A hard wood much +used in boat building] to another village. At noon he returned, and I +heard him bawling for me. His little daughter, the fly-brusher, gave an +answering yell, and then Tom walked down the path, carrying two bottles of +beer; behind him Lucia, his eldest daughter, a monstrous creature of +giggles, adipose tissue, and warm heart, with glasses and a plate of +crackers; lastly, old Marie, the wife, with a little table. +</P> + +<P> +"By ——, you've a lot more sense'n me. It's better lyin' here in the +cool, than foolin' around in the sun; so I've brought yer suthin' to +drink." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Tom," I groaned, "I'm sure that beer's bad for me." +</P> + +<P> +The Maker of Boats sat on his bench, and said that he knew of a +brewer's carter in Sydney who, at Merriman's "pub," on Miller's Point, +had had a cask of beer roll over him. Smashed seven ribs, one arm, and +one thigh. Doctors gave him up; undertaker's man called on his wife for +coffin order but a sailor chap said he'd pull him through. Got an +indiarubber tube and made him suck up as much beer as he could hold; +kept it up till all his bones "setted" again, and he recovered. Why +shouldn't I—if I only drank enough? +</P> + +<P> +"Hurry up, old dark-skin!"—this to the faded Marie. Uttering merely +the word "Hog!" she drew the cork. I had to drink some, and every hour +or so Tom would say it was very hot, and open yet another bottle. At +last I escaped the beer by nearly dying, and then the kind old fellow +hurried away in his boat to Apatiki—another island of the group—and +came back with some bottles of claret, bought from the French trader +there. With him came two visitors—a big half-caste of middle age, and +his wife, a girl of twenty or there-about. This was Edward Pallou and +his wife Taloi. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +I was in the house when Tom returned, enjoying a long-denied smoke. +Pallou and his wife entered and greeted me. The man was a fine, +well-set-up fellow, wiry and muscular, with deep-set eyes, and bearing +across his right cheek a heavy scar. His wife was a sweet, dainty +little creature with red lips, dazzling teeth, hazel eyes, and long +wavy hair. The first thing I noticed about her was, that instead of +squatting on a mat in native fashion, she sank into a wide chair, and +lying back enquired, with a pleasant smile and in perfect English, +whether I was feeling any better. She was very fair, even for a +Paumotuan half-caste, as I thought she must be, and I said to Pallou, +"Why, any one would take your wife to be an Englishwoman!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not I," said Taloi, with a rippling laugh, as she commenced to make a +banana-leaf cigarette; "I am a full-blooded South Sea Islander. I +belong to Apatiki, and was born there. Perhaps I have white blood in +me. Who knows?—only my wise mother. But when I was twelve years old I +was adopted by a gentleman in Papeite, and he sent me to Sydney to +school. Do you know Sydney? Well, I was three years with the Misses +F——, in —— Street. My goodness! I WAS glad to leave—and so were +the Misses F—— to see me go. They said I was downright wicked, +because one day I tore the dress off a girl who said my skin was +tallowy, like my name. When I came back to Tahiti my guardian took me +to Raiatea, where he had a business, and said I must marry him, the +beast!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, shut up, Taoi!" growled the deep-voiced Pallou, who sat beside me. +"What the deuce does this man care about your doings?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shut up yourself, you brute! Can't I talk to any one I like, you +turtle-headed fool? Am I not a good wife to you, you great, over-grown +savage? Won't you let a poor devil of a woman talk a little? Look here, +Tom, do you see that flash jacket he's wearing? Well, I sat up two +nights making that—for him to come over here with, and show off before +the Rotoava girls. Go and die, you ——!" +</P> + +<P> +The big half-caste looked at Tom and then at me. His lips twitched with +suppressed passion, and a dangerous gleam shone a moment in his dark +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, I say, Taloi," broke in Tom, good-humouredly, "just go easy a +bit with Ted. As for him a-looking at any of the girls here, I knows +better—and so do you." +</P> + +<P> +Taloi's laugh, clear as the note of a bird, answered him, and then she +said she was sorry, and the lines around Pallou's rigid mouth softened +down. It was easy to see that this grim half-white loved, for all her +bitter tongue, the bright creature who sat in the big chair. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Taloi and Lucia went out to bathe, and Pallou remained with +me. Tom joined us, and for a while no one spoke. Then the trader, +laying down his pipe on the table, drew his seat closer, and commenced, +in low tones, a conversation in Tahitian with Pallou. From the earnest +manner of old Tom and the sullen gloom that overspread Pallou's face, I +could discern that some anxiety possessed them. +</P> + +<P> +At last Tom addressed me. "Look here, ——, Ted here is in a mess, and +we've just been a-talkin' of it over, and he says perhaps you'll do +what you can for him." +</P> + +<P> +The half-caste turned his dark eyes on me and looked intently into +mine. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you see, it come about this way. You heard this chap's +missus—Taloi—a-talkin' about the Frenchman that wanted to marry her. +He had chartered a little schooner in Papeite to go to Raiatea. Pallou +here was mate, and, o' course, he being from the same part of the group +as Taloi, she ups and tells him that the Frenchman wanted to marry her +straightaway; and then I s'pose, the two gets a bit chummy, and Pallou +tells her that if she didn't want the man he'd see as how she wasn't +forced agin' her will. So when the vessel gets to Raiatea it fell calm, +just about sunset. The Frenchman was in a hurry to get ashore, and +tells his skipper to put two men in the boat and some grub, as he meant +to pull ashore to his station. So they put the boat over the side, and +Frenchy and Taoi and Pallou and two native chaps gets in and pulls for +the land. +</P> + +<P> +"They gets inside Uturoa about midnight. 'Jump out,' says the Frenchman +to Taloi as soon as the boat touches the beach; but the girl wouldn't, +but ties herself up around Pallou and squeals. 'Sakker!' says the +Frenchy, and he grabs her by the hair and tries to tear her away. +''Ere, stop that,' says Pallou; 'the girl ain't willin',' an' he pushes +Frenchy away. 'Sakker!' again, and Frenchy whips out his pistol and +nearly blows Pallou's face off'n him; and then, afore he knows how it +was done, Ted sends his knife chunk home into the other fellow's +throat. The two native sailors runned away ashore, and Pallou and Taloi +takes the oars and pulls out again until they drops. Then a breeze +comes along, and they up stick and sails away and gets clear o' the +group, and brings up, after a lot of sufferin', at Rurutu. And ever +since then there's been a French gunboat a-lookin' for Pallou, and he's +been hidin' at Apatiki for nigh on a twelvemonth, and has come over +here now to see if, when your ship comes back, you can't give him and +his missus a passage away somewhere to the westward, out o' the run of +that there gunboat, the VAUDREUIL." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +I promised I would "work it" with the captain, and Pallou put out his +brawny hand—the hand that "drove it home into Frenchy's throat"—and +grasped mine in silence. Then he lifted his jacket and showed me his +money-belt, filled. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want money," I said. "If you have told me the whole story, I +would help any man in such a fix as you." And then Taloi, fresh from +her bath, came in and sat down on the mat, whilst fat Lucia combed and +dressed her glossy hair and placed therein scarlet hisbiscus flowers; +and to show her returned good temper, she took from her lips the +cigarette she was smoking, and offered it to the grim Pallou. +</P> + +<P> +A month later we all three left Rotoava, and Pallou and Taloi went +ashore at one of the Hervey Group, where I gave him charge of a station +with a small stock of trade, and we sailed away east-ward to Pitcairn +and Easter Islands. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Pallou did a good business, and was well liked; and some seven months +afterwards, when we were at Maga Reva, in the Gambier Group, I got a +letter from him. "Business goes well," he wrote, "but Taloi is ill; I +think she will die. You will find everything square, though, when you +come." +</P> + +<P> +But I was never to see that particular island again, as the firm sent +another vessel in place of ours to get Pallou's produce. When the +captain and the supercargo went ashore, a white trader met them, with a +roll of papers in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Pallou's stock-list," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, where is he? gone away?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, he's here still; planted alongside his missus." +</P> + +<P> +"Dead!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. A few months after he arrived here, that pretty little wife of +his died. He came to me, and asked if I would come and take stock with +him. I said he seemed in a bit of a hurry to start stocktaking before +the poor thing was buried; but anyhow, I went, and we took stock, and +he counted his cash, and asked me to lock the place up if anything +happened to him. Then we had a drink, and he bade me good-day, and said +he was going to sit with Taloi awhile, before they took her away. He +sent the native women out of the bedroom, and the next minute I heard a +shot. He'd done it, right enough. Right through his brain, poor chap. I +can tell you he thought a lot of that girl of his. There's the two +graves, over there by that FETAU tree. Here's his stock-list and bag of +cash and keys. Would you mind giving me that pair of rubber sea-boots +he left?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="basket"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A BASKET OF BREAD-FRUIT +</H3> + +<P> +It was in Steinberger's time [Colonel Steinberger, who in 1874 succeeded +in forming a government in Samoa]. A trader had come up to Apia in his +boat from the end of Savaii, the largest of the Samoan Group, and was on +his way home again, when the falling tide caused him to stop awhile at +Mulinu'u Point, about two miles from Apia. Here he designed to smoke and +talk, and drink kava at the great camp with some hospitable native +acquaintances, during the rising of the water. Soon he was taking his +ease on a soft mat, watching the bevy of AUA LUMA [The local girls] making +a bowl of kava. +</P> + +<P> +Now this trader lived at Falealupo, at the extreme westerly end of +Savaii; but the Samoans, by reason of its isolation and extremity, have +for ages called it by another name—an unprintable one—and so some of +the people present began to jest with the trader for living in such a +place. He fell in with their humour, and said that if those present +would find for him a wife, a girl unseared by the breath of scandal, he +would leave Falealupo for Safune, where he had bought land. +</P> + +<P> +"Malie!" said an old dame, with one eye and white hair, "the +PAPALAGI [foreigner] is inspired to speak wisdom to-night; for at Safune +grow the sweetest nuts and the biggest taro and bread-fruit; and lo! here +among the kava-chewers is a young maid from Safune—mine own +grand-daughter Salome. And against her name can no one in Samoa laugh in +the hollow of his hand," and the old creature, amid laughter and cries of +ISA! E LE MA LE LO MATUA (The old woman is without shame), crept over to +the trader, and, with one skinny hand on his knee, gazed steadily into his +face with her one eye. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The trader looked at the girl—at Salome. She had, at her grandmother's +speech, turned her head aside, and taking the "chaw" of kava-root from +her pretty mouth, dissolved into shame-faced tears. The trader was a +man of quick perceptions, and he made up his mind to do in earnest what +he had said in jest—this because of the tears of Salome. He quickly +whispered to the old woman, "Come to the boat before the full of the +tide, and we will talk." +</P> + +<P> +When the kava was ready for drinking the others present had forgotten +all about the old woman and Salome, who had both crept away unobserved, +and an hour or two was passed in merriment, for the trader was a man +well liked. Then, when he rose and said TO FA, [good-bye] they begged him +not to attempt to pass down in his boat inside the reef, as he was sure to +be fired upon, for how were their people to tell a friend from an enemy in +the black night? But the white man smiled, and said his boat was too +heavily laden to face the ocean swell. So they bade him TO FA, and called +out MANUIA OE! [Bless you!] as he lifted the door of thatch and went. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The old woman awaited him, holding the girl by the hand. On the ground +lay a basket strongly tied up. Salome still wept, but the old woman +angrily bade her cease and enter the boat, which the crew had now +pushed bow-on to the beach. The old woman lifted the basket and +carefully put it on board. +</P> + +<P> +"Be sure," she said to the crew, "not to sit on it for it is very ripe +bread-fruit that I am taking to my people in Manono." +</P> + +<P> +"Give them here to me," said the trader, and he put the basket in the +stern out of the way. The old woman came aft, too, and crouched at his +feet and smoked a SULUI [a cigarette rolled in dried banana leaf]. The +cool land-breeze freshened as the sail was hoisted, and then +the crew besought the trader not to run down inside the reef. Bullets, +they said, if fired in plenty, always hit something, and the sea was +fairly smooth outside the reef. And old Lupetea grasped his hand and +muttered in his ear, "For the sake of this my little daughter go +outside. See, now, I am old, and to lie when so near death as I am is +foolish. Be warned by me and be wise; sail out into the ocean, and at +daylight we shall be at Salua in Manono. Then thou canst set my feet on +the shore—I and the basket. But the girl shall go with thee. Thou +canst marry her, if that be to thy mind, in the fashion of the +PAPALAGI, or take her FA'A SAMOA [Samoan fashion]. Thus will I keep faith +with thee. If the girl be false, her neck is but little and thy fingers +strong." +</P> + +<P> +Now the trader thought in this wise: "This is well for me, for if I get +the girl away thus quietly from all her relations I shall save much in +presents," and his heart rejoiced, for although not mean he was a +careful man. So he steered his boat seaward, between the seething surf +that boiled and hissed on both sides of the boat passage. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +As the boat sailed past the misty line of cloud-capped Upolu, the +trader lifted the girl up beside him and spoke to her. She was not +afraid of him, she said, for many had told her he was a good man, and +not an ULA VALE (scamp), but she wept because now, save her old +grandmother, all her kinsfolk were dead. Even but a day and a half ago +her one brother was killed with her cousin. They were strong men, but +the bullets were swift, and so they died. And their heads had been +shown at Matautu. For that she had grieved and wept and eaten nothing, +and the world was cold and dark to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor little devil!" said the trader to himself—"hungry." Then he +opened a locker and found a tin of sardines. Not a scrap of biscuit. +There was plenty of biscuit, though, in the boat, in fifty-pound tins, +but on these mats were spread, where-on his crew were sleeping. He was +about to rouse them when he remembered the old dame's basket of ripe +bread-fruit. He laughed and looked at her. She, too, slept, coiled up +at his feet. But first he opened the sardines and placed them beside +the girl, and motioned her to steer. Her eyes gleamed like diamonds in +the darkness as she answered his glance, and her soft fingers grasped +the tiller. Very quickly, then, he felt among the packages aft till he +came to the basket. +</P> + +<P> +A quick stroke of his knife cut the cinnet that lashed the sides +together. He felt inside. "Only two, after all, but big ones, and no +mistake. Wrapped in cloth, too! I wonder—Hell and Furies! what's +this?"—as his fingers came in contact with something that felt like a +human eye. Drawing his hand quickly back, he fumbled in his pockets for +a match, and struck it. Bread-fruit! No. Two heads with closed eyes and +livid lips blue with the pallor of death, showing their white teeth. +And Salome covered her face and slid down in the bottom of the boat +again, and wept afresh for her cousin and brother, and the boat came up +in the wind, but no one awoke. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The trader was angry. But after he had tied up the basket again he put +the boat on her course once more and called to the girl. She crept +close to him and nestled under his overcoat, for the morning air came +across the sea from the dew-laden forests, and she was chilled. Then +she told the story of how her granddam had begged the heads from those +of Malietoa's troops who had taken them at Matautu, and then gone to +the camp at Mulinu'u in the hope of getting a passage in some boat to +Manono, her country, where she would fain bury them. And that night he +had come, and old Lupetea had rejoiced, and sworn her to secrecy about +the heads in the basket. And that also was why Lupetea was afraid of +the boat going down inside the passage, for there were many enemies to +be met with, and they would have shot old Lupetea because she was of +Manono. That was all. Then she ate the sardines, and, leaning her head +against the trader's bosom, fell asleep. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +As the first note of the great grey pigeon sounded the dawn, the +trader's boat sailed softly up to the Salua beach, and old Lupetea +rose, and, bidding the crew good-bye, and calling down blessings on the +head of the good and clever white man, as she rubbed his and the girl's +noses against her own, she grasped her Basket of Bread-fruit and went +ashore. Then the trader, with Salome nestling to his side, sailed out +again into the ocean towards his home. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="enderby"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ENDERBY'S COURTSHIP +</H3> + +<P> +The two ghastly creatures sat facing each other in their wordless +misery as the wind died away and the tattered remnants of the sail hung +motionless after a last faint flutter. The Thing that sat aft—for +surely so grotesquely horrible a vision could not be a Man—pointed +with hands like the talons of a bird of prey to the purple outline of +the island in the west, and his black, blood-baked lips moved, opened, +and essayed to speak. The other being that, with bare and skinny arms +clasped around its bony knees, sat crouched in the bottom of the boat, +leaned forward to listen. +</P> + +<P> +"Ducie Island, Enderby," said the first in a hoarse, rattling whisper; +"no one on it; but water is there ... and plenty of birds and turtle, +and a few coconuts." +</P> + +<P> +At the word "water" the listener gave a curious gibbering chuckle, +unclasped his hands from his knees, and crept further towards the +speaker. +</P> + +<P> +"And the current is setting us down to it, wind or no wind. I believe +we'll see this pleasure-trip through, after all"—and the black lips +parted in a hideous grimace. +</P> + +<P> +The man whom he called Enderby sank his head again upon his knees, and +his dulled and bloodshot eyes rested on something that lay at the +captain's feet—the figure of a woman enveloped from her shoulders down +in a ragged native mat. For some hours past she had lain thus, with the +grey shadows of coming dissolution hovering about her pallid face, and +only the faintest movement of lips and eyelids to show that she still +lived. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The black-whiskered man who steered looked down for a second upon the +face beneath him with the unconcern for others born of the agony of +thirst and despair, and again his gaunt face turned to the land. Yet +she was his wife, and not six weeks back he had experienced a cold sort +of satisfaction in the possession of so much beauty. +</P> + +<P> +He remembered that day now. Enderby, the passenger from Sydney, and he +were walking the poop; his wife was asleep in a deck-chair on the other +side. An open book lay in her lap. As the two men passed and re-passed +her, the one noted that the other would glance in undisguised and +honest admiration at the figure in the chair. And Enderby, who was as +open as the day, had said to him, Langton, that the sleeping Mrs +Langton made as beautiful a picture as he had ever seen. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The sail stirred, filled out, and then drooped again, and the two +spectres, with the sleeping woman between, still sat with their hungry +eyes gazing over toward the land. As the sun sank, the outlines of the +verdure-clad summits and beetling cliffs stood forth clearly for a +short minute or two, as if to mock them with hope, and then became +enshrouded in the tenebrous night. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Another hour, and a faint sigh came from the ragged mat. Enderby, for +ever on the watch, had first seen a white hand silhouetted against the +blackness of the covering, and knew that she was still alive. And as he +was about to call Langton, who lay in the stern-sheets muttering in +hideous dreams, he heard the woman's voice calling HIM. With panting +breath and trembling limbs he crawled over beside her and gently +touched her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God, you are alive, Mrs Langton. Shall I wake Captain Langton? +We must be nearing the land." +</P> + +<P> +"No, don't. Let him sleep. But I called you, Mr Enderby, to lift me up. +I want to see where the rain is coming from." +</P> + +<P> +Enderby groaned in anguish of spirit. "Rain? God has forgotten us, I——," +and then he stopped in shame at betraying his weakness before a +woman. +</P> + +<P> +The soft, tender tones again—"Ah, do help me up, please, I can FEEL +the rain is near." Then the man, with hot tears of mingled weakness and +pity coursing down his cheeks, raised her up. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, there it is, Mr Enderby—and the land as well! And it's a heavy +squall, too," and she pointed to a moving, inky mass that half +concealed the black shadow of the island. "Quick, take my mat; one end +of it is tight and will hold water." +</P> + +<P> +"Langton, La-a-ngton! Here's a rain squall coming!" and Enderby pressed +the woman's hand to his lips and kissed it again and again. Then with +eager hands he took the mat from her, and staggering forward to the +bows stretched the sound end across and bellied it down. And then the +moving mass that was once black, and was now white, swept down upon +them, and brought them life and joy. +</P> + +<P> +Langton, with an empty beef-tin in his hand, stumbled over his wife's +figure, plunged the vessel into the water and drank again and again. +</P> + +<P> +"Curse you, you brute!" shouted Enderby through the wild noise of the +hissing rain, "where is your wife? Are you going to let her lie there +without a drink?" +</P> + +<P> +Langton answered not, but drank once more. Then Enderby, with an oath, +tore the tin from his hand, filled it and took it to her, holding her +up while she drank. And as her eyes looked gratefully into his while he +placed her tenderly back in the stern-sheets, the madness of a moment +overpowered him, and he kissed her on the lips. +</P> + +<P> +Concerned only with the nectar in the mat, Langton took no regard of +Enderby as he opened the little locker, pulled out a coarse dungaree +jumper, and wrapped it round the thinly-clad and drenched figure of the +woman. +</P> + +<P> +She was weeping now, partly from the joy of knowing that she was not to +die of the agonies of thirst in an open boat in mid-Pacific, and partly +because the water had given her strength to remember that Langton had +cursed her when he had stumbled over her to get at the water in the +mat. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +She had married him because of his handsome face and dashing manner for +one reason, and because her pious Scotch father, also a Sydney-Tahitian +trading captain, had pointed out to her that Langton had made and was +still making money in the island trade. Her ideal of a happy life was +to have her husband leave the sea and buy an estate either in Tahiti or +Chili. She knew both countries well: the first was her birthplace, and +between there and Valparaiso and Sydney her money-grubbing old father +had traded for years, always carrying with him his one daughter, whose +beauty the old man regarded as a "vara vain thing," but likely to +procure him a "weel-to-do mon" for a son-in-law. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs Langton cared for her husband in a prosaic sort of way, but she +knew no more of his inner nature and latent utter selfishness a year +after her marriage than she had known a year before. Yet, because of +the strain of dark blood in her veins—her mother was a Tahitian +half-caste—she felt the mastery of his savage resolution in the face +of danger in the thirteen days of horror that had elapsed since the +brigantine crashed on an uncharted reef between Pitcairn and Ducie +Islands, and the other boat had parted company with them, taking most +of the provisions and water. And to hard, callous natures such as +Langton's women yield easily and admire—which is better, perhaps, than +loving, for both. +</P> + +<P> +But that savage curse still sounded in her ears, and unconsciously made +her think of Enderby, who had always, ever since the eighth day in the +boat, given her half his share of water. Little did she know the agony +it cost him the day before when the water had given out, to bring her +the whole of his allowance. And as she drank, the man's heart had +beaten with a dull sense of pity, the while his baser nature called +out, "Fool! it is HIS place, not yours, to suffer for her." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +At daylight the boat was close in to the land, and Langton, in his +cool, cynical fashion, told his wife and Enderby to finish up the last +of the meat and biscuit—for if they capsized getting through into the +lagoon, he said, they would never want any more. He had eaten all he +wanted unknown to the others, and looked with an unmoved face at +Enderby soaking some biscuit in the tin for his wife. Then, with the +ragged sail fluttering to the wind, Langton headed the boat through the +passage into the glassy waters of the lagoon, and the two tottering +men, leading the woman between them, sought the shelter of a thicket +scrub, impenetrable to the rays of the sun, and slept. And then for a +week Enderby went and scoured the reefs for food for her. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +One day at noon Enderby awoke. The woman still slept heavily, the first +sign of returning strength showing as a faint tinge in the pallor of +her cheek. Langton was gone. A sudden chill passed over him—had +Langton taken the boat and left them to die on lonely Ducie? With hasty +step Enderby hurried to the beach. The boat was there, safe. And at the +farther end of the beach he saw Langton, sitting on the sand, eating. +</P> + +<P> +"Selfish brute!" muttered Enderby. "I wonder what he's got?" just then +he saw, close overhead, a huge ripe pandanus, and, picking up a heavy, +flat piece of coral, he tried to ascend the triplicated bole of the +tree and hammer off some of the fruit. Langton looked up at him, and +showed his white teeth in a mocking smile at the futile effort. Enderby +walked over to him, stone in hand. He was not a vindictive man, but he +had grown to hate Langton fiercely during the past week for his selfish +neglect of his wife. And here was the fellow, gorging himself on +turtle-eggs, and his tender, delicate wife living on shell-fish and +pandanus. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Langton," he said, speaking thickly and pretending not to notice the +remainder of the eggs, "the tide is out, and we may get a turtle in one +of the pools if you come with me. Mrs Langton needs something better +than that infernal pandanus fruit. Her lips are quite sore and bleeding +from eating it." +</P> + +<P> +The Inner Nature came out. "Are they? My wife's lips seem to give you a +very great deal of concern. She has not said anything to me. And I have +an idea——" the look in Enderby's face shamed into silence the slander +he was about to utter. Then he added coolly—"But as for going with you +after a turtle, thanks, I won't. I've found a nest here, and have had a +good square feed. If the cursed man-o'-war hawks and boobies hadn't +been here before me I'd have got the whole lot." Then he tore the skin +off another egg with his teeth. +</P> + +<P> +With a curious guttural voice Enderby asked—"How many eggs were left?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thirty or so—perhaps forty." +</P> + +<P> +"And you have eaten all but those?"—pointing with savage contempt to +five of the round, white balls; "give me those for your wife." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear man, Louise has too much Island blood in her not to be able to +do better than I—or you—in a case like ours. And as you have kindly +constituted yourself her providore, you had better go and look for a +nest yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"You dog!"—and the sharp-edged coral stone crashed into his brain. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +When Enderby returned, he found Mrs Langton sitting up on the +creeper-covered mound that over-looked the beach where he had left +Langton. +</P> + +<P> +"Come away from here," he said, "into the shade. I have found a few +turtle-eggs." +</P> + +<P> +They walked back a little and sat down. But for the wild riot in his +brain, Enderby would have noted that every vestige of colour had left +her face. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be hungry," he thought he was saying to her, and he placed +the white objects in her lap. +</P> + +<P> +She turned them slowly over and over in her hands, and then dropped +them with a shudder. Some were flecked with red. +</P> + +<P> +"For God's sake," the man cried, "tell me what you know!" +</P> + +<P> +"I saw it all," she answered. +</P> + +<P> +"I swear to you, Mrs Lan——" (the name stuck in his throat) "I never +meant it. As God is my witness, I swear it. If we ever escape from here +I will give myself up to justice as a murderer." +</P> + +<P> +The woman, with hands spread over her face, shook her head from side to +side and sobbed. Then she spoke. "I thought I loved him, once.... +Yet it was for me ... and you saved my life over and over again in +the boat. All sinners are forgiven we are told.... Why should not +you be? ... and it was for me you did it. And I won't let you give +yourself up to justice or any one. I'll say he died in the boat." And +then the laughter of hysterics. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +When, some months later, the JOSEPHINE, whaler, of New London, picked +them up on her way to Japan, VIA the Carolines and Pelews, the captain +satisfactorily answered the query made by Enderby if he could marry +them. He "rayther thought he could. A man who was used ter ketchin' and +killin'whales, the powerfullest creature of Almighty Gawd's creation, +was ekal to marryin' a pair of unfortunit human beans in sich a +pre-carus situation as theirs." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +And, by the irony of fate, the Enderbys (that isn't their name) are now +living in a group of islands where there's quite a trade done in +turtle, and whenever a ship's captain comes to dine with them they +never have the local dish—turtle eggs—for dinner. "We see them so +often," Enderby explains, "and my wife is quite tired of them." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="charley"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LONG CHARLEY'S GOOD LITTLE WIFE +</H3> + +<P> +There was the island, only ten miles away, and there it had been for a +whole week. Sometimes we had got near enough to see Long Charley's +house and the figures of natives walking on the yellow beach; and then +the westerly current would set us away to leeward again. But that night +a squall came up, and in half an hour we were running down to the land. +When the lights on the beach showed up we hove-to until daylight, and +then found the surf too heavy to let us land. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +We got in close to the reef, and could see that the trader's +copra-house was full, for there were also hundreds of bags outside, +awaiting our boats. It was clearly worth staying for. The trader, a +tall, thin, pyjama-clad man, came down to the water's edge, waved his +long arm, and then turned back and sat down on a bag of copra. We went +about and passed the village again, and once more the long man came to +the water's edge, waved his arm, and retired to his seat. +</P> + +<P> +In the afternoon we saw a native and Charley together among the bags; +then the native left him, and, as it was now low tide, the kanaka was +able to walk to the edge of the reef, where he signalled to us. Seeing +that he meant to swim off, the skipper went in as close as possible, +and backed his foreyard. Watching his chance for a lull in the yet +fierce breakers, the native slid over the reef and swam out to us as +only a Line Islander or a Tokelau man can swim. +</P> + +<P> +"How's Charley?" we asked, when the dark man reached the deck. +</P> + +<P> +"Who? Charley? Oh, he fine, plenty copra. Tapa my bowels are filled +with the sea—for one dollar! Here ARIKI VAKA (captain) and you TUHI +TUHI (supercargo)," said the native, removing from his perforated and +pendulous ear-lobe a little roll of leaf, "take this letter from the +mean man that giveth but a dollar for facing such a GALU (surf). Hast +plenty tobacco on board, friends of my heart? Apa, the surf! Not a +canoe crew could the white man get to face it. Is it good twist +tobacco, friends, or the flat cakes? Know that I am a man of Nanomea, +not one of these dog-eating people here, and a strong swimmer, else the +letter had not come." +</P> + +<P> +The supercargo took the note. It was rolled up in many thicknesses of +banana-leaf, which had kept it dry— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"DEAR FRIENDS,—I have Been waiting for you for near 5 months. I am +Chock full of Cobberah and Shark Fins one Ton. I am near Starved Out, +No Biscit, no Beef, no flour, not Enything to Eat. for god's Saik send +me a case of Gin ashore if you Don't mean to Hang on till the sea goes +Down or I shall Starve. Not a Woman comes Near me because I am Run out +of Traid, so please try also to Send a Peece of Good print, as there +are some fine Women here from Nukunau, and I think I can get one for a +wife if I am smart. If you Can't take my Cobberah, and mean to Go away, +send the Squair face [Square face—Hollands gin], for god's saik, and +something for the Woman,—Your obliged Friend, CHARLES." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We parcelled a bottle of gin round with a small coir line, and sent it +ashore by the Nanomea man. Charley and a number of natives came to the +edge of the reef to lend a hand in landing the bearer of the treasure. +Then they all waded back to the beach, headed by the white man in the +dirty pyjamas and sodden-looking FALA hat. Reaching his house, he +turned his following away, and shut the door. +</P> + +<P> +"I bet a dollar that fellow wouldn't swap billets with the angel +Gabriel at this partikler moment," said our profane mate thoughtfully. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +We started weighing and shipping the copra next day. After finishing +up, the solemn Charley invited the skipper and supercargo to remain +ashore till morning. His great trouble, he told us, was that he had not +yet secured a wife, "a reg'lar wife, y'know." He had, unluckily, "lost +the run" of the last Mrs Charley during his absence at another island +of the group, and negotiations with various local young women had been +broken off owing to his having run out of trade. In the South Seas, as +in the civilised world generally, to get the girl of your heart is +usually a mere matter of trade. There were, he told us with a +melancholy look, "some fine Nukunau girls here on a visit, but the one +I want don't seem to care much about stayin', unless all this new trade +fetches her." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is she?" enquired the skipper. +</P> + +<P> +"Tibakwa's daughter." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's have a look at her," said the skipper, a man of kind impulses, +who felt sorry at the intermittency of the Long One's connubial +relations. The tall, scraggy trader shambled to the door and bawled +out: "Tibakwa, Tibakwa, Tibakwa, O!" three times. +</P> + +<P> +The people, singing in the big MONIEP or town-house, stopped their +monotonous droning, and the name of Tibakwa, was yelled vociferously +through-out the village in true Gilbert Group style. In the Gilberts, +if a native in one corner of a house speaks to another in the opposite, +he bawls loud enough to be heard a mile off. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Tibakwa (The Shark) was a short, squat fellow, with his broad back and +chest scored and seamed with an intricate and inartistic network of +cicatrices made by sharks' teeth swords. His hair, straight, coarse, +and jet-black, was cut away square from just above his eyebrows to the +top of his ears, leaving his fierce countenance in a sort of frame. +Each ear-lobe bore a load—one had two or three sticks of tobacco, +twined in and about the distended circle of flesh, and the other a +clasp-knife and wooden pipe. Stripped to the waist he showed his +muscular outlines to perfection, and he sat down unasked in the bold, +self-confident, half-defiant manner natural to the Line Islander. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Where's Tirau?" asked the trader. +</P> + +<P> +"Here," said the man of wounds, pointing outside, and he called out in +a voice like the bellow of a bull—"TIRAU O, NAKO MAI! (Come here!)" +</P> + +<P> +Tirau came in timidly, clothed only in an AIRIRI or girdle, and slunk +into a far corner. +</P> + +<P> +The melancholy trader and the father pulled her out, and she dumped +herself down in the middle of the room with a muttered "E PUAK ACARON; +KACARON; TE MALAN! (Bad white man)." +</P> + +<P> +"Fine girl, Charley," said the skipper, digging him in the ribs. "Ought +to suit you, eh! Make a good little wife." +</P> + +<P> +Negotiations then began anew. Father willing to part, girl +frightened—commenced to cry. The astute Charley brought out some new +trade. Tirau's eye here displayed a faint interest. Charley threw her, +with the air of a prince, a whole piece of turkey twill, 12 +yards—value three dollars, cost about 2s. 3d. Tirau put out a little +hand and drew it gingerly toward her. Tibakwa gave us an atrocious +wink. +</P> + +<P> +"She's cottoned!" exclaimed Charley. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +And thus, without empty and hollow display, were two loving hearts made +to beat as one. As a practical proof of the solemnity of the occasion, +the bridegroom then and there gave Tirau his bunch of keys, which she +carefully tied to a strand of her AIRIRI, and, smoking one of the +captain's Manillas, she proceeded to bash out the mosquitoes from the +nuptial couch with a fan. We assisted her, an hour afterwards, to hoist +the sleeping body of Long Charley therein, and, telling her to bathe +his head in the morning with cold water, we rose to go. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, Tirau!" we said. +</P> + +<P> +"TIAKAPO [Good-night]", said the good Little Wife, as she rolled up an +empty square gin bottle in one of Charley's shirts for a pillow, and +disposed her graceful figure on the matted floor beside his bed, to fight +mosquitoes until daylight. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="burr"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE METHODICAL MR BURR OF MADURO +</H3> + +<P> +One day Ned Burr, a fellow trader, walked slowly up the path to my +station, and with a friendly nod sat down and watched intently as, with +native assistance, I set about salting some pork. Ned lived thirty +miles from my place, on a little island at the entrance to the lagoon. +He was a prosperous man, and only drank under the pressure of the +monotony caused by the non-arrival of a ship to buy his produce. He +would then close his store, and, aided by a number of friendly male +natives, start on a case of gin. But never a woman went into Ned's +house, though many visited the store, where Ned bought their produce, +paid for it in trade or cash, and sent them off, after treating them on +a strictly business basis. +</P> + +<P> +Now, the Marshall Island women much resented this. Since Ned's wife had +died, ten years previously, the women, backed by the chiefs, had made +most decided, but withal diplomatic, assaults upon his celibacy. The +old men of his village had respectfully and repeatedly reminded him +that his state of singleness was not a direct slight to themselves as +leading men alone. If he refused to marry again he surely would not +cast such a reflection upon the personal characters of some two or +three hundred young girls as to refuse a few of them the position of +honorary wives PRO TEM., or until he found one whom he might think +worthy of higher honours. But the slow-thinking, methodical trader only +opened a bottle of gin, gave them fair words and a drink all round, and +absolutely declined to open any sort of matrimonial negotiations. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"I'm come to hev some talk with you when you've finished saltin'," he +said, as he rose and meditatively prodded a junk of meat with his +forefinger. +</P> + +<P> +"Right, old man," I said. "I'll come now," and we went into the big +room and sat down. +</P> + +<P> +"Air ye game ter come and see me get married?" he asked, looking away +past me, through the open door, to where the surf thundered and tumbled +on the outer reef. +</P> + +<P> +"Ned," I said solemnly, "I know you don't joke, so you must mean it. Of +course I will. I'm sure all of us fellows will be delighted to hear +you're going to get some nice little CARAJZ [an unmarried girl] to lighten +up that big house of yours over there. Who's the girl, Ned?" +</P> + +<P> +"Le-jennabon." +</P> + +<P> +"Whew!" I said, "why, she's the daughter of the biggest chief on Arhnu. +I didn't think any white man could get her, even if he gave her people +a boat-load of dollars as a wedding-gift." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, no," said Ned, stroking his beard meditatively, "I suppose I +SHOULD feel a bit set up; but two years ago her people said that, +because I stood to them in the matter of some rifles when they had +trouble with King Jibberick, I could take her. She was rather young +then, any way; but I've been over to Arhnu several times, and I've had +spies out, and damn me if I ever could hear a whisper agin' her. I'm +told for sure that her father and uncles would ha' killed any one that +came after her. So I'm a-goin' to take her and chance it." +</P> + +<P> +"Ned," I said, "you know your own affairs and these people better than +I do. Yet are you really going to pin your faith on a Marshall Island +girl? You are not like any of us traders. You see, we know what to +expect sometimes, and our morals are a lot worse than those of the +natives. And it doesn't harrow our feelings much if any one of us has +to divorce a wife and get another; it only means a lot of new dresses +and some guzzling, drinking, and speechifying, and some bother in +teaching the new wife how to make bread. But your wife that died was a +Manhikian—another kind. They don't breed that sort here in the +Marshalls. Think of it twice, Ned, before you marry her." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The girl was a beauty. There are many like her in that far-away cluster +of coral atolls. That she was a chief's child it was easy to see; the +abject manner in which the commoner natives always behaved themselves +in her presence showed their respect for Le-jennabon. Of course we all +got very jolly. There were half a dozen of us traders there, and we +were, for a wonder, all on friendly terms. Le-jennabon sat on a fine +mat in the big room, and in a sweetly dignified manner received the +wedding-gifts. One of our number, Charlie de Buis, though in a state of +chronic poverty, induced by steadfast adherence to square gin at five +dollars a case, made his offerings—a gold locket covering a woman's +miniature, a heavy gold ring, and a pair of fat, cross-bred Muscovy +ducks. The bride accepted them with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is this?" she asked, looking at the portrait—"your white wife?" +"No," replied the bashful Charles, "another man's. That's why I give it +away, curse her! But the ducks I bred myself on Madurocaron." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +A month or two passed. Then, on one Sunday afternoon, about dusk, I saw +Ned's whale-boat coming over across the lagoon. I met him on the beach. +Trouble was in his face, yet his hard, impassive features were such +that only those who knew him well could discover it. Instead of +entering the house, he silently motioned me to come further along the +sand, where we reached an open spot clear of coco palms. Ned sat down +and filled his pipe. I waited patiently. The wind had died away, and +the soft swish and swirl of the tide as the ripples lapped the beach +was the only sound that broke upon the silence of the night. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"You were right. But it doesn't matter now ..." He laughed softly. "A +week ago a canoe-party arrived from Ebon. There were two chiefs. Of +course they came to my house to trade. They had plenty of money. There +were about a hundred natives belonging to them. The younger man was +chief of Likieb—a flash buck. The first day he saw Le-jennabon he had +a lot too much to say to her. I watched him. Next morning my +toddy-cutter came and told me that the flash young chief from Likieb +had stuck him up and drank my toddy, and had said something about my +wife—you know how they talk in parables when they mean mischief. I +would have shot him for the toddy racket, but I was waitin' for a +better reason.... The old hag who bosses my cook-shed said to me as +she passed, 'Go and listen to a song of cunning over there'—pointing +to a clump of bread-fruit trees. I walked over—quietly. Le-jennabon +and her girls were sitting down on mats. Outside the fence was a lad +singing this—in a low voice— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers.'<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Le-jennabon and the girls bent their heads and said nothing. Then the +devil's imp commenced again— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers.'<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Some of the girls laughed and whispered to Le-jennabon. She shook her +head, and looked around timorously. Plain enough, wasn't it? Presently +the boy creeps up to the fence, and drops over a wreath of yellow +blossoms. The girls laughed. One of them picked it up, and offered it +to Le-jennabon. She waved it away. Then, again, the cub outside sang +softly— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers,'<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"and they all laughed again, and Le-jennabon put the wreath on her head, +and I saw the brown hide of the boy disappear among the trees." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +I went back to the house. I wanted to make certain she would follow the +boy first. After a few minutes some of Le-jennabon's women came to me, +and said they were going to the weather side of the island—it's narrer +across, as you know—to pick flowers. I said all right, to go, as I was +going to do something else, so couldn't come with them. Then I went to +the trade-room and got what I wanted. The old cook-hag showed me the +way they had gone, and grinned when she saw what I had slid down inside +my pyjamas. I cut round and got to the place. I had a right good idea +where it was. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"The girls soon came along the path, and then stopped and talked to +Le-jennabon and pointed to a clump of bread-fruit trees standing in an +arrow-root patch. She seemed frightened—but went. Half-way through she +stopped, and then I saw my beauty raise his head from the ground and +march over to her. I jest giv' him time ter enjoy a smile, and then I +stepped out and toppled him over. Right through his carcase—them +Sharp's rifle make a hole you could put your fist into. +</P> + +<P> +"The girl dropped too—sheer funk. Old Lebauro, the cook, slid through +the trees and stood over him, and said, 'U, GUK! He's a fine-made man,' +and gave me her knife; and then I collared Le-jennabon, and——" +</P> + +<P> +"For God's sake, Ned, don't tell me you killed her too!" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I couldn't hurt HER. But I held her with one hand, she feeling +dead and cold, like a wet deck-swab; then the old cook-woman undid my +flash man's long hair, and, twining her skinny old claws in it, pulled +it taut, while I sawed at the chap's neck with my right hand. The knife +was heavy and sharp, and I soon got the job through. Then I gave the +thing to Le-jennabon to carry. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"I made her walk in front of me. Every time she dropped the head I +slewed her round and made her lift it up again. And the old cook-devil +trotted astern o' us. When we came close to the town, I says to +Le-jennabon: +</P> + +<P> +"'Do you want to live?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Yes,' says she, in a voice like a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"'Then sing,' says I, 'sing loud— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers,'<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And she sang it in a choky kind of quaver. +</P> + +<P> +"There was a great rush o' people ter see the procession. They stood in +a line on both sides of the path, and stared and said nothin'. +</P> + +<P> +"Presently we comes to where all the Likieb chief's people was +quartered. They knew the head and ran back for their rifles, but my +crowd in the village was too strong, and, o' course, sided with me, and +took away their guns. Then the crowd gathers round my place, and I +makes Le-jennabon hold up the head and sing again—sing that devil's +chant. +</P> + +<P> +"'Listen,' I says to the people, 'listen to my wife singing a love +song.' Then I takes the thing, wet and bloody, and slings it into the +middle of the Likieb people, and gave Le-jennabon a shove and sent her +inside." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +I was thinking what would be the best thing to say, and could only +manage "It's a bad business, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"Bad! That's where you're wrong," and, rising, Ned brushed the sand off +the legs of his pyjamas. "It's just about the luckiest thing as could +ha' happened. Ye see, it's given Le-jennabon a good idea of what may +happen to her if she ain't mighty correct. An' it's riz me a lot in the +esteem of the people generally as a man who hez business principles." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="great"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A TRULY GREAT MAN +</H3> + +<H4> +A Mid-Pacific Sketch +</H4> + +<P> +Then the flag of "Bobby" Towns, of Sydney, was still mighty in the +South Seas. The days had not come in which steamers with brass-bound +supercargoes, carrying tin boxes and taking orders like merchants' +bagmen, for goods "to arrive," exploited the Ellice, Kingsmill, and +Gilbert Groups. Bluff-bowed old wave-punchers like the SPEC, the LADY +ALICIA and the E. K. BATESON plunged their clumsy hulls into the +rolling swell of the mid-Pacific, carrying their "trade" of knives, +axes, guns, bad rum, and good tobacco, instead of, as now, white +umbrellas, paper boots and shoes, German sewing-machines and fancy +prints—"zephyrs," the smartly-dressed paper-collared supercargo of +to-day calls them, as he submits a card of patterns to Emilia, the +native teacher's wife, who, as the greatest Lady in the Land, must have +first choice. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +In those days the sleek native missionary was an unknown quantity in +the Tokelaus and Kingsmills, and the local white trader answered all +requirements. He was generally a rough character—a runaway from some +Australian or American whaler, or a wandering Ishmael, who, for reasons +of his own, preferred living among the intractable, bawling, and +poverty-stricken people of the equatorial Pacific to dreaming away his +days in the monotonously happy valleys of the Society and Marquesas +Groups. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Such a man was Probyn, who dwelt on one of the low atolls of the Ellice +Islands. He had landed there one day from a Sydney sperm whaler with a +chest of clothes, a musket or two, and a tierce of twist tobacco; with +him came a savage-eyed, fierce-looking native wife, over whose bared +shoulders and bosom fell long waves of black hair; with her was a child +about five years old. +</P> + +<P> +The second mate of the whaler, who was in charge of the boat, not +liking the looks of the excited natives who swarmed around the +newcomer, bade him a hurried farewell, and pushed away to the ship, +which lay-to off the passage with her fore-yard aback. Then the +clamorous people pressed more closely around Probyn and his wife, and +assailed them with questions. +</P> + +<P> +So far neither of them had spoken. Probyn, a tall, wiry, scanty-haired +man, with quiet, deep-set eyes, was standing with one foot on the +tierce of tobacco and his hands in his pockets. His wife glared +defiantly at some two or three score of reddish-brown women who crowded +eagerly around her to stare into her face; holding to the sleeve of her +dress was the child, paralysed into the silence of fright. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The deafening babble and frantic gesticulations were perfectly +explicable to Probyn, and he apprehended no danger. The head man of the +village had not yet appeared, and until he came this wild license of +behaviour would continue. At last the natives became silent and parted +to the right and left as Tahori, the head man, his fat body shining +with coconut oil, and carrying an ebony-wood club in his hand, stood in +front of the white man and eyed him up and down. The scrutiny seemed +satisfactory. He stretched out his huge, naked arm, and shook Probyn's +hand, uttering his one word of Samoan—"TALOFA!" [Lit., "My love to you", +the Samoan salutation] and then, in his own dialect, he asked: "What is +your name, and what do you want?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sam," replied Probyn. And then, in the Tokelau language, which the +wild-eyed people around him fairly understood, "I have come here to +live with you and trade for oil"—and he pointed to the tierce of +tobacco. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are you from?" +</P> + +<P> +"From the land called Nukunono, in the Tokelau." +</P> + +<P> +"Why come here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I killed an enemy there." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" grunted the fat man; "there are no twists in thy tongue; but +why did the boat hasten away so quickly?" +</P> + +<P> +"They were frightened because of the noise. He with the face like a +fowl's talked too much"—and he pointed to a long, hatchet-visaged +native, who had been especially turbulent and vociferous. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Ha!" and the fat, bearded face of Tahori turned from the white man to +him of whom the white man had spoken—"is it thee, Makoi? And so thou +madest the strangers hasten away! That was wrong. Only for thee I had +gone to the ship and gotten many things. Come hither!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he stooped and picked up one of Probyn's muskets, handed it to the +white man, and silently indicated the tall native with a nod. The other +natives fell back. Niabong, Probyn's wife, set her boy on his feet, put +her hand in her bosom and drew out a key, with which she opened the +chest. She threw back the lid, fixed her black eyes on Probyn, and +waited. +</P> + +<P> +Probyn, holding the musket in his left hand, mused a moment. Then he +asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Whose man is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mine," said Tahori; "he is from Oaitupu, and my bondman." +</P> + +<P> +"Hath he a wife?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; he is poor, and works in my PURAKA [A coarse species of taro (ARUM +ESCULENTUM) growing on the low-lying atolls of the mid-Pacific.] field!" +</P> + +<P> +"Good," said Probyn, and he motioned to his wife. She dived her hand +into the chest and handed him a tin of powder, then a bullet, a cap, +and some scraps of paper. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly he loaded the musket, and Tahori, seizing the bondman by his +arm, led him out to the open, and stood by, club in hand, on the alert. +</P> + +<P> +Probyn knew his reputation depended on the shot. He raised his musket +and fired. The ball passed through the chest of Makoi. Then four men +picked up the body and carried it into a house. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Probyn laid down the musket and motioned again to Niabong. She handed +him a hatchet and blunt chisel. Tahori smiled pleasantly, and, drawing +the little boy to him, patted his head. +</P> + +<P> +Then, at a sign from him, a woman brought Niabong a shell of sweet +toddy. The chief sat cross-legged and watched Probyn opening the tierce +of tobacco. Niabong locked the box again and sat upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" said Tahori, still caressing the boy, to the white man's +wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Niabong. But my tongue twists with your talk here. I am of Naura +(Pleasant Island). By-and-by I shall understand it." +</P> + +<P> +"True. He is a great man, thy man," said the chief, nodding at Probyn. +</P> + +<P> +"A great man, truly. There is not one thing in the world but he can do +it." +</P> + +<P> +"E MOE [true]," said the fat man, approvingly; "I can see it. Look you, he +shall be as my brother, and thy child here shall eat of the best in the +land." +</P> + +<P> +Probyn came over with his two hands filled with sticks of tobacco. +</P> + +<P> +"Bring a basket," he said. +</P> + +<P> +A young native girl slid out from the coconut grove at Tahori's +bidding, and stood behind him holding a basket. Probyn counted out into +it two hundred sticks of tobacco. +</P> + +<P> +"See, Tahori. I am a just man to thee because thou art a just man to +me. Here is the price of him that thou gavest to me." +</P> + +<P> +Tahori rose and beckoned to the people to return. "Look at this man. He +is a truly great man. His heart groweth from his loins upwards to his +throat. Bring food to my house quickly, that he and his wife and child +may eat. And to-morrow shall every man cut wood for his house, a house +that shall be in length six fathoms, and four in width. Such men as he +come from the gods." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="doctor"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DOCTOR'S WIFE +</H3> + +<H4> +Consanguinity—From A Polynesian Standpoint +</H4> + +<P> +"Oho!" said Lagisiva, the widow, tossing her hair back over her +shoulders, as she raised the heavy, fluted tappa mallet in her thick, +strong right hand, and dealt the rough cloth a series of quick +strokes—"Oho!" said the dark-faced Lagisiva, looking up at the White +Man, "because I be a woman dost think me a fool? I tell thee I know +some of the customs of the PAPALAGI (the white foreigners). Much wisdom +have ye in many things; but again I tell thee, O friend of my sons, +that in some other things the people of thy nation—ay, of all white +nations, they be as the beasts of the forest—the wild goat and +pig—without reason and without shame. TAH! Has not my eldest son, Tui +Fau, whom the white men call Bob, lived for seven years in Sini +(Sydney), when he returned from those places by New Guinea, where he +was diver? And he has filled my ears with the bad and shameless customs +of the PAPALAGI. ISA! I say again thy women have not the shame of ours. +The heat of desire devoureth chastity even in those of one blood!" +</P> + +<P> +"In what do they offend, O my mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"AUE! Life is short; and, behold, this piece of SIAPO [The tappa cloth of +the South Seas, made from the bark of the paper mulberry.] is for +a wedding present, and I must hurry; but yet put down thy gun and +bag, and we shall smoke awhile, and thou shalt feel shame while I tell +of one of the PAPALAGI customs—the marrying of brother and sister!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay, mother," said the White Man, "not brother and sister, but only +cousins." +</P> + +<P> +"ISA! [an expression of contempt]" and the big widow spat scornfully on +the ground, "those are words—words. It is the same; the same is the +blood, the same is the bone. Even in our heathen days we pointed the +finger at one who looked with the eye of love on the daughter of his +father's brother or sister—for such did we let his blood out upon the +sand. And I, old Lagisiva, have seen a white man brought to shame through +this wickedness!" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," said the White Man. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"He was a FOMA'I (doctor), and rich, and came here because he desired +to see strange places, and was weary of his life in the land of the +PAPALAGI. So he remained with us, and hunted the wild boar with our +young men, and became strong and hardy, and like unto one of our +people. And then, because he was for ever restless, he sailed away once +and returned in a small ship, and brought back trade and built a store +and a fine house to dwell in. The chief of this town gave him, for +friendship, a piece of land over there by the Vai-ta-milo, and thus did +he become a still greater man. His store was full of rich goods, and he +kept many servants, and at night-time his house was as a blaze of fire, +for the young men and women would go there and sing and dance, and he +had many lovers amongst our young girls. +</P> + +<P> +"I, old Lagisiva, who am now fat and dull, was one. Oho, he was a man +of plenty! Did a girl but look out between her eyelashes at a piece of +print in the store, lo! it was hers, even though it measured twenty +fathoms in length—and print was a dollar a fathom in those days. So +every girl—even those from parts far off—cast herself in his way, +that he might notice her. And he was generous to all alike—in that +alone was wisdom. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Once or twice every year the ships brought him letters. And he would +count the marks on the paper, and tell us that they came from a woman +of the PAPALAGI—his cousin, as you would call her—whose picture was +hung over his table. She was for ever smiling down upon us, and her +eyes were his eyes, and if he but smiled then were the two alike—alike +as are two children of the same birth. When three years had come and +gone a ship brought him a letter, and that night there were many of us +at his house, men and women, to talk with the people from the ship. +When those had gone away to their sleep, he called to the chief, and +said:— +</P> + +<P> +"'In two days, O my friend, I set out for my land again; but to return, +for much do I desire to remain with you always. In six months I shall +be here again. And there is one thing I would speak of. I shall bring +back a white wife, a woman of my own country, whom I have loved for +many years.' +</P> + +<P> +"Then Tamaali'i, the chief, who was my father's father, and very old, +said, 'She shall be my daughter, and welcome,' and many of us young +girls said also, 'She shall be welcome'—although we felt sorrowful to +lose a lover so good and open-handed. And then did the FOMA'I call to +the old chief and two others, and they entered the store and lighted +lamps, and presently a man went forth into the village, and cried +aloud: 'Come hither, all people, and listen!' So, many hundreds came, +and we all went in and found the floor covered with some of everything +that the white man possessed. And the chief spoke and said: +</P> + +<P> +"'Behold, my people, this our good friend goeth away to his own country +that he may bring back a wife. And because many young unmarried girls +will say, "Why does he leave us? Are not we as good to look upon as +this other woman?" does he put these presents here on the ground and +these words into my mouth—"Out of his love to you, which must be a +thing that is past and forgotten, the wife that is coming must not know +of some little things—that is PAPALAGI custom.'" +</P> + +<P> +"And then every girl that had a wish took whatever she fancied, and the +white man charged us to say naught that would arouse the anger of the +wife that was to come. And so he departed. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"One hundred and ten fat hogs killed we and roasted whole for the feast +of welcome. I swear it by the Holy Ones of God's Kingdom—one hundred +and ten. And yet this white lily of his never smiled—not even on us +young girls who danced and sang before her, only she clung to his arm, +and, behold, when we drew close to her we saw it was the woman in the +picture—his sister! +</P> + +<P> +"And then one by one all those that had gathered to do him honour went +away in shame—shame that he should do this, wed his own sister, and +many women said worse of her. But yet the feast—the hogs, and yams, +and taro, and fish, and fowls—was brought and placed by his doorstep, +but no one spake, and at night-time he was alone with his wife, till he +sent for the old chief, and reproached him with bitter words for the +coldness of the people, and asked: 'Why is this?' +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"And the old man pointed to the picture over the table, and said: 'Is +this she—thy wife?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Ay,' said the White Man. +</P> + +<P> +"'Is she not of the same blood as thyself?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Even so,' said he. +</P> + +<P> +"'Then shalt thou live alone in thy shame,' said the old man; and he +went away. +</P> + +<P> +"So, for many months, these two lived. He found some to work for him, +and some young girls to tend his sister, whom he called his wife, +whilst she lay ill with her first child. And the day after it was born, +some one whispered: 'He is accursed! the child cries not—it is dumb.' +For a week it lived, yet never did it cry, for the curse of wickedness +was upon it. Then the white man nursed her tenderly, and took her away +to live in Fiji for six months. When they came back it was the same—no +one cared to go inside his house, and he cursed us, and said he would +bring men from Tokelau to work for him. We said naught. Then in time +another child was born, and it was hideous to look upon, and that also +died. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Now, there was a girl amongst us whose name was Suni, to whom the +white woman spoke much, for she was learning our tongue, and Suni, by +reason of the white woman's many presents, spoke openly to her, and +told her of the village talk. Then the white woman wept, and arose and +spoke to the man for a long while. And she came back to Suni, and said: +'What thou hast told me was in my own heart three years ago; yet, +because it is the custom of my people, I married this man, who is the +son of my father's brother. But now I shall go away.' Then the white +man came out and beat Suni with a stick. But yet was his sister, whom +he called his wife, eaten up with shame, and when a ship came they went +away, and we saw her not again. For about two years we heard no more of +our white man, till he returned and said the woman was dead. And he +took Suni for wife, who bore him three children, and then they went +away to some other country—I know not where. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"I thank thee many, many times, O friend of my sons. Four children of +mine here live in this village, yet not a one of them ever asketh me +when I last smoked. May God walk with thee always for this stick of +tobacco." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="alida"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FATE OF THE ALIDA +</H3> + +<P> +Three years ago, in an Australian paper, I read something that set me +thinking of Taplin—of Taplin and his wife, and the fate of the ALIDA. +This is what I read:— +</P> + +<P> +"News has reached Tahiti that a steamer had arrived at Toulon with two +noted prisoners on board. These men, who are brothers named Rorique, +long ago left Tahiti on an island-trading trip, and when the vessel got +to sea they murdered the captain, a passenger, the supercargo (Mr +Gibson, of Sydney), and two sailors, and threw their bodies overboard. +The movers in the affair were arrested at Ponape, in the Caroline +Islands. The vessel belonged to a Tahitian prince, and was called the +NUROAHITI, but its name had been changed after the tragedy. The accused +persons were sent to Manilla. From Manilla they appear now to have been +sent on to France." +</P> + +<P> +[NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.—The brothers Rorique were sentenced to imprisonment +for life at Brest in 1895.] +</P> + +<P> +In the year 1872 we were lying inside Funafuti Lagoon, in the Ellice +Group. The last cask of oil had been towed off to the brig and placed +under hatches, and we were to sail in the morning for our usual cruise +among the Gilbert and Kingsmill Islands. +</P> + +<P> +Our captain, a white trader from the shore, and myself, were sitting on +deck "yarning" and smoking. We lay about a quarter of a mile from the +beach—such a beach, white as the driven snow, and sweeping in a great +curve for five long miles to the north and a lesser distance to the +south and west. Right abreast of the brig, nestling like huge birds' +nests in the shade of groves of coconut and bread-fruit trees, were the +houses of the principal village in Funafuti. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the skipper picked up his glasses that lay beside him on the +skylight, and looked away down to leeward, where the white sails of a +schooner beating up to the anchorage were outlined against the line of +palms that fringed the beach of Funafala—the westernmost island that +forms one of the chain enclosing Funafuti Lagoon. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Taplin's schooner, right enough," he said. "Let us go ashore and +give him and his pretty wife a hand to pack up." