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diff --git a/40614.txt b/40614.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d49a8de..0000000 --- a/40614.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8483 +0,0 @@ - GABRIELLE OF THE LAGOON - - - - -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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - -Title: Gabrielle of the Lagoon - A Romance of the South Seas - -Author: A. Safroni-Middleton - -Release Date: August 29, 2012 [EBook #40614] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GABRIELLE OF THE LAGOON *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net. - - - - - - GABRIELLE OF THE LAGOON - - - A ROMANCE OF THE SOUTH SEAS - - - - - BY - - A. SAFRONI-MIDDLETON - - - AUTHOR OF - "SAILOR AND BEACHCOMBER" - - - - - PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON - J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY - 1919 - - - - - COPYRIGHT 1919, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY - - PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY - AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS - PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A - - - - - PROLOGUE - - -Though it was night and there was no moon, a dim, weird light lay over -the isle and pierced to the depths of the forests. It was in the -Solomons, where the dark, picturesque surroundings of palm and reef, the -noise of the distant surfs, made a suitable setting for anything -unexpected. Even the silver sea-birds had weird, startled-looking eyes -down Felisi beach way. And when the wild brown men crept away from the -grave-side of one whom they had just buried in the forest, the winds -sighed a fitting music across the primeval heights. But there was -nothing strange in that; men must die wherever one goes, and it was a -common enough occurrence in that heathen land where the ocean boomed on -the one side and inland to the south-west stood the mountains, looking -like mighty monuments erected in memory of the first dark ages. Across -the skies of Bougainville the stars had been marshalled in the millions. -It seemed a veritable heathen faeryland as the night echoed a hollow -"_Tarabab!_" But even that heathenish word was only the tribal chief's -yell as he stood under the palms conducting the semi-religious tambu -ceremony. The tawny maidens and high chiefs, with their feather -head-dresses, all in full festival costume, were squatting in front of -the secret tambu stage, some mumbling prayer, others beating their hands -together as an accompaniment. And still the dusky tambu dancer moved her -perfect limbs rhythmically to the rustling of her sarong-like attire, -swaying first to the right then to the left as she chanted to the -wailings of the bamboo fifes and bone flutes. The orchestral-like moan -of the huge bread-fruits, as odorous drifts of hot wind swept in from -the tropic seas, seemed to murmur in complete sympathy with the pretty -dancer. One might easily have concluded that Oom Pa, the aged high -priest, was the "star turn" of the evening as he stood there enjoying -his thoughts and performing magnificently on the monster tribal drum. - -There was something fascinating and super-primitive about the whole -scene. The very scents from decaying forest frangipani and hibiscus -blossoms seemed to drift out of the damp gloom of the dark ages. The -presence of civilisation in any form seemed the remotest of -possibilities. Even the fore-and-aft schooner, with yellowish, hanging -canvas sails, lying at anchor just beyond the shore lagoons, looked like -some strange-rigged craft that sailed mysterious seas. - -But as the assembled tribe once again wildly clamoured for the next -dancer to come forward and exhibit her charms, a murmur of surprise rose -from the back rows of stalwart, tattooed chiefs--a white girl suddenly -ran out of the forest and jumped on to the tambu stage! - -One aged chiefess who was busy mumbling her prayers looked up and gave a -frightened scream. Even the aged philosophical head-hunter Ra-mai, who -had one hundred and eighty skulls hanging to his credit in his palavana -hard by, gave a mellow grunt, so great was his surprise. A white girl, -lips red as coral, hair like the sunset's gold, standing by his old _pae -pae_! It was something that he had never dreamed of. The tawny maidens -squatting beneath the coco-nut-oil-lamp-lit shades on the right of the -buttressed banyans, lifted their hands in astonishment. For a moment the -white girl stood perfectly still. All eyes were upon her. She stared -vacantly as though she were in a trance. Then she moved forward a few -steps, her feet lightly touching the forest floor as if she were a -visionary figure veiled in moonlight. Only the sudden renewal of the -wild clamouring and guttural cries of "_O la Maramam tambu, papalaga!_" -("A white girl will dance before us!") seemed to rouse her to her -senses, reminding her of the reason she had responded to the swelling -chorus of tribal drums. - -The barbarian musicians had begun to bang and blow on their flutes in an -inspired way as they urged her to dance. Her sudden hesitation was very -evident to every onlooker. And as she stood there by the monster tambu -idol, its big glass eyes agog and wooden lips stretched in hideous -laughter, she had a strange, unearthly beauty. The winds sighed in the -palms; she wavered like a blown spirit-girl that had been suddenly swept -out of the night of stars into the midst of those Pharaoh-like chiefs. -Some of those warriors watched with chin on hand, others stared upon her -with burning eyes. - -Those old chiefs and their women-kind had seen many strange sights and -experienced many shocks since German, British, Malayan, Hindoo, Chinese -and Dutch settlers had set foot on their shores; but still they were -quite unprepared for the sight they witnessed that night. The handsome -Malayo-Polynesian half-castes nudged their comrades in the ribs and -murmured the native equivalent to "What-o!" To their delight, the white -girl had mounted the _pae pae_ and had begun to dance and sing. The -whole tribe watched and listened, spellbound. The haunting sweetness of -the melody seemed to bring all ears under its influence. It was -something in the way of song that those wild people had never heard -before. - -Only the pretty faded blue robe falling down to her brown-stockinged -ankles and the long tortoise-shell comb stuck in the rich folds of her -golden-bronze hair told of her mortal origin. And there was no mistaking -the reality of that indisputable bang on the heathen bandmaster's drum. -That dusky virtuoso was certainly inspired by human passion. - -Ra-mai, who was a kind of religious genius, dropped his festival -calabash and rubbed his eyes, for the girl was swaying as though she -were fastened on to the winds, her eyes wide open, staring upon him. The -old priestly warrior swore, long after, that she was a spirit-maid whom -he had loved a thousand years ago, and who had returned that night, as -white as a deep-sea pearl, to show men how great a priest and warrior he -really was. But he was a poetical old fellow and had a high opinion of -himself where female beauty and frailty were concerned. But if there was -an element of surprise over her sudden appearance before them, the -astonishment of these natives was intensified by her dramatic exit from -their midst. Just as the guttural cries of the chiefs and the weird -monotones of the chanting tambu maidens had caught the _tempo_ of her -dance, she gave a scream, stood perfectly still and stared on those wild -men with a terrified look in her eyes. Then, before anyone could realise -her intentions, she had leapt from the _pae pae_, had run away into the -forest and vanished like a wraith! - -The whole tribal assemblage looked into each other's eyes in -astonishment. Such an exhibition of red betel-nut-stained teeth had -never been seen in a midnight forest festival before, for they all -stared open-mouthed. - -"Tabaran [a spirit] from shadow-land!" said one. - -"Not so. Didst see the light of vanity in her wondrous eyes as the young -chiefs praised her beauty?" said another. - -"'Tis a white girl suddenly up-grown and full of fever for love," said -an old chief with wise wrinkles on his brow. And then yet another said: -"Had it been a full-moon sacred festival, 'twould have been well to slay -her for such boldness, the cursed papalagi!" - -Then the festival broke up. And that night the handsome chiefs, and even -the aged priests, tossed restlessly on their bed-mats as they lay in -their village huts dreaming of a goddess-like creature who had flitted -through their tambu ceremony like a dream. - - - - -CHAPTER I--ROMANCE'S FIRST THRILL - - -On the day following the tribal festival when the white girl had so -astonished the heathen priests in the village called Ackra-Ackra a -runaway ship's apprentice emerged from his half-caste landlady's wooden -lodging-house. He was off for a stroll, for the tenth time or so, over -the slopes that divided the banyan forests from the small township of -Rokeville. He was stagnating and so had little else to do except to make -the colour of the picturesque scenery harmonise with his meditations. He -was a tall, handsome fellow, about twenty years of age. His brass-bound -suit looked decidedly faded by the hot tropical sun, and the flannel -collar of his only shirt had begun to look slightly grimy. All the same, -he had that look of refinement which is inherited from good ancestors. A -romantically inclined maid would have thought him extremely attractive. -A bronze-hued lock seemed to ooze from beneath the rim of his -cheese-cutter cap, for when funds were low in distant lands, and -scissors scarce on ships at sea, his hair grew quite curly. One of his -eyes was a deep blue and the other a golden-brown. This eccentric -combination of colour may have had something to do with the romantic -adventures that fell to his lot through his leaving ship in -Bougainville. It was quite three weeks since he had made a bolt from his -full-rigged sailing-ship in the harbour, consequently his cash in hand -had seriously diminished. He had already become terribly sane whilst -pondering over the natural consequences of being cashless. - -Hillary L----, for that was his name, hated plantation work and all -muscular endeavours that did not contain some element of romance. But -still, he had long since realised, through his many adversities at the -end of long voyages, that wherever one goes one must toil for a living, -however romantic the scenery may appear. - -"Blasted wicked world this! Wish white men could dress like the natives -and chew nourishing nuts for a living!" he murmured, as he thoughtfully -saluted the German official who was leaning against a dead screw-pine, -on the top of which blew the Double Eagle flag. - -Hillary was no fool; he could always be polite at the right time and -place. He'd been stranded, with fourpence-halfpenny or so in his -possession, in about ten islands during the last twelve months, and he -knew that if things got to the worst he could apply to the German consul -for a free passage to British New Guinea or to Samoa. Hence his -politeness. He was British to the backbone, and as the Teutonic official -murmured that it was a nice day Hillary nodded and then lifted a cloud -of the finest coral-dust with his offside boot. He could hear the German -spluttering and coughing in a fearful rage, wondering why the hot wind -had suddenly lifted so much dust. Hillary's contempt for anything in the -German line was quite unaffected. The natives whispered: "Germhony mans -nicer feller when he looker one way, but all-e-samee, he belonga debil -mans." - -The young apprentice was one of a type that commercially was not worth a -tinker's dam. If he were a party to any scheme connected with finance, -one could safely predict that that scheme was predestined to complete -failure. But in the imaginative world Hillary could be pronounced a -decided success. - -It was the same wherever he went. The old sea-boots on the shelf of the -seaport's slop-shop danced a jig on some ship far at sea; the oilskins -swelled to visionary limbs as sailormen opened their bearded mouths and -climbed aloft, singing the chanteys that he could distinctly hear as he -placed his ear to the shop's dirty window! - -The silk, blue-fringed chemise hanging on a nail by the oil lamp clung, -as he gazed, to the limbs of some laughing girl; fingers travelling down -the yellow keys of the second-hand piano mysteriously strummed out some -melody that told of the briefness of life, youth and beauty. This -poetical weakness was a veritable Old Man of the Sea on his back. But -still, he was no fool, and, like most of his type, he could be strong -where most men are weak. - -As he turned round and looked on the desolate scene, and stared at the -sunset out at sea, his face expressed an emotion that words cannot -describe. The parrots rose in a glittering cloud as he stood their -meditating, gazing on the small burial ground that he had suddenly -stumbled across. It was where a few white men had been buried on the -lonely beach-side, miles from the township. The crosses of coral stone -were sunken very deep, the names nearly oblitered. "What a godforsaken, -tragic place," he muttered as he read: - - TO THE MEMORY OF - BILL LARGO, BOATSWAIN - DIED JUNE 3RD 1860 - - SPEARED BY HEAD-HUNTERS IN TRYING TO SAVE SHIP'S - COOK--THIS STONE IS RAISED BY THE CREW - OF THE S.S. "SALAMANDER" BOUND - - FOR CALLAO - -Everything seemed tragic in those parts. For as he wandered along the -beach a voice startled him as a weird face suddenly poked out of the -mangroves: - -"Noice even'ng, matey?" - -"Yes," responded the apprentice as he looked into the face of a -sun-tanned remnant of a white man who stood by a fern-sheltered, -thatched den. It was only old Adams, an ex-sailor, leading his -Mormon-like existence. He was a kind of Solomon Island aristocrat of -independent means. He was apparently attired in a wide-brimmed hat and -beard only, for the climate is muggy in the Solomons. He _did_ wear thin -cotton pants, but they were so drenched with perspiration that they -clung to his legs like a skin. He borrowed a shilling from the -apprentice, shot a stream of tobacco juice seaward, then entered his -hut, but before slamming the door behind him he looked back and said: -"I'd git back to me ship if I was you; the Kai-Kai chiefs are on the -b----taboo lay round 'ere, and they'd give their ears for that curly mop -of yourn!" The door slammed. Once more Hillary was alone. As he walked -away he could distinctly hear old Adams swearing at his four wives, who -was apparently rushing round the hut looking for his clean shirt. They -were dusky women, probably the daughters of tribal kings, and had given -their birthrights to Adams so that they could be the wives of a noble -papalagi. Such was the queer, mixed population of that solitary locality -where the apprentice mooched along. And Rokeville, the shore township, -was not much more dignified; but what it lacked socially was amply made -up for by its Arabian-Nights-like atmosphere. Its one street, a silvery -track made of coral dust, went winding down to the shore. And when the -full moon peered over the ocean rim, touching with dim light the -feathery palms that sheltered the tin roofs of the scattered coral-built -houses, it looked like some staged faery town of a South Sea isle. Often -by night some strange-rigged ship would hug the coast-line for hours -while its crew of blackbirders crept ashore and kidnapped native men and -women from the villages. Before dawn that stealthy craft had sailed -away, crammed up to the hatches with cheap labour for the plantations -and heathen seraglios of nowhere. By day things looked as real as -possible. There was nothing faery-like about Parsons' wooden grog -shanty, that stood, sheltered by three tall palms, at the head of the -township. Through its ever-open doorway by day and night passed the -German, Scandinavian, Norwegian and Yankee shell-backs, who drank strong -rum at the bar, banged their fists and narrated their Homeric deeds. -That shanty was the commercial centre and stock exchange of -Bougainville. It was haunted by about a dozen nondescript, aged Chinese, -Dutch and Japanese seamen who wore pigtails, pointed beards or scraggy -whiskers: on the brightest tropic day _they_ succeeded in adding a touch -of romance to the shore landscape, for when rum was scarce they leant -their ragged backs against the palm stems and looked like old -figure-heads from Chinese junks and Spanish galleons stuck up on end, -till they spoilt the picture by pulling their tangled beards as they -spat seaward. They also drank rum and existed, apparently, by watching -the white seahorses charge the purple-ridged line of coral reefs that -made the natural pier of that seaside resort. Consequently the young -apprentice preferred the wild scenery of the mahogany forests and the -blue lagoons where the brown maids dived, to the mixed society of that -delectable township. To him there was something fascinating, almost -poetic, about the mahogany-hued Papuans and Polynesians. But his ideals -quite saved him from falling in love with a brown maid. And it must be -confessed that the Solomon Isles was not an Olympian locality, where -dwelt cold, passionless Hellenic beauties, and many a dusky Nausicaa and -luring Circe had tempted bold sailormen to destruction by their songs -and demonstrative exhibitions of their charms. But some of the maids -were innocent enough, for as Hillary wandered by Felisi beach he caught -sight of a tiny Polynesian baby girl. She was busy pulling wild flowers -that grew amongst the thick tavu-grass. Her tiny body shone with a hue -like a new Australian sovereign as sunset bathed her little figure with -its hot light. Her alert, savage ears heard the apprentice's footsteps -in the scrub. Just for a moment her thick curls tossed and sparkled -among the tall fern-grass as she sped away into the forest as though she -quite expected a white man to shoot her at sight! - -"I wonder what I'll sight next; why, it's like some fairy spot," Hillary -murmured as he watched the child disappear. Then he climbed over the -reefs till he came right opposite the shore islets, where the natives -swore their gods danced under the stars. - -At this spot there happened to be a wide lagoon, and on the still -waters, just where the mighty banyans leaned over and made a delightful -shade, floated a canoe. "The very thing!" Hillary exclaimed. In a moment -he was paddling about on the lagoon in the small primitive craft. -Strange birds shrieked over his head, their crimson and blue wings -flashing along as they resented his intrusion into their lovely -solitude. Some had eyes like sparkling jewels and long, hanging -coral-red legs and feet. - -"What a bit of luck! I could paddle about here for ever!" was his -comment as he swished the paddle, turned the prow of his canoe and went -off full speed down the narrow creek-like passage that led to the wider -stretch of water inland. "It's like being alone on an uninhabited -island," he thought. Suddenly a hush came over the waters. Only the -solitary "Kai koo-seeeek!" of a parakeet disturbed the silence. So still -was the water of the lagoon that he seemed to float about on a mighty -mirror. The huge buttressed banyans reflected in the deep, clear water -by the banks hung upside down, twisted shapes in an abyss of blue. He -could even discern the flock of shrieking, sky-winging lories as their -images went wheeling silently over the wooded heights, so clearly was -the forest fringe reflected in the depths. - -"Good Lord!" he gasped, as he stared on that shadow-world; and no -wonder, for on the rim of the hanging cloud, high over the leaning trees -of the reflected sky, sped an ornamental canoe! Its paddle was swiftly -curling, like a fast-flying bird's wing. He nearly upset his small -craft, so great was his astonishment, for, looking towards the bend -where the banyans hid the expanse of inland water from view, he saw that -the reflected figure in the canoe was real. - -It wasn't the canoe but the paddler that made him exclaim. "It can't be -an apparition with those hibiscus blossoms stuck in her hair," he -thought as he rubbed his eyes and stared again. The blue robe, open low -at the neck, was the apprentice's only excuse for his ridiculous idea in -thinking that a beautiful princess of some unknown white race had -suddenly appeared on the lagoon. She softly dipped her paddle and, -shattering the blue sky and twisted boughs with one blow, came speeding -towards him! - -"Am I awake?" he muttered. She had waved her paddle, welcoming his -presence as though she had known him for years. At first he hesitated, -thinking that one word, one sign of recognition from him would make her -vanish back into her native skies. But at length he too lifted his -paddle and waved most enthusiastically! - -As Hillary came closer he saw that there was sorrow in the girl's blue -eyes, as needs there must be, since Beauty is Sorrow's legitimate child. -A far-off gleam shone in them and glinted in her hair, which tumbled -down to the warm white curves of her neck and round to her throat. - -It was the pretty _retrousse_ nose that looked so human. - -Hillary took a deep breath and gazed again. - -"Fancy meeting you here!" he said as in his embarrassment he pulled his -dirty kerchief out of his pocket and wiped his face to hide his -confusion; then, remembering, he hastily replaced the rag-like kerchief -in his pocket. - -"Fancy meeting you!" said the girl as she gave a silvery peal of -laughter. - -The young apprentice's heart began to thump. He stared into the girl's -eyes as though she had mesmerised him. A wild desire thrilled his soul -as she leaned forward, still paddling softly as she returned his gaze. - -"Do you live here?--out here in the South Seas?" he murmured as he -almost dropped his cheese-cutter midshipman's cap into the water. - -"Of course I do! Do you think I live up in the sky?" - -"Shouldn't be surprised if you did," he responded, gaining his nerve. -Then he told the girl that he thought she might have been a princess -migrating or on tour in one of the intermediate steamers. - -The girl stared at hearing this sally. The look that came into her eyes -made the apprentice understand the cause of the girl's apparently bold -familiarity. She was quite unworldly. She seemed to read his thoughts, -for she ceased paddling and, looking almost seriously into his face, -said: "I'm Gabrielle Everard. I've lived in these islands with Dad since -I was a child. Dad took me away to Ysabel and Gualdacanar about a year -ago." - -"Did he really?" said Hillary as he metaphorically nudged himself to -find her so pleasant and confidential. - -"Mother dead?" he murmured as the sea-wind drifted across the waters, -sighed in the shore banyans and blew the girl's tresses about her -throat. - -"Mother's dead, of course! Always has been so far as I can remember," -she responded, looking into the young man's face intently, wondering why -on earth his voice should sound so tender and concerned when he asked -about her long-dead parent. - -They paddled side by side. The strange girl's eyes had done a grievous -thing to Hillary's soul. The feathery palms and old trees, catching the -sea-winds, seemed to whisper cherished things of romance and -long-forgotten lover to his ears. It took him that way because he was an -amateur musician. - -"What a beautiful voice you've got!" said he, as she dipped her paddle -in perfect _tempo_ to some wild melody that she sang in a minor key. - -"Have I? Why, Dad says I've got a voice like a cockatoo!" she responded -merrily. - -"The wicked, unmusical old bounder!" said the apprentice; then he -swiftly apologised. - -"Oh, you needn't be so sorry that you've said that. I don't care a -cuss!" - -Once more Hillary metaphorically rubbed his hands. "Jove! What an -original, fascinating creature the girl is, to be sure," was his secret -comment. Had the young apprentice known that the girl before him had -danced on a heathen _pae pae_ (stage) and sang before those -cannibalistic tribal warriors the night before, he would most probably -have been more fascinated by her presence than ever! - -"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! What a name! Beautiful!" he murmured to himself -as the girl dipped the paddle and sang on. By now they had arrived near -the sandy shore of the inland lagoon. - -"Must you go?" he said. - -"Well, yes; but I can easily see you again, can't I?" Hillary L---- made -no articulate response. "And this is the Solomon Isles, remote from -civilisation, far away in the cannibalistic South Seas!" he murmured -deep within his happy soul. - -But mad as Hillary was, he half realised that the girl before him was -more of a child than a woman. She laughed, even giggled a little, like a -happy child. Only five years had passed since she had played with the -native kiddies, who many times had persuaded her to dance and sing their -heathen songs as they pretended to be heathen chiefs and chiefesses -performing on a toy _pae pae_. She had revelled in those dances. But no -one would have dreamed by looking at her that she was not a pure-blooded -white girl. Her father had married a beautiful three-quarter caste girl -in Honolulu, so Gabrielle had a strain of dark blood in her veins! - -The young apprentice couldn't fathom the look in her eyes as he stared. -Passion was just awakening in her soul, stealing like a tropical sunrise -over the hills of childhood. To him she appeared like some -spirit-creation that might at any moment take wings and fly away; so -when she turned the prow of her canoe dead on to the soft sand and -jumped ashore, he made a frantic dash and jumped, landing just behind -her. He was determined to know when and where she would meet him again. -But he had no need to fear; she did not fly away. She simply tied her -canoe to a bamboo stem and, turning round, looked him full in the face -with those glorious eyes that were to be for him two stars of the first -magnitude. Then she placed her fingers in the folds of her hair and -taking out one of the hibiscus blossoms, handed it to him, much to his -surprise. He realised that it was more the act of a child than a woman -of the world. - -"I've read in books that girls give men flowers that have been fastened -in their hair," she said. This remark and act of the girl's, and the -look in her eyes, had a strange effect on Hillary's susceptible mind. He -almost felt the tears well into his eyes. It was all so unexpected, and -told him in some great poetry of silence what the girl's heart was made -of, the utter loneliness of her existence and the way her childish -dreams were flowing out to the great realities of life. He placed the -flower in his buttonhole, then gazed on the girl as only an infatuated -youth can gaze, and said: "Will you meet me here again, by this lagoon? -Any day and time will do for me." - -"I'm sure to be this way again," she said, and before the young -apprentice could stop her she had flitted away under the coco-palms. - -Before she got out of sight she turned and waved her hand. In his -excitement he responded by waving his cap. Then she disappeared under -the thick belt of dark mangroves by the swamp track that led inland in -the direction of her father's bungalow. - -"What a girl!" That was the only audible comment he made as the girl -went out of sight. And where did she go? She ran away over the slopes -that lay just behind the township of Rokeville, back to her home and her -trader father. - -Old Everard, her parent, was a kind of freak too. He was a tall, -clean-shaved, thin-faced man, with blue-grey eyes and a beaked nose; his -mouth had a melancholy droop about it; the face in repose looked strong -at times, but when he grinned and revealed his tobacco-blackened teeth -it looked characterless, almost weak. At times he was extremely -garrulous, at other times either reticent or insulting to anyone who -might be unfortunate enough to come near him. Gabrielle seemed to be the -only person in Bougainville who understood him. He didn't take much -interest in his daughter, though she might have done so in him. All he -did was religiously to exercise his parental control by sending the girl -on his selfish errands, mostly for rum and whisky. At other times he -demanded that she should attend to his comforts when delirium tremens -shook his spine. He was an ex-sailor. Trailing from the mainyard of his -ship whilst anchored off the Solomon Group, he had lost a leg, and -during his convalescence in Honolulu had married, finally settling down -in Bougainville. - -His homestead was a three-roomed bungalow, and he kept things going by -the money he had saved during his seafaring life; he was also interested -in copra plantations at Bougainville and at Ysabel. His temperament was -choleric. He was known in the vicinity by the nickname -"Shiver-me-timbers." This cognomen was derived from the fact that he -always stamped his wooden leg, making it shiver in his impatience, when -he wanted a drink, consequently his wooden leg was never at rest. He -looked like some wooden-legged Nemesis as he sat there that evening; and -if any glamour still lingered in Gabrielle's brain from her chance -meeting with the young apprentice, it was swiftly dispelled by the -stumping of that wooden member as she rushed indoors. - -Even a wooden leg would seem to have its part to play in the universe: -there was something imperative about its tapping voice. That fate-like -tapping had smashed up many of Gabrielle's young dreams; possibly that -wooden leg was a soulless agent of the devil. - -"Here's the whisky, Dad," said she, as the cockatoo looked down from its -perch and shrieked: "Gabby-ell! Gabby-ell! Kai-kai-too!" - -In a moment that weird symbol in wood, that represented all that was -unromantic to her ardent soul, ceased its ominous "tip-e-te-tap-tap" as -the old sailor looked up and spied his daughter. - -"Thankee, thankee, kid!" he growled as he put forth his hand. Such was -the domestic atmosphere that the girl had rushed back to. - -After the young apprentice had waved his farewell to Gabrielle he -strolled away under the palms. "Well, she's a beautiful creature. Who'd -have thought of meeting her in this wild place? She's ethereal, too -beautiful to make love to," he sighed. - -Possibly the contrast between Gabrielle Everard and the Solomon Island -mop-headed girls etherealised her natural beauty in his eyes. This was a -fatal outlook for Hillary, considering the girl's impulsive nature and -his chances in the love affair that he had unknowingly embarked upon. -And possibly this outlook of his was the result of outward glamour -having greatly influenced his indwelling life. He had succeeded in -making himself the more unfitted to cope with his immediate surroundings -by poring over such writers as Tolstoy, Walt Whitman, Rousseau and -Ruskin. But still, these writers, with their mad denunciations and -rhapsodies, had helped to awaken in Hillary's soul that adoration for -the beautiful, that love for living art that nourishes a delight in -God's work. The young apprentice did not digest the whole contents of -those volumes; he was too young to grasp their full meaning, but his -mind had grasped enough to make him a kind of derelict missionary of the -beautiful. When the moods came to him he would bury his nose in the -pages of Byron, Shelley, Keats, etc. And the influence gathered from -those poets possibly filled his head with vague imaginings over beauty -and innocence, feeding the fires of wild aspiration that cannot be -realised in this world, and were never realised and acted up to by the -poets who wrote the poems. - -As he walked on thoughts of the strange girl on the lagoon _would_ haunt -his brain. He had quite made up his mind to secure a berth on the -sailing-ship that was leaving for New South Wales in a few days, but -Gabrielle Everard's eyes seemed to have magically changed the future for -him. - -It was almost with relief that he gave his arm to the drunken shellback -who suddenly appeared from nowhere, struck him on the back and spat a -stream of tobacco juice across Hillary's poetic vision, taking him -completely away from himself. Then the shellback faded away, went off -shouting some wild sea chantey as he rolled over the slopes, bound for -the sailor's Morning and Evening Star--the distant light of Parsons's -grog shanty. It was getting dark. That night Hillary seemed inspired. He -sat outside the wooden building where he lodged and played his violin to -the shellback, traders and natives who came over the slopes to listen. -Mango Pango, the pretty Polynesian servant, grinned from ear to ear, -showing her pearly teeth, as she danced beneath the palms that grew -right up to the verandah of his landlady's homestead. Even the -congregated sailormen ceased their unmelodious oaths as they pulled -their beards and listened to his playing. - -Hillary wasn't a master on the violin; his career had been too erratic -for him to get the necessary practice to accomplish great things in -instrumental playing. But still he could perform the _Poet and Peasant_ -overture and most of the stock pieces, besides playing heathen melodies -that sent the natives into ecstasies of delight. His sailor critics -swore that his extemporised sea-jigs were the most classical of -compositions that they had ever heard. For when he played the South Sea -maids threw their limbs about in rhythmical swerves, till the soles of -their pretty bare feet sometimes seemed turned toward the South Sea -moon! Mango Pango, Marga Maroo and Topsy Turvy were dancing to their -heart's content as the hills re-echoed the shellbacks' laughter and the -wild chorus of _O, For Rio Grande_ when the concert was disturbed. For -notwithstanding the wild surroundings, the hilarity and awful oaths, -piety roamed those savage isles. - -As the strains of the _Poet and Peasant_ overture trembled from -Hillary's violin a tall, handsome savage, attired in European clothes, -stepped out from beneath the palms and complimented the young Englishman -on his artistic performance. He was an educated savage, and naturally -conducted himself in public just as a late missionary from the -North-West Mission School at Honolulu should do. He was certainly an -attractive-looking being, possibly through his mother being a Papuan and -his father a handsome Malayan. Even the shellbacks pulled their whiskers -and beards, and put on their best behaviour as he stood there and spoke -as becomes a Rajah and late missionary who has "saved" thousands of -souls; for he studied the philosophy of the Psalms so that they might -fit in with his views. And it might be mentioned at once that he did not -allow idealistic views to disturb the nice equilibrium of his earthly -requirements. When he was excited his speech lapsed into the native -pidgin-English. But he spoke perfectly as he addressed Hillary, saying: -"You play exceedingly well, young man, and your rendering of Spohr's -concerto strikes me as superb. For perfect intonation and verve your -performance outrivals the rendering by Monsieur De T----, whom I heard -play it at the Tivoli, Honolulu." So spake the civilised heathen. - -"'Ark at 'im! an ole kanaka missionary!" whispered Bunky Lory, the -ordinary seaman. - -"'Andsome cove with his whiskers on," said another, a Cockney. - -There is no doubt that Rajah Koo Macka was a handsome type of man so far -as the world's idea of what's handsome goes. He wore a fine moustache -curled artistically at the ends; had fine teeth, ivory-white; and full, -sensual, curved lips that were not a libel on his character. But his -greatest asset was his magnetic, telescope-like eyes that could sight a -sinfully inclined girl or woman miles off! Indeed he was a splendid -example of a christianised heathen doing his best to be religious -notwithstanding his inherently antagonistic principles. He had plenty of -cash; he owned two or three schooners, and received a Government bounty -for hunting down the white miscreants, those skippers who indulged in -all the horrors of the black-birding slave traffic. He wore three medals -on his ample breast, and besides the aforementioned bounty received a -pension from some missionary society in London which had heard of his -self-sacrifice whilst converting his heathen brothers from cannibalistic -orgy and lust. And more, it was discovered, after many days, that he was -a good and dutiful son to his old father Bapa, who still dwelt in the -Rajah's native village in far-away Tumba-Tumba, on the wild, -God-forsaken coast of New Guinea. Such is a rough summary of the Rajah -Koo Macka, whose ways were mysterious, more so than the wily Chinee! And -though dead men may turn in their graves over the doings of men on -earth, the apprentice only pulled the end of his virgin moustache, no -prophetic breath of all that was destined to happen disturbing his -equanimity. - - - - -CHAPTER II--THE CALL OF THE BLOOD - - -The day after the young apprentice had played his violin to the -shellbacks and listened to the Papuan Rajah's eulogies over his playing, -old Everard was sitting in his bungalow swearing like the much-maligned -trooper. He was holding out his gouty foot whilst his daughter poured -cool water upon it. - -"What the devil are yer doing!" he yelled, as the girl, who had done -exactly as she had been told to do, stood half-paralysed with fear over -her parent's outburst. Then the ex-sailor picked the ointment pot up and -rubbed the swollen foot himself. As Gabrielle looked on and mentally -thanked her Maker that her father had only one foot, he finished up by -grabbing a chair and pitching it across the room, careless as to what it -might hit. A fierce look came into the girl's eyes, her face was hotly -flushed. For a moment the old man opened his mouth in surprise, really -thinking she meant to hurl the chair back at him. She looked for a -moment like a beautiful young savage. Then she turned and rushed from -the bungalow. - -"Come back, you blasted little heathen!" roared old Everard as he stood -up on his wooden leg; then he gave a fearful howl as his gouty foot gave -him another twinge. His face was purple with passion. "I'll break her -b---- neck when she comes back, I will. She's like her mother, that's -what she is." - -The ex-sailor's wild sayings meant nothing. He had been genuinely fond -of his wife. Like most men who have choleric tempers, his hot words had -no relation to his true feelings. Gabrielle's mother had been dead for -many years. Although she had dark blood in her veins, she had been a -very beautiful woman. Indeed an eerie kind of beauty seems to be the -natural heritage of women who are remotely descended from a mixture of -the dark and white races. And this striking beauty is most noticeable in -those half-castes who are descended from the Malayan types, a -superstitious people, of wild, poetic, passionate temperament. There was -some mystery concerning Gabrielle's mother: she had flown from Haiti to -Honolulu in some great fear. Everard had met her because it was on his -ship that she had stowed away; but she had never divulged the cause of -her flight from the land where she had been born. All that Gabrielle -knew was that her mother's photograph hung on her bedroom wall, a sad, -beautiful face that gave no hint of her dark ancestry. Gabrielle had -been the tiny guest who had unconsciously caused her natural host to -depart from this life--for her mother had died during confinement. -Gabrielle Everard felt that loss as she walked beneath the palms; but, -still, she felt glad that her father's violence had inspired her with -sufficient courage to beat a hasty retreat, careless of the parental -wrath when she at length returned home again. "Perhaps he'll be so full -of rum when I get back that he'll have forgotten," was her sanguine -reflection. Then she pulled her pretty, washed-out blue robe tight with -the sash, and murmured: "The old devil! Good job if he pegged out!" - -As the girl's temper subsided the savage look on her face faded away. -Like a gleam of sunrise across the lagoons at dawn, the laughing -expression of her blue eyes slowly returned. The firm resolve of the -lips also disappeared. Her mouth was again a rosebud of the warm, -impassioned South, a mouth that easily claimed twinship with the beauty -of the luring eyes, which looked warm with desire as the lips -themselves. She wore her loose blouse very low at the neck, so low that -the sun had delicately touched the curve of her breast. But she was only -an undeveloped woman as yet. Her ideas of the great world were vague and -shadowy. She knew little of what lay beyond her own surroundings, of -men's ways, the terror of cities, human frailty, and the force and -passion of human tragedies. All the ribaldry, the hints thrust upon her -by the rough sailors since she had entered her teens, had been quite -lost on her undeveloped mind. Her whole idea of life and its mysteries -had come to her out of a few old books. They were books that had been -left at her father's homestead by a ship's captain when Gabrielle was a -child. This captain's ship had gone ashore in a typhoon off -Bougainville, and its wreck could still be seen lying on the barrier -reefs about a mile from the shore. - -Who could foresee the wondrous potentialities that lay within the pages -of those books which the old skipper had carelessly thrown aside?