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Taplin was the name of the only other white trader on Funafuti besides +old Tom Humphreys, our own man. He had been two years on the island, +and was trading in opposition to our trader, as agent for a foreign +house—our owners were Sydney people—but his firm's unscrupulous +method of doing business had disgusted him. So one day he told the +supercargo of their vessel that he would trade for them no longer than +the exact time he had agreed upon—two years. He had come to Funafuti +from the Pelews, and was now awaiting the return of his firm's vessel +to take him back there again. Getting into our boat we were pulled +ashore and landed on the beach in front of the trader's house. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Taplin, here's your schooner at last," said old Tom, as we shook +hands and seated ourselves in the comfortable, pleasant-looking room. +"I see you're getting ready to go." +</P> + +<P> +Taplin was a man of about thirty or so, with a quiet, impassive face, +and dark, deep-set eyes that gave to his features a somewhat gloomy +look, except when he smiled, which was not often. Men with that +curious, far-off look in their eyes are not uncommon among the lonely +islands of the wide Pacific. Sometimes it comes to a man with long, +long years of wandering to and fro; and you will see it deepen when, by +some idle, chance word, you move the memories of a forgotten past—ere +he had even dreamed of the existence of the South Sea Islands and for +ever dissevered himself from all links and associations of the outside +world. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Yes," he answered, "I am nearly ready. I saw the schooner at daylight, +and knew it was the ALIDA." +</P> + +<P> +"Where do you think of going to, Taplin?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Back to the Carolines. Nerida belongs down that way, you know; and she +is fretting to get back again—otherwise I wouldn't leave this island. +I've done pretty well here, although the people I trade for are—well, +you know what they are." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye," assented old Humphreys, "there isn't one of 'em but what is the +two ends and bight of a—scoundrel; and that supercargo with the yaller +moustache and womany hands is the worst of the lot. I wonder if he's +aboard this trip? I don't let him inside my house; I've got too many +daughters, and they all think him a fine man." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Nerida, Taplin's wife, came out to us from an inner room. She was a +native of one of the Pelew Islands, a tall, slenderly-built girl, with +pale, olive skin and big, soft eyes. A flowing gown of yellow +muslin—the favourite colour of the Portuguese-blooded natives of the +Pelews—buttoned high up to her throat, draped her graceful figure. +After putting her little hand in ours, and greeting us in the Funafuti +dialect, she went over to Taplin, and touching his arm, pointed out the +schooner that was now only a mile or so away, and a smile parted her +lips, and the star-like eyes glowed and filled with a tender light. +</P> + +<P> +I felt Captain Warren touch my arm as he rose and went outside. I +followed. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"L——," said Warren, "can't we do something for Taplin ourselves? +Isn't there a station anywhere about Tonga or Wallis Island that would +suit him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Would he come, Warren? He—or, rather, that pretty wife of his—seems +bent upon going away in the schooner to the Carolines." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye," said the skipper, "that's it. If it were any other vessel I +wouldn't care." Then suddenly: +</P> + +<P> +"That fellow Motley (the supercargo) is a damned scoundrel—capable of +any villainy where a woman is concerned. Did you ever hear about old +Raymond's daughter down at Mangareva?" +</P> + +<P> +I had heard the story very often. By means of a forged letter +purporting to have been written by her father—an old English trader in +the Gambier Group—Motley had lured the beautiful young half-blood away +from a school in San Francisco, and six months afterwards turned her +adrift on the streets of Honolulu. Raymond was a lonely man, and +passionately attached to his only child; so no one wondered when, +reaching California a year after and finding her gone, he shot himself +in his room at an hotel. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"I will ask him, anyway," I said; and as we went back into the house +the ALIDA shot past our line of vision through the coco-palms, and +brought up inside the brig. +</P> + +<P> +"Taplin," I said, "would you care about taking one of our stations to +the eastward? Name any island you fancy, and we will land you there +with the pick of our 'trade' room." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you. I would be only too glad, but I cannot. I have promised +Nerida to go back to Babelthouap, or somewhere in the Pelews, and +Motley has promised to land us at Ponape, in the Carolines. We can get +away from there in one of the Dutch firm's vessels." +</P> + +<P> +"I am very sorry, Taplin——" I began, when old Captain Warren burst in +with—"Look here, Taplin, we haven't got much time to talk. Here's the +ALIDA'S boat coming, with that (blank blank) scoundrel Motley in it. +Take my advice. Don't go away in the ALIDA." And then he looked at +Nerida, and whispered something. +</P> + +<P> +A red spark shone in Taplin's dark eyes, then he pressed Warren's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," he answered, "he's a most infernal villain—Nerida hates him +too. But you see how I am fixed. The ALIDA is our only chance of +getting back to the north-west. But he hasn't got old Raymond to deal +with in me. Here they are." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Motley came in first, hat and fan in hand. He was a fine-looking man, +with blue eyes and an unusually fair skin for an island supercargo, +with a long, drooping, yellow moustache. Riedermann, the skipper, who +followed, was stout, coarse, red-faced, and brutal. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, gentlemen?" said Motley affably, turning from Taplin and +his wife, and advancing towards us. "Captain Riedermann and I saw the +spars of your brig showing up over the coconuts yesterday, and +therefore knew we should have the pleasure of meeting you." +</P> + +<P> +Warren looked steadily at him for a moment, and then glanced at his +outstretched hand. +</P> + +<P> +"The pleasure isn't mutual, blarst you, Mr Motley," he said coldly, and +he put his hand in his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +The supercargo took a step nearer to him with a savage glare in his +blue eyes. "What do you mean by this, Captain Warren?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mean?" and the imperturbable Warren seated himself on a corner of the +table, and gazed stolidly first at the handsome Motley and then at the +heavy, vicious features of Riedermann. "Oh, anything you like. Perhaps +it's because it's not pleasant to see white men landing at a quiet +island like this with revolvers slung to their waists under their +pyjamas; looks a bit too much like Bully Hayes' style for me," and then +his tone of cool banter suddenly changed to that of studied insolence. +"I say, Motley, I was talking about you just now to Taplin AND Nerida. +Do you want to know what I was saying? Perhaps I had better tell you. I +was talking about Tita Raymond—and yourself." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Motley put his right hand under his pyjama jacket, but Taplin sprang +forward, seized his wrist in a grip of iron, and drew him aside. +</P> + +<P> +"The man who draws a pistol in my house, Mr Motley, does a foolish +thing," he said, in quiet, contemptuous tones, as he threw the +supercargo's revolver into a corner. +</P> + +<P> +With set teeth and clenched hands Motley flung himself into a chair, +unable to speak. +</P> + +<P> +Warren, still seated on the table, swung his foot nonchalantly to and +fro, and then began at Riedermann. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, how's this, Captain Riedermann? Don't you back up your +supercargo's little quarrels, or have you left your pistol on board? +Ah, no, you haven't. I can see it there right enough. Modesty forbids +you putting a bullet into a man in the presence of a lady, eh?" Then +slewing round again, he addressed Motley: "By God! sir, it is well for +you that we are in a white man's house, and that that man is my friend +and took away that pistol from your treacherous hand. If you had fired +at me I would have booted you from one end of Funafuti beach to the +other—and I've a damned good mind to do it now, but won't, as Taplin +has to do some business with you." +</P> + +<P> +"That will do, Warren," I said. "We don't want to make a scene in +Taplin's house. Let us go away and allow him to finish his business." +</P> + +<P> +Still glaring angrily at Riedermann and Motley, Warren got down slowly +from the table. Then we bade Taplin and Nerida good-bye and went +aboard. +</P> + +<P> +At daylight we saw Taplin and his wife go off in the ALIDA'S boat. They +waved their hands to us in farewell as the boat pulled past the brig, +and then the schooner hove-up anchor, and with all sail set, stood away +down to the north-west passage of the lagoon. +</P> + +<P> +A year or so afterward we were on a trading voyage to the islands of +the Tubuai Group, and were lying becalmed, in company with a New +Bedford whaler. Her skipper came on board the brig, and we started +talking of Taplin, whom the whale-ship captain knew. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you hear?" he said. "The ALIDA never showed up again. 'Turned +turtle,' I suppose, somewhere in the islands, like all those slashing, +over-masted, 'Frisco-built schooners do, sooner or later." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Taplin," said Warren, "I thought somehow we would never see him +again." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Five years had passed. Honest old Warren, fiery-tempered and +true-hearted, had long since died of fever in the Solomons, and I was +supercargo with a smart young American skipper in the brigantine +PALESTINE, when we one day sailed along the weather-side of a tiny +little atoll in the Caroline Islands. +</P> + +<P> +The PALESTINE was leaking, and Packenham, tempted by the easy passage +into the beautiful lagoon, decided to run inside and discharge our +cargo of copra to get at the leak. +</P> + +<P> +The island had but very few inhabitants—perhaps ten or twelve men and +double that number of women and children. No ship, they told us, had +ever entered the lagoon but Bully Hayes' brig, and that was nine years +before. There was nothing on the island to tempt a trading vessel, and +even the sperm whalers, as they lumbered lazily past from Strong's +Island to Guam, would not bother to lower a boat and "dicker" for +pearl-shell or turtle. +</P> + +<P> +At the time of Hayes' visit the people were in sore straits, and on the +brink of actual starvation, for although there were fish and turtle in +plenty, they had not the strength to catch them. A few months before, a +cyclone had destroyed nearly all the coconut trees, and an epidemic +followed it, and carried off half the scanty population. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The jaunty sea-rover—than whom a kinder-hearted man to NATIVES never +sailed the South Seas—took pity on the survivors, especially the +youngest and prettiest girls, and gave them a passage in the famous +LEONORA to another island where food was plentiful. There they remained +for some years, till the inevitable MAL DU PAYS that is inborn to every +Polynesian and Micronesian, became too strong to be resisted; and so +one day a wandering sperm whaler brought them back again. +</P> + +<P> +But in their absence strangers had come to the island. As the people +landed from the boats of the whale-ship, two brown men, a woman, and a +child, came out of one of the houses, and gazed at them. Then they fled +to the farthest end of the island and hid. +</P> + +<P> +Some weeks passed before the returned islanders found out the retreat +of the strangers, who were armed with rifles, and called them to "come +out and be friends." They did so, and by some subtle treachery the two +men were killed during the night. +</P> + +<P> +The woman, who was young and handsome, was spared, and, from what we +could learn, had been well treated ever since. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did the strangers come from?" we asked. +</P> + +<P> +That they could not tell us. But the woman had since told them that the +ship had anchored in the lagoon because she was leaking badly, and that +the captain and crew were trying to stop the leak when she began to +heel over, and they had barely time to save a few things when she sank. +In a few days the captain and crew left the island in the boat, and, +rather than face the dangers of a long voyage in such a small boat, the +two natives and the woman elected to remain on the island. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a mighty fishy yarn," said Packenham to me. "I daresay these +fellows have been doing a little cutting-off business. But then I don't +know of any missing vessel. We'll go ashore to-morrow and have a look +round." +</P> + +<P> +A little after sunset the skipper and I were leaning over the rail, +watching the figures of the natives, as they moved to and fro in the +glare of the fires lighted here and there along the beach. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo!" said Packenham, "here's a canoe coming, with only a woman in +it. By thunder! she's travelling, too, and coming straight for the +ship." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes more and the canoe was alongside. The woman hastily +picked up a little girl that was sitting in the bottom, looked up, and +called out in English— +</P> + +<P> +"Take my little girl, please." +</P> + +<P> +A native sailor leant over the bulwarks and lifted up the child, and +the woman clambered after her. Then, seizing the child from the sailor, +she flew along the deck and into the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +She was standing facing us as we followed and entered, holding the +child tightly to her bosom. The soft light of the cabin lamp fell full +upon her features, and we saw that she was very young, and seemed +wildly excited. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" we said, when she advanced, put out a trembling hand to +us, and said: "Don't you know me, Mr Supercargo? I am Nerida, Taplin's +wife." Then she sank on a seat and sobbed violently. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +We waited till she regained her composure somewhat, and then I said: +"Nerida, where is Taplin?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dead," she said in a voice scarce above a whisper; "only us two are +left—I and little Teresa." +</P> + +<P> +Packenham held out his hands to the child. With wondering, timid eyes, +she came, and for a moment or two looked doubtingly upwards into the +brown, handsome face of the skipper, and then nestled beside him. +</P> + +<P> +For a minute or so the ticking of the cabin clock broke the silence, +ere I ventured to ask the one question uppermost in my mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Nerida, how and where did Taplin die?" +</P> + +<P> +"My husband was murdered at sea," she said and then she covered her +face with her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't ask her any more now," said Packenham pityingly; "let her tell +us to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +She raised her face. "Yes, I will tell you to-morrow. You will take me +away with you, will you not, gentlemen—for my child's sake?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," said the captain promptly. And he stretched out his honest +hand to her. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"She's a wonderfully pretty woman," said Packenham, as we walked the +poop later on, and he glanced down through the open skylight to where +she and the child slept peacefully on the cushioned transoms. "How +prettily she speaks English, too. Do you think she was fond of her +husband, or was it merely excitement that made her cry?—native women +are as prone to be as hysterical as our own when under any violent +emotion." +</P> + +<P> +"I can only tell you, Packenham, that when I saw her last, five years +ago, she was a graceful girl of eighteen, and as full of happiness as a +bird is of song. She looks thirty now, and her face is thin and +drawn—but I don't say all for love of Taplin." +</P> + +<P> +"That will all wear off by and by," said the skipper confidently. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I thought, "and she won't be a widow long." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Next morning Nerida had an hour or two among the prints and muslin in +the trade-room, and there was something of the old beauty about her +when she sat down to breakfast with us. We were to sail at noon. The +leak had been stopped, and Packenham was in high good-humour. +</P> + +<P> +"Nerida," I inquired unthinkingly, "do you know what became of the +ALIDA? She never turned up again." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she answered; "she is here, at the bottom of the lagoon. Will +you come and look at her?" +</P> + +<P> +After breakfast we lowered the dingy, the captain and I pulling. Nerida +steered us out to the north end of the lagoon till we reached a spot +where the water suddenly deepened. It was, in fact, a deep pool, some +three or four hundred feet in diameter, closed in by a continuous wall +of coral rock, the top of which, even at low water, would be perhaps +two or three fathoms under the surface. +</P> + +<P> +She held up her hands for us to back water, then she gazed over the +side into the water. +</P> + +<P> +"Look," she said, "there lies the ALIDA." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +We bent over the side of the boat. The waters of the lagoon were as +smooth as glass and as clear. We saw two slender rounded columns that +seemed to shoot up in a slanting direction from out the vague, blue +depths beneath, to within four or five fathoms of the surface of the +water. Swarms of gorgeously-hued fish swam and circled in and about the +masses of scarlet and golden weed that clothed the columns from their +tops downward, and swayed gently to and fro as they glided in and out. +</P> + +<P> +A hawk-bill turtle, huge, black, and misshapen, slid out from beneath +the dark ledge of the reef, and swam slowly across the pool, and then, +between the masts, sank to the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +"'Twas six years ago," said Nerida, as we raised our heads. +</P> + +<P> +That night, as the PALESTINE sped noiselessly before the trade wind to +the westward she told me, in the old Funafuti tongue, the tragedy of +the ALIDA. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"The schooner," she said, "sailed very quickly, for on the fifteenth +day out from Funafuti we saw the far-off peaks of Strong's Island. I +was glad, for Kusaie is not many days' sail from Ponape—and I hated to +be on the ship. The man with the blue eyes filled me with fear when he +looked at me; and he and the captain and mate were for ever talking +amongst themselves in whispers. +</P> + +<P> +"There were five native sailors on board—two were countrymen of mine, +and three were Tafitos [Natives of the Gilbert Islands]. +</P> + +<P> +"One night we were close to a little island called Mokil [Duperrey's +Island], and Taplin and I were awakened by a loud cry on deck; my two +countrymen were calling on him to help them. He sprang on deck, pistol +in hand, and, behold! the schooner was laid to the wind with the land +close to, and the boat alongside, and the three white men were binding +my country-men with ropes, because they would not get into the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"'Help us, O friend!' they called to my husband in their own tongue; +'the white men say that if we go not ashore here at Mokil they will +kill us. Help us—for they mean evil to thee and Nerida. He with the +yellow moustache wants her for his wife.' +</P> + +<P> +"There were quick, fierce words, and then my husband struck Motley on +the head with his pistol and felled him, and then pointed it at the +mate and the captain, and made them untie the men, and called to the +two Tafito sailors who were in the boat to let her tow astern till +morning. +</P> + +<P> +"His face was white with the rage that burned in him, and all that +night he walked to and fro and let me sleep on the deck near him. +</P> + +<P> +"'To-morrow,' he said, 'I will make this captain land us on Mokil;' it +was for that he would not let the sailors come up from the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"At dawn I slept soundly. Then I awoke with a cry of fear, for I heard +a shot, and then a groan, and my husband fell across me, and the blood +poured out of his mouth and ran down my arms and neck. I struggled to +rise, and he tried to draw his pistol, but the man with yellow hair and +blue eyes, who stood over him, stabbed him twice in the back. Then the +captain and mate seized him by the arms and lifted him up. As his head +fell back I saw there was blood streaming from a hole in his chest." +</P> + +<P> +She ceased, and leant her cheek against the face of the little girl, +who looked in childish wonder at the tears that streamed down her +mother's face. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"They cast him over into the sea with life yet in him, and ere he sank, +Motley (that devil with the blue eyes) stood with one foot on the rail +and fired another shot, and laughed when he saw the bullet strike. Then +he and the other two talked. +</P> + +<P> +"'Let us finish these Pelew men, ere mischief come of it,' said +Riedermann, the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"But the others dissuaded him. There was time enough, they said, to +kill them. And if they killed them now, there would be but three +sailors to work the ship. And Motley looked at me and laughed, and said +he, for one, would do no sailor's work yet awhile. +</P> + +<P> +"Then they all trooped below, and took me with them—me, with my +husband's blood not yet dried on my hands and bosom. They made me get +liquor for them to drink, and they drank and laughed, and Motley put +his bloodied hand around my waist and kissed me, and the others laughed +still more. +</P> + +<P> +"In a little while Riedermann and the mate were so drunken that no +words came from them, and they fell on the cabin floor. Then Motley, +who could stand, but staggered as he walked, came and sat beside me and +kissed me again, and said he had always loved me; but I pointed to the +blood of my husband that stained my skin and clotted my hair together, +and besought him to first let me wash it away. +</P> + +<P> +"'Wash it there,' he said, and pointed to his cabin. +</P> + +<P> +"'Nay,' said I, 'see my hair. Let me then go on deck, and I can pour +water over my head.' +</P> + +<P> +"But he held my hand tightly as we came up, and my heart died within +me; for it was in my mind to spring overboard and follow my husband. +</P> + +<P> +"He called to one of the Tafito men to bring water, but none came; for +they, too, were drunken with liquor they had stolen from the hold, +where there was plenty in red cases and white cases—gin and brandy. +"But my two countrymen were sober; one of them steered the ship, and +the other stood beside him with an axe in his hand, for they feared the +Tafito men, who are devils when they drink grog. +</P> + +<P> +"'Get some water,' said Motley, to Juan—he who held the axe; and as he +brought it, he said, 'How is it, tattooed dog, that thou art so slow to +move?' and he struck him in the teeth, and as he struck he fell. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! that was my time! Ere he could rise I sprang at him, and Juan +raised the axe and struck off his right foot; and then Liro, the man +who steered, handed me his knife. It was a sharp knife, and I stabbed +him, even as he had stabbed my husband, till my arm was tired, and all +my hate of him had died away in my heart. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"There was quick work then. My two countrymen went below into the cabin +and took Motley's pistol from the table; ... then I heard two shots. +</P> + +<P> +"GUK! He was a fat, heavy man, that Riedermann, the captain; the three +of us could scarce drag him up on deck and cast him over the side, with +the other two. +</P> + +<P> +"Then Juan and Liro talked, and said: 'Now for these Tafito men; they, +too, must die.' They brought up rifles, and went to the forepart of the +schooner, where the Tafito men lay in a drunken sleep, and shot them +dead. +</P> + +<P> +"In two more days we saw land—the island we have left but now, and +because that there were no people living there—only empty houses could +we see—Juan and Liro sailed the schooner into the lagoon. +</P> + +<P> +"We took such things on shore as we needed, and then Juan and Liro cut +away the topmasts and towed the schooner to the deep pool, where they +made holes in her, so that she sank, away out of the sight of men. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Juan and Liro were kind to me, and when my child was born, five months +after we landed, they cared for me tenderly, so that I soon became +strong and well. +</P> + +<P> +"Only two ships did we ever see, but they passed far-off like clouds +upon the sea-rim; and we thought to live and die there by ourselves. +Then there came a ship, bringing back the people who had once lived +there. They killed Juan and Liro, but let me and the child live. The +rest I have told you.... How is this captain named? ... He is a +handsome man, and I like him." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +We landed Nerida at Yap, in the Western Carolines. A year afterwards, +when I left the PALESTINE, I heard that Packenham had given up the sea, +was trading in the Pelew Group, and was permanently married, and that +his wife was the only survivor of the ill-fated ALIDA. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="bluejacket"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHILEAN BLUEJACKET +</H3> + +<H4> +A Tale Of Easter Island +</H4> + +<P> +Alone, in the most solitary part of the Eastern Pacific, midway between +the earthquake-shaken littoral of Chili and Peru, and the thousand +palm-clad islets of the Low Archipelago, lies an island of the days +"when the world was young." By the lithe-limbed, soft-eyed descendants +of the forgotten and mysterious race that once quickened the land, this +lonely outlier of the isles of the Southern Seas is called in their +soft tongue Rapanui, or the Great Rapa. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +A hundred and seventy years ago Roggewein, on the dawn of an Easter +Sunday, discerned through the misty, tropic haze the grey outlines of +an island under his lee beam, and sailed down upon it. +</P> + +<P> +He landed, and even as the grim and hardy old navigator gazed upon and +wondered at the mysteries of the strange island, so this day do the +cunning men of science, who, perhaps once in thirty years, go thither +in the vain effort to read the secret of an all-but-perished race. And +they can tell us but vaguely that the stupendous existing evidences of +past glories are of immense and untold age, and show their designers to +have been coeval with the builders of the buried cities of Mexico and +Peru; beyond that, they can tell us nothing. +</P> + +<P> +Who can solve the problem? What manner of an island king was he who +ruled the builders of the great terraced platforms of stone, the +carvers of the huge blocks of lava, the hewers-out with rudest tools of +the Sphinx-like images of trachyte, whose square, massive, and +disdainful faces have for unnumbered centuries gazed upwards and +outwards over the rolling, sailless swell of the mid-Pacific? +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +And the people of Rapa-nui of to-day? you may ask. Search the whole +Pacific—from Pylstaart, the southern sentinel of the Friendlies, to +the one-time buccaneer-haunted, far-away Pelews; thence eastward +through the white-beached coral atolls of the Carolines and Marshalls, +and southwards to the cloud-capped Marquesas and the sandy stretches of +the Paumotu—and you will find no handsomer men or more graceful women +than the light-skinned people of Rapa-nui. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Yet are they but the survivors of a race doomed—doomed from the day +that Roggewein in his clumsy, high-pooped frigate first saw their land, +and marvelled at the imperishable relics of a dead greatness. With +smiling faces they welcomed him—a stranger from an unknown, outside +world, with cutlass at waist and pistol in hand—as a god; he left them +a legacy of civilisation—a hideous and cruel disease that swept +through the amiable and unsuspicious race as an epidemic, and slew its +thousands, and scaled with the hand of Death and Silence the eager life +that had then filled the square houses of lava in many a town from the +wave-beaten cliffs of Terano Kau to Ounipu in the west. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Ask of the people now, "Whence came ye? and whose were the hands that +fashioned these mighty images and carved upon these stones?" and in +their simple manner they will answer, "From Rapa, under the setting +sun, came our fathers; and we were then a great people, even as the +ONEONE [sand] of the beach.... Our Great King was it, he whose name is +forgotten by us, that caused these temples and cemeteries and terraces to +be built; and it was in his time that the forgotten fathers of our fathers +carved from out of the stone of the quarries of Terano Kau the great +Silent Faces that gaze for ever upward to the sky.... AI-A-AH! ... +But it was long ago.... Ah! a great people were we then in those +days, and the wild people to the West called us TE TAGATA TE PITO HENUA +(the people who live at the end of the world) .... and we know no +more." +</P> + +<P> +And here the knowledge and traditions of a broken people begin and end. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<H4> +I +</H4> + +<P> +A soft, cool morning in November, 187-. Between Ducie and Pitcairn +Islands two American whale-ships cruise lazily along to the gentle +breath of the south-east trades, when the look-out from both vessels +see a third sail bearing down upon them. In a few hours she is close +enough to be recognised as one of the luckiest sperm whalers of the +fleet—the brig POCAHONTAS, of Martha's Vineyard. +</P> + +<P> +Within a quarter of mile of the two ships—the NASSAU and the +DAGGET—the newcomer backs her foreyard and hauls up her mainsail. A +cheer rises from the ships. She wants to "gam," I.E. to gossip. With +eager hands four boats are lowered from the two ships, and the captains +and second mates of each are soon racing for the POCAHONTAS. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The skipper of the brig, after shaking hands with his visitors and +making the usual inquiries as to their luck, number of days out from +New Bedford, etc., led the way to his cabin, and, calling his +Portuguese steward, had liquor and a box of cigars brought out. The +captain of the POCAHONTAS was a little, withered-up old man with sharp, +deep-set eyes of brightest blue, and had the reputation of possessing +the most fiery and excitable temper of any of the captains of the sixty +or seventy American whale-ships that in those days cruised the Pacific +from the West Coast of South America to Gaum in the Ladrones. +</P> + +<P> +After drinking some of his potent New England rum with his visitors, +and having answered all their queries, the master of the POCAHONTAS +inquired if they had seen anything of a Chilian man-of-war further to +the eastward. No, they had not. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Then just settle down, gentlemen, for awhile, and I'll tell you one of +the curiousest things that I ever saw or heard of. I've logged +partiklars of the whole business, and when I get to Oahu (Honolulu) I +mean to nar-rate just all I do know to Father Damon of the Honolulu +FRIEND. Thar's nothing like a newspaper fur showin' a man up when he's +been up to any onnatural villainy, and thinks no one will ever know +anything about it. So just take hold and listen." +</P> + +<P> +The two captains nodded, and he told them this. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Ten days previously, when close in to barren and isolated Sala-y-Gomez, +the POCAHONTAS had spoken the Chilian corvette O'HIGGINS, bound from +Easter Island to Valparaiso. The captain of the corvette entertained +the American master courteously, and explained his ship's presence so +far to the eastward, by stating that the Government had instructed him +to call at Easter Island, and pick up an Englishman in the Chilian +service, who had been sent there to examine and report on the colossal +statues and mysterious terraces of that lonely island. The Englishman, +as Commander Gallegos said, was a valued servant of the Republic, and +had for some years served in its Navy as a surgeon on board EL +ALMIRANTE COCHRANE, the flag-ship. He had left Valparaiso in the +whale-ship COMBOY with the intention of remaining three months on the +island. At the end of that time a war vessel was to call and convey him +back to Chili. But in less than two months the Republic was in the +throes of a deadly struggle with Peru—here the commander of the +O'HIGGINS bowed to the American captain, and, pointing to a huge scar +that traversed his bronzed face from temple to chin, said, "in which I +had the honour to receive this, and promotion"—and nearly two years +had elapsed ere the Government had time to think again of the English +scientist and his mission. Peace restored, the O'HIGGINS was ordered to +proceed to the island and bring him back; and as the character of the +natives was not well known, and it was feared he might have been +killed, Commander Gallegos was instructed to execute summary justice +upon the people of the island, if such was the case. +</P> + +<P> +But, the Chilian officer said, on reaching the island he had found the +natives to be very peaceable and inoffensive, and, although much +alarmed at the appearance of his armed landing party from the corvette, +they had given him a letter from the Englishman, and had satisfied him +that Dr Francis —— had remained with them for some twelve months +only, and had then left the island in a passing whale-ship, and +Commander Gallegos, making them suitable presents, bade them good-bye, +and steamed away to Valparaiso. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +This was all the polite little commander had to say, and, after a +farewell glass of wine, his visitor rose to go, when the captain of the +corvette casually inquired if the POCAHONTAS was likely to call at the +island. +</P> + +<P> +"I ask you," he said in his perfect English, "because one of my ship's +company deserted there. You, senor, may possibly meet with him there. +Yet he is of no value, and he is no sailor, and but a lad. He was very +ill most of the time, and this was his first voyage. I took him ashore +with me in my boat, as he besought me eagerly to do so, and the little +devil ran away and hid, or was hidden by the natives." +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you get him back?" asked the captain of the POCAHONTAS. +</P> + +<P> +"That was easy enough, but"—and the commander raised his eyebrows and +shrugged his shoulders—"of what use? He was no use to the corvette. +Better for him to stay there, and perhaps recover, than to die on board +the O'HIGGINS and be thrown to the blue sharks. Possibly, senor, you +may find him well, and it may suit you to take him to your good ship, +and teach him the business of catching the whale. My trade is to show +my crew how to fight, and such as he are of no value for that." +</P> + +<P> +Then the two captains bade each other farewell, and in another hour the +redoubtable O'HIGGINS, with a black trail of smoke streaming astern, +was ten miles away on her course to Valparaiso. +</P> + +<P> +A week after the POCAHONTAS lay becalmed close in to the lee side of +Rapa-nui, and within sight of the houses of the principal village. The +captain, always ready to get a "green" hand, was thinking of the +chances of his securing the Chilian deserter, and decided to lower a +boat and try. Taking four men with him, he pulled ashore, and landed at +the village of Hagaroa. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<H4> +II +</H4> + +<P> +Some sixty or seventy natives clustered round the boat as she touched +the shore. With smiling faces and outstretched hands they surrounded +the captain, and pressed upon him their simple gifts of ripe bananas +and fish baked in leaves, begging him to first eat a little and then +walk with them to Mataveri, their largest village, distant a mile, +where preparations were being made to welcome him formally. The +skipper, nothing loth, bade his crew not to go too far away in their +rambles, and, accompanied by his boatsteerer, was about to set off with +the natives, when he remembered the object of his visit, and asked a +big, well-made woman, the only native present that could speak English, +"Where is the man you hid from the man-of-war?" +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +There was a dead silence, and for nearly half a minute no one spoke. +The keen blue eyes of the American looked from one face to another +inquiringly, and then settled on the fat, good-natured features of +Varua, the big woman. +</P> + +<P> +Holding her hands, palms upwards, to the captain, she endeavoured to +speak, and then, to his astonishment, he saw that her dark eyes were +filled with tears. And then, as if moved with some sudden and sorrowful +emotion, a number of other women and young girls, murmuring softly in +pitying tones, "E MATE! E MATE!" ["Dead! Dead!"] came to his side, and +held their hands out to him with the same supplicating gesture. +</P> + +<P> +The captain was puzzled. For all his island wanderings and cruises he +had no knowledge of any Polynesian dialect, and the tearful muteness of +the fat Varua was still unbroken. At last she placed one hand on his +sleeve, and, pointing land-ward with the other, said, in her gentle +voice, "Come," and taking his hand in hers, she led the way, the rest +of the people following in silence. +</P> + +<P> +For about half a mile they walked behind the captain and his +boatsteerer and the woman Varua without uttering a word. Presently +Varua stopped, and called out the name of "Taku" in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +A fine, handsome native, partly clothed in European sailor's dress, +stepped apart from the others and came to her. +</P> + +<P> +Turning to the captain, she said, "This is Taku the Sailor. He can +speak a little English and much Spanish. I tell him now to come with +us, for he has a paper." +</P> + +<P> +Although not understanding the relevancy of her remark, the captain +nodded, and then with gentle insistence Varua and the other women urged +him on, and they again set out. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +A few minutes more, and they were at the foot of one of the +massive-stoned and ancient PAPAKU, or cemeteries, on the walls of which +were a number of huge images carved from trachyte, and representing the +trunk of the human body. Some of the figures bore on their heads crowns +of red tufa, and the aspect of all was towards the ocean. At the foot +of the wall of the PAPAKU were a number of prone figures, with hands +and arms sculptured in low relief, the outspread fingers clasping the +hips. +</P> + +<P> +About a cable length from the wall stood two stone houses—memorials of +the olden time—and it was to these that Varua and the two white men, +attended now by women only, directed their steps. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The strange, unearthly stillness of the place, the low whispers of the +women, the array of colossal figures with sphinx-like faces set to the +sea, and the unutterable air of sadness that enwrapped the whole scene, +overawed even the unimaginative mind of the rough whaling captain, and +he experienced a curious feeling of relief when his gentle-voiced guide +entered through the open doorway the largest of the two houses, and, in +a whisper, bade him follow. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +A delightful sense of coolness was his first sensation on entering, and +then with noiseless step the other women followed and seated themselves +on the ground. +</P> + +<P> +Still clasping his hand, Varua led him to the farther end of the house, +and pointed to a motionless figure that lay on a couch of mats, covered +with a large piece of navy-blue calico. At each side of the couch sat a +young native girl, and their dark, luminous eyes, shining star-like +from out the wealth of black, glossy hair that fell upon their bronzed +shoulders, turned wonderingly upon the stranger who had broken in upon +their watch. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Motioning the girls aside, Varua released her hold of the white man's +hand and drew the cloth from off the figure, and the seaman's pitying +glance fell upon the pale, sweet features of a young white girl. +</P> + +<P> +But for the unmistakable pallid hue of death he thought at first that +she slept. In the thin, delicate hands, crossed upon her bosom, there +was placed, after the manner of those of her faith, a small metal +crucifix. Her hair, silky and jet black, was short like a man's, and +the exquisitely-modelled features, which even the coldness of death had +not robbed of their beauty, showed the Spanish blood that, but a few +hours before, had coursed through her veins. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the old seaman drew the covering over the still features, and, +with an unusual emotion stirring his rude nature, he rose, and, +followed by Varua, walked outside and sat upon a broken pillar of lava +that lay under the wall of the PAPAKU. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Calling his boatsteerer, he ordered him to return to the beach and go +off to the ship with instructions to the mate to have a coffin made as +quickly as possible and send it ashore; and then, at a glance from +Varua, who smiled a grave approval as she listened to his orders, he +followed her and the man she called Taku into the smaller of the two +houses. +</P> + +<P> +Round about the inside walls of this ancient dwelling of a forgotten +race were placed a number of seamen's chests made of cedar and camphor +wood—the LARES and PENATES of most Polynesian houses. The gravelled +floor was covered with prettily-ornamented mats of FALA (the +screw-palm). +</P> + +<P> +Seating herself, with Taku the Sailor, on the mats, Varua motioned the +captain to one of the boxes, and then told him a tale that moved +him—rough, fierce, and tyrannical as was his nature—to the deepest +pity. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<H4> +III +</H4> + +<P> +"It is not yet twenty days since the fighting PAHI AFI (steamer) came +here, and we of Mataveri saw the boat full of armed men land on the +beach at Hagaroa. Filled with fear were we; but yet as we had done no +wrong we stood on the beach to welcome. And, ere the armed men had left +the boat, we knew them to be the SIPANIOLA from Chili—the same as +those that came here ten years ago in three ships, and seized and bound +three hundred and six of our men, and carried them away for slaves to +the land of the Tae Manu, and of whom none but four ever returned to +Rapa-nui. And then we trembled again." +</P> + +<P> +(She spoke of the cruel outrage of 1862, when three Peruvian +slave-ships took away over three hundred islanders to perish on the +guano-fields of the Chincha Islands). +</P> + +<P> +"The chief of the ship was a little man, and he called out to us in the +tongue of Chili, 'Have no fear,' and took a little gun from out its +case of skin that hung by his side, and giving it to a man in the boat, +stepped over to us, and took our hands in his. +</P> + +<P> +"'Is there none among ye that speak my tongue?' he said quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, this man here, Taku the Sailor, speaketh the tongue of Chili, but +he feared to tell it, lest they might take him away for a sailor; so he +held his lips tight. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I, who for six years dwelt with English people at Tahiti, was +pushed forward by those behind me and made to talk in English; and lo! +the little man spoke in your tongue even as quick as he did in that of +Chili. And then he told us that he came for Farani [Frank]. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Now this Farani was a young white man of PERETANIA (England), big and +strong. He came to us a year and a half ago. He was rich, and had with +him chests filled with presents for us of Rapa-nui; and he told us that +he came to live a while among us, and look upon the houses of stone and +the Faces of the Silent that gaze out upon the sea. For a year he dwelt +with us and became as one of ourselves, and we loved him; and then, +because no ship came, he began to weary and be sad. At last a +ship—like thine, one that hunts for the whale—came, and Farani called +us together, and placed a letter in the hands of the chief at Mataveri, +and said: 'If it so be that a ship cometh from Chili, give these my +words to the captain, and all will be well.' Then he bade us farewell +and was gone. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"All this I said in quick words, and then we gave to the little +fighting chief the letter Farani had written. When he had counted the +words in the letter, he said: 'BUENO, it is well,' and called to his +men, and they brought out many gifts for us from the boat—cloth, and +garments for men and women, and two great bags of canvas filled with +tobacco. AI-A-AH! many presents he gave us—this because of the good +words Farani had set down in the letter. Then the little chief said to +me, 'Let these my men walk where they list, and I will go with thee to +Mataveri and talk with the chief.' +</P> + +<P> +"So the sailors came out of the boats carrying their guns and swords in +their hands, but the little chief, whose AVAGUTU (moustache) stuck out +on each side of his face like the wings of a flying-fish when it leaps +in terror from the mouth of the hungry bonito, spoke angrily, and they +laid their guns and swords back in the boats. +</P> + +<P> +"So the sailors went hither and thither with our young men and girls; +and, although at that time I knew it not, she, who now is not, was one +of them, and walked alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I, and Taku the Sailor, and the little sea-chief came to the +houses of Mataveri, and he stayed awhile and spoke good words to us. +And we, although we fear the men of Chili for the wrong they once did +us, were yet glad to listen, for we also are of their faith. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"As we talked, there came inside the house a young girl named Temeteri, +whom, when Farani had been with us for two months, he had taken for +wife; and she bore him a son. But from the day that he had sailed away +she became sick with grief; and when, after many months, she told me +that Farani had said he would return to her, my heart was heavy, for I +know the ways of white men with us women of brown skins. Yet I feared +to tell her he lied and would return no more. Now, this girl Temeteri +was sought after by a man named Huarani, the son of Heremai, who +desired to marry her now that Farani had gone, and he urged her to +question the chief of the fighting ship, and ask him if Farani would +return. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"So I spoke of Temeteri. He laughed and shook his head, and said: 'Nay, +Farani the Englishman will return no more; but yet one so beautiful as +she,' and he pointed to Temeteri, 'should have many lovers and know no +grief. Let her marry again and forget him, and this is my marriage gift +to her,' and he threw a big golden coin upon the mat on which the girl +sat. +</P> + +<P> +"She took it in her hand and threw it far out through the doorway with +bitter words, and rose and went away to her child. +</P> + +<P> +"Then the little captain went back to the boat and called his men to +him, and lo! one was gone. Ah! he was angry, and a great scar that ran +down one side of his face grew red with rage. But soon he laughed, and +said to us: 'See, there be one of my people hidden away from me. Yet he +is but a boy, and sick; and I care not to stay and search for him. Let +him be thy care so that he wanders not away and perishes among the +broken lava; he will be in good hands among the people of Rapa-nui.' +With that he bade us farewell, and in but a little time the great +fighting ship had gone away towards the rising sun. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"All that day and the next we searched, but found not him who had +hidden away; but in the night of the second day, when it rained +heavily, and Taku (who is my brother's son) and I and my two children +worked at the making of a KUPEGA (net), he whom we had sought came to +the door. And as we looked our hearts were filled with pity, for, as he +put out his hands to us, he staggered and fell to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"So Taku—who is a man of a good heart—and I lifted him up and carried +him to a bed of soft mats, and as I placed my hand on his bosom to see +if he was dead, lo! it was soft as a woman's, and I saw that the +stranger was a young girl! +</P> + +<P> +"I took from her the wet garments and brought warm clothes of MAMOE +(blankets), and Taku made a great fire, and we rubbed her cold body and +her hands and feet till her life came back to her again, and she sat up +and ate a little beaten-up taro. When the night and the dawn touched +she slept again. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"The sun was high when the white girl awoke, and fear leapt into her +eyes when she saw the house filled with people who came to question +Taku and me about the stranger. With them came the girl Temeteri, whose +head was still filled with foolish thoughts of Farani, her white lover. +</P> + +<P> +"I went to the strange girl, put my arm around her, and spoke, but +though she smiled and answered in a little voice, I understood her not, +for I know none of the tongue of Chili. But yet she leaned her head +against my bosom, and her eyes that were as big and bright as Fetuaho, +the star of the morning, looked up into mine and smiled through their +tears. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"There was a creat buzzing of talk among the women. Some came to her +and touched her hands and forehead, and said: 'Let thy trembling cease; +we of Rapa-nui will be kind to the white girl.' +</P> + +<P> +"And as the people thronged about her and talked, she shook her head +and her eyes sought mine, and hot tears splashed upon my hand. Then the +mother of Temeteri raised her voice and called to Taku the Sailor, and +said: 'O Taku, thou who knowest her tongue, ask her of Farani, my white +son, the husband of my daughter.' +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"The young girls in the house laughed scornfully at old Pohere, for +some of them had loved Farani, who yet had put them all aside for +Temeteri, whose beauty exceeded theirs; and so they hated her and +laughed at her mother. Then Taku, being pressed by old Pohere, spoke in +the tongue of Chili, but not of Temeteri. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! She sprang to her feet and talked then! and the flying words +chased one another from her lips; and these things told she to Taku:— +She had hidden among the broken lava and watched the little captain +come back to the boat and bid us farewell. Then when night came she had +crept out and gone far over to the great PAPAKU, and lay down to hide +again, for she feared the fighting ship might return to seek her. And +all that day she lay hidden in the lava till night fell upon her again, +and hunger drove her to seek the faces of men. In the rain she all but +perished, till God brought her feet to this, my house. +</P> + +<P> +"Then said Taku the Sailor: 'Why didst thou flee from the ship?' +</P> + +<P> +"The white girl put her hands to her face and wept, and said: 'Bring me +my jacket.' +</P> + +<P> +"I gave to her the blue sailor's jacket, and from inside of it she took +a little flat thing and placed it in her bosom. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Again said old Pohere to Taku: 'O man of slow tongue, ask her of +Farani.' So he asked in this wise: +</P> + +<P> +"'See, O White Girl, that is Pohere, the mother of Temeteri, who bore a +son to the white man that came here to look upon the Silent Faces; and +because he came from thy land, and because of the heart of Temeteri, +which is dried up for love of him, does this foolish old woman ask thee +if thou hast seen him; for long months ago he left Rapa-nui. In our +tongue we call him Farani.' +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"The girl looked at Taku the Sailor, and her lips moved, but no words +came. Then from her bosom she took the little flat thing and held it to +him, but sickness was in her hand so that it trembled, and that which +she held fell to the ground. So Taku stooped and picked it up from +where it lay on the mat, and looked, and his eyes blazed, and he +shouted out 'AUE!' for it was the face of Farani that looked into his! +And as he held it up in his hand to the people, they, too, shouted in +wonder; and then the girl Temeteri cast aside those that stood about +her, and tore it from his hand and fled. +</P> + +<P> +"'Who is she?' said the white girl, in a weak voice to Taku; 'and why +hath she robbed me of that which is dear to me?' and Taku was ashamed, +and turned his face away from her because of two things—his heart was +sore for Temeteri, who is a blood relation, and was shamed because her +white lover had deserted her; and he was full of pity for the white +girl's tears. So he said nought. +</P> + +<P> +"The girl raised herself, and her hand caught Taku by the arm, and +these were her words: 'O man, for the love of Jesu Christ, tell me what +was this woman Temeteri to my husband?' +</P> + +<P> +"Now Taku the Sailor was sore troubled, and felt it hard to hurt her +heart, yet he said: 'Was Farani, the Englishman, thy husband?' +</P> + +<P> +"She wept again, 'He was my husband.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Why left he one as fair as thee?' said Taku, in wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"She shook her head. 'I know not, except he loved to look upon strange +lands; yet he loved me.' +</P> + +<P> +"'He is a bad man,' said Taku. 'He loved others as well as thee. The +girl that fled but now with his picture was wife to him here. He loved +her, and she bore him a son.' +</P> + +<P> +"The girl's head fell on my shoulder, and her eyes closed, and she +became as dead; and lo! in a little while, as she strove to speak, +blood poured from her mouth and ran down over her bosom. +</P> + +<P> +"'It is the hand of Death,' said Taku the Sailor. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Where she now lies, there died she, at about the hour when the people +of Vaihou saw the sails of thy ship. +</P> + +<P> +"We have no priest here, for the good father that was here three years +ago is now silent [i.e. dead]; yet did Taku and I pray with her. And ere +she died she said she would set down some words on paper; so Alrema, my +little daughter, hastened to Mataveri, and the chief sent back some paper +and VAI TUHI (ink) that had belonged to the good priest. So with weak hand +she set down some words, but even as she wrote she rose up and threw out +her hands, and called out: 'Francisco! Francisco!' and fell back, and was +dead." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<H4> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +The captain of the POCAHONTAS dashed the now fast-falling tears from +his eyes, and with his rough old heart swelling with pity for the poor +wanderer, took from Taku the sheet of paper on which the heart-broken +girl's last words were traced. +</P> + +<P> +Ere he could read it a low murmur of voices outside told him his crew +had returned. They carried a rude wooden shell, and then with bared +heads the captain and boatsteerer entered the house where she lay. +</P> + +<P> +Again the old man raised the piece of navy blue cloth from off the +sweet, sad face, and a heavy tear dropped down upon her forehead. Then, +aided by the gentle, sympathetic women, his task was soon finished, and +two of his crew entered and carried their burden to its grave. Service +there was none—only the prayers and tears of the brown women of +Rapa-nui. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Ere he said farewell the captain of the whale-ship placed money in the +hands of Varua and Taku. They drew back, hurt and mortified. Seeing his +mistake, the seaman desired Varua to give the money to the girl +Temeteri. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay, sir," said Varua, "she would but give me bitter words. Even when +she who is now silent was not yet cold, Temeteri came to the door of +the house where she lay and spat twice on the ground, and taking up +gravel in her hand cast it at her, and cursed her in the name of our +old heathen gods. And as for money, we here in Rapa-nui need it not. +May Christ protect thee on the sea. Farewell!" +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The captain of the POCAHONTAS rose and came to the cabin table, and +motioning to his guests to fill their glasses, said— +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis a real sad story, gentlemen, and if I should ever run across +Doctor Francis, I should talk some to him. But see here. Here is my +log; my mate, who is a fancy writist, wrote it at my dictation. I can't +show you the letter that the pore creature herself wrote; that I ain't +going to show to any one." +</P> + +<P> +The two captains rose and stood beside him, and read the entry in the +log of the POCAHONTAS. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"November 28, 187-. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +This day I landed at Easter Island, to try and obtain as a 'green' hand +a young Chilian seaman who, the captain of the Chilian corvette +O'HIGGINS informed me, had run away there. On landing I was shown the +body of a young girl, whom the natives stated to be the deserter. She +had died that morning. Buried her as decently as circumstances would +permit. From a letter she wrote on the morning of her death I learned +her name to be Senora Teresa T——. Her husband, Dr Francis T——, was +an Englishman in the service of the Chilian Republic. He was sent out +on a scientific mission to the island, and his wife followed him in the +O'HIGGINS disguised as a blue-jacket. I should take her to have been +about nineteen years of age. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"SPENCE ELDRIDGE, MASTER. + "MANUAL LEGASPE, 2ND OFFICER.<BR> + "Brig POCAHONTAS, of Martha's Vineyard, U.S.A."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Well, that's curious now," said the skipper of the NASSAU; "why, I +knew that man. He left the island in the KING DARIUS, of New Bedford, +and landed at Ponape in the Caroline Group, whar those underground +ruins are at Metalanien Harbour. Guess he wanted to potter around there +a bit. But he got inter some sorter trouble among the natives there, +an' he got shot." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye," said the captain of the DAGGET, "I remember the affair. I was +mate of the JOSEPHINE, and we were lying at Jakoits Harbour when he was +killed, and now I remember the name too. Waal, he wasn't much account, +anyhow." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Ten years ago a wandering white man stood, with Taku the Sailor, at the +base of the wall of the great PAPAKU, and the native pointed out the +last resting-place of the wanderer. There, under the shadow of the +Silent Faces of Stone, the brave and loving heart that dared so much is +at peace for ever. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="brantley"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BRANTLEY OF VAHITAHI +</H3> + +<P> +One day a trading vessel lay becalmed off Tatakoto, in the Paumotu +Archipelago, and the captain and supercargo, taking a couple of native +sailors with them, went ashore at dawn to catch some turtle. The turtle +were plentiful and easily caught, and after half a dozen had been put +in the boat, the two white men strolled along the white hard beach. The +captain—old, grizzled, and grim—seemed to know the place well, and +led the way. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The island is very narrow, and as they left the beach and gained the +shade of the forest of coconuts that grew to the margin of high-water +mark, they could see, between the tall, stately palms, the placid +waters of the lagoon, and a mile or so across, the inner beach of the +weather side of the island. +</P> + +<P> +For a quarter of a mile or so the two men walked on till the widest +part of the island was reached. Here, under the shadow of some giant +PUKA trees, the old skipper stopped and sat down on a roughly hewn slab +of coral, the remains of one of those MARAE or heathen temples that are +to be found almost anywhere in the islands of Eastern Polynesia. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew this place well, once," he said, as he pulled out his pipe. "I +used to come here when I was sailing one of Brander's vessels out of +Tahiti. As we have done now we did then—came here for turtle. No +natives have lived here for the past forty years. Did you ever hear of +Brantley?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered the supercargo, "but he died long ago, did he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, he died here, and his wife and sister too. They all lie here in +this old MARAE." +</P> + +<P> +And then he told the story of Brantley. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<H4> +I +</H4> + +<P> +It was six years since Brantley, with his companions in misery, had +drifted ashore at lonely Vahitahi in the Paumotu Group, and the +kindly-hearted people had gazed with pitying horror upon the dreadful +beings that, muttering and gibbering to each other, lay in the bottom +of the boat, and pointed with long talon-like fingers to their burnt +and bloody thirst-tortured lips. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +And now as he sits in the doorway of his thatched house, and gazes +dreamily out upon the long curve of creamy beach and wind-swayed line +of palms that fringe the leeward side of his island home, Brantley +passes a brown hand slowly up and down his sun-bronzed cheek, and +thinks of the past. +</P> + +<P> +He was so full of life—of the very joy of living—that time six years +ago when he sailed from Auckland on that fateful voyage in the DORIS. +It was his first voyage as captain, and the ship was his own, and even +now he remembers with a curious time-dulled pang the last words of his +only sister—the Doris after whom he had called his new ship—as she +had kissed him farewell—"I am so glad, Fred, to hear them call you +'Captain Brantley.'" +</P> + +<P> +And the voyage—the wild feverish desire to make a record passage to +'Frisco and back; the earnest words of poor old white-headed Lutton, +the mate, "not to carry on so at night going through the Paumotu +Group"; that awful midnight crash when the DORIS ran hopelessly into +the wild boil of roaring surf on Tuanake Reef; the white, despairing +faces of five of his men, who, with curses in their eyes upon his +folly, were swept out of sight into the awful blackness of the night. +And then the days in the boat with the six survivors! Ah! the memory of +that will chill his blood to his dying day. Men have had to do that +which he and the two who came through alive with him had done. +</P> + +<P> +How long they endured that black agony of suffering he knew not. By +common consent none of them ever spoke of it again. +</P> + +<P> +Three months after they had drifted ashore, a passing sperm whaler, +cruising through the group, took away the two seamen, and then +Brantley, after bidding them a silent farewell, had, with bitter +despair gnawing at his heart, turned his face away from the ship, and +walked back into the palm-shaded village. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"I will never go back again," he had said to himself. And perhaps he +was right; for when the DORIS went to pieces on Tuanake his hope and +fortunes went with her, and, save for that other Doris, there was no +one in the world who cared for him. He was not the man to face the +world again with: "Why, he lost his first ship!" whispered among his +acquaintances. +</P> + +<P> +And this is how Brantley—young, handsome, and as smart a seaman (save +for that one fatal mistake) as ever trod a deck—became Paranili the +PAPALAGI, and was living out his life among the people of solitary +Vahitahi. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Ere a year had passed a trading captain bound to the Gambier Islands +had given him a small stock of trade goods, and the thought of Doris +had been his salvation. Only for her he would have sunk to the life of +a mere idle, gin-drinking, and dissolute beach-comber. As it was, his +steady, straightforward life among the people of the island was a big +factor to his business success. And so every year he sent money to +Doris by some passing whaler or Tahitian trading schooner, but twice +only had he got letters from her; and each time she had said: "Let me +come to you, Fred. We are alone in the world, and may never meet again +else. Sometimes I awake in the night with a sudden fear. Let me come; +my heart is breaking with the loneliness of my life here, so far away +from you." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +But two years ago he had done that which would keep Doris from ever +coming to him, he thought. He had married a young native girl—that is, +taken her to wife in the Paumotuan fashion—and surely Doris, with her +old-fashioned notions of right and wrong, would grieve bitterly if she +knew it. +</P> + +<P> +Presently he rose, talking to himself as is the wont of those who have +lived long apart from all white associations, and sauntered up and down +the shady path at the side of his dwelling, thinking of Doris, and if +he would ever see her again. Then he entered the house. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Seated on the matted floor with her face turned from him was a young +native girl—Luita, his wife. She was making a hat from the bleached +strands of the pandanus leaf, and as she worked she sang softly to +herself in the semi-Tahitian tongue of her people. +</P> + +<P> +Brantley, lazily stretching himself out on a rough mat-covered couch, +turned towards her, and watched the slender, supple fingers—covered, +in Polynesian fashion, with heavy gold rings—as they deftly drew out +the snow-white strands of the pandanus. The long, glossy, black waves +of hair that fell over her bare back and bosom like a mantle of night +hid her face from his view, and the man let his glance rest in +contented admiration upon the graceful curves of the youthful figure; +then he sighed softly, and again his eyes turned to the wide, sailless +expanse of the Pacific, that lay shimmering and sparkling before him +under a cloudless sky of blue, and he thought again of Doris. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Steadily the little hands worked in and out among the snowy strands, +and now and then, as she came to the TARI, or refrain, of the old +Paumotuan love-song, her soft liquid tones would blend with the +quavering treble of children that played outside. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Terunavahori, teeth of pearl,<BR> + Knit the sandals for Talaloo's feet,<BR> + Sandals of AFA thick and strong,<BR> + Bind them well with thy long black hair."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Suddenly the song ceased, and with a quick movement of her shoulders +she threw back the cloud of hair that fell around her arms and bosom, +looked up at Brantley and laughed, and, striking the mat on which she +sat with her open palm, said— +</P> + +<P> +"HAERE MAI, PARANILI." +</P> + +<P> +He rose from the couch and stooped beside her, with his hands resting +on his knees, and bending his brow in mock criticism, regarded her +handiwork intently. +</P> + +<P> +Springing to her feet, hat in hand, and placing her two hands on his +now erect shoulders, she looked into his face—darker far than her +own—and said with a smile— +</P> + +<P> +"Behold, Paranili, thy PULOU is finished, save for a band of black +PU'AVA which thou shalt give me from the store." +</P> + +<P> +"Mine?" said Brantley, in pretended ignorance. "Why labour so for me? +Are there not hats in plenty on Vahitahi?" +</P> + +<P> +"True, O thankless one! but the women of the village say that thou +lookest upon me as a fool because I can neither make mats nor do many +other things such as becometh a wife. And for this did Merani, my +cousin, teach me how to make a wide hat of FALA to shield thy face from +the sun when thou art out upon the pearling grounds. AI-E-EH! my +husband, but thy face and neck and hands are as dark as those of the +people of Makatea—they who are for ever in their canoes.... See, +Paranili, bend thy head. AI-E-EH! thou art a tall man, my husband," and +she trilled a happy, rippling laugh as she placed the hat on his head. +</P> + +<P> +He placed one hand around the pliant waist and under the mantle of +hair, and drew her towards him, and then, moved by a sudden emotion, +kissed her soft, red lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Luita," he asked, "would it hurt thee if I were to go away?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl drew away from him, and, for the first time in two years +Brantley saw an angry flush tinge her cheek a dusky red. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Ah!"—the contemptuous ring in her voice made the man's eyes +drop—"thou art like all White Men—was there ever one who was +faithful? What other woman is it that thou desirest? Is it Nia of +Ahunui—she who, when thy boat lay anchored in the lagoon, swam off at +night and asked thee for thy love—the shameless Nia?" +</P> + +<P> +The angry light in the black eyes shone fiercely, and the dull red on +her cheeks had changed to the livid paleness of passion. +</P> + +<P> +Brantley, holding the rim of the hat over his mouth, laughed secretly, +pleased at her first outburst of jealousy. Then his natural manliness +asserted itself. +</P> + +<P> +"Come here," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Somewhat sullenly the girl obeyed and edged up beside him with face +bent down. He put his hand upon hers, and for a few seconds looked at +the delicate tracery of tattooing that, on the back, ran in thin blue +lines from the finger tips to the wrists. +</P> + +<P> +"What a d——d pity!" he muttered to himself; "this infernal tattooing +would give the poor devil away anywhere in civilization. Her skin is +not as dark as that pretty creole I was so sweet on in Galveston ten +years ago ... Well, she's good enough for a broken man like me—but I +can't take her away—that's certain." +</P> + +<P> +A heavy tear splashed on his hand, and then he pulled her to him, +almost savagely. +</P> + +<P> +"See, Luita. I did but ask to try thee. Have no fear. Thy land is mine +for ever." +</P> + +<P> +The girl looked up, and in an instant her face, wet with tears, was +laid against his breast. Still caressing the dark head that lay upon +his chest, Brantley stooped and whispered something. The little +tattooed hand released its clasp of his arm and struck him a playful +blow. +</P> + +<P> +"And would that bind thee more to me, and to the ways of these our +people of Vahitahi," she asked, with still buried face. +</P> + +<P> +"Aye," answered the ex-captain slowly, "for I have none but thee in the +world to care for." +</P> + +<P> +She turned her face up. "Is there none—not even one woman in far-off +Beretania, whose face comes to thee in the darkness." +</P> + +<P> +Brantley shook his head sadly. Of course there was Doris, he thought, +but he had never spoken of her. Sometimes when the longing to see her +again would come upon him, he would have talked of her to his native +wife, but he was by nature an uncommunicative man, and the thought of +how Doris must feel her loneliness touched him with remorse and made +him silent. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Another year passed, and matters had gone well with Brantley. Ten +months before he had dropped on one of the best patches of shell in the +Paumotus, and to-day, as he sits writing and smoking in the big room of +his house, he looks contentedly out through the open door to a little +white painted schooner that lay at anchor on the calm waters of the +lagoon. He had just come back from Tahiti with her, and the two +thousand dollars he had paid for the vessel was an easy matter for a +man who was now making a thousand dollars a month. +</P> + +<P> +"What a stroke of luck!" he writes to Doris. "Had I gone back to +Sydney, where would I be now?—a mate, I suppose, on some deep-sea +ship, earning twelve or fourteen pounds a month. Another year or two like +this, and I can go back a made man. Some day, my dear, I may; but I will +come back here again. The ways of the people have become my ways." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +He laid down his pen and came to the door, and stood thinking awhile +and listening to the gentle rustle of the palms as they swayed their +lofty plumes to the breezy trade wind. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he thought, "I would like to go and see Doris, but I can't take +Luita, and so it cannot be. How that girl suspects me even now. When I +went to Tahiti to buy the schooner, I believe she thought she would +never see me again.... What a fool I am! Doris is all right, I suppose, +although it is a year since I had a letter ... and I—could any man +want more. I don't believe there's a soul on the island but thinks as +much of me as Luita herself does; and, by G-d! she's a pearl—even +though she is only a native girl. No, I'll stay here; 'Kapeni Paranili' +will always be a big man in the Paumotus, but Fred Brantley would be +nobody in Sydney—only a common merchant skipper who had made money in +the islands.... And perhaps Doris is married." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +So he thought and talked to himself, listening the while to the soft +symphony of the swaying palm-tops and the subdued murmur of the surf as +the rollers crashed on the distant line of reef away to leeward. Of +late these fleeting visions of the outside world—that quick, busy +world, whose memories, save for those of Doris, were all but dead to +him—had become more frequent; but the calm, placid happiness of his +existence, and that strange, fatal glamour that for ever enwraps the +minds of those who wander in the islands of the sunlit sea—as the old +Spanish navigators called Polynesia—had woven its spell too strongly +over his nature to be broken. And now, as the murmur of women's voices +caused him to turn his head to the shady end of the verandah, the dark, +dreamy eyes of Luita, who with her women attendants sat there playing +with her child, looked out at him from beneath their long lashes, and +told him his captivity was complete. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +A week afterwards the people of Vahitahi were clustered on the beach +putting supplies of native food in the schooner's boat. That night he +was to sail again for the pearling grounds at Matahiva lagoon, and +would be away three months. +</P> + +<P> +One by one the people bade him adieu, and then stood apart while he +said farewell to Luita. +</P> + +<P> +"E MAHINA TOLU [Only three months], little one," he said, "why such a +gloomy face?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl shook her head, and her mouth twitched. "But the MITI [dream], +Paranili—the MITI of my mother. She is wise in the things that are +hidden; for she is one of those who believe in the old gods of +Vahitahi.... And there are many here of the new LOTU [Faith, i.e. +Christianity] who yet believe in the old gods. And, see, she has dreamed +of this unknown evil to thee twice; and twice have the voices of those who +are silent in the MARAE called to me in the night, and said: 'He must not +go; he must not go.'" +</P> + +<P> +Knowing well how the old superstitious taint ran riot in the +imaginative native mind, Brantley did not attempt to reason, but sought +to gently disengage her hands from his arm. +</P> + +<P> +She dropped on the sand at his feet and clasped his knees, and a long, +wailing note of grief rang out— +</P> + +<P> +"AUE! AUE! my husband! if it so be that thou dost not heed the voices +that call in the night, then, out of thy love for me and our child, let +me come also. Then, if evil befall thee, let us perish together." +</P> + +<P> +Brantley raised his hand and pointed to the bowed and weeping figure. +Some women came and lifted her up. Then taking the tender face between +his rough hands, he bent his head to hers, sprang into the boat, and +was gone. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<H4> +II +</H4> + +<P> +With ten tons of shell snugly stowed in her hold, the little Tamariki +was heading back for Vahitahi after barely two months' absence. +Brantley, as he leant over the rail and watched the swirl and eddy of +the creamy phosphorescence that hissed and bubbled under the vessel's +stern, felt well satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +It was the hour of dawn, and the native at the tiller sang, as the +stars began to pale before the red flush that tinged the sky to +windward, a low chant of farewell to Fetuaho, the star of the morning, +and then he called to Brantley, who to all his crew was always +"Paranili," and never "Kapeni [Captain]," and pointed with his naked, +tattooed arm away to leeward, where the low outlines of an island began +to show. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, Paranili, that is Tatakoto, the place I have told thee of, where +the turtle makes the white beach to look black. Would it not be well +for us to take some home to Vahitahi?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thou glutton!" said Brantley, good-humouredly, "dost thou think I am +like to lose a day so that thou and thy friends may fill thy stomachs +with turtle meat?" +</P> + +<P> +Rua Manu laughed, and showed his white, even teeth. "Nay, Paranili, not +for that alone; but it is a great place, that Tatakoto, and thou hast +never landed there to look, and Luita hath said that some day she would +ask thee to take her there; for, though she was born at Vahitahi, her +blood is that of the people of Tatakoto, who have long since lain +silent in the MARAES." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Brantley had often heard her speak of it, this solitary spot in the +wide Pacific, and now, as he looked at the pretty, verdure-clad island +against the weather shore of which the thundering rollers burst with a +muffled roar, he was surprised at its length and extent, and decided to +pay it a visit some day. +</P> + +<P> +"Not now, Rua," he said to the steersman, "but it shall be soon. Are +there many coconuts there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Many? May I perish, but the trees are as the sand of the sea, and the +nuts lie thick upon the ground. AI-E-EH! and the robber crabs are in +thousands, and fat; and the sea-birds' eggs!" +</P> + +<P> +"Glutton again! Be content. In a little while we and as many of the +people of Vahitahi as the schooner will carry will go there and stay +for the turtle season." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Three days afterwards the schooner was within fifty miles of his island +home, when Brantley was aroused at daylight from his watch below by the +cry of "TE PAHI!" (a ship!) and hastening on deck he saw a large vessel +bearing down upon them. In half an hour she was close to, and Brantley +recognised her as a brig from Tahiti, that occasionally made a trading +voyage to the Paumotus, and whose skipper was a personal friend. +Suddenly she hove-to and lowered a boat, which came alongside the +schooner, and the white man that steered jumped on deck and held out +his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, Brantley?" and then his eye went quickly over the crew of +the schooner, then glanced through the open skylight into the little +cabin, and a hopeful, expectant look in his face died away. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, thank you, Latham. But what is wrong?—you look worried." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on board," said the captain of the brig, quietly, "and I'll tell +you." +</P> + +<P> +As Brantley took his seat beside him, Latham said: "I have bad news for +you, Brantley. Your sister is on board the brig, and I fear she will +not live long. She came down to Tahiti in the MARAMA from Auckland, and +offered me a good round sum to bring her to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Has she been ill long, Latham?" +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Latham looked at him curiously. "Didn't you know, Brantley? She's in a +rapid consumption." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment neither men spoke; then Latham gave a short cough. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel it almost as badly as you, Brantley—but I've got a bit more +bad news—" +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, Latham—it can't matter much. My poor sister is everything to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Just so. That's what I told Miss Brantley. Well, it's this—your wife +and child are missing——" Latham glanced at him and saw that his hand +trembled and then grasped the gunwale of the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"We got into Vahitahi lagoon about ten days ago, and I took Miss +Brantley ashore. What happened I don't exactly know, but the next night +one of your whale-boats was gone, and Luita and the child were missing. +Your sister was in a terrible state of mind, and offered me a thousand +dollars to put to sea. Brantley, old man, I wouldn't take a dollar from +her—God bless her—but I did put to sea, and I've searched nigh on +twenty islands, and scores of reefs and sandbanks——" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Latham," said Brantley quietly; "when we get on board you +can give me further particulars of the islands you've searched." +</P> + +<P> +"You can have my marked chart; I've got a spare one. Brace up, old man! +you'll see your sister in a minute. She is terribly cut up over poor +Luita—more so than I knew you would be. But she was a grand little +woman, Brantley, although she was only a native." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he answered, in the same slow, dazed manner, "she was a good +little girl to me, although she——" The words stuck in his throat. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Latham showed him into the brig's cabin, and then a door opened, and +Doris threw herself weeping into his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Doris," he whispered, "why did you not tell me you were ill? I +would have come to you long ago. I feel a brute——" +</P> + +<P> +She placed her hand on his lips. "Never mind about me, Fred. Has +Captain Latham told you about——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he replied; and then suddenly: "Doris, I am going to look for +her; I think I know the place to which she has gone. It is not far from +here. Doris, will you go on back to Vahitahi with Latham and wait for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fred," she whispered, "let me come with you. It will not be long, +dear, before I am gone, and it was hard to die away from you—that is +why I came; and perhaps we may find her." +</P> + +<P> +He kissed her silently, and then in five minutes more they had said +farewell to Latham, and were on their way to the schooner. +</P> + +<P> +The crew soon knew from him what had happened, and Rua Manu, with his +big eyes filled with a wondering pity as he looked at the frail body +and white face of Doris lying on the skylight, wore the schooner's head +round to the south-west at a sign from Brantley. +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, Paranili," he said, in his deep, guttural tones, "it is to +Tatakoto she hath gone—'tis her mother's land." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +That night, as she lay on the skylight with her hand in his, Doris told +him all she knew:— +</P> + +<P> +"They were all kind to me when I went ashore to your house, Fred, but +Luita looked so fiercely at me.... Her eyes frightened me—they had +a look of death in them. +</P> + +<P> +"In the morning your little child was taken ill with what they call +TATARU, and I wanted to give it medicine. Luita pushed my hand away and +hugged the child to her bosom; and then the other women came and made +signs for me to go away. And that night she and the child were missing, +and one of your boats was gone." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Luita," said Brantley, stroking Doris's pale cheek, "she did not +know you were my sister. I never told her, Doris." +</P> + +<P> +"She is a very beautiful woman, Fred. They told me at Tahiti that she +was called the pearl of Vahitahi; and oh! my dear, if we can but find +her, I will make her love me for your sake." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Late in the afternoon of the second day, just as the trade wind began +to lose its strength, the schooner was running along the weather-side +of Tatakoto, and Rua Manu, from the mast-head, called out that he saw +the boat lying on the beach inside the lagoon, with her sail set; and, +as landing was not practicable on the weather-side, the schooner ran +round to the lee. +</P> + +<P> +"We will soon know, Doris. It always rains in these islands at this +time of the year, so she would not suffer as I once did; but the sail +of the boat is still set, and that makes me think she has never left +it. Wait till I come back again, Doris; you cannot help me." +</P> + +<P> +And Doris, throwing her weak arms round his neck, kissed him with a sob, +and lay back again to wait. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +With Rua Manu and two others of his faithful native crew, Brantley +walked quickly across the island to the lagoon to where the boat lay. +Luita was not there, and the dark eyes of his sailors met his in a +responsive glow of hope—she had not died in the boat! +</P> + +<P> +They turned back into the silent aisles of coconut palms, and then Rua +Manu loudly called her name. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," he said. +</P> + +<P> +A voice—a weak, trembling voice—was singing the song of Talaloo. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Terunavahori, bending low,<BR> + Bindeth the sandals on Talaloo's feet;<BR> + 'Hasten, O hasten, lover true,<BR> + O'er the coral, cruel and sharp,<BR> + Over the coral, and sand, and rock,<BR> + Snare thee a turtle for our marriage feast;<BR> + IA AKOE! brave lover mine.'"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"In the old MARAE, Paranili," said Rua Manu, pointing to the remains of +a ruined temple. Motioning to the seamen to remain outside, Brantley +entered the crumbling walls of the old heathen MARAE. At the far end +was a little screen of coconut boughs. He stooped down and went in. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes passed, and then his hand was thrust out between the +branches as a sign for them to follow. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +One by one they came and sat beside Brantley, who held the wasted +figure of the wanderer in his arms. The sound of his voice had brought +back her wavering reason, and she knew them all now. She knew, too, +that her brief young life was ebbing fast; for, as each of the brown +men pressed their lips to her hand, tears coursed down their cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"See, men of Vahitahi, my Englishman hath come to me, a fool that fled +from his house ... because I thought that he lied to me. Teloma was +it who first mocked, and said: ''Tis his wife from Beretania who hath +come to seek him;' and then other girls laughed and mocked also, and +said: 'AH-HE! Luita, this fair-faced girl who sayeth she is thy +husband's sister, AH-HE!' ... and their words and looks stung +me ... So at night I took my child and swam to the boat.... My child, +see, it is here," and she touched a little mound in the soil beside her. +</P> + +<P> +There was a low murmur of sympathy, and then the brown men went outside +and covered their faces with their hands, after the manner of their +race when death is near, and waited in silence. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Night had fallen on the lonely island, and the far-off muffled boom of +the breakers as they dashed on the black ledges of the weather reef +would now and then be borne into the darkness of the little hut. +</P> + +<P> +"Put thy face to mine, Paranili," she whispered; "I grow cold now." +</P> + +<P> +As the bearded face of the man bent over her, one thin, weak arm rose +waveringly in the air, and then fell softly round his neck, and +Brantley, with his hand upon her bosom, felt that her heart had ceased +to beat. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The next day he sailed the schooner into the lagoon, and Doris pressed +her lips on the dead forehead of the native girl ere she was laid to +rest. Something that Doris had said to him as they walked away from her +grave filled Brantley's heart with a deadly fear, and as he took her in +his arms his voice shook. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't say that, Doris. It cannot be so soon as that. I was never a +good man; but surely God will spare you to me a little longer." +</P> + +<P> +But it came very soon—on the morning of the day that he intended +sailing out of the lagoon again, Doris died in his arms on board the +schooner, and Brantley laid her to rest under the shade of a giant +puka-tree that overshadowed the stones of the old MARAE. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +That night he called Rua Manu into the cabin and asked him if he could +beat his way back to Vahitahi in the schooner. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis an easy matter, Paranili. So that the sky be clear and I can see +the stars, then shall I find Vahitahi in three days." +</P> + +<P> +"Good. Then to-morrow take the schooner there, and tell such of the +people as desire to be with me to come here, and bring with them all +things that are in my house. It is my mind to live here at Tatakoto." +</P> + +<P> +As the schooner slipped through the narrow passage, he stood on the +low, sandy point, and waved his hand in farewell. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +A week later the little vessel dropped her anchor in the lagoon again, +and Rua Manu and his crew came ashore to seek him. +</P> + +<P> +They found him lying under the shade of the puka-tree with his revolver +in his hand and a bullet-hole in his temple. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of By Reef and Palm, by Louis Becke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY REEF AND PALM *** + +***** This file should be named 3818-h.htm or 3818-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/3818/ + +Produced by Col Choat. 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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: By Reef and Palm + +Author: Louis Becke + +Posting Date: June 20, 2009 [EBook #3818] +Release Date: March, 2003 +First Posted: September 24, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY REEF AND PALM *** + + + + +Produced by Col Choat. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +By Reef and Palm + + +by + +Louis Becke + + + + + +CONTENTS + + INTRODUCTION + CHALLIS THE DOUBTER + "'TIS IN THE BLOOD" + THE REVENGE OF MACY O'SHEA + THE RANGERS OF TIA KAU + PALLOU'S TALOI + A BASKET OF BREAD-FRUIT + ENDERBY'S COURTSHIP + LONG CHARLEY'S GOOD LITTLE WIFE + THE METHODICAL MR BURR OF MAJURU + A TRULY GREAT MAN + THE DOCTOR'S WIFE + THE FATE OF THE ALIDA + THE CHILIAN BLUEJACKET + BRANTLEY OF VAHITAHI + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +When in October, 1870, I sailed into the harbour of Apia, Samoa, in the +ill-fated ALBATROSS, Mr Louis Becke was gaining his first experiences +of island life as a trader on his own account by running a cutter +between Apia and Savai'i. + +It was rather a notable moment in Apia, for two reasons. In the first +place, the German traders were shaking in their shoes for fear of what +the French squadron might do to them, and we were the bearers of the +good news from Tahiti that the chivalrous Admiral Clouet, with a very +proper magnanimity, had decided not to molest them; and, secondly, the +beach was still seething with excitement over the departure on the +previous day of the pirate Pease, carrying with him the yet more +illustrious "Bully" Hayes. + +It happened in this wise. A month or two before our arrival, Hayes had +dropped anchor in Apia, and some ugly stories of recent irregularities +in the labour trade had come to the ears of Mr Williams, the English +Consul. Mr Williams, with the assistance of the natives, very cleverly +seized his vessel in the night, and ran her ashore, and detained Mr +Hayes pending the arrival of an English man-of-war to which he could be +given in charge. But in those happy days there were no prisons in +Samoa, so that his confinement was not irksome, and his only hard +labour was picnics, of which he was the life and soul. All went +pleasantly until Mr Pease--a degenerate sort of pirate who made his +living by half bullying, half swindling lonely white men on small +islands out of their coconut oil, and unarmed merchantmen out of their +stores--came to Apia in an armed ship with a Malay crew. From that +moment Hayes' life became less idyllic. Hayes and Pease conceived a +most violent hatred of each other, and poor old Mr Williams was really +worried into an attack of elephantiasis (which answers to the gout in +those latitudes) by his continual efforts to prevent the two +desperadoes from flying at each other's throat. Heartily glad was he +when Pease--who was the sort of man that always observed LES +CONVENANCES when possible, and who fired a salute of twenty-one guns on +the Queen's Birthday--came one afternoon to get his papers "all +regular," and clear for sea. But lo! the next morning, when his vessel +had disappeared, it was found that his enemy Captain Hayes had +disappeared also, and the ladies of Samoa were left disconsolate at the +departure of the most agreeable man they had ever known. + +However, all this is another story, as Mr Kipling says, and one which I +hope Mr Becke will tell us more fully some day, for he knew Hayes well, +having acted as supercargo on board his ship, and shared a shipwreck +and other adventures with him. + +But even before this date Mr Becke had had as much experience as falls +to most men of adventures in the Pacific Ocean. + +Born at Port Macquarrie in Australia, where his father was clerk of +petty sessions, he was seized at the age of fourteen with an intense +longing to go to sea. It is possible that he inherited this passion +through his mother, for her father, Charles Beilby, who was private +secretary to the Duke of Cumberland, invested a legacy that fell to him +in a small vessel, and sailed with his family to the then very new +world of Australia. However this may be, it was impossible to keep +Louis Becke at home; and, as an alternative, a uncle undertook to send +him, and a brother two years older, to a mercantile house in +California. His first voyage was a terrible one. There were no +steamers, of course, in those days, and they sailed for San Francisco +in a wretched old barque. For over a month they were drifting about the +stormy sea between Australia and New Zealand, a partially dismasted and +leaking wreck. The crew mutinied--they had bitter cause to--and only +after calling at Rurutu, in the Tubuai Group, and obtaining fresh food, +did they permit the captain to resume command of the half-sunken old +craft. They were ninety days in reaching Honolulu, and another forty in +making the Californian coast. + +The two lads did not find the routine of a merchant's office at all to +their taste; and while the elder obtained employment on a sheep ranche +at San Juan, Louis, still faithful to the sea, got a berth as a clerk +in a steamship company, and traded to the Southern ports. In a year's +time he had money enough to take passage in a schooner bound on a +shark-catching cruise to the equatorial islands of the North Pacific. +The life was a very rough one, and full of incident and +adventure--which I hope he will relate some day. Returning to Honolulu, +he fell in with an old captain who had bought a schooner for a trading +venture amongst the Western Carolines. Becke put in $1000, and sailed +with him as supercargo, he and the skipper being the only white men on +board. He soon discovered that, though a good seaman, the old man knew +nothing of navigation. In a few weeks they were among the Marshall +Islands, and the captain went mad from DELIRIUM TREMENS. Becke and the +three native sailors ran the vessel into a little uninhabited atoll, +and for a week had to keep the captain tied up to prevent his killing +himself. They got him right at last, and stood to the westward. On +their voyage they were witnesses of a tragedy (in this instance +fortunately not complete), on which the pitiless sun of the Pacific has +looked down very often. They fell in with a big Marshall Island sailing +canoe that had been blown out of sight of land, and had drifted six +hundred miles to the westward. Out of her complement of fifty people, +thirty were dead. They gave them provisions and water, and left them to +make Strong's Island (Kusaie), which was in sight. Becke and the chief +swore Marshall Island BRUDERSCHAFT with each other. Years afterwards, +when he came to live in the Marshall Group, the chief proved his +friendship in a signal manner. + +The cruise proved a profitable one, and from that time Mr Becke +determined to become a trader, and to learn to know the people of the +north-west Pacific; and returning to California, he made for Samoa, and +from thence to Sydney. But at this time the Palmer River gold rush had +just broken out in North Queensland, and a brother, who was a bank +manager on the celebrated Charters Towers goldfields, invited him to +come up, as every one seemed to be making his fortune. He wandered +between the rushes for two years, not making a fortune, but acquiring +much useful experience, learning, amongst other things, the art of a +blacksmith, and becoming a crack shot with a rifle. Returning to +Sydney, he sailed for the Friendly Islands (Tonga) in company with the +king of Tonga's yacht--the TAUFAAHAU. The Friendly Islanders +disappointed him (at which no one that knows them will wonder), and he +went on to Samoa, and set up as a trader on his own account for the +first time. He and a Manhiki half-caste--the "Allan" who so frequently +figures in his stories--bought a cutter, and went trading throughout +the group. This was the time of Colonel Steinberger's brief tenure of +power. The natives were fighting, and the cutter was seized on two +occasions. When the war was over he made a voyage to the north-west, +and became a great favourite with the natives, as indeed seems to have +been the case in most of the places he went to in Polynesia and +Micronesia. Later on he was sent away from Samoa in charge of a vessel +under sealed orders to the Marshall Islands. These orders were to hand +the vessel over to the notorious Captain "Bully" Hayes. (Some day he +promises that he will give us the details of this very curious +adventure). He found Hayes awaiting him in his famous brig LEONORA in +Milli Lagoon. He handed over his charge and took service with him as +supercargo. After some months' cruising in the Carolines they were +wrecked on Strong's Island (Kusaie). Hayes made himself the ruler of +the island, and Mr Becke and he had a bitter quarrel. The natives +treated the latter with great kindness, and gave him land on the lee +side of the island, where he lived happily enough for five months. +Hayes was captured by an English man-of-war, but escaped and went to +Guam. Mr Becke went back in the cruiser to the Colonies, and then again +sailed for Eastern Polynesia, trading in the Gambiers, Paumotus, and +Easter and Pitcairn Islands. In this part of the ocean he picked up an +abandoned French barque on a reef, floated her, and loaded her with +coconuts, intending to sail her to New Zealand with a native crew, but +they went ashore in a hurricane and lost everything. Meeting with Mr +Tom de Wolf, the managing partner of a Liverpool firm, he took service +with him as a trader in the Ellice and Tokelau Groups, finally settling +down as a residential trader. Then he took passage once more for the +Carolines, and was wrecked on Peru, one of the Gilbert Islands (lately +annexed), losing every dollar that he possessed. He returned to Samoa +and engaged as a "recruiter" in the labour trade. He got badly hurt in +an encounter with some natives, and went to New Zealand to recover. +Then he sailed to New Britain on a trading venture, and fell in with, +and had much to do with, the ill-fated colonising expedition of the +Marquis de Ray in New Ireland. A bad attack of malarial fever, and a +wound in the neck (labour recruiting or even trading among the blacks +of Melanesia seems to have been a much less pleasant business than +residence among the gentle brown folk of the Eastern Pacific) made him +leave and return to the Marshall Islands, where Lailik, the chief whom +he had succoured at sea years before, made him welcome. He left on a +fruitless quest after an imaginary guano island, and from then until +two years ago he has been living on various islands in both the North +and South Pacific, leading what he calls "a wandering and lonely but +not unhappy existence," "Lui," as they call him, being a man both liked +and trusted by the natives from lonely Easter Island to the faraway +Pelews. He is still in the prime of life, and whether he will now remain +within the bounds of civilisation, or whether some day he will return to +his wanderings, as Odysseus is fabled to have done in his old age, I fancy +that he hardly knows himself. But when once the charm of a wild roving +life has got into a man's blood, the trammels of civilisation are irksome +and its atmosphere is hard to breathe. It will be seen from this +all-too-condensed sketch of Mr Becke's career that he knows the Pacific +as few men alive or dead have ever known it. He is one of the rare men +who have led a very wild life, and have the culture and talent +necessary to give some account of it. As a rule, the men who know don't +write, and the men who write don't know. + +Every one who has a taste for good stories will feel, I believe, the +force of these. Every one who knows the South Seas, and, I believe, +many who do not, will feel that they have the unmistakable stamp of +truth. And truth to nature is a great merit in a story, not only +because of that thrill of pleasure hard to analyse, but largely made up +of associations, memories, and suggestions that faithfulness of +representation in picture or book gives to the natural man; but because +of the fact that nature is almost infinitely rich, and the unassisted +imagination of man but a poor and sterile thing, tending constantly +towards some ossified convention. "Treasure Island" is a much better +story than "The Wreckers," yet I, for one, shall never cease to regret +that Mr Stevenson did not possess, when he wrote "Treasure Island," +that knowledge of what men and schooners do in wild seas that was his +when he gave us "The Wreckers." The detail would have been so much +richer and more convincing. + +It is open to any one to say that these tales are barbarous, and what +Mrs Meynell, in a very clever and amusing essay, has called +"decivilised." Certainly there is a wide gulf separating life on a +Pacific island from the accumulated culture of centuries of +civilisation in the midst of which such as Mrs Meynell move and have +their being. And if there can be nothing good in literature that does +not spring from that culture, these stories must stand condemned. But +such a view is surely too narrow. Much as I admire that lady's +writings, I never can think of a world from which everything was +eliminated that did not commend itself to the dainty taste of herself +and her friends, without a feeling of impatience and suffocation. It +takes a huge variety of men and things to make a good world. And +ranches and CANONS, veldts and prairies, tropical forests and coral +islands, and all that goes to make up the wild life in the face of +Nature or among primitive races, far and free from the artificial +conditions of an elaborate civilisation, form an element in the world, +the loss of which would be bitterly felt by many a man who has never +set foot outside his native land. + +There is a certain monotony, perhaps, about these stories. To some +extent this is inevitable. The interest and passions of South Sea +Island life are neither numerous nor complex, and action is apt to be +rapid and direct. A novelist of that modern school that fills its +volumes, often fascinatingly enough, by refining upon the shadowy +refinements of civilised thought and feeling, would find it hard to ply +his trade in South Sea Island society. His models would always be +cutting short in five minutes the hesitations and subtleties that ought +to have lasted them through a quarter of a life-time. But I think it is +possible that the English reader might gather from this little book an +unduly strong impression of the uniformity of Island life. The loves of +white men and brown women, often cynical and brutal, sometimes +exquisitely tender and pathetic, necessarily fill a large space in any +true picture of the South Sea Islands, and Mr Becke, no doubt of set +artistic purpose, has confined himself in the collection of tales now +offered almost entirely to this facet of the life. I do not question +that he is right in deciding to detract nothing from the striking +effect of these powerful stories, taken as a whole, by interspersing +amongst them others of a different character. But I hope it may be +remembered that the present selection is only an instalment, and that, +if it finds favour with the British public, we may expect from him some +of those tales of adventure, and of purely native life and custom, +which no one could tell so well as he. + +PEMBROKE. + + + + +CHALLIS THE DOUBTER + + +The White Lady And The Brown Woman + + +Four years had come and gone since the day that Challis, with a dull +and savage misery in his heart, had, cursing the love-madness which +once possessed him, walked out from his house in an Australian city +with an undefined and vague purpose of going "somewhere" to drown his +sense of wrong and erase from his memory the face of the woman who, his +wife of not yet a year, had played with her honour and his. So he +thought, anyhow. + +* * * * * + +You see, Challis was "a fool"--at least so his pretty, violet-eyed wife +had told him that afternoon with a bitter and contemptuous ring in her +voice when he had brought another man's letter--written to her--and +with impulsive and jealous haste had asked her to explain. He was a +fool, she had said, with an angry gleam in the violet eyes, to think +she could not "take care" of herself. Admit receiving that letter? Of +course! Did he think she could help other men writing silly letters to +her? Did he not think she could keep out of a mess? And she smiled the +self-satisfied smile of a woman conscious of many admirers and of her +own powers of intrigue. + +Then Challis, with a big effort, gulping down the rage that stirred +him, made his great mistake. He spoke of his love for her. Fatuity! She +laughed at him, said that as she detested women, his love was too +exacting for her, if it meant that she should never be commonly +friendly with any other man. + +* * * * * + +Challis looked at her steadily for a few moments, trying to smother the +wild flood of black suspicion aroused in him by the discovery of the +letter, and confirmed by her sneering words, and then said quietly, but +with a dangerous inflection in his voice-- + +"Remember--you are my wife. If you have no regard for your own +reputation, you shall have some for mine. I don't want to entertain my +friends by thrashing R----, but I'm not such a fool as you think. And +if you go further in this direction you'll find me a bit of a brute." + +Again the sneering laugh--"Indeed! Something very tragic will occur, I +suppose?" + +"No," said Challis grimly, "something damned prosaic--common enough +among men with pretty wives--I'll clear out." + +"I wish you would do that now," said his wife, "I hate you quite +enough." + +Of course she didn't quite mean it. She really liked Challis in her own +small-souled way--principally because his money had given her the +social pleasures denied her during her girlhood. With an unmoved face +and without farewell he left her and went to his lawyer's. + +A quarter of an hour later he arose to go, and the lawyer asked him +when he intended returning. + +"That all depends upon her. If she wants me back again, she can write, +through you, and I'll come--if she has conducted herself with a +reasonable amount of propriety for such a pretty woman." + +Then, with an ugly look on his face, Challis went out; next day he +embarked in the LADY ALICIA for a six months' cruise among the islands +of the North-west Pacific. + +* * * * * + +That was four years ago, and to-day Challis, who stands working at a +little table set in against an open window, hammering out a ring from a +silver coin on a marline-spike and vyce, whistles softly and +contentedly to himself as he raises his head and glances through the +vista of coconuts that surround his dwelling on this lonely and almost +forgotten island. + +"The devil!" he thinks to himself, "I must be turning into a native. +Four years! What an ass I was! And I've never written yet--that is, +never sent a letter away. Well, neither has she. Perhaps, after all, +there was little in that affair of R----'s.... By God! though, if +there was, I've been very good to them in leaving them a clear field. +Anyhow, she's all right as regards money. I'm glad I've done that. It's +a big prop to a man's conscience to feel he hasn't done anything mean; +and she likes money--most women do. Of course I'll go back--if she +writes. If not--well, then, these sinful islands can claim me for their +own; that is, Nalia can." + +* * * * * + +A native boy with shaven head, save for a long tuft on the left side, +came down from the village, and, seating himself on the gravelled space +inside the fence, gazed at the white man with full, lustrous eyes. + +"Hallo, TAMA!" said Challis, "whither goest now?" + +"Pardon, Tialli. I came to look at thee making the ring. Is it of soft +silver--and for Nalia, thy wife?" + +"Ay, O shaven-head, it is. Here, take this MASI and go pluck me a young +nut to drink," and Challis threw him a ship-biscuit. Then he went on +tapping the little band of silver. He had already forgotten the violet +eyes, and was thinking with almost childish eagerness of the soft glow +in the black orbs of Nalia when she should see his finished handiwork. + +The boy returned with a young coconut, unhusked. "Behold, Tialli. This +nut is a UTO GA'AU (sweet husk). When thou hast drunk the juice give it +me back, that I may chew the husk which is sweet as the sugar-cane of +Samoa," and he squatted down again on the gravel. + +* * * * * + +Challis drank, then threw him the husk and resumed his work. Presently +the boy, tearing off a strip of the husk with his white teeth, said, +"Tialli, how is it that there be no drinking-nuts in thy house?" + +"Because, O turtle-head, my wife is away; and there are no men in the +village to-day; and because the women of this MOTU [Island or country.] +I have no thought that the PAPALAGI [Foreigner] may be parched with +thirst, and so come not near me with a coconut." This latter in jest. + +"Nay, Tialli. Not so. True it is that to-day all the men are in the bush +binding FALA leaves around the coconut trees, else do the rats steal up +and eat the buds and clusters of little nuts. And because Nalia, thy +wife, is away at the other White Man's house no woman cometh inside the +door." + +Challis laughed. "O evil-minded people of Nukunono! And must I, thy +PAPALAGI, be parched with thirst because of this?" + +"FAIAGA OE, Tialli, thou but playest with me. Raise thy hand and call +out 'I thirst!' and every woman in the village will run to thee, each +with a drinking-nut, and those that desire thee, but are afraid, will +give two. But to come inside when Nalia is away would be to put shame +on her." + +* * * * * + +The white man mused. The boy's solemn chatter entertained him. He knew +well the native customs; but, to torment the boy, he commenced again. + +"O foolish custom! See how I trust my wife Nalia. Is she not even now +in the house of another white man?" + +"True. But, then, he is old and feeble, and thou young and strong. None +but a fool desires to eat a dried flying-fish when a fresh one may be +had." + +"O wise man with the shaven crown," said Challis, with mocking good +nature, "thou art full of wisdom of the ways of women. And if I were +old and withered, would Nalia then be false to me in a house of another +and younger white man?" + +"How could she? Would not he, too, have a wife who would watch her? And +if he had not, and were NOFO NOA (single), would he be such a fool to +steal that the like of which he can buy--for there are many girls +without husbands as good to look on as that Nalia of thine. And all +women are alike," and then, hearing a woman's voice calling his name, +he stood up. + +"Farewell, O ULU TULA POTO (Wise Baldhead)," said Challis, as the boy, +still chewing his sweet husk, walked back to the native houses clustered +under the grove of PUA trees. + +* * * * * + +Ere dusk, Nalia came home, a slenderly-built girl with big dreamy eyes, +and a heavy mantle of wavy hair. A white muslin gown, fastened at the +throat with a small silver brooch, was her only garment, save the folds +of the navy-blue-and-white LAVA LAVA round her waist, which the +European-fashioned garment covered. + +Challis was lying down when she came in. Two girls who came with her +carried baskets of cooked food, presents from old Jack Kelly, Challis's +fellow-trader. At a sign from Nalia the girls took one of the baskets +of food and went away. Then, taking off her wide-brimmed hat of FALA +leaf, she sat down beside Challis and pinched his cheek. + +"O lazy one! To let me walk from the house of Tiaki all alone!" + +"Alone! There were two others with thee." + +"Tapa Could I talk to THEM! I, a white man's wife, must not be too +familiar with every girl, else they would seek to get presents from me +with sweet words. Besides, could I carry home the fish and cooked fowl +sent thee by old Tiaki? That would be unbecoming to me, even as it +would be if thou climbed a tree for a coconut,"--and the daughter of +the Tropics laughed merrily as she patted Challis on his sunburnt +cheek. + +Challis rose, and going to a little table, took from it the ring. + +"See, Nalia, I am not lazy as thou sayest. This is thine." + +The girl with an eager "AUE!" took the bauble and placed it on her +finger. She made a pretty picture, standing there in the last glow of +the sun as it sank into the ocean, her languorous eyes filled with a +tender light. + +Challis, sitting on the end of the table regarding her with half-amused +interest as does a man watching a child with a toy, suddenly flushed +hotly. "By God! I can't be such a fool as to begin to LOVE her in +reality, but yet ... Come here, Nalia," and he drew her to him, and, +turning her face up so that he might look into her eyes, he asked: + +"Nalia, hast thou ever told me any lies?" + +The steady depths of those dark eyes looked back into his, and she +answered: + +"Nay, I fear thee too much to lie. Thou mightst kill me." + +"I do but ask thee some little things. It matters not to me what the +answer is. Yet see that thou keepest nothing hidden from me." + +The girl, with parted lips and one hand on his, waited. + +"Before thou became my wife, Nalia, hadst thou any lovers?" + +"Yes, two--Kapua and Tafu-le-Afi." + +"And since?" + +"May I choke and perish here before thee if I lie! None." + +Challis, still holding her soft brown chin in his hand, asked her one +more question--a question that only one of his temperament would have +dared to ask a girl of the Tokelaus. + +"Nalia, dost thou love me?" + +"Aye, ALOFA TUMAU (everlasting love). Am I a fool? Are there not Letia, +and Miriami, and Eline, the daughter of old Tiaki, ready to come to +this house if I love any but thee? Therefore my love is like the +suckers of the FA'E (octopus) in its strength. My mother has taught me +much wisdom." + +A curious feeling of satisfaction possessed the man, and next day +Letia, the "show" girl of the village, visiting Challis's store to buy +a tin of salmon, saw Nalia, the Lucky One, seated on a mat beneath the +seaward side of the trader's house, surrounded by a billowy pile of +yellow silk, diligently sewing. + +"Ho, dear friend of my heart! Is that silken dress for thee? For the +love of God, let me but touch it. Four dollars a fathom it be priced +at. Thy husband is indeed the king of generosity. Art thou to become a +mother?" + +"Away, silly fool, and do thy buying and pester me not." + +* * * * * + +Challis, coming to the corner of the house, leant against a post, and +something white showed in his hand. It was a letter. His letter to the +woman of violet eyes, written a week ago, in the half-formed idea of +sending it some day. He read it through, and then paused and looked at +Nalia. She raised her head and smiled. Slowly, piece by piece, he tore +it into tiny little squares, and, with a dreamy hand-wave, threw them +away. The wind held them in mid-air for a moment, and then carried the +little white flecks to the beach. + +"What is it?" said the bubbling voice of Letia, the Disappointed. + +"Only a piece of paper that weighed as a piece of iron on my bosom. But +it is gone now." + +"Even so," said Letia, smelling the gaudy label on the tin of salmon in +the anticipative ecstasy of a true Polynesian, "PE SE MEA +FA'AGOTOIMOANA (like a thing buried deep in ocean). May God send me a +white man as generous as thee--a whole tin of SAMANI for nothing! Now +do I know that Nalia will bear thee a son." + +* * * * * + +And that is why Challis the Doubter has never turned up again. + + + + +"'TIS IN THE BLOOD" + + +We were in Manton's Hotel at Levuka-Levuka in her palmy days. There +were Robertson, of the barque ROLUMAH; a fat German planter from the +Yasawa Group; Harry the Canadian, a trader from the Tokelaus, and +myself. + +Presently a knock came to the door, and Allan, the boatswain of our +brig, stood hat in hand before us. He was a stalwart half-caste of +Manhiki, and, perhaps, the greatest MANAIA (Lothario) from Ponape to +Fiji. + +"Captain say to come aboard, please. He at the Consul's for papers--he +meet you at boat," and Allan left. + +"By shingo, dot's a big fellow," said Planter Oppermann. + +"Ay," said Robertson, the trading skipper, "and a good man with his +mauleys, too. He's the champion knocker-out in Samoa, and is a match +for any Englishman in Polynesia, let alone foreigners"--with a sour +glance at the German. + +"Well, good-bye all," I said. "I'm sorry, Oppermann, I can't stay for +another day for your wedding, but our skipper isn't to be got at +anyhow." + +The trading captain and Harry walked with me part of the way, and then +began the usual Fiji GUP. + +"Just fancy that fat-headed Dutchman going all the way to Samoa and +picking on a young girl and sending her to the Sisters to get educated +properly! As if any old beach-girl isn't good enough for a blessed +Dutchman. Have you seen her?" + +"No," I said; "Oppermann showed me her photo. Pretty girl. Says she's +been three years with the Sisters in Samoa, and has got all the virtues +of her white father, and none of the vices of her Samoan mammy. Told me +he's spent over two thousand dollars on her already." + +Robertson smiled grimly. "Ay, I don't doubt it. He's been all round +Levuka cracking her up. I brought her here last week, and the +Dutchman's been in a chronic state of silly ever since. She's an +almighty fine girl. She's staying with the Sisters here till the +marriage. By the Lord, here she is now coming along the street! Bet a +dollar she's been round Vagadace way, where there are some fast Samoan +women living. 'Tis in the blood, I tell you." + +The future possessor of the Oppermann body and estate WAS a pretty +girl. Only those who have seen fair young Polynesian half-castes--before +they get married, and grow coarse, and drink beer, and smoke like a +factory chimney--know how pretty. + +Our boat was at the wharf, and just as we stood talking Allan sauntered +up and asked me for a dollar to get a bottle of gin. Just then the +German's FIANCEE reached us. Robertson introduced Harry and myself to +her, and then said good-bye. She stood there in the broiling Fijian sun +with a dainty sunshade over her face, looking so lovely and cool in her +spotless muslin dress, and withal so innocent, that I no longer +wondered at the Dutchman's "chronic state of silly." + +Allan the Stalwart stood by waiting for his dollar. The girl laughed +joyously when Harry the Canadian said he would be at the wedding and +have a high time, and held out her soft little hand as he bade her +adieu and strolled off for another drink. + +The moment Harry had gone Allan was a new man. Pulling off his straw +hat, he saluted her in Samoan, and then opened fire. + +"There are many TEINE LALELEI (beautiful girls) in the world, but there +is none so beautiful as thou. Only truth do I speak, for I have been to +all countries of the world. Ask him who is here--our supercargo--if I +lie. O maid with the teeth of pearl and face like FETUAO (the morning +star), my stomach is drying up with the fire of love." + +The sunshade came a little lower, and the fingers played nervously with +the ivory handle. I leant against a coconut tree and listened. + +"Thy name is Vaega. See that! How do I know? Aha, how do I? Because, +for two years or more, whenever I passed by the stone wall of the +Sisters' dwelling in Matafele, I climbed up and watched thee, O Star of +the Morning, and I heard the other girls call thee Vaega. Oho! and some +night I meant to steal thee away." + +(The rascal! He told me two days afterwards that the only time he ever +climbed the Mission wall was to steal mangoes.) + +The sunshade was tilted back, and displayed two big, black eyes, +luminous with admiring wonder. + +"And so thou hast left Samoa to come here to be devoured by this fat +hog of a Dutchman! Dost thou not know, O foolish, lovely one, that she +who mates with a SIAMANI (German) grows old in quite a little time, and +thy face, which is now smooth and fair, will be coarse as the rind of a +half-ripe bread-fruit, because of the foul food these swine of Germans +eat?" + +"Allan," I called, "here's the captain!" + +There was a quick clasp of hands as the Stalwart One and the Maid +hurriedly spoke again, this time in a whisper, and then the white +muslin floated away out of sight. + +The captain was what he called "no' so dry"--viz. half-seas over, and +very jolly. He told Allan he could have an hour to himself to buy what +he wanted, and then told me that the captain of a steam collier had +promised to give us a tug out at daylight. "I'm right for the +wedding-feast after all," I thought. + +* * * * * + +But the wedding never came off. That night Oppermann, in a frantic +state, was tearing round Levuka hunting for his love, who had +disappeared. At daylight, as the collier steamed ahead and tautened our +tow-line, we could see the parties of searchers with torches scouring +the beach. Our native sailors said they had heard a scream about ten at +night and seen the sharks splashing, and the white liars of Levuka +shook their heads and looked solemn as they told tales of monster +sharks with eight-foot jaws always cruising close in to the shore at +night. + +* * * * * + +Three days afterwards Allan came to me with stolid face and asked for a +bottle of wine, as Vaega was very sea-sick. I gave him the wine, and +threatened to tell the captain. He laughed, and said he would fight any +man, captain or no captain, who meddled with him. And, as a matter of +fact, he felt safe--the skipper valued him too much to bully him over +the mere stealing of a woman. So the limp and sea-sick Vaega was +carried up out of the sweating foc'sle and given a cabin berth, and +Allan planked down two twenty-dollar pieces for her passage to the +Union Group. When she got better she sang rowdy songs, and laughed all +day, and made fun of the holy Sisters. And one day Allan beat her with +a deal board because she sat down on a band-box in the trade-room and +ruined a hat belonging to a swell official's wife in Apia. And she +liked him all the better for it. + +* * * * * + +The fair Vaega was Mrs Allan for just six months, when his erratic +fancy was captivated by the daughter of Mauga, the chief of Tutuila, +and an elopement resulted to the mountains. The subsequent and +inevitable parting made Samoa an undesirable place of residence for +Allan, who shipped as boatsteerer in the NIGER of New Bedford. As for +Vaega, she drifted back to Apia, and there, right under the shadow of +the Mission Church, she flaunted her beauty. The last time I saw her +was in Charley the Russian's saloon, when she showed me a letter. It +was from the bereaved Oppermann, asking her to come back and marry him. + +"Are you going?" I said. + +"E PULE LE ATUA (if God so wills), but he only sent me twenty dollars, +and that isn't half enough. However, there's an American man-of-war +coming next week, and these other girls will see then. I'll make the +PAPALAGI [foreign] officers shell out. TO FA, ALII [Good-bye]." + + + + +THE REVENGE OF MACY O'SHEA + + +A Story Of The Marquesas + + +I. + + +Tikena the Clubfooted guided me to an open spot in the jungle-growth, +and, sitting down on the butt of a twisted TOA, indicated by a sweep of +his tattooed arm the lower course of what had once been the White Man's +dwelling. + +"Like unto himself was this, his house," he said, puffing a dirty clay +pipe, "square-built and strong. And the walls were of great blocks made +of PANISINA--of coral and lime and sand mixed together; and around each +centre-post--posts that to lift one took the strength of fifty men--was +wound two thousand fathoms of thin plaited cinnet, stained red and +black. APA! he was a great man here in these MOTU (islands), although +he fled from prison in your land; and when he stepped on the beach the +marks of the iron bands that had once been round his ankles were yet +red to the sight. There be none such as he in these days. But he is now +in Hell." + +This was the long-deferred funeral oration of Macy O'Shea, sometime +member of the chain-gang of Port Arthur, in Van Dieman's Land, and +subsequently runaway convict, beachcomber, cutter-off of whaleships, +and Gentleman of Leisure in Eastern Polynesia. And of his many known +crimes the deed done in this isolated spot was the darkest of all. +Judge of it yourself. + +* * * * * + +The arrowy shafts of sunrise had scarce pierced the deep gloom of the +silent forest ere the village woke to life. Right beside the +thatch-covered dwelling of Macy O'Shea, now a man of might, there +towers a stately TAMANU tree; and, as the first faint murmur of women's +voices arises from the native huts, there is a responsive twittering +and cooing in the thickly-leaved branches, and further back in the +forest the heavy, booming note of the red-crested pigeon sounds forth +like the beat of a muffled drum. + +* * * * * + +With slow, languid step, Sera, the wife of Macy O'Shea, comes to the +open door and looks out upon the placid lagoon, now just rippling +beneath the first breath of the trade-wind, and longs for courage to go +out there--there to the point of the reef--and spring over among the +sharks. The girl--she is hardly yet a woman--shudders a moment and +passes her white hand before her eyes, and then, with a sudden gust of +passion, the hand clenches. "I would kill him--kill him, if there was +but a ship here in which I could get away! I would sell myself over and +over again to the worst whaler's crew that ever sailed the Pacific if +it would bring me freedom from this cruel, cold-blooded devil!" + +* * * * * + +A heavy tread on the matted floor of the inner room and her face pales +to the hue of death. But Macy O'Shea is somewhat shy of his two years' +wife this morning, and she hears the heavy steps recede as he walks +over to his oil-shed. A flock of GOGO cast their shadow over the lagoon +as they fly westward, and the woman's eyes follow them--"Kill him, yes. +I am afraid to die, but not to kill. And I am a stranger here, and if I +ran a knife into his fat throat, these natives would make me work in +the taro-fields, unless one wanted me for himself." Then the heavy step +returns, and she slowly faces round to the blood-shot eyes and +drink-distorted face of the man she hates, and raises one hand to her +lips to hide a blue and swollen bruise. + +The man throws his short, square-set figure on a rough native sofa, +and, passing one brawny hand meditatively over his stubbly chin, says, +in a voice like the snarl of a hungry wolf: "Here, I say, Sera, slew +round; I want to talk to you, my beauty." + +The pale, set face flushed and paled again. "What is it, Macy O'Shea?" + +"Ho, ho, 'Macy O'Shea,' is it? Well, just this. Don't be a fool. I was +a bit put about last night, else I wouldn't have been so quick with my +fist. Cut your lip, I see. Well, you must forget it; any way, it's the +first time I ever touched you. But you ought to know by now that I am +not a man to be trifled with; no man, let alone a woman, is going to +set a course for Macy O'Shea to steer by. And, to come to the point at +once, I want you to understand that Carl Ristow's daughter is coming +here. I want her, and that's all about it." + +* * * * * + +The woman laughed scornfully. "Yes, I know. That was why"--she pointed +to her lips. "Have you no shame? I know you have no pity. But listen. I +swear to you by the Mother of Christ that I will kill her--kill you, if +you do this." + +O'Shea's cruel mouth twitched and his jaws set, then he uttered a +hoarse laugh. "By God! Has it taken you two years to get jealous?" + +A deadly hate gleamed in the dark, passionate eyes. "Jealous, Mother of +God! jealous of a drunken, licentious wretch such as you! I hate +you--hate you! If I had courage enough I would poison myself to be free +from you." + +O'Shea's eyes emitted a dull sparkle. "I wish you would, damn you! Yet +you are game enough, you say, to kill me--and Malia?" + +"Yes. But not for love of you, but because of the white blood in me. I +can't--I won't be degraded by you bringing another woman here." + +"'Por Dios,' as your dad used to say before the devil took his soul, +we'll see about that, my beauty. I suppose because your father was a +d----d garlic-eating, ear-ringed Dago, and your mother a +come-by-chance Tahiti half-caste, you think he was as good as me." + +"As good as you, O bloody-handed dog of an English convict. He was a +man, and the only wrong he ever did was to let me become wife to a +devil like you." + +The cruel eyes were close to hers now, and the rough, brawny hands +gripped her wrists. "You spiteful Portuguese quarter-bred ----! Call me +a convict again, and I'll twist your neck like a fowl's. You she-devil! +I'd have made things easy for you--but I won't now. Do you hear?" and +the grip tightened. "Ristow's girl will be here to-morrow, and if you +don't knuckle down to her it'll be a case of 'Vamos' for you--you can +go and get a husband among the natives," and he flung her aside and +went to the god that ran him closest for his soul, next to women--his +rum-bottle. + +* * * * * + +O'Shea kept his word, for two days later Malia, the half-caste daughter +of Ristow, the trader at Ahunui, stepped from out her father's +whaleboat in front of O'Shea's house. The transaction was a perfectly +legitimate one, and Malia did not allow any inconvenient feeling of +modesty to interfere with such a lucrative arrangement as this, whereby +her father became possessed of a tun of oil and a bag of Chilian +dollars, and she of much finery. In those days missionaries had not +made much head-way, and gentlemen like Messrs Ristow and O'Shea took +all the wind out of the Gospel drum. + +And so Malia, dressed as a native girl, with painted cheeks and bare +bosom, walked demurely up from the boat to the purchaser of her +sixteen-years'-old beauty, who, with arms folded across his broad +chest, stood in the middle of the path that led from the beach to his +door. And within, with set teeth and a knife in the bosom of her blouse +bodice, Sera panted with the lust of Hate and Revenge. + +* * * * * + +The bulky form of O'Shea darkened the door-way. "Sera," he called in +English, with a mocking, insulting inflection in his voice, "come here +and welcome my new wife!" + +Sera came, walking slowly, with a smile on her lips, and, holding out +her left hand to Malia, said in the native language, "Welcome!" + +"Why," said O'Shea, with mocking jocularity, "that's a left-handed +welcome, Sera." + +"Aye," said the girl with the White Man's blood, "my right hand is for +this"--and the knife sank home into Malia's yellow bosom. "A cold bosom +for you to-night, Macy O'Shea," she laughed, as the value of a tun of +oil and a bag of Chilian dollars gasped out its life upon the matted +floor. + + + +II + + +The native drum was beating. As the blood-quickening boom reverberated +through the village, the natives came out from their huts and gathered +around the House of the Old Men, where, with bound hands and feet, +Sera, the White Man's wife, sat, with her back to one of the +centre-posts. And opposite her, sitting like a native on a mat of +KAPAU, was the burly figure of O'Shea, with the demon of disappointed +passion eating away his reason, and a mist of blood swimming before his +eyes. + +The people all detested her, especially the soft-voiced, slender-framed +women. In that one thing savages resemble Christians--the deadly hatred +with which some women hate those of their sex whom they know to be +better and more pure than themselves. So the matter was decided +quickly. Mesi--so they called O'Shea--should have justice. If he +thought death, let it be death for this woman who had let out the blood +of his new wife. Only one man, Loloku the Boar Hunter, raised his voice +for her, because Sera had cured him of a bad wound when his leg had +been torn open by the tusk of a wild boar. But the dull glare from the +eyes of O'Shea fell on him, and he said no more. Then at a sign from +the old men the people rose from the mats, and two unbound the cords of +AFA from the girl, and led her out into the square, and looked at +O'Shea. + +"Take her to the boat," he said. + +* * * * * + +Ristow's boat had been hauled up, turned over, and covered with the +rough mats called KAPAU to keep off the heat of the sun. With +staggering feet, but undaunted heart, the girl Sera was led down. Only +once she turned her head and looked back. Perhaps Loloku would try +again. Then, as they came to the boat, a young girl, at a sign from +O'Shea, took off the loose blouse, and they placed her, face downwards, +across the bilge of the boat, and two pair of small, eager, brown hands +each seized one of hers and dragged the white, rounded arms well over +the keel of the boat. O'Shea walked round to that side, drawing through +his hands the long, heavy, and serrated tail of the FAI--the gigantic +stinging-ray of Oceana. He would have liked to wield it himself, but +then he would have missed part of his revenge--he could not have seen +her face. So he gave it to a native, and watched, with the smile of a +fiend, the white back turn black and then into bloody red as it was cut +to pieces with the tail of the FAI. + +* * * * * + +The sight of the inanimate thing that had given no sign of its agony +beyond the shudderings and twitchings of torn and mutilated flesh was, +perhaps, disappointing to the tiger who stood and watched the dark +stream that flowed down on both sides of the boat. Loloku touched his +arm--"Mesi, stay thy hand. She is dead else." + +"Ah," said O'Shea, "that would be a pity; for with one hand shall she +live to plant taro." + +And, hatchet in hand, he walked in between the two brown women who held +her hands. They moved aside and let go. Then O'Shea swung his arm; the +blade of the hatchet struck into the planking, and the right hand of +Sera fell on the sand. + +A man put his arms around her, and lifted her off the boat. He placed +his hand on the blood-stained bosom and looked at Macy O'Shea. + +"E MATE! [Dead!]" he said. + + + + +THE RANGERS OF THE TIA KAU + + +Between Nanomea and Nanomaga--two of the Ellice Group--but within a few +miles of the latter, is an extensive submerged shoal, on the charts +called the Grand Cocal Reef, but by the people of the two islands known +as Tia Kau (The Reef). On the shallowest part there are from four to +ten fathoms of water, and here in heavy weather the sea breaks. The +British cruiser BASILISK, about 1870, sought for the reef, but reported +it as non-existent. Yet the Tia Kati is well known to many a Yankee +whaler and trading schooner, and is a favourite fishing-ground of the +people of Nanomaga--when the sharks give them a chance. + +* * * * * + +One night Atupa, Chief of Nanomaga, caused a huge fire to be lit on the +beach as a signal to the people of Nanomea that a MALAGA, or party of +voyagers, was coming over. Both islands are low--not more than fifteen +feet above sea-level--and are distant from one another about +thirty-eight miles. The following night the reflection of the answering +fire on Nanomea was seen, and Atupa prepared to send away his people in +seven canoes. They would start at sundown, so as to avoid paddling in +the heat (the Nanomagans have no sailing canoes), and be guided to +Nanomea, which they expected to reach early in the morning, by the far +distant glare of the great fires of coconut and pandanus leaves kindled +at intervals of a few hours. About seventy people were to go, and all +that day the little village busied itself in preparing for the +Nanomeans gifts of foods--cooked PURAKA, fowls, pigs, and flying-fish. + +* * * * * + +Atupa, the heathen chief, was troubled in his mind in those days of +August 1872. The JOHN WILLIAMS had touched at the island and landed a +Samoan missionary, who had pressed him to accept Christianity. Atupa, +dreading a disturbing element in his little community, had, at first, +declined; but the ship had come again, and the chief having consented +to try the new religion, a teacher landed. But since then he and his +sub-chiefs had consulted the oracle, and had been told that the shades +of Maumau Tahori and Foilagi, their deified ancestors, had answered +that the new religion was unacceptable to them, and that the Samoan +teacher must be killed or sent away. And for this was Atupa sending off +some of his people to Nanomea with gifts of goodwill to the chiefs to +beseech them to consult their oracles also, so that the two islands +might take concerted action against this new foreign god, whose priests +said that all men were equal, that all were bad, and He and His Son +alone good. + +* * * * * + +The night was calm when the seven canoes set out. Forty men and thirty +women and children were in the party, and the craft were too deeply +laden for any but the smoothest sea. On the AMA (outrigger) of each +canoe were the baskets of food and bundles of mats for their hosts, and +seated on these were the children, while the women sat with the men and +helped them to paddle. Two hours' quick paddling brought them to the +shoal-water of Tia Kau, and at the same moment they saw to the N.W. the +sky-glare of the first guiding fire. + +* * * * * + +It was then that the people in the first canoe, wherein was Palu, the +daughter of Atupa, called out to those behind to prepare their ASU +(balers), as a heavy squall was coming down from the eastward. Then +Laheu, an old warrior in another canoe, cried out that they should +return on their track a little and get into deep water; "for," said he, +"if we swamp, away from Tia Kau, it is but a little thing, but here--" +and he clasped his hands rapidly together and then tore them apart. +They knew what he meant--the sharks that, at night-time forsaking the +deep waters, patrolled in droves of thousands the shallow waters of the +reef to devour the turtle and the schools of TAFAU ULI and other fish. +In quick, alarmed silence the people headed back, but even then the +first fierce squall struck them, and some of the frail canoes began to +fill at once. "I MATAGI! I MATAGI! (head to the wind)" a man called +out; "head to the wind, or we perish! 