--what -dreams they would some day awaken in a girl's heart, giving her strength -to combat the desires that came with volcanic-like force on the -threshold of womanhood? For, true enough, the heroes and heroines of -those old books mysteriously leapt from the thumb-torn, yellow pages and -seemed to struggle in their effort to help her regain her better self. - -One book was Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_; another, Christina -Rossetti's poems; _The Arabian Nights_ and Hans Andersen's fairy tales. -That old captain (he must have been old by the dates in the books) had -brought many valuable cargoes across the world, but he dreamed not that -his most wonderful cargo was the magic in the books that he was destined -one day to leave behind him in the Solomon Isles! - -To a great extent old Everard's daughter was the embodiment of the -principles and idealisms that were in those faded volumes: in her -imagination Bunyan stood there beneath the palms, seeing God in those -tropic skies; Hans Andersen drank in the mystery of sunset on the -mountains, and Christina Rossetti laid a visionary hand on the tiny, -shaggy heads of the native children who had rushed from the forest's -depths and had started gambolling at Gabrielle's feet. She hastened on. -"Awaie!" she cried to the dusky little creatures, who looked up at her -in a bewildered way, as though they had seen a ghost. "Ma Soo!" they -wailed, as they sped away, frightened, into the shadows of the forest. A -wild desire entered Gabrielle's heart; she half bounded forward, as -though to rush after those tiny forest ragamuffins. She felt like -casting aside her civilised attire, so that she too might race off, -untrammelled, into those happy leafy glooms. The cry of the -yellow-crested cockatoo, the deep moaning of the bronze pigeons and iris -doves in the bread-fruits seemed to feed her soul with unfathomable -music. As she passed by a lagoon she saw her reflection in the still -depths. The dark-toning water made her appear almost swarthy; her -bronze-gold hair looked quite black. It was only a momentary glance, but -that glimpse was enough to strike a wild feeling of terror into her -heart, reminding her that she was connected by blood to the dark races. - -At that thought her heart trembled: to her it was as though God had -suddenly thumped it in some inscrutable spite. In a moment she had -recovered. The strange dread of she knew not what vanished. Once more -she gave a peal of silvery laughter, and even went so far as to wave her -hand to the crowd of dark, handsome native men who were hurrying by on -their way back from the plantations. - -As she meandered along she began to think over all that had happened on -the festival night when she had suddenly felt that strange impulse and -astonished the natives by jumping on to the festival _pae pae_ and -dancing before them all. She rubbed her eyes. "I can't think that I -really did such a thing; I feel sure it must have been a dream." Then -she remembered that her gown was torn and one of her slippers lost when -she had arrived home in her father's bungalow. "It must have been true. -Fancy me doing such a thing! I wonder what _he_ would have thought." So -she reflected over all she had done. Then she began to reassure herself -by recalling how she had often, when only ten years of age, danced on -the _pae pae_ with the pretty tambu maidens. And, as she remembered it -all, she gave an instinctive high kick and burst into a fit of laughter; -then she said to herself: "I'm a woman now and really must not do such -things!" She started running down the forest track, and as she passed by -the native village the handsome emigrant Polynesian youths waved their -hands and cried: "Talofa Madimselle!" One handsome young Polynesian, -gifted with superb effrontery, ran forward and stuck a frangipani -blossom in her hair. This by-play made the tawny maids who were -squatting on their mats by the village huts jump to their feet and give -a hop, skip and a jump through sheer jealousy. - -Once more Gabrielle had passed on and entered the depths of the forest. -Passing along by the banyan groves on the outskirts of the villages she -suddenly came across a cleared space surrounded by giant -mahogany-trees--a kind of natural amphitheatre. Between the tree trunks -stood several huge wooden idols with glass boss eyes and hideous carved -mouths. They seemed to grin with extreme delight at the adoration they -were receiving from the twelve skinny hags and three chiefs who knelt -and chanted at their wooden feet. Gabrielle stood still, fascinated by -the weirdness of that pagan scene. Again and again the hags and chiefs -jumped to their feet and prostrated themselves before the carved -deities. "_Tan woomba! Te woomba, tarabaran, woomba woomba!_" they -seemed to moan and mumble as the stalwart chieftains jumped to their -feet, wagged their feathered head-dresses, thrust forth their arms and -chanted into the idols' wooden ears. The largest centre idol seemed -actually to grin with delight as it listened to the mumbling of the -chiefs. Gabrielle stared, awestruck, as she listened, and the hags, -leaping to their feet, danced wildly and shook their shell-ornamented -_ramis_ (loin chemises), making a weird, jingling music as the shells -tinkled. Then they lifted their skinny arms and bony chins to the forest -height and mumbled weird chants of death. Gabrielle had seen many -similar sights in Bougainville, but never before had she quite realised -the full meaning of that strange chanting, or of the sorrow that impels -heathens to fashion an effigy with a fate-like grin on its curved wooden -lips so that it could stand before them as some material symbol of the -Unknown Power! As Gabrielle watched, two of the chiefs turned their -heads, recognised her, and gave their sombre salutation: "Maino -tepiake!" And still the hags chanted on. - -Then Gabriello heard a faint mumbling coming from the belt of mangroves -that grew by the lagoons near by. She was astonished to see six tambu -maids appear, attired in full festival costume, which consisted of a -kind of sarong fashioned from the thinnest tappa cloth. The girls had -large red and black feathers stuck in their head-mops and Gabrielle knew -by this that someone had died in the village and was being borne to the -grave. They were walking slowly, carrying their mournful burden between -them. It was an old-time tribal funeral. As the coffin-bearers arrived -in front of the idols they laid their burden down. Gabrielle -instinctively crossed herself when she saw the wan face of the dead -mahogany-hued Broka girl. It was a sad, curiously beautiful face, for -death had toned down the old wildness of the living features. The -reddish, coral-dyed hair had fallen forward on to the pallid brown brow -and gave a pathetic touch to that silent figure. On the forehead was the -plastered scarlet mud cross, a sign that the girl had died in -maidenhood. She was stretched out on a long, narrow death-mat that had -handles, something after the style of an ambulance stretcher, but -fashioned in such a way that when the primitive hearse of dusky arms -moved forward the corpse regained a sitting posture. The effect was -gruesome in the extreme, for the head of the corpse, being limp, fell -forward or wobbled as the mourners passed along the narrow mossy track. -Through entering into the spirit of the proceedings Gabrielle at once -gained the sympathy of those pagan mourners. For she too crept behind -the procession as it moved along among the pillars of the vast primitive -cathedral. The thick foliage of the giant bread-fruits, the buttressed -banyans and towering vines, that ran here and there like symphonies of -green, scented the forest depth. And when the wind sighed it seemed to -be some moan from infinity, as though that moving procession and the -forest itself stood on the deep inward slopes of some vast sea. Only the -remote wide window, through which the stars shone by night and the -sunsets marked the close of each tropic day, was visible between the -colonnades of tree trunks, as there it shone--the far-away western -horizon. Suddenly the procession stopped. The six tambu maidens had -begun to chant an eerie but beautiful pagan psalm as they approached the -grave-side; then they laid their burden gently down. The weeping hags -and chiefs stood looking up into the branches of the tall coco-palm. It -was there that the girl's body was to rest till her bones whitened to -the hot tropic winds. Along one of the lower branches they had fashioned -a grave-mattress of twigs and leaves, jungle grass and tough seaweed, -the whole being fastened on to the branch by strong sennet. It was a -weirdly fascinating sight as they stood there voiceless and began -hurriedly to perform the last sacred rites over the dead girl. The -tallest of the mourners, an aged chief, who had a naturally melancholy -aspect, besides both his ears being missing, took a bone flute from his -lava-lava and began to blow a weird _Te Deum_. Gabrielle could hardly -believe her eyes as the tambu maidens started to whirl their bodies in -perfect silence to the sound of the wild man's piping. Only the jingle -of the _rami_ shells, tinkling in exact _tempo_ to the wailing fife -(made out of the thigh-bone of some dead high priest), told her that -those girls were whirling rapidly in the forest shadows. The hags and -chiefs had already fallen prone on their stomachs, so that they could -perform the lost mysterious rite. This rite necessitated them rising -repeatedly to their knees so that they might take in a deep breath and -blow their stomachs out, balloon-like, to enormous proportions. The -contrast was weird in the extreme when their bodies receded and subsided -into a mass of wrinkles. This strange rite took about five minutes to -perform. It was a rite that was supposed to blow the sins of the dead -away ere the spirit entered shadow-land. - -As soon as this ritual was completed two of the chiefs climbed the -grave-palm and then, hanging in a marvellous way by their feet, they -leaned earthwards and gripped the dead girl's coffin-mat by the sennet -handles. One old woman (the mother probably) rushed hastily forward, and -lifting the corpse's hand kissed it. Then the living limbs of the weird -grave-elevators went taut as, still with their heads hanging downwards, -they clutched the coffin-mat and slowly pulled the dead figure foot by -foot off _terra firma_ towards the sky! In a few moments the dead girl -lay lashed to the bough of her strange grave, high up in the forest -coco-palm. Suddenly the mourners had all vanished! Even Gabrielle felt -some of the fright that haunted the souls of those wild people. They had -hurried away because it was known that directly the forest wind blew -across the new-made grave the soul of the dead departed for shadow-land -and must not be tainted by the breath of the living. After seeing that -sight Gabrielle hurried away also. She trembled as she stepped at last -out of the forest shadows into the glory of the sunlight. She seemed to -realise at that moment that the sun was the visible god of the universe, -the rolling orb that woos the world, creating the green happiness of the -woods and bills. She saw the migrating birds going south as she lifted -her eyes. Perhaps she felt the winged poetry of the birds on their -flight to the southward, hurrying away like symbols of our own brief -days. Her eyes were very concentrated as she sighed and then jumped -carelessly on to a springy banyan bough and began to sing one of her -peculiar songs. Suddenly she ceased to sing, and a startled look leapt -into her eyes as she turned her head. She had even let her swinging legs -fall stiff so that the old blue robe might fall and hide her pretty -ankles. Then she gave a merry peal of laughter that frightened the life -out of a decrepit cockatoo. "Cah-eah! Whoo-cah!" it shrieked as it left -its high perch and flapped away. Hillary looked up and threw a coco-nut -at it and missed by a hundred yards. It was he who had disturbed the -girl. As the apprentice stood before her she blushed softly, as though -her bright eyes and face mysteriously reflected the sunset fire that -shone on the sea horizon to the westward. - -Hillary metaphorically rubbed his hands over his luck. He had strolled -over the hills for no other reason than to get clear of his growling -landlady, who had begun to give hints over delayed rent. Nor was the old -half-caste woman to be blamed, for many white youths from "Peretania" -arrived in the Solomon Isles crammed with hopes and promises and little -cash! Besides, the evening was the only time fit for a quiet stroll -without being charged by myriads of sand-flies and other winged, -tropical things. Though Gabrielle had hinted to him that she generally -took her walks by the lagoons, he had gathered that she was usually busy -at the twilight hours getting her father's tea, polishing his wooden -leg, etc. Consequently, Hillary's face was aglow with pleasure as he -approached the girl. In his confusion he lifted his cap and bowed as men -bow to maids in civilised communities. Gabrielle, who was unused to such -gallant manners, was delighted. She even gave a little nod in response. -It was a most fascinating bit of "court etiquette" on her part, for she -had learnt it from her French novels. Hillary, who had especially -noticed and loved the girl's wild, rough, fascinating ways, was charmed -at Gabrielle's tiny bit of "put-on." It would have been impossible to -reproduce the expression of his face as he flung himself down in the -fern-grass close to Gabrielle. - -The girl who was again swinging to and fro on the banyan bough, looked -sideways like a parrot on the apprentice's face, wondering why he looked -so confused. Hillary always felt shy when she looked at him with those -childish, big eyes. - -"I'm going to clear out of this God-forsaken place soon," he said, as he -found his voice. Then he continued: "It's marvellous how a girl like you -can exist in this infernal hole, full of tattooed savages." - -She only stared at him as he rambled on, and wondered why he attracted -her so. Then she laughed like a child, and looking him straight in the -face said: "You are very different to the other men I've seen round -these parts." Hillary felt himself redden as she stared into his eyes; -she looked critically for a moment and said: "Different coloured eyes -too!" Then she added artlessly: "Do you drink rum?" - -"On cold nights at sea," Hillary responded, as he stroked his chin and -felt amused at the girl's remarks. - -And still the girl sang on as he watched her. She looked like a faery -child as she sat there swinging on the banyan bough, the music of her -voice ringing some elfin tune into his ears. There was a look that -reminded him of Keats's _La Belle Dame Sans Merci_. Indeed, the -apprentice half fancied that she was some visionary girl sitting there -singing to him from a banyan bough in the Solomon Isles. And as the -sea-winds drifted in and made a kind of moaning music in the ivory-nut -palms their murmurings seemed to sing: - - "I met a lady in the meads, - Full beautiful--a faery's child; - Her hair was long, her foot was light, - And her eyes were wild. - - "I set her on my pacing steed, - And nothing else saw all day long, - For sidelong would she bend, and sing - A faery's song. - - "I saw pale kings and princes too, - Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; - They cried: 'La Belle Dame sans Merci - Hath thee in thrall!'" - -A strange bird that neither knew the name of began to whistle its -evening song and broke the spell. "I wish that damned bird hadn't come -and spoilt everything," was Hillary's most emphatic mental comment. -Gabrielle had stopped singing. "Do you love the songs of birds, Miss -Everard?" he said as he looked at her and gave an inane smile. - -"I do this evening," she replied, then quickly added: "It's the tribal -drums, that horrible booming and banging in the mountains, that I hate -to hear!" - -"Fancy that!" said Hillary, somewhat surprised, as he listened to the -distant echoes--it was the tribal drums up in the native village beating -the stars in. - -"I was just thinking how romantic that distant drumming sounded; the -people in the far-off cities of the world would give something to hear -that primitive overture to the night, I can tell you," said he. - -"Fancy that! Why----" said Gabrielle, as she over-balanced and fell from -the bough in considerable confusion at his feet. Hillary made a grab as -though she had yet another sheer depth to fall. - -"Oh, allow me!" he exclaimed, as he picked her novel up. The girl -whipped her robe down swiftly and hid the brown, ornamental-stockinged -calves that a few months before had been exposed by short skirts to the -gaze of all those who might wish to stare. Gabrielle blushed as she -rearranged her crimson sash. She was dressed in a kind of Oriental -style, in a sarong, opened at the sleeves to about one inch above the -elbows. The crimson sash was tied bow-wise at the left hip; a large -hibiscus blossom was stuck coquettishly in the folds of her hair, making -her small white ear peep out like a pearly shell. Her _retrousse_ nose -had a tiny scratch on it where a bee had stung her the day before. - -"Why, you've scratched your arm!" exclaimed Hillary, taking advantage of -the delicate situation by gently pulling back the sleeve of her sarong -and boldly wiping a tiny speck of blood away from the soft whiteness -that had been pricked by a cactus thorn. Gabrielle put on a look of -extreme modesty, notwithstanding that she had danced on a heathen _pae -pae_ a few nights before. - -"Your eyes are different colours, one brown and one a beautiful blue!" -she suddenly exclaimed for the second time as she burst into a merry -peal of laughter. - -The young apprentice reddened slightly. "I can't help that I did not -make my own eyes, did I?" he said. - -For a moment the girl stared earnestly at his face, then said: "Well, -you needn't mind, really. I reckon they look fine!" - -"Don't you get full up of wandering about this heathen locality?" said -Hillary, changing the conversation. "Nothing but palm-trees, parrots, -and brown men and tattooed women roaming about gabbling _tabak_ and -worshipping idols." - -Gabrielle laughed. "Don't you care for the natives? I think they're -amusing; especially at the festival dances," she added after a pause. - -"Well, I don't object to the festivals; they're original and decidedly -attractive. I was charmed by seeing a Polynesian maid dance like a -goddess over a Buka village two nights ago." - -"Fancy you liking to see native girls dance!" said Gabrielle, giving a -roguish glance. - -"Well, I do; there's something so fascinating and poetic in the way they -do it all," Hillary responded. - -Gabrielle readjusted the flowers in her hair, then said: "Would you like -to see me dance?" - -"Dear me, I certainly should!" exclaimed the young apprentice, his eyes -betraying the astonishment he felt over her question. - -"Shall I dance?" Gabrielle repeated. - -"What! Now!" he exclaimed. He lit his cigarette twice over, wondering if -she were laughing at him or really meant that she would dance there on -the spot. - -Before he could say another word Gabrielle had risen to her feet and was -dancing before him. He blew his nose, coughed, put on an inane smile and -then fairly gasped in his astonishment and admiration. Her tripping feet -softly brushed the blue forest flowers and tall, ferny grass that -swished against her loose robe. Hillary's embarrassment had changed to a -tremendous interest in the originality of the dancer before him. He -clapped his hands in a kind of obsequious way for an encore as she -swayed in a most fascinating manner, her hair tumbling over her -shoulders, her eyes shining, one hand holding up the fold of her -sarong-like robe, just revealing her brown stocking above the left -ankle. "Well, I'm blessed!" he breathed. She had begun to hum a weird -melody; her right hand was outstretched, uplifted as though she held a -goblet of wine and would drink a toast to some pagan deity. - -He looked at the sunset; he half fancied that it had always been staring -from the ocean rim, and would never set! And as he looked at the dancing -figure she really did seem to hold a goblet in her outstretched -hand--full to the brim--with the gold of sunset that touched the -landscape and was glinting over her tumbling hair and eyes. - -"The Solomon Isles! The Solomon Isles!" was all that he could breathe to -himself as she stared at him, a strange fixed look in her eyes. A -cockatoo fluttered down to the lowest bough of the bread-fruit tree, -looked sideways on her swaying figure, slowly flapped its blue-tipped -wings in surprise and chuckled discordantly. - -"Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay!" chimed in Hillary, as he clapped his hands, -stared idiotically and felt like hiding behind the thick trunk of the -bread-fruit. - -"Well now! You dance perfectly!" he gasped. Gabrielle had ceased -tripping. She looked embarrassed and had begun to coil up her tumbling -tresses. - -"Worth chewing salt-horse and hard-tack on a dozen voyages to have seen -what I've seen!" was the apprentice's inward reflection. - -"Do the girls in England dance like that?" she said in an eager, -frightened way. - -"Oh no, not as well as you've danced. Blest if they do!" said he. That -last remark of hers made him realise that girl before him was half-wild -and had danced before him as a child might ere it became self-conscious. -"Fancy meeting a beautiful white girl, half-wild! It's thrilling! I -wonder what will be the end of it," mused Hillary, as he stared on that -strange maid whom he had chanced upon so suddenly. - -Suddenly she said: "I'm no good at all; you may think I am, but I'm -not." - -"Aren't you?" murmured Hillary, somewhat taken aback. - -"You're a clever girl. Not many girls can quote the poets and rattle off -verses as you can. I suppose your father's an educated kind of man and -has a good library?" he added after a pause. - -Gabrielle's hearty peal of laughter at the idea of her father possessing -a library made the frightened parrots flutter in a wheel-like procession -over the belt of shoreward mangroves. Then she said: "Well, my father -has got a lot of books, but they really belonged to a ship's captain--a -nice old man who lived with us years ago, when I was a child." Then she -added: "His ship was blown ashore here in a typhoon and when he went -away he left all his books behind him in Dad's bungalow. I've learned -almost all I know from those books." Saying this, she pointed with her -finger towards the shore, and said: "From the top of that hill you can -see the old captain's ship to-day: it's a big wreck with three masts. -Father told me that the old captain often got sentimental and went up on -the hills to stare through a telescope at his old ship lying on the -reefs." - -"How romantic! So I've to thank the old captain that you can quote the -works of the poets to me," said Hillary. Then he added: "But still, -you're a clever girl, there's no doubt about it." - -"I'm secretly wicked, down in the very depths of me." - -"No! Surely not!" gasped the apprentice as he stared at the girl. - -Then he smiled and said quickly: "What you've just said is proof enough -that you're not wicked. You're imaginative, and so you imagine that you -have limitations that no one else has. If anyone's wicked it's me, I -know," he added, laughing quietly. - -"I've got the limitations right enough, that's why I feel so strange and -miserable at times." - -"Don't feel miserable, please don't," said Hillary softly as he blessed -the silence of the primitive spot and the opportunity that had arisen -for his direct sympathy. - -"You must remember that we all have our besetting sins, and that the -majority of us think our besetting sin is our prime virtue," he said. -"I've been all over the world but never met a girl like you before," he -added in a sentimental way. - -"I can take that as the reverse of a compliment," said Gabrielle, -laughing musically. - -"Believe me, Gabrielle, I would not say things to you that I might say -in a bantering way to other girls I've met. I dreamed of you when I was -a child, so to speak. It seems strange that I should at last have met -you out here in the Solomon Isles, that we should be sitting here by a -blue lagoon in which our shadows seem to swim together." - -"Look into those dark waters," he added after a pause. - -Gabrielle looked, and as she looked Hillary became bold and placed his -hand softly on her shoulder, amongst her golden tresses that tumbled -about her neck. And Gabrielle, who could see every act as she stared on -their images in the water, smiled. - -"It's a pity you're so wicked," said Hillary jokingly. Then he added -suddenly: "Ah! I could fall madly in love with a girl, like you if only -I thought I were worthy of you.--What's the matter?" - -"Oh, nothing," said Gabrielle. Hillary noticed that she had become pale -and trembling. - -"Why, you've caught a chill!" he said in monstrous concern, though it -was 100 deg. in the shade and the heat-blisters were ripe to burst on -his neck. - -"Dad thinks everything that he does is quite perfect," Gabrielle said, -just to change the conversation, for the look she saw in the young -apprentice's eyes strangely smote her heart. - -"Of course he does," said Hillary absently. - -The girl, looking eagerly into his face, said: "You know quite well that -you play your violin beautifully, I suppose?" - -"I'm the rottenest player in the world." - -The girl at this gave a merry ripple of laughter and said: "Now I _do_ -believe in your theory, for I've heard you play beautifully in the grog -bar by Rokeville. You played this"--here she closed her lips and hummed -a melody from _Il Trovatore_. - -"Good gracious! you don't mean to tell me that you hover about the -Rokeville grog shanty after dark?" exclaimed Hillary. - -Gabrielle seemed surprised at his serious look, then she burst into -another silvery peal of laughter that echoed to the mountains. - -Hillary looked into her eyes, and seeing that eerie light of witchery -which so fascinated him, felt that he had met his fate. - -"If I can't get her to love me I'm as good as dead," was his mental -comment. Even the music of her laughter thrilled him. Then she rose from -the ferns, and sitting on the banyan bough again started to swing to and -fro, singing some weird strain that she had evidently learnt from the -tambu dancers in the tribal villages. - -"It seems like some wonderful dream, she a beautiful girl with flowers -in her hair, sitting there singing to me," thought the apprentice. - -Then she looked down at him, gave a mischievous peal of laughter, and -said: "Oh, I say, you are a flatterer! I almost forgot who I really was -while you were saying those poetic things about me!" - -"Don't laugh at me, I'm serious enough," Hillary responded, as he looked -earnestly at the swaying figure. Heaven knows how far Hillary might have -progressed in his love affair had not the usual noisy interruption -occurred at the usual crucial moment. Just as he felt the true hero of a -South Sea romance--sitting there in a perfect picture of ferns and -forest flowers, sunset fading on a sea horizon, dark-fingered palms -bending tenderly over his beloved by a lagoon--with a rude rush out of -the forest it came! It was not a ferocious boar, or revengeful elephant; -it was a bulky, heavily breathing figure that seemed the embodiment of -prosaic reality. It was attired in large, loose pantaloons, belted at -the waist, a vandyke beard and mighty, viking-like moustachios drooping -down to the Herculean shoulder curves. - -"What the blazes!" gasped Hillary, as he looked over his shoulder and -saw that massive personality step out from underneath the forest palms. -The strange being wore an antediluvian topee and an extraordinary, -old-fashioned, long-tailed coat. The atmosphere of another age hung -about him. A colt revolver stuck in his leather belt seemed to have some -strong link of kinship with the grim determination of its owner's mouth. - -"What-o, chum! How's the gal?" Saying this, the new-comer put forth his -huge, thorny palm and emphasised his monstrous presence by bringing it -down smash!--nearly fracturing Hillary's spine. - -"What-o, friend from the great unknown!" came like an obsequious echo -from the young apprentice's lips as, recovering his breath, he saw the -humour of the situation. Hillary well knew that it was wise to return -such Solomon Island civility as affably as possible. At that first -onslaught Gabrielle had jumped behind Hillary's back when he had sprung -to his feet. No one knows how long that new-comer had stood hidden -behind the palm stems before he came forth. Anyhow, he rubbed his big -hands together in a mighty good temper, chuckling to himself to think -his presence should be so little desired. He bowed to the girl with -massive, Homeric gallantry. Then, as they both stared with open-mouthed -wonder, he put his hand up and, twisting his enormous moustache-end on -the starboard side, courteously inquired the route for the equivalent of -the South Sea halls of Olympus. It was then, and with the most -consummate impertinence imaginable, that he gave them both the full view -of his Herculean back and put forth his mighty feet to go once more on -his way, bound for the wooden halls of Bacchus--the nearest grog shanty. - -Such a being as that intruder on Gabrielle's and Hillary's privacy might -well seem to exist in the imagination only, but he was real enough. That -remarkable individual was only one of many of his kind who, having left -their ship on some drunken spree, roamed the islands, seeking the -nearest grog shanty, after some drunken carousal in the inland tribal -villages. - -As that massive figure passed away he left his breath, so to speak, -behind him. It seemed to pervade all things, sending a pungent flavour -of adventure over forest, hill and lagoon. Indeed, the faery-like -creation into which Hillary's imagination had so beautifully transmuted -Gabrielle--vanished. "Well, I'm jiggered!" he muttered. As for -Gabrielle, she looked as though she was half sorry to see that handsome -personality go. His big, grey eyes had gazed at her with an -unmistakable, yet not rude, look of admiration. Indeed, before he strode -away he gazed at Hillary as though with a mighty concern, as though he -would not hesitate to redress wrongs done to fair maids who had been -lured into a South Sea forest by such as he. - -"Do you know him?" gasped the apprentice as the man went off; but the -astonished look in the girl's eyes at once convinced him that the late -visitor was a stranger to Gabrielle as well as to himself. It all -happened so suddenly that he wondered if he had dreamed of that -remarkable presence. But the frightened cockatoos still giving their -ghostly "Cah! Cah!" over the palms were real enough. And as they both -listened they could still hear the fading crash of the travelling feet -that accompanied some rollicking song, as the big sea-boots of that -extraordinary being beat down the scrubby forest growth as they -travelled due south-west. - -Gabrielle little dreamed as she stood there listening how one day she -would hear that intruder's big voice again, and with what welcome music -it would ring in her ears. - -Gabrielle laughed quietly to herself as the intruder passed away and -seemingly left a mighty silence behind him. She had seen many men of his -type in her short day, not only in Rokeville, but out on the ships that -anchored in the harbour. She had also seen stranded sailors at -Gualdacanar, at Ysabel and at Malaita, where her father had taken her on -a trip a year or so before. Such men stood out of the ruck, quite -distinct from the ordinary run of beachcombers, who were usually -stranded scallawags, seeking out the tenderfoots who would stand them -drinks in the nearest grog bar. Hillary saw that new-comer as some -mighty novelty in the way of man; to the young apprentice the late -intruder was something between a Ulysses and a Don Quixote. And -Hillary's conception of the man's character was not far wrong. Anyway, -he did not express his private opinion, for he looked up at Gabrielle -and said: "Good Lord, what an awful being. Glad to see the back of him!" - -It may have been that the late stranger's presence had turned Hillary's -thoughts to his sailor life, for that massive being positively smelt of -the high seas, of tornadoes and sea-board life on buffeting voyages to -distant lands. Looking up at Gabrielle, he suddenly said: "I'm going -aboard the schooner that is due to leave for Apia next week. I'm on the -look-out for a berth. I suppose I sha'n't see you any more if I get a -job?" - -Everard's daughter gazed at the apprentice for a moment as though she -did not quite know her own mind concerning his query. Then she sighed -and said: "Must you go away to sea again?" - -Hillary looked steadily into the girl's face. He could not express his -thoughts, tell her that he would wish to stay with her always. What -would she do were he to spring towards her, clutch her tenderly, fold -her in his arms, rain impassioned kisses on her lips, look into her eyes -and behave in general like an escaped lunatic? She might think he was -mad!--race from him, screaming with fright, seeking her father's -assistance, or even hasten for the native police. Such were the thoughts -that flashed through Hillary's mind. And so, although he longed to do -all these things, he only stood half-ashamed over the passionate -thoughts that flamed in his brain as he gazed into the half-laughing -eyes of the girl. - -They sat and talked of many things. Hillary forgot the outside world. He -half fancied he had been sitting there for thousands of years with that -strange girl by his side. He spoke to her of scenes that were remote -from Bougainville: of England, of London and the wide bridges over the -Thames, and of the deep, dark waters that bore the tall ships away from -the white Channel cliffs, taking wanderers to other lands. And as the -girl listened she saw old London as some city of enchantment and -romance, where cold-eyed men and women tramped down labyrinthine streets -by dark walls. In her imagination she even fancied she heard the mighty -clock chime the hour over that far-off city of wonder and romance. - -"Fancy! And you've lived there! Actually seen the great palaces, the -spires and towers that I've read of and dreamed about!" said Gabrielle. -Then she added: "And you've seen the queen and the beautiful -princesses?" - -"Yes, Gabrielle, I have." - -Then she said artlessly: "Weren't they sorry when you left England for -the Solomon Isles?" - -For a moment Hillary was grimly silent, then he said: "Well, they were, -rather!" - -Gabrielle's innocence and his own mendacity had broken the spell that -home-sickness and distance had cast over him, the spell that had enabled -him to picture to Gabrielle's mind the atmosphere of old London in such -true perspective. Indeed, as he talked, Bougainville, with all its -novelty and heathenish atmosphere, became some dull, drab reality and -London a great modern Babylon of his own hungry-souled century. His -voice as well as Gabrielle's became hushed. He was so carried away by -his own vivid imagination that he fancied he _had_ dwelt in some ancient -city of smoky romance, and had seen a Semiramis on her throne, and -Pharaoh-like peoples of a past age. It was only the eerie beauty of -Gabrielle's eyes that awakened him to the reality that blurs man's -inward vision. The girl had handed him a small flower which she had -taken from her hair. - -"Could anything be more innocent and beautiful," he thought as he placed -that first symbol of the girl's awakening affection for him in the -buttonhole of his brass-bound jacket. - -Night had fallen over the island. "I must go," said Gabrielle. "It's -terribly late." - -"So it is!" Hillary moaned regretfully. Gabrielle hastily jumped into -her canoe, fear in her heart over the coming wrath of her father. -Hillary had intended to place his arms about her and embrace her before -she went, but his chance had gone! - -As he stood beneath the tamuni-trees and watched, she looked more like -an elf-girl than ever, as her canoe shot out into the shadows of the -moon-lit lagoon and was paddled swiftly away. - - - - -CHAPTER III--SOUTH SEA OPERA BOUFFE - - -Hillary hardly knew where he was going as he walked back round the -coast, thinking of Gabrielle Everard and all that had upset his mind. -When he at last arrived at his lodgings, the old wooden shack near -Rokeville, he was tired out. Even pretty Mango Pango, the half-caste -Polynesian servant-maid, wondered why on earth he looked so solemn as -she gave her usual salutation: "Tolafa! Monsieur Hilly-aire!" - -"Nasty face no belonger you!" said the cheeky girl as the young -apprentice forced a smile to his lips, chucked her under her pretty, -dimpled brown chin, and then went off into his room. It wouldn't have -been called a room in a civilised city, unless a small trestle bed, a -tub and fourteen calabashes and wooden walls ornamented with -grotesque-looking Kai-kai clubs and native spears deserved that name. He -could even see the stars twinkling through the roof chinks on windy -nights, when the palms swayed inland to the breath of the typhoon and no -longer let their dark-fingered leaves hide the cracks half across the -wooden ceiling. But still, that mattered nothing to him; the -companionship of his own reflections, away from the oaths of grog-shanty -men, beachcombers on the shores, and surly skippers, and jabbering -natives, made up amply for all the apparent discomfort of his -apartments. - -Pretty Mango Pango, the housemaid, was singing some weird native melody; -it seemed to soothe his nerves as the strains, from somewhere in the -outbuildings, came to his ears while he sat there reflecting. He thought -of England, and wondered what his people thought over his long silence. -He knew that they must by then know the truth, for his ship must have -arrived back in the old country long, long ago without him. He thought -of the wild life he was leading as compared with life in London. "It's -like being in another world." Standing there by the window listening to -the tribal drums beating in the mountains, he thought he saw the dark -firs and palms for miles over the inland hills. And as he stared he felt -the eeriness of the scene, and he remembered the ghostly figures that -sailors swore they saw on those moon-lit nights, even when rum was -scarce. As he thought of Gabrielle his brain became etherealised with -dreams. He took out his dilapidated volume of Shelley's poems and read -_The Ode to the West Wind_, and finally became so sentimental that he -sat down and wrote this letter home: - - Dear Mater,--Forgive me for not writing before this. I ran away - from my ship. Though the skipper smiled like an angel when you - saw him, he turned out a fiend incarnate. I'm out here in the - Solomon Isles. I often think of you.... You'd never believe the - wonderful things I've seen, the experiences I've gone through, - since I left you all. I couldn't stand Australia. - - First of all I must tell you that the natives here are - inveterate cannibals, but still they're not likely to eat me. - I've got tough. The wonderful part of it all is this: I've met a - most beautiful, eerie kind of girl here in the Solomon Isles. - She comes up to all that I ever dreamed of in the way of beauty - and innocence in human shape. I know, dear, that you will smile, - that thousands of men have thought they had come across the one - perfect woman; but it seems to me something to be thankful to - God for that I should _really_ find her! And living out here in - these God-forsaken isles, too! Her father's not much of a catch - in the way of prospects. But he's a retired captain and, I - believe, is well respected by the population. I'm sure you would - like Gabrielle if you saw her, and you will see her if I can - manage it all.... It seems gross to have to mention business - prospects after mentioning her. - - Well, I'm making fine progress with my music. I've mastered - Paganini's twenty-four Caprices. I've also composed some - wonderful pieces. I know they're good.... - - I'm reading Shelley, Byron and Swinburne and Tolstoy's _Kreutzer - Sonata_. The people here seem strangely to lack poetic vision. - They are wonderful men, though, brave and truthful in their - forcible expression at the concerts outside the Beach Hotel. - It's a kind of Brighton Hotel, but the _prima donnas_ are dusky. - I was knighted by a tribal king the other night. - - Kiss dear sister Bertha for me. Tell her to read Balzac's _Wild - Ass's Skin_. It's a beautiful book. She must skip the chapters - where the woman's silken knee comes in, etc., etc. Your - affectionate, loving son, - - Hillary. - -Having penned the foregoing epistle, Hillary placed it in his sea-chest. -Like many of his temperament, he wrote more letters under the impulse of -the moment than he ever posted. - -"It's early yet," he said to himself as he stared out of the window and -saw the moonlight stealing across the rows of mountain palms to the -south-west. He could hear the faint rattling of the derrick, where some -schooner was being unloaded by night. That noise seemed to rouse him -from his dreams. He lit his pipe and crept out of the door. A puff of -cool ocean breeze came like a draught of scented wine to his nostrils; -for it had passed over the pine-apple plantations and drifted down the -orange and lemon groves. The pungent odours seemed to intoxicate him. -But still he was feeling moody, so he started off over the slopes. He -was off to the grog shanty. He knew that originality abounded in that -drinking saloon and in the neighborhood of its wooden walls. - -The grog shanty of Bougainville harbour was known by sailormen as far as -the four corners of the world as the finest pick-me-up and dispeller of -fits of the blues in existence. Indeed, that shanty was a kind of -medicine chest, the magical chemist's shop of the Pacific. It was the -_opera bouffe_ of South Sea life: it made the cynic smile, the poet -philosophical, the madman feel that he must surely be deadly sane, and -the ne'er-do-wells drunk with happiness. Indeed, the consequential, -heavily moustached German consul, Arn Von de Sixth, had crept down the -Rokeville highroad one night and seen such sights that German culture -received a shock! He at once issued an edict that no native girls were -to visit the precincts of the grog shanties after sunset. - -But notwithstanding his strict orders the dances still went on. Indeed, -as Hillary arrived in sight of the dead screw-pine that flew the Double -Eagle flag the scene that met his gaze fairly astonished him. It was as -though he was witnessing some phantom-like cinematograph show. A small -cloud that traversed the clear tropic sky suddenly blurred the moon, -sending lines of shadows over the shining spaces outside the grog -shanty. This made the scenic effect look as though a covey of dusky -female ghosts had rushed from the jungle and were whirling their -semi-robed limbs in wild delight beneath the coco-palms. If the -apprentice had any idea that the scene was supernatural it must have -been swiftly dispelled by the sound of the wild chorus of a chantey -coming from the hoarse-throated sailormen assembled outside Parsons's -bar. Then the moon seemed to burst into a silvery flood of silent -laughter that went tumbling over the dark palm groves, drenched the -distant shore forests with pale light, and touched the dim horizon of -the sea; it even lit up the bearded mouths of the shellbacks and -revealed the brilliant eyes of the dusky ballet girls who had stolen -down from the mountain villages. They had their chaperon with them in -the shape of old High Chief Bango Seru. Those brown girls were his prize -gamal-house, or tambu dancers. A mighty calabash was by his side. It was -in that handy receptacle that he carefully placed the accumulating -bribes that he demanded as payment for all that his dusky protege -did--and ought not to do! Parsons, the bar-keeper, poked his elongated, -bald cranium out of the shanty's doorway and shook his towel violently. -(It was the signal that no German official was in sight.) - -Once more pretty Singa Mavoo and Loa Mog-wog lifted their _ramis_ -(chemises), revealed their nut-brown knees and swerved with inimitable -grace. The Yankee nudged the German half-caste in the ribs till they -both so roared with laughter that they fell down. It was a kind of -miniature representation of the wine of the European music hall and -_opera bouffe_ poured into one goblet so that the onlooker might swallow -the draught at a gulp! Oom Pa, the aged high priest, was there. That -fervent ecclesiastic had been unable to resist the temptation thrown out -to him by the half-caste German sailors and grog-bar keepers. There he -stood, as plain as plain could be, his eyes alive with avarice, as he -too winked, begged for a drink and solemnly pointed out the attractions -of his two pretty, semi-nude granddaughters, who danced ecstatically, so -that he might add his mite to the collection-box for the heathen temple -fund down at Ackra-Ackra. - -The most unimaginative of those onlookers breathed a sigh of admiration -when two Malayo-Polynesian youths stepped out of the shadows and put -forth their arms, looking at first like dusky statues, not only because -of their perfect terra-cotta limbs and artistic pose, but because of -their graceful erectness as their arms and legs moved with marvellous -symmetrical precision. Even the night seemed astonished as a breath of -wind came in from the seas and ran across the island trees. For now it -seemed like a shadow-world peopled with puppets. The youths put forth -their arms and dived up, up between the palms, coming down on their bare -feet like dusky marionettes dropping softly from the moon-lit sky! Then -the tambu maids began to chant and dance. Only the weird jingling of -their armlets and leglets showed that they were really there in the -shadows, as the shellbacks in their wide-brimmed hats looked on in -silence. - -"Tavoo! Malloot!" suddenly said a voice. The effect of those two words -was magical. Every maid, dancer and onlooker had vanished! Only the -palms sighed as though in sorrow of it all as a German official's white -helmet hat came into sight far along the beach. - -"Did I dream it all?" murmured Hillary. He rubbed his eyes; then he went -across the sands to the spot where the dancers had done such wondrous -feats. He stamped with his foot to see if there was some subterranean -outlet through which the dancers could so mysteriously disappear. But -all was solid enough. The moon still shone with its silent, religious -light. Parsons flapped his towel three times from the grog-bar doorway. -One could have sworn that the rough men in his bar-room had never left -their drinks as they stood there solemnly pulling their beards, -discussing old grievances in hushed voices. Not a breath of wind stirred -the phantom-like palm groves outside; only the chants of the cicalas -were faintly audible as they clacked down in the tall bamboo grass of -the swamps and shore lagoons. Those old sailors and shellbacks looked -the picture of honesty _till_ they gazed meaningly into each other's -eyes and drank on, sighed and sent the flames of the roof oil lamps -flickering over their wide-brimmed hats. But even they gave a startled -jump as something out in the silent night went "Bang!" It might have -been the signal that any kind of horror was being perpetrated. But it -was only a mighty thump on a tribal drum, somewhere up in a mountain -village, telling the frightened inhabitants that all was well, that the -last of the tambu maids had arrived safely, had entered the stockade -gates and that their pagan world might rest in peace for the remainder -of the night. - -Even Hillary responded to the far-off voice of the tribal drum, for he -turned away and strolled back to his humble lodging-house. As he went -over the slopes he saw Oom Pa staggering homeward with his mighty -calabashes, minus his granddaughters, who had come down from the -mountain villages. All was silent as he crept beneath the palms, passed -under the verandah and entered his room. Even Mango Pango was snoring on -her sleeping-mat in the kitchen, so late was it. And yet, as he looked -out of his open window and yawned, he could distinctly hear the sounds -of muffled drums beating across the slopes. - -"Damned if there is not another heathen festival on somewhere," he -muttered. It was true enough: the full-moon festivals were in progress, -and down at Ackra-Ackra they were chanting and banging, and their sacred -maids were dancing to the discordant music. Had Hillary known _who_ was -dancing at that moment on a tambu stage only two miles away he wouldn't -have slept much that night. But he was oblivious to all that happened, -so he fell asleep and dreamed of dusky whirling ghosts and fate-like -drums that swept dancing maidens away into a shadowy pageant of -swift-footed figures that bolted into the mountains and were seen no -more. - - - - -CHAPTER IV--THE SOUL'S RIVAL - - -As soon as Gabrielle Everard had paddled across the lagoon and passed -from Hillary's enraptured sight she pulled her little craft up on the -sandy beach, hid it amongst the tall rushes and started off home. She -stood for a moment hidden beneath the mangoes till three jabbering, -hurrying native chiefs had passed by. - -As she watched them recede from sight down into the gloom of the sylvan -glades, she gave a sigh. "I hate to see those big tatooed chiefs; it's -through them that I feel so wild at times, I'm sure. I simply curse that -ancestor of mine who married a dark woman. Why, I'd sooner die than -marry a dark man!" Then she added: "Pooh! Why should I worry? I'm white -enough, since I feel such a dislike for them--but, still, I do like -dancing and singing at times, I admit." - -Then she thought of the young apprentice; his bronzed, frank face and -earnest eyes rose before her memory. "He does look handsome; those -odd-coloured eyes of his do fascinate me; but it's a pity he's not a -passionate kind, who would make love like those handsome chiefs do when -they sing to their brides on the _pae paes_ and tambu stages. But there, -they're wild and can't control their passions as we do!" she added. She -looked down into the lagoon at her image and blushed deeply at her own -thoughts. "I'm getting quite a pretty girl--almost a beautiful woman," -was her next reflection, as she noticed her large shadowy eyes and her -full throat in the still water. - -"Hallo, Ramai!" she exclaimed, as a graceful native girl suddenly -stepped out of the bamboo thickets, stared with large dark eyes at her, -then made as if to pass on. "Don't go, Ramai," said Gabrielle. The girl -stared sphinx-like for a second, then moved on. "I go, Madesi, to pray, -tabaran! Must go or die!" answered the strange maid as she turned round, -then pointed her dark finger in the direction of the god-house that was -situated somewhere in the taboo mountains. - -"Your old god-houses! Do you really believe in them?" said Gabrielle, -looking earnestly into the strange maid's serious eyes. For a moment -Ramai stared, put her brown knee forward, made a magic pass with her -hands above her head, and said: "The gods have spoken more than once to -Ramai when the stars did shine in the lagoons and the caves by -Temeroesi, and told the future. And am I not sacred in the eyes of the -gods? For I am head singer at the tambu festivals, so are my love -affairs good, and chiefs have died for that look from my eyes that would -tell all that a woman may say." - -"If I danced on the _pae paes_ would I be loved too?" said Gabrielle -almost eagerly. - -"Pale-faced Marama, you no dance; the gods like not your kind!" Ramai -answered almost scornfully. Then she glided away into the shadows on the -other side of the track and disappeared. - -Gabrielle burst into a merry peal of laughter. Once more she looked at -her image in the lagoon and began to chant and sway and clap her hands -rhythmically, just as she had seen the natives do. The deep boom of the -bronze pigeon recalled her to herself as she stood throwing her shapely -limbs softly to and fro. The songs of the birds seemed to remind her -that she was no longer a child, and that such antics were a bit out of -place now that she wore long dresses. She stopped dead, and put her -hands into the folds of her hair that had fallen in a glinting mass to -her shoulders as she shuffled her sandalled feet in the long jungle -grass. - -"I'm really getting awful," was her next reflection. The sun was lying -broad on the western sea-line; it looked like an enormous, dissipated, -blood-splashed face that would hurry to hide itself below the rim of the -ocean, away from the violent wooing of the hot, impassioned, tropic day. - -Gabrielle stared across the seas from the hill-top and half fancied that -that great hot face grinned from ear to ear over all it had seen. A -peculiar feeling of fright seized her heart. In a moment she had turned -and hurried away. She felt quite relieved as she sighted her father's -bungalow beneath the shade of the bread-fruits. "It's late. Won't Dad -swear! I don't care; men must swear, I suppose," she muttered as she -plucked up courage and entered the small door of the solitary homestead. - -The shadows of evening had fallen; the last cockatoo had chimed its -discordant vesper from the banyans near by. The room was nearly dark as -she opened the door; only a faint stream of light crept through the -wide-open casement that was thickly covered with twining tropic vine and -sickly yellowish blossoms. To her astonishment, she was received by her -father with a broad smile of welcome. "Come in, deary, don't stand -there! What yer frightened of--you _beauty_?" said old Everard, as his -lean, clean-shaven face looked up at the girl in a warning way and he -placed a forcible accent on the last two words. - -"Who's here that he should be so affable?" thought Gabrielle. - -Turning round, she was startled to see a tall figure standing by the -window. In a moment she hurried to the mantel piece and, striking a -match, lit the small oil lamp, scolding her father all the time for his -discourtesy in allowing a stranger to stand in the darkness. As she -turned and gazed at the visitor she almost gave a cry, so impressed was -she by the appearance of the man before her. It was the handsome Rajah -Koo Macka, the half-caste Malayo-Papuan missionary. He was attired in -semi-European clothes, but with this difference--round his waist was -twined a large red sash and on his head the tribal insignia of the Malay -Archipelago Rajahship, which consisted of coils of richly coloured -material swathed round and round to resemble a turban. He looked like a -handsome Corsair who had suddenly stepped out of an Eastern seraglio. -For a moment the girl stared in astonishment; the Rajah corresponded -with her conception of what the grand old heroes of romance were like. - -The Rajah took in the whole situation and the impression he had made at -this first glance at the father and daughter. He swelled his chest and -assumed his most majestic attitude, and then behaved as though he knew -he had befriended the girl by being at her homestead at that opportune -moment. - -"My darter!" said old Everard, inclining his lean face and introducing -the girl with a grin. - -"Your daughter!" gasped the Rajah as he stared with all the boldness and -brazen admiration that Hillary's eyes had lacked into Gabrielle's face. -He was taking no risks, had no idealistic views about innocence and -beauty to thwart his heart's desires--in a sense he had already captured -her! - -Gabrielle, recovering from that thrilling glance, blushed deeply. She -stared at the dark moustache; it was waxed, and curled artistically at -the tips. "What eyes!--luminous, warm-looking, alive with romantic -dreams!" she thought. - -The Rajah looked again at the girl. That second swift glance made her -heart tremble with fright, but somehow she liked to see a man stare so. - -"My darter 'andsome girl," gurgled old Everard, stumping his wooden leg -twenty times in swift succession, as Gabrielle brought out the rum -bottle. The business confab that had been going on between Everard and -his guest ceased abruptly. The old ex-sailor took the Rajah's proffered -cigar, stuck it in his mouth and gripped the ex-missionary's hand, with -secret delight bubbling in his heart. That grip said to Everard: -"Everard, old pal, I never knew you had such a bonny daughter. Never -mind the business I came here about, I'll supply you with cash for rum!" -The old sailor rubbed his hands. He knew that the man before him was -wealthy, owned a schooner, and was boss of two plantations in Honolulu, -where he had first met him. He put forth his horny fist and gave the -Rajah the first familiar nudge of equality. - -Everard was altogether worldly, but utterly unworldly in the great human -sense of that phrase. He lacked the swift instincts that should have -made him discern the truth and see how the wind might blow. His drunken -eyes could not read the deeper meaning in the Rajah's eyes as that -worthy glanced at his daughter. He could see nothing of the passion and -lust that is so often in the hearts of the men of mixed blood in the -dark races. - -Even Gabrielle's half-fledged instincts of womanhood made her realise -that the man before her did not exactly represent her preconceived ideas -of what the old heroes of romance would look like could they stand -before her in the flesh; the look in the Rajah's eyes as he gazed on her -was rather too obvious. - -That night as the three of them sat at the table and Everard roared with -laughter over Rajah Macka's jokes, and giggled in delight at discovering -that the Papuan potentate was such a fine fellow after all, Gabrielle's -heart fluttered like a caught bird. Rajah Koo Macka had leaned across -the table once and stared into her eyes in such a way that even old -Everard had ceased his narrative concerning his own astuteness and, like -the idiot he was, stared at the Rajah, the rum goblet still between his -lips and the table. But the Rajah, noticing that swift look in the old -ex-sailor's face, immediately recovered his mental equilibrium, and with -astute cunning swiftly turned to his host and said: "I really couldn't -help staring so. Why, bless me, Everard, this Miss Gabrielle is the dead -spit of the Madonna, the glorious painting that adorned the sacred walls -of my missionary home when I studied Christianity's holy precepts." - -"Damn it! Is she?" wailed old Everard, as the artful heathen gent shaded -his eyes archwise with one dusky hand and, staring unabashed with a -long, reflective glance at Gabrielle, murmured in holiest tones: -"Virginity! Virginity! O blessed word!" - -Gabrielle certainly _did_ look beautiful: the dying flowers in her -bronze-golden hair and her _neglige_ attire (a much-renovated, -washed-out blue robe and scarlet sash) added to the mystery of that -sordid bungalow, as the dim candles and oil lamp burnt humbly before the -unfathomable eyes of sapphire-blue. The deep golden gleam in their -pupils seemed to expand as the night grew old. What a night of magic it -was for her! The strange man from the seas thrilled her. - -The old bungalow, lit up by two tallow candles and one oil lamp, the -smell of rum, all vanished, and the dilapidated furniture and walls -shone with a beautiful light, a light that came from that romantic -presence! By an inscrutable paradox Macka was abnormally sensual and -selfish, and yet truly religious! He spoke in low, sombre tones about -Christ, of innocence, of the hopes of the living and of men when they -are dead. Old Everard looked almost sane as he leaned his Dantesque face -across the table and murmured "Amen." And as the girl listened the Rajah -loomed before her imagination as some glorious representative of the -chivalric ages who had stolen into their bungalow out of the hush of the -great starry night. The very walls of the room faded away as she watched -his eyes flash. It was the sudden tiny pinch on her leg as he stooped to -pick up his fallen cigar that she couldn't quite place. It most -certainly had no Biblical import in the books she had read. But still, -"Why worry?" she thought, as she once more came under the spell of that -look. And still old Everard looked round with insane eyes and thanked -God for a Rajah's friendship; and still Gabrielle struggled against the -fascination of that man of mystery. Though nature has fixed indisputable -danger signals in the eyes of voluptuaries, liars, rogues and old -_roues_ so that they give themselves away in a thousand acts, women's -blind eyes _will_ not see! - -All the old idolatry, the belief in his heathen gods, returned to Rajah -Koo Macka that night. His mind was fired with superstition, much as -Gabrielle's was by romance, as he stared upon her. Had not the gods of -his boyhood far away in New Guinea spoken of such a one with -midnight-blue eyes and the hue of the stars in her hair? And was she not -before him drinking to his eyes as she held the goblet at his wish? Had -not their lips met in secret before the white man's blinded eyes? - -He even made a further advance in that predestined courtship, as planned -by the gods, when he left the bungalow that night. In a way that is the -special gift of voluptuaries, he managed to squeeze by her in the -doorway, passing his arm about her with heathen artistry till she felt a -strange thrill. Old Everard also received monstrous pressures of -friendship as he put forth his hand and opened his insane-looking mouth -at being so flattered. Then the old ex-sailor fell down in the doorway, -dead drunk. - -As soon as the Rajah got outside the bungalow he stood under the palms -and looked back at that little homestead, a terrible fire gleaming in -his eyes. The old superstition, deep in his heart's blood, asserted -itself with that full strength that is always triumphant when invested -with the power of two creeds. "She's mine!" he muttered in the old -Malayan language. He looked like an agent of the devil as he waved his -arms and made magical passes. Then he gave a low whistle. Two stalwart -Kanakas, with mop-heads and glassy eyes like dead fish, stepped out of -the shadows and saluted the Rajah. "Talofa Alii, Sah!" said one, as he -softly swung his strangling rope to and fro and muttered, "Oner, twoer, -threer, fourer," at the same time ticking off each number with his dusky -finger. They were kidnappers, members of his crew. In a moment they were -all hurrying down towards the shore. As they stood by the coral reefs, -the waves singing up to their feet, the Rajah rubbed his hands with -delight, for there were five dark girls lying prone, half strangled, in -his waiting boat. - -They had just been caught while swimming in the enchanted lagoons at -Felisi, where native maidens, at the tribal witchman's bidding, went in -the dead of night to wash their bodies in the charm-waters that made -girls so beautiful. Even as the Rajah and his kidnappers stood on the -shore they heard the sound of a sharp, terrified scream come faintly on -the hot winds across the hills. They knew that another victim had been -caught in the thug-nets. It was easy enough too; for it was a happy -hunting ground for the "recruiters" down Felisi beach way. In the dead -of night native girls often ran along the soft, moon-lit sands like -coveys of dishevelled mermaids, placing sea-shells to their ears that -they might hear the songs of dead sailors and the far-off voices of -their unborn children humming and moaning in the great spirit-land that -is under the sea. - - -Gabrielle's heart thumped like a drum as she softly closed the door of -the bungalow. She thought she must have dreamed it all. A handsome, -god-like Rajah had gazed upon her as though she were a -goddess--impossible! So thought the girl as she stumbled over a sordid -reality--her father's recumbent form on the bungalow door-mat. He still -lay where he had fallen. He was a big man, and so it was with much -difficulty that she at length managed to pick him up and lay him down on -the old settee. Then she sat down in the big arm-chair. She heard her -father gurgling out some old-time sea-chantey, so faint that it sounded -a long way off. The two tallow candles were burning low in their -coco-nut-shell candlesticks. But still she sat there. The idea of going -to bed seemed ridiculous after the wonderful thing that had happened. -She was still trembling to her very soul over the Rajah's flatteries. - -She thought of that secret pressure, the hot kiss, the deep meaning look -in the flashing eyes. "He even spoke of God. Men seem to think more of -God than women," she muttered absently. "I'm dark, a heathen at heart; -I'd like to marry a handsome, dark man like that," she continued, as she -began to beat her hands to and fro. Suddenly she felt a pang at her -heart, for she had begun quite unconsciously to hum a melody that she -had heard the young apprentice play to her on his violin. Her limbs -started to tremble; the old look came back to her eyes; the swarthy, -half-fierce look had vanished. She tried to change her thoughts by -humming on in that weird way. "I'm heathenish, I'm sure I am," she -almost sobbed. Then a fierce feeling took possession of her as she -realised her own unstable thoughts over the two men she had just met. -For a moment she sat perfectly still, thinking--then she burst into -tears. - -Everard still snored on. Gabrielle ceased her tears, clapped her hands -and laughed softly to herself. She had drunk a little rum and stuff that -she knew not the name of that night. How could she help doing so. Had -not the Rajah placed his lips at the goblet's edge and looked sideways -in deep meaning at her as he drank a toast to her father? But it wasn't -the rum that filled the bungalow parlour with mystery and changed the -universe for her. She forgot the armchair in which she sat: it seemed -that she sat on a lonely shore by night and stared at a blood-red sun -that peered at her over the ocean horizon. Perhaps the Rajah had done -this mysterious thing to her through his tender pressure. He knew! He -knew! But still, he had no hint in his mind of the witchery of that -girl's soul. - -She rose from the arm-chair, her shadow dodged about the walls of the -bungalow, then she peeped through the open casement. Night lay with its -tropical mystery drenched with stars as she stared upward and then again -across that silent land. She withdrew her head and placed a pillow under -her sleeping father's head, then crept from the room, passing up the -three steps that separated her from her own chamber. Her room was -faintly lit up by the tint of moonrise on the distant mountains. "How -silly of me to feel frightened like this," she murmured, as she swiftly -lit the oil lamp. Her limbs still trembled. A feeling of intense sorrow -had come over her. The apprentice's eyes rose before her memory again; -she thought of the tryst by the lagoon, and it all seemed like some -memory of a romantic opera she had seen and heard long years ago. Then -she gave a startled cry: a shadow had run across the room. "How foolish -of me to be frightened of my own shadow!" she said almost loudly to -herself, as though she would seek courage by hearing her own voice. -"I've heard that mother had nights of madness, when she thought a dark -woman, blind, deaf and dumb, crouched under her bed and begged -forgiveness for something she'd done." So she thought as she rushed to -the window to get away from her thought. - -But Gabrielle could not escape from that presence. She looked out on the -wide landscape of feathery palms and pyramid-shaped hills to the -south-east in a strange fear. Then she stared seaward in the direction -of the dark-armed promontory, where she knew the native girls stood on -their great god-nights, coiled their tresses up and dived into the -moon-lit seas, so that they might swim and beat their hands at the -cavern doors where Quat and his vassal-gods moaned. - -"I'm going mad too," she murmured, as she pulled her head in through the -open window and began to undress. One by one she pulled off her sandals -and ribbons. Then she heard a queer kind of sawing noise. "What's that?" -she wondered. But it was only the regular intervals between Everard's -snores in the silent parlour below. "It's Dad!" she murmured; and the -sound of that deep bass snore soothed her soul as though it were the -music of the singing spheres. She took off her blouse, undid the lace -corsage, loosened the sash swathing till her semi-oriental attire fell -rustling to her knees. "Am I so beautiful?" she murmured, as she looked -half in fright and guilt at herself in the oval bamboo mirror. Her eyes -sparkled like stars in the gloom as she peeped through her bronze-gold -tresses. And still she swerved and swayed, so that the cataract of -golden hair fell to her throat and again below the sun-tanned flush of -her bosom. She thought of the Rajah, the warm look of his dark eyes. A -strange thrill went through her. As though a dark figure ran across the -moon-lit space just outside her window once again, a shadow whipped -across the room. She hastily wrapped a robe about her, rushed across the -room and stared through the vine-clad bamboo casement. The sight of the -masts in the bay and the dim light of the far-off grog shanty by Felisi, -where she knew sunburnt men from the seas spent the nights in wild -carousal, dispelled her fears. She looked round her; then in some -unaccountable fascination she stared in the mirror again. "I'm growing -into a woman, getting quite beautiful!" - -"I'm growing into a woman, getting quite beautiful!" came some exact -echo of her words. She was startled; she swiftly glanced round the room; -she could almost swear that she was not alone. - -"What's that?" she muttered, as she heard the muffled sounds of beaten -drums, so faint that it seemed that the barbarian rumbling came across -the centuries. - -"What's that!" re-echoed her own query. The echoes startled her more -than the reality would have done. Thoughts of Ra-mai, the tambu dancer, -of her gods and the terrors of the phantoms that haunted those whom the -_tabaran_ high priests had tabooed flashed through her brain. Her -bedroom was faintly lit up by the light of the oil lamp that fell over -the dilapidated furniture and on to her old settee bed. A swarm of -fire-flies whirled and sparkled beneath the palms outside and then were -blown through the open casement, right into the room! She swiftly placed -her hands over her eyes, as one might at the sight of vivid lightning--a -ghostly flash leapt across the room and seared her very soul! The hot -night winds swept through the palms outside; she heard them moan as -something leapt out of the night and clutched her heart with its shadowy -fingers! In her terror she swiftly looked up at her mother's photograph, -as though she would rush to the dead for companionship. No help there. -The faded eyes of that sad face only stared in immutable silence down -from the frame on the wall, as though in some twinship of misery. -Gabrielle dared not turn her head. She knew that something stood there -watching her. Another gust of wind seemed to come from the stars and -burst the half-closed casement open. - -"Dad!" she cried in her terror, as she felt a hot breath against her -face. - -"Dad!" echoed the walls of her room in mockery. - -"Who are you?" she managed to wail out. - -"Who are you?" came the relentless echo. - -She had just caught sight of her face in the mirror. Even the fear of -that presence in the room was somewhat subdued, so unbounded was her -astonishment at seeing the reflection that stared back at her from the -bright glass--it was not her own face that she saw, but the face of a -wildly beautiful, dark-blooded woman! - -She stared again, paralysed with horror. The fiery eyes mocked her -fright and astonishment. Then the expression changed: the face seemed to -appeal and smile half sadly at the girl. - -It was not a monstrous Nothing that gazed upon her. She turned to flee -from the terrible presence. But in a second it had leapt out of the -mirror--had sprung at her! So it seemed to the terrified girl; but the -figure was standing _behind_ her, staring into the mirror over her -shoulders like some relentless, cruel Nemesis from her helpless past, a -hideous thing that had searched for centuries--and found her at last! - -Old Everard slept on. He heard nothing of the terrible conflict in the -room three steps up, where his daughter struggled in the awful grip of -that temptress who had found her--a woman from some long-forgotten -forest grave in the Malay Archipelago. - -It was not madness; nor did the struggle exist only in her imagination. -The sheets were torn, the counterpane rent in twain, as that merciless -phantom tried to overpower the girl. - -Only those who have been true worshippers in the great Papuan tambu -temples who have seen and heard the magic of the heritage rites, can -guess what really happened in the girl's room. Only those who have -experienced a like experience secretly know how she felt as she -attempted to overthrow that deadly visitant. For a few seconds their two -figures swayed in the dark. The oil lamp had been knocked over! Then the -small door of the bungalow suddenly opened: Gabrielle had escaped. She -ran out into the moon-lit night! Just for a second she stood under the -windless palms, staring first one way and then another, as though she -longed to leap over her own shoulders--escape from herself. Up the -slopes she ran, and down into the distant hollows by Fallamboco. She -passed the derelict hut where the high priest dreamed before he died and -was buried just in front of his front door. The broken, crumbling wooden -idol still stood on his grave, its bulged glass eyes staring in -immutable insolence as Gabrielle rushed by. She stopped by the lagoons -at Felisi, where the huddled waters lay, the sacred waters that washed -the beautiful bodies of the dead brides ere they were buried safe in the -highest mahogany-tree of Bougainville. - -She was not surprised when she stooped and gazed on her reflection in -the waters and saw a second image beside her own in those silent depths. -Standing there in her hastily donned night attire, her hair outblown, -her chemise torn to rags at one shoulder, her blue robe clinging to her -delicate figure, she looked around in despair. Only the mountains looked -on silently as their giant stone heads seemed to stare like Fate across -the desolate landscape and out to the moon-lit seas. She looked at the -sky and groped in some blindness, lifting her hands in mute appeal. Some -past heathen life possessed her. A crawling, half-human-shaped cloud -blurred the moon's face, failing suddenly, like a dark hand. It was not -a cloud to Gabrielle's changed eyes as the shadow fell over the weird -landscape; it was a big thumb busily tattooing the sky, as one by one -the dim constellations rebrightened on their darkened background. - -She stood alert and peered over her shoulder, her face and eyes bright -with startled delight--she heard the tribal drums beating. - -Those sounds were real enough. Even the young apprentice in his room -over the hills jumped as he heard the booming, then put his head out of -his window and bobbed it back, startled like a frightened child. - -Gabrielle recognised those sounds. The long, low-drawn chant was -familiar to her ears. Softly they came, weird undertones drifting across -the silence. Like a monstrous rat that had wings, something whirred -across the sky and gave a wretched groan as it swept out of sight. - -"Ta Savoo! Ta Savoo!" ("Come on! Come on!") said a voice beside her. A -shadowy hand was laid upon her shoulder. The horror of that presence had -already vanished. She startled the hills by bursting into a silvery peal -of laughter; then away she ran, on, on, into the depths of the forest. - -On the brightest tropic night the forest depths were dark with lurking -mystery; the multitudinous twistings of the giant trees and their -gnarled limbs, all thickly lichened with serpent-like vines, made a -wonderful depth of brooding silence and unfathomable light, and in the -moonlight looked like some mighty forest of twisted coral miles down -under the sea. - -White men would sooner walk miles than pass through those depths by -night. "No, thank ye! No tabooed b---- heathen forest for me!" they -said, as they gave a knowing glance. And none could persuade them. Old -Sour Von Craut simply shrugged his shoulders, spread out his fat hands -and intimated by raised eyebrows that it was the most natural thing on -earth to have found the dead beachcomber, with ears and eyes missing, in -the forests behind Felisi beach. - -Even Gabrielle stopped running, gave a startled moan and looked up in -the dim light. Something screamed and gave a mocking laugh; it was a -red-striped vulture. The girl saw the whitened bones of its eyrie as it -stood up and flapped its wings. For it had made its nest amongst a dead -man's bones, a grave up there in the palms of the tabooed forest. Just -for a moment she crouched in fear, but not because of that sight over -her head. An aged dark man with a large nose was passing along, not ten -yards off, chanting to himself. It was Oom Pa, hurrying back from the -festival outside Parsons's grog shanty. He had a bamboo rod across his -shoulders, Chinese fashion, wherefrom his calabashes swung as he -disappeared in the depth beyond. In a few seconds Gabrielle was off -again. She had been that way before, so knew the near cuts to the -villages and tambu temples. As she ran out of the bamboo thickets she -caught a first glimpse of the hanging lamps. A breath of wind had swept -through the forest, blowing the thick, dark leaves aside that made the -natural taboo curtain to the festival spot. She saw the whirling figures -of the tambu maiden dancers. She heard the weird music of the flutes and -twanging stringed gourds. The chants only increased the wild feeling of -savagery that was delighting her soul. She did not hesitate, but -deliberately pushed aside the bamboo stems and stood in the presence of -that secret midnight throng of sacred worshippers and the great tambu -priests. For a moment the dark heathen men and affrighted women stared -from their squatting mats in astonishment, the expression on their faces -strangely resembling the carved surprise of the big wooden, one-toothed -idol that stood six feet high, staring with glass eyes from behind the -taboo stage. Even the dancing tambu maidens swerved slightly in their -sacred movements, their steps put out of gear as Gabrielle, with hands -uplifted, and eyes staring strangely, appeared before that _pae pae_. - -The head priest coughed in astonishment; then he rose and wailed out: -"Taboo! She is white, and such are tabooed by the gods!" - -As he brought his club down with a crash, anger come into the dark eyes -of the sacred chiefesses, who had leapt to their feet, all disturbed -while they had been paying obeisance to the wooden Idol Quat (chief god -of the skies). It was a specially private occasion, only the greatly -trusted allowed to attend. One stalwart chief stepped forward as though -he intended slaying the girl on the spot. Old Oom Pa, who had barely -wiped the perspiration from his brow and flung down his calabashes of -bribes, gazed with as much surprise as anyone on Gabrielle. Then, seeing -that harm might come to the girl, he hastily stepped forward and said: -"Hold, O chiefs; this papalagi has that in her eyes which tells she is -under the influence of our gods. And, therefore, is she not one of us?" -He swiftly turned and said something in the guttural language of his -tribe. Whatever he said was for Gabrielle's benefit, for it greatly -calmed the fears of the huddled dark men and their women-kind. In a -moment the fierce resentment towards Gabrielle changed to wild grunts of -welcome. One aged priest who was grovelling on his stomach before the -dwarf taboo idols that were receiving the sacred slanting moonbeams -through the palms prostrated himself at Gabrielle's feet. The white girl -looked round her like one who stared in a dream, then she gave a merry -peal of laughter. The handsome, tattooed braves who stood leaning on the -palm stems gave a hushed cry of admiration as they saw the girl -standing, bathed in moonbeams, her hair wildly dishevelled, her eyes -like stars, her arms as white as coral as she made mystical