'Tis but a puff and it is gone." + +* * * * * + +But it was more than a puff. The seven canoes, all abreast, were still +in shallow water, and the paddlers kept them dead in the teeth of the +whistling wind and stinging rain, and called out words of encouragement +to one another and to the women and children, as another black squall +burst upon them and the curling seas began to break. The canoe in which +was Atupa's daughter was the largest and best of all the seven, but was +much overladen, and on the outrigger grating were four children. These +the chief's daughter was endeavouring to shield from the rain by +covering them with a mat, when one of them, a little girl, endeavoured +to steady herself by holding to one of the thin pieces of grating; it +broke, and her arm fell through and struck the water, and in an instant +she gave a dull, smothered wail. Palu, the woman, seized her by her +hair and pulled the child up to a sitting posture, and then shrieked +with terror--the girl's arm was gone. + +* * * * * + +And then in the blackness of night, lightened now by the white, +seething, boiling surge, the people saw in the phosphorescent water +countless hundreds of the savage terrors of the Tia Kau darting hither +and thither amongst the canoes--for the smell of blood had brought them +together instantly. Presently a great grey monster tore the paddle from +out the hands of the steersman of the canoe wherein were the terrified +Palu and the four children, and then, before the man for'ard could +bring her head to the wind, she broached to and filled. Like ravening +wolves the sharks dashed upon their prey, and ere the people had time +to give more than a despairing cry, those hideous jaws and gleaming +cruel teeth had sealed their fate. Maddened with fear, the rest of the +people threw everything out of the six other canoes to lighten them, +and as the bundles of mats and baskets of food touched the water the +sharks seized and bit, tore and swallowed. Then, one by one, every +paddle was grabbed from the hands of the paddlers, and the canoes +broached to and filled in that sea of death--all save one, which was +carried by the force of the wind away from the rest. In this were the +only survivors--two men. + +* * * * * + +The agony could not have lasted long. "Were I to live as long as he +whom the FAIFEAU (missionary) tells us lived to be nine hundred and +sixty and nine, I shall hear the groans and cries and shrieks of that +PO MALAIA, that night of evil luck," said one of the two who lived, to +Denison, the white trader at Nanomea. "Once did I have my paddle fast +in the mouth of a little devil, and it drew me backwards, backwards, +over the stern till my head touched the water. TAH! but I was strong +with fear, and held on, for to lose it meant death by the teeth. And +Tulua--he who came out alive with me, seized my feet and held on, else +had I gone. But look thou at this"--and he pointed to his scarred neck +and back and shoulders "ere I could free my FOE (paddle) and raise my +head, I was bitten thus by others. Ah, PAPALAGI, some men are born to +wisdom, but most are fools. Had not Atupa been filled with vain fears, +he had killed the man who caused him to lose so many of our people." + +"So," said the white man, "and wouldst thou have killed the man who +brought thee the new faith? Fie!" + +"Aye, that would I--in those days when I was PO ULI ULI [Heathen, lit. "In +the blackest night"]. But not now, for I am Christian. Yet had Atupa +killed and buried the stranger, we could have lied and said he died of a +sickness when they of his people came to seek him. And then had I now my +son Tagipo with me, he who went into the bellies of the sharks at +Tia Kau." + + + + +PALLOU'S TALOI + + +A Memory Of The Paumotus + + +I stayed once at Rotoava--in the Low Archipelago, Eastern +Polynesia--while suffering from injuries received in a boat accident +one wild night. My host, the Rotoava trader, was a sociable old pirate, +whose convivial soul would never let him drink alone. He was by trade a +boat-builder, having had, in his early days, a shed at Miller's Point, +in Sydney, where he made money and married a wife. But this latter +event was poor Tom Oscott's undoing, and in the end he took his chest +of tools on board the THYRA trading brig, and sailed away to Polynesia. +Finally, after many years' wandering, he settled down at Rotoava as a +trader and boat-builder, and became a noted drinker of bottled beer. + +The only method by which I could avoid his incessant invitations to +"have another" was to get his wife and children to carry me down to his +work-shed, built in a lovely spot surrounded by giant PUKA trees. Here, +under the shade, I had my mats spread, and with one of his children +sitting at my head to fan away the flies, I lay and watched, through +the belt of coconuts that lined the beach, the blue rollers breaking on +the reef and the snow-white boatswain-birds floating high overhead. + +* * * * * + +Tom was in the bush one morning when his family carried me to the +boat-shed. He had gone for a log of seasoned TOA wood [A hard wood much +used in boat building] to another village. At noon he returned, and I +heard him bawling for me. His little daughter, the fly-brusher, gave an +answering yell, and then Tom walked down the path, carrying two bottles of +beer; behind him Lucia, his eldest daughter, a monstrous creature of +giggles, adipose tissue, and warm heart, with glasses and a plate of +crackers; lastly, old Marie, the wife, with a little table. + +"By ----, you've a lot more sense'n me. It's better lyin' here in the +cool, than foolin' around in the sun; so I've brought yer suthin' to +drink." + +"Oh, Tom," I groaned, "I'm sure that beer's bad for me." + +The Maker of Boats sat on his bench, and said that he knew of a +brewer's carter in Sydney who, at Merriman's "pub," on Miller's Point, +had had a cask of beer roll over him. Smashed seven ribs, one arm, and +one thigh. Doctors gave him up; undertaker's man called on his wife for +coffin order but a sailor chap said he'd pull him through. Got an +indiarubber tube and made him suck up as much beer as he could hold; +kept it up till all his bones "setted" again, and he recovered. Why +shouldn't I--if I only drank enough? + +"Hurry up, old dark-skin!"--this to the faded Marie. Uttering merely +the word "Hog!" she drew the cork. I had to drink some, and every hour +or so Tom would say it was very hot, and open yet another bottle. At +last I escaped the beer by nearly dying, and then the kind old fellow +hurried away in his boat to Apatiki--another island of the group--and +came back with some bottles of claret, bought from the French trader +there. With him came two visitors--a big half-caste of middle age, and +his wife, a girl of twenty or there-about. This was Edward Pallou and +his wife Taloi. + +* * * * * + +I was in the house when Tom returned, enjoying a long-denied smoke. +Pallou and his wife entered and greeted me. The man was a fine, +well-set-up fellow, wiry and muscular, with deep-set eyes, and bearing +across his right cheek a heavy scar. His wife was a sweet, dainty +little creature with red lips, dazzling teeth, hazel eyes, and long +wavy hair. The first thing I noticed about her was, that instead of +squatting on a mat in native fashion, she sank into a wide chair, and +lying back enquired, with a pleasant smile and in perfect English, +whether I was feeling any better. She was very fair, even for a +Paumotuan half-caste, as I thought she must be, and I said to Pallou, +"Why, any one would take your wife to be an Englishwoman!" + +"Not I," said Taloi, with a rippling laugh, as she commenced to make a +banana-leaf cigarette; "I am a full-blooded South Sea Islander. I +belong to Apatiki, and was born there. Perhaps I have white blood in +me. Who knows?--only my wise mother. But when I was twelve years old I +was adopted by a gentleman in Papeite, and he sent me to Sydney to +school. Do you know Sydney? Well, I was three years with the Misses +F----, in ---- Street. My goodness! I WAS glad to leave--and so were +the Misses F---- to see me go. They said I was downright wicked, +because one day I tore the dress off a girl who said my skin was +tallowy, like my name. When I came back to Tahiti my guardian took me +to Raiatea, where he had a business, and said I must marry him, the +beast!" + +"Oh, shut up, Taoi!" growled the deep-voiced Pallou, who sat beside me. +"What the deuce does this man care about your doings?" + +"Shut up yourself, you brute! Can't I talk to any one I like, you +turtle-headed fool? Am I not a good wife to you, you great, over-grown +savage? Won't you let a poor devil of a woman talk a little? Look here, +Tom, do you see that flash jacket he's wearing? Well, I sat up two +nights making that--for him to come over here with, and show off before +the Rotoava girls. Go and die, you ----!" + +The big half-caste looked at Tom and then at me. His lips twitched with +suppressed passion, and a dangerous gleam shone a moment in his dark +eyes. + +"Here, I say, Taloi," broke in Tom, good-humouredly, "just go easy a +bit with Ted. As for him a-looking at any of the girls here, I knows +better--and so do you." + +Taloi's laugh, clear as the note of a bird, answered him, and then she +said she was sorry, and the lines around Pallou's rigid mouth softened +down. It was easy to see that this grim half-white loved, for all her +bitter tongue, the bright creature who sat in the big chair. + +Presently Taloi and Lucia went out to bathe, and Pallou remained with +me. Tom joined us, and for a while no one spoke. Then the trader, +laying down his pipe on the table, drew his seat closer, and commenced, +in low tones, a conversation in Tahitian with Pallou. From the earnest +manner of old Tom and the sullen gloom that overspread Pallou's face, I +could discern that some anxiety possessed them. + +At last Tom addressed me. "Look here, ----, Ted here is in a mess, and +we've just been a-talkin' of it over, and he says perhaps you'll do +what you can for him." + +The half-caste turned his dark eyes on me and looked intently into +mine. + +"What is it, Tom?" + +"Well, you see, it come about this way. You heard this chap's +missus--Taloi--a-talkin' about the Frenchman that wanted to marry her. +He had chartered a little schooner in Papeite to go to Raiatea. Pallou +here was mate, and, o' course, he being from the same part of the group +as Taloi, she ups and tells him that the Frenchman wanted to marry her +straightaway; and then I s'pose, the two gets a bit chummy, and Pallou +tells her that if she didn't want the man he'd see as how she wasn't +forced agin' her will. So when the vessel gets to Raiatea it fell calm, +just about sunset. The Frenchman was in a hurry to get ashore, and +tells his skipper to put two men in the boat and some grub, as he meant +to pull ashore to his station. So they put the boat over the side, and +Frenchy and Taoi and Pallou and two native chaps gets in and pulls for +the land. + +"They gets inside Uturoa about midnight. 'Jump out,' says the Frenchman +to Taloi as soon as the boat touches the beach; but the girl wouldn't, +but ties herself up around Pallou and squeals. 'Sakker!' says the +Frenchy, and he grabs her by the hair and tries to tear her away. +''Ere, stop that,' says Pallou; 'the girl ain't willin',' an' he pushes +Frenchy away. 'Sakker!' again, and Frenchy whips out his pistol and +nearly blows Pallou's face off'n him; and then, afore he knows how it +was done, Ted sends his knife chunk home into the other fellow's +throat. The two native sailors runned away ashore, and Pallou and Taloi +takes the oars and pulls out again until they drops. Then a breeze +comes along, and they up stick and sails away and gets clear o' the +group, and brings up, after a lot of sufferin', at Rurutu. And ever +since then there's been a French gunboat a-lookin' for Pallou, and he's +been hidin' at Apatiki for nigh on a twelvemonth, and has come over +here now to see if, when your ship comes back, you can't give him and +his missus a passage away somewhere to the westward, out o' the run of +that there gunboat, the VAUDREUIL." + +* * * * * + +I promised I would "work it" with the captain, and Pallou put out his +brawny hand--the hand that "drove it home into Frenchy's throat"--and +grasped mine in silence. Then he lifted his jacket and showed me his +money-belt, filled. + +"I don't want money," I said. "If you have told me the whole story, I +would help any man in such a fix as you." And then Taloi, fresh from +her bath, came in and sat down on the mat, whilst fat Lucia combed and +dressed her glossy hair and placed therein scarlet hisbiscus flowers; +and to show her returned good temper, she took from her lips the +cigarette she was smoking, and offered it to the grim Pallou. + +A month later we all three left Rotoava, and Pallou and Taloi went +ashore at one of the Hervey Group, where I gave him charge of a station +with a small stock of trade, and we sailed away east-ward to Pitcairn +and Easter Islands. + +* * * * * + +Pallou did a good business, and was well liked; and some seven months +afterwards, when we were at Maga Reva, in the Gambier Group, I got a +letter from him. "Business goes well," he wrote, "but Taloi is ill; I +think she will die. You will find everything square, though, when you +come." + +But I was never to see that particular island again, as the firm sent +another vessel in place of ours to get Pallou's produce. When the +captain and the supercargo went ashore, a white trader met them, with a +roll of papers in his hand. + +"Pallou's stock-list," he said. + +"Why, where is he? gone away?" + +"No, he's here still; planted alongside his missus." + +"Dead!" + +"Yes. A few months after he arrived here, that pretty little wife of +his died. He came to me, and asked if I would come and take stock with +him. I said he seemed in a bit of a hurry to start stocktaking before +the poor thing was buried; but anyhow, I went, and we took stock, and +he counted his cash, and asked me to lock the place up if anything +happened to him. Then we had a drink, and he bade me good-day, and said +he was going to sit with Taloi awhile, before they took her away. He +sent the native women out of the bedroom, and the next minute I heard a +shot. He'd done it, right enough. Right through his brain, poor chap. I +can tell you he thought a lot of that girl of his. There's the two +graves, over there by that FETAU tree. Here's his stock-list and bag of +cash and keys. Would you mind giving me that pair of rubber sea-boots +he left?" + + + + +A BASKET OF BREAD-FRUIT + + +It was in Steinberger's time [Colonel Steinberger, who in 1874 succeeded +in forming a government in Samoa]. A trader had come up to Apia in his +boat from the end of Savaii, the largest of the Samoan Group, and was on +his way home again, when the falling tide caused him to stop awhile at +Mulinu'u Point, about two miles from Apia. Here he designed to smoke and +talk, and drink kava at the great camp with some hospitable native +acquaintances, during the rising of the water. Soon he was taking his +ease on a soft mat, watching the bevy of AUA LUMA [The local girls] making +a bowl of kava. + +Now this trader lived at Falealupo, at the extreme westerly end of +Savaii; but the Samoans, by reason of its isolation and extremity, have +for ages called it by another name--an unprintable one--and so some of +the people present began to jest with the trader for living in such a +place. He fell in with their humour, and said that if those present +would find for him a wife, a girl unseared by the breath of scandal, he +would leave Falealupo for Safune, where he had bought land. + +"Malie!" said an old dame, with one eye and white hair, "the +PAPALAGI [foreigner] is inspired to speak wisdom to-night; for at Safune +grow the sweetest nuts and the biggest taro and bread-fruit; and lo! here +among the kava-chewers is a young maid from Safune--mine own +grand-daughter Salome. And against her name can no one in Samoa laugh in +the hollow of his hand," and the old creature, amid laughter and cries of +ISA! E LE MA LE LO MATUA (The old woman is without shame), crept over to +the trader, and, with one skinny hand on his knee, gazed steadily into his +face with her one eye. + +* * * * * + +The trader looked at the girl--at Salome. She had, at her grandmother's +speech, turned her head aside, and taking the "chaw" of kava-root from +her pretty mouth, dissolved into shame-faced tears. The trader was a +man of quick perceptions, and he made up his mind to do in earnest what +he had said in jest--this because of the tears of Salome. He quickly +whispered to the old woman, "Come to the boat before the full of the +tide, and we will talk." + +When the kava was ready for drinking the others present had forgotten +all about the old woman and Salome, who had both crept away unobserved, +and an hour or two was passed in merriment, for the trader was a man +well liked. Then, when he rose and said TO FA, [good-bye] they begged him +not to attempt to pass down in his boat inside the reef, as he was sure to +be fired upon, for how were their people to tell a friend from an enemy in +the black night? But the white man smiled, and said his boat was too +heavily laden to face the ocean swell. So they bade him TO FA, and called +out MANUIA OE! [Bless you!] as he lifted the door of thatch and went. + +* * * * * + +The old woman awaited him, holding the girl by the hand. On the ground +lay a basket strongly tied up. Salome still wept, but the old woman +angrily bade her cease and enter the boat, which the crew had now +pushed bow-on to the beach. The old woman lifted the basket and +carefully put it on board. + +"Be sure," she said to the crew, "not to sit on it for it is very ripe +bread-fruit that I am taking to my people in Manono." + +"Give them here to me," said the trader, and he put the basket in the +stern out of the way. The old woman came aft, too, and crouched at his +feet and smoked a SULUI [a cigarette rolled in dried banana leaf]. The +cool land-breeze freshened as the sail was hoisted, and then +the crew besought the trader not to run down inside the reef. Bullets, +they said, if fired in plenty, always hit something, and the sea was +fairly smooth outside the reef. And old Lupetea grasped his hand and +muttered in his ear, "For the sake of this my little daughter go +outside. See, now, I am old, and to lie when so near death as I am is +foolish. Be warned by me and be wise; sail out into the ocean, and at +daylight we shall be at Salua in Manono. Then thou canst set my feet on +the shore--I and the basket. But the girl shall go with thee. Thou +canst marry her, if that be to thy mind, in the fashion of the +PAPALAGI, or take her FA'A SAMOA [Samoan fashion]. Thus will I keep faith +with thee. If the girl be false, her neck is but little and thy fingers +strong." + +Now the trader thought in this wise: "This is well for me, for if I get +the girl away thus quietly from all her relations I shall save much in +presents," and his heart rejoiced, for although not mean he was a +careful man. So he steered his boat seaward, between the seething surf +that boiled and hissed on both sides of the boat passage. + +* * * * * + +As the boat sailed past the misty line of cloud-capped Upolu, the +trader lifted the girl up beside him and spoke to her. She was not +afraid of him, she said, for many had told her he was a good man, and +not an ULA VALE (scamp), but she wept because now, save her old +grandmother, all her kinsfolk were dead. Even but a day and a half ago +her one brother was killed with her cousin. They were strong men, but +the bullets were swift, and so they died. And their heads had been +shown at Matautu. For that she had grieved and wept and eaten nothing, +and the world was cold and dark to her. + +"Poor little devil!" said the trader to himself--"hungry." Then he +opened a locker and found a tin of sardines. Not a scrap of biscuit. +There was plenty of biscuit, though, in the boat, in fifty-pound tins, +but on these mats were spread, where-on his crew were sleeping. He was +about to rouse them when he remembered the old dame's basket of ripe +bread-fruit. He laughed and looked at her. She, too, slept, coiled up +at his feet. But first he opened the sardines and placed them beside +the girl, and motioned her to steer. Her eyes gleamed like diamonds in +the darkness as she answered his glance, and her soft fingers grasped +the tiller. Very quickly, then, he felt among the packages aft till he +came to the basket. + +A quick stroke of his knife cut the cinnet that lashed the sides +together. He felt inside. "Only two, after all, but big ones, and no +mistake. Wrapped in cloth, too! I wonder--Hell and Furies! what's +this?"--as his fingers came in contact with something that felt like a +human eye. Drawing his hand quickly back, he fumbled in his pockets for +a match, and struck it. Bread-fruit! No. Two heads with closed eyes and +livid lips blue with the pallor of death, showing their white teeth. +And Salome covered her face and slid down in the bottom of the boat +again, and wept afresh for her cousin and brother, and the boat came up +in the wind, but no one awoke. + +* * * * * + +The trader was angry. But after he had tied up the basket again he put +the boat on her course once more and called to the girl. She crept +close to him and nestled under his overcoat, for the morning air came +across the sea from the dew-laden forests, and she was chilled. Then +she told the story of how her granddam had begged the heads from those +of Malietoa's troops who had taken them at Matautu, and then gone to +the camp at Mulinu'u in the hope of getting a passage in some boat to +Manono, her country, where she would fain bury them. And that night he +had come, and old Lupetea had rejoiced, and sworn her to secrecy about +the heads in the basket. And that also was why Lupetea was afraid of +the boat going down inside the passage, for there were many enemies to +be met with, and they would have shot old Lupetea because she was of +Manono. That was all. Then she ate the sardines, and, leaning her head +against the trader's bosom, fell asleep. + +* * * * * + +As the first note of the great grey pigeon sounded the dawn, the +trader's boat sailed softly up to the Salua beach, and old Lupetea +rose, and, bidding the crew good-bye, and calling down blessings on the +head of the good and clever white man, as she rubbed his and the girl's +noses against her own, she grasped her Basket of Bread-fruit and went +ashore. Then the trader, with Salome nestling to his side, sailed out +again into the ocean towards his home. + + + + +ENDERBY'S COURTSHIP + + +The two ghastly creatures sat facing each other in their wordless +misery as the wind died away and the tattered remnants of the sail hung +motionless after a last faint flutter. The Thing that sat aft--for +surely so grotesquely horrible a vision could not be a Man--pointed +with hands like the talons of a bird of prey to the purple outline of +the island in the west, and his black, blood-baked lips moved, opened, +and essayed to speak. The other being that, with bare and skinny arms +clasped around its bony knees, sat crouched in the bottom of the boat, +leaned forward to listen. + +"Ducie Island, Enderby," said the first in a hoarse, rattling whisper; +"no one on it; but water is there ... and plenty of birds and turtle, +and a few coconuts." + +At the word "water" the listener gave a curious gibbering chuckle, +unclasped his hands from his knees, and crept further towards the +speaker. + +"And the current is setting us down to it, wind or no wind. I believe +we'll see this pleasure-trip through, after all"--and the black lips +parted in a hideous grimace. + +The man whom he called Enderby sank his head again upon his knees, and +his dulled and bloodshot eyes rested on something that lay at the +captain's feet--the figure of a woman enveloped from her shoulders down +in a ragged native mat. For some hours past she had lain thus, with the +grey shadows of coming dissolution hovering about her pallid face, and +only the faintest movement of lips and eyelids to show that she still +lived. + +* * * * * + +The black-whiskered man who steered looked down for a second upon the +face beneath him with the unconcern for others born of the agony of +thirst and despair, and again his gaunt face turned to the land. Yet +she was his wife, and not six weeks back he had experienced a cold sort +of satisfaction in the possession of so much beauty. + +He remembered that day now. Enderby, the passenger from Sydney, and he +were walking the poop; his wife was asleep in a deck-chair on the other +side. An open book lay in her lap. As the two men passed and re-passed +her, the one noted that the other would glance in undisguised and +honest admiration at the figure in the chair. And Enderby, who was as +open as the day, had said to him, Langton, that the sleeping Mrs +Langton made as beautiful a picture as he had ever seen. + +* * * * * + +The sail stirred, filled out, and then drooped again, and the two +spectres, with the sleeping woman between, still sat with their hungry +eyes gazing over toward the land. As the sun sank, the outlines of the +verdure-clad summits and beetling cliffs stood forth clearly for a +short minute or two, as if to mock them with hope, and then became +enshrouded in the tenebrous night. + +* * * * * + +Another hour, and a faint sigh came from the ragged mat. Enderby, for +ever on the watch, had first seen a white hand silhouetted against the +blackness of the covering, and knew that she was still alive. And as he +was about to call Langton, who lay in the stern-sheets muttering in +hideous dreams, he heard the woman's voice calling HIM. With panting +breath and trembling limbs he crawled over beside her and gently +touched her hand. + +"Thank God, you are alive, Mrs Langton. Shall I wake Captain Langton? +We must be nearing the land." + +"No, don't. Let him sleep. But I called you, Mr Enderby, to lift me up. +I want to see where the rain is coming from." + +Enderby groaned in anguish of spirit. "Rain? God has forgotten us, I----," +and then he stopped in shame at betraying his weakness before a +woman. + +The soft, tender tones again--"Ah, do help me up, please, I can FEEL +the rain is near." Then the man, with hot tears of mingled weakness and +pity coursing down his cheeks, raised her up. + +"Why, there it is, Mr Enderby--and the land as well! And it's a heavy +squall, too," and she pointed to a moving, inky mass that half +concealed the black shadow of the island. "Quick, take my mat; one end +of it is tight and will hold water." + +"Langton, La-a-ngton! Here's a rain squall coming!" and Enderby pressed +the woman's hand to his lips and kissed it again and again. Then with +eager hands he took the mat from her, and staggering forward to the +bows stretched the sound end across and bellied it down. And then the +moving mass that was once black, and was now white, swept down upon +them, and brought them life and joy. + +Langton, with an empty beef-tin in his hand, stumbled over his wife's +figure, plunged the vessel into the water and drank again and again. + +"Curse you, you brute!" shouted Enderby through the wild noise of the +hissing rain, "where is your wife? Are you going to let her lie there +without a drink?" + +Langton answered not, but drank once more. Then Enderby, with an oath, +tore the tin from his hand, filled it and took it to her, holding her +up while she drank. And as her eyes looked gratefully into his while he +placed her tenderly back in the stern-sheets, the madness of a moment +overpowered him, and he kissed her on the lips. + +Concerned only with the nectar in the mat, Langton took no regard of +Enderby as he opened the little locker, pulled out a coarse dungaree +jumper, and wrapped it round the thinly-clad and drenched figure of the +woman. + +She was weeping now, partly from the joy of knowing that she was not to +die of the agonies of thirst in an open boat in mid-Pacific, and partly +because the water had given her strength to remember that Langton had +cursed her when he had stumbled over her to get at the water in the +mat. + +* * * * * + +She had married him because of his handsome face and dashing manner for +one reason, and because her pious Scotch father, also a Sydney-Tahitian +trading captain, had pointed out to her that Langton had made and was +still making money in the island trade. Her ideal of a happy life was +to have her husband leave the sea and buy an estate either in Tahiti or +Chili. She knew both countries well: the first was her birthplace, and +between there and Valparaiso and Sydney her money-grubbing old father +had traded for years, always carrying with him his one daughter, whose +beauty the old man regarded as a "vara vain thing," but likely to +procure him a "weel-to-do mon" for a son-in-law. + +Mrs Langton cared for her husband in a prosaic sort of way, but she +knew no more of his inner nature and latent utter selfishness a year +after her marriage than she had known a year before. Yet, because of +the strain of dark blood in her veins--her mother was a Tahitian +half-caste--she felt the mastery of his savage resolution in the face +of danger in the thirteen days of horror that had elapsed since the +brigantine crashed on an uncharted reef between Pitcairn and Ducie +Islands, and the other boat had parted company with them, taking most +of the provisions and water. And to hard, callous natures such as +Langton's women yield easily and admire--which is better, perhaps, than +loving, for both. + +But that savage curse still sounded in her ears, and unconsciously made +her think of Enderby, who had always, ever since the eighth day in the +boat, given her half his share of water. Little did she know the agony +it cost him the day before when the water had given out, to bring her +the whole of his allowance. And as she drank, the man's heart had +beaten with a dull sense of pity, the while his baser nature called +out, "Fool! it is HIS place, not yours, to suffer for her." + +* * * * * + +At daylight the boat was close in to the land, and Langton, in his +cool, cynical fashion, told his wife and Enderby to finish up the last +of the meat and biscuit--for if they capsized getting through into the +lagoon, he said, they would never want any more. He had eaten all he +wanted unknown to the others, and looked with an unmoved face at +Enderby soaking some biscuit in the tin for his wife. Then, with the +ragged sail fluttering to the wind, Langton headed the boat through the +passage into the glassy waters of the lagoon, and the two tottering +men, leading the woman between them, sought the shelter of a thicket +scrub, impenetrable to the rays of the sun, and slept. And then for a +week Enderby went and scoured the reefs for food for her. + +* * * * * + +One day at noon Enderby awoke. The woman still slept heavily, the first +sign of returning strength showing as a faint tinge in the pallor of +her cheek. Langton was gone. A sudden chill passed over him--had +Langton taken the boat and left them to die on lonely Ducie? With hasty +step Enderby hurried to the beach. The boat was there, safe. And at the +farther end of the beach he saw Langton, sitting on the sand, eating. + +"Selfish brute!" muttered Enderby. "I wonder what he's got?" just then +he saw, close overhead, a huge ripe pandanus, and, picking up a heavy, +flat piece of coral, he tried to ascend the triplicated bole of the +tree and hammer off some of the fruit. Langton looked up at him, and +showed his white teeth in a mocking smile at the futile effort. Enderby +walked over to him, stone in hand. He was not a vindictive man, but he +had grown to hate Langton fiercely during the past week for his selfish +neglect of his wife. And here was the fellow, gorging himself on +turtle-eggs, and his tender, delicate wife living on shell-fish and +pandanus. + +* * * * * + +"Langton," he said, speaking thickly and pretending not to notice the +remainder of the eggs, "the tide is out, and we may get a turtle in one +of the pools if you come with me. Mrs Langton needs something better +than that infernal pandanus fruit. Her lips are quite sore and bleeding +from eating it." + +The Inner Nature came out. "Are they? My wife's lips seem to give you a +very great deal of concern. She has not said anything to me. And I have +an idea----" the look in Enderby's face shamed into silence the slander +he was about to utter. Then he added coolly--"But as for going with you +after a turtle, thanks, I won't. I've found a nest here, and have had a +good square feed. If the cursed man-o'-war hawks and boobies hadn't +been here before me I'd have got the whole lot." Then he tore the skin +off another egg with his teeth. + +With a curious guttural voice Enderby asked--"How many eggs were left?" + +"Thirty or so--perhaps forty." + +"And you have eaten all but those?"--pointing with savage contempt to +five of the round, white balls; "give me those for your wife." + +"My dear man, Louise has too much Island blood in her not to be able to +do better than I--or you--in a case like ours. And as you have kindly +constituted yourself her providore, you had better go and look for a +nest yourself." + +"You dog!"--and the sharp-edged coral stone crashed into his brain. + +* * * * * + +When Enderby returned, he found Mrs Langton sitting up on the +creeper-covered mound that over-looked the beach where he had left +Langton. + +"Come away from here," he said, "into the shade. I have found a few +turtle-eggs." + +They walked back a little and sat down. But for the wild riot in his +brain, Enderby would have noted that every vestige of colour had left +her face. + +"You must be hungry," he thought he was saying to her, and he placed +the white objects in her lap. + +She turned them slowly over and over in her hands, and then dropped +them with a shudder. Some were flecked with red. + +"For God's sake," the man cried, "tell me what you know!" + +"I saw it all," she answered. + +"I swear to you, Mrs Lan----" (the name stuck in his throat) "I never +meant it. As God is my witness, I swear it. If we ever escape from here +I will give myself up to justice as a murderer." + +The woman, with hands spread over her face, shook her head from side to +side and sobbed. Then she spoke. "I thought I loved him, once.... +Yet it was for me ... and you saved my life over and over again in +the boat. All sinners are forgiven we are told.... Why should not +you be? ... and it was for me you did it. And I won't let you give +yourself up to justice or any one. I'll say he died in the boat." And +then the laughter of hysterics. + +* * * * * + +When, some months later, the JOSEPHINE, whaler, of New London, picked +them up on her way to Japan, VIA the Carolines and Pelews, the captain +satisfactorily answered the query made by Enderby if he could marry +them. He "rayther thought he could. A man who was used ter ketchin' and +killin'whales, the powerfullest creature of Almighty Gawd's creation, +was ekal to marryin' a pair of unfortunit human beans in sich a +pre-carus situation as theirs." + +* * * * * + +And, by the irony of fate, the Enderbys (that isn't their name) are now +living in a group of islands where there's quite a trade done in +turtle, and whenever a ship's captain comes to dine with them they +never have the local dish--turtle eggs--for dinner. "We see them so +often," Enderby explains, "and my wife is quite tired of them." + + + + +LONG CHARLEY'S GOOD LITTLE WIFE + + +There was the island, only ten miles away, and there it had been for a +whole week. Sometimes we had got near enough to see Long Charley's +house and the figures of natives walking on the yellow beach; and then +the westerly current would set us away to leeward again. But that night +a squall came up, and in half an hour we were running down to the land. +When the lights on the beach showed up we hove-to until daylight, and +then found the surf too heavy to let us land. + +* * * * * + +We got in close to the reef, and could see that the trader's +copra-house was full, for there were also hundreds of bags outside, +awaiting our boats. It was clearly worth staying for. The trader, a +tall, thin, pyjama-clad man, came down to the water's edge, waved his +long arm, and then turned back and sat down on a bag of copra. We went +about and passed the village again, and once more the long man came to +the water's edge, waved his arm, and retired to his seat. + +In the afternoon we saw a native and Charley together among the bags; +then the native left him, and, as it was now low tide, the kanaka was +able to walk to the edge of the reef, where he signalled to us. Seeing +that he meant to swim off, the skipper went in as close as possible, +and backed his foreyard. Watching his chance for a lull in the yet +fierce breakers, the native slid over the reef and swam out to us as +only a Line Islander or a Tokelau man can swim. + +"How's Charley?" we asked, when the dark man reached the deck. + +"Who? Charley? Oh, he fine, plenty copra. Tapa my bowels are filled +with the sea--for one dollar! Here ARIKI VAKA (captain) and you TUHI +TUHI (supercargo)," said the native, removing from his perforated and +pendulous ear-lobe a little roll of leaf, "take this letter from the +mean man that giveth but a dollar for facing such a GALU (surf). Hast +plenty tobacco on board, friends of my heart? Apa, the surf! Not a +canoe crew could the white man get to face it. Is it good twist +tobacco, friends, or the flat cakes? Know that I am a man of Nanomea, +not one of these dog-eating people here, and a strong swimmer, else the +letter had not come." + +The supercargo took the note. It was rolled up in many thicknesses of +banana-leaf, which had kept it dry-- + + +"DEAR FRIENDS,--I have Been waiting for you for near 5 months. I am +Chock full of Cobberah and Shark Fins one Ton. I am near Starved Out, +No Biscit, no Beef, no flour, not Enything to Eat. for god's Saik send +me a case of Gin ashore if you Don't mean to Hang on till the sea goes +Down or I shall Starve. Not a Woman comes Near me because I am Run out +of Traid, so please try also to Send a Peece of Good print, as there +are some fine Women here from Nukunau, and I think I can get one for a +wife if I am smart. If you Can't take my Cobberah, and mean to Go away, +send the Squair face [Square face--Hollands gin], for god's saik, and +something for the Woman,--Your obliged Friend, CHARLES." + + +We parcelled a bottle of gin round with a small coir line, and sent it +ashore by the Nanomea man. Charley and a number of natives came to the +edge of the reef to lend a hand in landing the bearer of the treasure. +Then they all waded back to the beach, headed by the white man in the +dirty pyjamas and sodden-looking FALA hat. Reaching his house, he +turned his following away, and shut the door. + +"I bet a dollar that fellow wouldn't swap billets with the angel +Gabriel at this partikler moment," said our profane mate thoughtfully. + +* * * * * + +We started weighing and shipping the copra next day. After finishing +up, the solemn Charley invited the skipper and supercargo to remain +ashore till morning. His great trouble, he told us, was that he had not +yet secured a wife, "a reg'lar wife, y'know." He had, unluckily, "lost +the run" of the last Mrs Charley during his absence at another island +of the group, and negotiations with various local young women had been +broken off owing to his having run out of trade. In the South Seas, as +in the civilised world generally, to get the girl of your heart is +usually a mere matter of trade. There were, he told us with a +melancholy look, "some fine Nukunau girls here on a visit, but the one +I want don't seem to care much about stayin', unless all this new trade +fetches her." + +"Who is she?" enquired the skipper. + +"Tibakwa's daughter." + +"Let's have a look at her," said the skipper, a man of kind impulses, +who felt sorry at the intermittency of the Long One's connubial +relations. The tall, scraggy trader shambled to the door and bawled +out: "Tibakwa, Tibakwa, Tibakwa, O!" three times. + +The people, singing in the big MONIEP or town-house, stopped their +monotonous droning, and the name of Tibakwa, was yelled vociferously +through-out the village in true Gilbert Group style. In the Gilberts, +if a native in one corner of a house speaks to another in the opposite, +he bawls loud enough to be heard a mile off. + +* * * * * + +Tibakwa (The Shark) was a short, squat fellow, with his broad back and +chest scored and seamed with an intricate and inartistic network of +cicatrices made by sharks' teeth swords. His hair, straight, coarse, +and jet-black, was cut away square from just above his eyebrows to the +top of his ears, leaving his fierce countenance in a sort of frame. +Each ear-lobe bore a load--one had two or three sticks of tobacco, +twined in and about the distended circle of flesh, and the other a +clasp-knife and wooden pipe. Stripped to the waist he showed his +muscular outlines to perfection, and he sat down unasked in the bold, +self-confident, half-defiant manner natural to the Line Islander. + +* * * * * + +"Where's Tirau?" asked the trader. + +"Here," said the man of wounds, pointing outside, and he called out in +a voice like the bellow of a bull--"TIRAU O, NAKO MAI! (Come here!)" + +Tirau came in timidly, clothed only in an AIRIRI or girdle, and slunk +into a far corner. + +The melancholy trader and the father pulled her out, and she dumped +herself down in the middle of the room with a muttered "E PUAK ACARON; +KACARON; TE MALAN! (Bad white man)." + +"Fine girl, Charley," said the skipper, digging him in the ribs. "Ought +to suit you, eh! Make a good little wife." + +Negotiations then began anew. Father willing to part, girl +frightened--commenced to cry. The astute Charley brought out some new +trade. Tirau's eye here displayed a faint interest. Charley threw her, +with the air of a prince, a whole piece of turkey twill, 12 +yards--value three dollars, cost about 2s. 3d. Tirau put out a little +hand and drew it gingerly toward her. Tibakwa gave us an atrocious +wink. + +"She's cottoned!" exclaimed Charley. + +* * * * * + +And thus, without empty and hollow display, were two loving hearts made +to beat as one. As a practical proof of the solemnity of the occasion, +the bridegroom then and there gave Tirau his bunch of keys, which she +carefully tied to a strand of her AIRIRI, and, smoking one of the +captain's Manillas, she proceeded to bash out the mosquitoes from the +nuptial couch with a fan. We assisted her, an hour afterwards, to hoist +the sleeping body of Long Charley therein, and, telling her to bathe +his head in the morning with cold water, we rose to go. + +"Good-bye, Tirau!" we said. + +"TIAKAPO [Good-night]", said the good Little Wife, as she rolled up an +empty square gin bottle in one of Charley's shirts for a pillow, and +disposed her graceful figure on the matted floor beside his bed, to fight +mosquitoes until daylight. + + + + +THE METHODICAL MR BURR OF MADURO + + +One day Ned Burr, a fellow trader, walked slowly up the path to my +station, and with a friendly nod sat down and watched intently as, with +native assistance, I set about salting some pork. Ned lived thirty +miles from my place, on a little island at the entrance to the lagoon. +He was a prosperous man, and only drank under the pressure of the +monotony caused by the non-arrival of a ship to buy his produce. He +would then close his store, and, aided by a number of friendly male +natives, start on a case of gin. But never a woman went into Ned's +house, though many visited the store, where Ned bought their produce, +paid for it in trade or cash, and sent them off, after treating them on +a strictly business basis. + +Now, the Marshall Island women much resented this. Since Ned's wife had +died, ten years previously, the women, backed by the chiefs, had made +most decided, but withal diplomatic, assaults upon his celibacy. The +old men of his village had respectfully and repeatedly reminded him +that his state of singleness was not a direct slight to themselves as +leading men alone. If he refused to marry again he surely would not +cast such a reflection upon the personal characters of some two or +three hundred young girls as to refuse a few of them the position of +honorary wives PRO TEM., or until he found one whom he might think +worthy of higher honours. But the slow-thinking, methodical trader only +opened a bottle of gin, gave them fair words and a drink all round, and +absolutely declined to open any sort of matrimonial negotiations. + +* * * * * + +"I'm come to hev some talk with you when you've finished saltin'," he +said, as he rose and meditatively prodded a junk of meat with his +forefinger. + +"Right, old man," I said. "I'll come now," and we went into the big +room and sat down. + +"Air ye game ter come and see me get married?" he asked, looking away +past me, through the open door, to where the surf thundered and tumbled +on the outer reef. + +"Ned," I said solemnly, "I know you don't joke, so you must mean it. Of +course I will. I'm sure all of us fellows will be delighted to hear +you're going to get some nice little CARAJZ [an unmarried girl] to lighten +up that big house of yours over there. Who's the girl, Ned?" + +"Le-jennabon." + +"Whew!" I said, "why, she's the daughter of the biggest chief on Arhnu. +I didn't think any white man could get her, even if he gave her people +a boat-load of dollars as a wedding-gift." + +"Well, no," said Ned, stroking his beard meditatively, "I suppose I +SHOULD feel a bit set up; but two years ago her people said that, +because I stood to them in the matter of some rifles when they had +trouble with King Jibberick, I could take her. She was rather young +then, any way; but I've been over to Arhnu several times, and I've had +spies out, and damn me if I ever could hear a whisper agin' her. I'm +told for sure that her father and uncles would ha' killed any one that +came after her. So I'm a-goin' to take her and chance it." + +"Ned," I said, "you know your own affairs and these people better than +I do. Yet are you really going to pin your faith on a Marshall Island +girl? You are not like any of us traders. You see, we know what to +expect sometimes, and our morals are a lot worse than those of the +natives. And it doesn't harrow our feelings much if any one of us has +to divorce a wife and get another; it only means a lot of new dresses +and some guzzling, drinking, and speechifying, and some bother in +teaching the new wife how to make bread. But your wife that died was a +Manhikian--another kind. They don't breed that sort here in the +Marshalls. Think of it twice, Ned, before you marry her." + +* * * * * + +The girl was a beauty. There are many like her in that far-away cluster +of coral atolls. That she was a chief's child it was easy to see; the +abject manner in which the commoner natives always behaved themselves +in her presence showed their respect for Le-jennabon. Of course we all +got very jolly. There were half a dozen of us traders there, and we +were, for a wonder, all on friendly terms. Le-jennabon sat on a fine +mat in the big room, and in a sweetly dignified manner received the +wedding-gifts. One of our number, Charlie de Buis, though in a state of +chronic poverty, induced by steadfast adherence to square gin at five +dollars a case, made his offerings--a gold locket covering a woman's +miniature, a heavy gold ring, and a pair of fat, cross-bred Muscovy +ducks. The bride accepted them with a smile. + +"Who is this?" she asked, looking at the portrait--"your white wife?" +"No," replied the bashful Charles, "another man's. That's why I give it +away, curse her! But the ducks I bred myself on Madurocaron." + +* * * * * + +A month or two passed. Then, on one Sunday afternoon, about dusk, I saw +Ned's whale-boat coming over across the lagoon. I met him on the beach. +Trouble was in his face, yet his hard, impassive features were such +that only those who knew him well could discover it. Instead of +entering the house, he silently motioned me to come further along the +sand, where we reached an open spot clear of coco palms. Ned sat down +and filled his pipe. I waited patiently. The wind had died away, and +the soft swish and swirl of the tide as the ripples lapped the beach +was the only sound that broke upon the silence of the night. + +* * * * * + +"You were right. But it doesn't matter now ..." He laughed softly. "A +week ago a canoe-party arrived from Ebon. There were two chiefs. Of +course they came to my house to trade. They had plenty of money. There +were about a hundred natives belonging to them. The younger man was +chief of Likieb--a flash buck. The first day he saw Le-jennabon he had +a lot too much to say to her. I watched him. Next morning my +toddy-cutter came and told me that the flash young chief from Likieb +had stuck him up and drank my toddy, and had said something about my +wife--you know how they talk in parables when they mean mischief. I +would have shot him for the toddy racket, but I was waitin' for a +better reason.... The old hag who bosses my cook-shed said to me as +she passed, 'Go and listen to a song of cunning over there'--pointing +to a clump of bread-fruit trees. I walked over--quietly. Le-jennabon +and her girls were sitting down on mats. Outside the fence was a lad +singing this--in a low voice-- + + "'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers.' + + +"Le-jennabon and the girls bent their heads and said nothing. Then the +devil's imp commenced again-- + + "'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers.' + + +"Some of the girls laughed and whispered to Le-jennabon. She shook her +head, and looked around timorously. Plain enough, wasn't it? Presently +the boy creeps up to the fence, and drops over a wreath of yellow +blossoms. The girls laughed. One of them picked it up, and offered it +to Le-jennabon. She waved it away. Then, again, the cub outside sang +softly-- + + "'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers,' + +"and they all laughed again, and Le-jennabon put the wreath on her head, +and I saw the brown hide of the boy disappear among the trees." + +* * * * * + +I went back to the house. I wanted to make certain she would follow the +boy first. After a few minutes some of Le-jennabon's women came to me, +and said they were going to the weather side of the island--it's narrer +across, as you know--to pick flowers. I said all right, to go, as I was +going to do something else, so couldn't come with them. Then I went to +the trade-room and got what I wanted. The old cook-hag showed me the +way they had gone, and grinned when she saw what I had slid down inside +my pyjamas. I cut round and got to the place. I had a right good idea +where it was. + +* * * * * + +"The girls soon came along the path, and then stopped and talked to +Le-jennabon and pointed to a clump of bread-fruit trees standing in an +arrow-root patch. She seemed frightened--but went. Half-way through she +stopped, and then I saw my beauty raise his head from the ground and +march over to her. I jest giv' him time ter enjoy a smile, and then I +stepped out and toppled him over. Right through his carcase--them +Sharp's rifle make a hole you could put your fist into. + +"The girl dropped too--sheer funk. Old Lebauro, the cook, slid through +the trees and stood over him, and said, 'U, GUK! He's a fine-made man,' +and gave me her knife; and then I collared Le-jennabon, and----" + +"For God's sake, Ned, don't tell me you killed her too!" + +He shook his head slowly. + +"No, I couldn't hurt HER. But I held her with one hand, she feeling +dead and cold, like a wet deck-swab; then the old cook-woman undid my +flash man's long hair, and, twining her skinny old claws in it, pulled +it taut, while I sawed at the chap's neck with my right hand. The knife +was heavy and sharp, and I soon got the job through. Then I gave the +thing to Le-jennabon to carry. + +* * * * * + +"I made her walk in front of me. Every time she dropped the head I +slewed her round and made her lift it up again. And the old cook-devil +trotted astern o' us. When we came close to the town, I says to +Le-jennabon: + +"'Do you want to live?' + +"'Yes,' says she, in a voice like a whisper. + +"'Then sing,' says I, 'sing loud-- + + "'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers,' + + +And she sang it in a choky kind of quaver. + +"There was a great rush o' people ter see the procession. They stood in +a line on both sides of the path, and stared and said nothin'. + +"Presently we comes to where all the Likieb chief's people was +quartered. They knew the head and ran back for their rifles, but my +crowd in the village was too strong, and, o' course, sided with me, and +took away their guns. Then the crowd gathers round my place, and I +makes Le-jennabon hold up the head and sing again--sing that devil's +chant. + +"'Listen,' I says to the people, 'listen to my wife singing a love +song.' Then I takes the thing, wet and bloody, and slings it into the +middle of the Likieb people, and gave Le-jennabon a shove and sent her +inside." + +* * * * * + +I was thinking what would be the best thing to say, and could only +manage "It's a bad business, Ned." + +"Bad! That's where you're wrong," and, rising, Ned brushed the sand off +the legs of his pyjamas. "It's just about the luckiest thing as could +ha' happened. Ye see, it's given Le-jennabon a good idea of what may +happen to her if she ain't mighty correct. An' it's riz me a lot in the +esteem of the people generally as a man who hez business principles." + + + + +A TRULY GREAT MAN + + +A Mid-Pacific Sketch + + +Then the flag of "Bobby" Towns, of Sydney, was still mighty in the +South Seas. The days had not come in which steamers with brass-bound +supercargoes, carrying tin boxes and taking orders like merchants' +bagmen, for goods "to arrive," exploited the Ellice, Kingsmill, and +Gilbert Groups. Bluff-bowed old wave-punchers like the SPEC, the LADY +ALICIA and the E. K. BATESON plunged their clumsy hulls into the +rolling swell of the mid-Pacific, carrying their "trade" of knives, +axes, guns, bad rum, and good tobacco, instead of, as now, white +umbrellas, paper boots and shoes, German sewing-machines and fancy +prints--"zephyrs," the smartly-dressed paper-collared supercargo of +to-day calls them, as he submits a card of patterns to Emilia, the +native teacher's wife, who, as the greatest Lady in the Land, must have +first choice. + +* * * * * + +In those days the sleek native missionary was an unknown quantity in +the Tokelaus and Kingsmills, and the local white trader answered all +requirements. He was generally a rough character--a runaway from some +Australian or American whaler, or a wandering Ishmael, who, for reasons +of his own, preferred living among the intractable, bawling, and +poverty-stricken people of the equatorial Pacific to dreaming away his +days in the monotonously happy valleys of the Society and Marquesas +Groups. + +* * * * * + +Such a man was Probyn, who dwelt on one of the low atolls of the Ellice +Islands. He had landed there one day from a Sydney sperm whaler with a +chest of clothes, a musket or two, and a tierce of twist tobacco; with +him came a savage-eyed, fierce-looking native wife, over whose bared +shoulders and bosom fell long waves of black hair; with her was a child +about five years old. + +The second mate of the whaler, who was in charge of the boat, not +liking the looks of the excited natives who swarmed around the +newcomer, bade him a hurried farewell, and pushed away to the ship, +which lay-to off the passage with her fore-yard aback. Then the +clamorous people pressed more closely around Probyn and his wife, and +assailed them with questions. + +So far neither of them had spoken. Probyn, a tall, wiry, scanty-haired +man, with quiet, deep-set eyes, was standing with one foot on the +tierce of tobacco and his hands in his pockets. His wife glared +defiantly at some two or three score of reddish-brown women who crowded +eagerly around her to stare into her face; holding to the sleeve of her +dress was the child, paralysed into the silence of fright. + +* * * * * + +The deafening babble and frantic gesticulations were perfectly +explicable to Probyn, and he apprehended no danger. The head man of the +village had not yet appeared, and until he came this wild license of +behaviour would continue. At last the natives became silent and parted +to the right and left as Tahori, the head man, his fat body shining +with coconut oil, and carrying an ebony-wood club in his hand, stood in +front of the white man and eyed him up and down. The scrutiny seemed +satisfactory. He stretched out his huge, naked arm, and shook Probyn's +hand, uttering his one word of Samoan--"TALOFA!" [Lit., "My love to you", +the Samoan salutation] and then, in his own dialect, he asked: "What is +your name, and what do you want?" + +"Sam," replied Probyn. And then, in the Tokelau language, which the +wild-eyed people around him fairly understood, "I have come here to +live with you and trade for oil"--and he pointed to the tierce of +tobacco. + +"Where are you from?" + +"From the land called Nukunono, in the Tokelau." + +"Why come here?" + +"Because I killed an enemy there." + +"Good!" grunted the fat man; "there are no twists in thy tongue; but +why did the boat hasten away so quickly?" + +"They were frightened because of the noise. He with the face like a +fowl's talked too much"--and he pointed to a long, hatchet-visaged +native, who had been especially turbulent and vociferous. + +* * * * * + +"Ha!" and the fat, bearded face of Tahori turned from the white man to +him of whom the white man had spoken--"is it thee, Makoi? And so thou +madest the strangers hasten away! That was wrong. Only for thee I had +gone to the ship and gotten many things. Come hither!" + +Then he stooped and picked up one of Probyn's muskets, handed it to the +white man, and silently indicated the tall native with a nod. The other +natives fell back. Niabong, Probyn's wife, set her boy on his feet, put +her hand in her bosom and drew out a key, with which she opened the +chest. She threw back the lid, fixed her black eyes on Probyn, and +waited. + +Probyn, holding the musket in his left hand, mused a moment. Then he +asked: + +"Whose man is he?" + +"Mine," said Tahori; "he is from Oaitupu, and my bondman." + +"Hath he a wife?" + +"Nay; he is poor, and works in my PURAKA [A coarse species of taro (ARUM +ESCULENTUM) growing on the low-lying atolls of the mid-Pacific.] field!" + +"Good," said Probyn, and he motioned to his wife. She dived her hand +into the chest and handed him a tin of powder, then a bullet, a cap, +and some scraps of paper. + +Slowly he loaded the musket, and Tahori, seizing the bondman by his +arm, led him out to the open, and stood by, club in hand, on the alert. + +Probyn knew his reputation depended on the shot. He raised his musket +and fired. The ball passed through the chest of Makoi. Then four men +picked up the body and carried it into a house. + +* * * * * + +Probyn laid down the musket and motioned again to Niabong. She handed +him a hatchet and blunt chisel. Tahori smiled pleasantly, and, drawing +the little boy to him, patted his head. + +Then, at a sign from him, a woman brought Niabong a shell of sweet +toddy. The chief sat cross-legged and watched Probyn opening the tierce +of tobacco. Niabong locked the box again and sat upon it. + +"Who are you?" said Tahori, still caressing the boy, to the white man's +wife. + +"Niabong. But my tongue twists with your talk here. I am of Naura +(Pleasant Island). By-and-by I shall understand it." + +"True. He is a great man, thy man," said the chief, nodding at Probyn. + +"A great man, truly. There is not one thing in the world but he can do +it." + +"E MOE [true]," said the fat man, approvingly; "I can see it. Look you, he +shall be as my brother, and thy child here shall eat of the best in the +land." + +Probyn came over with his two hands filled with sticks of tobacco. + +"Bring a basket," he said. + +A young native girl slid out from the coconut grove at Tahori's +bidding, and stood behind him holding a basket. Probyn counted out into +it two hundred sticks of tobacco. + +"See, Tahori. I am a just man to thee because thou art a just man to +me. Here is the price of him that thou gavest to me." + +Tahori rose and beckoned to the people to return. "Look at this man. He +is a truly great man. His heart groweth from his loins upwards to his +throat. Bring food to my house quickly, that he and his wife and child +may eat. And to-morrow shall every man cut wood for his house, a house +that shall be in length six fathoms, and four in width. Such men as he +come from the gods." + + + + +THE DOCTOR'S WIFE + + +Consanguinity--From A Polynesian Standpoint + + +"Oho!" said Lagisiva, the widow, tossing her hair back over her +shoulders, as she raised the heavy, fluted tappa mallet in her thick, +strong right hand, and dealt the rough cloth a series of quick +strokes--"Oho!" said the dark-faced Lagisiva, looking up at the White +Man, "because I be a woman dost think me a fool? I tell thee I know +some of the customs of the PAPALAGI (the white foreigners). Much wisdom +have ye in many things; but again I tell thee, O friend of my sons, +that in some other things the people of thy nation--ay, of all white +nations, they be as the beasts of the forest--the wild goat and +pig--without reason and without shame. TAH! Has not my eldest son, Tui +Fau, whom the white men call Bob, lived for seven years in Sini +(Sydney), when he returned from those places by New Guinea, where he +was diver? And he has filled my ears with the bad and shameless customs +of the PAPALAGI. ISA! I say again thy women have not the shame of ours. +The heat of desire devoureth chastity even in those of one blood!" + +"In what do they offend, O my mother?" + +"AUE! Life is short; and, behold, this piece of SIAPO [The tappa cloth of +the South Seas, made from the bark of the paper mulberry.] is for +a wedding present, and I must hurry; but yet put down thy gun and +bag, and we shall smoke awhile, and thou shalt feel shame while I tell +of one of the PAPALAGI customs--the marrying of brother and sister!" + +"Nay, mother," said the White Man, "not brother and sister, but only +cousins." + +"ISA! [an expression of contempt]" and the big widow spat scornfully on +the ground, "those are words--words. It is the same; the same is the +blood, the same is the bone. Even in our heathen days we pointed the +finger at one who looked with the eye of love on the daughter of his +father's brother or sister--for such did we let his blood out upon the +sand. And I, old Lagisiva, have seen a white man brought to shame through +this wickedness!" + +"Tell me," said the White Man. + +* * * * * + +"He was a FOMA'I (doctor), and rich, and came here because he desired +to see strange places, and was weary of his life in the land of the +PAPALAGI. So he remained with us, and hunted the wild boar with our +young men, and became strong and hardy, and like unto one of our +people. And then, because he was for ever restless, he sailed away once +and returned in a small ship, and brought back trade and built a store +and a fine house to dwell in. The chief of this town gave him, for +friendship, a piece of land over there by the Vai-ta-milo, and thus did +he become a still greater man. His store was full of rich goods, and he +kept many servants, and at night-time his house was as a blaze of fire, +for the young men and women would go there and sing and dance, and he +had many lovers amongst our young girls. + +"I, old Lagisiva, who am now fat and dull, was one. Oho, he was a man +of plenty! Did a girl but look out between her eyelashes at a piece of +print in the store, lo! it was hers, even though it measured twenty +fathoms in length--and print was a dollar a fathom in those days. So +every girl--even those from parts far off--cast herself in his way, +that he might notice her. And he was generous to all alike--in that +alone was wisdom. + +* * * * * + +"Once or twice every year the ships brought him letters. And he would +count the marks on the paper, and tell us that they came from a woman +of the PAPALAGI--his cousin, as you would call her--whose picture was +hung over his table. She was for ever smiling down upon us, and her +eyes were his eyes, and if he but smiled then were the two alike--alike +as are two children of the same birth. When three years had come and +gone a ship brought him a letter, and that night there were many of us +at his house, men and women, to talk with the people from the ship. +When those had gone away to their sleep, he called to the chief, and +said:-- + +"'In two days, O my friend, I set out for my land again; but to return, +for much do I desire to remain with you always. In six months I shall +be here again. And there is one thing I would speak of. I shall bring +back a white wife, a woman of my own country, whom I have loved for +many years.' + +"Then Tamaali'i, the chief, who was my father's father, and very old, +said, 'She shall be my daughter, and welcome,' and many of us young +girls said also, 'She shall be welcome'--although we felt sorrowful to +lose a lover so good and open-handed. And then did the FOMA'I call to +the old chief and two others, and they entered the store and lighted +lamps, and presently a man went forth into the village, and cried +aloud: 'Come hither, all people, and listen!' So, many hundreds came, +and we all went in and found the floor covered with some of everything +that the white man possessed. And the chief spoke and said: + +"'Behold, my people, this our good friend goeth away to his own country +that he may bring back a wife. And because many young unmarried girls +will say, "Why does he leave us? Are not we as good to look upon as +this other woman?" does he put these presents here on the ground and +these words into my mouth--"Out of his love to you, which must be a +thing that is past and forgotten, the wife that is coming must not know +of some little things--that is PAPALAGI custom.'" + +"And then every girl that had a wish took whatever she fancied, and the +white man charged us to say naught that would arouse the anger of the +wife that was to come. And so he departed. + +* * * * * + +"One hundred and ten fat hogs killed we and roasted whole for the feast +of welcome. I swear it by the Holy Ones of God's Kingdom--one hundred +and ten. And yet this white lily of his never smiled--not even on us +young girls who danced and sang before her, only she clung to his arm, +and, behold, when we drew close to her we saw it was the woman in the +picture--his sister! + +"And then one by one all those that had gathered to do him honour went +away in shame--shame that he should do this, wed his own sister, and +many women said worse of her. But yet the feast--the hogs, and yams, +and taro, and fish, and fowls--was brought and placed by his doorstep, +but no one spake, and at night-time he was alone with his wife, till he +sent for the old chief, and reproached him with bitter words for the +coldness of the people, and asked: 'Why is this?' + +* * * * * + +"And the old man pointed to the picture over the table, and said: 'Is +this she--thy wife?' + +"'Ay,' said the White Man. + +"'Is she not of the same blood as thyself?' + +"'Even so,' said he. + +"'Then shalt thou live alone in thy shame,' said the old man; and he +went away. + +"So, for many months, these two lived. He found some to work for him, +and some young girls to tend his sister, whom he called his wife, +whilst she lay ill with her first child. And the day after it was born, +some one whispered: 'He is accursed! the child cries not--it is dumb.' +For a week it lived, yet never did it cry, for the curse of wickedness +was upon it. Then the white man nursed her tenderly, and took her away +to live in Fiji for six months. When they came back it was the same--no +one cared to go inside his house, and he cursed us, and said he would +bring men from Tokelau to work for him. We said naught. Then in time +another child was born, and it was hideous to look upon, and that also +died. + +* * * * * + +"Now, there was a girl amongst us whose name was Suni, to whom the +white woman spoke much, for she was learning our tongue, and Suni, by +reason of the white woman's many presents, spoke openly to her, and +told her of the village talk. Then the white woman wept, and arose and +spoke to the man for a long while. And she came back to Suni, and said: +'What thou hast told me was in my own heart three years ago; yet, +because it is the custom of my people, I married this man, who is the +son of my father's brother. But now I shall go away.' Then the white +man came out and beat Suni with a stick. But yet was his sister, whom +he called his wife, eaten up with shame, and when a ship came they went +away, and we saw her not again. For about two years we heard no more of +our white man, till he returned and said the woman was dead. And he +took Suni for wife, who bore him three children, and then they went +away to some other country--I know not where. + +* * * * * + +"I thank thee many, many times, O friend of my sons. Four children of +mine here live in this village, yet not a one of them ever asketh me +when I last smoked. May God walk with thee always for this stick of +tobacco." + + + + +THE FATE OF THE ALIDA + + +Three years ago, in an Australian paper, I read something that set me +thinking of Taplin--of Taplin and his wife, and the fate of the ALIDA. +This is what I read:-- + +"News has reached Tahiti that a steamer had arrived at Toulon with two +noted prisoners on board. These men, who are brothers named Rorique, +long ago left Tahiti on an island-trading trip, and when the vessel got +to sea they murdered the captain, a passenger, the supercargo (Mr +Gibson, of Sydney), and two sailors, and threw their bodies overboard. +The movers in the affair were arrested at Ponape, in the Caroline +Islands. The vessel belonged to a Tahitian prince, and was called the +NUROAHITI, but its name had been changed after the tragedy. The accused +persons were sent to Manilla. From Manilla they appear now to have been +sent on to France." + +[NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.