movements in -a dance they did not know. The old priest, who was at her feet lifted -his face and chanted some prayer to her eyes. - -This act of the priest made the chiefs and chiefesses think that the -girl was there by special decree of their _kai-kai_ (sacred moon gods). -In a moment the whole tribe had followed the priest's act, hod -surrounded the girl and were moaning and grovelling at her feet. - -"Tala Marama Taraban!" ("'Tis a spirit-girl!") they whispered in an -awestruck voice as they lifted their chins and stared at the girl's -vacant eyes. The peculiar stare of those wonderful blue eyes intensified -their superstitious belief. - -Two of the chiefs rose, nodded their heads, wailed, and said: "She has -been here before, O brothers!" - -The tambu maidens had now stopped dancing. The barbarian flutes had -ceased their wailings, not a drum note disturbed the hush as the wild, -swarthy men gazed on Gabrielle and the aged priest chanted into her -ears. - -The girl seemed to be dimly conscious of the reverent homage those wild -men and women paid her as they fell on their faces before her. She -looked down with a dream-like stare on their muscular brown bodies, on -their richly shelled _ramis_, their red-feathered headgear. - -"Savoo! Savoo!" ("Go on! Go on! Dance for us!") they almost whispered, -as they turned their shaggy heads and peered into the depths of the -forest, half in terror and pleasurable anticipation of what the girl -might do. - -For a moment Gabrielle swayed, clapped her hands softly as a prelude, -then chanted. Then she swiftly glided towards the tambu elevation. In a -moment the tambu maidens had jumped down, soft-footed, on to the mossy -floor before the sacred erection. Gabrielle had leapt on to the stage! -The skulls and skeleton bones and other gruesome ritual objects that -dangled on boughs just above her head swayed to the hot night breeze, -all tinkling weirdly as she stood for a moment in dreamy hesitation. -Then she gave a silvery peal of laughter. She had begun to move hither -and thither as though in a dream, swaying to and fro with marvellous -delicacy and grace. Never before had those chiefs seen so weird, so -wonderful a sight or heard a voice chant their wild melodies with such -strange effect. They all stared. Even the tambu maidens stood as though -riveted to the forest floor in envious wonder. A drum began softly to -beat out the tribal notes, "Too Woomb! Too Woomb!" in perfect _tempo_ to -the girl's shifting faery-like footsteps. Suddenly the aged high priest, -Pooma Malo, fell prostrate before his tambu idol and began to chant, so -great was his fear. The whole assemblage were trembling like wind-blown -shadows. They had all noticed the silent, shadowy woman who stood beside -the white girl on the _pae pae_ mimicking her every movement, as it, -too, bobbed rhythmically to and fro, moving its feet noiselessly behind -her across that _pae pae_ before them all. - -Two of the tambu maidens and one dusky youth jumped to their feet and -bolted off into the forest in fright. The giant wooden idol just behind -the shadow-figure gave a wide carven grin from ear to ear as a shaft of -moonlight fell across its hideous face. A handsome, plucky young chief -stepped forward. He was adorned with the insignias and decorations of -the fetish rites. He leapt straight on to the _pae pae_. Under the -influence of the white girl's dance he too swayed his arms and chanted, -as only men of his race can dance and chant. - -Gabrielle looked up at him, a strange light in her eyes. He reminded her -of the Rajah. She lifted her arms in response to the handsome young -chief's gesticulations as he careened by her in the mystical -cross-passes of the ritual dance. She lifted her mouth to his. The -tribal chiefs saw the strange look of the girl's eyes and at once -smothered the cry of "Awai! O lao Mia!" the old tribal exclamation that -would express their innermost feelings. The elder priests stood -open-mouthed, leaning against their idols in fear and trembling, as -though they would ask their protection. - -The impassioned warrior chief grew bolder, and held Gabrielle's delicate -figure in a swerving embrace. His dark mouth came close to her ear, -murmuring words of magic that she could not understand. Even the idol -seemed to stare its surprise as he lifted one white arm and touched the -soft flesh with his lips. And still the tambu flute-players blew on, for -they too had come under the spell of that strange sight, where the two -races clung together and chanted mysteriously to each other. Then the -chief untwined his swarthy arms from that embrace and, falling forward -on one knee, placed his lips to her feet. He was eager to press his -extraordinary advantage. To kiss a maid's feet is the first act the -happy warrior performs when a maid favours his presence on a tambu -stage. But he found that her feet were covered. In a moment he had -pushed her robe aside and had begun to remove one of her small, -blue-bowed sandals. - -Just for a moment the white girl's face seemed to betray the light of -vanity over this act of the young chief. Then he lifted her foot once -again, to his lips, and immediately Gabrielle's expression changed. She -stared around her in astonishment, looked with a dream-like stare back -into the eyes of the giant warrior who was caressing her and at the -swarthy men and women who stood under the coco-nut-oil lamps watching in -front of the _pae pae_ stage. They knew that the cry she gave was one of -terror, for Gabrielle had awakened; her soul had been asleep. - -The young chief who had danced with her suddenly cowered away from her -side; then he jumped in the opposite direction as she leapt from the -_pae pae_. - -"Taboo!" whispered the astonished chiefesses as the wind sighed -mournfully across the forest height and flickered the bluish flames of -the hanging lamps. - -"She would tempt our menkind!" yelled a deep-bosomed chiefess as she -leapt forward, her head-dress feathers swaying violently. - -One or two of the older chiefs put forth their dusky hands as though -they would clutch her in their anger. In a moment Oom Pa lifted his dark -fist and bade none touch her. Placing his tawny hand on his tattooed -chest, just where his sun-tanned skin encased his thumping heart, he -muttered solemn-sounding undertones that told the assembled tambu -watchers to leave the girl to him. - -Gabrielle looked round on those fierce-eyed men and women in terror. She -saw that look in the eyes of old Oom Pa which told her that he, at -least, had her welfare deep in his heart. The lines of tambu maidens -divided, and moved back half in fright as Gabrielle made a dash and -passed by them. - -"Stay, O papalagi maid," said Oom Pa, as he too moved back into the -recesses of the forest and, staying her flight, said: "O white maid, you -come to tambu dance before, I knower you. I know, too, that you no -belonger to our race." Then he rubbed his wrinkled face, looked at her -sternly and proceeded: "Remember that great trouble may come to one who -comer to our full-moon rites unasked. Savvy?" - -Gabrielle nodded. She could not speak as she stood there trembling from -head to feet. Then the old priest looked quietly in her eyes and said: -"Tell me, O white maid, who was she with skin dark as the night, eyes -like unto stars and cloudy, flowing hair as she dance on _pae pae_ stage -with you, mimicking you like a spirit-shadow?" - -"With me!" exclaimed the girl in a startled, hushed voice, as she looked -round into the forest depth in a great fear. - -"Wither you!" reiterated Oom Pa. Then he said: "You knower not that such -a spirit-shadow dancer with you and laugher when you place your lips -'gainst those of our taboo warrior? La Umano?" - -So spake old Oom Pa, as the light of the moon and superstition lit up -his wrinkled face. Before he could say more Gabrielle had fled in fear -from his presence. - -She had no recollection of the way of her flight back to her father's -bungalow. Her feet went swiftly, like pattering rain, over the forest -floor as she ran from her fear and shame. And only God knows the -thoughts of her sad heart as she entered her father's homestead in the -dead of night and crept into her little civilised bed to sleep. - -Was it imagination? Well, whoever you may be, go to Bougainville, look -into the wonderful eyes of those half-caste women who happen to have the -blood of the white, Papuan and Polynesian races mixed in their veins, -fall in love with such a one, hold her in your arms by night and watch -for the shadow!--listen for the rustle of the old life that revelled in -the magic of the tambu and maidia temples, the altars of heathen passion -and enchantment. - - - - -CHAPTER V--MUSIC OF ROMANCE - - -On the morning following Gabrielle's terrible experience old Everard sat -bathing his head in a calabash of sea-water. It considerably revived his -numbed sense. Then he blew his nose fiercely and, stumping his wooden -leg with tremendous irritability, sat down to breakfast. Suddenly, as he -was munching, he looked up, wondering what on earth was the matter with -his daughter. Her dress was torn, her face looked pale and haggard, her -eyes full of drowsy fright and some haunting fear. She looked years -older than when she had retired the night before. The expression on her -face was one of infinite sorrow. The lips kept trembling. The old man, -completely lacking in imagination, could see nothing of the pathos, the -absolute wretchedness of the girl's expression. He summed up the whole -business according to his own feelings. - -"Did you drink rum last night?--get drunk? What's the matter?" said he, -as he concluded by munching fast at his bread and toasted cheese. - -"_You_ were drunk," said the girl, squeezing the words out with an -effort as her voice cracked. - -"Wha' you think of Rajah Koo Macka, gal, eh?" - -"Not much," she responded. Her mouth visibly twitched as she turned her -eyes from the stupid, inquiring parental gaze. - -"Nice fellow 'im; believes in God, Christ and in virginity. Rajahs ain't -knocking about everywhere, Gabby old gal, either," he continued, as he -gave a wink. Then he added: "It's wonderful how people who was once -'eathens seems to be the most relygous folk; they seems to 'ave a real -faith in goodness 'o things, that's what it is." - -Gabrielle still kept silent, hardly hearing at all as the old idiot -rambled on in this wise: "'E's got ther brass too! Going to 'ire me to -go on a pearl-hunting scheme in the Admiralty Group. 'E knows _I_ know -where the pearls are found. He he!" - -Suddenly the man ceased his wild talk and looked at the girl quizzically -for a second, then said: "Gabrielle, you're a woman now, don't yer feel -like one?" - -At this, to the old man's astonishment, the girl burst into tears. - -"What on earth 'ave I said," he mumbled, as his eyes lost the bleared, -rum-dim look, and he tapped his wooden leg. Something that slept deep -down in his heart stirred in its long slumber: "Don't cry, girlie. -Aren't you well?" - -Even he saw the faint appeal of those violet-blue eyes. - -"Who's torn your dress?" he said, as he struggled against the impulse -that he felt, for he had put forth his arms to draw the girl to him. But -he didn't do so. - -Pouring a little more Jamaica rum into his tea, he swallowed it, smacked -his lips and said: "Don't grissel. I'm not going to bully you for -tearing your clothes. S'pose you've been arambling 'bout ther scrub at -yer old games, admiring ther beauties of Nathure?" He pursed his lips -and gave a cynical grin as he made the foregoing remark. Then he -continued: "I saw you t'other day talking to that blasted runaway ship's -apprentice, 'Illary, I think they call 'im. Do yer want to disgrace your -old father by talking to ther likes of 'im, a damned penniless, stranded -runaway apprentice, nothing but a fiddler with a shabby, brass-bound -suit on!" - -Then the old evangelical zealot of vagabon gospel and the best Jamaica -rum put his big-rimmed hat on, looked at the clock and went stumping -down the track by the palms to look after the Kanakas who were employed -on the copra, coffee and pine-apple plantations. - -As soon as the sounds of his stumping footsteps had died away the pretty -native girl, "Wanga-woo," from Setiwao village, made her characteristic -somersault through the front door. She had come to tidy the bungalow in -her usual way. Even that nymph-like creature looked sideways at -Gabrielle, noticed the pallor of her face and wondered at the absence of -the usual cheery salutation that had always greeted her. It took the -native child no time to tidy up. Then she ran outside the homestead and -returned with her big market basket full of luscious tropical fruits: -mangoes, two big over-ripe pine-apples, limes and reddish oranges lying -on their own dark green leaves. - -"You liker them, Misser Gaberlel? They belonger nicer you!" - -The native child's voice and action cheered up Everard's daughter -wonderfully. Then, as she lay down on the parlour settee to rest her -aching head, she heard the little maid running away into the forest, -back to her village, singing: - - "Willy-wa noo, Woo-le woo wail-o, - Cowana te o le suva, mango-te ma bak!" - -Then the sound died away and Gabrielle felt glad to hear it no longer, -and lying there thinking and thinking, and softly crying to herself, she -fell fast asleep, and slept through most of the hot tropical day. When -she awoke sunset had already fired the mountain palms. As she sat on the -bamboo seat by the door she heard her father's voice. She knew he was -drunk; the rollicking, hoarse intonation of, his song was unmistakable -as the sounds came nearer. He had been away to the plantations to see -Rajah Koo Macka, who was supposed to be purchasing a lot of copra for -cargo for his ship that lay off Bougainville. - -In a moment the girl had made up her mind, had risen and run off into -the forest. Sunset was sending its golden streams across the banyan -groves as she passed under the giant trees that were smothered with huge -scarlet blossoms. Already the koo-koo owl had stolen from the deeper -shadows and was hooting forth its "To woo--to-woo-woo!" - -"I wish I hadn't overslept," she murmured to herself as she felt a -longing to see one of her own sex. For she had made up her mind to go -around the coast to see Mrs. S----, the German missionary's wife. She -was a cold-eyed white woman, this missionary's wife, but still, she was -white. Gabrielle had thought to tell her of the terrible shadow that had -come to her in the night, and had hoped for her sympathy and advice. She -would have gone even then, but she knew that the white woman's residence -was miles round the coast and it would be quite dark before she arrived -there. She also remembered that Mrs. S---- was a terrible coward and -would not venture from her husband's bungalow after dark on account of -the rumours going about that _tabarans_ (evil spirits) lurked in the -forests when the tambu worshippers were chanting their sacred rites. - -Even Gabrielle shivered in fright when she thought of the tambu -worshippers and the strange look of fear on the faces of the dead who -were found in the mountain forests after certain festivals. It was some -kind of religious sect who offered terrible sacrifices to the _tabarans_ -and the ceremony was something after the style of the Vaudoux worship as -described by M. de St. Mery in his work on Vaudoux cannibalistic -fetishes in Haiti. - -When those fetishes were in full swing they could hear the chanting away -down in Rokeville during the silence of the night. "Ach!" the Germans -would say as they listened to the far-away shrieks in the mountain -citadels: children being clubbed and offered up in thanksgiving song and -frenzied dances at the altars of indescribable orgy. And the knowledge -that such things happened within easy walking distance from her bungalow -made Gabrielle careful about roaming too far after dark. She turned from -the denser forest and made up her mind to go through the light jungle -that separated her from the picturesque shores and lagoons to the -south-west. As she ran along the silvery track she looked fearfully into -the shadows of the huge buttressed banyans. Her imagination, vividly -alive through her terrible experience the night before, made her fancy -she heard something running swiftly beside her in the jungle. She -suddenly stopped and trembled from head to feet as the sounds of running -footsteps stopped also. "Dear God, what have I done?" she wailed out in -terror. In a moment she had rushed off, and bounding over the logs of -the deserted _dobos_ (huts) came to the cleared spaces where the -scattered ivory-nut palms grew. She looked round with relief as she -thought of that dreadful hollow that had so strangely re-echoed her -_own_ footsteps. Again she ran off; her fears left her and she began to -sing. The sight of the dotted huts of the native homestead on the -far-away shore revived her spirits. The rich blue of the departing day -shone on the horizon and seemed strangely to influence her thoughts. The -sough of the winds in the palms near by had rich music for her ears as -she listened. "What's that?" she murmured, as she stood perfectly still. -It was not the sound of beating tribal drums this time: she leaned -forward and listened again, as though her very soul would drink in that -faint, far-off sound. It came again, softly, a wailing, silvery sound -moving on the warm sea wind. No fear leapt into her eyes, no agitation -came to her limbs. An intensely beautiful expression seemed to light up -her face as her heart as well as her ears heard those sweet sounds. The -very palms just over her head moaned a tender _con anima tenerezza_ -accompaniment as it came, a sweet-throbbing, long-drawn tremulous wail. -Tears sprang into her eyes as she listened to the strain of melancholy -in the thin silvery voice that drifted beneath the tropic stars. It was -the "Miserere" from _Il Trovatore_. - -It was Hillary who felt the embarrassment of the moment as she ran out -from beneath the palms. He had not really expected the girl to turn up -that evening, although she had asked him to play his violin at that very -spot so that she might chance to hear him. The apprentice felt a trifle -foolish as he dropped his instrument and gazed at the girl. It struck -him that he had been a party to a sentimental by-play out of some -romantic novel or scene on the stage. He gave a sheepish grin that would -have been quite out of place even had it been a stage performance. As -for Gabrielle, she revelled in the romance of that meeting. She gazed -into Hillary's eyes, more like a child than ever, as she sat there on -the same banyan bough where she had first sung to Hillary when the -Homeric intruder had so suddenly disturbed them. As the apprentice -looked at the girl he noticed how haggard she was. As though to ward off -his critical gaze, she swiftly turned her head and murmured: "How -romantic to hear you play your violin in the distance like that." Then -she added coyly: "It's as though we are two passionate lovers meeting, -just like they meet in Spain and Italy--you know, in the books," she -added, as she gazed half sadly in the apprentice's face. Hillary tried -to hide his true feelings by joking about her brown stocking. She -laughed. Then as the darkness deepened Hillary became bolder and pressed -his lips on her hand. The girl responded by pressing his fingers. He -gazed steadily into her eyes; he wondered why they looked so beautiful -and wild. He had noticed the same expression before. He did not stare -with vulgar surprise; he simply pressed the girl's hand in instinctive -sympathy. He knew that some fear haunted her soul. His love for -Gabrielle had strangely blinded him to worldly things, but had gifted -him with an inward sight that made him wonderfully sympathetic. Just for -a second he felt a tremendous premonition of all that was coming to pass -in his life through his affection for the girl by his side. In another -moment his natural gaiety had returned. He half laughed to himself as he -felt the wonder of all that he was experiencing in a place where white -girls wore two expressions, laughed in one breath and stared in fright -in the next. - -Gabrielle was staring into his eyes as though she were asleep and yet -had her eyes open. Her face was pallid; she had released her hand from -his; she was still singing the song she had begun when her expression -changed before the apprentice's astonished eyes. - -"God! what is that weird, beautiful melody that you are singing, -Gabrielle?" said he, as he came under the influence of her voice. All -the European music that he knew was as nothing compared to the painful -soul of melody that lingered in the strain that the girl extemporised. - -As she still sang and swayed by him in the shadows he swiftly opened his -violin-case, but very softly, as though he feared to frighten the song -away from her lips. He drew the bow gently, caressingly, _con -tenerezza_, across the responsive strings and played. - - [Transcriber's Note: Lyrics] - - Mis Ta-lo-fa, the chiefs are sleep-ing, - The seas in moon-light sing, - My eyes are dream-ing, the winds art creep-ing, - Dead shad-ows round me spring. - - Winds sigh-ing by me, my Ma-la-bar maid, - Un-der the co-co palms. - Here thro' the night on my breast in the ... Etc. - - A. S.-M. - -It was very late when Hillary walked back with Gabrielle to see her -home. Even the shouts from the festivals of the heathen villages had -subsided, only coming to their ears in dismal wails and tom-tom -beatings. Gabrielle felt no fear of the dark forest as they hurried -along the silver track with the big-trunked trees clearly outlined in -the brilliant moonlight. - -"You mustn't get nervous and allow your brain to have such curious -fancies, Gabrielle," said the young apprentice as the girl clung tightly -to his arm at the dodgings of their own monstrous silhouettes. - -At length they arrived outside old Everard's bungalow. All was quiet. - -"Good-night, Gabrielle," said Hillary, as he leaned forward, half -inclined to say: "Dearest, may I kiss you?" During the last two hours, -however, he had been too much worried about something that he knew not -of to have made such headway in his advances. Notwithstanding his wish, -he only took her hand and gazed into her eyes, and made her promise to -keep the next appointment without fail. And she promised. Then he said: -"Don't look so scared, he's asleep. Surely you're not afraid of your -father like this?" Then he added: "I'll wait outside here and have a -snooze beneath the palms till I think that you are fast asleep!" - -Gabrielle didn't laugh at such a suggestion, as she might have done two -nights before! Indeed, she pressed his hand in almost hysterical -thankfulness. Hillary wondered why she should be so frightened, why she -should look so delighted after looking so scared. "God in heaven! the -girl's madly in love with me!" was the delighted thought that flashed -through his brain. - -Gabrielle crept indoors. She heard her father's snoring as she softly -opened her bedroom door and entered the room. She went straight to the -small casement that opened on the feathery palms and distant moon-lit -seas. She pushed aside the big hibiscus blossoms and peered down. Her -heart fluttered with some half-fierce delight as she saw that form -reclining beneath the palms: it was the penniless, stranded sea -apprentice watching outside his South Sea princess's castle. - -With some great light warming her heart Gabrielle crept into bed and -fell fast asleep, and so another night passed. It was only in the -morning that old Everard said: "Where the 'ell were yer last night? I -wish ter blazes ye'd come back before it's dark. I'm damned if there -wasn't a shadder a-knocking about 'ere last night!" - -"No, Dad!" said Gabrielle. - -"Yus!" said the old man with terrible vehemence. Then he added: "That -old barman up at Parsons's is a blamed liar; he swore that the last case -I bought was the best Jamaica rum. And yer don't see shadders after -drinking ther best Jamaica, that yer don't!" - -The old ex-sailor rambled on as he beat a violent tattoo on the floor of -the bungalow with his wooden leg. - -As for Hillary, he didn't get home till sunrise, so he slept till near -midday. - -"Papalagi! Maser Hill-e-ary!" roared Madame Tamboo, his landlady, as she -banged his bedroom door with a ponderous bamboo stick. - -"All ri'!" answered the sleepy young apprentice. Then he jumped up. He -was out and about in two ticks, for he had slept "all-standing." - -He couldn't keep calm that day. Mango Pango the maid-of-all-work, opened -her bright eyes with delight as he paid her pretty compliments over her -beauty. "Ah, what nice papalagi!" she said, as she looked sideways in -the German mirror at her image. True enough, she had fine eyes and -features that were quite different from those of the full-blooded -Solomon natives. Like most Polynesian girls, she was extremely romantic -and imaginative. She lifted her eyes towards the roof in childish -ecstasy when Hillary laughingly admired her yellow stockings and told -her that she reminded him of Cleopatra. - -"Who Cleopatra?" Mango Pango said. Then Hillary told her a lot about the -doings of Antony, who loved Cleopatra. - -"She and nicer Antony still liver in Peratania England?" - -"No, they're both dead," said Hillary mournfully. - -"Oh dear! poor tings!" said Mango Pango sympathetically. Then she looked -into the apprentice's eyes and said coquettishly: "Was Cleopatra a bery -beautifuls woman, Mounsieur?" - -"Most beautiful woman in the whole world, just like you," said Hillary. - -So would they talk together; and the pretty native girl would laugh and -smirk with the apprentice and wonder if she was as beautiful as he said -she was, and if he really meant it when he told her that he longed to -elope with her so that they could live on a desert isle together. -Hillary little dreamed how one day he and that little native girl -_would_ travel across the seas together--in a stranger fashion than he -jokingly anticipated. - -After the noon sun had dropped and the fire-flies had begun to dance in -the mangroves the apprentice put his cap on and strolled out on to the -slopes to kill time. And pretty Mango Pango peeled potatoes, sang a -melancholy Samoan song, dreamed of the handsome white papalagis and -nearly wept to think she was so brown. - - - - -CHAPTER VI--THE DERELICT - - -Hillary was impatient during the interminable hours that passed ere he -saw Gabrielle again. "Don't worry me, Mango," he said, as the pretty -native girl stood on the verandah and blew kisses from her coral-red -lips. - -"He go mad soon; man who no get drunk am no gooder at all!" murmured -Mango Pango as she ran off to obey the orders of her mistress. - -It was the next night when Hillary was to reach the zenith of his dreams -and happiness. Gabrielle had promised to meet him at sunset and go off -in a canoe for a paddle round the coral reefs off Felisi beach. He was -on fire with the idea. He could not sleep. His brain teemed with the -thoughts of all he would say to Gabrielle when he declared his love. He -determined to act his part well and be a worthy lover. She should not be -disappointed in him. "I'll paddle her out to that derelict three-masted -ship; that old wreck's the very place. I'll take her on board so that we -shall be quite alone." - -He thought of the light in Gabrielle's eyes. "Fancy me being the lucky -one to receive her kisses! Wonderful! I know men get exaggerated ideas -about the _one_ woman who appeals to them--but Gabrielle!--it's -excusable in me." So Hillary reflected as he heard the ocean surfs -beating against the barrier reefs. It pleased him to hear the winds -sighing mournfully through the tracts of coco-palms beyond his bedroom -window. His brain became confused as he thought of the ecstasy of -holding her in his arms. He sat down by the bamboo table and wrote off a -poem. He was so much in love that even the poem was good. He proudly -read the verses over and over again, till they seemed more wonderful -than anything he had read in the works of the great poets. "I'm a poet," -said he. Then he stared in the mirror at his haggard face, just to see -what the world's greatest lyric poet looked like. Placing his scribbled -lyric amongst his valued property in his sea-chest, he once more -continued to think over all that he would do when the sublime moment -arrived. He thought of how he would hold Gabrielle in his arms. He would -be no ordinary lover. He would rain impassioned kisses on her sweet -mouth as he held her in his strong embrace. She should not escape him: -the very fright that might leap into her eyes through his impassioned -vehemence would only serve to feed the fires of all that he felt for -her. He looked in the corner on his violin--his old love. How -insignificant it seemed when compared to his new love. Yet he felt a -slight pang of remorse as he realised how its strings had always -responded to his moods. Would Gabrielle's heart-strings respond as -readily? Are the heart-strings of women as perfectly in tune with a -lover's ideals as violins are to the touch of the _maestro_? He heard -the faint booming of the far-off seas sounding through his reflections -as they stole across the quiet night. Then he opened his sea-chest and -took out Balzac's _Wild Ass's Skin_. He gazed on the faded flower that -had lain in the pages. Though it was limp and withered, it was glorified -because Gabrielle had worn it in her hair. After that he fell asleep. - -Next day the young apprentice became terribly impatient as the hours -slowly passed. He was to meet Gabrielle at sunset by the old lagoon. It -wanted half-an-hour before the sun fell behind the peaks of Yuraka when -he eventually started off. Mango Pango wondered why he was so full of -song, so carefully dressed. He chucked her under the chin, even praised -her eyes, as he said, "Good-bye, O beauteous golden-skinned Mango -Pango," then hurried out under the palms. - -"He fool; he go meet dark-skinned, frizzly Papuan girl, I know! O -foolish mans!" murmured pretty Mango as she readjusted the hibiscus -blossoms in her bunched tresses and looked quite spiteful. - -As the young apprentice hurried on, his Byronic neckerchief fluttering -from his throat like a flag, his eyes twinkled with delight. The glamour -Gabrielle had created in his head threw a poetic gleam over the rugged -island landscape and on the brooding wealth of nature around him. The -blue lagoons, nestled by the lines of ivory-nut palms, looked like -petrified patches of fallen tropic sky that had been mysteriously frozen -into bright mirrors. Then they seemed to break up into musical ripples -of laughter, for a covey of bronze-hued, pretty native girls had -modestly dived down into their blue depths as he suddenly emerged into -the open. He distinctly saw the bubbles where they had disappeared, and -he knew that they were all standing on the sandy bottom of the lagoon -hastily slipping on their loin-cloths before they boldly reappeared on -the surface. - -"Talofa! Papalagi!" said one as her shiny head bobbed on the surface, -her eyes sparkling as she gazed shoreward and blew the apprentice a kiss -as he was passing out of sight. Then he arrived on the lonely shore -tracks. The Papuan birds of paradise looked like fragments of feathered -rainbows haunting old shores as they floated over the sea. The -orange-striped cockatoos, sitting high in the tall flamboyants and -tamuni-trees, seemed to shout "Cockatoo-e whoo! Cock-a-too whoo! Make -haste! Make haste!" as he approached. They rose in a glittering shower -from their roosts, gave dismal muttering as they fluttered over his -head, till, hanging their coral-red feet loosely, they resettled on the -boughs of the tasselled breadfruits. It was a wildly desolate spot; not -a sail specked the horizon as Hillary tramped along, singing to himself. -Except for the solitary dark man who lay fast asleep in his outrigger -canoe, that was becalmed a few yards beyond the coral reefs, he wandered -in a world alone. Only the bright-plumaged birds populated the wooded -promontories, cheeks and slopes. - -As the young apprentice walked slowly along, making time, he repeatedly -glanced seaward to see how low the sun was setting. Arriving opposite -the alligator-shaped promontory at Nu-poa, he sighted the scattered -palavanas of the small hut citadel, Ko-Koa. It was a fishing village; -quite a score of canoes floated hard by on the lagoons. The romping -heathen kiddies waved their paddles as he passed by. Their alert eyes -seldom missed the passing of a papalagi. From out the thatched -beehive-shaped homesteads, under the mangoes and mahogany-trees, rushed -several old chiefs and their women-kind, who at once began loudly to -lament the dearth of tobacco and gin and loose cash. - -Attractive girls offered him their fabulous wealth of shells and fish in -exchange for a silk handkerchief. "You got nice lady fren, -papalagi?--one who 'av' gotter old pair stocking she no wanter?" said -one coy maid whose soul yearned to attract some dusky Lothario's waning -glances. But it was all innocent enough in a way. "Women are the same -the world over, blest if they aren't!" he murmured, as he gave a bashful -maid a small piece of red ribbon in exchange for her beautifully carved -bone hair-comb, which she handed him with inimitable grace, for brown -maids are very ambitious for the love of a white man. Some of the youths -and maids were half-caste and three-quarter caste, a mixture of -Polynesian and Melanesian. Armlets and leglets fashioned from the pretty -treduca shells jingled as the girls romped round the apprentice. - -Those girls of mixed blood were mostly of graceful deportment, many -having fine, intellectual eyes. Neither did they possess the ungainly -head-mop. Indeed, standing there under the distant palms of the lower -shore, their wavy hair tossing to the sea-winds, they made a picturesque -sight. And one might easily have imagined that they were tawny mermaids -who had crept up the sands so as to stand under the green-leafed palms -to comb their tresses and wail luring songs. Hillary stood still for a -moment and gazed on that enchanting scene of primitive life, fascinated. -Out on the edge of the promontory sat yet another covey of semi-Papuan -and Polynesian maids. It was not fancy; they were really singing -mysterious songs as they sought to lure the sun-varnished native -fishermen who paddled or sailed their buoyant catamarans over the -wine-dark waters. Hillary bolted under the palms to escape the -embarrassing attentions of both the cadging chiefs and those Solomon -Island Nausicaas and Circes. It was not long after that he arrived by -the side of the wide lagoon that Gabrielle would cross in her canoe if -she kept the appointment. She would come by water, whereas he had -travelled three miles, the long way round by the coast. As he stood by -the lagoon it seemed to stretch before him like a beautiful mirror that -reflected tall fern and palm trees. Even the bright-winged lories were -distinctly visible as their shadows flitted across the sky. "Will she -come? Is it all a dream?" thought he as his heart thumped heavily. - -It seemed incredible to Hillary that he should really be standing there -by that lagoon in the cannibalistic Solomon Isles, waiting to see a -beautiful white girl paddle towards him across the blue waters. He had -not waited long before round the bend of the lagoon, far off, came a -ripple, quite visible on the waters; in another moment the curved, -ornamental prow of a canoe appeared as the moving paddle leapt into full -view. The sun was setting and the blaze shot right across the Pacific -and touched the mountains to the south-east, sending transcendent hues -and shadows down on to the lagoon waters and again into the forests. - -Women play all sorts of tricks with credulous men and their instinctive -love of beauty. True enough, Gabrielle was an artist in the delicate -business of self-attire. She knew exactly where to place the blue ribbon -at her throat and the crushed crimson flower in the crown of her hair so -that it might appeal to the senses of a mere man. The blue and white -flowers stuck in her tresses looked unreal, for her hair shone as though -it had been set on fire by the hues of the sunset. Her robe might have -been cut out of some burnished cloud material such as the angels wear. -"Fancy! She's come!" murmured Hillary as the prow of the canoe softly -swerved broadside on to the sandy shore. "Come on, dearest," he said. -Gabrielle looked tired and was breathing fast through her haste in -paddling across the wide lagoon. She looked very pale. "What's the -matter, dear?" - -"Father's drunk." - -"Is he?" said Hillary, as he metaphorically brought his fist down and -swept such an unromantic nuisance as a father off the face of the earth. -Even Gabrielle looked up quickly as she heard him take a deep breath as -he swept old Everard to dust, pulverised. He hadn't rehearsed through -the feverish night all that he intended to do at that moment, and -written a mighty poem, to be finally thwarted by a drunken father. - -Something kin to the fire that shone in the apprentice's eyes shone in -Gabrielle's eyes also. She trembled, and obediently did all that he bade -her do. In a moment they had taken hold of the prow of the canoe and -between them dragged it for thirty yards over the shallows that -separated the deeper lagoon waters from the sea. They were right -opposite to where the Pacific waves gambol into a thousand creeks and -coral caves. Without a moment's hesitation Gabrielle jumped into the -canoe. "Be careful, dear," whispered the apprentice. - -They lost no time in embarking. A trader was likely to pass at any -moment, and Everard had threatened to "kick Hillary into the middle of -next week" if he found that villainous apprentice hanging around his -daughter. They could just hear the faint echoes of the tribal drums in -the Buka-Buka mountains as their canoe shot silently out into the bay. -They were off, paddling away together into the unknown seas of romance. -Such was that world of rugged shore and dark blue waters to Hillary as -he gazed up at the darkening sky. God had just lit the first star, and -as he gazed upward it flashed into sight. - -Gabrielle really _did_ look like some beautiful visionary creature -sitting there; and she was voiceless, as befits those who travel across -tropic seas of love. The apprentice paddled a long time, then at last he -could hear the faint monotones of the seas that were ceaselessly beating -against the reefs and the big bulk of the wreck. - -"Allow me!" he said. His voice trembled as he took hold of her hand -firmly, as though he thought she might escape. The prow bumped gently -against the hulks' side near the gangway. That big, three-masted -derelict looked like some huge phantom ship as it loomed up there in the -silent waters off Bougainville. "Come on, dear." Very carefully he -placed his arms around her and step by step carried her up the ragged -rope gangway. - -Their heads were nearly up to the level of the deck, but there were -still two more steps to climb. "Hold tight, dear," he whispered. His -voice seemed to travel like an echo across the silence of the tropic -night. Just for a second he gazed into Gabrielle's eyes, then he gently -dropped her down on to the deck. At that moment reality returned; things -took some definite shape; Hillary recalled time, the world and the -far-off cities. - -A drove of frightened rats went shrieking and squeaking down the -alleyway towards the forecastle. The remnants of torn sail and tangled -rigging flapped mournfully to the winds as they both slipped hurriedly -across the warped deck. Hillary felt the ecstasy that is the highest -attainment of mortal happiness. Had she wholly belonged to him, body and -soul, he would not have been half so happy. He stared aloft at the tall -masts and felt a mighty sympathy for that vessel lying there by the -desolate shores of its last anchorage, for the jib-boom at the bow -seemed to point helplessly at the far-away horizon, to which it could -never sail. "This way! Come on!" he whispered, as he gazed around in -some mad thought that the ghosts of the old crew were enviously hanging -round in their great off-watch. - -They sat down in silence on the old form that was close against the -poop, just by the entrance to the saloon. Immediately over their heads, -by the deck rails of the now rotting poop, was the spot where the old -captain had stood when he sailed the seas. As the apprentice looked -upwards he suddenly remembered that he was on the very derelict that had -once been the ship of the old skipper who had left