--The brothers Rorique were sentenced to imprisonment +for life at Brest in 1895.] + +In the year 1872 we were lying inside Funafuti Lagoon, in the Ellice +Group. The last cask of oil had been towed off to the brig and placed +under hatches, and we were to sail in the morning for our usual cruise +among the Gilbert and Kingsmill Islands. + +Our captain, a white trader from the shore, and myself, were sitting on +deck "yarning" and smoking. We lay about a quarter of a mile from the +beach--such a beach, white as the driven snow, and sweeping in a great +curve for five long miles to the north and a lesser distance to the +south and west. Right abreast of the brig, nestling like huge birds' +nests in the shade of groves of coconut and bread-fruit trees, were the +houses of the principal village in Funafuti. + +Presently the skipper picked up his glasses that lay beside him on the +skylight, and looked away down to leeward, where the white sails of a +schooner beating up to the anchorage were outlined against the line of +palms that fringed the beach of Funafala--the westernmost island that +forms one of the chain enclosing Funafuti Lagoon. + +"It's Taplin's schooner, right enough," he said. "Let us go ashore and +give him and his pretty wife a hand to pack up." + +* * * * * + +Taplin was the name of the only other white trader on Funafuti besides +old Tom Humphreys, our own man. He had been two years on the island, +and was trading in opposition to our trader, as agent for a foreign +house--our owners were Sydney people--but his firm's unscrupulous +method of doing business had disgusted him. So one day he told the +supercargo of their vessel that he would trade for them no longer than +the exact time he had agreed upon--two years. He had come to Funafuti +from the Pelews, and was now awaiting the return of his firm's vessel +to take him back there again. Getting into our boat we were pulled +ashore and landed on the beach in front of the trader's house. + +"Well, Taplin, here's your schooner at last," said old Tom, as we shook +hands and seated ourselves in the comfortable, pleasant-looking room. +"I see you're getting ready to go." + +Taplin was a man of about thirty or so, with a quiet, impassive face, +and dark, deep-set eyes that gave to his features a somewhat gloomy +look, except when he smiled, which was not often. Men with that +curious, far-off look in their eyes are not uncommon among the lonely +islands of the wide Pacific. Sometimes it comes to a man with long, +long years of wandering to and fro; and you will see it deepen when, by +some idle, chance word, you move the memories of a forgotten past--ere +he had even dreamed of the existence of the South Sea Islands and for +ever dissevered himself from all links and associations of the outside +world. + +* * * * * + +"Yes," he answered, "I am nearly ready. I saw the schooner at daylight, +and knew it was the ALIDA." + +"Where do you think of going to, Taplin?" I asked. + +"Back to the Carolines. Nerida belongs down that way, you know; and she +is fretting to get back again--otherwise I wouldn't leave this island. +I've done pretty well here, although the people I trade for are--well, +you know what they are." + +"Aye," assented old Humphreys, "there isn't one of 'em but what is the +two ends and bight of a--scoundrel; and that supercargo with the yaller +moustache and womany hands is the worst of the lot. I wonder if he's +aboard this trip? I don't let him inside my house; I've got too many +daughters, and they all think him a fine man." + +* * * * * + +Nerida, Taplin's wife, came out to us from an inner room. She was a +native of one of the Pelew Islands, a tall, slenderly-built girl, with +pale, olive skin and big, soft eyes. A flowing gown of yellow +muslin--the favourite colour of the Portuguese-blooded natives of the +Pelews--buttoned high up to her throat, draped her graceful figure. +After putting her little hand in ours, and greeting us in the Funafuti +dialect, she went over to Taplin, and touching his arm, pointed out the +schooner that was now only a mile or so away, and a smile parted her +lips, and the star-like eyes glowed and filled with a tender light. + +I felt Captain Warren touch my arm as he rose and went outside. I +followed. + +* * * * * + +"L----," said Warren, "can't we do something for Taplin ourselves? +Isn't there a station anywhere about Tonga or Wallis Island that would +suit him?" + +"Would he come, Warren? He--or, rather, that pretty wife of his--seems +bent upon going away in the schooner to the Carolines." + +"Aye," said the skipper, "that's it. If it were any other vessel I +wouldn't care." Then suddenly: + +"That fellow Motley (the supercargo) is a damned scoundrel--capable of +any villainy where a woman is concerned. Did you ever hear about old +Raymond's daughter down at Mangareva?" + +I had heard the story very often. By means of a forged letter +purporting to have been written by her father--an old English trader in +the Gambier Group--Motley had lured the beautiful young half-blood away +from a school in San Francisco, and six months afterwards turned her +adrift on the streets of Honolulu. Raymond was a lonely man, and +passionately attached to his only child; so no one wondered when, +reaching California a year after and finding her gone, he shot himself +in his room at an hotel. + +* * * * * + +"I will ask him, anyway," I said; and as we went back into the house +the ALIDA shot past our line of vision through the coco-palms, and +brought up inside the brig. + +"Taplin," I said, "would you care about taking one of our stations to +the eastward? Name any island you fancy, and we will land you there +with the pick of our 'trade' room." + +"Thank you. I would be only too glad, but I cannot. I have promised +Nerida to go back to Babelthouap, or somewhere in the Pelews, and +Motley has promised to land us at Ponape, in the Carolines. We can get +away from there in one of the Dutch firm's vessels." + +"I am very sorry, Taplin----" I began, when old Captain Warren burst in +with--"Look here, Taplin, we haven't got much time to talk. Here's the +ALIDA'S boat coming, with that (blank blank) scoundrel Motley in it. +Take my advice. Don't go away in the ALIDA." And then he looked at +Nerida, and whispered something. + +A red spark shone in Taplin's dark eyes, then he pressed Warren's hand. + +"I know," he answered, "he's a most infernal villain--Nerida hates him +too. But you see how I am fixed. The ALIDA is our only chance of +getting back to the north-west. But he hasn't got old Raymond to deal +with in me. Here they are." + +* * * * * + +Motley came in first, hat and fan in hand. He was a fine-looking man, +with blue eyes and an unusually fair skin for an island supercargo, +with a long, drooping, yellow moustache. Riedermann, the skipper, who +followed, was stout, coarse, red-faced, and brutal. + +"How are you, gentlemen?" said Motley affably, turning from Taplin and +his wife, and advancing towards us. "Captain Riedermann and I saw the +spars of your brig showing up over the coconuts yesterday, and +therefore knew we should have the pleasure of meeting you." + +Warren looked steadily at him for a moment, and then glanced at his +outstretched hand. + +"The pleasure isn't mutual, blarst you, Mr Motley," he said coldly, and +he put his hand in his pocket. + +The supercargo took a step nearer to him with a savage glare in his +blue eyes. "What do you mean by this, Captain Warren?" + +"Mean?" and the imperturbable Warren seated himself on a corner of the +table, and gazed stolidly first at the handsome Motley and then at the +heavy, vicious features of Riedermann. "Oh, anything you like. Perhaps +it's because it's not pleasant to see white men landing at a quiet +island like this with revolvers slung to their waists under their +pyjamas; looks a bit too much like Bully Hayes' style for me," and then +his tone of cool banter suddenly changed to that of studied insolence. +"I say, Motley, I was talking about you just now to Taplin AND Nerida. +Do you want to know what I was saying? Perhaps I had better tell you. I +was talking about Tita Raymond--and yourself." + +* * * * * + +Motley put his right hand under his pyjama jacket, but Taplin sprang +forward, seized his wrist in a grip of iron, and drew him aside. + +"The man who draws a pistol in my house, Mr Motley, does a foolish +thing," he said, in quiet, contemptuous tones, as he threw the +supercargo's revolver into a corner. + +With set teeth and clenched hands Motley flung himself into a chair, +unable to speak. + +Warren, still seated on the table, swung his foot nonchalantly to and +fro, and then began at Riedermann. + +"Why, how's this, Captain Riedermann? Don't you back up your +supercargo's little quarrels, or have you left your pistol on board? +Ah, no, you haven't. I can see it there right enough. Modesty forbids +you putting a bullet into a man in the presence of a lady, eh?" Then +slewing round again, he addressed Motley: "By God! sir, it is well for +you that we are in a white man's house, and that that man is my friend +and took away that pistol from your treacherous hand. If you had fired +at me I would have booted you from one end of Funafuti beach to the +other--and I've a damned good mind to do it now, but won't, as Taplin +has to do some business with you." + +"That will do, Warren," I said. "We don't want to make a scene in +Taplin's house. Let us go away and allow him to finish his business." + +Still glaring angrily at Riedermann and Motley, Warren got down slowly +from the table. Then we bade Taplin and Nerida good-bye and went +aboard. + +At daylight we saw Taplin and his wife go off in the ALIDA'S boat. They +waved their hands to us in farewell as the boat pulled past the brig, +and then the schooner hove-up anchor, and with all sail set, stood away +down to the north-west passage of the lagoon. + +A year or so afterward we were on a trading voyage to the islands of +the Tubuai Group, and were lying becalmed, in company with a New +Bedford whaler. Her skipper came on board the brig, and we started +talking of Taplin, whom the whale-ship captain knew. + +"Didn't you hear?" he said. "The ALIDA never showed up again. 'Turned +turtle,' I suppose, somewhere in the islands, like all those slashing, +over-masted, 'Frisco-built schooners do, sooner or later." + +"Poor Taplin," said Warren, "I thought somehow we would never see him +again." + +* * * * * + +Five years had passed. Honest old Warren, fiery-tempered and +true-hearted, had long since died of fever in the Solomons, and I was +supercargo with a smart young American skipper in the brigantine +PALESTINE, when we one day sailed along the weather-side of a tiny +little atoll in the Caroline Islands. + +The PALESTINE was leaking, and Packenham, tempted by the easy passage +into the beautiful lagoon, decided to run inside and discharge our +cargo of copra to get at the leak. + +The island had but very few inhabitants--perhaps ten or twelve men and +double that number of women and children. No ship, they told us, had +ever entered the lagoon but Bully Hayes' brig, and that was nine years +before. There was nothing on the island to tempt a trading vessel, and +even the sperm whalers, as they lumbered lazily past from Strong's +Island to Guam, would not bother to lower a boat and "dicker" for +pearl-shell or turtle. + +At the time of Hayes' visit the people were in sore straits, and on the +brink of actual starvation, for although there were fish and turtle in +plenty, they had not the strength to catch them. A few months before, a +cyclone had destroyed nearly all the coconut trees, and an epidemic +followed it, and carried off half the scanty population. + +* * * * * + +The jaunty sea-rover--than whom a kinder-hearted man to NATIVES never +sailed the South Seas--took pity on the survivors, especially the +youngest and prettiest girls, and gave them a passage in the famous +LEONORA to another island where food was plentiful. There they remained +for some years, till the inevitable MAL DU PAYS that is inborn to every +Polynesian and Micronesian, became too strong to be resisted; and so +one day a wandering sperm whaler brought them back again. + +But in their absence strangers had come to the island. As the people +landed from the boats of the whale-ship, two brown men, a woman, and a +child, came out of one of the houses, and gazed at them. Then they fled +to the farthest end of the island and hid. + +Some weeks passed before the returned islanders found out the retreat +of the strangers, who were armed with rifles, and called them to "come +out and be friends." They did so, and by some subtle treachery the two +men were killed during the night. + +The woman, who was young and handsome, was spared, and, from what we +could learn, had been well treated ever since. + +"Where did the strangers come from?" we asked. + +That they could not tell us. But the woman had since told them that the +ship had anchored in the lagoon because she was leaking badly, and that +the captain and crew were trying to stop the leak when she began to +heel over, and they had barely time to save a few things when she sank. +In a few days the captain and crew left the island in the boat, and, +rather than face the dangers of a long voyage in such a small boat, the +two natives and the woman elected to remain on the island. + +"That's a mighty fishy yarn," said Packenham to me. "I daresay these +fellows have been doing a little cutting-off business. But then I don't +know of any missing vessel. We'll go ashore to-morrow and have a look +round." + +A little after sunset the skipper and I were leaning over the rail, +watching the figures of the natives, as they moved to and fro in the +glare of the fires lighted here and there along the beach. + +"Hallo!" said Packenham, "here's a canoe coming, with only a woman in +it. By thunder! she's travelling, too, and coming straight for the +ship." + +A few minutes more and the canoe was alongside. The woman hastily +picked up a little girl that was sitting in the bottom, looked up, and +called out in English-- + +"Take my little girl, please." + +A native sailor leant over the bulwarks and lifted up the child, and +the woman clambered after her. Then, seizing the child from the sailor, +she flew along the deck and into the cabin. + +She was standing facing us as we followed and entered, holding the +child tightly to her bosom. The soft light of the cabin lamp fell full +upon her features, and we saw that she was very young, and seemed +wildly excited. + +"Who are you?" we said, when she advanced, put out a trembling hand to +us, and said: "Don't you know me, Mr Supercargo? I am Nerida, Taplin's +wife." Then she sank on a seat and sobbed violently. + +* * * * * + +We waited till she regained her composure somewhat, and then I said: +"Nerida, where is Taplin?" + +"Dead," she said in a voice scarce above a whisper; "only us two are +left--I and little Teresa." + +Packenham held out his hands to the child. With wondering, timid eyes, +she came, and for a moment or two looked doubtingly upwards into the +brown, handsome face of the skipper, and then nestled beside him. + +For a minute or so the ticking of the cabin clock broke the silence, +ere I ventured to ask the one question uppermost in my mind. + +"Nerida, how and where did Taplin die?" + +"My husband was murdered at sea," she said and then she covered her +face with her hands. + +"Don't ask her any more now," said Packenham pityingly; "let her tell +us to-morrow." + +She raised her face. "Yes, I will tell you to-morrow. You will take me +away with you, will you not, gentlemen--for my child's sake?" + +"Of course," said the captain promptly. And he stretched out his honest +hand to her. + +* * * * * + +"She's a wonderfully pretty woman," said Packenham, as we walked the +poop later on, and he glanced down through the open skylight to where +she and the child slept peacefully on the cushioned transoms. "How +prettily she speaks English, too. Do you think she was fond of her +husband, or was it merely excitement that made her cry?--native women +are as prone to be as hysterical as our own when under any violent +emotion." + +"I can only tell you, Packenham, that when I saw her last, five years +ago, she was a graceful girl of eighteen, and as full of happiness as a +bird is of song. She looks thirty now, and her face is thin and +drawn--but I don't say all for love of Taplin." + +"That will all wear off by and by," said the skipper confidently. + +"Yes," I thought, "and she won't be a widow long." + +* * * * * + +Next morning Nerida had an hour or two among the prints and muslin in +the trade-room, and there was something of the old beauty about her +when she sat down to breakfast with us. We were to sail at noon. The +leak had been stopped, and Packenham was in high good-humour. + +"Nerida," I inquired unthinkingly, "do you know what became of the +ALIDA? She never turned up again." + +"Yes," she answered; "she is here, at the bottom of the lagoon. Will +you come and look at her?" + +After breakfast we lowered the dingy, the captain and I pulling. Nerida +steered us out to the north end of the lagoon till we reached a spot +where the water suddenly deepened. It was, in fact, a deep pool, some +three or four hundred feet in diameter, closed in by a continuous wall +of coral rock, the top of which, even at low water, would be perhaps +two or three fathoms under the surface. + +She held up her hands for us to back water, then she gazed over the +side into the water. + +"Look," she said, "there lies the ALIDA." + +* * * * * + +We bent over the side of the boat. The waters of the lagoon were as +smooth as glass and as clear. We saw two slender rounded columns that +seemed to shoot up in a slanting direction from out the vague, blue +depths beneath, to within four or five fathoms of the surface of the +water. Swarms of gorgeously-hued fish swam and circled in and about the +masses of scarlet and golden weed that clothed the columns from their +tops downward, and swayed gently to and fro as they glided in and out. + +A hawk-bill turtle, huge, black, and misshapen, slid out from beneath +the dark ledge of the reef, and swam slowly across the pool, and then, +between the masts, sank to the bottom. + +"'Twas six years ago," said Nerida, as we raised our heads. + +That night, as the PALESTINE sped noiselessly before the trade wind to +the westward she told me, in the old Funafuti tongue, the tragedy of +the ALIDA. + +* * * * * + +"The schooner," she said, "sailed very quickly, for on the fifteenth +day out from Funafuti we saw the far-off peaks of Strong's Island. I +was glad, for Kusaie is not many days' sail from Ponape--and I hated to +be on the ship. The man with the blue eyes filled me with fear when he +looked at me; and he and the captain and mate were for ever talking +amongst themselves in whispers. + +"There were five native sailors on board--two were countrymen of mine, +and three were Tafitos [Natives of the Gilbert Islands]. + +"One night we were close to a little island called Mokil [Duperrey's +Island], and Taplin and I were awakened by a loud cry on deck; my two +countrymen were calling on him to help them. He sprang on deck, pistol +in hand, and, behold! the schooner was laid to the wind with the land +close to, and the boat alongside, and the three white men were binding +my country-men with ropes, because they would not get into the boat. + +"'Help us, O friend!' they called to my husband in their own tongue; +'the white men say that if we go not ashore here at Mokil they will +kill us. Help us--for they mean evil to thee and Nerida. He with the +yellow moustache wants her for his wife.' + +"There were quick, fierce words, and then my husband struck Motley on +the head with his pistol and felled him, and then pointed it at the +mate and the captain, and made them untie the men, and called to the +two Tafito sailors who were in the boat to let her tow astern till +morning. + +"His face was white with the rage that burned in him, and all that +night he walked to and fro and let me sleep on the deck near him. + +"'To-morrow,' he said, 'I will make this captain land us on Mokil;' it +was for that he would not let the sailors come up from the boat. + +"At dawn I slept soundly. Then I awoke with a cry of fear, for I heard +a shot, and then a groan, and my husband fell across me, and the blood +poured out of his mouth and ran down my arms and neck. I struggled to +rise, and he tried to draw his pistol, but the man with yellow hair and +blue eyes, who stood over him, stabbed him twice in the back. Then the +captain and mate seized him by the arms and lifted him up. As his head +fell back I saw there was blood streaming from a hole in his chest." + +She ceased, and leant her cheek against the face of the little girl, +who looked in childish wonder at the tears that streamed down her +mother's face. + +* * * * * + +"They cast him over into the sea with life yet in him, and ere he sank, +Motley (that devil with the blue eyes) stood with one foot on the rail +and fired another shot, and laughed when he saw the bullet strike. Then +he and the other two talked. + +"'Let us finish these Pelew men, ere mischief come of it,' said +Riedermann, the captain. + +"But the others dissuaded him. There was time enough, they said, to +kill them. And if they killed them now, there would be but three +sailors to work the ship. And Motley looked at me and laughed, and said +he, for one, would do no sailor's work yet awhile. + +"Then they all trooped below, and took me with them--me, with my +husband's blood not yet dried on my hands and bosom. They made me get +liquor for them to drink, and they drank and laughed, and Motley put +his bloodied hand around my waist and kissed me, and the others laughed +still more. + +"In a little while Riedermann and the mate were so drunken that no +words came from them, and they fell on the cabin floor. Then Motley, +who could stand, but staggered as he walked, came and sat beside me and +kissed me again, and said he had always loved me; but I pointed to the +blood of my husband that stained my skin and clotted my hair together, +and besought him to first let me wash it away. + +"'Wash it there,' he said, and pointed to his cabin. + +"'Nay,' said I, 'see my hair. Let me then go on deck, and I can pour +water over my head.' + +"But he held my hand tightly as we came up, and my heart died within +me; for it was in my mind to spring overboard and follow my husband. + +"He called to one of the Tafito men to bring water, but none came; for +they, too, were drunken with liquor they had stolen from the hold, +where there was plenty in red cases and white cases--gin and brandy. +"But my two countrymen were sober; one of them steered the ship, and +the other stood beside him with an axe in his hand, for they feared the +Tafito men, who are devils when they drink grog. + +"'Get some water,' said Motley, to Juan--he who held the axe; and as he +brought it, he said, 'How is it, tattooed dog, that thou art so slow to +move?' and he struck him in the teeth, and as he struck he fell. + +"Ah! that was my time! Ere he could rise I sprang at him, and Juan +raised the axe and struck off his right foot; and then Liro, the man +who steered, handed me his knife. It was a sharp knife, and I stabbed +him, even as he had stabbed my husband, till my arm was tired, and all +my hate of him had died away in my heart. + +* * * * * + +"There was quick work then. My two countrymen went below into the cabin +and took Motley's pistol from the table; ... then I heard two shots. + +"GUK! He was a fat, heavy man, that Riedermann, the captain; the three +of us could scarce drag him up on deck and cast him over the side, with +the other two. + +"Then Juan and Liro talked, and said: 'Now for these Tafito men; they, +too, must die.' They brought up rifles, and went to the forepart of the +schooner, where the Tafito men lay in a drunken sleep, and shot them +dead. + +"In two more days we saw land--the island we have left but now, and +because that there were no people living there--only empty houses could +we see--Juan and Liro sailed the schooner into the lagoon. + +"We took such things on shore as we needed, and then Juan and Liro cut +away the topmasts and towed the schooner to the deep pool, where they +made holes in her, so that she sank, away out of the sight of men. + +* * * * * + +"Juan and Liro were kind to me, and when my child was born, five months +after we landed, they cared for me tenderly, so that I soon became +strong and well. + +"Only two ships did we ever see, but they passed far-off like clouds +upon the sea-rim; and we thought to live and die there by ourselves. +Then there came a ship, bringing back the people who had once lived +there. They killed Juan and Liro, but let me and the child live. The +rest I have told you.... How is this captain named? ... He is a +handsome man, and I like him." + +* * * * * + +We landed Nerida at Yap, in the Western Carolines. A year afterwards, +when I left the PALESTINE, I heard that Packenham had given up the sea, +was trading in the Pelew Group, and was permanently married, and that +his wife was the only survivor of the ill-fated ALIDA. + + + + +THE CHILEAN BLUEJACKET + + +A Tale Of Easter Island + + +Alone, in the most solitary part of the Eastern Pacific, midway between +the earthquake-shaken littoral of Chili and Peru, and the thousand +palm-clad islets of the Low Archipelago, lies an island of the days +"when the world was young." By the lithe-limbed, soft-eyed descendants +of the forgotten and mysterious race that once quickened the land, this +lonely outlier of the isles of the Southern Seas is called in their +soft tongue Rapanui, or the Great Rapa. + +* * * * * + +A hundred and seventy years ago Roggewein, on the dawn of an Easter +Sunday, discerned through the misty, tropic haze the grey outlines of +an island under his lee beam, and sailed down upon it. + +He landed, and even as the grim and hardy old navigator gazed upon and +wondered at the mysteries of the strange island, so this day do the +cunning men of science, who, perhaps once in thirty years, go thither +in the vain effort to read the secret of an all-but-perished race. And +they can tell us but vaguely that the stupendous existing evidences of +past glories are of immense and untold age, and show their designers to +have been coeval with the builders of the buried cities of Mexico and +Peru; beyond that, they can tell us nothing. + +Who can solve the problem? What manner of an island king was he who +ruled the builders of the great terraced platforms of stone, the +carvers of the huge blocks of lava, the hewers-out with rudest tools of +the Sphinx-like images of trachyte, whose square, massive, and +disdainful faces have for unnumbered centuries gazed upwards and +outwards over the rolling, sailless swell of the mid-Pacific? + +* * * * * + +And the people of Rapa-nui of to-day? you may ask. Search the whole +Pacific--from Pylstaart, the southern sentinel of the Friendlies, to +the one-time buccaneer-haunted, far-away Pelews; thence eastward +through the white-beached coral atolls of the Carolines and Marshalls, +and southwards to the cloud-capped Marquesas and the sandy stretches of +the Paumotu--and you will find no handsomer men or more graceful women +than the light-skinned people of Rapa-nui. + +* * * * * + +Yet are they but the survivors of a race doomed--doomed from the day +that Roggewein in his clumsy, high-pooped frigate first saw their land, +and marvelled at the imperishable relics of a dead greatness. With +smiling faces they welcomed him--a stranger from an unknown, outside +world, with cutlass at waist and pistol in hand--as a god; he left them +a legacy of civilisation--a hideous and cruel disease that swept +through the amiable and unsuspicious race as an epidemic, and slew its +thousands, and scaled with the hand of Death and Silence the eager life +that had then filled the square houses of lava in many a town from the +wave-beaten cliffs of Terano Kau to Ounipu in the west. + +* * * * * + +Ask of the people now, "Whence came ye? and whose were the hands that +fashioned these mighty images and carved upon these stones?" and in +their simple manner they will answer, "From Rapa, under the setting +sun, came our fathers; and we were then a great people, even as the +ONEONE [sand] of the beach.... Our Great King was it, he whose name is +forgotten by us, that caused these temples and cemeteries and terraces to +be built; and it was in his time that the forgotten fathers of our fathers +carved from out of the stone of the quarries of Terano Kau the great +Silent Faces that gaze for ever upward to the sky.... AI-A-AH! ... +But it was long ago.... Ah! a great people were we then in those +days, and the wild people to the West called us TE TAGATA TE PITO HENUA +(the people who live at the end of the world) .... and we know no +more." + +And here the knowledge and traditions of a broken people begin and end. + +* * * * * + +I + +A soft, cool morning in November, 187-. Between Ducie and Pitcairn +Islands two American whale-ships cruise lazily along to the gentle +breath of the south-east trades, when the look-out from both vessels +see a third sail bearing down upon them. In a few hours she is close +enough to be recognised as one of the luckiest sperm whalers of the +fleet--the brig POCAHONTAS, of Martha's Vineyard. + +Within a quarter of mile of the two ships--the NASSAU and the +DAGGET--the newcomer backs her foreyard and hauls up her mainsail. A +cheer rises from the ships. She wants to "gam," I.E. to gossip. With +eager hands four boats are lowered from the two ships, and the captains +and second mates of each are soon racing for the POCAHONTAS. + +* * * * * + +The skipper of the brig, after shaking hands with his visitors and +making the usual inquiries as to their luck, number of days out from +New Bedford, etc., led the way to his cabin, and, calling his +Portuguese steward, had liquor and a box of cigars brought out. The +captain of the POCAHONTAS was a little, withered-up old man with sharp, +deep-set eyes of brightest blue, and had the reputation of possessing +the most fiery and excitable temper of any of the captains of the sixty +or seventy American whale-ships that in those days cruised the Pacific +from the West Coast of South America to Gaum in the Ladrones. + +After drinking some of his potent New England rum with his visitors, +and having answered all their queries, the master of the POCAHONTAS +inquired if they had seen anything of a Chilian man-of-war further to +the eastward. No, they had not. + +* * * * * + +"Then just settle down, gentlemen, for awhile, and I'll tell you one of +the curiousest things that I ever saw or heard of. I've logged +partiklars of the whole business, and when I get to Oahu (Honolulu) I +mean to nar-rate just all I do know to Father Damon of the Honolulu +FRIEND. Thar's nothing like a newspaper fur showin' a man up when he's +been up to any onnatural villainy, and thinks no one will ever know +anything about it. So just take hold and listen." + +The two captains nodded, and he told them this. + +* * * * * + +Ten days previously, when close in to barren and isolated Sala-y-Gomez, +the POCAHONTAS had spoken the Chilian corvette O'HIGGINS, bound from +Easter Island to Valparaiso. The captain of the corvette entertained +the American master courteously, and explained his ship's presence so +far to the eastward, by stating that the Government had instructed him +to call at Easter Island, and pick up an Englishman in the Chilian +service, who had been sent there to examine and report on the colossal +statues and mysterious terraces of that lonely island. The Englishman, +as Commander Gallegos said, was a valued servant of the Republic, and +had for some years served in its Navy as a surgeon on board EL +ALMIRANTE COCHRANE, the flag-ship. He had left Valparaiso in the +whale-ship COMBOY with the intention of remaining three months on the +island. At the end of that time a war vessel was to call and convey him +back to Chili. But in less than two months the Republic was in the +throes of a deadly struggle with Peru--here the commander of the +O'HIGGINS bowed to the American captain, and, pointing to a huge scar +that traversed his bronzed face from temple to chin, said, "in which I +had the honour to receive this, and promotion"--and nearly two years +had elapsed ere the Government had time to think again of the English +scientist and his mission. Peace restored, the O'HIGGINS was ordered to +proceed to the island and bring him back; and as the character of the +natives was not well known, and it was feared he might have been +killed, Commander Gallegos was instructed to execute summary justice +upon the people of the island, if such was the case. + +But, the Chilian officer said, on reaching the island he had found the +natives to be very peaceable and inoffensive, and, although much +alarmed at the appearance of his armed landing party from the corvette, +they had given him a letter from the Englishman, and had satisfied him +that Dr Francis ---- had remained with them for some twelve months +only, and had then left the island in a passing whale-ship, and +Commander Gallegos, making them suitable presents, bade them good-bye, +and steamed away to Valparaiso. + +* * * * * + +This was all the polite little commander had to say, and, after a +farewell glass of wine, his visitor rose to go, when the captain of the +corvette casually inquired if the POCAHONTAS was likely to call at the +island. + +"I ask you," he said in his perfect English, "because one of my ship's +company deserted there. You, senor, may possibly meet with him there. +Yet he is of no value, and he is no sailor, and but a lad. He was very +ill most of the time, and this was his first voyage. I took him ashore +with me in my boat, as he besought me eagerly to do so, and the little +devil ran away and hid, or was hidden by the natives." + +"Why didn't you get him back?" asked the captain of the POCAHONTAS. + +"That was easy enough, but"--and the commander raised his eyebrows and +shrugged his shoulders--"of what use? He was no use to the corvette. +Better for him to stay there, and perhaps recover, than to die on board +the O'HIGGINS and be thrown to the blue sharks. Possibly, senor, you +may find him well, and it may suit you to take him to your good ship, +and teach him the business of catching the whale. My trade is to show +my crew how to fight, and such as he are of no value for that." + +Then the two captains bade each other farewell, and in another hour the +redoubtable O'HIGGINS, with a black trail of smoke streaming astern, +was ten miles away on her course to Valparaiso. + +A week after the POCAHONTAS lay becalmed close in to the lee side of +Rapa-nui, and within sight of the houses of the principal village. The +captain, always ready to get a "green" hand, was thinking of the +chances of his securing the Chilian deserter, and decided to lower a +boat and try. Taking four men with him, he pulled ashore, and landed at +the village of Hagaroa. + +* * * * * + +II + +Some sixty or seventy natives clustered round the boat as she touched +the shore. With smiling faces and outstretched hands they surrounded +the captain, and pressed upon him their simple gifts of ripe bananas +and fish baked in leaves, begging him to first eat a little and then +walk with them to Mataveri, their largest village, distant a mile, +where preparations were being made to welcome him formally. The +skipper, nothing loth, bade his crew not to go too far away in their +rambles, and, accompanied by his boatsteerer, was about to set off with +the natives, when he remembered the object of his visit, and asked a +big, well-made woman, the only native present that could speak English, +"Where is the man you hid from the man-of-war?" + +* * * * * + +There was a dead silence, and for nearly half a minute no one spoke. +The keen blue eyes of the American looked from one face to another +inquiringly, and then settled on the fat, good-natured features of +Varua, the big woman. + +Holding her hands, palms upwards, to the captain, she endeavoured to +speak, and then, to his astonishment, he saw that her dark eyes were +filled with tears. And then, as if moved with some sudden and sorrowful +emotion, a number of other women and young girls, murmuring softly in +pitying tones, "E MATE! E MATE!" ["Dead! Dead!"] came to his side, and +held their hands out to him with the same supplicating gesture. + +The captain was puzzled. For all his island wanderings and cruises he +had no knowledge of any Polynesian dialect, and the tearful muteness of +the fat Varua was still unbroken. At last she placed one hand on his +sleeve, and, pointing land-ward with the other, said, in her gentle +voice, "Come," and taking his hand in hers, she led the way, the rest +of the people following in silence. + +For about half a mile they walked behind the captain and his +boatsteerer and the woman Varua without uttering a word. Presently +Varua stopped, and called out the name of "Taku" in a low voice. + +A fine, handsome native, partly clothed in European sailor's dress, +stepped apart from the others and came to her. + +Turning to the captain, she said, "This is Taku the Sailor. He can +speak a little English and much Spanish. I tell him now to come with +us, for he has a paper." + +Although not understanding the relevancy of her remark, the captain +nodded, and then with gentle insistence Varua and the other women urged +him on, and they again set out. + +* * * * * + +A few minutes more, and they were at the foot of one of the +massive-stoned and ancient PAPAKU, or cemeteries, on the walls of which +were a number of huge images carved from trachyte, and representing the +trunk of the human body. Some of the figures bore on their heads crowns +of red tufa, and the aspect of all was towards the ocean. At the foot +of the wall of the PAPAKU were a number of prone figures, with hands +and arms sculptured in low relief, the outspread fingers clasping the +hips. + +About a cable length from the wall stood two stone houses--memorials of +the olden time--and it was to these that Varua and the two white men, +attended now by women only, directed their steps. + +* * * * * + +The strange, unearthly stillness of the place, the low whispers of the +women, the array of colossal figures with sphinx-like faces set to the +sea, and the unutterable air of sadness that enwrapped the whole scene, +overawed even the unimaginative mind of the rough whaling captain, and +he experienced a curious feeling of relief when his gentle-voiced guide +entered through the open doorway the largest of the two houses, and, in +a whisper, bade him follow. + +* * * * * + +A delightful sense of coolness was his first sensation on entering, and +then with noiseless step the other women followed and seated themselves +on the ground. + +Still clasping his hand, Varua led him to the farther end of the house, +and pointed to a motionless figure that lay on a couch of mats, covered +with a large piece of navy-blue calico. At each side of the couch sat a +young native girl, and their dark, luminous eyes, shining star-like +from out the wealth of black, glossy hair that fell upon their bronzed +shoulders, turned wonderingly upon the stranger who had broken in upon +their watch. + +* * * * * + +Motioning the girls aside, Varua released her hold of the white man's +hand and drew the cloth from off the figure, and the seaman's pitying +glance fell upon the pale, sweet features of a young white girl. + +But for the unmistakable pallid hue of death he thought at first that +she slept. In the thin, delicate hands, crossed upon her bosom, there +was placed, after the manner of those of her faith, a small metal +crucifix. Her hair, silky and jet black, was short like a man's, and +the exquisitely-modelled features, which even the coldness of death had +not robbed of their beauty, showed the Spanish blood that, but a few +hours before, had coursed through her veins. + +Slowly the old seaman drew the covering over the still features, and, +with an unusual emotion stirring his rude nature, he rose, and, +followed by Varua, walked outside and sat upon a broken pillar of lava +that lay under the wall of the PAPAKU. + +* * * * * + +Calling his boatsteerer, he ordered him to return to the beach and go +off to the ship with instructions to the mate to have a coffin made as +quickly as possible and send it ashore; and then, at a glance from +Varua, who smiled a grave approval as she listened to his orders, he +followed her and the man she called Taku into the smaller of the two +houses. + +Round about the inside walls of this ancient dwelling of a forgotten +race were placed a number of seamen's chests made of cedar and camphor +wood--the LARES and PENATES of most Polynesian houses. The gravelled +floor was covered with prettily-ornamented mats of FALA (the +screw-palm). + +Seating herself, with Taku the Sailor, on the mats, Varua motioned the +captain to one of the boxes, and then told him a tale that moved +him--rough, fierce, and tyrannical as was his nature--to the deepest +pity. + +* * * * * + +III + +"It is not yet twenty days since the fighting PAHI AFI (steamer) came +here, and we of Mataveri saw the boat full of armed men land on the +beach at Hagaroa. Filled with fear were we; but yet as we had done no +wrong we stood on the beach to welcome. And, ere the armed men had left +the boat, we knew them to be the SIPANIOLA from Chili--the same as +those that came here ten years ago in three ships, and seized and bound +three hundred and six of our men, and carried them away for slaves to +the land of the Tae Manu, and of whom none but four ever returned to +Rapa-nui. And then we trembled again." + +(She spoke of the cruel outrage of 1862, when three Peruvian +slave-ships took away over three hundred islanders to perish on the +guano-fields of the Chincha Islands). + +"The chief of the ship was a little man, and he called out to us in the +tongue of Chili, 'Have no fear,' and took a little gun from out its +case of skin that hung by his side, and giving it to a man in the boat, +stepped over to us, and took our hands in his. + +"'Is there none among ye that speak my tongue?' he said quickly. + +"Now, this man here, Taku the Sailor, speaketh the tongue of Chili, but +he feared to tell it, lest they might take him away for a sailor; so he +held his lips tight. + +"Then I, who for six years dwelt with English people at Tahiti, was +pushed forward by those behind me and made to talk in English; and lo! +the little man spoke in your tongue even as quick as he did in that of +Chili. And then he told us that he came for Farani [Frank]. + +* * * * * + +"Now this Farani was a young white man of PERETANIA (England), big and +strong. He came to us a year and a half ago. He was rich, and had with +him chests filled with presents for us of Rapa-nui; and he told us that +he came to live a while among us, and look upon the houses of stone and +the Faces of the Silent that gaze out upon the sea. For a year he dwelt +with us and became as one of ourselves, and we loved him; and then, +because no ship came, he began to weary and be sad. At last a +ship--like thine, one that hunts for the whale--came, and Farani called +us together, and placed a letter in the hands of the chief at Mataveri, +and said: 'If it so be that a ship cometh from Chili, give these my +words to the captain, and all will be well.' Then he bade us farewell +and was gone. + +* * * * * + +"All this I said in quick words, and then we gave to the little +fighting chief the letter Farani had written. When he had counted the +words in the letter, he said: 'BUENO, it is well,' and called to his +men, and they brought out many gifts for us from the boat--cloth, and +garments for men and women, and two great bags of canvas filled with +tobacco. AI-A-AH! many presents he gave us--this because of the good +words Farani had set down in the letter. Then the little chief said to +me, 'Let these my men walk where they list, and I will go with thee to +Mataveri and talk with the chief.' + +"So the sailors came out of the boats carrying their guns and swords in +their hands, but the little chief, whose AVAGUTU (moustache) stuck out +on each side of his face like the wings of a flying-fish when it leaps +in terror from the mouth of the hungry bonito, spoke angrily, and they +laid their guns and swords back in the boats. + +"So the sailors went hither and thither with our young men and girls; +and, although at that time I knew it not, she, who now is not, was one +of them, and walked alone. + +"Then I, and Taku the Sailor, and the little sea-chief came to the +houses of Mataveri, and he stayed awhile and spoke good words to us. +And we, although we fear the men of Chili for the wrong they once did +us, were yet glad to listen, for we also are of their faith. + +* * * * * + +"As we talked, there came inside the house a young girl named Temeteri, +whom, when Farani had been with us for two months, he had taken for +wife; and she bore him a son. But from the day that he had sailed away +she became sick with grief; and when, after many months, she told me +that Farani had said he would return to her, my heart was heavy, for I +know the ways of white men with us women of brown skins. Yet I feared +to tell her he lied and would return no more. Now, this girl Temeteri +was sought after by a man named Huarani, the son of Heremai, who +desired to marry her now that Farani had gone, and he urged her to +question the chief of the fighting ship, and ask him if Farani would +return. + +* * * * * + +"So I spoke of Temeteri. He laughed and shook his head, and said: 'Nay, +Farani the Englishman will return no more; but yet one so beautiful as +she,' and he pointed to Temeteri, 'should have many lovers and know no +grief. Let her marry again and forget him, and this is my marriage gift +to her,' and he threw a big golden coin upon the mat on which the girl +sat. + +"She took it in her hand and threw it far out through the doorway with +bitter words, and rose and went away to her child. + +"Then the little captain went back to the boat and called his men to +him, and lo! one was gone. Ah! he was angry, and a great scar that ran +down one side of his face grew red with rage. But soon he laughed, and +said to us: 'See, there be one of my people hidden away from me. Yet he +is but a boy, and sick; and I care not to stay and search for him. Let +him be thy care so that he wanders not away and perishes among the +broken lava; he will be in good hands among the people of Rapa-nui.' +With that he bade us farewell, and in but a little time the great +fighting ship had gone away towards the rising sun. + +* * * * * + +"All that day and the next we searched, but found not him who had +hidden away; but in the night of the second day, when it rained +heavily, and Taku (who is my brother's son) and I and my two children +worked at the making of a KUPEGA (net), he whom we had sought came to +the door. And as we looked our hearts were filled with pity, for, as he +put out his hands to us, he staggered and fell to the ground. + +"So Taku--who is a man of a good heart--and I lifted him up and carried +him to a bed of soft mats, and as I placed my hand on his bosom to see +if he was dead, lo! it was soft as a woman's, and I saw that the +stranger was a young girl! + +"I took from her the wet garments and brought warm clothes of MAMOE +(blankets), and Taku made a great fire, and we rubbed her cold body and +her hands and feet till her life came back to her again, and she sat up +and ate a little beaten-up taro. When the night and the dawn touched +she slept again. + +* * * * * + +"The sun was high when the white girl awoke, and fear leapt into her +eyes when she saw the house filled with people who came to question +Taku and me about the stranger. With them came the girl Temeteri, whose +head was still filled with foolish thoughts of Farani, her white lover. + +"I went to the strange girl, put my arm around her, and spoke, but +though she smiled and answered in a little voice, I understood her not, +for I know none of the tongue of Chili. But yet she leaned her head +against my bosom, and her eyes that were as big and bright as Fetuaho, +the star of the morning, looked up into mine and smiled through their +tears. + +* * * * * + +"There was a creat buzzing of talk among the women. Some came to her +and touched her hands and forehead, and said: 'Let thy trembling cease; +we of Rapa-nui will be kind to the white girl.' + +"And as the people thronged about her and talked, she shook her head +and her eyes sought mine, and hot tears splashed upon my hand. Then the +mother of Temeteri raised her voice and called to Taku the Sailor, and +said: 'O Taku, thou who knowest her tongue, ask her of Farani, my white +son, the husband of my daughter.' + +* * * * * + +"The young girls in the house laughed scornfully at old Pohere, for +some of them had loved Farani, who yet had put them all aside for +Temeteri, whose beauty exceeded theirs; and so they hated her and +laughed at her mother. Then Taku, being pressed by old Pohere, spoke in +the tongue of Chili, but not of Temeteri. + +"Ah! She sprang to her feet and talked then! and the flying words +chased one another from her lips; and these things told she to Taku:-- +She had hidden among the broken lava and watched the little captain +come back to the boat and bid us farewell. Then when night came she had +crept out and gone far over to the great PAPAKU, and lay down to hide +again, for she feared the fighting ship might return to seek her. And +all that day she lay hidden in the lava till night fell upon her again, +and hunger drove her to seek the faces of men. In the rain she all but +perished, till God brought her feet to this, my house. + +"Then said Taku the Sailor: 'Why didst thou flee from the ship?' + +"The white girl put her hands to her face and wept, and said: 'Bring me +my jacket.' + +"I gave to her the blue sailor's jacket, and from inside of it she took +a little flat thing and placed it in her bosom. + +* * * * * + +"Again said old Pohere to Taku: 'O man of slow tongue, ask her of +Farani.' So he asked in this wise: + +"'See, O White Girl, that is Pohere, the mother of Temeteri, who bore a +son to the white man that came here to look upon the Silent Faces; and +because he came from thy land, and because of the heart of Temeteri, +which is dried up for love of him, does this foolish old woman ask thee +if thou hast seen him; for long months ago he left Rapa-nui. In our +tongue we call him Farani.' + +* * * * * + +"The girl looked at Taku the Sailor, and her lips moved, but no words +came. Then from her bosom she took the little flat thing and held it to +him, but sickness was in her hand so that it trembled, and that which +she held fell to the ground. So Taku stooped and picked it up from +where it lay on the mat, and looked, and his eyes blazed, and he +shouted out 'AUE!' for it was the face of Farani that looked into his! +And as he held it up in his hand to the people, they, too, shouted in +wonder; and then the girl Temeteri cast aside those that stood about +her, and tore it from his hand and fled. + +"'Who is she?' said the white girl, in a weak voice to Taku; 'and why +hath she robbed me of that which is dear to me?' and Taku was ashamed, +and turned his face away from her because of two things--his heart was +sore for Temeteri, who is a blood relation, and was shamed because her +white lover had deserted her; and he was full of pity for the white +girl's tears. So he said nought. + +"The girl raised herself, and her hand caught Taku by the arm, and +these were her words: 'O man, for the love of Jesu Christ, tell me what +was this woman Temeteri to my husband?' + +"Now Taku the Sailor was sore troubled, and felt it hard to hurt her +heart, yet he said: 'Was Farani, the Englishman, thy husband?' + +"She wept again, 'He was my husband.' + +"'Why left he one as fair as thee?' said Taku, in wonder. + +"She shook her head. 'I know not, except he loved to look upon strange +lands; yet he loved me.' + +"'He is a bad man,' said Taku. 'He loved others as well as thee. The +girl that fled but now with his picture was wife to him here. He loved +her, and she bore him a son.' + +"The girl's head fell on my shoulder, and her eyes closed, and she +became as dead; and lo! in a little while, as she strove to speak, +blood poured from her mouth and ran down over her bosom. + +"'It is the hand of Death,' said Taku the Sailor. + +* * * * * + +"Where she now lies, there died she, at about the hour when the people +of Vaihou saw the sails of thy ship. + +"We have no priest here, for the good father that was here three years +ago is now silent [i.e. dead]; yet did Taku and I pray with her. And ere +she died she said she would set down some words on paper; so Alrema, my +little daughter, hastened to Mataveri, and the chief sent back some paper +and VAI TUHI (ink) that had belonged to the good priest. So with weak hand +she set down some words, but even as she wrote she rose up and threw out +her hands, and called out: 'Francisco! Francisco!' and fell back, and was +dead." + +* * * * * + +IV + +The captain of the POCAHONTAS dashed the now fast-falling tears from +his eyes, and with his rough old heart swelling with pity for the poor +wanderer, took from Taku the sheet of paper on which the heart-broken +girl's last words were traced. + +Ere he could read it a low murmur of voices outside told him his crew +had returned. They carried a rude wooden shell, and then with bared +heads the captain and boatsteerer entered the house where she lay. + +Again the old man raised the piece of navy blue cloth from off the +sweet, sad face, and a heavy tear dropped down upon her forehead. Then, +aided by the gentle, sympathetic women, his task was soon finished, and +two of his crew entered and carried their burden to its grave. Service +there was none--only the prayers and tears of the brown women of +Rapa-nui. + +* * * * * + +Ere he said farewell the captain of the whale-ship placed money in the +hands of Varua and Taku. They drew back, hurt and mortified. Seeing his +mistake, the seaman desired Varua to give the money to the girl +Temeteri. + +"Nay, sir," said Varua, "she would but give me bitter words. Even when +she who is now silent was not yet cold, Temeteri came to the door of +the house where she lay and spat twice on the ground, and taking up +gravel in her hand cast it at her, and cursed her in the name of our +old heathen gods. And as for money, we here in Rapa-nui need it not. +May Christ protect thee on the sea. Farewell!" + +* * * * * + +The captain of the POCAHONTAS rose and came to the cabin table, and +motioning to his guests to fill their glasses, said-- + +"'Tis a real sad story, gentlemen, and if I should ever run across +Doctor Francis, I should talk some to him. But see here. Here is my +log; my mate, who is a fancy writist, wrote it at my dictation. I can't +show you the letter that the pore creature herself wrote; that I ain't +going to show to any one." + +The two captains rose and stood beside him, and read the entry in the +log of the POCAHONTAS. + +"November 28, 187-. + +This day I landed at Easter Island, to try and obtain as a 'green' hand +a young Chilian seaman who, the captain of the Chilian corvette +O'HIGGINS informed me, had run away there. On landing I was shown the +body of a young girl, whom the natives stated to be the deserter. She +had died that morning. Buried her as decently as circumstances would +permit. From a letter she wrote on the morning of her death I learned +her name to be Senora Teresa T----. Her husband, Dr Francis T----, was +an Englishman in the service of the Chilian Republic. He was sent out +on a scientific mission to the island, and his wife followed him in the +O'HIGGINS disguised as a blue-jacket. I should take her to have been +about nineteen years of age. + + +"SPENCE ELDRIDGE, MASTER. + "MANUAL LEGASPE, 2ND OFFICER. + "Brig POCAHONTAS, of Martha's Vineyard, U.S.A." + + +"Well, that's curious now," said the skipper of the NASSAU; "why, I +knew that man. He left the island in the KING DARIUS, of New Bedford, +and landed at Ponape in the Caroline Group, whar those underground +ruins are at Metalanien Harbour. Guess he wanted to potter around there +a bit. But he got inter some sorter trouble among the natives there, +an' he got shot." + +"Aye," said the captain of the DAGGET, "I remember the affair. I was +mate of the JOSEPHINE, and we were lying at Jakoits Harbour when he was +killed, and now I remember the name too. Waal, he wasn't much account, +anyhow." + +* * * * * + +Ten years ago a wandering white man stood, with Taku the Sailor, at the +base of the wall of the great PAPAKU, and the native pointed out the +last resting-place of the wanderer. There, under the shadow of the +Silent Faces of Stone, the brave and loving heart that dared so much is +at peace for ever. + + + + +BRANTLEY OF VAHITAHI + + +One day a trading vessel lay becalmed off Tatakoto, in the Paumotu +Archipelago, and the captain and supercargo, taking a couple of native +sailors with them, went ashore at dawn to catch some turtle. The turtle +were plentiful and easily caught, and after half a dozen had been put +in the boat, the two white men strolled along the white hard beach. The +captain--old, grizzled, and grim--seemed to know the place well, and +led the way. + +* * * * * + +The island is very narrow, and as they left the beach and gained the +shade of the forest of coconuts that grew to the margin of high-water +mark, they could see, between the tall, stately palms, the placid +waters of the lagoon, and a mile or so across, the inner beach of the +weather side of the island. + +For a quarter of a mile or so the two men walked on till the widest +part of the island was reached. Here, under the shadow of some giant +PUKA trees, the old skipper stopped and sat down on a roughly hewn slab +of coral, the remains of one of those MARAE or heathen temples that are +to be found almost anywhere in the islands of Eastern Polynesia. + +"I knew this place well, once," he said, as he pulled out his pipe. "I +used to come here when I was sailing one of Brander's vessels out of +Tahiti. As we have done now we did then--came here for turtle. No +natives have lived here for the past forty years. Did you ever hear of +Brantley?" + +"Yes," answered the supercargo, "but he died long ago, did he not?" + +"Aye, he died here, and his wife and sister too. They all lie here in +this old MARAE." + +And then he told the story of Brantley. + +* * * * * + +I + +It was six years since Brantley, with his companions in misery, had +drifted ashore at lonely Vahitahi in the Paumotu Group, and the +kindly-hearted people had gazed with pitying horror upon the dreadful +beings that, muttering and gibbering to each other, lay in the bottom +of the boat, and pointed with long talon-like fingers to their burnt +and bloody thirst-tortured lips. + +* * * * * + +And now as he sits in the doorway of his thatched house, and gazes +dreamily out upon the long curve of creamy beach and wind-swayed line +of palms that fringe the leeward side of his island home, Brantley +passes a brown hand slowly up and down his sun-bronzed cheek, and +thinks of the past. + +He was so full of life--of the very joy of living--that time six years +ago when he sailed from Auckland on that fateful voyage in the DORIS. +It was his first voyage as captain, and the ship was his own, and even +now he remembers with a curious time-dulled pang the last words of his +only sister--the Doris after whom he had called his new ship--as she +had kissed him farewell--"I am so glad, Fred, to hear them call you +'Captain Brantley.'" + +And the voyage--the wild feverish desire to make a record passage to +'Frisco and back; the earnest words of poor old white-headed Lutton, +the mate, "not to carry on so at night going through the Paumotu +Group"; that awful midnight crash when the DORIS ran hopelessly into +the wild boil of roaring surf on Tuanake Reef; the white, despairing +faces of five of his men, who, with curses in their eyes upon his +folly, were swept out of sight into the awful blackness of the night. +And then the days in the boat with the six survivors! Ah! the memory of +that will chill his blood to his dying day. Men have had to do that +which he and the two who came through alive with him had done. + +How long they endured that black agony of suffering he knew not. By +common consent none of them ever spoke of it again. + +Three months after they had drifted ashore, a passing sperm whaler, +cruising through the group, took away the two seamen, and then +Brantley, after bidding them a silent farewell, had, with bitter +despair gnawing at his heart, turned his face away from the ship, and +walked back into the palm-shaded village. + +* * * * * + +"I will never go back again," he had said to himself. And perhaps he +was right; for when the DORIS went to pieces on Tuanake his hope and +fortunes went with her, and, save for that other Doris, there was no +one in the world who cared for him. He was not the man to face the +world again with: "Why, he lost his first ship!" whispered among his +acquaintances. + +And this is how Brantley--young, handsome, and as smart a seaman (save +for that one fatal mistake) as ever trod a deck--became Paranili the +PAPALAGI, and was living out his life among the people of solitary +Vahitahi. + +* * * * * + +Ere a year had passed a trading captain bound to the Gambier Islands +had given him a small stock of trade goods, and the thought of Doris +had been his salvation. Only for her he would have sunk to the life of +a mere idle, gin-drinking, and dissolute beach-comber. As it was, his +steady, straightforward life among the people of the island was a big +factor to his business success. And so every year he sent money to +Doris by some passing whaler or Tahitian trading schooner, but twice +only had he got letters from her; and each time she had said: "Let me +come to you, Fred. We are alone in the world, and may never meet again +else. Sometimes I awake in the night with a sudden fear. Let me come; +my heart is breaking with the loneliness of my life here, so far away +from you." + +* * * * * + +But two years ago he had done that which would keep Doris from ever +coming to him, he thought. He had married a young native girl--that is, +taken her to wife in the Paumotuan fashion--and surely Doris, with her +old-fashioned notions of right and wrong, would grieve bitterly if she +knew it. + +Presently he rose, talking to himself as is the wont of those who have +lived long apart from all white associations, and sauntered up and down +the shady path at the side of his dwelling, thinking of Doris, and if +he would ever see her again. Then he entered the house. + +* * * * * + +Seated on the matted floor with her face turned from him was a young +native girl--Luita, his wife. She was making a hat from the bleached +strands of the pandanus leaf, and as she worked she sang softly to +herself in the semi-Tahitian tongue of her people. + +Brantley, lazily stretching himself out on a rough mat-covered couch, +turned towards her, and watched the slender, supple fingers--covered, +in Polynesian fashion, with heavy gold rings--as they deftly drew out +the snow-white strands of the pandanus. The long, glossy, black waves +of hair that fell over her bare back and bosom like a mantle of night +hid her face from his view, and the man let his glance rest in +contented admiration upon the graceful curves of the youthful figure; +then he sighed softly, and again his eyes turned to the wide, sailless +expanse of the Pacific, that lay shimmering and sparkling before him +under a cloudless sky of blue, and he thought again of Doris. + +* * * * * + +Steadily the little hands worked in and out among the snowy strands, +and now and then, as she came to the TARI, or refrain, of the old +Paumotuan love-song, her soft liquid tones would blend with the +quavering treble of children that played outside. + + + "Terunavahori, teeth of pearl, + Knit the sandals for Talaloo's feet, + Sandals of AFA thick and strong, + Bind them well with thy long black hair." + + +Suddenly the song ceased, and with a quick movement of her shoulders +she threw back the cloud of hair that fell around her arms and bosom, +looked up at Brantley and laughed, and, striking the mat on which she +sat with her open palm, said-- + +"HAERE MAI, PARANILI." + +He rose from the couch and stooped beside her, with his hands resting +on his knees, and bending his brow in mock criticism, regarded her +handiwork intently. + +Springing to her feet, hat in hand, and placing her two hands on his +now erect shoulders, she looked into his face--darker far than her +own--and said with a smile-- + +"Behold, Paranili, thy PULOU is finished, save for a band of black +PU'AVA which thou shalt give me from the store." + +"Mine?" said Brantley, in pretended ignorance. "Why labour so for me? +Are there not hats in plenty on Vahitahi?" + +"True, O thankless one! but the women of the village say that thou +lookest upon me as a fool because I can neither make mats nor do many +other things such as becometh a wife. And for this did Merani, my +cousin, teach me how to make a wide hat of FALA to shield thy face from +the sun when thou art out upon the pearling grounds. AI-E-EH! my +husband, but thy face and neck and hands are as dark as those of the +people of Makatea--they who are for ever in their canoes.... See, +Paranili, bend thy head. AI-E-EH! thou art a tall man, my husband," and +she trilled a happy, rippling laugh as she placed the hat on his head. + +He placed one hand around the pliant waist and under the mantle of +hair, and drew her towards him, and then, moved by a sudden emotion, +kissed her soft, red lips. + +"Luita," he asked, "would it hurt thee if I were to go away?" + +The girl drew away from him, and, for the first time in two years +Brantley saw an angry flush tinge her cheek a dusky red. + +* * * * * + +"Ah!"--the contemptuous ring in her voice made the man's eyes +drop--"thou art like all White Men--was there ever one who was +faithful? What other woman is it that thou desirest? Is it Nia of +Ahunui--she who, when thy boat lay anchored in the lagoon, swam off at +night and asked thee for thy love--the shameless Nia?" + +The angry light in the black eyes shone fiercely, and the dull red on +her cheeks had changed to the livid paleness of passion. + +Brantley, holding the rim of the hat over his mouth, laughed secretly, +pleased at her first outburst of jealousy. Then his natural manliness +asserted itself. + +"Come here," he said. + +Somewhat sullenly the girl obeyed and edged up beside him with face +bent down. He put his hand upon hers, and for a few seconds looked at +the delicate tracery of tattooing that, on the back, ran in thin blue +lines from the finger tips to the wrists. + +"What a d----d pity!" he muttered to himself; "this infernal tattooing +would give the poor devil away anywhere in civilization. Her skin is +not as dark as that pretty creole I was so sweet on in Galveston ten +years ago ... Well, she's good enough for a broken man like me--but I +can't take her away--that's certain." + +A heavy tear splashed on his hand, and then he pulled her to him, +almost savagely. + +"See, Luita. I did but ask to try thee. Have no fear. Thy land is mine +for ever." + +The girl looked up, and in an instant her face, wet with tears, was +laid against his breast. Still caressing the dark head that lay upon +his chest, Brantley stooped and whispered something. The little +tattooed hand released its clasp of his arm and struck him a playful +blow. + +"And would that bind thee more to me, and to the ways of these our +people of Vahitahi," she asked, with still buried face. + +"Aye," answered the ex-captain slowly, "for I have none but thee in the +world to care for." + +She turned her face up. "Is there none--not even one woman in far-off +Beretania, whose face comes to thee in the darkness." + +Brantley shook his head sadly. Of course there was Doris, he thought, +but he had never spoken of her. Sometimes when the longing to see her +again would come upon him, he would have talked of her to his native +wife, but he was by nature an uncommunicative man, and the thought of +how Doris must feel her loneliness touched him with remorse and made +him silent. + +* * * * * + +Another year passed, and matters had gone well with Brantley. Ten +months before he had dropped on one of the best patches of shell in the +Paumotus, and to-day, as he sits writing and smoking in the big room of +his house, he looks contentedly out through the open door to a little +white painted schooner that lay at anchor on the calm waters of the +lagoon. He had just come back from Tahiti with her, and the two +thousand dollars he had paid for the vessel was an easy matter for a +man who was now making a thousand dollars a month. + +"What a stroke of luck!" he writes to Doris. "Had I gone back to +Sydney, where would I be now?--a mate, I suppose, on some deep-sea +ship, earning twelve or fourteen pounds a month. Another year or two like +this, and I can go back a made man. Some day, my dear, I may; but I will +come back here again. The ways of the people have become my ways." + +* * * * * + +He laid down his pen and came to the door, and stood thinking awhile +and listening to the gentle rustle of the palms as they swayed their +lofty plumes to the breezy trade wind. + +"Yes," he thought, "I would like to go and see Doris, but I can't take +Luita, and so it cannot be. How that girl suspects me even now. When I +went to Tahiti to buy the schooner, I believe she thought she would +never see me again.... What a fool I am! Doris is all right, I suppose, +although it is a year since I had a letter ... and I--could any man +want more. I don't believe there's a soul on the island but thinks as +much of me as Luita herself does; and, by G-d! she's a pearl--even +though she is only a native girl. No, I'll stay here; 'Kapeni Paranili' +will always be a big man in the Paumotus, but Fred Brantley would be +nobody in Sydney--only a common merchant skipper who had made money in +the islands.... And perhaps Doris is married." + +* * * * * + +So he thought and talked to himself, listening the while to the soft +symphony of the swaying palm-tops and the subdued murmur of the surf as +the rollers crashed on the distant line of reef away to leeward. Of +late these fleeting visions of the outside world--that quick, busy +world, whose memories, save for those of Doris, were all but dead to +him--had become more frequent; but the calm, placid happiness of his +existence, and that strange, fatal glamour that for ever enwraps the +minds of those who wander in the islands of the sunlit sea--as the old +Spanish navigators called Polynesia--had woven its spell too strongly +over his nature to be broken. And now, as the murmur of women's voices +caused him to turn his head to the shady end of the verandah, the dark, +dreamy eyes of Luita, who with her women attendants sat there playing +with her child, looked out at him from beneath their long lashes, and +told him his captivity was complete. + +* * * * * + +A week afterwards the people of Vahitahi were clustered on the beach +putting supplies of native food in the schooner's boat. That night he +was to sail again for the pearling grounds at Matahiva lagoon, and +would be away three months. + +One by one the people bade him adieu, and then stood apart while he +said farewell to Luita. + +"E MAHINA TOLU [Only three months], little one," he said, "why such a +gloomy face?" + +The girl shook her head, and her mouth twitched. "But the MITI [dream], +Paranili--the MITI of my mother. She is wise in the things that are +hidden; for she is one of those who believe in the old gods of +Vahitahi.... And there are many here of the new LOTU [Faith, i.e. +Christianity] who yet believe in the old gods. And, see, she has dreamed +of this unknown evil to thee twice; and twice have the voices of those who +are silent in the MARAE called to me in the night, and said: 'He must not +go; he must not go.'" + +Knowing well how the old superstitious taint ran riot in the +imaginative native mind, Brantley did not attempt to reason, but sought +to gently disengage her hands from his arm. + +She dropped on the sand at his feet and clasped his knees, and a long, +wailing note of grief rang out-- + +"AUE! AUE! my husband! if it so be that thou dost not heed the voices +that call in the night, then, out of thy love for me and our child, let +me come also. Then, if evil befall thee, let us perish together." + +Brantley raised his hand and pointed to the bowed and weeping figure. +Some women came and lifted her up. Then taking the tender face between +his rough hands, he bent his head to hers, sprang into the boat, and +was gone. + +* * * * * + +II + +With ten tons of shell snugly stowed in her hold, the little Tamariki +was heading back for Vahitahi after barely two months' absence. +Brantley, as he leant over the rail and watched the swirl and eddy of +the creamy phosphorescence that hissed and bubbled under the vessel's +stern, felt well satisfied. + +It was the hour of dawn, and the native at the tiller sang, as the +stars began to pale before the red flush that tinged the sky to +windward, a low chant of farewell to Fetuaho, the star of the morning, +and then he called to Brantley, who to all his crew was always +"Paranili," and never "Kapeni [Captain]," and pointed with his naked, +tattooed arm away to leeward, where the low outlines of an island began +to show. + +"Look, Paranili, that is Tatakoto, the place I have told thee of, where +the turtle makes the white beach to look black. Would it not be well +for us to take some home to Vahitahi?" + +"Thou glutton!" said Brantley, good-humouredly, "dost thou think I am +like to lose a day so that thou and thy friends may fill thy stomachs +with turtle meat?" + +Rua Manu laughed, and showed his white, even teeth. "Nay, Paranili, not +for that alone; but it is a great place, that Tatakoto, and thou hast +never landed there to look, and Luita hath said that some day she would +ask thee to take her there; for, though she was born at Vahitahi, her +blood is that of the people of Tatakoto, who have long since lain +silent in the MARAES." + +* * * * * + +Brantley had often heard her speak of it, this solitary spot in the +wide Pacific, and now, as he looked at the pretty, verdure-clad island +against the weather shore of which the thundering rollers burst with a +muffled roar, he was surprised at its length and extent, and decided to +pay it a visit some day. + +"Not now, Rua," he said to the steersman, "but it shall be soon. Are +there many coconuts there?" + +"Many? May I perish, but the trees are as the sand of the sea, and the +nuts lie thick upon the ground. AI-E-EH! and the robber crabs are in +thousands, and fat; and the sea-birds' eggs!" + +"Glutton again! Be content. In a little while we and as many of the +people of Vahitahi as the schooner will carry will go there and stay +for the turtle season." + +* * * * * + +Three days afterwards the schooner was within fifty miles of his island +home, when Brantley was aroused at daylight from his watch below by the +cry of "TE PAHI!" (a ship!) and hastening on deck he saw a large vessel +bearing down upon them. In half an hour she was close to, and Brantley +recognised her as a brig from Tahiti, that occasionally made a trading +voyage to the Paumotus, and whose skipper was a personal friend. +Suddenly she hove-to and lowered a boat, which came alongside the +schooner, and the white man that steered jumped on deck and held out +his hand. + +"How are you, Brantley?" and then his eye went quickly over the crew of +the schooner, then glanced through the open skylight into the little +cabin, and a hopeful, expectant look in his face died away. + +"Very well, thank you, Latham. But what is wrong?