the books at -Everard's bungalow, the books from which Gabrielle had gathered her -romance. - -In his mind he saw that old derelict when it sailed the seas in its -prime, when the figure-head with outstretched hands at the bows (now -with one arm broken off and its emblematic, once beautiful face fast -rotting) had bounded across the waves like a living thing, long before -Hillary was born. The influence of the surroundings and the girl beside -him stirred his fancy. In imagination he saw the old skipper standing on -the poop watching the blue horizons and the starlight and moonlight that -shone in another age, so far as his own brief run of years were -concerned. In a flash he realised that out of all the cargoes the -captain had jealously guarded in his long voyages it was the old books -that had brought him solace in his cabin that had proved the most -wonderful merchandise after all. Where were the imported pianos that had -been shipped for the Australasian colonies, Fiji, Java, Callao and -Shanghai? What had been their fate? They had been thumped and thumped to -distraction and destruction while men drank their grog. Where were the -cargoes of old grandfather clocks and German-made alarms? But more -wonderful than all was the fact that Gabrielle sat beside him on that -very ship, her heart aglow with the romance that she had gathered out of -the pages of the old captain's books. True enough, that skipper never -wrote the books, but he lived an adventurous life in the big world, and -who will say that he may not have been wiser than the authors? - -Hillary looked through the saloon port-hole just behind them and half -fancied he saw a ghostly glimmer of the oil lamps that had shone in that -saloon in the dusk of other days; he even saw the shadows of men moving -about the cuddy table. But it was no ghostly pageant of the post at all, -simply a stream of moonlight on the torn sail that waved to and fro as -it hung from the main-yard and sent its shadow into the dark saloon. - -The atmosphere that surrounded the wreck and the music of the wind in -the decaying rigging affected Gabrielle also. Her old tom-boy demeanor, -had completely vanished. Hillary only said, "Well Gabrielle," and she -heard the music in those two words. For a moment they both forgot the -world beyond that hulk. Only the stars existed, and they shone into -Gabrielle's eyes as their lips met. The passionate phrases that he had -so carefully rehearsed, all the poetic vehemence of the night before, -had faded. Not one mad vow escaped his lips. He only held her tenderly, -as though he were afraid that she might crumble in his arms--fall as -dust to his feet. Not an atom of passion come to ruffle the poetry of -his feelings. For the young apprentice was _really_ in love. Her hair -touched his face. It thrilled him as music thrills dreaming men. -"Gabrielle, you are very beautiful How strange that no man has claimed -you before. For that, at least, I thank God." - -The girl was silent. "Don't you believe me?" he added. He glanced -swiftly at her face. It was deathly white. Hillary thought it was the -rats scampering across the deck that had brought that startled look. -Then Gabrielle burst into tears. - -The apprentice thought little about those tears. He had felt a little -like that too when he was really happy. If there was a wrong -construction to be placed on Gabrielle's actions, Hillary was sure to -hit on it. It was a natural consequence, since he had gathered all his -knowledge of women from his books. To him all women were beautiful and -good. He thought of them as leading sheltered lives. They were perfectly -different from men. It had never occurred to him to try and explain the -differences. His views about women, in fact, were quite conventional, -touched with the theatrical glamour that is common enough in extreme -youth. - -And still the tears lingered in Gabrielle's eyes. No one can tell what -the girl really thought and felt, excepting that she heard the simple -note of sincerity in all that the young apprentice said and which cannot -be written down. As for Hillary, the material world had passed from his -sight. Gabrielle wept, but what did it matter? Weeping must be some -natural attribute to real happiness. So he thought. - -It may have been the noisy rats or the creak of the blown rigging that -slightly dispelled the romantic atmosphere. "Even the ecstasy of -insanity is denied men," thought Hillary as a haunting thought suddenly -disturbed him. "She is weeping because I've frightened her. That's what -it is. She's only a child after all--does not understand! I'm too -passionate, too headlong in my way of making love. She's frightened of -me and so she weeps." Suddenly his manner altered. He led her to the -bulwark's side. The moon had already risen, and as they both leaned -over, looking down into the dark waters, they could see their shadows in -the silent depths below. Neither spoke; some fascination held them. As -the apprentice looked at the girl's face her shadow-eyes seemed to -glance sideways at him. He fancied that he saw something distorted in -the movement of her shadow. A puff of wind seemed to drift down from the -stars; the hair was outblown, the features unfamiliar. But it was only -for a second; in another moment Gabrielle's full outline developed in -the light of the tropic moon. There they were, Hillary with his arm on -the shoulder of the girl, who was still staring intently into the still -water. - -"Why did you sigh like that, Gabrielle?" he said. Then he looked on the -western sky-line. The ghostly flush, the pale aftermath of the departed -day, still lingered. Hillary vaguely recalled how near human happiness -is to sorrow; he felt sure there was some sorrow in the girl's heart. -Rajah Koo Macka had looked into Gabrielle's eyes; but he knew that there -are many different ways in which a woman may look at a man. None knew -better than he. - -Gabrielle's eyes to-night held a different expression as she again -scrutinised the young apprentice. - -"Do you love me, Gabrielle?" - -She responded by clasping his hand tightly and looking at him in some -fright. Her voice was hushed and trembling as she replied: "I've got a -feeling for you that I've never had before for anyone. I think I could -die with someone like you." Saying this, she looked steadily into his -eyes, and then added in a half-sorrowful way: "I wouldn't care if we -jumped into the sea and died together; I'd be much happier if I were -dead." - -"Well now," said Hillary as she continued: "I'm a hateful girl; I've -already told you I'm wicked; besides, I'm haunted by a shadow-woman: she -follows me, curses me, but I can't explain it to anyone." - -She became excited and raised her voice as he had never heard her raise -it before. The apprentice rubbed his eyes. "Jump into the seas and die!" -he gasped as he realised all that the girl had so passionately poured -forth. "Not if I know it." Then he added: "What do you mean about a -shadow-woman and being haunted by her?" - -He looked steadily into the girl's pallid face, then gently pulled her -towards him and folded her to his heart. - -"You're only a romantic child. _I've_ made you ill through my -love-making. You don't understand. Some day, when you are a woman, -you'll know how a fellow must feel, how he can really love such a one as -you. Forgive me, Gabrielle, will you?" - -The girl gently took hold of his hand and, looking steadily into his -eyes, said: "Perhaps you are only a boy and it's _you_ who do not -understand. You are too good a fellow for me. Don't you believe it; -you've not made me ill. It's something that I don't quite understand." - -"But why be ill at all?" was Hillary's brief summing up after she had -rattled this off. But still she ran on: "You'd never believe what -happened the other night. I went mad, I think." - -"Good Lord! You must not encourage such ideas. You've been dwelling with -your own thoughts too much." - -"I'm not mad, though you may think I am. I could easily prove to you -that I'm haunted; you don't know the horrible things that happen to -people of the Papuan race. I'm afraid that even you would turn against -me if you knew of my terrible heritage." - -"Terrible heritage!" gasped the apprentice, as he leaned over the side -and hardly knew what he was saying or doing as he followed Gabrielle's -stare as she too leaned over and looked down into the deep, silent -waters. "Is she mad? Perhaps she is." Then he thrust the thought from -his mind. "Phew! Rubbish! She's beautifully eccentric; if anyone's mad -it's me!" - -"Gabrielle, your father's continual bullying has made you ill--and a bit -neurotic. Don't worry, I'll protect you." For a moment he was silent; -the father had given him the pluck and the opportunity to say what he -longed to say. "Gabrielle, why put up with a father's bullying? Let's -both clear out of Bougainville; come with me! We can go away to -Honolulu. I'll swear that I'll look after you well, never say one word -that you may not wish me to say. I can easily make money by my violin -playing." - -Having blurted out the foregoing, Hillary almost trembled as he waited -to see the impression his outburst had made on the girl. He watched -Gabrielle's eyes. "I've gone too far again. How rash I am!" was his -miserable reflection as she nearly swooned into his arms. - -"I'll go anywhere in the wide world with you, Hillary," she said, to his -unbounded delight and astonishment. - -"Will you!" His eyes shone, his voice was almost shrill, like a happy -schoolboy's over the possibilities of some childish scheme. - -"How can we manage all these things you've mentioned?" said Gabrielle -softly, as she glanced earnestly at the young apprentice. - -It was not Hillary's imagination, it was all true enough; Gabrielle -wanted to go at once--no delay! - -Hillary knew nothing, guessed nothing of the cause of the girl's desire -for hasty flight. He only saw that the light in here eyes was as sincere -as death. - -"The Solomon Isles! And now an elopement with a haunted, beautiful white -girl," was his mental ejaculation. - -If he had had the slightest hint of the real reason of Gabrielle's -hurry, would he have hesitated? No! He would have flown with her that -very night and never let her go back to the homestead behind the beach -at Felisi. Neither the wreck, the stars nor the whisper of the beating -seas hinted the truth to him. He looked shoreward across the straits. -The night was so clear that he fancied he could see the smoke rising -from the crater of Bangana, fifty miles away. - -"Gabrielle, will you meet me by the lagoon again to-morrow night? We -will then arrange everything, and you can tell me if you will come." -Then he added: "I can manage everything splendidly." He spoke -enthusiastically and with assurance, as though he had had a large and -successful experience of this kind of thing. Then he continued: "We can -fly away to Honolulu, or anywhere you like from this cursed place--even -to England." - -Gabrielle was so affected and dazed by the apprentice's enthusiasm that -she could only stare in the dusk at his flushed face and brightening -eyes as he continued with his emotional tirade: "You don't know what -I'll be to you, how I'll love you, dear. I'll write songs and music and -dedicate all to you! I'll write poems----" Then he paused and exclaimed: -"Gabrielle, I'm a poet--you don't know what I am! You don't know what -I'm capable of achieving in this world if I had someone like you to -encourage me." - -Even Gabrielle forgot her vanity and felt some sad sense of shame over -her own unworthiness, as he swore that the veriest vagabonds of the -streets would aspire to fame if they had someone to inspire them beyond -their unambitious selves. Hillary poured forth a flood of impassioned -words; his eyes shone in his earnestness, and his lips trembled. Then he -suddenly realised that his overwhelming flood of words might appear -foolish to the girl. He stopped short. He watched her half in fright, -wondering what impression he had made upon her. - -Gabrielle replied by falling into his arms. She could not help feeling -something of his almighty boyish sincerity. There in the friendly -shadows she told Hillary that he had beautiful eyes. She laid her head -on his lap so that he could gaze down into her eyes as their lips met -over and over again. How it thrilled him when she said: "Hillary, my -Hillary!" And while the torn rigging wailed and the deep waters boomed -and resolved into gentle monotones against the derelict's wooden side -she sat by him and sang. A silver sea-bird swooped over the deck and, -sighting them there, gave a startled cry as it sped away. - -"Gabrielle," he whispered, as he thought of all that he had rehearsed in -his mind and of how little he had accomplished now that the girl was -quite alone with him on that wreck. Then he softly pulled down the -delicate blue neck-fringe of her blouse and exposed the whiteness of her -warm throat. And Gabrielle, with an artless vanity that inspired his -waning courage, gently let her head fall back so that he might touch, -just once, the soft whiteness of her throat with his lips. - -The apprentice reddened to the ears and blessed the darkness as he -thought of his boldness and softly pulled the delicate folds together -again. "I've done it now! She'll think I'm a terrible fellow," was -Hillary's hasty reflection as the girl remained silent. Then he tried to -excuse himself. "I've read of men doing that in novels and poems," he -said in a semi-apologetic tone. - -"So have I," replied Gabrielle; then she laughed softly. And Hillary -wondered what wondrous deed of virtue he had done that God should shower -such unbounded happiness on his head. - -It was a perfect night in Gabrielle Everard's life. No shadow came to -haunt the silence of those moments as she sat by Hillary's side. Only -the shadows of the torn sails waving to and fro in the warm tropic wind -fell from aloft to touch their happy faces. The soft confusion of -Gabrielle's hair harmonised with the bright thoughts that floated in his -mind. The smell of the rotting tarred ropes and the palmy fragrance of -the south wind over the sea mingled together and formed a part of his -sensations. - -It was close on midnight when the apprentice remembered the flight of -time, which passes with greater swiftness over the heads of lovers than -of sad old men and women. Even the rats seemed to scamper and squeak in -regret as they both rose and reluctantly crept across the silent deck. A -slight breeze had sprung up from the south-east - -"Make haste!" Hillary whispered as they arrived by the rotting bulwark -near the risky rope gangway. The apprentice looked with apprehension out -to sea when he noticed that the former calm expanse of ocean was -slightly ruffled. "Quick! Quick!" he said, and then Gabrielle went over -the side and trusted her weight to the taut gangway rope. "Thank God!" -murmured Hillary, as she stepped from the swinging gangway into the -canoe. Then to his infinite relief he noticed that the wind had dropped. -Though she had embarked, he had still stood hesitating as to whether it -was safe to venture back to the shore. - -"I don't think it will blow, and it's only a mile to the shore," he -thought, as the girl carefully took her place in the prow. The moon was -just setting as the gangway swung back and Hillary stepped into the -fragile craft. Then, like two ghosts, they paddled away, back to the -mainland. - - - - -CHAPTER VII--WHEN THE STARS DANCED - - -The day after Hillary and Gabrielle's love tryst on the derelict off -Bougainville old Everard sat in his bungalow rubbing his hands with -delight. He had been over the slope in Rokeville "celebrating" at the -grog bar, had been to the store and flirted with the trader's pretty -half-caste daughters, and had tapped his wooden leg significantly as the -schooner skippers heard how he'd done things in his day; then he had -returned home, full of the best Jamaica rum. It wasn't the rum, or the -praise and encores of the shellbacks in Parsons's grog bar, or the -surreptitious kiss he'd given pretty Mango Pango on his way home that -made him so jovial; it was because he'd met Rajah Koo Macka, who was -calling at the bungalow that evening. Already the shadows were falling -over the mountains. He was still busily shouting directions to his -daughter as though he stood on the fore-deck of that wondrous ship that -had sailed all seas and found all that is considered impossible and -absurd in this new day. He had artfully enticed Gabrielle to dress -herself up, so that she might appear at her very best when Rajah Macka -arrived. - -"Put the flowers in yer 'air, and don't forget to put thet blue robe -thing on," said the ex-sailor, as he critically surveyed his daughter -and tapped his wooden leg to punctuate his appreciation. "That's it! -That's it! You do look nice!" - -Gabrielle's eyes were shining with pleasure as she listened to her Dad's -praise. He so seldom praised her. Then she gazed into the bamboo -looking-glass. Her vanity was excusable, for the scarlet and white -hibiscus blossoms made the bronze-gold tresses shine as the sunset -shines on a mountain lagoon. - -"You're a good gal when yer like," said old Everard, little dreaming for -whose eyes Gabrielle had so tastefully arrayed herself. - -"Mitia, savee! Nicer ladie!" said the tiny Papuan maid, who at that -moment arrived with her basket of fish at the door. The fish were all -alive, splashing about in the grass-plaited basket, as frisky as the -little savage maiden, who took her purchase money and sped away under -the palms like a nymph of the wilds. - -"You're as beautiful-looking as your mother was," said the white man as -he sighed. Then he followed his sigh by taking a good pull at the rum -bottle. Possibly the memory of his dead wife impelled the weak ex-sailor -to take so many extra drops, for he was known to sit for hours like a -man in a trance when folk sang certain old songs. - -"That's right, tidy the place up! Put the green cloth on. Macka's mighty -particular. Those civilised 'eathens like things just so," said the -fuddled, idiotic old man. He was expecting the Rajah at any moment, for -it was past seven o'clock and he had promised Everard to be at the -bungalow before eight. It seemed incredible that the old ex-sailor could -not see through such a one as the Rajah. But sailormen are not very wise -when it comes to judging human nature. And it didn't want twenty-four -jurymen to discern the sort of glance that lurked in the Rajah's eyes -when he gazed at his women converts. Had the Rajah been correctly placed -in an ethnographical classification, he would have been placed somewhere -between the orang-outang and the lowest negro type. But circumstances -had invested him with the power to act as a mediator between God and the -souls of decent men and women. His outward life, his fleshy, handsome -face were splendid assets. They stood him in good stead, giving him an -extra distinction in the eyes of ignorant natives and even low-caste -whites. Not the least of his stock-in-trade were the frock-coat, top -hat, kid gloves, spotless patent boots, scarlet waistcoat and the turban -swathing, the purchasing value of the lot being about twelve dollars in -Beratania Street, Honolulu. - -Old Everard gazed eagerly at the clock. "Time's getting on," he mumbled. -And was Everard's daughter as eager over the Rajah's expected visit as -her father? Not a bit of it! She hadn't the slightest idea of being in -that dismal parlour when Macka arrived. She had made up her mind to make -a surreptitious departure as soon as she had tidied up the room. She -longed to meet Hillary again. She had been more than thinking about his -proposal to fly to Honolulu, for she had planned everything in her mind. -And if anyone could have peeped under her bed at that moment they would -have seen a small carpet bag packed with those things that she valued. -She had so often rehearsed the whole business and her sudden flight that -she had several times looked fondly on her wicked parent, as she -imagined his oats and distress to find her gone for ever. - -"Where yer hoff to?" suddenly yelled old Everard. The girl had quickly -snatched up her cloak and had bolted. - -Her inward knowledge of Hillary's love for her tremendously minimised -her fears over her father's wrath if he managed to catch her. - -It was just dusk. One or two stars were already out when she opened the -door and made the final bolt out of the front door into the night. She -gave a startled cry--she had rushed straight in Rajah Koo Macka's -outstretched arms! - -Fate seemed to have planned that it should be so. The Rajah held the -girl's hand tightly, almost fiercely, in his swarthy grip. A strange -fire was burning in his terrible eyes. - -"Miss Everard, Gabri-arle! Langi, O ke mako," he murmured, lapsing into -his native lingo as he gazed steadily into the frightened girl's eyes. -It was a masterful gaze, serpent-like in its malignant fascination. The -girl bravely returned that gaze. The Rajah realised the struggle that -was going on in her soul. His instincts told him the truth. Gabrielle -wasn't the first. He knew why her face was pallid, why the cold beads of -perspiration stood out on her brow, distinctly revealed to his gaze, as -though the moon would shed its beams and show the pity of it all. - -"Let me go! Do! Do!" she murmured in an appealing voice. - -"Gabrie-arle! I've come, not to see your father but to see you, you, my -lovelier whiter girl, lovelier, nicer!" he whispered, as in his emotion -he reverted to the old pidgin-English of his boyhood, before he had -joined the first missionary society in Honolulu. And still Gabrielle -stared into those terrible eyes. Her lips half smiled as she struggled -with herself. It was a terrible moment for her as she stood there, her -frame trembling as she felt those two terrible rivals struggling to -strangle each other--the struggle of the white and the dark woman in her -soul. - -He whispered swift, passionate words: "I lover you, wine of my heart, -stars of my soul, O voice of the waves, seas, night storm and darkness! -O stars that are like the children of our souls to be!" he wailed, as he -switched off into his beloved _verse libre_, so popular with his kind. -He still held her in his clasp, just as so many helpless women had been -held by the devil who reigns in tropic climes. - -Gabrielle felt that the struggle was coming to an end. The cold -perspiration stood in beads on her brow. She felt faint. And the devil, -who always helps his own, sent a shadow across the silvery track by the -ivory-nut palms. That shadow touched the small vine-clad verandah of the -bungalow. Gabrielle's heart nearly stopped as she saw it, and its -darkness fell over her own soul. Her horror was not to be wondered at, -for the silhouette had taken human form as something rushed out of the -thick jungle-growth hard by. - -There was no real cause for Gabrielle's terror at seeing this particular -object. It was nothing more than one of the Rajah's native servants, who -had rushed from the bamboo thickets, thinking he had heard the Rajah -call him. - -All the foregoing and the Rajah's successful domination over the girl -occupied about two minutes. He had rained kisses on her face, had -whispered impassioned words in her ears, using the names of the Apostles -and even the name of Christ to lure the girl back into the bungalow and -her soul into darkness. Gabrielle felt as though she had had a paralytic -stroke as he gripped her hand and pushed her into the front doorway of -the bungalow. She could hardly believe her senses as she went half -willingly forward. He was an old bird at the game; years older than -Hillary. He had the father on his side too, and that was natural enough -when one thinks of the way the world wags. Most men of the Rajah's type, -by means of their successful hypocrisy, secure the father's help to -buttress up their desires. Besides, the Rajah had no personal drawbacks, -for he had no idealistic views, no sensitiveness about girlish innocence -and what might be considered impropriety. So he was strongly equipped -for furthering his requirements; moreover, he had the mighty power of -the Christian creed and the glory of its apostles on his side, so far as -hypocritical protestations could make them useful to him. - -Old Everard was leaning over the table, swearing like a genuine 'Frisco -shellback, as they entered the parlour. - -"Thought you'd cleared out for the evening," said he, as he stared -querulously into his daughter's face. He was too drunk to notice her -terrified, helpless expression as he staggered to his feet. He had -suddenly sighted Koo Macka, who stood erect, standing with all his grand -insignias of Rajahship behind the girl. "Glad to see you, bully boy! -Bless me soul, I thought that the girl had made a bolt, and blowed if -she hadn't rushed out at hearing yer footsteps. She's a bit gone on you -already, eh? Nothing like a woman's ears when they want to hear!" - -The old man gave Macka a friendly nudge and at once lifted a bottle and -began to pour out a tumblerful of Parsons's best Bougainville Three -Star. - -So did the Rajah once more enter Gabrielle's home and gaze with his -magnetic eyes at the girl on that very night when she had promised to -meet Hillary! - -The three of them sat down at the parlour table. For quite a long time -Gabrielle sat like a sphinx, a dazed look in her eyes. The Rajah, who -sat opposite her, noticed that look. But was he embarrassed? Not he! He -simply rubbed his hands and gave an extra curl to his moustache. He had -tackled very obstinate ladies in his time down in the native villages. -And it was immensely gratifying to him to think that Everard was a -kindly disposed white man and did not dine with a war-club by his -side--as old chief Mackeroo did when the Rajah sought his wife for a -convert. Blowing his hose in his handkerchief, he at once began -business. Gabrielle quailed before his sinuous, reptilian-like glances. -She was trembling, for she knew that she had met her master--and he knew -that she had too. He was watching her as a cat watches a mouse. He saw -her eyes roam in a furtive way to the door more than once. He knew that -she was ready to spring at the first unguarded moment and fly out into -the night. - -Old Everard wondered why they both sat staring at each other. He -suddenly burst into speech, and brought his fist down with a bang on the -table. "Why the h---- don't you speak, blind me eyes?" he roared. He was -decidedly drunk. Macka lifted his eyebrows and then looked at the old -sailor and began to quote applicable Scriptural texts. His voice took on -quite a melancholy wail, the old ecclesiastical drawl habit, as he -remonstrated with the ex-sailor for roaring in such a rough manner at so -sweet a girl. Everard relented, even apologised. Macka stretched forth -his hand in a grandiloquent manner and forgave! About half-an-hour later -the Rajah's hopes had returned: the girl was his! - -For the stars had begun to dance before Gabrielle's eyes. She felt that -he wasn't so wicked after all. And the reason for this sudden change in -her was not far to seek. The Rajah had slipped some rum and opium into -her tea, some kind of mixture that is still used prolifically by the -natives who wish to dope artless girls, and sailormen too! "Tea's the -thing! Good old papalagi's tea, wholesome drink," he had chuckled -beneath his virile moustache. - -"Whisky, I say!" Everard had wailed, as he stared with bleary eyes. But -the Rajah would have none of it. He dearly loved tea, nothing to beat -tea, he swore. That settled it. Everard told Gabrielle to make a pot of -tea at once. But Gabrielle still sat at the table and wouldn't move, so -Everard got up and made the tea himself and thought of how he would get -his own back on his daughter when the Rajah had gone. Let it, however, -be said that old Everard would never have made that pot of tea had he -had the slightest hint of the consequences. But he was a fool. The -ex-sailor was not so much to blame: civilisation has shrivelled up the -white man's God-given weapons of instinct, and so he stands to-day a -slave to dull reason, and is positively nowhere when a native's cunning -is concerned. It was only natural, therefore, that sinful old Everard -should fall into every trap that the wily Malayan-Papuan, made for his -daughter's destruction. As the hours passed things began to look -brighter to Gabrielle. She forgot the night and all that she had -intended to do. As for Everard, he got quite boisterous when she -laughed, at last, at one of his antiquated jokes. And then, as the old -man listened to the Rajah's mellifluous voice, he became so emotional -that he forgot and wiped his nose on the edge of the best green -tablecloth. "Dad!" whispered Gabrielle, in an awestruck voice over her -parent's preposterous act in front of the twelve-dollar suit of clothes -and jewellery from the Honolulu slop-shop. - -The ex-sailor lifted his grizzled face and, staring with his bleary blue -eyes, gave his daughter a half-apologetic look. Gabrielle reddened to -the ears at the thought of her sudden good fortune. It seemed that the -impossible was occurring. A Rajah of holiest soul looked fondly upon her -and her late swearing old father sat there gazing into her face -apologetically! It was more wonderful than any fairy tale or any novel -she had read. She could have risen from her chair and sung; could even -have snapped her fingers with derision at the phantom-woman who she half -fancied was lurking outside the bungalow. - -Gabrielle hardly spoke as the Papuan Rajah waved his hand and glorified -himself in the eyes of his host and his daughter, expatiating on the -virtues of Christianity and his own true belief. Old Everard said -"Amen," opened his mouth in surprise and hung his head for shame as -Macka chided him over his habitual drunkenness. The Rajah pointed his -dark finger at the daughter, and said: "See yon sacred maid. White is -she as the spotless snow on the mountains of Kaue. Art not ashamed, O -white man, to set so bad example?" Saying this, the Rajah opened his -prettily bound pocket Bible and in sombre tones read Scriptural passages -till the old ex-sailor's heart quaked in fear of God's wrath and his own -remorse over his treatment of his daughter. And still the dark -missionary proceeded with his exhortations. "Art not ashamed, O man -Everard?" "Yus, I ham," almost wailed the derelict representative of the -great white races, as Macka continued his Scriptural denunciations in a -sombre voice. Thus did Macka the half-caste missionary further his -desires. But why record all that really happened that night? It is -sufficient to say that Everard's eyes brightened as Macka's heart -softened, until the brown man quite forgave the white man for his sins. -Indeed that dim-lit parlour became a kind of confessional-box, whilst -Everard fell on his knees and Gabrielle trembled in mighty trouble at -her former wicked thoughts over so noble, so holy a missionary. - -Then the Rajah bode Everard rise, and said: "O white Everard, think no -more of thy sorrows and thy sins; frailty is the great inheritance, it -is the dark shadow that maketh the light to shine and so doth beautify -human existence." Then Everard took another swill at the whisky bottle -and most foolishly mixed his drinks. And still the heathen man meandered -on, and murmured into the ex-sailor's ears: "O heed not the great pearl -scheme that I wished you to venture upon; for I say unto these that I've -other business on hand. And more, for the sake of thy friendship and -contrite heart, and thy hallowed daughter" (he pointed with outstretched -finger at Gabrielle), "I'll give thee double the sum that any pearl -scheme may have brought thee." - -So spoke Macka as he dropped into the Kanaka's usual Biblical style, -since it was from the Bible that most of them derived their first -lessons in our tongue. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that the -heathen was considerably overcome by his own self-glorification. As for -the white man, he said holy things, wailed out that he believed in the -Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints and the -sacramental drink of the best rum! Then the aged drunken idiot swallowed -another tumblerful of whisky and fell forward on his knees. - -Gabrielle began to think that she must be dreaming it all: that scene as -she sat in the wicker chair watching. Then the noble Rajah sang weird -songs. His voice was mellow and pathetically sweet, nicely tinged with -tragedian-like sadness that lingered in Gabrielle's ears. It was all -strangely blasphemous. Old Everard simply fell forward on the floor, -holding the rum bottle tightly in his hand. Gabrielle and Macka laid him -down comfortably on his settee. There he lay, his head forward, mouth -dribbling, one arm dangling to the floor, so drunk was he. - -Gabrielle cried softly to herself as she placed his head in a more -comfortable position and bunched the pillow up. Then she turned aside in -a terrible despair and gazed in mute appeal into those masterful eyes. -"Let me escape," her lips mumbled, and her voice sounded far off. - -It was no good; the man was relentless. He still moaned his beautiful -words, whispering warm Malayan phrases into her ear. She did not -understand his native tongue, but her instincts heard. The hour was -late. - -Gabrielle half heard the rustling of swift-moving feet outside the -bungalow. A thick mist seemed to lie over the furniture. She felt that -something had crept into the room, something terrible and not to be -denied. A swarthy expression passed over her face as she leaned forward -and listened, for once more she could hear the tribal drums beating -somewhere across the centuries. It did not horrify her as before. Macka -was there and his eyes had an all-powerful look: why be frightened in -his masterful presence? But still she tried to struggle to her feet and -rush out of the parlour door. For a moment she forgot and fancied she -was standing on the derelict out in the straits. "Hillary! Hillary!" she -wailed, as she thought of the stranded apprentice and fancied she still -looked into his eyes. Slowly the fumes did their work, fumes of opium -and the drink slipped into her tea. She still heard the Papuan's voice; -it was not a voice near her, it was a call coming across distant spaces. -And still she struggled, as she called out the long-forgotten name of -the missionary, one who had taught her in the mission-room from her -earliest childhood. But no answer came, only the snores of her drunken -father and the sounds of tribal drums a hundred years away. Then the -lights burned low. Even the Rajah was overcome with heathenish emotion -as she stood by the window and, lifting her face, looked out on the -stars and in a strange way scraped her pale hands up and down the glass, -as though she would tear aside the veil that divided her from freedom -and the outer world. - -And Hillary, who waited by the lagoon, walked up and down, up and down, -full of hope, full of faith. And he was still walking silently on the -silvery sands by the tossing seas, like a pale figure of romance, as -dawn crept over the mountains and the stars went home. And still -Gabrielle did not come. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII--HEATHEN LAND - - -In the morning old Everard awoke with a swollen head. - -"Gabby! Gabrielle!" He shouted. Then, wondering why on earth the girl -did not reply, he struggled to his feet, opened the door and went up the -three steps that led into her bedroom. Her bed was neatly made--it had -not been slept in. He was so puzzled about it all that he looked out of -the small open window to see if she'd fallen out--notwithstanding that -the window was six feet from the ground. Then he passed his hand across -his brow and remembered Rajah Macka's visit. "Rajah Koo Macka!" he -shouted. - -"God damn it! I don't remember 'im going," he mumbled, as he stumped his -wooden leg about the room till the bungalow shook, and began whimpering -like a fretful child, nearly falling down with sudden dizziness. -Recovering himself, he got into a frightful rage and began to roar -mighty oaths. "Gabby! Gabby! I'll a-murder you! Where are you? Damn! My -eyes! Ter 'ell with Macka! Ter 'ell with everything! Where are you?" -Then he swung his wooden leg round, poked it right through the -velvet-lined screen that Gabrielle had so neatly lined, and gave a -terrible oath. - -Then he cooled down. The reaction had begun to set in. His brain began -to reason over it all. He rushed outside, stumped about and stumped back -again. "Where is she? What's it all mean? She's not the kind of girl to -go off by night with Macka," were his reflections. All day long he -called and called. Then he left the bungalow and roamed away to the -native villages in search of her. He kicked up an awful commotion. The -natives for miles thought a new kind of spirit with a wooden leg had -escaped from shadow-land, for as they peeped from their hut doors they -saw old Everard frantically waving his arms, shouting vehemently, -swearing and calling out: "Gabby! Gabby!" He arrived back at his -bungalow at dusk. "Gab!" he shouted. But she was still missing. The old -ex-sailor realised all that Gabrielle had been to him in his desolate -life. - -He wept. He got terribly drunk and kept calling out: "Gabrielle! My Gab! -Come back to your old father!" Then he mumbled in a self-soothing way: -"She ain't really gone. Macka's so relygious. 