--you look worried." + +"Come on board," said the captain of the brig, quietly, "and I'll tell +you." + +As Brantley took his seat beside him, Latham said: "I have bad news for +you, Brantley. Your sister is on board the brig, and I fear she will +not live long. She came down to Tahiti in the MARAMA from Auckland, and +offered me a good round sum to bring her to you." + +"Has she been ill long, Latham?" + +* * * * * + +Latham looked at him curiously. "Didn't you know, Brantley? She's in a +rapid consumption." + +For a moment neither men spoke; then Latham gave a short cough. + +"I feel it almost as badly as you, Brantley--but I've got a bit more +bad news--" + +"Go on, Latham--it can't matter much. My poor sister is everything to me." + +"Just so. That's what I told Miss Brantley. Well, it's this--your wife +and child are missing----" Latham glanced at him and saw that his hand +trembled and then grasped the gunwale of the boat. + +"We got into Vahitahi lagoon about ten days ago, and I took Miss +Brantley ashore. What happened I don't exactly know, but the next night +one of your whale-boats was gone, and Luita and the child were missing. +Your sister was in a terrible state of mind, and offered me a thousand +dollars to put to sea. Brantley, old man, I wouldn't take a dollar from +her--God bless her--but I did put to sea, and I've searched nigh on +twenty islands, and scores of reefs and sandbanks----" + +"Thank you, Latham," said Brantley quietly; "when we get on board you +can give me further particulars of the islands you've searched." + +"You can have my marked chart; I've got a spare one. Brace up, old man! +you'll see your sister in a minute. She is terribly cut up over poor +Luita--more so than I knew you would be. But she was a grand little +woman, Brantley, although she was only a native." + +"Yes," he answered, in the same slow, dazed manner, "she was a good +little girl to me, although she----" The words stuck in his throat. + +* * * * * + +Latham showed him into the brig's cabin, and then a door opened, and +Doris threw herself weeping into his arms. + +"Oh, Doris," he whispered, "why did you not tell me you were ill? I +would have come to you long ago. I feel a brute----" + +She placed her hand on his lips. "Never mind about me, Fred. Has +Captain Latham told you about----" + +"Yes," he replied; and then suddenly: "Doris, I am going to look for +her; I think I know the place to which she has gone. It is not far from +here. Doris, will you go on back to Vahitahi with Latham and wait for me?" + +"Fred," she whispered, "let me come with you. It will not be long, +dear, before I am gone, and it was hard to die away from you--that is +why I came; and perhaps we may find her." + +He kissed her silently, and then in five minutes more they had said +farewell to Latham, and were on their way to the schooner. + +The crew soon knew from him what had happened, and Rua Manu, with his +big eyes filled with a wondering pity as he looked at the frail body +and white face of Doris lying on the skylight, wore the schooner's head +round to the south-west at a sign from Brantley. + +"Aye, Paranili," he said, in his deep, guttural tones, "it is to +Tatakoto she hath gone--'tis her mother's land." + +* * * * * + +That night, as she lay on the skylight with her hand in his, Doris told +him all she knew:-- + +"They were all kind to me when I went ashore to your house, Fred, but +Luita looked so fiercely at me.... Her eyes frightened me--they had +a look of death in them. + +"In the morning your little child was taken ill with what they call +TATARU, and I wanted to give it medicine. Luita pushed my hand away and +hugged the child to her bosom; and then the other women came and made +signs for me to go away. And that night she and the child were missing, +and one of your boats was gone." + +"Poor Luita," said Brantley, stroking Doris's pale cheek, "she did not +know you were my sister. I never told her, Doris." + +"She is a very beautiful woman, Fred. They told me at Tahiti that she +was called the pearl of Vahitahi; and oh! my dear, if we can but find +her, I will make her love me for your sake." + +* * * * * + +Late in the afternoon of the second day, just as the trade wind began +to lose its strength, the schooner was running along the weather-side +of Tatakoto, and Rua Manu, from the mast-head, called out that he saw +the boat lying on the beach inside the lagoon, with her sail set; and, +as landing was not practicable on the weather-side, the schooner ran +round to the lee. + +"We will soon know, Doris. It always rains in these islands at this +time of the year, so she would not suffer as I once did; but the sail +of the boat is still set, and that makes me think she has never left +it. Wait till I come back again, Doris; you cannot help me." + +And Doris, throwing her weak arms round his neck, kissed him with a sob, +and lay back again to wait. + +* * * * * + +With Rua Manu and two others of his faithful native crew, Brantley +walked quickly across the island to the lagoon to where the boat lay. +Luita was not there, and the dark eyes of his sailors met his in a +responsive glow of hope--she had not died in the boat! + +They turned back into the silent aisles of coconut palms, and then Rua +Manu loudly called her name. + +"Listen," he said. + +A voice--a weak, trembling voice--was singing the song of Talaloo. + + + "Terunavahori, bending low, + Bindeth the sandals on Talaloo's feet; + 'Hasten, O hasten, lover true, + O'er the coral, cruel and sharp, + Over the coral, and sand, and rock, + Snare thee a turtle for our marriage feast; + IA AKOE! brave lover mine.'" + + +"In the old MARAE, Paranili," said Rua Manu, pointing to the remains of +a ruined temple. Motioning to the seamen to remain outside, Brantley +entered the crumbling walls of the old heathen MARAE. At the far end +was a little screen of coconut boughs. He stooped down and went in. + +A few minutes passed, and then his hand was thrust out between the +branches as a sign for them to follow. + +* * * * * + +One by one they came and sat beside Brantley, who held the wasted +figure of the wanderer in his arms. The sound of his voice had brought +back her wavering reason, and she knew them all now. She knew, too, +that her brief young life was ebbing fast; for, as each of the brown +men pressed their lips to her hand, tears coursed down their cheeks. + +"See, men of Vahitahi, my Englishman hath come to me, a fool that fled +from his house ... because I thought that he lied to me. Teloma was +it who first mocked, and said: ''Tis his wife from Beretania who hath +come to seek him;' and then other girls laughed and mocked also, and +said: 'AH-HE! Luita, this fair-faced girl who sayeth she is thy +husband's sister, AH-HE!' ... and their words and looks stung +me ... So at night I took my child and swam to the boat.... My child, +see, it is here," and she touched a little mound in the soil beside her. + +There was a low murmur of sympathy, and then the brown men went outside +and covered their faces with their hands, after the manner of their +race when death is near, and waited in silence. + +* * * * * + +Night had fallen on the lonely island, and the far-off muffled boom of +the breakers as they dashed on the black ledges of the weather reef +would now and then be borne into the darkness of the little hut. + +"Put thy face to mine, Paranili," she whispered; "I grow cold now." + +As the bearded face of the man bent over her, one thin, weak arm rose +waveringly in the air, and then fell softly round his neck, and +Brantley, with his hand upon her bosom, felt that her heart had ceased +to beat. + +* * * * * + +The next day he sailed the schooner into the lagoon, and Doris pressed +her lips on the dead forehead of the native girl ere she was laid to +rest. Something that Doris had said to him as they walked away from her +grave filled Brantley's heart with a deadly fear, and as he took her in +his arms his voice shook. + +"Don't say that, Doris. It cannot be so soon as that. I was never a +good man; but surely God will spare you to me a little longer." + +But it came very soon--on the morning of the day that he intended +sailing out of the lagoon again, Doris died in his arms on board the +schooner, and Brantley laid her to rest under the shade of a giant +puka-tree that overshadowed the stones of the old MARAE. + +* * * * * + +That night he called Rua Manu into the cabin and asked him if he could +beat his way back to Vahitahi in the schooner. + +"'Tis an easy matter, Paranili. So that the sky be clear and I can see +the stars, then shall I find Vahitahi in three days." + +"Good. Then to-morrow take the schooner there, and tell such of the +people as desire to be with me to come here, and bring with them all +things that are in my house. It is my mind to live here at Tatakoto." + +As the schooner slipped through the narrow passage, he stood on the +low, sandy point, and waved his hand in farewell. + +* * * * * + +A week later the little vessel dropped her anchor in the lagoon again, +and Rua Manu and his crew came ashore to seek him. + +They found him lying under the shade of the puka-tree with his revolver +in his hand and a bullet-hole in his temple. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of By Reef and Palm, by Louis Becke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY REEF AND PALM *** + +***** This file should be named 3818.txt or 3818.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/3818/ + +Produced by Col Choat. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + + + + + + + +Produced by Col Choat colchoat@yahoo.com.au + + + + + +By Reef and Palm + +by Louis Becke + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +INTRODUCTION +CHALLIS THE DOUBTER +"'TIS IN THE BLOOD" +THE REVENGE OF MACY O'SHEA +THE RANGERS OF TIA KAU +PALLOU'S TALOI +A BASKET OF BREAD-FRUIT +ENDERBY'S COURTSHIP +LONG CHARLEY'S GOOD LITTLE WIFE +THE METHODICAL MR BURR OF MAJURU +A TRULY GREAT MAN +THE DOCTOR'S WIFE +THE FATE OF THE ALIDA +THE CHILIAN BLUEJACKET +BRANTLEY OF VAHITAHI + + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + + +When in October, 1870, I sailed into the harbour of Apia, Samoa, in the +ill-fated ALBATROSS, Mr Louis Becke was gaining his first experiences +of island life as a trader on his own account by running a cutter +between Apia and Savai'i. + +It was rather a notable moment in Apia, for two reasons. In the first +place, the German traders were shaking in their shoes for fear of what +the French squadron might do to them, and we were the bearers of the +good news from Tahiti that the chivalrous Admiral Clouet, with a very +proper magnanimity, had decided not to molest them; and, secondly, the +beach was still seething with excitement over the departure on the +previous day of the pirate Pease, carrying with him the yet more +illustrious "Bully" Hayes. + +It happened in this wise. A month or two before our arrival, Hayes had +dropped anchor in Apia, and some ugly stories of recent irregularities +in the labour trade had come to the ears of Mr Williams, the English +Consul. Mr Williams, with the assistance of the natives, very cleverly +seized his vessel in the night, and ran her ashore, and detained Mr +Hayes pending the arrival of an English man-of-war to which he could be +given in charge. But in those happy days there were no prisons in +Samoa, so that his confinement was not irksome, and his only hard +labour was picnics, of which he was the life and soul. All went +pleasantly until Mr Pease--a degenerate sort of pirate who made his +living by half bullying, half swindling lonely white men on small +islands out of their coconut oil, and unarmed merchantmen out of their +stores--came to Apia in an armed ship with a Malay crew. From that +moment Hayes' life became less idyllic. Hayes and Pease conceived a +most violent hatred of each other, and poor old Mr Williams was really +worried into an attack of elephantiasis (which answers to the gout in +those latitudes) by his continual efforts to prevent the two +desperadoes from flying at each other's throat. Heartily glad was he +when Pease--who was the sort of man that always observed LES +CONVENANCES when possible, and who fired a salute of twenty-one guns on +the Queen's Birthday--came one afternoon to get his papers "all +regular," and clear for sea. But lo! the next morning, when his vessel +had disappeared, it was found that his enemy Captain Hayes had +disappeared also, and the ladies of Samoa were left disconsolate at the +departure of the most agreeable man they had ever known. + +However, all this is another story, as Mr Kipling says, and one which I +hope Mr Becke will tell us more fully some day, for he knew Hayes well, +having acted as supercargo on board his ship, and shared a shipwreck +and other adventures with him. + +But even before this date Mr Becke had had as much experience as falls +to most men of adventures in the Pacific Ocean. + +Born at Port Macquarrie in Australia, where his father was clerk of +petty sessions, he was seized at the age of fourteen with an intense +longing to go to sea. It is possible that he inherited this passion +through his mother, for her father, Charles Beilby, who was private +secretary to the Duke of Cumberland, invested a legacy that fell to him +in a small vessel, and sailed with his family to the then very new +world of Australia. However this may be, it was impossible to keep +Louis Becke at home; and, as an alternative, a uncle undertook to send +him, and a brother two years older, to a mercantile house in +California. His first voyage was a terrible one. There were no +steamers, of course, in those days, and they sailed for San Francisco +in a wretched old barque. For over a month they were drifting about the +stormy sea between Australia and New Zealand, a partially dismasted and +leaking wreck. The crew mutinied--they had bitter cause to--and only +after calling at Rurutu, in the Tubuai Group, and obtaining fresh food, +did they permit the captain to resume command of the half-sunken old +craft. They were ninety days in reaching Honolulu, and another forty in +making the Californian coast. + +The two lads did not find the routine of a merchant's office at all to +their taste; and while the elder obtained employment on a sheep ranche +at San Juan, Louis, still faithful to the sea, got a berth as a clerk +in a steamship company, and traded to the Southern ports. In a year's +time he had money enough to take passage in a schooner bound on a +shark-catching cruise to the equatorial islands of the North Pacific. +The life was a very rough one, and full of incident and +adventure--which I hope he will relate some day. Returning to Honolulu, +he fell in with an old captain who had bought a schooner for a trading +venture amongst the Western Carolines. Becke put in $1000, and sailed +with him as supercargo, he and the skipper being the only white men on +board. He soon discovered that, though a good seaman, the old man knew +nothing of navigation. In a few weeks they were among the Marshall +Islands, and the captain went mad from DELIRIUM TREMENS. Becke and the +three native sailors ran the vessel into a little uninhabited atoll, +and for a week had to keep the captain tied up to prevent his killing +himself. They got him right at last, and stood to the westward. On +their voyage they were witnesses of a tragedy (in this instance +fortunately not complete), on which the pitiless sun of the Pacific has +looked down very often. They fell in with a big Marshall Island sailing +canoe that had been blown out of sight of land, and had drifted six +hundred miles to the westward. Out of her complement of fifty people, +thirty were dead. They gave them provisions and water, and left them to +make Strong's Island (Kusaie), which was in sight. Becke and the chief +swore Marshall Island BRUDERSCHAFT with each other. Years afterwards, +when he came to live in the Marshall Group, the chief proved his +friendship in a signal manner. + +The cruise proved a profitable one, and from that time Mr Becke +determined to become a trader, and to learn to know the people of the +north-west Pacific; and returning to California, he made for Samoa, and +from thence to Sydney. But at this time the Palmer River gold rush had +just broken out in North Queensland, and a brother, who was a bank +manager on the celebrated Charters Towers goldfields, invited him to +come up, as every one seemed to be making his fortune. He wandered +between the rushes for two years, not making a fortune, but acquiring +much useful experience, learning, amongst other things, the art of a +blacksmith, and becoming a crack shot with a rifle. Returning to +Sydney, he sailed for the Friendly Islands (Tonga) in company with the +king of Tonga's yacht--the TAUFAAHAU. The Friendly Islanders +disappointed him (at which no one that knows them will wonder), and he +went on to Samoa, and set up as a trader on his own account for the +first time. He and a Manhiki half-caste--the "Allan" who so frequently +figures in his stories--bought a cutter, and went trading throughout +the group. This was the time of Colonel Steinberger's brief tenure of +power. The natives were fighting, and the cutter was seized on two +occasions. When the war was over he made a voyage to the north-west, +and became a great favourite with the natives, as indeed seems to have +been the case in most of the places he went to in Polynesia and +Micronesia. Later on he was sent away from Samoa in charge of a vessel +under sealed orders to the Marshall Islands. These orders were to hand +the vessel over to the notorious Captain "Bully" Hayes. (Some day he +promises that he will give us the details of this very curious +adventure). He found Hayes awaiting him in his famous brig LEONORA in +Milli Lagoon. He handed over his charge and took service with him as +supercargo. After some months' cruising in the Carolines they were +wrecked on Strong's Island (Kusaie). Hayes made himself the ruler of +the island, and Mr Becke and he had a bitter quarrel. The natives +treated the latter with great kindness, and gave him land on the lee +side of the island, where he lived happily enough for five months. +Hayes was captured by an English man-of-war, but escaped and went to +Guam. Mr Becke went back in the cruiser to the Colonies, and then again +sailed for Eastern Polynesia, trading in the Gambiers, Paumotus, and +Easter and Pitcairn Islands. In this part of the ocean he picked up an +abandoned French barque on a reef, floated her, and loaded her with +coconuts, intending to sail her to New Zealand with a native crew, but +they went ashore in a hurricane and lost everything. Meeting with Mr +Tom de Wolf, the managing partner of a Liverpool firm, he took service +with him as a trader in the Ellice and Tokelau Groups, finally settling +down as a residential trader. Then he took passage once more for the +Carolines, and was wrecked on Peru, one of the Gilbert Islands (lately +annexed), losing every dollar that he possessed. He returned to Samoa +and engaged as a "recruiter" in the labour trade. He got badly hurt in +an encounter with some natives, and went to New Zealand to recover. +Then he sailed to New Britain on a trading venture, and fell in with, +and had much to do with, the ill-fated colonising expedition of the +Marquis de Ray in New Ireland. A bad attack of malarial fever, and a +wound in the neck (labour recruiting or even trading among the blacks +of Melanesia seems to have been a much less pleasant business than +residence among the gentle brown folk of the Eastern Pacific) made him +leave and return to the Marshall Islands, where Lailik, the chief whom +he had succoured at sea years before, made him welcome. He left on a +fruitless quest after an imaginary guano island, and from then until +two years ago he has been living on various islands in both the North +and South Pacific, leading what he calls "a wandering and lonely but +not unhappy existence," "Lui," as they call him, being a man both liked +and trusted by the natives from lonely Easter Island to the faraway +Pelews. He is still in the prime of life, and whether he will now remain +within the bounds of civilisation, or whether some day he will return to +his wanderings, as Odysseus is fabled to have done in his old age, I fancy +that he hardly knows himself. But when once the charm of a wild roving +life has got into a man's blood, the trammels of civilisation are irksome +and its atmosphere is hard to breathe. It will be seen from this +all-too-condensed sketch of Mr Becke's career that he knows the Pacific +as few men alive or dead have ever known it. He is one of the rare men +who have led a very wild life, and have the culture and talent +necessary to give some account of it. As a rule, the men who know don't +write, and the men who write don't know. + +Every one who has a taste for good stories will feel, I believe, the +force of these. Every one who knows the South Seas, and, I believe, +many who do not, will feel that they have the unmistakable stamp of +truth. And truth to nature is a great merit in a story, not only +because of that thrill of pleasure hard to analyse, but largely made up +of associations, memories, and suggestions that faithfulness of +representation in picture or book gives to the natural man; but because +of the fact that nature is almost infinitely rich, and the unassisted +imagination of man but a poor and sterile thing, tending constantly +towards some ossified convention. "Treasure Island" is a much better +story than "The Wreckers," yet I, for one, shall never cease to regret +that Mr Stevenson did not possess, when he wrote "Treasure Island," +that knowledge of what men and schooners do in wild seas that was his +when he gave us "The Wreckers." The detail would have been so much +richer and more convincing. + +It is open to any one to say that these tales are barbarous, and what +Mrs Meynell, in a very clever and amusing essay, has called +"decivilised." Certainly there is a wide gulf separating life on a +Pacific island from the accumulated culture of centuries of +civilisation in the midst of which such as Mrs Meynell move and have +their being. And if there can be nothing good in literature that does +not spring from that culture, these stories must stand condemned. But +such a view is surely too narrow. Much as I admire that lady's +writings, I never can think of a world from which everything was +eliminated that did not commend itself to the dainty taste of herself +and her friends, without a feeling of impatience and suffocation. It +takes a huge variety of men and things to make a good world. And +ranches and CANONS, veldts and prairies, tropical forests and coral +islands, and all that goes to make up the wild life in the face of +Nature or among primitive races, far and free from the artificial +conditions of an elaborate civilisation, form an element in the world, +the loss of which would be bitterly felt by many a man who has never +set foot outside his native land. + +There is a certain monotony, perhaps, about these stories. To some +extent this is inevitable. The interest and passions of South Sea +Island life are neither numerous nor complex, and action is apt to be +rapid and direct. A novelist of that modern school that fills its +volumes, often fascinatingly enough, by refining upon the shadowy +refinements of civilised thought and feeling, would find it hard to ply +his trade in South Sea Island society. His models would always be +cutting short in five minutes the hesitations and subtleties that ought +to have lasted them through a quarter of a life-time. But I think it is +possible that the English reader might gather from this little book an +unduly strong impression of the uniformity of Island life. The loves of +white men and brown women, often cynical and brutal, sometimes +exquisitely tender and pathetic, necessarily fill a large space in any +true picture of the South Sea Islands, and Mr Becke, no doubt of set +artistic purpose, has confined himself in the collection of tales now +offered almost entirely to this facet of the life. I do not question +that he is right in deciding to detract nothing from the striking +effect of these powerful stories, taken as a whole, by interspersing +amongst them others of a different character. But I hope it may be +remembered that the present selection is only an instalment, and that, +if it finds favour with the British public, we may expect from him some +of those tales of adventure, and of purely native life and custom, +which no one could tell so well as he. + +PEMBROKE. + + + + + +CHALLIS THE DOUBTER + + + +The White Lady And The Brown Woman + + +Four years had come and gone since the day that Challis, with a dull +and savage misery in his heart, had, cursing the love-madness which +once possessed him, walked out from his house in an Australian city +with an undefined and vague purpose of going "somewhere" to drown his +sense of wrong and erase from his memory the face of the woman who, his +wife of not yet a year, had played with her honour and his. So he +thought, anyhow. + + +* * * * * + + +You see, Challis was "a fool"--at least so his pretty, violet-eyed wife +had told him that afternoon with a bitter and contemptuous ring in her +voice when he had brought another man's letter--written to her--and +with impulsive and jealous haste had asked her to explain. He was a +fool, she had said, with an angry gleam in the violet eyes, to think +she could not "take care" of herself. Admit receiving that letter? Of +course! Did he think she could help other men writing silly letters to +her? Did he not think she could keep out of a mess? And she smiled the +self-satisfied smile of a woman conscious of many admirers and of her +own powers of intrigue. + +Then Challis, with a big effort, gulping down the rage that stirred +him, made his great mistake. He spoke of his love for her. Fatuity! She +laughed at him, said that as she detested women, his love was too +exacting for her, if it meant that she should never be commonly +friendly with any other man. + + +* * * * * + + +Challis looked at her steadily for a few moments, trying to smother the +wild flood of black suspicion aroused in him by the discovery of the +letter, and confirmed by her sneering words, and then said quietly, but +with a dangerous inflection in his voice-- + +"Remember--you are my wife. If you have no regard for your own +reputation, you shall have some for mine. I don't want to entertain my +friends by thrashing R----, but I'm not such a fool as you think. And +if you go further in this direction you'll find me a bit of a brute." + +Again the sneering laugh--"Indeed! Something very tragic will occur, I +suppose?" + +"No," said Challis grimly, "something damned prosaic--common enough +among men with pretty wives--I'll clear out." + +"I wish you would do that now," said his wife, "I hate you quite +enough." + +Of course she didn't quite mean it. She really liked Challis in her own +small-souled way--principally because his money had given her the +social pleasures denied her during her girlhood. With an unmoved face +and without farewell he left her and went to his lawyer's. + +A quarter of an hour later he arose to go, and the lawyer asked him +when he intended returning. + +"That all depends upon her. If she wants me back again, she can write, +through you, and I'll come--if she has conducted herself with a +reasonable amount of propriety for such a pretty woman." + +Then, with an ugly look on his face, Challis went out; next day he +embarked in the LADY ALICIA for a six months' cruise among the islands +of the North-west Pacific. + + +* * * * * + + +That was four years ago, and to-day Challis, who stands working at a +little table set in against an open window, hammering out a ring from a +silver coin on a marline-spike and vyce, whistles softly and +contentedly to himself as he raises his head and glances through the +vista of coconuts that surround his dwelling on this lonely and almost +forgotten island. + +"The devil!" he thinks to himself, "I must be turning into a native. +Four years! What an ass I was! And I've never written yet--that is, +never sent a letter away. Well, neither has she. Perhaps, after all, +there was little in that affair of R----'s. . . . By God! though, if +there was, I've been very good to them in leaving them a clear field. +Anyhow, she's all right as regards money. I'm glad I've done that. It's +a big prop to a man's conscience to feel he hasn't done anything mean; +and she likes money--most women do. Of course I'll go back--if she +writes. If not--well, then, these sinful islands can claim me for their +own; that is, Nalia can." + + +* * * * * + + +A native boy with shaven head, save for a long tuft on the left side, +came down from the village, and, seating himself on the gravelled space +inside the fence, gazed at the white man with full, lustrous eyes. + +"Hallo, TAMA!" said Challis, "whither goest now?" + +"Pardon, Tialli. I came to look at thee making the ring. Is it of soft +silver--and for Nalia, thy wife?" + +"Ay, O shaven-head, it is. Here, take this MASI and go pluck me a young +nut to drink," and Challis threw him a ship-biscuit. Then he went on +tapping the little band of silver. He had already forgotten the violet +eyes, and was thinking with almost childish eagerness of the soft glow +in the black orbs of Nalia when she should see his finished handiwork. + +The boy returned with a young coconut, unhusked. "Behold, Tialli. This +nut is a UTO GA'AU (sweet husk). When thou hast drunk the juice give it +me back, that I may chew the husk which is sweet as the sugar-cane of +Samoa," and he squatted down again on the gravel. + + +* * * * * + + +Challis drank, then threw him the husk and resumed his work. Presently +the boy, tearing off a strip of the husk with his white teeth, said, +"Tialli, how is it that there be no drinking-nuts in thy house?" + +"Because, O turtle-head, my wife is away; and there are no men in the +village to-day; and because the women of this MOTU [Island or country.] +I have no thought that the PAPALAGI [Foreigner] may be parched with +thirst, and so come not near me with a coconut." This latter in jest. + +"Nay, Tialli. Not so. True it is that to-day all the men are in the bush +binding FALA leaves around the coconut trees, else do the rats steal up +and eat the buds and clusters of little nuts. And because Nalia, thy +wife, is away at the other White Man's house no woman cometh inside the +door." + +Challis laughed. "O evil-minded people of Nukunono! And must I, thy +PAPALAGI, be parched with thirst because of this?" + +"FAIAGA OE, Tialli, thou but playest with me. Raise thy hand and call +out 'I thirst!' and every woman in the village will run to thee, each +with a drinking-nut, and those that desire thee, but are afraid, will +give two. But to come inside when Nalia is away would be to put shame +on her." + + +* * * * * + + +The white man mused. The boy's solemn chatter entertained him. He knew +well the native customs; but, to torment the boy, he commenced again. + +"O foolish custom! See how I trust my wife Nalia. Is she not even now +in the house of another white man?" + +"True. But, then, he is old and feeble, and thou young and strong. None +but a fool desires to eat a dried flying-fish when a fresh one may be +had." + +"O wise man with the shaven crown," said Challis, with mocking good +nature, "thou art full of wisdom of the ways of women. And if I were +old and withered, would Nalia then be false to me in a house of another +and younger white man?" + +"How could she? Would not he, too, have a wife who would watch her? And +if he had not, and were NOFO NOA (single), would he be such a fool to +steal that the like of which he can buy--for there are many girls +without husbands as good to look on as that Nalia of thine. And all +women are alike," and then, hearing a woman's voice calling his name, +he stood up. + +"Farewell, O ULU TULA POTO (Wise Baldhead)," said Challis, as the boy, +still chewing his sweet husk, walked back to the native houses clustered +under the grove of PUA trees. + + +* * * * * + + +Ere dusk, Nalia came home, a slenderly-built girl with big dreamy eyes, +and a heavy mantle of wavy hair. A white muslin gown, fastened at the +throat with a small silver brooch, was her only garment, save the folds +of the navy-blue-and-white LAVA LAVA round her waist, which the +European-fashioned garment covered. + +Challis was lying down when she came in. Two girls who came with her +carried baskets of cooked food, presents from old Jack Kelly, Challis's +fellow-trader. At a sign from Nalia the girls took one of the baskets +of food and went away. Then, taking off her wide-brimmed hat of FALA +leaf, she sat down beside Challis and pinched his cheek. + +"O lazy one! To let me walk from the house of Tiaki all alone!" + +"Alone! There were two others with thee." + +"Tapa Could I talk to THEM! I, a white man's wife, must not be too +familiar with every girl, else they would seek to get presents from me +with sweet words. Besides, could I carry home the fish and cooked fowl +sent thee by old Tiaki? That would be unbecoming to me, even as it +would be if thou climbed a tree for a coconut,"--and the daughter of +the Tropics laughed merrily as she patted Challis on his sunburnt +cheek. + +Challis rose, and going to a little table, took from it the ring. + +"See, Nalia, I am not lazy as thou sayest. This is thine." + +The girl with an eager "AUE!" took the bauble and placed it on her +finger. She made a pretty picture, standing there in the last glow of +the sun as it sank into the ocean, her languorous eyes filled with a +tender light. + +Challis, sitting on the end of the table regarding her with half-amused +interest as does a man watching a child with a toy, suddenly flushed +hotly. "By God! I can't be such a fool as to begin to LOVE her in +reality, but yet . . . Come here, Nalia," and he drew her to him, and, +turning her face up so that he might look into her eyes, he asked: + +"Nalia, hast thou ever told me any lies?" + +The steady depths of those dark eyes looked back into his, and she +answered: + +"Nay, I fear thee too much to lie. Thou mightst kill me." + +"I do but ask thee some little things. It matters not to me what the +answer is. Yet see that thou keepest nothing hidden from me." + +The girl, with parted lips and one hand on his, waited. + +"Before thou became my wife, Nalia, hadst thou any lovers?" + +"Yes, two--Kapua and Tafu-le-Afi." + +"And since?" + +"May I choke and perish here before thee if I lie! None." + +Challis, still holding her soft brown chin in his hand, asked her one +more question--a question that only one of his temperament would have +dared to ask a girl of the Tokelaus. + +"Nalia, dost thou love me?" + +"Aye, ALOFA TUMAU (everlasting love). Am I a fool? Are there not Letia, +and Miriami, and Eline, the daughter of old Tiaki, ready to come to +this house if I love any but thee? Therefore my love is like the +suckers of the FA'E (octopus) in its strength. My mother has taught me +much wisdom." + +A curious feeling of satisfaction possessed the man, and next day +Letia, the "show" girl of the village, visiting Challis's store to buy +a tin of salmon, saw Nalia, the Lucky One, seated on a mat beneath the +seaward side of the trader's house, surrounded by a billowy pile of +yellow silk, diligently sewing. + +"Ho, dear friend of my heart! Is that silken dress for thee? For the +love of God, let me but touch it. Four dollars a fathom it be priced +at. Thy husband is indeed the king of generosity. Art thou to become a +mother?" + +"Away, silly fool, and do thy buying and pester me not." + + +* * * * * + + +Challis, coming to the corner of the house, leant against a post, and +something white showed in his hand. It was a letter. His letter to the +woman of violet eyes, written a week ago, in the half-formed idea of +sending it some day. He read it through, and then paused and looked at +Nalia. She raised her head and smiled. Slowly, piece by piece, he tore +it into tiny little squares, and, with a dreamy hand-wave, threw them +away. The wind held them in mid-air for a moment, and then carried the +little white flecks to the beach. + +"What is it?" said the bubbling voice of Letia, the Disappointed. + +"Only a piece of paper that weighed as a piece of iron on my bosom. But +it is gone now." + +"Even so," said Letia, smelling the gaudy label on the tin of salmon in +the anticipative ecstasy of a true Polynesian, "PE SE MEA +FA'AGOTOIMOANA (like a thing buried deep in ocean). May God send me a +white man as generous as thee--a whole tin of SAMANI for nothing! Now +do I know that Nalia will bear thee a son." + + +* * * * * + + +And that is why Challis the Doubter has never turned up again. + + + + + +"'TIS IN THE BLOOD" + + + +We were in Manton's Hotel at Levuka-Levuka in her palmy days. There +were Robertson, of the barque ROLUMAH; a fat German planter from the +Yasawa Group; Harry the Canadian, a trader from the Tokelaus, and +myself. + +Presently a knock came to the door, and Allan, the boatswain of our +brig, stood hat in hand before us. He was a stalwart half-caste of +Manhiki, and, perhaps, the greatest MANAIA (Lothario) from Ponape to +Fiji. + +"Captain say to come aboard, please. He at the Consul's for papers--he +meet you at boat," and Allan left. + +"By shingo, dot's a big fellow," said Planter Oppermann. + +"Ay," said Robertson, the trading skipper, "and a good man with his +mauleys, too. He's the champion knocker-out in Samoa, and is a match +for any Englishman in Polynesia, let alone foreigners"--with a sour +glance at the German. + +"Well, good-bye all," I said. "I'm sorry, Oppermann, I can't stay for +another day for your wedding, but our skipper isn't to be got at +anyhow." + +The trading captain and Harry walked with me part of the way, and then +began the usual Fiji GUP. + +"Just fancy that fat-headed Dutchman going all the way to Samoa and +picking on a young girl and sending her to the Sisters to get educated +properly! As if any old beach-girl isn't good enough for a blessed +Dutchman. Have you seen her?" + +"No," I said; "Oppermann showed me her photo. Pretty girl. Says she's +been three years with the Sisters in Samoa, and has got all the virtues +of her white father, and none of the vices of her Samoan mammy. Told me +he's spent over two thousand dollars on her already." + +Robertson smiled grimly. "Ay, I don't doubt it. He's been all round +Levuka cracking her up. I brought her here last week, and the +Dutchman's been in a chronic state of silly ever since. She's an +almighty fine girl. She's staying with the Sisters here till the +marriage. By the Lord, here she is now coming along the street! Bet a +dollar she's been round Vagadace way, where there are some fast Samoan +women living. 'Tis in the blood, I tell you." + +The future possessor of the Oppermann body and estate WAS a pretty +girl. Only those who have seen fair young Polynesian +half-castes--before they get married, and grow coarse, and drink beer, +and smoke like a factory chimney--know how pretty. + +Our boat was at the wharf, and just as we stood talking Allan sauntered +up and asked me for a dollar to get a bottle of gin. Just then the +German's FIANCEE reached us. Robertson introduced Harry and myself to +her, and then said good-bye. She stood there in the broiling Fijian sun +with a dainty sunshade over her face, looking so lovely and cool in her +spotless muslin dress, and withal so innocent, that I no longer +wondered at the Dutchman's "chronic state of silly." + +Allan the Stalwart stood by waiting for his dollar. The girl laughed +joyously when Harry the Canadian said he would be at the wedding and +have a high time, and held out her soft little hand as he bade her +adieu and strolled off for another drink. + +The moment Harry had gone Allan was a new man. Pulling off his straw +hat, he saluted her in Samoan, and then opened fire. + +"There are many TEINE LALELEI (beautiful girls) in the world, but there +is none so beautiful as thou. Only truth do I speak, for I have been to +all countries of the world. Ask him who is here--our supercargo--if I +lie. O maid with the teeth of pearl and face like FETUAO (the morning +star), my stomach is drying up with the fire of love." + +The sunshade came a little lower, and the fingers played nervously with +the ivory handle. I leant against a coconut tree and listened. + +"Thy name is Vaega. See that! How do I know? Aha, how do I? Because, +for two years or more, whenever I passed by the stone wall of the +Sisters' dwelling in Matafele, I climbed up and watched thee, O Star of +the Morning, and I heard the other girls call thee Vaega. Oho! and some +night I meant to steal thee away." + +(The rascal! He told me two days afterwards that the only time he ever +climbed the Mission wall was to steal mangoes.) + +The sunshade was tilted back, and displayed two big, black eyes, +luminous with admiring wonder. + +"And so thou hast left Samoa to come here to be devoured by this fat +hog of a Dutchman! Dost thou not know, O foolish, lovely one, that she +who mates with a SIAMANI (German) grows old in quite a little time, and +thy face, which is now smooth and fair, will be coarse as the rind of a +half-ripe bread-fruit, because of the foul food these swine of Germans +eat?" + +"Allan," I called, "here's the captain!" + +There was a quick clasp of hands as the Stalwart One and the Maid +hurriedly spoke again, this time in a whisper, and then the white +muslin floated away out of sight. + +The captain was what he called "no' so dry"--viz. half-seas over, and +very jolly. He told Allan he could have an hour to himself to buy what +he wanted, and then told me that the captain of a steam collier had +promised to give us a tug out at daylight. "I'm right for the +wedding-feast after all," I thought. + + +* * * * * + + +But the wedding never came off. That night Oppermann, in a frantic +state, was tearing round Levuka hunting for his love, who had +disappeared. At daylight, as the collier steamed ahead and tautened our +tow-line, we could see the parties of searchers with torches scouring +the beach. Our native sailors said they had heard a scream about ten at +night and seen the sharks splashing, and the white liars of Levuka +shook their heads and looked solemn as they told tales of monster +sharks with eight-foot jaws always cruising close in to the shore at +night. + + +* * * * * + + +Three days afterwards Allan came to me with stolid face and asked for a +bottle of wine, as Vaega was very sea-sick. I gave him the wine, and +threatened to tell the captain. He laughed, and said he would fight any +man, captain or no captain, who meddled with him. And, as a matter of +fact, he felt safe--the skipper valued him too much to bully him over +the mere stealing of a woman. So the limp and sea-sick Vaega was +carried up out of the sweating foc'sle and given a cabin berth, and +Allan planked down two twenty-dollar pieces for her passage to the +Union Group. When she got better she sang rowdy songs, and laughed all +day, and made fun of the holy Sisters. And one day Allan beat her with +a deal board because she sat down on a band-box in the trade-room and +ruined a hat belonging to a swell official's wife in Apia. And she +liked him all the better for it. + + +* * * * * + + +The fair Vaega was Mrs Allan for just six months, when his erratic +fancy was captivated by the daughter of Mauga, the chief of Tutuila, +and an elopement resulted to the mountains. The subsequent and +inevitable parting made Samoa an undesirable place of residence for +Allan, who shipped as boatsteerer in the NIGER of New Bedford. As for +Vaega, she drifted back to Apia, and there, right under the shadow of +the Mission Church, she flaunted her beauty. The last time I saw her +was in Charley the Russian's saloon, when she showed me a letter. It +was from the bereaved Oppermann, asking her to come back and marry him. + +"Are you going?" I said. + +"E PULE LE ATUA (if God so wills), but he only sent me twenty dollars, +and that isn't half enough. However, there's an American man-of-war +coming next week, and these other girls will see then. I'll make the +PAPALAGI [foriegn] officers shell out. TO FA, ALII [Good-bye]." + + + + +THE REVENGE OF MACY O'SHEA + + + +A Story Of The Marquesas + + +I. + + +Tikena the Clubfooted guided me to an open spot in the jungle-growth, +and, sitting down on the butt of a twisted TOA, indicated by a sweep of +his tattooed arm the lower course of what had once been the White Man's +dwelling. + +"Like unto himself was this, his house," he said, puffing a dirty clay +pipe, "square-built and strong. And the walls were of great blocks made +of PANISINA--of coral and lime and sand mixed together; and around each +centre-post--posts that to lift one took the strength of fifty men--was +wound two thousand fathoms of thin plaited cinnet, stained red and +black. APA! he was a great man here in these MOTU (islands), although +he fled from prison in your land; and when he stepped on the beach the +marks of the iron bands that had once been round his ankles were yet +red to the sight. There be none such as he in these days. But he is now +in Hell." + +This was the long-deferred funeral oration of Macy O'Shea, sometime +member of the chain-gang of Port Arthur, in Van Dieman's Land, and +subsequently runaway convict, beachcomber, cutter-off of whaleships, +and Gentleman of Leisure in Eastern Polynesia. And of his many known +crimes the deed done in this isolated spot was the darkest of all. +Judge of it yourself. + + +* * * * * + + +The arrowy shafts of sunrise had scarce pierced the deep gloom of the +silent forest ere the village woke to life. Right beside the +thatch-covered dwelling of Macy O'Shea, now a man of might, there +towers a stately TAMANU tree; and, as the first faint murmur of women's +voices arises from the native huts, there is a responsive twittering +and cooing in the thickly-leaved branches, and further back in the +forest the heavy, booming note of the red-crested pigeon sounds forth +like the beat of a muffled drum. + + +* * * * * + + +With slow, languid step, Sera, the wife of Macy O'Shea, comes to the +open door and looks out upon the placid lagoon, now just rippling +beneath the first breath of the trade-wind, and longs for courage to go +out there--there to the point of the reef--and spring over among the +sharks. The girl--she is hardly yet a woman--shudders a moment and +passes her white hand before her eyes, and then, with a sudden gust of +passion, the hand clenches. "I would kill him--kill him, if there was +but a ship here in which I could get away! I would sell myself over and +over again to the worst whaler's crew that ever sailed the Pacific if +it would bring me freedom from this cruel, cold-blooded devil!" + + +* * * * * + + +A heavy tread on the matted floor of the inner room and her face pales +to the hue of death. But Macy O'Shea is somewhat shy of his two years' +wife this morning, and she hears the heavy steps recede as he walks +over to his oil-shed. A flock of GOGO cast their shadow over the lagoon +as they fly westward, and the woman's eyes follow them--"Kill him, yes. +I am afraid to die, but not to kill. And I am a stranger here, and if I +ran a knife into his fat throat, these natives would make me work in +the taro-fields, unless one wanted me for himself." Then the heavy step +returns, and she slowly faces round to the blood-shot eyes and +drink-distorted face of the man she hates, and raises one hand to her +lips to hide a blue and swollen bruise. + +The man throws his short, square-set figure on a rough native sofa, +and, passing one brawny hand meditatively over his stubbly chin, says, +in a voice like the snarl of a hungry wolf: "Here, I say, Sera, slew +round; I want to talk to you, my beauty." + +The pale, set face flushed and paled again. "What is it, Macy O'Shea?" + +"Ho, ho, 'Macy O'Shea,' is it? Well, just this. Don't be a fool. I was +a bit put about last night, else I wouldn't have been so quick with my +fist. Cut your lip, I see. Well, you must forget it; any way, it's the +first time I ever touched you. But you ought to know by now that I am +not a man to be trifled with; no man, let alone a woman, is going to +set a course for Macy O'Shea to steer by. And, to come to the point at +once, I want you to understand that Carl Ristow's daughter is coming +here. I want her, and that's all about it." + + +* * * * * + + +The woman laughed scornfully. "Yes, I know. That was why"--she pointed +to her lips. "Have you no shame? I know you have no pity. But listen. I +swear to you by the Mother of Christ that I will kill her--kill you, if +you do this." + +O'Shea's cruel mouth twitched and his jaws set, then he uttered a +hoarse laugh. "By God! Has it taken you two years to get jealous?" + +A deadly hate gleamed in the dark, passionate eyes. "Jealous, Mother of +God! jealous of a drunken, licentious wretch such as you! I hate +you--hate you! If I had courage enough I would poison myself to be free +from you." + +O'Shea's eyes emitted a dull sparkle. "I wish you would, damn you! Yet +you are game enough, you say, to kill me--and Malia?" + +"Yes. But not for love of you, but because of the white blood in me. I +can't--I won't be degraded by you bringing another woman here." + +"'Por Dios,' as your dad used to say before the devil took his soul, +we'll see about that, my beauty. I suppose because your father was a +d----d garlic-eating, ear-ringed Dago, and your mother a +come-by-chance Tahiti half-caste, you think he was as good as me." + +"As good as you, O bloody-handed dog of an English convict. He was a +man, and the only wrong he ever did was to let me become wife to a +devil like you." + +The cruel eyes were close to hers now, and the rough, brawny hands +gripped her wrists. "You spiteful Portuguese quarter-bred ----! Call me +a convict again, and I'll twist your neck like a fowl's. You she-devil! +I'd have made things easy for you--but I won't now. Do you hear?" and +the grip tightened. "Ristow's girl will be here to-morrow, and if you +don't knuckle down to her it'll be a case of 'Vamos' for you--you can +go and get a husband among the natives," and he flung her aside and +went to the god that ran him closest for his soul, next to women--his +rum-bottle. + + +* * * * * + + +O'Shea kept his word, for two days later Malia, the half-caste daughter +of Ristow, the trader at Ahunui, stepped from out her father's +whaleboat in front of O'Shea's house. The transaction was a perfectly +legitimate one, and Malia did not allow any inconvenient feeling of +modesty to interfere with such a lucrative arrangement as this, whereby +her father became possessed of a tun of oil and a bag of Chilian +dollars, and she of much finery. In those days missionaries had not +made much head-way, and gentlemen like Messrs Ristow and O'Shea took +all the wind out of the Gospel drum. + +And so Malia, dressed as a native girl, with painted cheeks and bare +bosom, walked demurely up from the boat to the purchaser of her +sixteen-years'-old beauty, who, with arms folded across his broad +chest, stood in the middle of the path that led from the beach to his +door. And within, with set teeth and a knife in the bosom of her blouse +bodice, Sera panted with the lust of Hate and Revenge. + + +* * * * * + + +The bulky form of O'Shea darkened the door-way. "Sera," he called in +English, with a mocking, insulting inflection in his voice, "come here +and welcome my new wife!" + +Sera came, walking slowly, with a smile on her lips, and, holding out +her left hand to Malia, said in the native language, "Welcome!" + +"Why," said O'Shea, with mocking jocularity, "that's a left-handed +welcome, Sera." + +"Aye," said the girl with the White Man's blood, "my right hand is for +this"--and the knife sank home into Malia's yellow bosom. "A cold bosom +for you to-night, Macy O'Shea," she laughed, as the value of a tun of +oil and a bag of Chilian dollars gasped out its life upon the matted +floor. + + + +II + + +The native drum was beating. As the blood-quickening boom reverberated +through the village, the natives came out from their huts and gathered +around the House of the Old Men, where, with bound hands and feet, +Sera, the White Man's wife, sat, with her back to one of the +centre-posts. And opposite her, sitting like a native on a mat of +KAPAU, was the burly figure of O'Shea, with the demon of disappointed +passion eating away his reason, and a mist of blood swimming before his +eyes. + +The people all detested her, especially the soft-voiced, slender-framed +women. In that one thing savages resemble Christians--the deadly hatred +with which some women hate those of their sex whom they know to be +better and more pure than themselves. So the matter was decided +quickly. Mesi--so they called O'Shea--should have justice. If he +thought death, let it be death for this woman who had let out the blood +of his new wife. Only one man, Loloku the Boar Hunter, raised his voice +for her, because Sera had cured him of a bad wound when his leg had +been torn open by the tusk of a wild boar. But the dull glare from the +eyes of O'Shea fell on him, and he said no more. Then at a sign from +the old men the people rose from the mats, and two unbound the cords of +AFA from the girl, and led her out into the square, and looked at +O'Shea. + +"Take her to the boat," he said. + + +* * * * * + + +Ristow's boat had been hauled up, turned over, and covered with the +rough mats called KAPAU to keep off the heat of the sun. With +staggering feet, but undaunted heart, the girl Sera was led down. Only +once she turned her head and looked back. Perhaps Loloku would try +again. Then, as they came to the boat, a young girl, at a sign from +O'Shea, took off the loose blouse, and they placed her, face downwards, +across the bilge of the boat, and two pair of small, eager, brown hands +each seized one of hers and dragged the white, rounded arms well over +the keel of the boat. O'Shea walked round to that side, drawing through +his hands the long, heavy, and serrated tail of the FAI--the gigantic +stinging-ray of Oceana. He would have liked to wield it himself, but +then he would have missed part of his revenge--he could not have seen +her face. So he gave it to a native, and watched, with the smile of a +fiend, the white back turn black and then into bloody red as it was cut +to pieces with the tail of the FAI. + + +* * * * * + + +The sight of the inanimate thing that had given no sign of its agony +beyond the shudderings and twitchings of torn and mutilated flesh was, +perhaps, disappointing to the tiger who stood and watched the dark +stream that flowed down on both sides of the boat. Loloku touched his +arm--"Mesi, stay thy hand. She is dead else." + +"Ah," said O'Shea, "that would be a pity; for with one hand shall she +live to plant taro." + +And, hatchet in hand, he walked in between the two brown women who held +her hands. They moved aside and let go. Then O'Shea swung his arm; the +blade of the hatchet struck into the planking, and the right hand of +Sera fell on the sand. + +A man put his arms around her, and lifted her off the boat. He placed +his hand on the blood-stained bosom and looked at Macy O'Shea. + +"E MATE! [Dead!]" he said. + + + + +THE RANGERS OF THE TIA KAU + + + +Between Nanomea and Nanomaga--two of the Ellice Group--but within a few +miles of the latter, is an extensive submerged shoal, on the charts +called the Grand Cocal Reef, but by the people of the two islands known +as Tia Kau (The Reef). On the shallowest part there are from four to +ten fathoms of water, and here in heavy weather the sea breaks. The +British cruiser BASILISK, about 1870, sought for the reef, but reported +it as non-existent. Yet the Tia Kati is well known to many a Yankee +whaler and trading schooner, and is a favourite fishing-ground of the +people of Nanomaga--when the sharks give them a chance. + + +* * * * * + + +One night Atupa, Chief of Nanomaga, caused a huge fire to be lit on the +beach as a signal to the people of Nanomea that a MALAGA, or party of +voyagers, was coming over. Both islands are low--not more than fifteen +feet above sea-level--and are distant from one another about +thirty-eight miles. The following night the reflection of the answering +fire on Nanomea was seen, and Atupa prepared to send away his people in +seven canoes. They would start at sundown, so as to avoid paddling in +the heat (the Nanomagans have no sailing canoes), and be guided to +Nanomea, which they expected to reach early in the morning, by the far +distant glare of the great fires of coconut and pandanus leaves kindled +at intervals of a few hours. About seventy people were to go, and all +that day the little village busied itself in preparing for the +Nanomeans gifts of foods--cooked PURAKA, fowls, pigs, and flying-fish. + + +* * * * * + + +Atupa, the heathen chief, was troubled in his mind in those days of +August 1872. The JOHN WILLIAMS had touched at the island and landed a +Samoan missionary, who had pressed him to accept Christianity. Atupa, +dreading a disturbing element in his little community, had, at first, +declined; but the ship had come again, and the chief having consented +to try the new religion, a teacher landed. But since then he and his +sub-chiefs had consulted the oracle, and had been told that the shades +of Maumau Tahori and Foilagi, their deified ancestors, had answered +that the new religion was unacceptable to them, and that the Samoan +teacher must be killed or sent away. And for this was Atupa sending off +some of his people to Nanomea with gifts of goodwill to the chiefs to +beseech them to consult their oracles also, so that the two islands +might take concerted action against this new foreign god, whose priests +said that all men were equal, that all were bad, and He and His Son +alone good. + + +* * * * * + + +The night was calm when the seven canoes set out. Forty men and thirty +women and children were in the party, and the craft were too deeply +laden for any but the smoothest sea. On the AMA (outrigger) of each +canoe were the baskets of food and bundles of mats for their hosts, and +seated on these were the children, while the women sat with the men and +helped them to paddle. Two hours' quick paddling brought them to the +shoal-water of Tia Kau, and at the same moment they saw to the N.W. the +sky-glare of the first guiding fire. + + +* * * * * + + +It was then that the people in the first canoe, wherein was Palu, the +daughter of Atupa, called out to those behind to prepare their ASU +(balers), as a heavy squall was coming down from the eastward. Then +Laheu, an old warrior in another canoe, cried out that they should +return on their track a little and get into deep water; "for," said he, +"if we swamp, away from Tia Kau, it is but a little thing, but here--" +and he clasped his hands rapidly together and then tore them apart. +They knew what he meant--the sharks that, at night-time forsaking the +deep waters, patrolled in droves of thousands the shallow waters of the +reef to devour the turtle and the schools of TAFAU ULI and other fish. +In quick, alarmed silence the people headed back, but even then the +first fierce squall struck them, and some of the frail canoes began to +fill at once. "I MATAGI! I MATAGI! (head to the wind)" a man called +out; "head to the wind, or we perish! 'Tis but a puff and it is gone." + + +* * * * * + + +But it was more than a puff. The seven canoes, all abreast, were still +in shallow water, and the paddlers kept them dead in the teeth of the +whistling wind and stinging rain, and called out words of encouragement +to one another and to the women and children, as another black squall +burst upon them and the curling seas began to break. The canoe in which +was Atupa's daughter was the largest and best of all the seven, but was +much overladen, and on the outrigger grating were four children. These +the chief's daughter was endeavouring to shield from the rain by +covering them with a mat, when one of them, a little girl, endeavoured +to steady herself by holding to one of the thin pieces of grating; it +broke, and her arm fell through and struck the water, and in an instant +she gave a dull, smothered wail. Palu, the woman, seized her by her +hair and pulled the child up to a sitting posture, and then shrieked +with terror--the girl's arm was gone. + + +* * * * * + + +And then in the blackness of night, lightened now by the white, +seething, boiling surge, the people saw in the phosphorescent water +countless hundreds of the savage terrors of the Tia Kau darting hither +and thither amongst the canoes--for the smell of blood had brought them +together instantly. Presently a great grey monster tore the paddle from +out the hands of the steersman of the canoe wherein were the terrified +Palu and the four children, and then, before the man for'ard could +bring her head to the wind, she broached to and filled. Like ravening +wolves the sharks dashed upon their prey, and ere the people had time +to give more than a despairing cry, those hideous jaws and gleaming +cruel teeth had sealed their fate. Maddened with fear, the rest of the +people threw everything out of the six other canoes to lighten them, +and as the bundles of mats and baskets of food touched the water the +sharks seized and bit, tore and swallowed. Then, one by one, every +paddle was grabbed from the hands of the paddlers, and the canoes +broached to and filled in that sea of death--all save one, which was +carried by the force of the wind away from the rest. In this were the +only survivors--two men. + + +* * * * * + + +The agony could not have lasted long. "Were I to live as long as he +whom the FAIFEAU (missionary) tells us lived to be nine hundred and +sixty and nine, I shall hear the groans and cries and shrieks of that +PO MALAIA, that night of evil luck," said one of the two who lived, to +Denison, the white trader at Nanomea. "Once did I have my paddle fast +in the mouth of a little devil, and it drew me backwards, backwards, +over the stern till my head touched the water. TAH! but I was strong +with fear, and held on, for to lose it meant death by the teeth. And +Tulua--he who came out alive with me, seized my feet and held on, else +had I gone. But look thou at this"--and he pointed to his scarred neck +and back and shoulders "ere I could free my FOE (paddle) and raise my +head, I was bitten thus by others. Ah, PAPALAGI, some men are born to +wisdom, but most are fools. Had not Atupa been filled with vain fears, +he had killed the man who caused him to lose so many of our people." + +"So," said the white man, "and wouldst thou have killed the man who +brought thee the new faith? Fie!" + +"Aye, that would I--in those days when I was PO ULI ULI [Heathen, lit. "In +the blackest night"]. But not now, for I am Christian. Yet had Atupa +killed and buried the stranger, we could have lied and said he died of a +sickness when they of his people came to seek him. And then had I now my +son Tagipo with me, he who went into the bellies of the sharks at +Tia Kau." + + + + +PALLOU'S TALOI + + + +A Memory Of The Paumotus + + +I stayed once at Rotoava--in the Low Archipelago, Eastern +Polynesia--while suffering from injuries received in a boat accident +one wild night. My host, the Rotoava trader, was a sociable old pirate, +whose convivial soul would never let him drink alone. He was by trade a +boat-builder, having had, in his early days, a shed at Miller's Point, +in Sydney, where he made money and married a wife. But this latter +event was poor Tom Oscott's undoing, and in the end he took his chest +of tools on board the THYRA trading brig, and sailed away to Polynesia. +Finally, after many years' wandering, he settled down at Rotoava as a +trader and boat-builder, and became a noted drinker of bottled beer. + +The only method by which I could avoid his incessant invitations to +"have another" was to get his wife and children to carry me down to his +work-shed, built in a lovely spot surrounded by giant PUKA trees. Here, +under the shade, I had my mats spread, and with one of his children +sitting at my head to fan away the flies, I lay and watched, through +the belt of coconuts that lined the beach, the blue rollers breaking on +the reef and the snow-white boatswain-birds floating high overhead. + + +* * * * * + + +Tom was in the bush one morning when his family carried me to the +boat-shed. He had gone for a log of seasoned TOA wood [A hard wood much +used in boat building] to another village. At noon he returned, and I +heard him bawling for me. His little daughter, the fly-brusher, gave an +answering yell, and then Tom walked down the path, carrying two bottles of +beer; behind him Lucia, his eldest daughter, a monstrous creature of +giggles, adipose tissue, and warm heart, with glasses and a plate of +crackers; lastly, old Marie, the wife, with a little table. + +"By ----, you've a lot more sense'n me. It's better lyin' here in the +cool, than foolin' around in the sun; so I've brought yer suthin' to +drink." + +"Oh, Tom," I groaned, "I'm sure that beer's bad for me." + +The Maker of Boats sat on his bench, and said that he knew of a +brewer's carter in Sydney who, at Merriman's "pub," on Miller's Point, +had had a cask of beer roll over him. Smashed seven ribs, one arm, and +one thigh. Doctors gave him up; undertaker's man called on his wife for +coffin order but a sailor chap said he'd pull him through. Got an +indiarubber tube and made him suck up as much beer as he could hold; +kept it up till all his bones "setted" again, and he recovered. Why +shouldn't I--if I only drank enough? + +"Hurry up, old dark-skin!"--this to the faded Marie. Uttering merely +the word "Hog!" she drew the cork. I had to drink some, and every hour +or so Tom would say it was very hot, and open yet another bottle. At +last I escaped the beer by nearly dying, and then the kind old fellow +hurried away in his boat to Apatiki--another island of the group--and +came back with some bottles of claret, bought from the French trader +there. With him came two visitors--a big half-caste of middle age, and +his wife, a girl of twenty or there-about. This was Edward Pallou and +his wife Taloi. + + +* * * * * + + +I was in the house when Tom returned, enjoying a long-denied smoke. +Pallou and his wife entered and greeted me. The man was a fine, +well-set-up fellow, wiry and muscular, with deep-set eyes, and bearing +across his right cheek a heavy scar. His wife was a sweet, dainty +little creature with red lips, dazzling teeth, hazel eyes, and long +wavy hair. The first thing I noticed about her was, that instead of +squatting on a mat in native fashion, she sank into a wide chair, and +lying back enquired, with a pleasant smile and in perfect English, +whether I was feeling any better. She was very fair, even for a +Paumotuan half-caste, as I thought she must be, and I said to Pallou, +"Why, any one would take your wife to be an Englishwoman!" + +"Not I," said Taloi, with a rippling laugh, as she commenced to make a +banana-leaf cigarette; "I am a full-blooded South Sea Islander. I +belong to Apatiki, and was born there. Perhaps I have white blood in +me. Who knows?--only my wise mother. But when I was twelve years old I +was adopted by a gentleman in Papeite, and he sent me to Sydney to +school. Do you know Sydney? Well, I was three years with the Misses +F----, in ---- Street. My goodness! I WAS glad to leave--and so were +the Misses F---- to see me go. They said I was downright wicked, +because one day I tore the dress off a girl who said my skin was +tallowy, like my name. When I came back to Tahiti my guardian took me +to Raiatea, where he had a business, and said I must marry him, the +beast!" + +"Oh, shut up, Taoi!" growled the deep-voiced Pallou, who sat beside me. +"What the deuce does this man care about your doings?" + +"Shut up yourself, you brute! Can't I talk to any one I like, you +turtle-headed fool? Am I not a good wife to you, you great, over-grown +savage? Won't you let a poor devil of a woman talk a little? Look here, +Tom, do you see that flash jacket he's wearing? Well, I sat up two +nights making that--for him to come over here with, and show off before +the Rotoava girls. Go and die, you ----!" + +The big half-caste looked at Tom and then at me. His lips twitched with +suppressed passion, and a dangerous gleam shone a moment in his dark +eyes. + +"Here, I say, Taloi," broke in Tom, good-humouredly, "just go easy a +bit with Ted. As for him a-looking at any of the girls here, I knows +better--and so do you." + +Taloi's laugh, clear as the note of a bird, answered him, and then she +said she was sorry, and the lines around Pallou's rigid mouth softened +down. It was easy to see that this grim half-white loved, for all her +bitter tongue, the bright creature who sat in the big chair. + +Presently Taloi and Lucia went out to bathe, and Pallou remained with +me. Tom joined us, and for a while no one spoke. Then the trader, +laying down his pipe on the table, drew his seat closer, and commenced, +in low tones, a conversation in Tahitian with Pallou. From the earnest +manner of old Tom and the sullen gloom that overspread Pallou's face, I +could discern that some anxiety possessed them. + +At last Tom addressed me. "Look here, ----, Ted here is in a mess, and +we've just been a-talkin' of it over, and he says perhaps you'll do +what you can for him." + +The half-caste turned his dark eyes on me and looked intently into +mine. + +"What is it, Tom?" + +"Well, you see, it come about this way. You heard this chap's +missus--Taloi--a-talkin' about the Frenchman that wanted to marry her. +He had chartered a little schooner in Papeite to go to Raiatea. Pallou +here was mate, and, o' course, he being from the same part of the group +as Taloi, she ups and tells him that the Frenchman wanted to marry her +straightaway; and then I s'pose, the two gets a bit chummy, and Pallou +tells her that if she didn't want the man he'd see as how she wasn't +forced agin' her will. So when the vessel gets to Raiatea it fell calm, +just about sunset. The Frenchman was in a hurry to get ashore, and +tells his skipper to put two men in the boat and some grub, as he meant +to pull ashore to his station. So they put the boat over the side, and +Frenchy and Taoi and Pallou and two native chaps gets in and pulls for +the land. + +"They gets inside Uturoa about midnight. 'Jump out,' says the Frenchman +to Taloi as soon as the boat touches the beach; but the girl wouldn't, +but ties herself up around Pallou and squeals. 'Sakker!' says the +Frenchy, and he grabs her by the hair and tries to tear her away. +''Ere, stop that,' says Pallou; 'the girl ain't willin',' an' he pushes +Frenchy away. 