'E wouldn't take 'er from -me. No! P'r'aps she's gone to the b---- German's wife at K----, or the -mission-room at Tomba-kao." Once more he got up and began to stump -about. He seemed to go mad. He rushed again and again into the girl's -bedroom, caught his peg-leg in the fibre mats and fell down. "It's 'er -gown, 'er pretty gown," he wailed. The tears rolled down his cheeks. He -actually put his lips to the girl's washed-out, torn garment and kissed -it. Poor old man! He had never really found his true self. All the -chances and virtues that might have been his had been shattered by gross -surroundings. - -After a while he cooled down again. "Who'd 'ave thought it! Who'd 'ave -thought it!" he wailed. He returned to his parlour. The room looked dark -and comfortless. A terrible suspicion was haunting his mind. But it was -too late. His faith in Macka's supreme holiness had begun to slacken -slightly. Old remembrances and God-given instincts that had been his in -the long-ago, pre-rum days came back to him. But he sought the weak -man's support, and poured fiery liquid between his trembling lips. - -"Gabby! Gabby! Come to me! I'm ill, so ill!" - -Then he jumped, and looked quite startled and sober. He'd never hurried -so much in his life as he put the bottle down and, with his eyes -gleaming with half-fearful delight, stumped towards the front door. -Someone had knocked. - -So great was his hurry that he stumbled as he rushed from the room. -"She's come back, me dear gal, come to 'er old pa!" - -He opened the door and stared at the form in the gloom for a moment, -then swayed and fell down--fell in sheer misery and disappointment, for -it wasn't Gabrielle who stood there--it was Hillary. - -Hillary did not gasp or say one word that would suit the pages of a -novel; he simply brought out the unromantic words: "God, what luck! He's -drunk!" - -The young apprentice swiftly leaned forward and picked up the old -ex-sailor. - -Hillary's whole soul was bursting to know why Gabrielle hadn't kept the -appointment by the lagoon. He was delighted to see Everard drunk. It had -flashed through his sanguine, hopeful soul that there had been a -domestic rumpus and that was the cause of Gabrielle not turning up at -the trysting-place, where he had waited all night. - -He carried the old man as tenderly as possible into the parlour. The -thought that he was really Gabrielle's father made him feel quite tender -towards the drunken man. He'd never been in that parlour before. He -looked round. Where was she? - -"Gabrielle, your poor father's taken ill--it's Hillary who calls!" And -then he stood holding the old man up, his heart thumping with the mighty -expectation of seeing the girl enter the room, with secret joy at her -father's blind, drunken eyes at such an opportune moment. - -Hillary had come straight to Everard's bungalow determined to risk all, -to defy the old man outright and get one glimpse of the girl's face and -some kind of an explanation, even if he had to fight his way in. He -called again: "Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Why don't you come?" But the -expected rustle of her dress, the glorious look of surprise in her eyes -at seeing him as she rushed into the room, all that his imagination -anticipated, was only mocked by the echo of his own voice. - -He sat the old man in the big arm-chair. Everard opened his eyes and -stared like an imbecile at the youth. - -"Where's my Gabby? Who the 'ell are you?" moaned the ex-sailor. - -"I'm Hillary, Gabrielle's friend. I'm teaching her to play the violin; -it will be a great help to her. She can make money by teaching, and be -able to help you too," blurted forth the apprentice in that inspiration -that comes to lovers who have rehearsed a thousand excuses for suddenly -appearing before a prospective father-in-law. - -Old Everard was too far gone with rum and grief to be interested in the -commercial side of a prospective son-in-law. - -"You're 'Illary! Violin! Play musick! You b---- villainous scoundrel! -What have you done with 'er?" yelled the old man, as he struggled to his -feet, a terribly vicious look in his eyes. - -"Done with who? Where's Gabrielle?" Hillary shouted out in a voice that -somehow managed to tell the old man that the youth before him thought -that he _too_ had a right to know where Gabrielle was. - -In a moment the ex-sailor's mad passion subsided. He leaned forward and -stared into Hillary's eyes and saw the despair, the appeal, the light of -sincerity and truth, everything that he had not seen in Koo Macka's -eyes. In a moment the old man relented. - -"Ain't yer seen 'er, kid? She's gone! Bolted with Macka, the Rajah! Find -'er, boy, find 'er for me. You can 'ave her, she's my Gabby!" wailed the -despairing father. - -Hillary's heart nearly stopped beating. He couldn't sum up courage -enough to ask the old man to explain what he meant. He dreaded to hear -something, he knew not what. Then the old man continued: - -"God forgive me for thinking ill of you. _He_ sent you 'ere ter-night to -comfort 'er ole father." - -Hillary still held the man's hand, to give _himself_ courage as well as -to comfort the old man. - -"'Ave a drop er rum, boy?" said the old man. Hillary did not hesitate. -He held the tumblerful of liquid to his lips and swallowed the lot. -Everard clutched the youth's trembling hand and almost shed tears as the -rum loosened the apprentice's lips and he told the ex-sailor all that he -felt for his daughter. Even Hillary was astonished to find that -saturnine old drunkard so tender-hearted, so friendly towards him. - -After Everard had taken terrible oaths and sworn vengeance against the -Rajah, he finished up by yelling into Hillary's ears that he would give -Hillary, or anyone else, two hundred pounds if they could trace -Gabrielle's whereabouts. Hillary took the distracted father's hand and -said: "I don't want money; I only want to see Gabrielle, to bring your -daughter back to you, and take her away from that man." The apprentice -couldn't persuade himself to mention the name of the man who had -apparently done him this great injury. Hillary had only seen the Papuan -Rajah twice, but the man's face was as vividly before him as if he had -known him for a thousand years. - -At that moment he did not want Gabrielle's father to see his eyes. He -felt ashamed that they should be dimmed with emotion. He was overcome by -the feeling that he was the first to love and have faith in woman; the -first to have idealistic views about honour and the ways of men; the -first to run away to sea with fourpence in his pocket to fight the -world, to aspire for fame and wealth, only to find himself sleeping out -in a strange land--in a dust-bin with the lid on! But at the thought of -Gabrielle's manner on the wreck, her tears, her eagerness to fly to -Honolulu with him, the look in her eyes, his dark thoughts fled like -bats from his brain, and once again hope reasserted itself. - -Hillary took the old ex-sailor's hand and promised to stop the night -with him. "Don't let us waste the time, it will be dark soon," said the -apprentice. After a little rebellious talk Everard promised to drink no -more, then putting on his cap he went off as obediently as a child to -make inquiries. And so Everard went down to Rokeville, while Hillary -went off on a voyage of discovery into the surrounding villages. His -faith in Gabrielle had by now completely returned. He knew that she had -strange notions, and had many girl friends among the Polynesian natives -who dwelt with the native tribes. He so far recovered his spirits that -he even whistled as he went off down the track. He made straight for the -native village of Ackra Ackra, where the great head-hunter chief Ingrova -dwelt. It was near to sunset when he at length passed through the great -forest of giant bread-fruits that divided the native villages from the -south-east shore. As he entered the tiny pagan citadel the women and -girls greeted him with their friendly salutations and the usual cries -for _tam-bak_ (tobacco). - -The unlit coco-nut-oil lamps were swinging from the banyan boughs and -flamboyants that sheltered the small huts and palavanas as he strode -across the _rara_ (cleared space). The shaggy-headed native women -clapped their hands as he passed. Some of the elder tattooed men and -chiefesses puffed their short clay pipes and stared stolidly upon him. -Just by the village patch Maga Maroo, pretty Silva Sula and some more -dusky flappers threw their brown-stockinged legs skyward with delight as -the dusky Lotharios gave wild encores in a strange barbarian tongue. -Even Hillary smiled as he saw the artless, picturesque vanity of the -girls as they sported their fine clothes on the tiny promenade that was -the lamp-lit Strand of their little forest city. He saw at a glance by -those demonstrative exhibitions of European toilets, and fringed -swathings of yellow and scarlet sashes, that the artful traders had been -that way exchanging their trumpery jewellery and gaudy silks for copra -and shells. - -Arriving before the Chief Ingrova's palatial palavana, Hillary was -pleased to find that the great chief was at home. As the big, muscular, -mop-headed islander stood before him, he made numerous stealthy -inquiries to find out if the chief had the slightest hint of the girl's -whereabouts. But seeing that the chief was quite sincere in his -protestations that he hadn't seen her for quite two weeks, Hillary at -once told him that she was missing from home. Hillary had persistently -had the idea in his head that Gabrielle might be hiding in one of the -villages in fear of her father's wrath, for he could not help thinking -that the old man had had a row with the girl and had deliberately kept -that fact from him. The aged chief, who was a fine example of his race, -swayed his war-club and wanted to go off in search of the missing girl -at once. His eyes blazed with delight at the prospect of obtaining the -head of the miscreant who had lured the girl from her home. The chief -had a fierce idea of equity and justice; he was a stern disciplinarian -in following the tenets of his religion, the code of morals laid down by -his tribal ancestors. Indeed it was well known that he would not deviate -from his ideas of honest finance by one shell or coco-nut. And it can be -recorded that the mythological gods and legendary personages who were -the great apostles of his creed were more to him in his inborn faith -than the Biblical wonders of the Christian creed are to nine-tenths of -the Sunday church-goers who worship at its altars. - -Hillary listened silently to the chief's moralising and his loud -lamentations over Gabrielle's absence from home and felt assured that -the chief knew nothing about it. It was true enough, Ingrova had never -heard of Macka, otherwise Hillary might have been considerably -enlightened, for the old chief was usually friendly to the white men. -The apprentice gave the chief a plug of ship's tobacco, then implored -him to kill no one and secure no head for the adornment of his hut till -he was quite certain that it was the head of the real culprit. Though -Hillary was convinced that Ingrova had spoken the truth, he still nursed -the idea that Gabrielle was somewhere in the vicinity of her father's -home. He could not bring himself to believe that Gabrielle had really -bolted or been carried off by the Rajah. The idea of such a thing had -left his mind. He had thought of her manner on the wreck only an hour -before. "A girl so innocent that I wouldn't utter a coarse word in her -presence--she--go off with an abomination like that--a dark -man--impossible!" had been his final summing up, and then in his -vehemence he had kicked his Panama hat sky-high. - -Hillary's face was flushed with the thoughts that surged through his -head as he turned back and, gazing at Ingrova, said: "Look here, -Ingrova, old pal, if you can find any trace whatsoever of the girl I'll -give you a lot of money and my best grey suit of clothes, see?" The -apprentice knew that he was offering the chief inexhaustible wealth by -promising him a suit of clothes. For if a Solomon Islander has one -weakness it is a heartaching desire to possess European clothes. - -In a moment Ingrova's ears were alert; his deep-set eyes twinkled with -avarice. He immediately rubbed his dusky hands together and, lifting one -hand, swore allegiance to Hillary's cause. "I find girler if she bouter -'ere!" said he, bringing his war-club down with a terrific whack on the -fallen bread-fruit trunk as they stood there in the silence of the -forest. - -"What's that?" The apprentice could hear approaching footsteps. - -He rubbed his eyes. What on earth had happened to Ingrova? There he -stood, stiff and erect, his arms crooked; he had suddenly undergone a -wonderful transformation--looked like some gnarled old tree trunk that -had been carved so as to resemble a man. For only the eyes blinked. At -the sound of approaching footsteps he had swiftly succumbed to the old -primitive instincts, and become, as it were, a part of the silent -tropical forest. - -Looking swiftly round, Hillary observed a dusky, wrinkled face and -bright eyes peeping cautiously through the tall, thick ferns that grew -around the spot where they stood. Ingrova's form immediately relaxed; it -was no enemy who sought to club him; it was only the friendly face of -old Oom Pa. It was very evident that Oom Pa had heard the speech of the -Englishman, and knowing that the white missionaries disapproved of very -many of the things his priesthood called on him to do in the performance -of heathen rites, he had approached warily. Seeing that only one white -papalagi was there, Oom Pa stepped forth from the thickets and forced -his finest deceitful smile to his thin lips. - -"Nice day," quoth Hillary. - -"Verra nicer, papalagi," muttered the heathen ecclesiastic, after -looking up at Ingrova, who winked and raised his tattooed brows to -reassure the suspicious priest. Oom Pa prostrated himself in his most -gracious manner before Hillary. In a moment he had risen to his feet, -and standing with head inclined he listened to Ingrova, who had begun to -tell him the cause of the white man's visit. - -"Oo woomba!" said the priest, rubbing his chin reflectively, then said: -"Nicer white girl's goner? She who gotter eyes like sky when stars -walker 'bout, and gotter hair liker sunset on rivers?" - -"That's her!" ejaculated Hillary dramatically. His heart thumped with -hope. Oom Pa's manner made him think that Gabrielle was somewhere close -behind him, hiding in the palms. The old priest winked and put on a wise -look. Then he looked up and, shaking his head all the while that he -spoke, he told Hillary that he had not the slightest idea as to the -girl's whereabouts. - -"I not know where girl is, but I knower you mean white girl who comes -and jumper on _pae pae_ and dance at festival, one, two nights. But she -did fly away like beautiful _tabarab_ (spirit) in forest." - -"Dance on _pae pae_ and run away into the forest!" said Hillary in -surprise. "Good gracious! She's not the girl I'm looking for. It's a -white girl I'm after, one who wears a blue dress, coiled-up tresses of -gold that fall over her brow; she's white and beautiful. Dance on your -damned _pae pae_! Phew!" said Hillary, putting his foot out and kicking -vigorously. - -Oom Pa also metaphorically kicked himself. He wondered what trouble his -incautious remarks might cause both to himself and the girl. He swiftly -realised that it was an unusual thing for a white girl to do a jig on a -_pae pae_; he also knew that the white men might think that he had -something to do with the girl's strange leaning towards his heathenish -creed, and so would blame him for anything that might have happened to -her. Consequently he at once put his hand to his brow, shook his head -and intimated that he was "old fool" to make such a mistake. - -Ingrova, who had immediately realised how near the priest had been to -letting out that he knew something about Gabrielle, astutely changed the -conversation and begged Hillary and the priest to enter his palavana. In -a moment Ingrova had bent his stalwart figure and entered the low -doorway of his rather palatial hut. Hillary and priest followed. - -The apprentice, who had never been inside a primitive homestead, was -surprised as he entered the gloomy, tightly thatched dwelling-place of -Ingrova. It was sheltered by the branches of two huge bread-fruits, was -conical-shaped and had a large domed roof. The rooms were spacious, -about twelve feet from wall to wall. Each room was lit up by primitive -window holes. These windows had no glass in them, but were fashioned of -twisted, interlaced bamboo twigs in a clever ornamental style, making -them look like casements that opened on to feathery palm-trees. Indeed, -often by night one could have peeped through those casements and seen -the festival maidens dancing on the village green while rows of -coco-nut-oil lamps twinkled from the palm and bread-fruit boughs. As the -apprentice stared round the room, the dim light intensified the -surroundings. They _were_ strange ornaments, no mistake about that. On -the wooden walls hung the human skulls and bones of the sad departed. -Noticing Hillary's curious stare as he regarded the beautifully polished -skulls, many of which still had hair clinging to the bone, Ingrova waxed -sentimental, stepped forward and took the smallest skull down from its -nail. Pointing to the empty sockets with his dusky finger, the chief -murmured in sombre tones: "Ah papalagi, 'twas in these holes where once -sparkled like unto stars in the wind-blown lagoon the eyes of her who -was my first _parumpuan_ (wife)." Then he sighed, and continued: "'Tis -true, O papalagi, that those eyes did once gaze and look kindly on him -whom I did hate overmuch. But 'tis over now, these many years; and -moreover, man, too, doth much which he no ought to do. And I say, O -papalagi, does not the moon stare with kindness on more lagoons than -one?" - -As he said this the old chief made several magic passes with his -forefinger, pushing it across and within the sockets as he sighed -deeply. Then he proceeded: "Here, between these teeth, was the tongue -that sang to me when my head was weary and mucher trouble did come to my -peoples." At this moment the old warrior looked sadly through the -doorway and sighed. Once more he put forth his hands and took down the -remaining portion of that delicate skeleton. Hillary gazed in intense -wonder. He noticed that the white bones were fastened together with -finest sennet, joined with great artistic dexterity, not a bone being -out of place. His thoughts about Gabrielle for the time being had -vanished, as the mystery of that hut clung like a shroud about him. -"What's that?" he murmured, as he gazed on the gruesome object that -Ingrova held up before him. He felt shivery in the gloom, -notwithstanding the tropical heat and the buzzing sand-flies. - -As the two old hags who were squated on mats in the far corner of the -room revealed their presence by giving a deep sigh, Ingrova proceeded: -"Tis all that remains of her form, which I did lover overmuch. Look, O -papalagi, here was her bosom; 'twas here that she gave unto my children -nicer nourishing milk, children who now am great chiefs and chiefesses." - -Saying this, the warrior ran his fingers down the curves of the dead -woman's throat bones till he arrived at the tiny bones of the breast, -then his finger swerved to the right, passed round by the ribs and moved -downward towards the sharp white bones of the thighs. - -"Good heavens!" was Hillary's only audible comment, as he inwardly -thanked God that white people did not keep their dead so that they could -be inspected like grim photo albums on visiting days. - -Ingrova gently hung up those sad heirlooms of his past affections on -their several nails again. Hillary, who by now had entered into the -tragic spirit of the weird homestead, pointed to the various gruesome -remains and asked Ingrova whose were the fourteen skulls that hung on a -kind of clothes-line that ran across the room, close to the roof. Even -old Oom Pa sighed as he watched Ingrova take down each bleached skull -and solemnly point to the empty sockets, telling of bright eyes and -gabbling tongues that once made music, sang songs, and knew laughter and -tears. One had been a great high priest who had died at the hands of the -white men sooner than swerve from the spiritual path that he deemed the -right one. He was one of the old Solomon Island martyrs. Hillary noticed -that this special skull was high-domed, revealing by its protuberance -the reverence that man has for higher things, and also imagination. The -teeth were perfect. Another was quite flat-headed, the hair woolly and -the eye-sockets small. After much preamble on Ingrova's part, Hillary -gathered that this skull belonged to the social reformer of the tribe. -Yet another high-domed remnant had bulging bone brows, the skull being -altogether curiously shaped. "Who was he, O mighty Ingrova?" said -Hillary with a good deal of reverence. - -Ingrova answered in this wise: "He was, O papalagi, the great -witch-singer of these lands. It was in that little skull-hole where -flamed the magic that sang unto us, telling the sorrow of the dying -moons, and of the voices of wandering rivers and ocean caves. He looked -through those holes" (here the chief pointed to the empty eye-sockets), -"where stare the light of the stars, the sunsets and moonsets, when he -did once stand beneath these very palms, by that doorway, and say to my -tribe: 'Man am no long to live, and, too, his love and joy oft depart -ere his body go its way. All things must die, though the corals rise and -the palms stand for ever before the eyes of day, man's songs must cease -and he got to sleep.'" - -"Dear me! What a nice old fellow he must have been," muttered Hillary. - -Ingrova had gesticulated and spoken in such a way that he almost saw the -sorrow of the poet's long-dead eyes looking through the sockets of the -skull. - -"Well, if this is a typical Solomon Island homestead, I'd sooner go out -visiting in dear old England," thought the apprentice, as Oom Pa -suddenly prostrated himself on the prayer-mat and, turning over on his -back, blew his stout, wrinkled stomach out with enormous breaths in some -religious rite. Hillary made a solemn face and, responding to Ingrova's -appeal, placed his brow against a dead man's beard that hung by the -window hole. It was with a feeling of considerable relief that he so -graciously bowed when two pretty native girls suddenly rushed into the -room and stared at him with wonder-struck eyes. His white face -fascinated them. They were attractive-looking maids, their massive -crowns of hair tastefully ornamented with frangipani and scarlet -hibiscus blossoms. Threaded shells dangled from their arms. One had -large earrings hanging from her artificially distended lobes. They were -two of Ingrova's granddaughters. They at once proceeded to flirt with -the apprentice, giving captivating glances from their fine dark eyes. -And when he accepted a flower from pretty Noma, the tallest girl, he -swiftly accepted a like offering from her companion, who had shot a -jealous glance at her sister from her warm dark eyes. In the meantime, -Oom Pa and Ingrova had met under the palms just outside the palavana. - -Ingrova's eyes flashed with fire as old Oom Pa spoke close to his ear, -for they liked not a white man to call in their village without asking. -Though Ingrova was a brave chief, he too was a religious bigot, and his -heart swelled with much devotion as he thought of what his gods would -think to see the apprentice's skull hanging amongst his most sacred -religious trophies. He felt that a skull adorned with dark bronze curls -would be a prize worth securing. Oom Pa placed his dusky hand to his -mouth, coughed and looked around to see that none heard; then he said: -"I say, O mighty Ingrova, this white papalagi may seek our hidden idols -and be after no maid at all. What think you?" - -And Ingrova replied: "O mighty Oom Pa, favoured of the gods, did I not -hear you say that you had seen such a one as this white maid?" - -Oom Pa puckered up his wrinkled eyebrows and swiftly told Ingrova how a -white girl had danced unbidden on his great tambu _pae pae_ and then run -away into the forest. On hearing this much Ingrova looked towards the -palavan to see that the white man was not within earshot, and then, -swelling his majestic, tattooed chest and shoulders, said scornfully: -"It seemeth a grievous thing for a white maid to be missing, yet, I say, -do not these cursed papalagi come into our bays on their ships and steal -those we love, our wives, our sons and daughters, taking them to -slavery, O Oom Pa?" - -"'Tis as thou sayest," responded the priest. For a moment he reflected, -then he looked up into Ingrova's eyes with deep meaning and said: -"Methinks 'tis true that he seeks a white maid, for he who hath a leg of -wood did pass this way, calling in strange tones to all whom he met; and -mark you, O Ingrova, this papalagi who is there in your palavana hath -one eye that is the colour of the day and one the hue of the night." - -Ingrova at this wisely nodded, as though to say that he too had noticed -this strange thing. Then Oom Pa continued: "To have such eyes must mean -that he is favoured by the gods of his own race, and so 'twere well that -he should receive our friendship. And maybe, after all, 'tis the white -man's god who tattoos the skies!" - -Ingrova sighed deeply as he thought of the exquisite skull that might -have adorned the walls of his palavana. Then he said: "'Tis well, Oom -Pa, for the youth is to my liking." And as they both stooped and -re-entered the palavana doorway the young apprentice little dreamed how -inscrutable Fate had given him one eye blue and the other brown so that -he might not be killed that day by a Solomon Island chief. Fondest -affection seemed to beam forth from Ingrova's eyes as he looked at the -apprentice. "Nice old heathen," thought Hillary, as the big warrior -sighed in deep thought and then placed his hands with regret among the -rare bronze curls of the apprentice's skull that _might_ have been his. -But to give them their due, both Oom Pa and Ingrova were relieved that -things were running smoothly. Together they took Hillary outside that he -might inspect the wonders of the village. As he crossed the tiny _raras_ -(village greens) the dusky maids placed their hands where their hearts -beat and sighed over the beauty of his eyes and the wondrous whiteness -of his face. - -"Damn it all! I could take an interest in all this if I only knew where -Gabrielle was," thought Hillary, as he looked on the strange scene of -native life around him. Notwithstanding his sorrows, he could not help -thinking how akin primitive life was to civilised life. "One blows his -nose on a palm leaf and the other on a silk handkerchief," he murmured -to himself. "Bless me, though it is a heathen village in the Solomon -Isles, its dusky, tattooed inhabitants seem imbued with the same ideas -and aspirations as my own people." - -It was true enough: some of the tiny streets under the trees were clean -and had large, well-built huts that were covered artistically with -flowers of tropical vines. Other huts were small and very slovenly. Some -of the maids had flowers in their hair and shining traduca shells -hanging on their arms. Others wore tappa gowns, a few some remnant of -European clothing, such as cast-off skirts, blouses, bodices and -stockings. One or two wore only those undergarments that are frilled at -the knees and succeeded in showing off their terra-cotta limbs in a most -conspicuous fashion. Some had made real doors to their palavanas, whilst -others still had doors that were made of old sacking. One played a cheap -German fiddle while the kiddies on the _rara_ danced with glee. In front -of the native temple stood a monstrous idol, its big glass eyes -apparently agog with laughter. And on a stump, facing it, stood the -embryo parliamentary genius, Hank-koo, waving his skinny arms, -beseeching the high chiefs to pass a law that would compel all the other -chiefs to make their hut doors so that they opened inwards. "Why not -have doors that open inwards when 'tis as well as opening towards?" he -yelled, as he wiped his brow with a palm leaf. It was then that another -fierce-looking being jumped on to a stump. He too swore by Quat (first -god of heathen land) that for a door to open outwards was indeed -beautiful. "Can not a dying man's soul take flight with ease to -shadow-land instead of being compelled to pull the door back ere -departing hence?" And so the chiefs were always busy remaking doors that -opened inwards or outwards, as they continually changed their minds over -the virtues of such great things. - -"Comer, papalagi!" said Ingrova, as he beckoned Hillary to return -towards his palatial palavana. "All is wonderful that I have seen, O -great Ingrova," said Hillary, as he stood once more outside the chief's -homestead. - -And then, as the chief leaned on his war-club, swelling his massive -chest and bowing graciously, Hillary intimated that he must depart at -once. - -Indeed the apprentice was getting impatient. "It's no good hanging about -here; this won't find Gabrielle," he thought, as he cursed the old -skulls and the atmosphere of gloom that Ingrova's gruesome exhibition -had cast over him. "Why should I be made melancholy through Ingrova's -dead relatives? I don't bring out the bones of my dead aunts and old -uncles to make men miserable." Such was his inward comment as he left -the chief and hurried away. Thoughts of Gabrielle's strange -disappearance returned to him with redoubled force. He recalled how she -had touched his hand for the first time. And as Hillary passed along by -the forest banyans and saw the deep indigo of the far distant ocean, he -stared on the rose-pearl flush of the sea horizon. "What a fool I was! I -could have easily persuaded her to bolt that night on the derelict," he -thought, as he once more started on his way back to Everard's. - -In due course he arrived back at Everard's bungalow. The old man was -terribly upset when Hillary told him that he had heard nothing about his -daughter's whereabouts. He trembled violently as he looked up at Hillary -and said: "I've been up to Parsons's shanty: no one has seen Gabby, or -heard of her. What can it all mean?" - -Hillary made no reply. He did his best to cheer the old sailorman up. -His unbounded faith in Gabrielle had returned. He recalled her innocent -manner when she had offered him the little flower out of her hair when -he had first met her on the lagoon. "No girl who gave a flower like that -could do wrong," he thought. Not only would he not entertain the idea -that a dark Papuan man could have influence over Gabrielle, but he also -persuaded the father to make no inquiries about the Rajah. - -"What proof have you got that the Rajah is the kind of man who would -take advantage of any woman?" he inquired of Everard. Possibly he was -influenced to make these remarks by a kind of Dutch courage. He imagined -that there was far less chance of Everard's suspicions being true if he -himself blinded his own eyes to the possibilities of what a dark man -might persuade a white girl to do. Over and over again he had recalled -to memory Gabrielle's eyes as she had gazed into his own on the derelict -ship. "No! Impossible!" thought he. "I've got boundless faith in -Gabrielle; I feel certain she's only gone up to K----. She's probably -stopping with the German missionary's wife and will be back to-morrow." - -"Why the blazing h---- didn't you go there to K---- and see?" said the -old sailor in a petulant voice, as he suddenly looked apologetically at -the apprentice. He had gripped Hillary's hand gratefully in the thought -that a strange youth should have such unbounded faith in his daughter. - -"I've only just thought of Gabrielle's friendship with the missionary's -wife at K----," said Hillary. - -Then Everard suddenly remembered that he had already sent a native -servant up to K---- to inquire. - -All that night the old ex-sailor sat huddled in his arm-chair, crying -softly to himself. He swore that he'd never drink again or hurt a hair -of the girl's head if she returned safely home. - -Hillary slept little. Once he walked into Gabrielle's bedroom, gazed on -her tiny trestle bed and thought of all she had said to him. Then he was -obliged to go out of doors and walk up and down under the palms in an -attempt to stifle his grief. In the morning he helped Everard to get the -breakfast. The old man spoke kindly to him and repeatedly muttered to -himself about his foolishness in thinking the youth was such a villain -because he happened to be stranded in Bougainville and hadn't a cent to -bless himself with. - -"What did old Ingrova say?" suddenly asked the old man, as he swallowed -some hot tea. - -"Oh, he had never even heard of Gabrielle." - -"Never heard of her! The old liar!" almost yelled the old man. - -Hillary turned beetroot-red. He swallowed some hot tea and nearly fell -on the floor. "You don't mean to say Ingrova's fooling us?" - -"Don't worry, boy, Ingrova's all right. I know 'im!" said Everard. - -"Thank God!" muttered Hillary. For he had suddenly called up terrible -visions of ferocious head-hunters dancing round Gabrielle's dying form. - -Anyway, his fears were quite dispelled by Everard's manner and all that -he proceeded to tell him. As the ex-sailor and the apprentice talked and -then lapsed into silence over their own thoughts, the visitors began to -arrive. It appeared that the grief-stricken father had been about -telling all his friends that Gabrielle was missing from home. The first -one to arrive at the bungalow after breakfast was Mango Pango. When -Hillary opened the bungalow door she pretended to faint. Then she lifted -her hands above her head and went on in a most dramatic fashion as -Hillary explained to her that Gabrielle was still missing. - -"Whater you do 'ere?" said the pretty Polynesian girl, as she looked out -of the corner of her eye as only a Polynesian maid can look without -squinting. "I never knew that you knew Misser Gaberlielle," she added, -as Hillary smiled. Then she went on in a terrible style, for she had -known Gabrielle since she was a child. "O Master Hill-e-aire, she kill! -Some one fiercer head-hunter gotter her and cutter her head off!" she -wailed, as she rolled her pretty eyes and then looked at Hillary in a -swift flash that said "No gooder you loving girler without head--eh?" -Giving this parting shot, Mango Pango ran off home to follow her -domestic duties. And then a batch of native women and two white men -arrived outside the bungalow to inquire if Gabrielle had returned. After -a deal of jabbering and unheard-of ideas as to the cause of the girl's -absence, they put the coins in their pockets and went off mumbling. And -still the old man gabbled on, saying: "How kind people are when folk are -in trouble." - -Hillary at last put on his hat and went off to make further inquiries. -As he stood shaving himself before the mirror in the bungalow parlour, -he thought of all that Gabrielle had told him about the haunting -shadow-woman. He was half-inclined to tell the father of the girl's -strange talk on the derelict ship out in the bay. Then he decided not to -do so, thinking that the old sailor had quite enough trouble on his -shoulders. Somehow the thought of all that Gabrielle had told him about -that shadow-woman eased Hillary's mind. It gave him greater faith in the -girl. He remembered the look in her eyes when she had sung the weird -songs to him by the lagoon, and also in the forest once when they were -parting. "Perhaps she's a bit eccentric, and that accounts for her -strange absence," he thought. And the thought eased his mind and was -more pleasant than the thoughts that had begun to haunt him. He recalled -Rajah Koo Macka's handsome face. He also recalled how he had read that -dark men had strange and terrible influence over romantic girls. He knew -very well that Gabrielle was terribly impressionable. Hillary gave -himself a gash with his razor as he thought of this, and his hands began -to tremble. Then he hastily dressed himself and told Everard that he was -off to make inquiries about Macka. "We don't know _who_ he is; he might -be anyone, and villainous enough to lure your daughter deliberately -away, after all," said the apprentice, as he lit his pipe, said good-bye -to the old man and went off to search and make inquiries. - -It was nearly dusk when Hillary returned from the villages and going -down to the beach by the grog bar came across a Papuan sailor who, he -had been told, was an old deck-hand off one of the Rajah's ships. - -The artful Papuan at first swore that he did not know Macka, shook his -head and said: "Me no savee!" - -Then Hillary took a handful of silver from his pocket and shook it -before the Papuan's eyes and hinted that if he could tell him of anyone -who _did_ know about Macka's social position he would get well rewarded. -In a moment the native's manner changed. He took Hillary under the palms -and told him a tale that fairly made the young apprentice gasp. And it -was a story that would make anyone gasp. - -It was from this native's lips that Hillary heard for the first time -that Macka was an ex-missionary from Honolulu, and that he was a native -from one of the coastal tribal villages of New Guinea, a tribal race who -were the most ferocious and god-forsaken heathens in the Pacific world. -The half-caste native sailor turned out to be a rather intelligent man. -Indeed it appeared that he too was a converted heathen and had first got -acquainted with Macka while attending mission-rooms in New Britain. - -"Do you mean to tell me that the Rajah Koo Macka is a member of a -religious society?" gasped Hillary, as the native took a nip of his -tobacco plug and then grinned from ear to ear. - -"It am so, boss!" said the man. Then the native continued: "'E am Rajah -Makee and belonger misselinaries everywheres. 'E kidnapper too, and -often taker Papuan girls, boys, men and women by nighter when no one -looker!" - -"What do you mean?" said the apprentice with astonishment, only vaguely -realising what "kidnapper" meant. Then the native calmly proceeded to -enlighten him, and in a few moments Hillary had heard enough to convince -him that the noble Rajah would not only be likely to abduct Gabrielle -from her home, but old Everard and himself too if he thought they'd -fetch a few dollars in the slave markets of the Bismarck Archipelago or -elsewhere. - -So did Hillary discover that Rajah Macka was an inveterate cannibal, -living on the flesh and weakness of people of his own race. For it -appeared that he had sailed the Pacific for years, creeping into the -bays of remote isles and kidnapping girls, boys, men and women till his -schooner's hold was crammed up to the hatchways with a terrified human -merchandise. He usually sold the girls to chiefs in the Bismarck -Archipelago and New Guinea; the boys and men he disposed of in New -Guinea for plantation work or to be fattened up for sacrificial -festivals, the _piece de resistance_ of some mighty chief's -cannibalistic orgy. Macka was not the only one who dealt in the terrible -blackbirding trade; Germans, Dutchmen and even English skippers made it -their prime stock-in-trade. - -Hillary could hardly believe his ears as he listened to the character of -the man who had been Everard's welcome guest. He took the native sailor -into Parsons's grog bar, primed him well with drink and finally got all -the information necessary to follow on the Rajah's track. He discovered -that he was a native of New Guinea, that he possessed a tambu temple -there and was known as the "great Rajah" for hundreds of miles in Dutch -New Guinea because he had been well educated by his heathen parents, who -had sent him to Honolulu to be initiated into the virtues of -Christianity. - -Though the sun was blazing down with terrific vigour from the cloudless -sky, Hillary half ran as he stumbled across the tangled jungle growth on -his way back to tell Everard all that he had heard about the Rajah. The -native girls ran out of the little doors of the huts and begged him to -give them one brass button from his apprenticeship suit. Crowds of -native children, quite nude but for the hibiscus blossoms in their -mop-heads and a wisp of a loin-cloth, rushed by the palms with loaded -calabashes, crammed with fish caught in the shore lagoons. They were -flying onward to the market village, the Billingsgate of the Solomon -Isles; a place where shaggy-headed, sun-browned women exchanged shells -for the fresh, shining fish. But Hillary had no eye for the scenes -around him. He steamed like a wet shirt stuck out in the tropic sunlight -as he hurried on; and the constellations of jungle mosquitoes and fat -yellow sand-flies made their presence felt, driving their proboscis -spears deep into his flesh, buzzing their musical appreciation to find -he ate so well. The apprentice's heart was beating like a drum; already -the tale that he had heard had upset his ideas over the cause of -Gabrielle's absence. "Did she go off voluntarily with the Rajah, or had -he kidnapped her?" That thought haunted him, tortured him. He stared -towards the summits of the distant smoking volcanic ranges to the -north-west and thought how they resembled his own heart, that was near -to bursting with emotion, and how he too would like suddenly to shout -his passionate desires to the sky. He sighed as he cut across the silver -sands by the beach. He was going the long way round, for he dare not -pass by the lagoon where Gabrielle had once sung to him. - -He was nearly dead with fatigue when he arrived at the bungalow. "Found -'er, boy?" came the dismal query that always smote his ears when he -returned to Gabrielle's home. Hillary simply shook his head and stared -into the glassy eyes of the old man. Then he sat down and told the -ex-sailor every word he had heard about Macka's schooner and his -reputation as a clever kidnapper of native girls and men in the Pacific -isles. - -Old Everard jumped to his feet and hopped about on his wooden leg like a -raving madman. Hillary tried to hold him down. - -Crash! The old man had stabbed the screen four times with his wooden -member. Crash! He had picked up his spare, best Sunday wooden leg and -smashed all the crockery off the shelf. - -"Don't be a fool! Everard! Everard! Don't go mad!" yelled Hillary at the -top of his voice, as the demented sailor still smashed away. - -"I'll save your daughter! I know where she is!" yelled the apprentice, -as he endeavoured to stop the ex-sailor's demented yells. - -The furniture of the bungalow and all the crockery were smashed before -the mad old man calmed down. Then he took a pull at the rum bottle, sat -down on the settee and recovering his breath stood up again and shouted: -"Where's the _Bird of Paradise_, 'is ship? 'Is ship--has it sailed?" -yelled the old man. Then he shouted: "He's got her on the _Paradise_! -He's got 'er, my Gabby! I see it all now! He's an old blackbirder. Not a -Rajah! Not a godly missionary! By the holy Virgin, forgive me, forgive -me for being a damned fool!" the old fellow moaned, as he recalled Rajah -Macka's sombre voice and his exhortations when he had hesitated as to -whether he'd give up drinking rum or no. - -Then the ex-sailor looked at Hillary and yelled: "Go, you blamed fool! -Go and see if the _Bird of Paradise_ has sailed from the harbour." - -In a moment Hillary rushed away over the hills. In an hour he returned -to the bungalow and told Everard that the _Bird of Paradise_ had not -been seen in the bay of Bougainville since the night when Gabrielle had -been first missing. - -"She's sailed in the night! 'E's got 'er! 'E's got 'er! She's gone! She -wasn't willing! 'E stole 'er, just like 'e steals native girls! Boy, -don't worry. She's a good girl, she is--one of the best," said the -distracted father, his voice lowering to a wailing monotone as he -steadily beat his wooden leg on the floor in despair and hope. - -"Of course she's a good girl," said Hillary. His heart nearly stopped -beating at _that_, a thought he would not allow to haunt him. - -"There's no time to lose, Mr. Everard. I'll get a berth on some ship -that's bound to New Guinea. I'll find a ship. I'll stow away, I'll do -anything to get there and find his tambu house and rescue Gabrielle from -his grasp. I'll steal, I'll rob anyone if it is necessary." And as the -apprentice said those things his eyes flashed fire, his face flushed -with all the hope and the emotion that was in him. - -"I've got money, I've been saving for years, saving for 'er, but she -didn't know!" Everard suddenly exclaimed. Then he looked at Hillary and -continued: "Get a schooner; hire one; I'll pay! I'll spend a thousand to -get Gabby back and smash Macka up!" As he finished he brought his spare -wooden leg down crash on the table. Then he gripped the apprentice by -the hand. "Don't leave me yet, boy, I'm nervous. In the morning you can -go out into the bay and see if you can 'ire a schooner. It's three -weeks' sail to the New Guinea coast. Find out exactly where his blasted -coastal village is. Get all perticulars about 'im." - -"Do you really think he's kidnapped Gabrielle? It seems extraordinary in -these enlightened times!" gasped the young apprentice, as he thought of -Gabrielle on a three weeks' voyage with Rajah Macka, the ex-missionary. - -"Don't think! She's gone! Where is she?" Then the old man roared with -dreadful vehemence: "Why, damn it all, _I've_ been in the slave-trading -line! _I've_ crept into the native villages by night and stolen the -girls as they slept beneath the palms! Cloryformed 'em! Smothered 'em! -Tied 'em hup! Shot the b---- chiefs as they rushed from their dens to -save their darters and wives! _I_ 'ave! _I_ 'ave!" - -"No!" That monosyllable expressed all the horror of which Hillary was -capable over Everard's sudden confession and his private thoughts as to -Gabrielle's fate on that schooner with Macka. - -"It's retribution--that's what it is," wailed the old man. - -Hillary took his hand and did his best to soothe him. Then he lit the -oil lamp and sat down by the weeping ex-sailor. - -"My Gabby's like 'er mother, beautiful gal, but she's 'aunted in 'er -'eart by them spirits of the Papuan race. 'Er mother seed a spirit-woman -spring out from under the bed one night afore she died!" - -"A spirit-woman!" gasped Hillary. Then he continued: "Do you mean to -tell me that there are such things as spirit-women running about -Bougainville?" - -The old man looked vacantly into the apprentice's eyes for a second, -then said languidly, as though, he was too grieved to talk: "I seed a -shadder meself ther other night, 'ere in this very room!" - -Hillary looked sideways at the empty rum bottles in the corner of the -room, then back again at the old man's bleary eyes. "He's got a touch of -the D.T.'s," thought the young apprentice. - -Before midnight Everard lay in a drunken sleep. Hillary had made up a -bed by the couch, but he couldn't sleep. The idea of the girl being -really abducted nearly sent him mad. Then he thought of Gabrielle's -strange talk on the hulk about shadow-women and of all that Everard had -just told him about his wife's being haunted by similar shadows. The -idea of the shadow-woman haunted his mind in an unaccountable way, -although he was naturally sceptical about such things as ghosts and -enchantments. - -He sat by the small open window of the bungalow and, as the scents of -the orange-trees drifted in on the cool night zephyrs, thought over all -he had read about sorcerers, of the haunting shadow-figures that played -such a prominent part in the love affairs of the medieval ages. Then he -looked out of the window on to the moon-lit landscape and saw the tall, -feathery palms; he even heard the rattling of the derrick of some -schooner that was leaving before dawn. He thought of Mango Pango singing -her old legendary songs in a chanting voice as she peeled spuds and -chopped up the indigestible bread-fruit and tough yams for dinner, and -finally summed up his belief in spirits in the one word "Rot!" - -And as old Everard lay just by him, snoring with a mighty bass snore, he -felt half sorry that he couldn't bring himself to believe implicitly -that a shadowwoman _had_ lured the girl away from her home and had -stopped her from keeping the tryst. - -"A shadow leaping about--preposterous! Sounds like Doctor Jekyll and Mr. -Hyde. Perhaps she's been reading that book, and told her father about it -while he was under the influence of drink," reflected Hillary. He even -brightened up as he persuaded himself that the girl's wild sayings and -her evident terror had all been brought about through reading that book. -"She's under the influence of Jekyll--that's what's the matter with this -Everard family. Why, bless me, it's all natural enough. I myself am out -here in the Solomon Isles through reading books. I'd never have met -Gabrielle, never heard of strangling shadows and that cursed Rajah Macka -if it hadn't been for Captain Marryat, Fenimore Cooper and Stevenson." - -The young apprentice began to brighten up considerably as he reflected -over the whole business. Everard's snores sounded quite musical. He even -began to think that if a terrible tragedy _had_ occurred and Gabrielle -was abducted and he was destined to go off and search for her across the -seas, it was not so dreadful as nothing happening at all. - -So he thanked God that he was in the Solomon Isles, living amongst -tattooed natives and strange old ex-sailormen who saw shadows and evil -enchantresses dodging about their bungalow verandahs or racing under the -moon-lit palms. - -And as he pondered and listened to the faint, far-off thunder of the -surf on the coral reefs off Felisi beach he heard the guttural voices of -the German sailors singing a chantey as their grey tramp-steamer went -out on the tide, bound for the Bismarck Archipelago. Old Everard was -still wheezing heavily, and at last Hillary too fell asleep to the sound -of that steady snore. - - - - -CHAPTER IX--THE HOMERIC SPIRIT - - -When Hillary awoke in the morning he found Everard in a most sober -condition. "Boy, thank God you're here; I'm down in the mouth. I've been -thinking." Then the old man looked wistfully at the apprentice and said: -"You can't go off to New Guinea and rescue my Gabrielle from that damned -villain on your own, can you?" - -"No, I don't suppose I can," responded the apprentice, as he sipped his -tea and eagerly drank in the old ex-sailor's words. He knew that Everard -was a man of the world and a seafarer, although he was such a fool in -his domestic affairs. He also knew that Everard knew more about hiring -schooners than he did. Indeed Hillary had found it a hard enough job to -secure the most menial berth on board the boats. So he felt that to get -a schooner to sail specially out of port on his behalf was a dubious -prospect, to say the least. - -"Look you here, boy, directly you're feeling fit go up to Parsons's bar -and see if you can get in with some of the shellbacks. They're the men -for us. Tell them you want to negotiate with a skipper who would go to -New Guinea, and don't forget to say that you've got a man behind you -who'll pay the necessary expenses for the whole business." - -"Bless you! How good of you!" replied Hillary, as he gripped the old -sailorman's hand, quite forgetting that he was Gabrielle's father and -was thinking of his daughter and not of Hillary's prospects. - -"Don't thank me, boy; it's my daughter, ain't it?" - -"Yes; but it's good of you to give me the chance to hire a schooner to -help get your daughter back again," said Hillary, as he realised the -exact position and all that the girl's future welfare meant to him. - -The old man took his hand and said: "You're a good lad, and I can see -that you're as much interested in my daughter as I am." - -"I am!" exclaimed Hillary fervently. Then at the old man's request he -put his cap on and went off to seek some kindred spirit, someone who -would help him to negotiate with a skipper who was likely to let his -schooner out on hire. It wanted some negotiating too! Skippers don't let -their ships out on hire every day. - -"I'll make for the grog shanty; that's the only likely spot where -something that no one expects to happen will happen," was his comment as -he walked off. - -Hillary seldom visited the grog shanty at Rokeville. Once or twice, as -the reader may recall, he had gone to the shanty after dusk just to hear -the sunburnt men from the seas sing their rollicking sea-chanteys. - -The German consul, Arm Von de Sixt's edict that native girls were not to -go near the grog shanties after dark was still being strictly ignored. -Only the night before old Parsons had waved his signal towel and -chuckled with delight at the bar door as the brown maids from the -mountains performed Tapriata and Siva dances under the moon-lit palms in -front of his secluded shanty. As everyone knows, this drew custom; and -the sights the sailormen saw--the wild dances and rhythmical swerves of -the girls--gripped their imaginations. Indeed the festivals outside -Parsons's grog bar were so well known that as far away as 'Frisco, -Callao and London sailors could be heard to remark after leaving some -music hall: "Pretty fair show, but nothing like the dancing brown girls -outside Parsons's grog bar in Bougainville!" - -As Hillary came within three hundred yards of the grog shanty he could -hear the faint halloas and chorus of oaths that mingled with the sounds -of drunken revelry in the shanty. Someone was playing an accordion that -accompanied some hoarse voice that roared forth: "White wings they never -grow weary." For a moment the young apprentice lingered beneath the -palms, then realising that he had the whole afternoon before him, he -turned away and went down to the beach. After walking about for some -time he managed to get a native to row him out to some of the schooners -that were lying at anchor in the bay. He went aboard two of them and -asked to see the mate or skipper; but, as luck would have it, they were -both ashore. - -"Where's she bound for?" he asked of a sailor who was holystoning the -schooner's deck. - -"Barnd fer 'Frisco," said the man, as he stared at Hillary, and then -asked him if he wanted a job. - -"Not on a boat that's going to 'Frisco," said Hillary, as he looked over -the side and beckoned the native to come alongside with the canoe. - -Then he went over to the tramp steamer that lay near the promontory, and -after a good deal of trouble managed to see the skipper, who, when he -found that Hillary wanted a job, roared out: "If yer don't git off this -b---- ship in two seconds I'll pitch yer off!" - -And so Hillary bowed his thanks and gracefully withdrew into his native -canoe. He had made up his mind to go back and visit the grog shanty. -"Perhaps I'll see some skipper there, or at least someone who knows the -way to get in with a captain who might sail for a price to New Guinea," -was his reflection. - -When he arrived once more on the beach off Rokeville he could hear the -sounds of revelry in Parsons's grog bar going strong. It was getting -near sunset, the busy drinking time. For the Solomon Island climate is -terribly hot and muggy at times. - -"I shall be glad to go into the bar and see men that laugh; it's better -than mooching about in company with my own reflections," thought -Hillary, as he walked up the grove of palm-trees that led to the beach -hotel. As he approached the entry to the rough wooden saloon he was -startled by hearing a mighty voice--a voice that sounded like the voice -of some Olympian god. It was the voice of some man who was singing, -someone gifted with a vibrant, melodious utterance. It was strangely -mellow, for distance softened the gigantic hoarse-throated rumbling till -it sounded peculiarly attractive, as though a woman sang in a man's -heart. - -As Hillary listened he felt confused. Where had he heard that voice -before? Then he strode beneath the two bread-fruit trees that stood just -in front of the shanty and, with strange eagerness, entered the little -doorway, anxious to see the one who sang so loud and inspired the -shellbacks to yell so vociferously. - -As the young apprentice came into the presence of that motley throng of -drinking seamen he stared with astonishment at the big figure of the man -who had just finished singing. Hillary had seen him before; there he -stood, the Homeric personality who had so rudely intruded when he had -been listening to Gabrielle's song by the lagoon. It was the huge -sailorman who had disturbed him by inquiring for the nearest Solomon -Island gin palace. - -Hillary almost forgot his troubles as he stared on the scene before him. -The big man was waiting for the chorus to cease before he proudly took -up the solo with his vibrant voice. Heaven knows why the apprentice -dubbed him "Ulysses" in his mind, for by his own account he was anything -but an example of the Homeric hero--that is, if his own accounts of his -faithlessness to his absent spouse, whoever she might be, were true. -There he stood, one muscular arm outstretched, his helmet hat tilted off -his fine brow, revealing his bronze curls, his eyes sentimentally lifted -to the low roof of the shanty. He looked like some forlorn, derelict -knight as, with one hand at his van-dyke beard, he began to roar forth -the fourth verse: - - "For I went down south for to see my Sal, - Singing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day. - For I'm off to Lousianna for to see my Susiannah, - Singing Polly-wolly-doodle all the way!" - -And all the while he made gallant signs to the two pretty Polynesian -girls who had rushed from the store hard by to see who sang so loudly -and well. At the close of each verse he placed his hand on his heart and -bowed to the girls in such a way that their awestruck eyes fairly shone -in the sudden glory of it all. Heaven knows what land and among what -people he had been reared in his youth, but it was certainly a bow that -would not have shamed an actor in any courtly love scene. The traders -and sunburnt shellbacks--a mixture of various nationalities, yellowish, -whitish, greenish and olive-hued men, decorated with a multitudinous -variety of whiskers and beards--stamped their sea-booted feet and -thumped their rum mugs till the shanty vibrated to their hilarious -appreciation. - -Suddenly Ulysses caught sight of Hillary. For a moment he stared at the -apprentice in surprise. Hillary became the cynosure of all eyes as the -shellbacks looked over their shoulders at him. "You! You here!" he -yelled. Then he strode forward and, bending himself with laughter, -struck Hillary on the back with his open hand, nearly fracturing his -collar bone. - -"How's the gal! By the heathen gods of these sun-boiled Solomon Isles, -she was a real bewt!" Saying this, he gave a massive wink, pushed his -antediluvian helmet hat on one side, stood upright till his head bashed -against the grog bar's roof and shouted: "Give the boy a drink. Hey -there, you son of a gorilla potman, bring us a _deep sea_ for two!" - -In a moment the bar-keeper disappeared to obey that mighty voice. -Bringing the drinks, he obsequiously placed them on the counter and -asked for the wherewithal. The onlooking shellbacks rubbed their eyes -and chuckled in their glee as Ulysses yelled: "Money! Damn yer cheek to -think I pay drink by drink!" Saying that, he brought his fist down with -such a crash on the bar that old Parsons without more hesitation ticked -off the drinks on his big account slate that hung behind the bar and -trembled in some fear. - -Hillary buried his nose in the cool liquor. He wanted a drink badly, but -not so much to quench his thirst as to drown his thoughts. - -No presence in the world could be more welcome to the young apprentice -than that of the big man standing amongst the motley crew of shellbacks. -Those men were all Hillary's opposites, so far as temperament goes, and -so all the more welcome to him in his sorrow. Nothing worried them. They -were the grand philosophers of Bougainville, for each night they summed -up the whole mystery of life and creation with an infallible certainty. - -The supreme personality inside that grog bar was the giant stranger who -had disturbed Gabrielle and Hillary in the forest and had now recognised -the apprentice. Hillary's new-found friend, for such he turned out to -be, had an individuality worth a thousand ordinary people. The very -expression of his face was infectious as his eyes roamed over the bar -and fathomed the weakness and strength of the faces round the room. Yes, -Ulysses was a judge; only one glance and he knew which man was likely to -stand a drink with the least argument. He had only been a visitor to the -bar for a few days when Hillary appeared on the scene, and yet he was -the acknowledged king of beachcomber-land. Parsons's bar echoed with -wild songs, laughter and impromptu oaths of glee as he sang. Neither -Hillary nor the shellbacks had ever heard or seen anything like him -before. And the tales he told! He'd been everywhere! He swallowed -half-a-pint of rum at one gulp. Then he took a large parchment chart -from his capacious inside pocket, unfolded it on the bar and made the -shellbacks and traders turn green with envy as he ran his huge -forefinger along the curves and lines of the latitudes and longitudes of -endless seas. He told of remote isles where pearls lay hidden that he -alone knew. Millions of them! Then he looked unblushingly into the faces -of those grizzly, sunburnt men as they stuck their goatee whiskers out -in astonishment and, bending over his map once more, ran his huge -forefinger up to the north-west, right up to Sumatra in the Malay -Archipelago, and switched off to the Loo-choo Isles in the Yellow Sea. -"Treasure hidden there," said he, giving a potent sidelong wink before -he ran his finger, bang! right across the wide Pacific Ocean down to the -Paumotu Group and onward south-west to the tropic of Capricorn. His -descriptive ability was marvellous: with upraised forefinger and -laughing eyes he described the weird inhabitants of remote uncharted -isles and the beauty of their native women. Even the astounded -Polynesian maids sighed when his countenance flushed in some rapturous -thought as he re-described the wondrous beauty of maids who dwelt on -those remote isles of the wine-dark seas. He hinted of tattooed queens -who had favoured his presence! He had ascended thrones! Discarded kings -had sat, and still sat, forlorn in their isolation, cursing their -heathen queens and the melancholy hour when Ulysses entered their -barbarian halls. Not _one_ Penelope but a score awaited _his_ return. - -"Well now! Who'd 'a' thought it!" was the solitary comment of the most -garrulous shellback to be found within a hundred miles south of the -line. That remark was followed by a critical glance at Ulysses' massive -frame, his rugged, handsome face, the virile moustache and -fierce-looking vandyke beard, to say nothing of the omniscient-looking -eyes that flatly challenged anyone who would dare doubt their owner's -veracity. Hillary took to him like a shot. He made up his mind to keep -him in sight or die in the attempt. The young apprentice felt that it -had been almost worth his while to have travelled the world if only to -run across that magnificent vagabond. "He's the man! He'll find Macka, -polish him off the earth and save Gabrielle. He'll hire a schooner if a -schooner's to be hired on this planet!" reflected Hillary, and he wasn't -far wrong in his swift summary of Ulysses' character. Then he took a -moderate sip of his rum, for he had laid a half-crown on the bar and -called for drinks, and Ulysses with inimitable grace had gazed -admiringly into the apprentice's eyes, pocketed the change and treated -him! This natural courtesy of the South Seas amused Hillary immensely. -To him it was a true act of brotherhood; in its liberality it vividly -illustrated the divine creed of "One-man-as-good-as-another." - -As the night wore on the shellbacks and traders began to roll off from -the precincts of the bar, some to their ships in the bay and some to -their native wives. As the last stragglers went out of the doorway and -the oil lamps began to burn low Ulysses lay down on the long settee. He -had taken up his abode in the shanty--never asked the bar-keeper's -permission, not he. He had simply taken possession of the bar by day and -the settee by night. Hillary, who had lurked by his side through the -whole evening, had quite thought to follow him home to his lodgings or -back to his ship, for though Ulysses told much of his past he was -extremely reticent about his present affairs, where he had come from or -where he was bound for. Hillary was disheartened to find that he was -stopping in the shanty for the night, but his need of that mighty -personage made him determine not to be outdone. - -A few old sea-dogs were still lurking about and arguing over their quart -pots, talking softly as they saw Ulysses settle himself for the night. -Hillary did not heed them, they were mostly muddled and not curious. -Going straight up to the big man, he said softly: "I say, I'd like to -speak to you outside for a moment, if you've no objection." - -It wanted a bit of pluck to make a bold bid to that huge adventurer. - -Ulysses had nicely settled his recumbent form and closed his eyes when -Hillary thus addressed him. For a moment the big face rested on the -settee pillow, then slowly the head turned, the unflinching eyes stared -hard at the young apprentice, the massive, curly head slowly lifted. Did -the young whipper-snapper have the cursed cheek to want his change back? -Such was the apparent thought that flashed through Ulysses' mind as his -eyes fixed themselves on Hillary. But in a moment he saw the earnest -expression in the young apprentice's face and with marvellous instinct -gathered that Hillary's request was worth granting. "Any money in it?" -he whispered in a thunderous undertone. For a moment Hillary looked -abashed and rubbed his smooth chin thoughtfully. It was the last thing -on earth he had expected to hear from that hero of the seas. - -"Maybe there's a lot of money in it," he quietly replied. That reply -acted like magic on Ulysses' weary limbs. In less than two minutes they -had passed outside the shanty. - -When they arrived outside the wooden South Sea pub the large, low yellow -moon lay on the horizon, staring across the wide Pacific. The scene -could not have been staged with better effect. The background of the -mountains in Bougainville, the tin roofs of the township, moonlight -falling on the sheltering palms and over the small doors of the huts, -gave an individual touch to the whole scene. The landscape looked like -some mighty oil-painting showing two men standing on a silent shore -staring out to sea at the full moon. Then the two figures, engaging in -deep conversation, once more began to walk to and fro. - -As Hillary walked up and down with Ulysses he told the man all that -troubled him, and begged his assistance in rescuing Gabrielle from the -hands of a kidnapper. - -"You don't mean that golden-haired girl that I caught yer with? The girl -I saw swinging on the banyan-tree when I first had the enormous pleasure -of spying on ye?" said Ulysses, as he towered over the apprentice till -Hillary's five feet eleven inches appeared quite diminutive. - -"Yes, that was Gabrielle, that's whom I'm talking about. She's missing! -Gone! Stolen! He's got her, a blasted heathen missionary! He'll take her -away to New Guinea and put her in his tambu harem in some devilish -coastal town! He will sacrifice her purity to his filthy desires! God in -heaven!" - -For a moment his companion stared at the flushed face of the youth, who -had waxed so grandiloquent as emotion got the better of him. Then he -said: - -"Are ye drunk, boy?" Then, without waiting for an answer, he smacked the -apprentice on the back and looked into his eyes. Then he gave a loud -guffaw that echoed to the hills and made Hillary look round in -apprehension. Next he swelled his chest, tugged his mighty moustachios -and said: "Don't ye worry, lad, I'm yer man!" - -Hillary was not wrong in his hasty summing up of that big man's -character. Ulysses had a large heart notwithstanding his own strange -confessions of far-off isles, discarded queens and melancholy kings. - -"Blow me soul, by the heart of God, you've got it bad; it's in love you -are," said he, as he laid his huge hand across his waistcoat, over his -vagabond heart. Then, continuing he said: "So this Rajah Macka's boss of -a plantation and owns a ship?" - -"That's so," ejaculated the apprentice. - -Ulysses immediately took from the folds of his red shirt a large -parchment-like scroll, presumably his mysterious chart, and then opening -it out at a spare page wrote down: "A b---- heathen Kanaka missionary -owns a ship, got plantations, and most probably in possession of money -too through being a black-birder, and it is now herein written down, -stated and agreed, between Samuel Bilbao and myself, that all the -aforesaid cash and goods are due to the aforesaid Samuel Bilbao, by -God;" And as the giant sailorman wrote on, he accompanied each word with -a musical chuckle. - -Hillary gazed at the man in incredulous wonder; but still, odd as it may -seem, he began to feel a vast confidence in Ulysses' ability for doing -anything that he set out to do. "Heavens, who ever saw such a human -phenomenon off the stage?" was his reflection as he realised that the -original being before him was certainly a master of his own actions. The -apprentice instinctively saw that his new-found friend was invaluable as -a leader in a forlorn hope, whereas a practical man who carefully -weighed all possibilities to a nicety would be a "dead horse" and a -bugbear to boot. - -"What kind of a maid is this glorious girl of yours?" said Samuel Bilbao -after a pause. - -"Why, she's as white a girl as ever lived; only the vilely suspicious -would think ill of her. I've never met a girl like her before!" - -"Ho! Ho!" roared the sailor, who had been mightily in love on more than -one occasion. Then, looking straight into the apprentice's face, he said -in a hushed, sympathetic voice: "That all ye got to say for the poor -girl?" Seeing how the wind blew, he at once became sympathetic. He too -had loved and sorrowed, he said; and then he spoke soothingly and, -patting the apprentice on the shoulder, said with tremendous solemnity: -"How sad! Tell me everything, lad." - -Hillary, who had imbibed rather liberally, became emotional, and after -going into many details about Gabrielle and her disappearance suddenly -blurted out: "She's a strange kind of girl too; she says she's haunted -by a shadow thing, a woman, I think, some sort of a ghost." - -Just for a moment Bilboa renewed his intense scrutiny of the -apprentice's face, then roared: "By God! Abducted by a Rajah, whipped -off to a tambu temple to be sacrificed at the altar of one by name Macka -Koo Raja--and she's haunted!" The big man roared the foregoing so loudly -that Hillary thought he would awaken the whole township! But still the -sailorman yelled on: "God damn it, youngster, I've cuddled queens and -princesses on a hundred heathen isles, but never has such a strange -story come out of my wooing." Then he added swiftly: "Cheer up! I've had -numerous abduction jobs both for and against: kings and queens have paid -me in pearl and gold for such things, and never yet did I fail in -finding a pretty maid's hiding-place or the weakness in a queen's -virtue! I tell ye this--your Rajah Macka's done for! I'm his man." -Saying this, he gave Hillary a quizzical look and continued: "You're -sure the girl's not stealing a march on ye? She didn't run off on the -abduction night in front of the Rajah, eh?" Before Hillary could give -his emphatic assurance in reply to this query the sailorman gave a huge -grin and said: "What's the dear old pa think of it all? Worried much? -Got cash?" Whereupon Hillary at once told Bilbao how old Everard had -promised to give anything up to a thousand pounds to anyone who would go -to New Guinea in search of the girl. - -The effect was magical: Bilbao's face flushed with rapturous thoughts; -he blew clouds of tobacco smoke from his lips and chuckled: "I'm bound -for New Guinea! Bound for a heathen, a Macka Rajah! Good old Macka--he's -mine! He's destined to meet one by name Samuel Bilbao. I'll find him! -I'll claim the girl too!" he added, as he nudged Hillary in the ribs and -winked. Following this sally, he gave the apprentice a tremendous thump -on the back and said: "Youngster, don't get down in the mug; come to -Parsons's parlour in the morning and we'll see what's best to be done to -secure the girl." - -Then he took the apprentice back into the grog bar and called for -drinks. "Git it down," said he, as Hillary hesitated over the fiery -liquor. And there for quite one hour the huge man told of his mighty -deeds far and near, and multiplied his credentials, so that Hillary -might not go off seeking someone else for the position which he, -Ulysses, knew he was especially suited for. - -Before Hillary departed for home Bilbao impressed upon him to be at the -grog bar on the following morning. - -Hillary could never remember how he got back to his lodgings that night. -All that he ever did know was that when he arrived in his small bedroom -he imagined that Koo Macka lay helpless on the floor before his window. -Mango Pango, and two natives who slept just by, and the landlady rushed -in in their night attire to see what was the matter, and found Hillary -singing, "O! O! for Rio Grande!" as he swayed a big war-club and smashed -an imaginary Rajah Macka's head into pulp. - -In the morning Hillary made a thousand apologies to his native landlady -and to pretty Mango Pango. Mango Pango graciously accepted each apology, -and grinned with delight to think that at last the young Englishman had -taken to drink, and that fun was going to begin as the craving -strengthened. - -As soon as Mango Pango had given Hillary his clean shirt and breakfast -he got ready and then once more left his diggings, bound for Parsons's -grog bar. When he arrived the shellbacks were very numerous, for a -schooner had just put into Bougainville, and the crews were standing -treat. - -Samuel Bilbao met the apprentice in his usual volcanic style. - -"Where's yer fiddle, youngster," said he, as though Hillary had come to -perform violin solos. - -"Damn it! Left it at yer lodgings?" Then he continued: "Why, bless me, -you ask me to help you find a Macka, and rescue a beautiful----" He -stopped short, thinking it would not do to let the bystanders know -everything, and continued: "Go and fetch your fiddle, boy." - -Hillary felt little inclination to play a fiddle, but there was -something about the personality of that man that told him that if he -asked a favour he expected it granted. - -He soon returned with his violin, and it was a sight worth seeing to -watch Samuel Bilbao's face as Hillary obediently performed the songs -that he asked him to play. And as Hillary played that strange man lifted -and moved his hands in rhythmic style, half closed his big-lidded eyes, -looking most sentimental, as he drank in the melody and huge sips of -rum. - -"Play that again! Bewtif-ool! You're a genius," he ejaculated, as the -shellbacks who stood round looked into one another's eyes in wonder to -see a man who had confessed to such a past almost weep over an English -song. - -All was going merrily as a marriage bell in heathen-land when one by -name Bill Bark appeared on the scene. He was a big gawk of a fellow, and -lived mostly by cadging drinks. Going up to Hillary as he stood in the -grog parlour playing his instrument, he deliberately knocked his bowing -arm upwards. - -"That's a silly joke," said the apprentice quietly. Then, as the -aggressor used several foul epithets, Hillary continued: "You're an -awful fool if you really think that your disgusting language is more -attractive to these men standing here than my violin playing." - -At this gracious compliment, paid to the listening shellbacks, traders -and the three pretty native girls, the rough audience blushed. It really -_was_ said so politely, so courteously, and reflected such credit on -their musical taste that one or two of them took a huge sip from their -glasses and bowed to Hillary. - -Bill Bark felt extremely wild at the laughter that followed that -invisible blush, and then once more knocked Hillary's bow-arm up, just -as he had begun to play again. - -"Why not be pleasant, friendly like?--though you're not much of a catch, -even to look at," said Hillary in quiet tones as he stopped playing once -more. - -"'Ain't 'e soft-o!" said Bill Bark, _sotto voce_, to three -boiled-looking sailormen who sat on tubs itching to see a fight. - -As for Ulysses, who was watching the whole proceeding quietly, his face -was a study. He had not travelled the South Seas for nothing; he saw -further ahead than all the brains of Bougainville put together. He was -peering steadfastly into Hillary's eyes. He seemed to be quite satisfied -with what he found there, for he gave a tremendous guffaw, smacked his -big knee and chuckled inwardly. He knew! Old Samuel Bilbao knew; "Knock -the ass's bow arm up again, Bill Bark! How dare he think your oaths are -worse than his damned fiddling!" - -Hillary noted the deep undertone of Ulysses's voice as he roared forth -that demand to the loafer, and the apprentice felt gratified to hear the -subtle note, for it told him that Ulysses, at least, knew that true -pluck is always humble. - -To Samuel Bilbao's immense delight, the loafer, Bill Bark, once more -knocked Hillary's bow arm up again. - -It seemed incredible! The audience in the grog bar had never seen -anything so sudden before--Bill Bark's two front teeth were missing! The -scene inside the shanty reminded one of an exhibition of statuary done -in marble and terra-cotta clays, so thunderstruck were they all. It was -the beards and whiskers that spoilt the statuesque effect. For who ever -saw marble statues with soft whiskers?--or smoke issuing from -black-teethed mouths that gripped short clay pipes? The shellbacks, -traders, Polynesian maids, indeed all had sprung to their feet and were -staring in astonishment at the crimson fluid that poured from Bill -Bark's wide-open, astonished mouth. - -Hillary was the only one who appeared calm. He was methodically placing -his violin carefully by the bar counter so that it should not get -damaged in the coming fray. He thought of Gabrielle, and cursed his -luck, as he slowly took off his coat. It seemed terrible to him that he -had to conform to the ways of a materialistic world when he believed -Gabrielle was a prisoner in a slave-ship on the high seas. So bitter -were his feelings that he could have picked his violin up before them -all and smashed it to smithereens on the bar, just to relieve his -feelings. - -Ulysses solemnly led the way as the whole company followed in glee to -see the fight between the apprentice and Bill Bark under the palms -outside the bar. At last the giant umpire tossed his antediluvian helmet -hat right over the highest bread-fruit tree and shouted: "Time, gents, -time!" Bill Bark lay stiff on his back and looked straight up at the -soft blue of the sky. And it was good to see the rapturous light in -Ulysses' eyes as he stood there pulling his vandyke beard, his -outstretched moustachios stiff with pride. It is certain that the -apprentice had successfully revealed to Bill Bark the force of one great -truth, a truth that no travelled man will deny: that often quiet-looking -young men in the South Seas have been found to be endowed with a -wonderful gift for fist repartee and a fine ability for getting their -own back and keeping their features intact. - -Had the apprentice accepted all the drink that was about after that -fight he would have undoubtedly died of alcoholic poisoning and gone out -of the story altogether. As it was, he seemed to have entered the realms -of enchantment. He played the fiddle as the shellbacks and beachcombers -danced. He had never seen such a strange lot of men dance together -before. They were certainly a mixed crew, and represented the -adventurous, rum-loving individuals of all nationalities. They blessed -Hillary's generous soul as he shouted: "Rum for six!" As they danced a -jig on the bar floor they looked like some peculiar human rainbow of -faded hues that had suddenly come out of the night of storm-stricken -seas. It wasn't so much their eyes and rum-coloured noses as their skins -that gave that peculiar impression. Yellow-skinned, tawny-skinned, -greenish, brownish and bilious, saffron-hued reprobates they were. Some -wore grizzled beards, some scarf-shaped beards knotted thickly at the -throat and tasselled at the ears; billy-goatee whiskers abounded--and -couldn't they dance too! - -"Tumpt-er-te-tumper-te tump-te tump!" the sea-boots went, as Hillary, -bunched up in the corner, fiddled away and the beards and caps tossed in -the dim light of the oil lamps. Then the chorus came: - - "Blow! blow! and damn yer eyes! - Haul the old gal by the leg! - And that's the way the money flies - When we're out with Joan and Meg!" - -And still they danced on, their chests and brawny arms visible, for they -had long since cast their coats aside, owing to the terrific heat. The -native men and women peeped through the open doorway in delighted -astonishment to watch the dancing sailormen with the tattoo on their -arms and chests. - -Sarahs, Betsy Janes and romantic maids of Shanghai and Tokio were deeply -engraved on their sunburnt skin: women they had loved and who had jilted -them. One old man danced mournfully, his chin bent forward as he -contemplated the pretty tattooed maid on his own chest and hummed in a -melancholy fashion as he thought of--what? The apprentice continued to -play, inspired by the shifting scene. Slowly the room became obscured as -though by a ghostly mist. Then a puff of wind came through the door and -blew three of the dancers away!