'Sakker!' again, and Frenchy whips out his pistol and +nearly blows Pallou's face off'n him; and then, afore he knows how it +was done, Ted sends his knife chunk home into the other fellow's +throat. The two native sailors runned away ashore, and Pallou and Taloi +takes the oars and pulls out again until they drops. Then a breeze +comes along, and they up stick and sails away and gets clear o' the +group, and brings up, after a lot of sufferin', at Rurutu. And ever +since then there's been a French gunboat a-lookin' for Pallou, and he's +been hidin' at Apatiki for nigh on a twelvemonth, and has come over +here now to see if, when your ship comes back, you can't give him and +his missus a passage away somewhere to the westward, out o' the run of +that there gunboat, the VAUDREUIL." + + +* * * * * + + +I promised I would "work it" with the captain, and Pallou put out his +brawny hand--the hand that "drove it home into Frenchy's throat"--and +grasped mine in silence. Then he lifted his jacket and showed me his +money-belt, filled. + +"I don't want money," I said. "If you have told me the whole story, I +would help any man in such a fix as you." And then Taloi, fresh from +her bath, came in and sat down on the mat, whilst fat Lucia combed and +dressed her glossy hair and placed therein scarlet hisbiscus flowers; +and to show her returned good temper, she took from her lips the +cigarette she was smoking, and offered it to the grim Pallou. + +A month later we all three left Rotoava, and Pallou and Taloi went +ashore at one of the Hervey Group, where I gave him charge of a station +with a small stock of trade, and we sailed away east-ward to Pitcairn +and Easter Islands. + + +* * * * * + + +Pallou did a good business, and was well liked; and some seven months +afterwards, when we were at Maga Reva, in the Gambier Group, I got a +letter from him. "Business goes well," he wrote, "but Taloi is ill; I +think she will die. You will find everything square, though, when you +come." + +But I was never to see that particular island again, as the firm sent +another vessel in place of ours to get Pallou's produce. When the +captain and the supercargo went ashore, a white trader met them, with a +roll of papers in his hand. + +"Pallou's stock-list," he said. + +"Why, where is he? gone away?" + +"No, he's here still; planted alongside his missus." + +"Dead!" + +"Yes. A few months after he arrived here, that pretty little wife of +his died. He came to me, and asked if I would come and take stock with +him. I said he seemed in a bit of a hurry to start stocktaking before +the poor thing was buried; but anyhow, I went, and we took stock, and +he counted his cash, and asked me to lock the place up if anything +happened to him. Then we had a drink, and he bade me good-day, and said +he was going to sit with Taloi awhile, before they took her away. He +sent the native women out of the bedroom, and the next minute I heard a +shot. He'd done it, right enough. Right through his brain, poor chap. I +can tell you he thought a lot of that girl of his. There's the two +graves, over there by that FETAU tree. Here's his stock-list and bag of +cash and keys. Would you mind giving me that pair of rubber sea-boots +he left?" + + + + +A BASKET OF BREAD-FRUIT + + + +It was in Steinberger's time [Colonel Steinberger, who in 1874 succeeded +in forming a government in Samoa]. A trader had come up to Apia in his +boat from the end of Savaii, the largest of the Samoan Group, and was on +his way home again, when the falling tide caused him to stop awhile at +Mulinu'u Point, about two miles from Apia. Here he designed to smoke and +talk, and drink kava at the great camp with some hospitable native +acquaintances, during the rising of the water. Soon he was taking his +ease on a soft mat, watching the bevy of AUA LUMA [The local girls] making +a bowl of kava. + +Now this trader lived at Falealupo, at the extreme westerly end of +Savaii; but the Samoans, by reason of its isolation and extremity, have +for ages called it by another name--an unprintable one--and so some of +the people present began to jest with the trader for living in such a +place. He fell in with their humour, and said that if those present +would find for him a wife, a girl unseared by the breath of scandal, he +would leave Falealupo for Safune, where he had bought land. + +"Malie!" said an old dame, with one eye and white hair, "the +PAPALAGI [foreigner] is inspired to speak wisdom to-night; for at Safune +grow the sweetest nuts and the biggest taro and bread-fruit; and lo! here +among the kava-chewers is a young maid from Safune--mine own +grand-daughter Salome. And against her name can no one in Samoa laugh in +the hollow of his hand," and the old creature, amid laughter and cries of +ISA! E LE MA LE LO MATUA (The old woman is without shame), crept over to +the trader, and, with one skinny hand on his knee, gazed steadily into his +face with her one eye. + + +* * * * * + + +The trader looked at the girl--at Salome. She had, at her grandmother's +speech, turned her head aside, and taking the "chaw" of kava-root from +her pretty mouth, dissolved into shame-faced tears. The trader was a +man of quick perceptions, and he made up his mind to do in earnest what +he had said in jest--this because of the tears of Salome. He quickly +whispered to the old woman, "Come to the boat before the full of the +tide, and we will talk." + +When the kava was ready for drinking the others present had forgotten +all about the old woman and Salome, who had both crept away unobserved, +and an hour or two was passed in merriment, for the trader was a man +well liked. Then, when he rose and said TO FA, [good-bye] they begged him +not to attempt to pass down in his boat inside the reef, as he was sure to +be fired upon, for how were their people to tell a friend from an enemy in +the black night? But the white man smiled, and said his boat was too +heavily laden to face the ocean swell. So they bade him TO FA, and called +out MANUIA OE! [Bless you!] as he lifted the door of thatch and went. + + +* * * * * + + +The old woman awaited him, holding the girl by the hand. On the ground +lay a basket strongly tied up. Salome still wept, but the old woman +angrily bade her cease and enter the boat, which the crew had now +pushed bow-on to the beach. The old woman lifted the basket and +carefully put it on board. + +"Be sure," she said to the crew, "not to sit on it for it is very ripe +bread-fruit that I am taking to my people in Manono." + +"Give them here to me," said the trader, and he put the basket in the +stern out of the way. The old woman came aft, too, and crouched at his +feet and smoked a SULUI [a cigarette rolled in dried banana leaf]. The +cool land-breeze freshened as the sail was hoisted, and then +the crew besought the trader not to run down inside the reef. Bullets, +they said, if fired in plenty, always hit something, and the sea was +fairly smooth outside the reef. And old Lupetea grasped his hand and +muttered in his ear, "For the sake of this my little daughter go +outside. See, now, I am old, and to lie when so near death as I am is +foolish. Be warned by me and be wise; sail out into the ocean, and at +daylight we shall be at Salua in Manono. Then thou canst set my feet on +the shore--I and the basket. But the girl shall go with thee. Thou +canst marry her, if that be to thy mind, in the fashion of the +PAPALAGI, or take her FA'A SAMOA [Samoan fashion]. Thus will I keep faith +with thee. If the girl be false, her neck is but little and thy fingers +strong." + +Now the trader thought in this wise: "This is well for me, for if I get +the girl away thus quietly from all her relations I shall save much in +presents," and his heart rejoiced, for although not mean he was a +careful man. So he steered his boat seaward, between the seething surf +that boiled and hissed on both sides of the boat passage. + + +* * * * * + + +As the boat sailed past the misty line of cloud-capped Upolu, the +trader lifted the girl up beside him and spoke to her. She was not +afraid of him, she said, for many had told her he was a good man, and +not an ULA VALE (scamp), but she wept because now, save her old +grandmother, all her kinsfolk were dead. Even but a day and a half ago +her one brother was killed with her cousin. They were strong men, but +the bullets were swift, and so they died. And their heads had been +shown at Matautu. For that she had grieved and wept and eaten nothing, +and the world was cold and dark to her. + +"Poor little devil!" said the trader to himself--"hungry." Then he +opened a locker and found a tin of sardines. Not a scrap of biscuit. +There was plenty of biscuit, though, in the boat, in fifty-pound tins, +but on these mats were spread, where-on his crew were sleeping. He was +about to rouse them when he remembered the old dame's basket of ripe +bread-fruit. He laughed and looked at her. She, too, slept, coiled up +at his feet. But first he opened the sardines and placed them beside +the girl, and motioned her to steer. Her eyes gleamed like diamonds in +the darkness as she answered his glance, and her soft fingers grasped +the tiller. Very quickly, then, he felt among the packages aft till he +came to the basket. + +A quick stroke of his knife cut the cinnet that lashed the sides +together. He felt inside. "Only two, after all, but big ones, and no +mistake. Wrapped in cloth, too! I wonder--Hell and Furies! what's +this?"--as his fingers came in contact with something that felt like a +human eye. Drawing his hand quickly back, he fumbled in his pockets for +a match, and struck it. Bread-fruit! No. Two heads with closed eyes and +livid lips blue with the pallor of death, showing their white teeth. +And Salome covered her face and slid down in the bottom of the boat +again, and wept afresh for her cousin and brother, and the boat came up +in the wind, but no one awoke. + + +* * * * * + + +The trader was angry. But after he had tied up the basket again he put +the boat on her course once more and called to the girl. She crept +close to him and nestled under his overcoat, for the morning air came +across the sea from the dew-laden forests, and she was chilled. Then +she told the story of how her granddam had begged the heads from those +of Malietoa's troops who had taken them at Matautu, and then gone to +the camp at Mulinu'u in the hope of getting a passage in some boat to +Manono, her country, where she would fain bury them. And that night he +had come, and old Lupetea had rejoiced, and sworn her to secrecy about +the heads in the basket. And that also was why Lupetea was afraid of +the boat going down inside the passage, for there were many enemies to +be met with, and they would have shot old Lupetea because she was of +Manono. That was all. Then she ate the sardines, and, leaning her head +against the trader's bosom, fell asleep. + + +* * * * * + + +As the first note of the great grey pigeon sounded the dawn, the +trader's boat sailed softly up to the Salua beach, and old Lupetea +rose, and, bidding the crew good-bye, and calling down blessings on the +head of the good and clever white man, as she rubbed his and the girl's +noses against her own, she grasped her Basket of Bread-fruit and went +ashore. Then the trader, with Salome nestling to his side, sailed out +again into the ocean towards his home. + + + + +ENDERBY'S COURTSHIP + + + +The two ghastly creatures sat facing each other in their wordless +misery as the wind died away and the tattered remnants of the sail hung +motionless after a last faint flutter. The Thing that sat aft--for +surely so grotesquely horrible a vision could not be a Man--pointed +with hands like the talons of a bird of prey to the purple outline of +the island in the west, and his black, blood-baked lips moved, opened, +and essayed to speak. The other being that, with bare and skinny arms +clasped around its bony knees, sat crouched in the bottom of the boat, +leaned forward to listen. + +"Ducie Island, Enderby," said the first in a hoarse, rattling whisper; +"no one on it; but water is there . . . and plenty of birds and turtle, +and a few coconuts." + +At the word "water" the listener gave a curious gibbering chuckle, +unclasped his hands from his knees, and crept further towards the +speaker. + +"And the current is setting us down to it, wind or no wind. I believe +we'll see this pleasure-trip through, after all"--and the black lips +parted in a hideous grimace. + +The man whom he called Enderby sank his head again upon his knees, and +his dulled and bloodshot eyes rested on something that lay at the +captain's feet--the figure of a woman enveloped from her shoulders down +in a ragged native mat. For some hours past she had lain thus, with the +grey shadows of coming dissolution hovering about her pallid face, and +only the faintest movement of lips and eyelids to show that she still +lived. + + +* * * * * + + +The black-whiskered man who steered looked down for a second upon the +face beneath him with the unconcern for others born of the agony of +thirst and despair, and again his gaunt face turned to the land. Yet +she was his wife, and not six weeks back he had experienced a cold sort +of satisfaction in the possession of so much beauty. + +He remembered that day now. Enderby, the passenger from Sydney, and he +were walking the poop; his wife was asleep in a deck-chair on the other +side. An open book lay in her lap. As the two men passed and re-passed +her, the one noted that the other would glance in undisguised and +honest admiration at the figure in the chair. And Enderby, who was as +open as the day, had said to him, Langton, that the sleeping Mrs +Langton made as beautiful a picture as he had ever seen. + + +* * * * * + + +The sail stirred, filled out, and then drooped again, and the two +spectres, with the sleeping woman between, still sat with their hungry +eyes gazing over toward the land. As the sun sank, the outlines of the +verdure-clad summits and beetling cliffs stood forth clearly for a +short minute or two, as if to mock them with hope, and then became +enshrouded in the tenebrous night. + + +* * * * * + + +Another hour, and a faint sigh came from the ragged mat. Enderby, for +ever on the watch, had first seen a white hand silhouetted against the +blackness of the covering, and knew that she was still alive. And as he +was about to call Langton, who lay in the stern-sheets muttering in +hideous dreams, he heard the woman's voice calling HIM. With panting +breath and trembling limbs he crawled over beside her and gently +touched her hand. + +"Thank God, you are alive, Mrs Langton. Shall I wake Captain Langton? +We must be nearing the land." + +"No, don't. Let him sleep. But I called you, Mr Enderby, to lift me up. +I want to see where the rain is coming from." + +Enderby groaned in anguish of spirit. "Rain? God has forgotten us, I +----," and then he stopped in shame at betraying his weakness before a +woman. + +The soft, tender tones again--"Ah, do help me up, please, I can FEEL +the rain is near." Then the man, with hot tears of mingled weakness and +pity coursing down his cheeks, raised her up. + +"Why, there it is, Mr Enderby--and the land as well! And it's a heavy +squall, too," and she pointed to a moving, inky mass that half +concealed the black shadow of the island. "Quick, take my mat; one end +of it is tight and will hold water." + +"Langton, La-a-ngton! Here's a rain squall coming!" and Enderby pressed +the woman's hand to his lips and kissed it again and again. Then with +eager hands he took the mat from her, and staggering forward to the +bows stretched the sound end across and bellied it down. And then the +moving mass that was once black, and was now white, swept down upon +them, and brought them life and joy. + +Langton, with an empty beef-tin in his hand, stumbled over his wife's +figure, plunged the vessel into the water and drank again and again. + +"Curse you, you brute!" shouted Enderby through the wild noise of the +hissing rain, "where is your wife? Are you going to let her lie there +without a drink?" + +Langton answered not, but drank once more. Then Enderby, with an oath, +tore the tin from his hand, filled it and took it to her, holding her +up while she drank. And as her eyes looked gratefully into his while he +placed her tenderly back in the stern-sheets, the madness of a moment +overpowered him, and he kissed her on the lips. + +Concerned only with the nectar in the mat, Langton took no regard of +Enderby as he opened the little locker, pulled out a coarse dungaree +jumper, and wrapped it round the thinly-clad and drenched figure of the +woman. + +She was weeping now, partly from the joy of knowing that she was not to +die of the agonies of thirst in an open boat in mid-Pacific, and partly +because the water had given her strength to remember that Langton had +cursed her when he had stumbled over her to get at the water in the +mat. + + +* * * * * + + +She had married him because of his handsome face and dashing manner for +one reason, and because her pious Scotch father, also a Sydney-Tahitian +trading captain, had pointed out to her that Langton had made and was +still making money in the island trade. Her ideal of a happy life was +to have her husband leave the sea and buy an estate either in Tahiti or +Chili. She knew both countries well: the first was her birthplace, and +between there and Valparaiso and Sydney her money-grubbing old father +had traded for years, always carrying with him his one daughter, whose +beauty the old man regarded as a "vara vain thing," but likely to +procure him a "weel-to-do mon" for a son-in-law. + +Mrs Langton cared for her husband in a prosaic sort of way, but she +knew no more of his inner nature and latent utter selfishness a year +after her marriage than she had known a year before. Yet, because of +the strain of dark blood in her veins--her mother was a Tahitian +half-caste--she felt the mastery of his savage resolution in the face +of danger in the thirteen days of horror that had elapsed since the +brigantine crashed on an uncharted reef between Pitcairn and Ducie +Islands, and the other boat had parted company with them, taking most +of the provisions and water. And to hard, callous natures such as +Langton's women yield easily and admire--which is better, perhaps, than +loving, for both. + +But that savage curse still sounded in her ears, and unconsciously made +her think of Enderby, who had always, ever since the eighth day in the +boat, given her half his share of water. Little did she know the agony +it cost him the day before when the water had given out, to bring her +the whole of his allowance. And as she drank, the man's heart had +beaten with a dull sense of pity, the while his baser nature called +out, "Fool! it is HIS place, not yours, to suffer for her." + + +* * * * * + + +At daylight the boat was close in to the land, and Langton, in his +cool, cynical fashion, told his wife and Enderby to finish up the last +of the meat and biscuit--for if they capsized getting through into the +lagoon, he said, they would never want any more. He had eaten all he +wanted unknown to the others, and looked with an unmoved face at +Enderby soaking some biscuit in the tin for his wife. Then, with the +ragged sail fluttering to the wind, Langton headed the boat through the +passage into the glassy waters of the lagoon, and the two tottering +men, leading the woman between them, sought the shelter of a thicket +scrub, impenetrable to the rays of the sun, and slept. And then for a +week Enderby went and scoured the reefs for food for her. + + +* * * * * + + +One day at noon Enderby awoke. The woman still slept heavily, the first +sign of returning strength showing as a faint tinge in the pallor of +her cheek. Langton was gone. A sudden chill passed over him--had +Langton taken the boat and left them to die on lonely Ducie? With hasty +step Enderby hurried to the beach. The boat was there, safe. And at the +farther end of the beach he saw Langton, sitting on the sand, eating. + +"Selfish brute!" muttered Enderby. "I wonder what he's got?" just then +he saw, close overhead, a huge ripe pandanus, and, picking up a heavy, +flat piece of coral, he tried to ascend the triplicated bole of the +tree and hammer off some of the fruit. Langton looked up at him, and +showed his white teeth in a mocking smile at the futile effort. Enderby +walked over to him, stone in hand. He was not a vindictive man, but he +had grown to hate Langton fiercely during the past week for his selfish +neglect of his wife. And here was the fellow. gorging himself on +turtle-eggs, and his tender, delicate wife living on shell-fish and +pandanus. + + +* * * * * + + +"Langton," he said, speaking thickly and pretending not to notice the +remainder of the eggs, "the tide is out, and we may get a turtle in one +of the pools if you come with me. Mrs Langton needs something better +than that infernal pandanus fruit. Her lips are quite sore and bleeding +from eating it." + +The Inner Nature came out. "Are they? My wife's lips seem to give you a +very great deal of concern. She has not said anything to me. And I have +an idea----" the look in Enderby's face shamed into silence the slander +he was about to utter. Then he added coolly--"But as for going with you +after a turtle, thanks, I won't. I've found a nest here, and have had a +good square feed. If the cursed man-o'-war hawks and boobies hadn't +been here before me I'd have got the whole lot." Then he tore the skin +off another egg with his teeth. + +With a curious guttural voice Enderby asked--"How many eggs were left?" + +"Thirty or so--perhaps forty." + +"And you have eaten all but those?"--pointing with savage contempt to +five of the round, white balls; "give me those for your wife." + +"My dear man, Louise has too much Island blood in her not to be able to +do better than I--or you--in a case like ours. And as you have kindly +constituted yourself her providore, you had better go and look for a +nest yourself." + +"You dog!"--and the sharp-edged coral stone crashed into his brain. + + +* * * * * + + +When Enderby returned, he found Mrs Langton sitting up on the +creeper-covered mound that over-looked the beach where he had left +Langton. + +"Come away from here," he said, "into the shade. I have found a few +turtle-eggs." + +They walked back a little and sat down. But for the wild riot in his +brain, Enderby would have noted that every vestige of colour had left +her face. + +"You must be hungry," he thought he was saying to her, and he placed +the white objects in her lap. + +She turned them slowly over and over in her hands, and then dropped +them with a shudder. Some were flecked with red. + +"For God's sake," the man cried, "tell me what you know!" + +"I saw it all," she answered. + +"I swear to you, Mrs Lan----" (the name stuck in his throat) "I never +meant it. As God is my witness, I swear it. If we ever escape from here +I will give myself up to justice as a murderer." + +The woman, with hands spread over her face, shook her head from side to +side and sobbed. Then she spoke. "I thought I loved him, once. . . . +Yet it was for me . . . and you saved my life over and over again in +the boat. All sinners are forgiven we are told. . . . Why should not +you be? . . . and it was for me you did it. And I won't let you give +yourself up to justice or any one. I'll say he died in the boat." And +then the laughter of hysterics. + + +* * * * * + + +When, some months later, the JOSEPHINE, whaler, of New London, picked +them up on her way to Japan, VIA the Carolines and Pelews, the captain +satisfactorily answered the query made by Enderby if he could marry +them. He "rayther thought he could. A man who was used ter ketchin' and +killin'whales, the powerfullest creature of Almighty Gawd's creation, +was ekal to marryin' a pair of unfortunit human beans in sich a +pre-carus situation as theirs." + + +* * * * * + + +And, by the irony of fate, the Enderbys (that isn't their name) are now +living in a group of islands where there's quite a trade done in +turtle, and whenever a ship's captain comes to dine with them they +never have the local dish--turtle eggs--for dinner. "We see them so +often," Enderby explains, "and my wife is quite tired of them." + + + + +LONG CHARLEY'S GOOD LITTLE WIFE + + + +There was the island, only ten miles away, and there it had been for a +whole week. Sometimes we had got near enough to see Long Charley's +house and the figures of natives walking on the yellow beach; and then +the westerly current would set us away to leeward again. But that night +a squall came up, and in half an hour we were running down to the land. +When the lights on the beach showed up we hove-to until daylight, and +then found the surf too heavy to let us land. + + +* * * * * + + +We got in close to the reef, and could see that the trader's +copra-house was full, for there were also hundreds of bags outside, +awaiting our boats. It was clearly worth staying for. The trader, a +tall, thin, pyjama-clad man, came down to the water's edge, waved his +long arm, and then turned back and sat down on a bag of copra. We went +about and passed the village again, and once more the long man came to +the water's edge, waved his arm, and retired to his seat. + +In the afternoon we saw a native and Charley together among the bags; +then the native left him, and, as it was now low tide, the kanaka was +able to walk to the edge of the reef, where he signalled to us. Seeing +that he meant to swim off, the skipper went in as close as possible, +and backed his foreyard. Watching his chance for a lull in the yet +fierce breakers, the native slid over the reef and swam out to us as +only a Line Islander or a Tokelau man can swim. + +"How's Charley?" we asked, when the dark man reached the deck. + +"Who? Charley? Oh, he fine, plenty copra. Tapa my bowels are filled +with the sea--for one dollar! Here ARIKI VAKA (captain) and you TUHI +TUHI (supercargo)," said the native, removing from his perforated and +pendulous ear-lobe a little roll of leaf, "take this letter from the +mean man that giveth but a dollar for facing such a GALU (surf). Hast +plenty tobacco on board, friends of my heart? Apa, the surf! Not a +canoe crew could the white man get to face it. Is it good twist +tobacco, friends, or the flat cakes? Know that I am a man of Nanomea, +not one of these dog-eating people here, and a strong swimmer, else the +letter had not come." + +The supercargo took the note. It was rolled up in many thicknesses of +banana-leaf, which had kept it dry-- + + +"DEAR FRIENDS,--I have Been waiting for you for near 5 months. I am +Chock full of Cobberah and Shark Fins one Ton. I am near Starved Out, +No Biscit, no Beef, no flour, not Enything to Eat. for god's Saik send +me a case of Gin ashore if you Don't mean to Hang on till the sea goes +Down or I shall Starve. Not a Woman comes Near me because I am Run out +of Traid, so please try also to Send a Peece of Good print, as there +are some fine Women here from Nukunau, and I think I can get one for a +wife if I am smart. If you Can't take my Cobberah, and mean to Go away, +send the Squair face [Square face--Hollands gin], for god's saik, and +something for the Woman,--Your obliged Friend, CHARLES." + + +We parcelled a bottle of gin round with a small coir line, and sent it +ashore by the Nanomea man. Charley and a number of natives came to the +edge of the reef to lend a hand in landing the bearer of the treasure. +Then they all waded back to the beach, headed by the white man in the +dirty pyjamas and sodden-looking FALA hat. Reaching his house, he +turned his following away, and shut the door. + +"I bet a dollar that fellow wouldn't swap billets with the angel +Gabriel at this partikler moment," said our profane mate thoughtfully. + + +* * * * * + + +We started weighing and shipping the copra next day. After finishing +up, the solemn Charley invited the skipper and supercargo to remain +ashore till morning. His great trouble, he told us, was that he had not +yet secured a wife, "a reg'lar wife, y'know." He had, unluckily, "lost +the run" of the last Mrs Charley during his absence at another island +of the group, and negotiations with various local young women had been +broken off owing to his having run out of trade. In the South Seas, as +in the civilised world generally, to get the girl of your heart is +usually a mere matter of trade. There were, he told us with a +melancholy look, "some fine Nukunau girls here on a visit, but the one +I want don't seem to care much about stayin', unless all this new trade +fetches her." + +"Who is she?" enquired the skipper. + +"Tibakwa's daughter." + +"Let's have a look at her," said the skipper, a man of kind impulses, +who felt sorry at the intermittency of the Long One's connubial +relations. The tall, scraggy trader shambled to the door and bawled +out: "Tibakwa, Tibakwa, Tibakwa, O!" three times. + +The people, singing in the big MONIEP or town-house, stopped their +monotonous droning, and the name of Tibakwa, was yelled vociferously +through-out the village in true Gilbert Group style. In the Gilberts, +if a native in one corner of a house speaks to another in the opposite, +he bawls loud enough to be heard a mile off. + + +* * * * * + + +Tibakwa (The Shark) was a short, squat fellow, with his broad back and +chest scored and seamed with an intricate and inartistic network of +cicatrices made by sharks' teeth swords. His hair, straight, coarse, +and jet-black, was cut away square from just above his eyebrows to the +top of his ears, leaving his fierce countenance in a sort of frame. +Each ear-lobe bore a load--one had two or three sticks of tobacco, +twined in and about the distended circle of flesh, and the other a +clasp-knife and wooden pipe. Stripped to the waist he showed his +muscular outlines to perfection, and he sat down unasked in the bold, +self-confident, half-defiant manner natural to the Line Islander. + + +* * * * * + + +"Where's Tirau?" asked the trader. + +"Here," said the man of wounds, pointing outside, and he called out in +a voice like the bellow of a bull--"TIRAU O, NAKO MAI! (Come here!)" + +Tirau came in timidly, clothed only in an AIRIRI or girdle, and slunk +into a far corner. + +The melancholy trader and the father pulled her out, and she dumped +herself down in the middle of the room with a muttered "E PUAK ACARON; +KACARON; TE MALAN! (Bad white man)." + +"Fine girl, Charley," said the skipper, digging him in the ribs. "Ought +to suit you, eh! Make a good little wife." + +Negotiations then began anew. Father willing to part, girl +frightened--commenced to cry. The astute Charley brought out some new +trade. Tirau's eye here displayed a faint interest. Charley threw her, +with the air of a prince, a whole piece of turkey twill, 12 +yards--value three dollars, cost about 2s. 3d. Tirau put out a little +hand and drew it gingerly toward her. Tibakwa gave us an atrocious +wink. + +"She's cottoned!" exclaimed Charley. + + +* * * * * + + +And thus, without empty and hollow display, were two loving hearts made +to beat as one. As a practical proof of the solemnity of the occasion, +the bridegroom then and there gave Tirau his bunch of keys, which she +carefully tied to a strand of her AIRIRI, and, smoking one of the +captain's Manillas, she proceeded to bash out the mosquitoes from the +nuptial couch with a fan. We assisted her, an hour afterwards, to hoist +the sleeping body of Long Charley therein, and, telling her to bathe +his head in the morning with cold water, we rose to go. + +"Good-bye, Tirau!" we said. + +"TIAKAPO [Good-night]", said the good Little Wife, as she rolled up an +empty square gin bottle in one of Charley's shirts for a pillow, and +disposed her graceful figure on the matted floor beside his bed, to fight +mosquitoes until daylight. + + + + +THE METHODICAL MR BURR OF MADURO + + + +One day Ned Burr, a fellow trader, walked slowly up the path to my +station, and with a friendly nod sat down and watched intently as, with +native assistance, I set about salting some pork. Ned lived thirty +miles from my place, on a little island at the entrance to the lagoon. +He was a prosperous man, and only drank under the pressure of the +monotony caused by the non-arrival of a ship to buy his produce. He +would then close his store, and, aided by a number of friendly male +natives, start on a case of gin. But never a woman went into Ned's +house, though many visited the store, where Ned bought their produce, +paid for it in trade or cash, and sent them off, after treating them on +a strictly business basis. + +Now, the Marshall Island women much resented this. Since Ned's wife had +died, ten years previously, the women, backed by the chiefs, had made +most decided, but withal diplomatic, assaults upon his celibacy. The +old men of his village had respectfully and repeatedly reminded him +that his state of singleness was not a direct slight to themselves as +leading men alone. If he refused to marry again he surely would not +cast such a reflection upon the personal characters of some two or +three hundred young girls as to refuse a few of them the position of +honorary wives PRO TEM., or until he found one whom he might think +worthy of higher honours. But the slow-thinking, methodical trader only +opened a bottle of gin, gave them fair words and a drink all round, and +absolutely declined to open any sort of matrimonial negotiations. + + +* * * * * + + +"I'm come to hev some talk with you when you've finished saltin'," he +said, as he rose and meditatively prodded a junk of meat with his +forefinger. + +"Right, old man," I said. "I'll come now," and we went into the big +room and sat down. + +"Air ye game ter come and see me get married?" he asked, looking away +past me, through the open door, to where the surf thundered and tumbled +on the outer reef. + +"Ned," I said solemnly, "I know you don't joke, so you must mean it. Of +course I will. I'm sure all of us fellows will be delighted to hear +you're going to get some nice little CARAJZ [an unmarried girl] to lighten +up that big house of yours over there. Who's the girl, Ned?" + +"Le-jennabon." + +"Whew!" I said, "why, she's the daughter of the biggest chief on Arhnu. +I didn't think any white man could get her, even if he gave her people +a boat-load of dollars as a wedding-gift." + +"Well, no," said Ned, stroking his beard meditatively, "I suppose I +SHOULD feel a bit set up; but two years ago her people said that, +because I stood to them in the matter of some rifles when they had +trouble with King Jibberick, I could take her. She was rather young +then, any way; but I've been over to Arhnu several times, and I've had +spies out, and damn me if I ever could hear a whisper agin' her. I'm +told for sure that her father and uncles would ha' killed any one that +came after her. So I'm a-goin' to take her and chance it." + +"Ned," I said, "you know your own affairs and these people better than +I do. Yet are you really going to pin your faith on a Marshall Island +girl? You are not like any of us traders. You see, we know what to +expect sometimes, and our morals are a lot worse than those of the +natives. And it doesn't harrow our feelings much if any one of us has +to divorce a wife and get another; it only means a lot of new dresses +and some guzzling, drinking, and speechifying, and some bother in +teaching the new wife how to make bread. But your wife that died was a +Manhikian--another kind. They don't breed that sort here in the +Marshalls. Think of it twice, Ned, before you marry her." + + +* * * * * + + +The girl was a beauty. There are many like her in that far-away cluster +of coral atolls. That she was a chief's child it was easy to see; the +abject manner in which the commoner natives always behaved themselves +in her presence showed their respect for Le-jennabon. Of course we all +got very jolly. There were half a dozen of us traders there, and we +were, for a wonder, all on friendly terms. Le-jennabon sat on a fine +mat in the big room, and in a sweetly dignified manner received the +wedding-gifts. One of our number, Charlie de Buis, though in a state of +chronic poverty, induced by steadfast adherence to square gin at five +dollars a case, made his offerings--a gold locket covering a woman's +miniature, a heavy gold ring, and a pair of fat, cross-bred Muscovy +ducks. The bride accepted them with a smile. + +"Who is this?" she asked, looking at the portrait--"your white wife?" +"No," replied the bashful Charles, "another man's. That's why I give it +away, curse her! But the ducks I bred myself on Madurocaron;." + + +* * * * * + + +A month or two passed. Then, on one Sunday afternoon, about dusk, I saw +Ned's whale-boat coming over across the lagoon. I met him on the beach. +Trouble was in his face, yet his hard, impassive features were such +that only those who knew him well could discover it. Instead of +entering the house, he silently motioned me to come further along the +sand, where we reached an open spot clear of coco palms. Ned sat down +and filled his pipe. I waited patiently. The wind had died away, and +the soft swish and swirl of the tide as the ripples lapped the beach +was the only sound that broke upon the silence of the night. + + +* * * * * + + +"You were right. But it doesn't matter now . . ." He laughed softly. "A +week ago a canoe-party arrived from Ebon. There were two chiefs. Of +course they came to my house to trade. They had plenty of money. There +were about a hundred natives belonging to them. The younger man was +chief of Likieb--a flash buck. The first day he saw Le-jennabon he had +a lot too much to say to her. I watched him. Next morning my +toddy-cutter came and told me that the flash young chief from Likieb +had stuck him up and drank my toddy, and had said something about my +wife--you know how they talk in parables when they mean mischief. I +would have shot him for the toddy racket, but I was waitin' for a +better reason. . . . The old hag who bosses my cook-shed said to me as +she passed, 'Go and listen to a song of cunning over there'--pointing +to a clump of bread-fruit trees. I walked over--quietly. Le-jennabon +and her girls were sitting down on mats. Outside the fence was a lad +singing this--in a low voice-- + + +"'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers.' + + +"Le-jennabon and the girls bent their heads and said nothing. Then the +devil's imp commenced again-- + + +"'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers.' + + +"Some of the girls laughed and whispered to Le-jennabon. She shook her +head, and looked around timorously. Plain enough, wasn't it? Presently +the boy creeps up to the fence, and drops over a wreath of yellow +blossoms. The girls laughed. One of them picked it up, and offered it +to Le-jennabon. She waved it away. Then, again, the cub outside sang +softly-- + + +"'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers,' + + +"and they all laughed again, and Le-jennabon put the wreath on her head, +and I saw the brown hide of the boy disappear among the trees." + + +* * * * * + + +I went back to the house. I wanted to make certain she would follow the +boy first. After a few minutes some of Le-jennabon's women came to me, +and said they were going to the weather side of the island--it's narrer +across, as you know--to pick flowers. I said all right, to go, as I was +going to do something else, so couldn't come with them. Then I went to +the trade-room and got what I wanted. The old cook-hag showed me the +way they had gone, and grinned when she saw what I had slid down inside +my pyjamas. I cut round and got to the place. I had a right good idea +where it was. + + +* * * * * + + +"The girls soon came along the path, and then stopped and talked to +Le-jennabon and pointed to a clump of bread-fruit trees standing in an +arrow-root patch. She seemed frightened--but went. Half-way through she +stopped, and then I saw my beauty raise his head from the ground and +march over to her. I jest giv' him time ter enjoy a smile, and then I +stepped out and toppled him over. Right through his carcase--them +Sharp's rifle make a hole you could put your fist into. + +"The girl dropped too--sheer funk. Old Lebauro, the cook, slid through +the trees and stood over him, and said, 'U, GUK! He's a fine-made man,' +and gave me her knife; and then I collared Le-jennabon, and ----" + +"For God's sake, Ned, don't tell me you killed her too!" + +He shook his head slowly. + +"No, I couldn't hurt HER. But I held her with one hand, she feeling +dead and cold, like a wet deck-swab; then the old cook-woman undid my +flash man's long hair, and, twining her skinny old claws in it, pulled +it taut, while I sawed at the chap's neck with my right hand. The knife +was heavy and sharp, and I soon got the job through. Then I gave the +thing to Le-jennabon to carry. + + +* * * * * + + +"I made her walk in front of me. Every time she dropped the head I +slewed her round and made her lift it up again. And the old cook-devil +trotted astern o' us. When we came close to the town, I says to +Le-jennabon: + +"'Do you want to live?' + +"'Yes,' says she, in a voice like a whisper. + +"'Then sing,' says I, 'sing loud-- + + +"'Marriage hides the tricks of lovers,' + + +And she sang it in a choky kind of quaver. + +"There was a great rush o' people ter see the procession. They stood in +a line on both sides of the path, and stared and said nothin'. + +"Presently we comes to where all the Likieb chief's people was +quartered. They knew the head and ran back for their rifles, but my +crowd in the village was too strong, and, o' course, sided with me, and +took away their guns. Then the crowd gathers round my place, and I +makes Le-jennabon hold up the head and sing again--sing that devil's +chant. + +"'Listen,' I says to the people, 'listen to my wife singing a love +song.' Then I takes the thing, wet and bloody, and slings it into the +middle of the Likieb people, and gave Le-jennabon a shove and sent her +inside." + + +* * * * * + + +I was thinking what would be the best thing to say, and could only +manage "It's a bad business, Ned." + +"Bad! That's where you're wrong," and, rising, Ned brushed the sand off +the legs of his pyjamas. "It's just about the luckiest thing as could +ha' happened. Ye see, it's given Le-jennabon a good idea of what may +happen to her if she ain't mighty correct. An' it's riz me a lot in the +esteem of the people generally as a man who hez business principles." + + + + +A TRULY GREAT MAN + + + +A Mid-Pacific Sketch + + +Then the flag of "Bobby" Towns, of Sydney, was still mighty in the +South Seas. The days had not come in which steamers with brass-bound +supercargoes, carrying tin boxes and taking orders like merchants' +bagmen, for goods "to arrive," exploited the Ellice, Kingsmill, and +Gilbert Groups. Bluff-bowed old wave-punchers like the SPEC, the LADY +ALICIA and the E. K. BATESON plunged their clumsy hulls into the +rolling swell of the mid-Pacific, carrying their "trade" of knives, +axes, guns, bad rum, and good tobacco, instead of, as now, white +umbrellas, paper boots and shoes, German sewing-machines and fancy +prints--"zephyrs," the smartly-dressed paper-collared supercargo of +to-day calls them, as he submits a card of patterns to Emilia, the +native teacher's wife, who, as the greatest Lady in the Land, must have +first choice. + + +* * * * * + + +In those days the sleek native missionary was an unknown quantity in +the Tokelaus and Kingsmills, and the local white trader answered all +requirements. He was generally a rough character--a runaway from some +Australian or American whaler, or a wandering Ishmael, who, for reasons +of his own, preferred living among the intractable, bawling, and +poverty-stricken people of the equatorial Pacific to dreaming away his +days in the monotonously happy valleys of the Society and Marquesas +Groups. + + +* * * * * + + +Such a man was Probyn, who dwelt on one of the low atolls of the Ellice +Islands. He had landed there one day from a Sydney sperm whaler with a +chest of clothes, a musket or two, and a tierce of twist tobacco; with +him came a savage-eyed, fierce-looking native wife, over whose bared +shoulders and bosom fell long waves of black hair; with her was a child +about five years old. + +The second mate of the whaler, who was in charge of the boat, not +liking the looks of the excited natives who swarmed around the +newcomer, bade him a hurried farewell, and pushed away to the ship, +which lay-to off the passage with her fore-yard aback. Then the +clamorous people pressed more closely around Probyn and his wife, and +assailed them with questions. + +So far neither of them had spoken. Probyn, a tall, wiry, scanty-haired +man, with quiet, deep-set eyes, was standing with one foot on the +tierce of tobacco and his hands in his pockets. His wife glared +defiantly at some two or three score of reddish-brown women who crowded +eagerly around her to stare into her face; holding to the sleeve of her +dress was the child, paralysed into the silence of fright. + + +* * * * * + + +The deafening babble and frantic gesticulations were perfectly +explicable to Probyn, and he apprehended no danger. The head man of the +village had not yet appeared, and until he came this wild license of +behaviour would continue. At last the natives became silent and parted +to the right and left as Tahori, the head man, his fat body shining +with coconut oil, and carrying an ebony-wood club in his hand, stood in +front of the white man and eyed him up and down. The scrutiny seemed +satisfactory. He stretched out his huge, naked arm, and shook Probyn's +hand, uttering his one word of Samoan--"TALOFA!" [Lit., "My love to you", +the Samoan salutation] and then, in his own dialect, he asked: "What is +your name, and what do you want?" + +"Sam," replied Probyn. And then, in the Tokelau language, which the +wild-eyed people around him fairly understood, "I have come here to +live with you and trade for oil"--and he pointed to the tierce of +tobacco. + +"Where are you from?" + +"From the land called Nukunono, in the Tokelau." + +"Why come here?" + +"Because I killed an enemy there." + +"Good!" grunted the fat man; "there are no twists in thy tongue; but +why did the boat hasten away so quickly?" + +"They were frightened because of the noise. He with the face like a +fowl's talked too much"--and he pointed to a long, hatchet-visaged +native, who had been especially turbulent and vociferous. + + +* * * * * + + +"Ha!" and the fat, bearded face of Tahori turned from the white man to +him of whom the white man had spoken--"is it thee, Makoi? And so thou +madest the strangers hasten away! That was wrong. Only for thee I had +gone to the ship and gotten many things. Come hither!" + +Then he stooped and picked up one of Probyn's muskets, handed it to the +white man, and silently indicated the tall native with a nod. The other +natives fell back. Niabong, Probyn's wife, set her boy on his feet, put +her hand in her bosom and drew out a key, with which she opened the +chest. She threw back the lid, fixed her black eyes on Probyn, and +waited. + +Probyn, holding the musket in his left hand, mused a moment. Then he +asked: + +"Whose man is he?" + +"Mine," said Tahori; "he is from Oaitupu, and my bondman." + +"Hath he a wife?" + +"Nay; he is poor, and works in my PURAKA [A coarse species of taro (ARUM +ESCULENTUM) growing on the low-lying atolls of the mid-Pacific.] field!" + +"Good," said Probyn, and he motioned to his wife. She dived her hand +into the chest and handed him a tin of powder, then a bullet, a cap, +and some scraps of paper. + +Slowly he loaded the musket, and Tahori, seizing the bondman by his +arm, led him out to the open, and stood by, club in hand, on the alert. + +Probyn knew his reputation depended on the shot. He raised his musket +and fired. The ball passed through the chest of Makoi. Then four men +picked up the body and carried it into a house. + + +* * * * * + + +Probyn laid down the musket and motioned again to Niabong. She handed +him a hatchet and blunt chisel. Tahori smiled pleasantly, and, drawing +the little boy to him, patted his head. + +Then, at a sign from him, a woman brought Niabong a shell of sweet +toddy. The chief sat cross-legged and watched Probyn opening the tierce +of tobacco. Niabong locked the box again and sat upon it. + +"Who are you?" said Tahori, still caressing the boy, to the white man's +wife. + +"Niabong. But my tongue twists with your talk here. I am of Naura +(Pleasant Island). By-and-by I shall understand it." + +"True. He is a great man, thy man," said the chief, nodding at Probyn. + +"A great man, truly. There is not one thing in the world but he can do +it." + +"E MOE [true]," said the fat man, approvingly; "I can see it. Look you, he +shall be as my brother, and thy child here shall eat of the best in the +land." + +Probyn came over with his two hands filled with sticks of tobacco. + +"Bring a basket," he said. + +A young native girl slid out from the coconut grove at Tahori's +bidding, and stood behind him holding a basket. Probyn counted out into +it two hundred sticks of tobacco. + +"See, Tahori. I am a just man to thee because thou art a just man to +me. Here is the price of him that thou gavest to me." + +Tahori rose and beckoned to the people to return. "Look at this man. He +is a truly great man. His heart groweth from his loins upwards to his +throat. Bring food to my house quickly, that he and his wife and child +may eat. And to-morrow shall every man cut wood for his house, a house +that shall be in length six fathoms, and four in width. Such men as he +come from the gods." + + + + +THE DOCTOR'S WIFE + + + +Consanguinity--From A Polynesian Standpoint + + +"Oho!" said Lagisiva, the widow, tossing her hair back over her +shoulders, as she raised the heavy, fluted tappa mallet in her thick, +strong right hand, and dealt the rough cloth a series of quick +strokes--"Oho!" said the dark-faced Lagisiva, looking up at the White +Man, "because I be a woman dost think me a fool? I tell thee I know +some of the customs of the PAPALAGI (the white foreigners). Much wisdom +have ye in many things; but again I tell thee, O friend of my sons, +that in some other things the people of thy nation--ay, of all white +nations, they be as the beasts of the forest--the wild goat and +pig--without reason and without shame. TAH! Has not my eldest son, Tui +Fau, whom the white men call Bob, lived for seven years in Sini +(Sydney), when he returned from those places by New Guinea, where he +was diver? And he has filled my ears with the bad and shameless customs +of the PAPALAGI. ISA! I say again thy women have not the shame of ours. +The heat of desire devoureth chastity even in those of one blood!" + +"In what do they offend, O my mother?" + +"AUE! Life is short; and, behold, this piece of SIAPO [The tappa cloth of +the South Seas, made from the bark of the paper mulberry.] is for +a wedding present, and I must hurry; but yet put down thy gun and +bag, and we shall smoke awhile, and thou shalt feel shame while I tell +of one of the PAPALAGI customs--the marrying of brother and sister!" + +"Nay, mother," said the White Man, "not brother and sister, but only +cousins." + +"ISA! [an expression of contempt]" and the big widow spat scornfully on +the ground, "those are words--words. It is the same; the same is the +blood, the same is the bone. Even in our heathen days we pointed the +finger at one who looked with the eye of love on the daughter of his +father's brother or sister--for such did we let his blood out upon the +sand. And I, old Lagisiva, have seen a white man brought to shame through +this wickedness!" + +"Tell me," said the White Man. + + +* * * * * + + +"He was a FOMA'I (doctor), and rich, and came here because he desired +to see strange places, and was weary of his life in the land of the +PAPALAGI. So he remained with us, and hunted the wild boar with our +young men, and became strong and hardy, and like unto one of our +people. And then, because he was for ever restless, he sailed away once +and returned in a small ship, and brought back trade and built a store +and a fine house to dwell in. The chief of this town gave him, for +friendship, a piece of land over there by the Vai-ta-milo, and thus did +he become a still greater man. His store was full of rich goods, and he +kept many servants, and at night-time his house was as a blaze of fire, +for the young men and women would go there and sing and dance, and he +had many lovers amongst our young girls. + +"I, old Lagisiva, who am now fat and dull, was one. Oho, he was a man +of plenty! Did a girl but look out between her eyelashes at a piece of +print in the store, lo! it was hers, even though it measured twenty +fathoms in length--and print was a dollar a fathom in those days. So +every girl--even those from parts far off--cast herself in his way, +that he might notice her. And he was generous to all alike--in that +alone was wisdom. + + +* * * * * + + +"Once or twice every year the ships brought him letters. And he would +count the marks on the paper, and tell us that they came from a woman +of the PAPALAGI--his cousin, as you would call her--whose picture was +hung over his table. She was for ever smiling down upon us, and her +eyes were his eyes, and if he but smiled then were the two alike--alike +as are two children of the same birth. When three years had come and +gone a ship brought him a letter, and that night there were many of us +at his house, men and women, to talk with the people from the ship. +When those had gone away to their sleep, he called to the chief, and +said:-- + +"'In two days, O my friend, I set out for my land again; but to return, +for much do I desire to remain with you always. In six months I shall +be here again. And there is one thing I would speak of. I shall bring +back a white wife, a woman of my own country, whom I have loved for +many years.' + +"Then Tamaali'i, the chief, who was my father's father, and very old, +said, 'She shall be my daughter, and welcome,' and many of us young +girls said also, 'She shall be welcome'--although we felt sorrowful to +lose a lover so good and open-handed. And then did the FOMA'I call to +the old chief and two others, and they entered the store and lighted +lamps, and presently a man went forth into the village, and cried +aloud: 'Come hither, all people, and listen!' So, many hundreds came, +and we all went in and found the floor covered with some of everything +that the white man possessed. And the chief spoke and said: + +"'Behold, my people, this our good friend goeth away to his own country +that he may bring back a wife. And because many young unmarried girls +will say, "Why does he leave us? Are not we as good to look upon as +this other woman?" does he put these presents here on the ground and +these words into my mouth--"Out of his love to you, which must be a +thing that is past and forgotten, the wife that is coming must not know +of some little things--that is PAPALAGI custom.'" + +"And then every girl that had a wish took whatever she fancied, and the +white man charged us to say naught that would arouse the anger of the +wife that was to come. And so he departed. + + +* * * * * + + +"One hundred and ten fat hogs killed we and roasted whole for the feast +of welcome. I swear it by the Holy Ones of God's Kingdom--one hundred +and ten. And yet this white lily of his never smiled--not even on us +young girls who danced and sang before her, only she clung to his arm, +and, behold, when we drew close to her we saw it was the woman in the +picture--his sister! + +"And then one by one all those that had gathered to do him honour went +away in shame--shame that he should do this, wed his own sister, and +many women said worse of her. But yet the feast--the hogs, and yams, +and taro, and fish, and fowls--was brought and placed by his doorstep, +but no one spake, and at night-time he was alone with his wife, till he +sent for the old chief, and reproached him with bitter words for the +coldness of the people, and asked: 'Why is this?' + + +* * * * * + + +"And the old man pointed to the picture over the table, and said: 'Is +this she--thy wife?' + +"'Ay,' said the White Man. + +"'Is she not of the same blood as thyself?' + +"'Even so,' said he. + +"'Then shalt thou live alone in thy shame,' said the old man; and he +went away. + +"So, for many months, these two lived. He found some to work for him, +and some young girls to tend his sister, whom he called his wife, +whilst she lay ill with her first child. And the day after it was born, +some one whispered: 'He is accursed! the child cries not--it is dumb.' +For a week it lived, yet never did it cry, for the curse of wickedness +was upon it. Then the white man nursed her tenderly, and took her away +to live in Fiji for six months. When they came back it was the same--no +one cared to go inside his house, and he cursed us, and said he would +bring men from Tokelau to work for him. We said naught. Then in time +another child was born, and it was hideous to look upon, and that also +died. + + +* * * * * + + +"Now, there was a girl amongst us whose name was Suni, to whom the +white woman spoke much, for she was learning our tongue, and Suni, by +reason of the white woman's many presents, spoke openly to her, and +told her of the village talk. Then the white woman wept, and arose and +spoke to the man for a long while. And she came back to Suni, and said: +'What thou hast told me was in my own heart three years ago; yet, +because it is the custom of my people, I married this man, who is the +son of my father's brother. But now I shall go away.' Then the white +man came out and beat Suni with a stick. But yet was his sister, whom +he called his wife, eaten up with shame, and when a ship came they went +away, and we saw her not again. For about two years we heard no more of +our white man, till he returned and said the woman was dead. And he +took Suni for wife, who bore him three children, and then they went +away to some other country--I know not where. + + +* * * * * + + +"I thank thee many, many times, O friend of my sons. Four children of +mine here live in this village, yet not a one of them ever asketh me +when I last smoked. May God walk with thee always for this stick of +tobacco." + + + + +THE FATE OF THE ALIDA + + + +Three years ago, in an Australian paper, I read something that set me +thinking of Taplin--of Taplin and his wife, and the fate of the ALIDA. +This is what I read:-- + +"News has reached Tahiti that a steamer had arrived at Toulon with two +noted prisoners on board. These men, who are brothers named Rorique, +long ago left Tahiti on an island-trading trip, and when the vessel got +to sea they murdered the captain, a passenger, the supercargo (Mr +Gibson, of Sydney), and two sailors, and threw their bodies overboard. +The movers in the affair were arrested at Ponape, in the Caroline +Islands. The vessel belonged to a Tahitian prince, and was called the +NUROAHITI, but its name had been changed after the tragedy. The accused +persons were sent to Manilla. From Manilla they appear now to have been +sent on to France." + +[NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.--The brothers Rorique were sentenced to imprisonment +for life at Brest in 1895.] + +In the year 1872 we were lying inside Funafuti Lagoon, in the Ellice +Group. The last cask of oil had been towed off to the brig and placed +under hatches, and we were to sail in the morning for our usual cruise +among the Gilbert and Kingsmill Islands. + +Our captain, a white trader from the shore, and myself, were sitting on +deck "yarning" and smoking. We lay about a quarter of a mile from the +beach--such a beach, white as the driven snow, and sweeping in a great +curve for five long miles to the north and a lesser distance to the +south and west. Right abreast of the brig, nestling like huge birds' +nests in the shade of groves of coconut and bread-fruit trees, were the +houses of the principal village in Funafuti. + +Presently the skipper picked up his glasses that lay beside him on the +skylight, and looked away down to leeward, where the white sails of a +schooner beating up to the anchorage were outlined against the line of +palms that fringed the beach of Funafala--the westernmost island that +forms one of the chain enclosing Funafuti Lagoon. + +"It's Taplin's schooner, right enough," he said. "Let us go ashore and +give him and his pretty wife a hand to pack up." + + +* * * * * + + +Taplin was the name of the only other white trader on Funafuti besides +old Tom Humphreys, our own man. He had been two years on the island, +and was trading in opposition to our trader, as agent for a foreign +house--our owners were Sydney people--but his firm's unscrupulous +method of doing business had disgusted him. So one day he told the +supercargo of their vessel that he would trade for them no longer than +the exact time he had agreed upon--two years. He had come to Funafuti +from the Pelews, and was now awaiting the return of his firm's vessel +to take him back there again. Getting into our boat we were pulled +ashore and landed on the beach in front of the trader's house. + +"Well, Taplin, here's your schooner at last," said old Tom, as we shook +hands and seated ourselves in the comfortable, pleasant-looking room. +"I see you're getting ready to go." + +Taplin was a man of about thirty or so, with a quiet, impassive face, +and dark, deep-set eyes that gave to his features a somewhat gloomy +look, except when he smiled, which was not often. Men with that +curious, far-off look in their eyes are not uncommon among the lonely +islands of the wide Pacific. Sometimes it comes to a man with long, +long years of wandering to and fro; and you will see it deepen when, by +some idle, chance word, you move the memories of a forgotten past--ere +he had even dreamed of the existence of the South Sea Islands and for +ever dissevered himself from all links and associations of the outside +world. + + +* * * * * + + +"Yes," he answered, "I am nearly ready. I saw the schooner at daylight, +and knew it was the ALIDA." + +"Where do you think of going to, Taplin?" I asked. + +"Back to the Carolines. Nerida belongs down that way, you know; and she +is fretting to get back again--otherwise I wouldn't leave this island. +I've done pretty well here, although the people I trade for are--well, +you know what they are." + +"Aye," assented old Humphreys, "there isn't one of 'em but what is the +two ends and bight of a--scoundrel; and that supercargo with the yaller +moustache and womany hands is the worst of the lot. I wonder if he's +aboard this trip? I don't let him inside my house; I've got too many +daughters, and they all think him a fine man." + + +* * * * * + + +Nerida, Taplin's wife, came out to us from an inner room. She was a +native of one of the Pelew Islands, a tall, slenderly-built girl, with +pale, olive skin and big, soft eyes. A flowing gown of yellow +muslin--the favourite colour of the Portuguese-blooded natives of the +Pelews--buttoned high up to her throat, draped her graceful figure. +After putting her little hand in ours, and greeting us in the Funafuti +dialect, she went over to Taplin, and touching his arm, pointed out the +schooner that was now only a mile or so away, and a smile parted her +lips, and the star-like eyes glowed and filled with a tender light. + +I felt Captain Warren touch my arm as he rose and went outside. I +followed. + + +* * * * * + + +"L----," said Warren, "can't we do something for Taplin ourselves? +Isn't there a station anywhere about Tonga or Wallis Island that would +suit him?" + +"Would he come, Warren? He--or, rather, that pretty wife of his--seems +bent upon going away in the schooner to the Carolines." + +"Aye," said the skipper, "that's it. If it were any other vessel I +wouldn't care." Then suddenly: + +"That fellow Motley (the supercargo) is a damned scoundrel--capable of +any villainy where a woman is concerned. Did you ever hear about old +Raymond's daughter down at Mangareva?" + +I had heard the story very often. By means of a forged letter +purporting to have been written by her father--an old English trader in +the Gambier Group--Motley had lured the beautiful young half-blood away +from a school in San Francisco, and six months afterwards turned her +adrift on the streets of Honolulu. Raymond was a lonely man, and +passionately attached to his only child; so no one wondered when, +reaching California a year after and finding her gone, he shot himself +in his room at an hotel. + + +* * * * * + + +"I will ask him, anyway," I said; and as we went back into the house +the ALIDA shot past our line of vision through the coco-palms, and +brought up inside the brig. + +"Taplin," I said, "would you care about taking one of our stations to +the eastward? Name any island you fancy, and we will land you there +with the pick of our 'trade' room." + +"Thank you. I would be only too glad, but I cannot. I have promised +Nerida to go back to Babelthouap, or somewhere in the Pelews, and +Motley has promised to land us at Ponape, in the Carolines. We can get +away from there in one of the Dutch firm's vessels." + +"I am very sorry, Taplin----" I began, when old Captain Warren burst in +with--"Look here, Taplin, we haven't got much time to talk. Here's the +ALIDA'S boat coming, with that (blank blank) scoundrel Motley in it. +Take my advice. Don't go away in the ALIDA." And then he looked at +Nerida, and whispered something. + +A red spark shone in Taplin's dark eyes, then he pressed Warren's hand. + +"I know," he answered, "he's a most infernal villain--Nerida hates him +too. But you see how I am fixed. The ALIDA is our only chance of +getting back to the north-west. But he hasn't got old Raymond to deal +with in me. Here they are." + + +* * * * * + + +Motley came in first, hat and fan in hand. He was a fine-looking man, +with blue eyes and an unusually fair skin for an island supercargo, +with a long, drooping, yellow moustache. Riedermann, the skipper, who +followed, was stout, coarse, red-faced, and brutal. + +"How are you, gentlemen?" said Motley affably, turning from Taplin and +his wife, and advancing towards us. "Captain Riedermann and I saw the +spars of your brig showing up over the coconuts yesterday, and +therefore knew we should have the pleasure of meeting you." + +Warren looked steadily at him for a moment, and then glanced at his +outstretched hand. + +"The pleasure isn't mutual, blarst you, Mr Motley," he said coldly, and +he put his hand in his pocket. + +The supercargo took a step nearer to him with a savage glare in his +blue eyes. "What do you mean by this, Captain Warren?" + +"Mean?" and the imperturbable Warren seated himself on a corner of the +table, and gazed stolidly first at the handsome Motley and then at the +heavy, vicious features of Riedermann. "Oh, anything you like. Perhaps +it's because it's not pleasant to see white men landing at a quiet +island like this with revolvers slung to their waists under their +pyjamas; looks a bit too much like Bully Hayes' style for me," and then +his tone of cool banter suddenly changed to that of studied insolence. +"I say, Motley, I was talking about you just now to Taplin AND Nerida. +Do you want to know what I was saying? Perhaps I had better tell you. I +was talking about Tita Raymond--and yourself." + + +* * * * * + + +Motley put his right hand under his pyjama jacket, but Taplin sprang +forward, seized his wrist in a grip of iron, and drew him aside. + +"The man who draws a pistol in my house, Mr Motley, does a foolish +thing," he said, in quiet, contemptuous tones, as he threw the +supercargo's revolver into a corner. + +With set teeth and clenched hands Motley flung himself into a chair, +unable to speak. + +Warren, still seated on the table, swung his foot nonchalantly to and +fro, and then began at Riedermann. + +"Why, how's this, Captain Ricdermann? Don't you back up your +supercargo's little quarrels, or have you left your pistol on board? +Ah, no, you haven't. I can see it there right enough. Modesty forbids +you putting a bullet into a man in the presence of a lady, eh?" Then +slewing round again, he addressed Motley: "By God! sir, it is well for +you that we are in a white man's house, and that that man is my friend +and took away that pistol from your treacherous hand. If you had fired +at me I would have booted you from one end of Funafuti beach to the +other--and I've a damned good mind to do it now, but won't, as Taplin +has to do some business with you." + +"That will do, Warren," I said. "We don't want to make a scene in +Taplin's house. Let us go away and allow him to finish his business." + +Still glaring angrily at Riedermann and Motley, Warren got down slowly +from the table. Then we bade Taplin and Nerida good-bye and went +aboard. + +At daylight we saw Taplin and his wife go off in the ALIDA'S boat. They +waved their hands to us in farewell as the boat pulled past the brig, +and then the schooner hove-up anchor, and with all sail set, stood away +down to the north-west passage of the lagoon. + +A year or so afterward we were on a trading voyage to the islands of +the Tubuai Group, and were lying becalmed, in company with a New +Bedford whaler. Her skipper came on board the brig, and we started +talking of Taplin, whom the whale-ship captain knew. + +"Didn't you hear?" he said. "The ALIDA never showed up again. 'Turned +turtle,' I suppose, somewhere in the islands, like all those slashing, +over-masted, 'Frisco-built schooners do, sooner or later." + +"Poor Taplin," said Warren, "I thought somehow we would never see him +again." + + +* * * * * + + +Five years had passed. Honest old Warren, fiery-tempered and +true-hearted, had long since died of fever in the Solomons, and I was +supercargo with a smart young American skipper in the brigantine +PALESTINE, when we one day sailed along the weather-side of a tiny +little atoll in the Caroline Islands. + +The PALESTINE was leaking, and Packenham, tempted by the easy passage +into the beautiful lagoon, decided to run inside and discharge our +cargo of copra to get at the leak. + +The island had but very few inhabitants--perhaps ten or twelve men and +double that number of women and children. No ship, they told us, had +ever entered the lagoon but Bully Hayes' brig, and that was nine years +before. There was nothing on the island to tempt a trading vessel, and +even the sperm whalers, as they lumbered lazily past from Strong's +Island to Guam, would not bother to lower a boat and "dicker" for +pearl-shell or turtle. + +At the time of Hayes' visit the people were in sore straits, and on the +brink of actual starvation, for although there were fish and turtle in +plenty, they had not the strength to catch them. A few months before, a +cyclone had destroyed nearly all the coconut trees, and an epidemic +followed it, and carried off half the scanty population. + + +* * * * * + + +The jaunty sea-rover--than whom a kinder-hearted man to NATIVES never +sailed the South Seas--took pity on the survivors, especially the +youngest and prettiest girls, and gave them a passage in the famous +LEONORA to another island where food was plentiful. There they remained +for some years, till the inevitable MAL DU PAYS that is inborn to every +Polynesian and Micronesian, became too strong to be resisted; and so +one day a wandering sperm whaler brought them back again. + +But in their absence strangers had come to the island. As the people +landed from the boats of the whale-ship, two brown men, a woman, and a +child, came out of one of the houses, and gazed at them. Then they fled +to the farthest end of the island and hid. + +Some weeks passed before the returned islanders found out the retreat +of the strangers, who were armed with rifles, and called them to "come +out and be friends." They did so, and by some subtle treachery the two +men were killed during the night. + +The woman, who was young and handsome, was spared, and, from what we +could learn, had been well treated ever since. + +"Where did the strangers come from?" we asked. + +That they could not tell us. But the woman had since told them that the +ship had anchored in the lagoon because she was leaking badly, and that +the captain and crew were trying to stop the leak when she began to +heel over, and they had barely time to save a few things when she sank. +In a few days the captain and crew left the island in the boat, and, +rather than face the dangers of a long voyage in such a small boat, the +two natives and the woman elected to remain on the island. + +"That's a mighty fishy yarn," said Packenham to me. "I daresay these +fellows have been doing a little cutting-off business. But then I don't +know of any missing vessel. We'll go ashore to-morrow and have a look +round." + +A little after sunset the skipper and I were leaning over the rail, +watching the figures of the natives, as they moved to and fro in the +glare of the fires lighted here and there along the beach. + +"Hallo!" said Packenham, "here's a canoe coming, with only a woman in +it. By thunder! she's travelling, too, and coming straight for the +ship." + +A few minutes more and the canoe was alongside. The woman hastily +picked up a little girl that was sitting in the bottom, looked up, and +called out in English-- + +"Take my little girl, please." + +A native sailor leant over the bulwarks and lifted up the child, and +the woman clambered after her. Then, seizing the child from the sailor, +she flew along the deck and into the cabin. + +She was standing facing us as we followed and entered, holding the +child tightly to her bosom. The soft light of the cabin lamp fell full +upon her features, and we saw that she was very young, and seemed +wildly excited. + +"Who are you?" we said, when she advanced, put out a trembling hand to +us, and said: "Don't you know me, Mr Supercargo? I am Nerida, Taplin's +wife." Then she sank on a seat and sobbed violently. + + +* * * * * + + +We waited till she regained her composure somewhat, and then I said: +"Nerida, where is Taplin?" + +"Dead," she said in a voice scarce above a whisper; "only us two are +left--I and little Teresa." + +Packenham held out his hands to the child. With wondering, timid eyes, +she came, and for a moment or two looked doubtingly upwards into the +brown, handsome face of the skipper, and then nestled beside him. + +For a minute or so the ticking of the cabin clock broke the silence, +ere I ventured to ask the one question uppermost in my mind. + +"Nerida, how and where did Taplin die?" + +"My husband was murdered at sea," she said and then she covered her +face with her hands. + +"Don't ask her any more now," said Packenham pityingly; "let her tell +us to-morrow." + +She raised her face. "Yes, I will tell you to-morrow. You will take me +away with you, will you not, gentlemen--for my child's sake?" + +"Of course," said the captain promptly. And he stretched out his honest +hand to her. + + +* * * * * + + +"She's a wonderfully pretty woman," said Packenham, as we walked the +poop later on, and he glanced down through the open skylight to where +she and the child slept peacefully on the cushioned transoms. "How +prettily she speaks English, too. Do you think she was fond of her +husband, or was it merely excitement that made her cry?--native women +are as prone to be as hysterical as our own when under any violent +emotion." + +"I can only tell you, Packenham, that when I saw her last, five years +ago, she was a graceful girl of eighteen, and as full of happiness as a +bird is of song. She looks thirty now, and her face is thin and +drawn--but I don't say all for love of Taplin." + +"That will all wear off by and by," said the skipper confidently. + +"Yes," I thought, "and she won't be a widow long." + + +* * * * * + + +Next morning Nerida had an hour or two among the prints and muslin in +the trade-room, and there was something of the old beauty about her +when she sat down to breakfast with us. We were to sail at noon. The +leak had been stopped, and Packenham was in high good-humour. + +"Nerida," I inquired unthinkingly, "do you know what became of the +ALIDA? She never turned up again." + +"Yes," she answered; "she is here, at the bottom of the lagoon. Will +you come and look at her?" + +After breakfast we lowered the dingy, the captain and I pulling. Nerida +steered us out to the north end of the lagoon till we reached a spot +where the water suddenly deepened. It was, in fact, a deep pool, some +three or four hundred feet in diameter, closed in by a continuous wall +of coral rock, the top of which, even at low water, would be perhaps +two or three fathoms under the surface. + +She held up her hands for us to back water, then she gazed over the +side into the water. + +"Look," she said, "there lies the ALIDA." + + +* * * * * + + +We bent over the side of the boat. The waters of the lagoon were as +smooth as glass and as clear. We saw two slender rounded columns that +seemed to shoot up in a slanting direction from out the vague, blue +depths beneath, to within four or five fathoms of the surface of the +water. Swarms of gorgeously-hued fish swam and circled in and about the +masses of scarlet and golden weed that clothed the columns from their +tops downward, and swayed gently to and fro as they glided in and out. + +A hawk-bill turtle, huge, black, and misshapen, slid out from beneath +the dark ledge of the reef, and swam slowly across the pool, and then, +between the masts, sank to the bottom. + +"'Twas six years ago," said Nerida, as we raised our heads. + +That night, as the PALESTINE sped noiselessly before the trade wind to +the westward she told me, in the old Funafuti tongue, the tragedy of +the ALIDA. + + +* * * * * + + +"The schooner," she said, "sailed very quickly, for on the fifteenth +day out from Funafuti we saw the far-off peaks of Strong's Island. I +was glad, for Kusaie is not many days' sail from Ponape--and I hated to +be on the ship. The man with the blue eyes filled me with fear when he +looked at me; and he and the captain and mate were for ever talking +amongst themselves in whispers. + +"There were five native sailors on board--two were countrymen of mine, +and three were Tafitos [Natives of the Gilbert Islands]. + +"One night we were close to a little island called Mokil [Duperrey's +Island],and Taplin and I were awakened by a loud cry on deck; my two +countrymen were calling on him to help them. He sprang on deck, pistol +in hand, and, behold! the schooner was laid to the wind with the land +close to, and the boat alongside, and the three white men were binding +my country-men with ropes, because they would not get into the boat. + +"'Help us, O friend!' they called to my husband in their own tongue; +'the white men say that if we go not ashore here at Mokil they will +kill us. Help us--for they mean evil to thee and Nerida. He with the +yellow moustache wants her for his wife.' + +"There were quick, fierce words, and then my husband struck Motley on +the head with his pistol and felled him, and then pointed it at the +mate and the captain, and made them untie the men, and called to the +two Tafito sailors who were in the boat to let her tow astern till +morning. + +"His face was white with the rage that burned in him, and all that +night he walked to and fro and let me sleep on the deck near him. + +"'To-morrow,' he said, 'I will make this captain land us on Mokil;' it +was for that he would not let the sailors come up from the boat. + +"At dawn I slept soundly. Then I awoke with a cry of fear, for I heard +a shot, and then a groan, and my husband fell across me, and the blood +poured out of his mouth and ran down my arms and neck. I struggled to +rise, and he tried to draw his pistol, but the man with yellow hair and +blue eyes, who stood over him, stabbed him twice in the back. Then the +captain and mate seized him by the arms and lifted him up. As his head +fell back I saw there was blood streaming from a hole in his chest." + +She ceased, and leant her cheek against the face of the little girl, +who looked in childish wonder at the tears that streamed down her +mother's face. + + +* * * * * + + +"They cast him over into the sea with life yet in him, and ere he sank, +Motley (that devil with the blue eyes) stood with one foot on the rail +and fired another shot, and laughed when he saw the bullet strike. Then +he and the other two talked. + +"'Let us finish these Pelew men, ere mischief come of it,' said +Riedermann, the captain. + +"But the others dissuaded him. There was time enough, they said, to +kill them. And if they killed them now, there would be but three +sailors to work the ship. And Motley looked at me and laughed, and said +he, for one, would do no sailor's work yet awhile. + +"Then they all trooped below, and took me with them--me, with my +husband's blood not yet dried on my hands and bosom. They made me get +liquor for them to drink, and they drank and laughed, and Motley put +his bloodied hand around my waist and kissed me, and the others laughed +still more. + +"In a little while Riedermann and the mate were so drunken that no +words came from them, and they fell on the cabin floor. Then Motley, +who could stand, but staggered as he walked, came and sat beside me and +kissed me again, and said he had always loved me; but I pointed to the +blood of my husband that stained my skin and clotted my hair together, +and besought him to first let me wash it away. + +"'Wash it there,' he said, and pointed to his cabin. + +"'Nay,' said I, 'see my hair. Let me then go on deck, and I can pour +water over my head.' + +"But he held my hand tightly as we came up, and my heart died within +me; for it was in my mind to spring overboard and follow my husband. + +"He called to one of the Tafito men to bring water, but none came; for +they, too, were drunken with liquor they had stolen from the hold, +where there was plenty in red cases and white cases--gin and brandy. +"But my two countrymen were sober; one of them steered the ship, and +the other stood beside him with an axe in his hand, for they feared the +Tafito men, who are devils when they drink grog. + +"'Get some water,' said Motley, to Juan--he who held the axe; and as he +brought it, he said, 'How is it, tattooed dog, that thou art so slow to +move?' and he struck him in the teeth, and as he struck he fell. + +"Ah! that was my time! Ere he could rise I sprang at him, and Juan +raised the axe and struck off his right foot; and then Liro, the man +who steered, handed me his knife. It was a sharp knife, and I stabbed +him, even as he had stabbed my husband, till my arm was tired, and all +my hate of him had died away in my heart. + + +* * * * * + + +"There was quick work then. My two countrymen went below into the cabin +and took Motley's pistol from the table; . . . then I heard two shots. + +"GUK! He was a fat, heavy man, that Riedermann, the captain; the three +of us could scarce drag him up on deck and cast him over the side, with +the other two. + +"Then Juan and Liro talked, and said: 'Now for these Tafito men; they, +too, must die.' They brought up rifles, and went to the forepart of the +schooner, where the Tafito men lay in a drunken sleep, and shot them +dead. + +"In two more days we saw land--the island we have left but now, and +because that there were no people living there--only empty houses could +we see--Juan and Liro sailed the schooner into the lagoon. + +"We took such things on shore as we needed, and then Juan and Liro cut +away the topmasts and towed the schooner to the deep pool, where they +made holes in her, so that she sank, away out of the sight of men. + + +* * * * * + + +"Juan and Liro were kind to me, and when my child was born, five months +after we landed, they cared for me tenderly, so that I soon became +strong and well. + +"Only two ships did we ever see, but they passed far-off like clouds +upon the sea-rim; and we thought to live and die there by ourselves. +Then there came a ship, bringing back the people who had once lived +there. They killed Juan and Liro, but let me and the child live. The +rest I have told you. . . . How is this captain named? . . . He is a +handsome man, and I like him." + + +* * * * * + + +We landed Nerida at Yap, in the Western Carolines. A year afterwards, +when I left the PALESTINE, I heard that Packenham had given up the sea, +was trading in the Pelew Group, and was permanently married, and that +his wife was the only survivor of the ill-fated ALIDA. + + + + +THE CHILEAN BLUEJACKET + + + +A Tale Of Easter Island + + +Alone, in the most solitary part of the Eastern Pacific, midway between +the earthquake-shaken littoral of Chili and Peru, and the thousand +palm-clad islets of the Low Archipelago, lies an island of the days +"when the world was young." By the lithe-limbed, soft-eyed descendants +of the forgotten and mysterious race that once quickened the land, this +lonely outlier of the isles of the Southern Seas is called in their +soft tongue Rapanui, or the Great Rapa. + + +* * * * * + + +A hundred and seventy years ago Roggewein, on the dawn of an Easter +Sunday, discerned through the misty, tropic haze the grey outlines of +an island under his lee beam, and sailed down upon it. + +He landed, and even as the grim and hardy old navigator gazed upon and +wondered at the mysteries of the strange island, so this day do the +cunning men of science, who, perhaps once in thirty years, go thither +in the vain effort to read the secret of an all-but-perished race. And +they can tell us but vaguely that the stupendous existing evidences of +past glories are of immense and untold age, and show their designers to +have been coeval with the builders of the buried cities of Mexico and +Peru; beyond that, they can tell us nothing. + +Who can solve the problem? What manner of an island king was he who +ruled the builders of the great terraced platforms of stone, the +carvers of the huge blocks of lava, the hewers-out with rudest tools of +the Sphinx-like images of trachyte, whose square, massive, and +disdainful faces have for unnumbered centuries gazed upwards and +outwards over the rolling, sailless swell of the mid-Pacific? + + +* * * * * + + +And the people of Rapa-nui of to-day? you may ask. Search the whole +Pacific--from Pylstaart, the southern sentinel of the Friendlies, to +the one-time buccaneer-haunted, far-away Pelews; thence eastward +through the white-beached coral atolls of the Carolines and Marshalls, +and southwards to the cloud-capped Marquesas and the sandy stretches of +the Paumotu--and you will find no handsomer men or more graceful women +than the light-skinned peqple of Rapa-nui. + + +* * * * * + + +Yet are they but the survivors of a race doomed--doomed from the day +that Roggewein in his clumsy, high-pooped frigate first saw their land, +and marvelled at the imperishable relics of a dead greatness. With +smiling faces they welcomed him--a stranger from an unknown, outside +world, with cutlass at waist and pistol in hand--as a god; he left them +a legacy of civilisation--a hideous and cruel disease that swept +through the amiable and unsuspicious race as an epidemic, and slew its +thousands, and scaled with the hand of Death and Silence the eager life +that had then filled the square houses of lava in many a town from the +wave-beaten cliffs of Terano Kau to Ounipu in the west. + + +* * * * * + + +Ask of the people now, "Whence came ye? and whose were the hands that +fashioned these mighty images and carved upon these stones?" and in +their simple manner they will answer, "From Rapa, under the setting +sun, came our fathers; and we were then a great people, even as the +ONEONE [sand] of the beach. . . . Our Great King was it, he whose name is +forgotten by us, that caused these temples and cemeteries and terraces to +be built; and it was in his time that the forgotten fathers of our fathers +carved from out of the stone of the quarries of Terano Kau the great +Silent Faces that gaze for ever upward to the sky. . . . AI-A-AH! . . . +But it was long ago. . . . Ah! a great people were we then in those +days, and the wild people to the West called us TE TAGATA TE PITO HENUA +(the people who live at the end of the world) . . . . and we know no +more." + +And here the knowledge and traditions of a broken people begin and end. + + +* * * * * + + +I + +A soft, cool morning in November, 187-. Between Ducie and Pitcairn +Islands two American whale-ships cruise lazily along to the gentle +breath of the south-east trades, when the look-out from both vessels +see a third sail bearing down upon them. In a few hours she is close +enough to be recognised as one of the luckiest sperm whalers of the +fleet--the brig POCAHONTAS, of Martha's Vineyard. + +Within a quarter of mile of the two ships--the NASSAU and the +DAGGET--the newcomer backs her foreyard and hauls up her mainsail. A +cheer rises from the ships. She wants to "gam," I.E. to gossip. With +eager hands four boats are lowered from the two ships, and the captains +and second mates of each are soon racing for the POCAHONTAS. + + +* * * * * + + +The skipper of the brig, after shaking hands with his visitors and +making the usual inquiries as to their luck, number of days out from +New Bedford, etc., led the way to his cabin, and, calling his +Portuguese steward, had liquor and a box of cigars brought out. The +captain of the POCAHONTAS was a little, withered-up old man with sharp, +deep-set eyes of brightest blue, and had the reputation of possessing +the most fiery and excitable temper of any of the captains of the sixty +or seventy American whale-ships that in those days cruised the Pacific +from the West Coast of South America to Gaum in the Ladrones. + +After drinking some of his potent New England rum with his visitors, +and having answered all their queries, the master of the POCAHONTAS +inquired if they had seen anything of a Chilian man-of-war further to +the eastward. No, they had not. + + +* * * * * + + +"Then just settle down, gentlemen, for awhile, and I'll tell you one of +the curiousest things that I ever saw or heard of. I've logged +partiklars of the whole business, and when I get to Oahu (Honolulu) I +mean to nar-rate just all I do know to Father Damon of the Honolulu +FRIEND. Thar's nothing like a newspaper fur showin' a man up when he's +been up to any onnatural villainy, and thinks no one will ever know +anything about it. So just take hold and listen." + +The two captains nodded, and he told them this. + + +* * * * * + + +Ten days previously, when close in to barren and isolated Sala-y-Gomez, +the POCAHONTAS had spoken the Chilian corvette O'HIGGINS, bound from +Easter Island to Valparaiso. The captain of the corvette entertained +the American master courteously, and explained his ship's presence so +far to the eastward, by stating that the Government had instructed him +to call at Easter Island, and pick up an Englishman in the Chilian +service, who had been sent there to examine and report on the colossal +statues and mysterious terraces of that lonely island. The Englishman, +as Commander Gallegos said, was a valued servant of the Republic, and +had for some years served in its Navy as a surgeon on board EL +ALMIRANTE COCHRANE, the flag-ship. He had left Valparaiso in the +whale-ship COMBOY with the intention of remaining three months on the +island. At the end of that time a war vessel was to call and convey him +back to Chili. But in less than two months the Republic was in the +throes of a deadly struggle with Peru--here the commander of the +O'HIGGINS bowed to the American captain, and, pointing to a huge scar +that traversed his bronzed face from temple to chin, said, "in which I +had the honour to receive this, and promotion"--and nearly two years +had elapsed ere the Government had time to think again of the English +scientist and his mission. Peace restored, the O'HIGGINS was ordered to +proceed to the island and bring him back; and as the character of the +natives was not well known, and it was feared he might have been +killed, Commander Gallegos was instructed to execute summary justice +upon the people of the island, if such was the case. + +But, the Chilian officer said, on reaching the island he had found the +natives to be very peaceable and inoffensive, and, although much +alarmed at the appearance of his armed landing party from the corvette, +they had given him a letter from the Englishman, and had satisfied him +that Dr Francis ---- had remained with them for some twelve months +only, and had then left the island in a passing whale-ship, and +Commander Gallegos, making them suitable presents, bade them good-bye, +and steamed away to Valparaiso. + + +* * * * * + + +This was all the polite little commander had to say, and, after a +farewell glass of wine, his visitor rose to go, when the captain of the +corvette casually inquired if the POCAHONTAS was likely to call at the +island. + +"I ask you," he said in his perfect English, "because one of my ship's +company deserted there. You, senor, may possibly meet with him there. +Yet he is of no value, and he is no sailor, and but a lad. He was very +ill most of the time, and this was his first voyage. I took him ashore +with me in my boat, as he besought me eagerly to do so, and the little +devil ran away and hid, or was hidden by the natives." + +"Why didn't you get him back?" asked the captain of the POCAHONTAS. + +"That was easy enough, but"--and the commander raised his eyebrows and +shrugged his shoulders--"of what use? He was no use to the corvette. +Better for him to stay there, and perhaps recover, than to die on board +the O'HIGGINS and be thrown to the blue sharks. Possibly, senor, you +may find him well, and it may suit you to take him to your good ship, +and teach him the business of catching the whale. My trade is to show +my crew how to fight, and such as he are of no value for that." + +Then the two captains bade each other farewell, and in another hour the +redoubtable O'HIGGINS, with a black trail of smoke streaming astern, +was ten miles away on her course to Valparaiso. + +A week after the POCAHONTAS lay becalmed close in to the lee side of +Rapa-nui, and within sight of the houses of the principal village. The +captain, always ready to get a "green" hand, was thinking of the +chances of his securing the Chilian deserter, and decided to lower a +boat and try. Taking four men with him, he pulled ashore, and landed at +the village of Hagaroa. + + +* * * * * + + +II + +Some sixty or seventy natives clustered round the boat as she touched +the shore. With smiling faces and outstretched hands they surrounded +the captain, and pressed upon him their simple gifts of ripe bananas +and fish baked in leaves, begging him to first eat a little and then +walk with them to Mataveri, their largest village, distant a mile, +where preparations were being made to welcome him formally. The +skipper, nothing loth, bade his crew not to go too far away in their +rambles, and, accompanied by his boatsteerer, was about to set off with +the natives, when he remembered the object of his visit, and asked a +big, well-made woman, the only native present that could speak English, +"Where is the man you hid from the man-of-war?" + + +* * * * * + + +There was a dead silence, and for nearly half a minute no one spoke. +The keen blue eyes of the American looked from one face to another +inquiringly, and then settled on the fat, good-natured features of +Varua, the big woman. + +Holding her hands, palms upwards, to the captain, she endeavoured to +speak, and then, to his astonishment, he saw that her dark eyes were +filled with tears. And then, as if moved with some sudden and sorrowful +emotion, a number of other women and young girls, murmuring softly in +pitying tones, "E MATE! E MATE!" ["Dead! Dead!"] came to his side, and +held their hands out to him with the same supplicating gesture. + +The captain was puzzled. For all his island wanderings and cruises he +had no knowledge of any Polynesian dialect, and the tearful muteness of +the fat Varua was still unbroken. At last she placed one hand on his +sleeve, and, pointing land-ward with the other, said, in her gentle +voice, "Come," and taking his hand in hers, she led the way, the rest +of the people following in silence. + +For about half a mile they walked behind the captain and his +boatsteerer and the woman Varua without uttering a word. Presently +Varua stopped, and called out the name of "Taku" in a low voice. + +A fine, handsome native, partly clothed in European sailor's dress, +stepped apart from the others and came to her. + +Turning to the captain, she said, "This is Taku the Sailor. He can +speak a little English and much Spanish. I tell him now to come with +us, for he has a paper." + +Although not understanding the relevancy of her remark, the captain +nodded, and then with gentle insistence Varua and the other women urged +him on, and they again set out. + + +* * * * * + + +A few minutes more, and they were at the foot of one of the +massive-stoned and ancient PAPAKU, or cemeteries, on the walls of which +were a number of huge images carved from trachyte, and representing the +trunk of the human body. Some of the figures bore on their heads crowns +of red tufa, and the aspect of all was towards the ocean. At the foot +of the wall of the PAPAKU were a number of prone figures, with hands +and arms sculptured in low relief, the outspread fingers clasping the +hips. + +About a cable length from the wall stood two stone houses--memorials of +the olden time--and it was to these that Varua and the two white men, +attended now by women only, directed their steps. + + +* * * * * + + +The strange, unearthly stillness of the place, the low whispers of the +women, the array of colossal figures with sphinx-like faces set to the +sea, and the unutterable air of sadness that enwrapped the whole scene, +overawed even the unimaginative mind of the rough whaling captain, and +he experienced a curious feeling of relief when his gentle-voiced guide +entered through the open doorway the largest of the two houses, and, in +a whisper, bade him follow. + + +* * * * * + + +A delightful sense of coolness was his first sensation on entering, and +then with noiseless step the other women followed and seated themselves +on the ground. + +Still clasping his hand, Varua led him to the farther end of the house, +and pointed to a motionless figure that lay on a couch of mats, covered +with a large piece of navy-blue calico. At each side of the couch sat a +young native girl, and their dark, luminous eyes, shining star-like +from out the wealth of black, glossy hair that fell upon their bronzed +shoulders, turned wonderingly upon the stranger who had broken in upon +their watch. + + +* * * * * + + +Motioning the girls aside, Varua released her hold of the white man's +hand and drew the cloth from off the figure, and the seaman's pitying +glance fell upon the pale, sweet features of a young white girl. + +But for the unmistakable pallid hue of death he thought at first that +she slept. In the thin, delicate hands, crossed upon her bosom, there +was placed, after the manner of those of her faith, a small metal +crucifix. Her hair, silky and jet black, was short like a man's, and +the exquisitely-modelled features, which even the coldness of death had +not robbed of their beauty, showed the Spanish blood that, but a few +hours before, had coursed through her veins. + +Slowly the old seaman drew the covering over the still features, and, +with an unusual emotion stirring his rude nature, he rose, and, +followed by Varua, walked outside and sat upon a broken pillar of lava +that lay under the wall of the PAPAKU. + + +* * * * * + + +Calling his boatsteerer, he ordered him to return to the beach and go +off to the ship with instructions to the mate to have a coffin made as +quickly as possible and send it ashore; and then, at a glance from +Varua, who smiled a grave approval as she listened to his orders, he +followed her and the man she called Taku into the smaller of the two +houses. + +Round about the inside walls of this ancient dwelling of a forgotten +race were placed a number of seamen's chests made of cedar and camphor +wood--the LARES and PENATES of most Polynesian houses. The gravelled +floor was covered with prettily-ornamented mats of FALA (the +screw-palm). + +Seating herself, with Taku the Sailor, on the mats, Varua motioned the +captain to one of the boxes, and then told him a tale that moved +him--rough, fierce, and tyrannical as was his nature--to the deepest +pity. + + +* * * * * + + +III + +"It is not yet twenty days since the fighting PAHI AFI (steamer) came +here, and we of Mataveri saw the boat full of armed men land on the +beach at Hagaroa. Filled with fear were we; but yet as we had done no +wrong we stood on the beach to welcome. And, ere the armed men had left +the boat, we knew them to be the SIPANIOLA from Chili--the same as +those that came here ten years ago in three ships, and seized and bound +three hundred and six of our men, and carried them away for slaves to +the land of the Tae Manu, and of whom none but four ever returned to +Rapa-nui. And then we trembled again." + +(She spoke of the cruel outrage of 1862, when three Peruvian +slave-ships took away over three hundred islanders to perish on the +guano-fields of the Chincha Islands). + +"The chief of the ship was a little man, and he called out to us in the +tongue of Chili, 'Have no fear,' and took a little gun from out its +case of skin that hung by his side, and giving it to a man in the boat, +stepped over to us, and took our hands in his. + +"'Is there none among ye that speak my tongue?' he said quickly. + +"Now, this man here, Taku the Sailor, speaketh the tongue of Chili, but +he feared to tell it, lest they might take him away for a sailor; so he +held his lips tight. + +"Then I, who for six years dwelt with English people at Tahiti, was +pushed forward by those behind me and made to talk in English; and lo! +the little man spoke in your tongue even as quick as he did in that of +Chili. And then he told us that he came for Farani [Frank]. + + +* * * * * + + +"Now this Farani was a young white man of PERETANIA (England), big and +strong. He came to us a year and a half ago. He was rich, and had with +him chests filled with presents for us of Rapa-nui; and he told us that +he came to live a while among us, and look upon the houses of stone and +the Faces of the Silent that gaze out upon the sea. For a year he dwelt +with us and became as one of ourselves, and we loved him; and then, +because no ship came, he began to weary and be sad. At last a +ship--like thine, one that hunts for the whale--came, and Farani called +us together, and placed a letter in the hands of the chief at Mataveri, +and said: 'If it so be that a ship cometh from Chili, give these my +words to the captain, and all will be well.' Then he bade us farewell +and was gone. + + +* * * * * + + +"All this I said in quick words, and then we gave to the little +fighting chief the letter Farani had written. When he had counted the +words in the letter, he said: 'BUENO, it is well,' and called to his +men, and they brought out many gifts for us from the boat--cloth, and +garments for men and women, and two great bags of canvas filled with +tobacco. AI-A-AH! many presents he gave us--this because of the good +words Farani had set down in the letter. Then the little chief said to +me, 'Let these my men walk where they list, and I will go with thee to +Mataveri and talk with the chief.' + +"So the sailors came out of the boats carrying their guns and swords in +their hands, but the little chief, whose AVAGUTU (moustache) stuck out +on each side of his face like the wings of a flying-fish when it leaps +in terror from the mouth of the hungry bonito, spoke angrily, and they +laid their guns and swords back in the boats. + +"So the sailors went hither and thither with our young men and girls; +and, although at that time I knew it not, she, who now is not, was one +of them, and walked alone. + +"Then I, and Taku the Sailor, and the little sea-chief came to the +houses of Mataveri, and he stayed awhile and spoke good words to us. +And we, although we fear the men of Chili for the wrong they once did +us, were yet glad to listen, for we also are of their faith. + + +* * * * * + + +"As we talked, there came inside the house a young girl named Temeteri, +whom, when Farani had been with us for two months, he had taken for +wife; and she bore him a son. But from the day that he had sailed away +she became sick with grief; and when, after many months, she told me +that Farani had said he would return to her, my heart was heavy, for I +know the ways of white men with us women of brown skins. Yet I feared +to tell her he lied and would return no more. Now, this girl Temeteri +was sought after by a man named Huarani, the son of Heremai, who +desired to marry her now that Farani had gone, and he urged her to +question the chief of the fighting ship, and ask him if Farani would +return. + + +* * * * * + + +"So I spoke of Temeteri. He laughed and shook his head, and said: 'Nay, +Farani the Englishman will return no more; but yet one so beautiful as +she,' and he pointed to Temeteri, 'should have many lovers and know no +grief. Let her marry again and forget him, and this is my marriage gift +to her,' and he threw a big golden coin upon the mat on which the girl +sat. + +"She took it in her hand and threw it far out through the doorway with +bitter words, and rose and went away to her child. + +"Then the little captain went back to the boat and called his men to +him, and lo! one was gone. Ah! he was angry, and a great scar that ran +down one side of his face grew red with rage. But soon he laughed, and +said to us: 'See, there be one of my people hidden away from me. Yet he +is but a boy, and sick; and I care not to stay and search for him. Let +him be thy care so that he wanders not away and perishes among the +broken lava; he will be in good hands among the people of Rapa-nui.' +With that he bade us farewell, and in but a little time the great +fighting ship had gone away towards the rising sun. + + +* * * * * + + +"All that day and the next we searched, but found not him who had +hidden away; but in the night of the second day, when it rained +heavily, and Taku (who is my brother's son) and I and my two children +worked at the making of a KUPEGA (net), he whom we had sought came to +the door. And as we looked our hearts were filled with pity, for, as he +put out his hands to us, he staggered and fell to the ground. + +"So Taku--who is a man of a good heart--and I lifted him up and carried +him to a bed of soft mats, and as I placed my hand on his bosom to see +if he was dead, lo! it was soft as a woman's, and I saw that the +stranger was a young girl! + +"I took from her the wet garments and brought warm clothes of MAMOE +(blankets), and Taku made a great fire, and we rubbed her cold body and +her hands and feet till her life came back to her again, and she sat up +and ate a little beaten-up taro. When the night and the dawn touched +she slept again. + + +* * * * * + + +"The sun was high when the white girl awoke, and fear leapt into her +eyes when she saw the house filled with people who came to question +Taku and me about the stranger. With them came the girl Temeteri, whose +head was still filled with foolish thoughts of Farani, her white lover. + +"I went to the strange girl, put my arm around her, and spoke, but +though she smiled and answered in a little voice, I understood her not, +for I know none of the tongue of Chili. But yet she leaned her head +against my bosom, and her eyes that were as big and bright as Fetuaho, +the star of the morning, looked up into mine and smiled through their +tears. + + +* * * * * + + +"There was a creat buzzing of talk among the women. Some came to her +and touched her hands and forehead, and said: 'Let thy trembling cease; +we of Rapa-nui will be kind to the white girl.' + +"And as the people thronged about her and talked, she shook her head +and her eyes sought mine, and hot tears splashed upon my hand. Then the +mother of Temeteri raised her voice and called to Taku the Sailor, and +said: 'O Taku, thou who knowest her tongue, ask her of Farani, my white +son, the husband of my daughter.' + + +* * * * * + + +"The young girls in the house laughed scornfully at old Pohere, for +some of them had loved Farani, who yet had put them all aside for +Temeteri, whose beauty exceeded theirs; and so they hated her and +laughed at her mother. Then Taku, being pressed by old Pohere, spoke in +the tongue of Chili, but not of Temeteri. + +"Ah! She sprang to her feet and talked then! and the flying words +chased one another from her lips; and these things told she to Taku:-- +She had hidden among the broken lava and watched the little captain +come back to the boat and bid us farewell. Then when night came she had +crept out and gone far over to the great PAPAKU, and lay down to hide +again, for she feared the fighting ship might return to seek her. And +all that day she lay hidden in the lava till night fell upon her again, +and hunger drove her to seek the faces of men. In the rain she all but +perished, till God brought her feet to this, my house. + +"Then said Taku the Sailor: 'Why didst thou flee from the ship?' + +"The white girl put her hands to her face and wept, and said: 'Bring me +my jacket.' + +"I gave to her the blue sailor's jacket, and from inside of it she took +a little flat thing and placed it in her bosom. + + +* * * * * + + +"Again said old Pohere to Taku: 'O man of slow tongue, ask her of +Farani.' So he asked in this wise: + +"'See, O White Girl, that is Pohere, the mother of Temeteri, who bore a +son to the white man that came here to look upon the Silent Faces; and +because he came from thy land, and because of the heart of Temeteri, +which is dried up for love of him, does this foolish old woman ask thee +if thou hast seen him; for long months ago he left Rapa-nui. In our +tongue we call him Farani.' + + +* * * * * + + +"The girl looked at Taku the Sailor, and her lips moved, but no words +came. Then from her bosom she took the little flat thing and held it to +him, but sickness was in her hand so that it trembled, and that which +she held fell to the ground. So Taku stooped and picked it up from +where it lay on the mat, and looked, and his eyes blazed, and he +shouted out 'AUE!' for it was the face of Farani that looked into his! +And as he held it up in his hand to the people, they, too, shouted in +wonder; and then the girl Temeteri cast aside those that stood about +her, and tore it from his hand and fled. + +"'Who is she?' said the white girl, in a weak voice to Taku; 'and why +hath she robbed me of that which is dear to me?' and Taku was ashamed, +and turned his face away from her because of two things--his heart was +sore for Temeteri, who is a blood relation, and was shamed because her +white lover had deserted her; and he was full of pity for the white +girl's tears. So he said nought. + +"The girl raised herself, and her hand caught Taku by the arm, and +these were her words: 'O man, for the love of Jesu Christ, tell me what +was this woman Temeteri to my husband?' + +"Now Taku the Sailor was sore troubled, and felt it hard to hurt her +heart, yet he said: 'Was Farani, the Englishman, thy husband?' + +"She wept again, 'He was my husband.' + +"'Why left he one as fair as thee?' said Taku, in wonder. + +"She shook her head. 'I know not, except he loved to look upon strange +lands; yet he loved me.' + +"'He is a bad man,' said Taku. 'He loved others as well as thee. The +girl that fled but now with his picture was wife to him here. He loved +her, and she bore him a son.' + +"The girl's head fell on my shoulder, and her eyes closed, and she +became as dead; and lo! in a little while, as she strove to speak, +blood poured from her mouth and ran down over her bosom. + +"'It is the hand of Death,' said Taku the Sailor. + + +* * * * * + + +"Where she now lies, there died she, at about the hour when the people +of Vaihou saw the sails of thy ship. + +"We have no priest here, for the good father that was here three years +ago is now silent [i.e. dead]; yet did Taku and I pray with her. And ere +she died she said she would set down some words on paper; so Alrema, my +little daughter, hastened to Mataveri, and the chief sent back some paper +and VAI TUHI (ink) that had belonged to the good priest. So with weak hand +she set down some words, but even as she wrote she rose up and threw out +her hands, and called out: 'Francisco! Francisco!' and fell back, and was +dead." + + +* * * * * + + +IV + +The captain of the POCAHONTAS dashed the now fast-falling tears from +his eyes, and with his rough old heart swelling with pity for the poor +wanderer, took from Taku the sheet of paper on which the heart-broken +girl's last words were traced. + +Ere he could read it a low murmur of voices outside told him his crew +had returned. They carried a rude wooden shell, and then with bared +heads the captain and boatsteerer entered the house where she lay. + +Again the old man raised the piece of navy blue cloth from off the +sweet, sad face, and a heavy tear dropped down upon her forehead. Then, +aided by the gentle, sympathetic women, his task was soon finished, and +two of his crew entered and carried their burden to its grave. Service +there was none--only the prayers and tears of the brown women of +Rapa-nui. + + +* * * * * + + +Ere he said farewell the captain of the whale-ship placed money in the +hands of Varua and Taku. They drew back, hurt and mortified. Seeing his +mistake, the seaman desired Varua to give the money to the girl +Temeteri. + +"Nay, sir," said Varua, "she would but give me bitter words. Even when +she who is now silent was not yet cold, Temeteri came to the door of +the house where she lay and spat twice on the ground, and taking up +gravel in her hand cast it at her, and cursed her in the name of our +old heathen gods. And as for money, we here in Rapa-nui need it not. +May Christ protect thee on the sea. Farewell!" + + +* * * * * + + +The captain of the POCAHONTAS rose and came to the cabin table, and +motioning to his guests to fill their glasses, said-- + +"'Tis a real sad story, gentlemen, and if I should ever run across +Doctor Francis, I should talk some to him. But see here. Here is my +log; my mate, who is a fancy writist, wrote it at my dictation. I can't +show you the letter that the pore creature herself wrote; that I ain't +going to show to any one." + +The two captains rose and stood beside him, and read the entry in the +log of the POCAHONTAS. + +"November 28, 187-. + +This day I landed at Easter Island, to try and obtain as a 'green' hand +a young Chilian seaman who, the captain of the Chilian corvette +O'HIGGINS informed me, had run away there. On landing I was shown the +body of a young girl, whom the natives stated to be the deserter. She +had died that morning. Buried her as decently as circumstances would +permit. From a letter she wrote on the morning of her death I learned +her name to be Senora Teresa T----. Her husband, Dr Francis T----, was +an Englishman in the service of the Chilian Republic. He was sent out +on a scientific mission to the island, and his wife followed him in the +O'HIGGINS disguised as a blue-jacket. I should take her to have been +about nineteen years of age. + + +"SPENCE ELDRIDGE, MASTER. +"MANUAL LEGASPE, 2ND OFFICER. +"Brig POCAHONTAS, of Martha's Vineyard, U.S.A." + + +"Well, that's curious now," said the skipper of the NASSAU; "why, I +knew that man. He left the island in the KING DARIUS, of New Bedford, +and landed at Ponape in the Caroline Group, whar those underground +ruins are at Metalanien Harbour. Guess he wanted to potter around there +a bit. But he got inter some sorter trouble among the natives there, +an' he got shot." + +"Aye," said the captain of the DAGGET, "I remember the affair. I was +mate of the JOSEPHINE, and we were lying at Jakoits Harbour when he was +killed, and now I remember the name too. Waal, he wasn't much account, +anyhow." + + +* * * * * + + +Ten years ago a wandering white man stood, with Taku the Sailor, at the +base of the wall of the great PAPAKU, and the native pointed out the +last resting-place of the wanderer. There, under the shadow of the +Silent Faces of Stone, the brave and loving heart that dared so much is +at peace for ever. + + + + +BRANTLEY OF VAHITAHI + + + +One day a trading vessel lay becalmed off Tatakoto, in the Paumotu +Archipelago, and the captain and supercargo, taking a couple of native +sailors with them, went ashore at dawn to catch some turtle. The turtle +were plentiful and easily caught, and after half a dozen had been put +in the boat, the two white men strolled along the white hard beach. The +captain--old, grizzled, and grim--seemed to know the place well, and +led the way. + + +* * * * * + + +The island is very narrow, and as they left the beach and gained the +shade of the forest of coconuts that grew to the margin of high-water +mark, they could see, between the tall, stately palms, the placid +waters of the lagoon, and a mile or so across, the inner beach of the +weather side of the island. + +For a quarter of a mile or so the two men walked on till the widest +part of the island was reached. Here, under the shadow of some giant +PUKA trees, the old skipper stopped and sat down on a roughly hewn slab +of coral, the remains of one of those MARAE or heathen temples that are +to be found almost anywhere in the islands of Eastern Polynesia. + +"I knew this place well, once," he said, as he pulled out his pipe. "I +used to come here when I was sailing one of Brander's vessels out of +Tahiti. As we have done now we did then--came here for turtle. No +natives have lived here for the past forty years. Did you ever hear of +Brantley?" + +"Yes," answered the supercargo, "but he died long ago, did he not?" + +"Aye, he died here, and his wife and sister too. They all lie here in +this old MARAE." + +And then he told the story of Brantley. + + +* * * * * + + +I + +It was six years since Brantley, with his companions in misery, had +drifted ashore at lonely Vahitahi in the Paumotu Group, and the +kindly-hearted people had gazed with pitying horror upon the dreadful +beings that, muttering and gibbering to each other, lay in the bottom +of the boat, and pointed with long talon-like fingers to their burnt +and bloody thirst-tortured lips. + + +* * * * * + + +And now as he sits in the doorway of his thatched house, and gazes +dreamily out upon the long curve of creamy beach and wind-swayed line +of palms that fringe the leeward side of his island home, Brantley +passes a brown hand slowly up and down his sun-bronzed cheek, and +thinks of the past. + +He was so full of life--of the very joy of living--that time six years +ago when he sailed from Auckland on that fateful voyage in the DORIS. +It was his first voyage as captain, and the ship was his own, and even +now he remembers with a curious time-dulled pang the last words of his +only sister--the Doris after whom he had called his new ship--as she +had kissed him farewell--"I am so glad, Fred, to hear them call you +'Captain Brantley.'" + +And the voyage--the wild feverish desire to make a record passage to +'Frisco and back; the earnest words of poor old white-headed Lutton, +the mate, "not to carry on so at night going through the Paumotu +Group"; that awful midnight crash when the DORIS ran hopelessly into +the wild boil of roaring surf on Tuanake Reef; the white, despairing +faces of five of his men, who, with curses in their eyes upon his +folly, were swept out of sight into the awful blackness of the night. +And then the days in the boat with the six survivors! Ah! the memory of +that will chill his blood to his dying day. Men have had to do that +which he and the two who came through alive with him had done. + +How long they endured that black agony of suffering he knew not. By +common consent none of them ever spoke of it again. + +Three months after they had drifted ashore, a passing sperm whaler, +cruising through the group, took away the two seamen, and then +Brantley, after bidding them a silent farewell, had, with bitter +despair gnawing at his heart, turned his face away from the ship, and +walked. back into the palm-shaded village. + + +* * * * * + + +"I will never go back again," he had said to himself. And perhaps he +was right; for when the DORIS went to pieces on Tuanake his hope and +fortunes went with her, and, save for that other Doris, there was no +one in the world who cared for him. He was not the man to face the +world again with: "Why, he lost his first ship!" whispered among his +acquaintances. + +And this is how Brantley--young, handsome, and as smart a seaman (save +for that one fatal mistake) as ever trod a deck--became Paranili the +PAPALAGI, and was living out his life among the people of solitary +Vahitahi. + + +* * * * * + + +Ere a year had passed a trading captain bound to the Gambier Islands +had given him a small stock of trade goods, and the thought of Doris +had been his salvation. Only for her he would have sunk to the life of +a mere idle, gin-drinking, and dissolute beach-comber. As it was, his +steady, straightforward life among the people of the island was a big +factor to his business success. And so every year he sent money to +Doris by some passing whaler or Tahitian trading schooner, but twice +only had he got letters from her; and each time she had said: "Let me +come to you, Fred. We are alone in the world, and may never meet again +else. Sometimes I awake in the night with a sudden fear. Let me come; +my heart is breaking with the loneliness of my life here, so far away +from you." + + +* * * * * + + +But two years ago he had done that which would keep Doris from ever +coming to him, he thought. He had married a young native girl--that is, +taken her to wife in the Paumotuan fashion--and surely Doris, with her +old-fashioned notions of right and wrong, would grieve bitterly if she +knew it. + +Presently he rose, talking to himself as is the wont of those who have +lived long apart from all white associations, and sauntered up and down +the shady path at the side of his dwelling, thinking of Doris, and if +he would ever see her again. Then he entered the house. + + +* * * * * + + +Seated on the matted floor with her face turned from him was a young +native girl--Luita, his wife. She was making a hat from the bleached +strands of the pandanus leaf, and as she worked she sang softly to +herself in the semi-Tahitian tongue of her people. + +Brantley, lazily stretching himself out on a rough mat-covered couch, +turned towards her, and watched the slender, supple fingers--covered, +in Polynesian fashion, with heavy gold rings--as they deftly drew out +the snow-white strands of the pandanus. The long, glossy, black waves +of hair that fell over her bare back and bosom like a mantle of night +hid her face from his view, and the man let his glance rest in +contented admiration upon the graceful curves of the youthful figure; +then he sighed softly, and again his eyes turned to the wide, sailless +expanse of the Pacific, that lay shimmering and sparkling before him +under a cloudless sky of blue, and he thought again of Doris. + + +* * * * * + + +Steadily the little hands worked in and out among the snowy strands, +and now and then, as she came to the TARI, or refrain, of the old +Paumotuan love-song, her soft liquid tones would blend with the +quavering treble of children that played outside. + + +"Terunavahori, teeth of pearl, +Knit the sandals for Talaloo's feet, /L>Sandals of AFA thick and strong, +Bind them well with thy long black hair." + + +Suddenly the song ceased, and with a quick movement of her shoulders +she threw back the cloud of hair that fell around her arms and bosom, +looked up at Brantley and laughed, and, striking the mat on which she +sat with her open palm, said-- + +"HAERE MAI, PARANILI." + +He rose from the couch and stooped beside her, with his hands resting +on his knees, and bending his brow in mock criticism, regarded her +handiwork intently. + +Springing to her feet, hat in hand, and placing her two hands on his +now erect shoulders, she looked into his face--darker far than her +own--and said with a smile-- + +"Behold, Paranili, thy PULOU is finished, save for a band of black +PU'AVA which thou shalt give me from the store." + +"Mine?" said Brantley, in pretended ignorance. "Why labour so for me? +Are there not hats in plenty on Vahitahi?" + +"True, O thankless one! but the women of the village say that thou +lookest upon me as a fool because I can neither make mats nor do many +other things such as becometh a wife. And for this did Merani, my +cousin, teach me how to make a wide hat of FALA to shield thy face from +the sun when thou art out upon the pearling grounds. AI-E-EH! my +husband, but thy face and neck and hands are as dark as those of the +people of Makatea--they who are for ever in their canoes. . . . See, +Paranili, bend thy head. AI-E-EH! thou art a tall man, my husband," and +she trilled a happy, rippling laugh as she placed the hat on his head. + +He placed one hand around the pliant waist and under the mantle of +hair, and drew her towards him, and then, moved by a sudden emotion, +kissed her soft, red lips. + +"Luita," he asked, "would it hurt thee if I were to go away?" + +The girl drew away from him, and, for the first time in two years +Brantley saw an angry flush tinge her cheek a dusky red. + + +* * * * * + + +"Ah!"--the contemptuous ring in her voice made the man's eyes +drop--"thou art like all White Men--was there ever one who was +faithful? What other woman is it that thou desirest? Is it Nia of +Ahunui--she who, when thy boat lay anchored in the lagoon, swam off at +night and asked thee for thy love--the shameless Nia?" + +The angry light in the black eyes shone fiercely, and the dull red on +her cheeks had changed to the livid paleness of passion. + +Brantley, holding the rim of the hat over his mouth, laughed secretly, +pleased at her first outburst of jealousy. Then his natural manliness +asserted itself. + +"Come here," he said. + +Somewhat sullenly the girl obeyed and edged up beside him with face +bent down. He put his hand upon hers, and for a few seconds looked at +the delicate tracery of tattooing that, on the back, ran in thin blue +lines from the finger tips to the wrists. + +"What a d----d pity!" he muttered to himself; "this infernal tattooing +would give the poor devil away anywhere in civilization. Her skin is +not as dark as that pretty creole I was so sweet on in Galveston ten +years ago . . . Well, she's good enough for a broken man like me--but I +can't take her away--that's certain." + +A heavy tear splashed on his hand, and then he pulled her to him, +almost savagely. + +"See, Luita. I did but ask to try thee. Have no fear. Thy land is mine +for ever." + +The girl looked up, and in an instant her face, wet with tears, was +laid against his breast. Still caressing the dark head that lay upon +his chest, Brantley stooped and whispered something. The little +tattooed hand released its clasp of his arm and struck him a playful +blow. + +"And would that bind thee more to me, and to the ways of these our +people of Vahitahi," she asked, with still buried face. + +"Aye," answered the ex-captain slowly, "for I have none but thee in the +world to care for." + +She turned her face up. "Is there none--not even one woman in far-off +Beretania, whose face comes to thee in the darkness." + +Brantley shook his head sadly. Of course there was Doris, he thought, +but he had never spoken of her. Sometimes when the longing to see her +again would come upon him, he would have talked of her to his native +wife, but he was by nature an uncommunicative man, and the thought of +how Doris must feel her loneliness touched him with remorse and made +him silent. + + +* * * * * + + +Another year passed, and matters had gone well with Brantley. Ten +months before he had dropped on one of the best patches of shell in the +Paumotus, and to-day, as he sits writing and smoking in the big room of +his house, he looks contentedly out through the open door to a little +white painted schooner that lay at anchor on the calm waters of the +lagoon. He had just come back from Tahiti with her, and the two +thousand dollars he had paid for the vessel was an easy matter for a +man who was now making a thousand dollars a month. + +"What a stroke of luck!" he writes to Doris. "Had I gone back to +Sydney, where would I be now?--a mate, I suppose, on some deep-sea +ship, earning twelve or fourteen pounds a month. Another year or two like +this, and I can go back a made man. Some day, my dear, I may; but I will +come back here again. The ways of the people have become my ways." + + +* * * * * + + +He laid down his pen and came to the door, and stood thinking awhile +and listening to the gentle rustle of the palms as they swayed their +lofty plumes to the breezy trade wind. + +"Yes," he thought, "I would like to go and see Doris, but I can't take +Luita, and so it cannot be. How that girl suspects me even now. When I +went to Tahiti to buy the schooner, I believe she thought she would +never see me again.... What a fool I am! Doris is all right, I suppose, +although it is a year since I had a letter . . . and I--could any man +want more. I don't believe there's a soul on the island but thinks as +much of me as Luita herself does; and, by G-d! she's a pearl--even +though she is only a native girl. No, I'll stay here; 'Kapeni Paranili' +will always be a big man in the Paumotus, but Fred Brantley would be +nobody in Sydney--only a common merchant skipper who had made money in +the islands. . . . And perhaps Doris is married." + + +* * * * * + + +So he thought and talked to himself, listening the while to the soft +symphony of the swaying palm-tops and the subdued murmur of the surf as +the rollers crashed on the distant line of reef away to leeward. Of +late these fleeting visions of the outside world--that quick, busy +world, whose memories, save for those of Doris, were all but dead to +him--had become more frequent; but the calm, placid happiness of his +existence, and that strange, fatal glamour that for ever enwraps the +minds of those who wander in the islands of the sunlit sea--as the old +Spanish navigators called Polynesia--had woven its spell too strongly +over his nature to be broken. And now, as the murmur of women's voices +caused him to turn his head to the shady end of the verandah, the dark, +dreamy eyes of Luita, who with her women attendants sat there playing +with her child, looked out at him from beneath their long lashes, and +told him his captivity was complete. + + +* * * * * + + +A week afterwards the people of Vahitahi were clustered on the beach +putting supplies of native food in the schooner's boat. That night he +was to sail again for the pearling grounds at Matahiva lagoon, and +would be away three months. + +One by one the people bade him adieu, and then stood apart while he +said farewell to Luita. + +"E MAHINA TOLU [Only three months], little one," he said, "why such a +gloomy face?" + +The girl shook her head, and her mouth twitched. "But the MITI [dream], +Paranili--the MITI of my mother. She is wise in the things that are +hidden; for she is one of those who believe in the old gods of +Vahitahi. . . . And there are many here of the new LOTU [Faith, i.e. +Christianity] who yet believe in the old gods. And, see, she has dreamed +of this unknown evil to thee twice; and twice have the voices of those who +are silent in the MARAE called to me in the night, and said: 'He must not +go; he must not go.'" + +Knowing well how the old superstitious taint ran riot in the +imaginative native mind, Brantley did not attempt to reason, but sought +to gently disengage her hands from his arm. + +She dropped on the sand at his feet and clasped his knees, and a long, +wailing note of grief rang out-- + +"AUE! AUE! my husband! if it so be that thou dost not heed the voices +that call in the night, then, out of thy love for me and our child, let +me come also. Then, if evil befall thee, let us perish together." + +Brantley raised his hand and pointed to the bowed and weeping figure. +Some women came and lifted her up. Then taking the tender face between +his rough hands, he bent his head to hers, sprang into the boat, and +was gone. + + +* * * * * + + +II + +With ten tons of shell snugly stowed in her hold, the little Tamariki +was heading back for Vahitahi after barely two months' absence. +Brantley, as he leant over the rail and watched the swirl and eddy of +the creamy phosphorescence that hissed and bubbled under the vessel's +stern, felt well satisfied. + +It was the hour of dawn, and the native at the tiller sang, as the +stars began to pale before the red flush that tinged the sky to +windward, a low chant of farewell to Fetuaho, the star of the morning, +and then he called to Brantley, who to all his crew was always +"Paranili," and never "Kapeni [Captain]," and pointed with his naked, +tattooed arm away to leeward, where the low outlines of an island began +to show. + +"Look, Paranili, that is Tatakoto, the place I have told thee of, where +the turtle makes the white beach to look black. Would it not be well +for us to take some home to Vahitahi?" + +"Thou glutton!" said Brantley, good-humouredly, "dost thou think I am +like to lose a day so that thou and thy friends may fill thy stomachs +with turtle meat?" + +Rua Manu laughed, and showed his white, even teeth. "Nay, Paranili, not +for that alone; but it is a great place, that Tatakoto, and thou hast +never landed there to look, and Luita hath said that some day she would +ask thee to take her there; for, though she was born at Vahitahi, her +blood is that of the people of Tatakoto, who have long since lain +silent in the MARAES." + + +* * * * * + + +Brantley had often heard her speak of it, this solitary spot in the +wide Pacific, and now, as he looked at the pretty, verdure-clad island +against the weather shore of which the thundering rollers burst with a +muffled roar, he was surprised at its length and extent, and decided to +pay it a visit some day. + +"Not now, Rua," he said to the steersman, "but it shall be soon. Are +there many coconuts there?" + +"Many? May I perish, but the trees are as the sand of the sea, and the +nuts lie thick upon the ground. AI-E-EH! and the robber crabs are in +thousands, and fat; and the sea-birds' eggs!" + +"Glutton again! Be content. In a little while we and as many of the +people of Vahitahi as the schooner will carry will go there and stay +for the turtle season." + + +* * * * * + + +Three days afterwards the schooner was within fifty miles of his island +home, when Brantley was aroused at daylight from his watch below by the +cry of "TE PAHI!" (a ship!) and hastening on deck he saw a large vessel +bearing down upon them. In half an hour she was close to, and Brantley +recognised her as a brig from Tahiti, that occasionally made a trading +voyage to the Paumotus, and whose skipper was a personal friend. +Suddenly she hove-to and lowered a boat, which came alongside the +schooner, and the white man that steered jumped on deck and held out +his hand. + +"How are you, Brantley?" and then his eye went quickly over the crew of +the schooner, then glanced through the open skylight into the little +cabin, and a hopeful, expectant look in his face died away. + +"Very well, thank you, Latham. But what is wrong?--you look worried." + +"Come on board," said the captain of the brig, quietly, "and I'll tell +you." + +As Brantley took his seat beside him, Latham said: "I have bad news for +you, Brantley. Your sister is on board the brig, and I fear she will +not live long. She came down to Tahiti in the MARAMA from Auckland, and +offered me a good round sum to bring her to you." + +"Has she been ill long, Latham?" + + +* * * * * + + +Latham looked at him curiously. "Didn't you know, Brantley? She's in a +rapid consumption." + +For a moment neither men spoke; then Latham gave a short cough. + +"I feel it almost as badly as you, Brantley--but I've got a bit more +bad news--" + +"Go on, Latham--it can't matter much. My poor sister is everything to me." + +"Just so. That's what I told Miss Brantley. Well, it's this--your wife +and child are missing----" Latham glanced at him and saw that his hand +trembled and then grasped the gunwale of the boat. + +"We got into Vahitahi lagoon about ten days ago, and I took Miss +Brantley ashore. What happened I don't exactly know, but the next night +one of your whale-boats was gone, and Luita and the child were missing. +Your sister was in a terrible state of mind, and offered me a thousand +dollars to put to sea. Brantley, old man, I wouldn't take a dollar from +her--God bless her--but I did put to sea, and I've searched nigh on +twenty islands, and scores of reefs and sandbanks----" + +"Thank you, Latham," said Brantley quietly; "when we get on board you +can give me further particulars of the islands you've searched." + +"You can have my marked chart; I've got a spare one. Brace up, old man! +you'll see your sister in a minute. She is terribly cut up over poor +Luita--more so than I knew you would be. But she was a grand little +woman, Brantley, although she was only a native." + +"Yes," he answered, in the same slow, dazed manner, "she was a good +little girl to me, although she----" The words stuck in his throat. + + +* * * * * + + +Latham showed him into the brig's cabin, and then a door opened, and +Doris threw herself weeping into his arms. + +"Oh, Doris," he whispered, "why did you not tell me you were ill? I +would have come to you long ago. I feel a brute----" + +She placed her hand on his lips. "Never mind about me, Fred. Has +Captain Latham told you about----" + +"Yes," he replied; and then suddenly: "Doris, I am going to look for +her; I think I know the place to which she has gone. It is not far from +here. Doris, will you go on back to Vahitahi with Latham and wait for me?" + +"Fred," she whispered, "let me come with you. It will not be long, +dear, before I am gone, and it was hard to die away from you--that is +why I came; and perhaps we may find her." + +He kissed her silently, and then in five minutes more they had said +farewell to Latham, and were on their way to the schooner. + +The crew soon knew from him what had happened, and Rua Manu, with his +big eyes filled with a wondering pity as he looked at the frail body +and white face of Doris lying on the skylight, wore the schooner's head +round to the south-west at a sign from Brantley. + +"Aye, Paranili," he said, in his deep, guttural tones, "it is to +Tatakoto she hath gone--'tis her mother's land." + + +* * * * * + + +That night, as she lay on the skylight with her hand in his, Doris told +him all she knew:-- + +"They were all kind to me when I went ashore to your house, Fred, but +Luita looked so fiercely at me. . . . Her eyes frightened me--they had +a look of death in them. + +"In the morning your little child was taken ill with what they call +TATARU, and I wanted to give it medicine. Luita pushed my hand away and +hugged the child to her bosom; and then the other women came and made +signs for me to go away. And that night she and the child were missing, +and one of your boats was gone." + +"Poor Luita," said Brantley, stroking Doris's pale cheek, "she did not +know you were my sister. I never told her, Doris." + +"She is a very beautiful woman, Fred. They told me at Tahiti that she +was called the pearl of Vahitahi; and oh! my dear, if we can but find +her, I will make her love me for your sake." + + +* * * * * + + +Late in the afternoon of the second day, just as the trade wind began +to lose its strength, the schooner was running along the weather-side +of Tatakoto, and Rua Manu, from the mast-head, called out that he saw +the boat lying on the beach inside the lagoon, with her sail set; and, +as landing was not practicable on the weather-side, the schooner ran +round to the lee. + +"We will soon know, Doris. It always rains in these islands at this +time of the year, so she would not suffer as I once did; but the sail +of the boat is still set, and that makes me think she has never left +it. Wait till I come back again, Doris; you cannot help me." + +And Doris, throwing her weak arms round his neck, kissed him with a sob, +and lay back again to wait. + + +* * * * * + + +With Rua Manu and two others of his faithful native crew, Brantley +walked quickly across the island to the lagoon to where the boat lay. +Luita was not there, and the dark eyes of his sailors met his in a +responsive glow of hope--she had not died in the boat! + +They turned back into the silent aisles of coconut palms, and then Rua +Manu loudly called her name. + +"Listen," he said. + +A voice--a weak, trembling voice--was singing the song of Talaloo. + + +"Terunavahori, bending low, +Bindeth the sandals on Talaloo's feet; +'Hasten, O hasten, lover true, +O'er the coral, cruel and sharp, +Over the coral, and sand, and rock, +Snare thee a turtle for our marriage feast; +IA AKOE! brave lover mine.'" + + +"In the old MARAE, Paranili," said Rua Manu, pointing to the remains of +a ruined temple. Motioning to the seamen to remain outside, Brantley +entered the crumbling walls of the old heathen MARAE. At the far end +was a little screen of coconut boughs. He stooped down and went in. + +A few minutes passed, and then his hand was thrust out between the +branches as a sign for them to follow. + + +* * * * * + + +One by one they came and sat beside Brantley, who held the wasted +figure of the wanderer in his arms. The sound of his voice had brought +back her wavering reason, and she knew them all now. She knew, too, +that her brief young life was ebbing fast; for, as each of the brown +men pressed their lips to her hand, tears coursed down their cheeks. + +"See, men of Vahitahi, my Englishman hath come to me, a fool that fled +from his house . . . because I thought that he lied to me. Teloma was +it who first mocked, and said: ''Tis his wife from Beretania who hath +come to seek him;' and then other girls laughed and mocked also, and +said: 'AH-HE! Luita, this fair-faced girl who sayeth she is thy +husband's sister, AH-HE!' . . . and their words and looks stung +me . . . So at night I took my child and swam to the boat. . . . My child, +see, it is here," and she touched a little mound in the soil beside her. + +There was a low murmur of sympathy, and then the brown men went outside +and covered their faces with their hands, after the manner of their +race when death is near, and waited in silence. + + +* * * * * + + +Night had fallen on the lonely island, and the far-off muffled boom of +the breakers as they dashed on the black ledges of the weather reef +would now and then be borne into the darkness of the little hut. + +"Put thy face to mine, Paranili," she whispered; "I grow cold now." + +As the bearded face of the man bent over her, one thin, weak arm rose +waveringly in the air, and then fell softly round his neck, and +Brantley, with his hand upon her bosom, felt that her heart had ceased +to beat. + + +* * * * * + + +The next day he sailed the schooner into the lagoon, and Doris pressed +her lips on the dead forehead of the native girl ere she was laid to +rest. Something that Doris had said to him as they walked away from her +grave filled Brantley's heart with a deadly fear, and as he took her in +his arms his voice shook. + +"Don't say that, Doris. It cannot be so soon as that. I was never a +good man; but surely God will spare you to me a little longer." + +But it came very soon--on the morning of the day that he intended +sailing out of the lagoon again, Doris died in his arms on board the +schooner, and Brantley laid her to rest under the shade of a giant +puka-tree that overshadowed the stones of the old MARAE. + + +* * * * * + + +That night he called Rua Manu into the cabin and asked him if he could +beat his way back to Vahitahi in the schooner. + +"'Tis an easy matter, Paranili. So that the sky be clear and I can see +the stars, then shall I find Vahitahi in three days." + +"Good. Then to-morrow take the schooner there, and tell such of the +people as desire to be with me to come here, and bring with them all +things that are in my house. It is my mind to live here at Tatakoto." + +As the schooner slipped through the narrow passage, he stood on the +low, sandy point, and waved his hand in farewell. + + +* * * * * + + +A week later the little vessel dropped her anchor in the lagoon again, +and Rua Manu and his crew came ashore to seek him. + +They found him lying under the shade of the puka-tree with his revolver +in his hand and a bullet-hole in his temple. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of By Reef and Palm +by Louis Becke + diff --git a/old/breep10.zip b/old/breep10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f7febc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/breep10.zip |