--old beards, sea-boots, legs and -melancholy eyes suddenly crumpled up, all blown away! Even the big -substantial wooden bar faded and vanished like a dream! - -When the apprentice awoke an hour or two later he found that most of his -comrades slept. He took a deep drink from the water-jug, after which he -realised that he must have had a good deal more to drink than was good -for him. - - - - -CHAPTER X--THE WINE-DARK SEAS - - -On the evening of the day that followed Hillary's stand-up fight at the -shanty he went off with Samuel Bilbao to visit Gabrielle's father. - -"Must see the old man first, you know," said Ulysses, as he chuckled -over the immense possibilities that loomed before his all-embracing -vision. He saw money as well as wild adventure ahead: "A coastal native -town in New Guinea! A beautiful maiden stolen, hidden away, abducted by -a damned Macka Koo Rajah--and Samuel Bilbao hired to find her and pound -old Macka to dust--splendid!" he chuckled, as he walked on under the -palms, pulling his large viking-like moustachios. - -Hillary glanced at the big man's flushed, happy face and thanked God -that such hearts still existed, that men with Herculean frames longed to -do unheard-of things quite outside the ordinary business of life. - -Then, as Bilbao tugged his vandyke beard, chuckled and continued to roar -over his own thoughts, Hillary said: "Do be quiet; don't for heaven's -sake mention anything about your discarded queens and melancholy kings. -You know Everard has been an old sailor and he consequently knows what -men are." Then the apprentice added, in soft tones: "He might draw wrong -conclusions as to your character and not be willing to trust you, you -know." - -The big face expressed massive disgust that such an ignoramus of a youth -should dare advise such a one as he. - -Hillary only smiled at seeing that look. He had read Ulysses like a -book, and knew exactly how far to go. - -"So here's where the old man's put up," suddenly said Bilbao, as they -stopped. They had arrived outside Everard's bungalow and Hillary softly -opened the door. - -Old Everard struggled from his chair and immediately lit the oil lamp, -for it was nearly dark. - -"Well, boy, 'eard anything about my Gabby?" he mumbled, as he struck -matches, never looking behind him, since he thought that Hillary had -returned alone. Then, getting no reply, he turned round and looked -straight into Samuel Bilbao's eyes. He stared at the giant sailorman for -quite ten seconds, as though a vision had suddenly come before him. Then -he said: "You!" - -Bilbao stared also for ten seconds, then roared out: "By thunder, it's -you!" - -"Who?" echoed Hillary's lips, as he surveyed the two men and wondered -what next was going to happen. The two men, Bilbao and old Everard, had -gripped hands! - -It appeared that Samuel Bilbao had sailed as boatswain under Everard -when he had been chief mate of a full-rigged ship in the Australian -clipper line, about eleven years before. - -Hillary almost cursed that sudden recognition as the two men rambled on, -and Bilbao shook his fist, bent himself double with glee and took -monstrous nips of rum and whisky as he discussed everything, of the past -and future, but the vital matter in hand. - -But it turned out a good thing, for before the night grew old the big -sailor had lifted his hand to the roof and in a thunderous voice had -called all the tropic stars to witness that he would find Gabrielle and -scatter Rajah Koo Macka's dust to the four winds of heaven. He swore to -Everard and Hillary that he knew Macka (whether he really did know him -at that time was something that was never known for a certainty). - -"I know him, the old heathen kidnapper!" he roared, as Hillary and old -Everard stared at the massive face with its vikingesque moustache stuck -out like spears from the corner of his grim mouth. "Seen 'im off -Tai-o-hae five years ago, when he abducted two princesses--twins--from O -le Mopiu's royal seraglio!" - -It was marvellous the change of atmosphere Bilbao made in Gabrielle's -old home, as he thought over his plans, consulted his chart, ran his -finger down the degrees and murmured: "Easy as winking!" Indeed, he made -everything look so rosy that instead of Gabrielle's abduction being a -tragedy it appeared a blessing in disguise. - -And it can be truthfully recorded that though Samuel Bilbao held the -advance of two hundred pounds in gold and notes in his mighty palm, and -said that he didn't like taking money from an old pal, he really _meant_ -what he said. All the same, he gave a huge sigh of relief when he felt a -mass of gold coins and notes safe in his capacious pocket. But it must -again be admitted, in all fairness to Bilbao, that he could not go off -and hire a schooner for a voyage to the coast of New Guinea to search -for Gabrielle without some cash in hand. - -After that little business matter was settled to the satisfaction of -both parties, Bilbao looked at the old man and said: "Ah, pal Everard, -she was a beautiful maid, well worth the money, this Gabrielle of -yours." Then he continued: "I had great pleasure in meeting the girl, -and introduced myself to her as she sat swinging on a bough in the -forest not far from here: and didn't she sing to me! Lord! I think the -girl fell madly in love with my handsome face. I little dreamed that I -was being passionately wooed by my old shipmate's daughter." - -Everard at hearing this large contortion of the truth only looked -absently at the big man and said nothing. Then Ulysses said in a soft, -sympathetic voice: "Ah, pal Everard, I can easily imagine how ye loved -the gal, soothed her pretty face and made her love ye--eh, pal?" - -"I did! I did!" wailed the distracted old man, his wretched heart -quaking as he looked for a moment into Bilbao's keen blue eyes and -dropped his own in shame. - -Hillary, who had told Ulysses a good deal about Gabrielle's home life -while he was under the influence of about four whiskies that Ulysses -pressed upon him, gave his comrade a hasty pinch in the leg as he -wondered what Bilbao might say next. - -Ulysses only replied by a ponderous wink, right in front of Everard's -eyes too! But the ex-sailor was too far gone to notice that. It took a -good deal of persuasion to stop him from going on the voyage to New -Guinea himself, if they were successful in hiring a schooner. "You'd -better stay at home; the poor girl may return while we're away at sea, -and what would she say at missing her dear old father," said Bilbao -sympathetically. - -The big man looked at the apprentice and gave another wink, and said: -"We don't want no old pa with us, eh?" - -Hillary responded by a vacant look; then, seeing Ulysses's broad, -friendly smile, lifted his hand and smacked the giant on the back -uproariously. Alas! even the apprentice was under the influence of -drink. - -Gabrielle's father sat huddled in his arm-chair; his wooden leg shivered -pathetically as he mumbled: "So she's on the _Bird of Paradise_, my -daughter, my Gabby." - -As for Ulysses, when he heard the name of the ship he smacked his mighty -knees and roared out: "Ho! ho! for a bottle of rum! The _Bird of -Paradise_!" The adventurous sailorman had made all possible inquiries -about the aforesaid vessel when it sailed from the straits, etc., and -had calculated to a nicety when it would arrive in New Guinea. "There's -no time to lose, by heaven!" he thundered, as he swallowed his ninth -whisky and looked at the parlour clock. Then he shook Hillary, woke him -up with a start and said: "Come on, lad, let's put the old man to bed; -he's tired; it's the least we can do for him." - -Before Everard fell to the floor they both lifted him and placed him -comfortably on his settee. Drunk as the prematurely aged ex-sailor was, -he looked like some bedraggled apostle as he lay there on his couch, his -hands crossed, a smile on his lips, as though he still laughed to -himself over Ulysses' wild jokes. - -Then they both left the bungalow. If Hillary staggered slightly as he -gripped Bilbao's arm, and thought that the coco-palms were doing a -hushed step-dance on the moon-lit slopes of Bougainville, it must be -taken into account that he had to be sociable. He could not very well -stand like a mute as those reunited shipmates drank to the sprees of -other days and finished up in wild farewells and sanguine toasts to the -success of the venture they were engaged upon. As the apprentice softly -closed the front door of the bungalow Bilboa said, "Wait a tick," and -hurriedly returning into the parlour he picked up the whisky bottle and -swallowed the remaining contents. He excused himself before Hillary by -saying: "Ah! youngster, I had to drink once again to the success of our -venture and to the pretty eyes of that girl; we'll find her, don't you -fear." - -"I know we will," replied the apprentice, as he clutched the big man's -arm. - -As they stole along under the palms Bilbao's heart fairly bubbled with -mirth as he realised the possibilities of this new adventure. It would -take him out on the seas again! It was evident that his present quiet -life was palling upon him. No one knew why he was hiding from the arm of -the law in Bougainville, and no one cared. All that can positively be -stated here is that his heart was bursting to escape from the rough -settlement where Germans drank lager and beach combers slept between -their drinks. Such happiness was too much for him. - -"Splendid!" he reiterated, as he brought his open hand down on Hillary's -back. But Hillary cared not; his heart sang within him like a bird: -whisky and his comrade's mighty belief in the success of all that they -might undertake had made him entirely careless of the moment. "Go it, -boy!" said Ulysses to the young apprentice, rattling the money in his -capacious pocket, and Hillary joined lustily in the rollicking chorus of -some Spanish chantey. - -When they eventually arrived outside Hillary's lodgings Samuel Bilbao -swore that _he_ lived there. And Hillary? Well, he was so confused that -he obsequiously followed Ulysses in at that worthy's kind invitation. -And Mango Pango lay on her little bed-mat in the outhouse and could not -believe her ears that night, as she mumbled to herself: "Surely not -nicer Hill-eary shouting wilder song in ze middle night, up dere in his -bedrooms?" And then the astounded Mango Pango heard no more, for Ulysses -was comfortably fast asleep in Hillary's bed--while the apprentice slept -on the floor. - -In the morning Hillary's landlady fairly gasped to see so big and so -handsome a man in her quiet young lodger's company. And as for pretty -Mango Pango, she opened her eyes and stared at Ulysses as though God sat -there in front of her. And when Ulysses swallowed a quart of boiling tea -and then sat her on his massive lap, her eyes shone like diamonds. -Though Hillary's head felt a bit heavy after the preceding night's -libations he could not help smiling as Samuel Bilbao kissed the -Polynesian maid's dusky ear and whispered pretty things to her. And was -Mango Pango abashed? Not in the least. It was very evident that Samuel -Bilbao was smitten with that dusky maid's charms. - -But all these recorded things are small enough compared with the great -venture that they were entering upon. Even Ulysses realised that time -was valuable and that many difficulties might beset their path before -they could hire a schooner and keep their promise to Everard. And more, -the young apprentice quickly gave Bilbao a hint that they'd better be -off, and that Mango Pango's charms could wait till a later date. - -That same day Ulysses went down to the beach and tried to get round all -the schooners' skippers off Bougainville. But it turned out that none -was willing to accept the fee Bilbao offered for the hire of a schooner, -or to take him as passenger to the coast of New Guinea. - -Just as Hillary and his comrade were getting dubious about their chances -they heard that a schooner, the _Sea Foam_, was about to sail for New -Britain and then on to Dutch New Guinea. In a moment Bilbao had hired a -boat and was rowed out to the _Sea Foam_, which lay a quarter of a mile -off, by the barrier reefs. Bilbao at once went aboard and interviewed -the skipper, and found that he was a mean man and wanted more money than -Ulysses possessed to alter his course or take Ulysses for a passage at -all. - -When Bilbao returned to Parsons's grog bar, where he had arranged to -meet Hillary, he looked worried. It was evident to the young apprentice -that he had entered heart and soul into the whole business. The fact was -that he was anxious to clear out of Bougainville, and so the scheme in -hand offered him all that he wanted: money, a change, and the forlorn -hope and excitement that were meat and drink to his volcanic -temperament. - -"Don't despair, boy," said he to Hillary, "Bilbao never caved in yet -while the world went round the sun." Then they both went back to -Hillary's lodgings. Ulysses seemed deep in thought as they passed under -the palms. Then he said to Hillary: "The chief mate of that _Sea Foam_ -is an old pal of mine." - -"Is he?" said the apprentice, wondering what Ulysses was driving at. - -"Yes, he is," responded Bilbao. Then he added: "I'm going out to see -that mate, and I wouldn't wonder if the _Sea Foam_ doesn't sail -to-morrow night with you and me on board." - -"Really?" said Hillary. - -"Yes, really!" responded Bilbao, as he told his surprised comrade to get -his traps packed ready to sail the next night. - -"But didn't you say the skipper wanted eight hundred pounds?" said -Hillary after a pause. - -"We don't get all we want in this world," replied Ulysses, as he gave a -massive wink. - -When they eventually got back to Hillary's lodgings, the apprentice was -so sanguine over Bilbao's hopeful outlook that he too felt quite -cheerful. He opened his sea-chest and showed his big comrade Gabrielle's -photograph. Ulysses stared at the face, smacked Hillary on the back, -then kissed the photograph gallantly. - -After that Hillary sat down in his room and fell into deep reflections -over the mysterious disappearance of Gabrielle. Then he played his -violin so as to soothe his own feelings. He was quite undisturbed by -Bilbao. For that worthy had sneaked off outside beneath the palms so -that he could woo pretty Mango Pango. Hillary heard shrieks of laughter -coming from the dusky maiden's lips as Ulysses whispered heaven only -knows what pretty things into her ears. Anyhow, Mango Pango fell -desperately in love with Samuel Bilbao. And when he and Hillary left -Mango Pango's kitchen that evening the young apprentice noticed that his -comrade was full of glee over some new scheme that had originated in his -versatile brain. - -Mango Pango's eyes shone like fire as she waved her hand to Bilbao and -behaved as though she'd known the giant sailorman since her earliest -childhood. - -"She's mine!--mine for ever!" chuckled Bilbao. - -Hillary took little notice of Bilbao's wild utterances, but it was not -long before he discovered that there was a good deal of meaning in all -that Ulysses said, and also in the humour of his chuckles. - -It would be a mass of wearying detail to tell all that occurred before -Ulysses secured the _Sea Foam_ so that they might sail straight for the -coast of New Guinea without the charge for her hire unduly diminishing -his private exchequer. It is sufficient to say that Ulysses made the -very best of his old friendship with the chief mate of the _Sea Foam_. -And perhaps it will enlighten the reader a good deal to know that the -chief mate came ashore that night and had a long private conversation -and multitudinous mixed drinks with Bilbao in Parsons's grog bar. -Hillary stood aside as the two men spoke in very low undertones and -Ulysses poked the mate in the ribs and showed him a handful of gold. -Then the mate began to get jovial and gave Ulysses a receipt for several -of the golden coins. Of course it was none of Hillary's business as to -_how_ the _Sea Foam_ was to be hired. Ulysses had taken that part of the -job on, and as an innocent girl's very life was at stake, what might -appear to be a shady transaction in getting hold of the schooner was -only a necessary part of the day's work, so far as Ulysses was -concerned. He chuckled inwardly to see the mate's delight over the bribe -he'd given him. But his success with the mate of the _Sea Foam_ was as -nothing when he discovered that the _Sea Foam's_ skipper was a terrible -drunkard; and to make things easier still the skipper himself came into -that very bar and, seeing Ulysses flush of cash, swallowed several good -strong nips of rum at his expense. - -"No, never!" said Skipper Long John (for such was the _Sea Foam_ -captain's name), as good old Samuel Bilbao spun his mighty yarns, -telling of the wondrous deeds in his seafaring career. Still the skipper -continued to drink, so that when at last he fell down on the floor of -Parsons's saloon bar after drinking his nineteenth rum no one was -surprised. What may have been the surprising matter of the whole -business was this: That _same_ skipper was arrested that _same_ night -for using bad language and insulting two Polynesian girls on the beach! -No one _saw_ the girls who had been so grossly insulted; all that was -known about the matter was that the skipper was seen staggering about -the beach that night, trying to hire some natives to paddle him out to -his schooner, when he was suddenly seized from behind by two -Herculean-framed members of the native police and taken off to the -Bougainville _calaboose_ (jail). It was rumoured long after that he was -fined fifty dollars or two weeks' solitary confinement. How the poor old -skipper took his hard luck is not known. Anyway, one can rest assured -that he never dreamed that Samuel Bilbao knew the head of the native -police force in Rokeville, and that whilst he languished in jail that -worthy chuckled with delight over the success of his scheme; and the -head of the native police was mightily pleased with the bribe he had -received from Samuel Bilbao! So was the schooner secured. - -It may seem wonderful how the thing was done. But the civil authorities -in those parts and the owners in Sydney can vouch for it that the _Sea -Foam_, with Samuel Bilbao on board as captain, sailed out of -Bougainville harbour at midnight on 10th February, and no one knew for -what port she had sailed. - -Hillary half wondered if he was in the throes of some marvellous dream -as he stood on the _Sea Foam's_ deck just before she sailed. Ulysses was -walking about the deck shouting orders to his willing crew. And the crew -were singing their chanteys cheerfully as they thought over the -conviviality of their new skipper, who had so generously primed them up -with the best Jamaica rum. Not one tear was shed when they heard that -their late skipper, Long John, had broken his leg and was lying helpless -in the tin-roofed hospital at Silbar, in Bougainville. For such was the -sad news Ulysses imparted when he had mustered them on deck and told -them that he and the chief mate had orders to sail at once. There was -not the slightest need to tell them verbally that he was henceforth -their captain. The old boatswain saw the imperative command of those -eyes and saluted the new skipper, and every man on board instinctively -straightened his backbone. In a moment Ulysses had cast off his faded -coat and pants and old boots. None wondered when he appeared on deck in -the late captain's best sea-going clothes, and on his head the -brass-bound, badged peak-cap that he had found in the skipper's large -sea-chest. Everything went well. The south-west trades were blowing -steadily; no night could be more favourable for setting sail and -clearing the harbour. "Set to! Haul the anchor up!" he roared. - -When Hillary heard the rattling of the chain and saw the men aloft -fisting the sail he rubbed his eyes. "It's another hopeless dream," he -said. - -Ulysses all this time was leaning over the gangway, peering down into -the gloom, as he tugged at a rope. And as Hillary watched he saw that he -was pulling something up that dangled in space; he had distinctly heard -a musical voice that he was astonished to recognise. "Hold hard! Gently -there, you son of a gun!" yelled Ulysses, as the deck-hands and the -boatswain stood by grinning from ear to ear. And still three of the crew -and Ulysses hauled carefully at the taut tackle, as they repeatedly -looked over the vessel's side. "God damn it, slew her up! Mind her -starboard leg! Over! Over there! Right-o! Up she comes! Gently, lads; -gently does the trick! Let go!" - -"God in heaven!" gasped Hillary, for out of the basket hauled up from -the outrigger canoe that had just arrived alongside, plomp! down on the -deck jumped pretty Mango Pango! - -Hillary did not dream. There she stood, her pearly teeth visible by the -light of the oil lamp in the gangway, her eyes sparkling as she laughed -with glee, like some happy child. Ulysses had persuaded her to bolt from -her mistress's kitchen and accompany him on that voyage out to New -Guinea. - -"Well, I'm blest! He can do anything he undertakes," said Hillary to -himself, as he realised why Bilbao had chuckled so much when the two of -them had last said good-bye to Mango Pango. - -Before the moon was well up the _Sea Foam_ had sailed, disappearing -silently out of Bougainville harbour, bound for the great unknown, so -far as the crew were concerned. Not a soul aboard the _Sea Foam_ slept -that night. When everything was snug aloft, and they were tacking before -a steady breeze for the coral seas, Ulysses called all hands aft and -served out rum. Several of the crew were Britishers, three were Kanakas, -one a Jap and the other a nondescript nigger. The crew wondered what was -going to happen next when they saw Ulysses at the cuddy table and Mango -Pango installed at the head. And they too joined in the songs and -laughter, as the glasses clinked and the late skipper's champagne -disappeared. It was only the mate who did not seem to appreciate the -wild hilarity on board. He was a bilious-looking fellow and looked -terribly nervous as Ulysses roared at the top of his voice. The mate had -already regretted his share in the scheme that had cast his late skipper -into jail and installed Ulysses in his stead. He was unable to persuade -himself that he would be acquitted by any jury when they learnt that he -had sailed under the jovial orders of Captain Samuel Bilbao. Bilbao had -smacked him on the back and sworn that everything would be all right. -"You've nothing to worry about; all you've got to do is to say that I -came aboard this ship and proved my legitimate right to install myself -as the new skipper." Saying this, Ulysses tried to ease the mate's mind -by pulling from his pocket the late skipper's pocket-book and papers, -also a note-of-hand that was presumably written in the late skipper's -handwriting. This note stated that the care of the _Sea Foam_ was to be -given over to Captain Samuel Bilbao, who had instructions to sail at -once. Such was the whole scheme, so far as Hillary could make it out. -Anyway, though the mate became gloomy and sallow-looking as the days -went by, Ulysses got redder in the face and even perceptibly fatter. It -would have pleased the devoutest hearts could they have seen the modest -decorum of Mango Pango's private cabin on the cuddy's port side. Ulysses -had made the cabin-boy fix it up in quite artistic style. A little -German bronze mirror swung to and fro by the small port-hole, pictures -of Biblical subjects decorated the low roof and walls, and all the -niceties that a maid might require were to be found in the quickly -extemporised apartment. - -It must be admitted that the first few days were monotonous and quite -unromantic. For a bit of a wind came up and made the _Sea Foam_ heave -and lurch. This instability caused poor Mango Pango suddenly to rush -from her chamber and groan with anguish as she knelt by the port-side -scuppers. She was terribly seasick. Ulysses would give a ponderous, -sympathetic wink as she rushed back to her bunk and closed the door of -her cabin. Then the little Papuan cabin-boy, Tombo Nuvolo, would stand -sentinel just by the saloon port-hole to see that no one quizzed or came -near the modest maiden's abode. But Mango Pango soon recovered from her -illness, and attired in her pretty blue robe, scarlet and yellow ribbon -in her mass of coral-dyed hair, came out on deck to bask in the hot -sunshine. - -When Hillary sat down by her side and told her that the _Sea Foam_ was -bound for New Guinea, and that Ulysses and he were going in search of -Gabrielle Everard, she opened her pretty eyes and mouth in unbounded -astonishment and said: "Awaie!--Wearly! Going in searcher of poor -Gabberlel who ams in New Ginner! Never!" And then, while she lifted her -hands and uttered her quaint Samoan exclamations (she was born in Apia, -Samoa) Hillary told her as much about the reason of the voyage and of -all they had heard about Rajah Macka as he thought advisable. - -Mango Pango was a real blessing to the apprentice; she was so full of -childish vivacity, song and laughter that she dispelled his gloomy -thoughts and made him quite cheerful at times. "Thank heaven that she -was fool enough to be persuaded to come on this extraordinary venture," -thought Hillary, as the girl performed a native step-dance while he -fiddled, and didn't appear to trouble about her position in the least. -Samuel Bilbao would stand by, his mighty viking moustachios rippling to -the sea-breeze as he sang some romantic strain and gazed admiringly on -the dancing Mango Pango, who revelled in his praise. Heaven knows what -Bilbao's alleged harem of island Penelopes would have thought could they -have seen their absent Ulyssess' massive gallantry and the glance of his -eyes as Mango danced by the galley amidships. It is true that several of -the sailors made eyes at Mango Pango when Ulysses was having his -afternoon nap in the late captain's cosy bunk. And it must be confessed -that she didn't seem to take the sailors' advances as though she thought -them amiss. But still, she behaved with considerable propriety, and only -very slyly blew surreptitious kisses back to the aged bottle-nosed -boatswain, Jonathan Snooks, who looked at the dusky maid and said more -with his eyes than he should have done, considering that he had a wife -in Shanghai and two more in 'Frisco! - -What a voyage it was! Hillary thought of England, of his home. "What -would the mater, the governor, my sisters and Uncle William think could -they see me sailing across the coral seas to rescue a white girl from -the heathen temple of a Papuan Rajah?" He would incline his eyes from -the sky-line and look back on the deck of the _Sea Foam_ to convince -himself of the reality of it all. - -"Don't stand there mooching about with that mournful look on yer ugly -mug!" yelled Samuel Bilbao, as he stood there, nearly seven feet high, -watching Mango Pango's five feet five inches dancing exquisitely beneath -the shaded awning that he'd ordered to be rigged up by the cuddy's -private deck. Then he yelled for the cook, demanding that worthy's -presence aft to play the accordion and make up the _Sea Foam's_ scratch -orchestra for a song and dance. Ulysses began to play his bone clappers -(he was a crack hand at the clappers). And it was a sight worth seeing -as the crew stood obediently in a semi-circle, opened their bearded -mouths and exercised their big, hoarse-throated voices to the full -extent as they all roared the chorus of old Malayan sea-chanteys till -far into the night. And if the pretty Samoan maid, Mango Pango, couldn't -dance like a sea-faery, or mermaid, on the _Sea Foam's_ deck, under the -full brilliance of the tropic moon, then no one on the seas ever will be -able to do so. - -Even the remorseful, bilious chief mate opened his mouth, mumbling a -belated melody when Ulysses put forth his long arm and conducted the -chorus of-- - - "For I went down South for to see my Sal, - Singing Polly-wolly-doodle all the way." - -Then he inclined his massive, curly head and, gazing sideways into Mango -Pango's delighted eyes, he continued bellowing forth in such tones that -the startled sea-birds far out of the night gave a frightened wail: - - "Fare thee well, fare thee well, - Fare thee well, my Faery Fay; - For I'm off to Lousianna for to see my Susiannah, - Singing Polly-wolly-doodle all the way!" - -So did Samuel Bilbao pass his spare time on board the _Sea Foam_. There -were only one or two cases of insubordination amongst the crew. Ulysses -discovered that they'd had several stand-up fights on grog nights. And -he was in a fearful rage when he heard of it. For if he had one -weakness, it was his mad love of being umpire at a stand-up fight. - -Excitement did not always prevail on the _Sea Foam_; sometimes the -atmosphere became quite subdued. Hillary would sit for hours dreaming of -Gabrielle, Mango Pango dreaming of her late mistress and Ulysses -presumably thinking about his melancholy heathen kings and forlorn -queens. The weather became terrifically hot. Even the crew became -subdued in the heat of that tropic sea. It was only when the stars came -out and a tiny breath of wind swept across the calm sea that things -began to liven up on board. The sound of a faint, far-off song of -England would come from the forecastle. Then Bully Beef, the boatswain's -pet dog, would look through the scuppers and bark like a fiend at the -mirrored stars that twinkled in the ocean as the _Sea Foam_ plopped and -the rigging wailed. It was on such nights that Hillary, Mango and Bilbao -would sit together and talk or sing. - -One night as the sun was sinking and throwing magic colours over the -western sky-line, and the hot winds flapped the sails, making a far-away -musical clamour, Hillary sat by the cuddy door reading poems to Ulysses -and Mango Pango. As the apprentice read out Byron's _Don Juan_, Ulysses -stamped his mighty feet for an encore. Then he read them passages from -_The Corsair_, till Samuel Bilbao, with hand arched over his blue eyes, -fell into a poetic mood, as Hillary's musical voice rippled off: - - "She rose, she sprung, she clung to his embrace - Till his heart heaved beneath her hidden face, - He dared not raise to his that deep-blue eye." - -And when he read out the description of Medora and Conrad's sad -farewell-- - - "Her long fair hair lay floating o'er his arms - In all the wildness of dishevell'd charms"-- - -Ulysses almost wept. Hillary seemed to draw the romance of the sea out -of those sparkling stanzas. - -"Wish we had the cove who wrote those things on this venture," said -Bilbao; then he added: "Is it all true? Who wrote 'em?" - -"It's all written by Byron; and it's as true as gospel!" - -"Byron? Is that the cove's name? I wish we had him here; he and I would -hit it well, I know," muttered Ulysses. Then he leaned forward and sang -a song to Mango Pango's pretty eyes, as the youth read on. It was a -strange sight to see that romantic swashbuckler of the seas so -interested in all that Hillary read, and to hear his critical comments. -The highly coloured, rebellions poetry, written mostly by anaemic youth, -did not appeal to Samuel Bilbao at all. - -To him adventures came as a matter of course. To be on that vessel bound -for New Guinea to rescue a maid in distress did not excite his emotions -unduly; it was all in the day's work. Hillary often noticed this fact -about Bilbao. The apprentice was astonished at the calm way he spoke of -rescuing Gabrielle from the heathen's clutches; of killing Macka and -sending his bleached skull, carefully packed up, to old Everard in -Bougainville, as a substantial proof that he'd killed the man and -rescued the daughter, and so had fulfilled the contract according to -terms. - -Hillary, as time went on, was inclined to be nervous and impatient, and -Mango Pango became extremely superstitious and swore that every shadow -was a ghost. As for Ulysses, he roared with laughter about Solomon -Island shadows, and when Mango spoke about such things he told her she -was "potty." It may have been Bilbao's liberality with the cases of -champagne that were found down in the lazaret that upset Hillary's -nervous system. And if he did take a little more than was good for him -he was to be excused, for the weather was terribly muggy and hot at -times. Anyhow, Bilbao often cheered him up when he was down in the -mouth. - -"Don't get down in the mug, boy; we're making headway quick enough. The -Rajah and his damned ship are not so far ahead. We'll be in New Guinea -before him yet." - -But Hillary knew that Ulysses did not control the winds of heaven. And -yet at times it seemed to him that these same winds were blowing in -perfect sympathy with his wishes as the _Sea Foam_ went racing before -the steady breeze. - -On the evening of the eighth day out from Bougainville a typhoon blew -the _Sea Foam_ leagues out of her course to the north-west. Ulysses -roared forth his oaths as only _he_ could roar, while the crew slashed -away at the tackle, endeavouring to relieve the thunderous flappings of -the torn sails. Two boats were washed away. The boatswain nearly wept -when the huge sea came and washed Bully Beef, his pet dog, overboard. - -"Lower the only boat we've got left to save your b---- dog," roared -Bilbao, as he stood on deck, his vandyke beard and moustache stiff, and -rippling to port as the wind struck him and mountainous seas rose level -with the bulwark side to windward. The chief mate, gazing aloft with -sunken, socket-like eyes, seemed almost pleased with the idea that the -_Sea Foam_ might any moment turn turtle and so cut short his eternal -fear about the jury's verdict if ever his duplicity got him into the -clutches of the law. He was slowly fading to a shadow through all the -worry that Bilbao had brought on to his trembling shoulders. Even at -that early date a decided looseness in his brass-bound reefer packet was -noticeable, clearly indicating the shrinkage of his once plump form. - -Mango Pango, hearing the seas beating against the schooner's side, -looked through the cuddy's port-hole, and seeing the wild confusion, as -the crew slashed at the wreckage aloft while the schooner heeled over, -cried aloud: "Awaie! Awaie! O tellible _matagai_ (storm)! O Bilbalos, -saver poor Mango Pango!" - -"Don't cry, Mango, it's all right now," said Hillary, who had just crept -into the cuddy from the deck, for he too had been taking a hand in the -desperate work of that buffeted crew. In half-an-hour every man on board -was thanking his lucky stars that the _Sea Foam_ was still plunging -along on her keel. Her storm-sails had been set and the taut jib-sails -were just keeping her steady with head on to the seas after the first -great onslaught of the elements. Though the wind had blown across the -heavens with inconceivable velocity, not a cloud had smudged the face of -the sky. - -An hour before dawn the typhoon had quite blown itself out. Only the -universal heave and tumble of the ocean swell told of the tremendous -buffeting an hour before. The moon was sinking to the south-west. -Ulysses, Hillary and the melancholy mate stood on the poop. - -"Glad that blow's over," said Samuel Bilbao, as the mate's obsequious -voice echoed his own thankfulness. Then they all stared seaward, for the -look-out man on the forecastle head roared out: "Land on the starboard -bow!" That cry caused tremendous consternation amongst all on board. It -was evident that the _Sea Foam_ had got many leagues out of her course. -The mate put it down to the typhoon, and swore that it wasn't the fault -of his navigation. Anyway, Ulysses gave him the benefit of the doubt. -Even Mango Pango stood amidships on deck with the crew as they all -huddled together and stared at the foam-flecked reefs of some strange -isle that loomed up about a mile away to the south-south-west. - -"What isle's that, for God's sake?" said Bilbao, as he got his chart -out. For he had quite thought that he was far away from any islands. - -"Can't make its reckoning; must be some small island off the Admiralty -Group," said the mate in a hollow voice, as he leaned over Bilbao's arm -and stared at the chart. Half-an-hour after that all hands stood by the -anchor, for the _Sea Foam_ was plunging dead on for the mighty burst of -spray that rose high over the barrier reefs. Then they once more stared -in surprise, for quite visible to the naked eye lay the wreck of a ship, -a steamer, on the reefs, over which the thundering seas were still -breaking. It was easy enough to see that she wasn't lying calmly at -anchor, because of the great white-ridged line of curling breakers that -rose and went right over her listed decks. - -"It's some tramp steamer run ashore," said the mate in a hollow, -sepulchral voice; "a Dutch or a German boat, I think," he added, as he -looked through the telescope. - -An hour after Bilbao shouted: "Stand by! Let go!" and in a few moments -the _Sea Foam_ swung safely at anchor in a few fathoms of water to the -north-west of the strange isle. - -Hillary looked mournful enough as he thought of the delay. - -"Don't you worry, it's all right; besides, there's sure to be a dead -calm after that blow last night, and we may just as well lie here as -anywhere else, eh?" said Bilbao as he rubbed his hands with delight. For -his all-embracing mind had already conjured up visions of that wreck -being possibly crammed up to the hatches with chests full of gold and a -valuable cargo of pearls. All day long the _Sea Foam_ lay off the -island, as Ulysses stared through his telescope to see if he could -discover signs of life on the derelict, or on the island. He wasn't -taking any risks by going ashore, or going on that wreck before he was -quite certain that no one was about. He knew it was quite possible that -the original skipper of the _Sea Foam_ had been released from the -_calaboose_ by the German consulate, and that he and the missing _Sea -Foam_ were already being followed up by the skipper in another hired -schooner. - -The sallow mate clutched Ulysses's arm and nearly dropped with fear as -he too looked through the telescope. Then he wailed: "You know, Captain -Bilbao, they might be after us and would just as likely be there on that -island in wait, knowing what you are." - -Ulysses only responded by shouting the irrelevant lines of some -sea-chantey. Then he said, as he stared once more through the glass: -"Must have all gone away in the ship's boats. There's no one aboard that -wreck, I'll swear." His eyes brightened over his prospects. - -Then he smacked Hillary on the back and shouted: "Don't be downhearted! -I'm damned if we haven't anchored off a treasure-trove wreck! You and -yer pretty Gabrielle will be able to keep one of the finest seraglios in -the South Seas if all goes well." - -Hillary couldn't help smiling at the big man's levity as he too looked -towards the derelict and watched the grandly picturesque sight of the -curling breakers beating against the hulk. - -Every now and again, as dawn stole over the seas, they could hear the -long, low swelling roar and thunder as a big swell collided with the -far-off barrier reefs. - -"P'r'aps it's the _Bird of Paradise_ run ashore, and cursed Macka's on -that isle with Gabrielle, hidden in those palms," was the thought that -struck Hillary. He was certainly impressionable, and if there was a -peculiar construction to be placed on a commonplace incident, Hillary -was just the person to do it. Even he realised the foolishness of his -thoughts, for the wreck was that of a steamer, not a sailing ship. -Samuel Bilbao got terribly impatient; the long tropic day seemed -endless. He was awaiting the friendly dusk of evening before he lowered -the boat and went forth to overhaul the wreck. - -A quarter of an hour after sunset a boat left the _Sea Foam_. In it were -Ulysses, the mate, two sailors and Hillary. After half-an-hour's hard -rowing they softly beached on the silver sand of the isle, just where -the wreck lay. - -"_Salier!_ A German steamer!" whispered the mate in subdued, frightened -tone, as he slowly made out the big black letters on the grey-painted -stern. Then the five of them softly walked round the sands on the -shoreward side, where the sprays and seas would no longer drench them. -All was perfectly quiet on the shore; only the noise of the incoming sea -swell and the soughing of the high winds in the belt of mangoes and -coco-palms disturbed the silence. - -The derelict lay right over, her deck like a wooden wall on the -shoreward side. In a moment Ulysses, the mate and Hillary had clambered -over the reefs and climbed over the listed bulwarks. There was something -uncanny about the silence of the mouldy-smelling saloon as the three of -them crept into it and climbed along the listed floor. Ulysses went -about his job as though he had done little else all his life than search -wrecks on uncharted isles in the South Seas. Flash! flash! went his -lantern as he went down into the lazaret hold and began to peer into all -the likely places for treasure. - -"What's that, O Maker of the Universe?" wailed the mate, as he nearly -fainted and fell forward so abruptly that he almost knocked Hillary off -his feet. - -"What's what?" said Samuel Bilbao, as he flashed his lantern in the -direction of the mate's pointing finger. "Why, it's a derned old tom -cat!" said Ulysses as he flashed his bull's-eye lantern on a monster -fluffy black cat. It looked at them all with its green, flashing eyes -that had so frightened the mate and yawned! It was the ship's cat. There -it lay, as plump as might be, and all round it were the bones of mice -and rats that had evidently made the beast decide to stop on its old -ship in preference to going ashore to catch the fierce, sharp-beaked -cockatoos that swarmed on the isle. - -As soon as the mate had taken a pull at his brass whisky flask and -recovered his self-possession they continued their search. Bilbao went -down into the main hold. Hillary and the mate held the taut rope as he -swung himself down, down into those inky depths. After a deal of hunting -and swearing Ulysses yelled out: "Haul me up!" In a few moments his -curly head appeared above the rim of the hatchway. Then he uttered a -tremendous oath that harmonised with the look of disgust on his face. He -had discovered that someone had been there before them and had evidently -searched the hulk in a most drastic fashion, for they had emptied the -hold and had cleared off almost every movable article of value. All -Ulysses managed to find was one case of Bass's pale ale, a pair of the -late skipper's sea-boots and a few mouldy articles of clothing under the -bunks in the forecastle. - -"By thunder, let's clear out of this!" said Ulysses as he looked into -the eyes of the sallow mate and breathed his disappointment. Samuel -Bilbao had really thought that at last he'd come across a prize. It was -only natural he should think that a ship sailing across the South Seas -should have some kind of valuable cargo on board. So many times had he -sat in grog shanties and listened to wonderful tales told by old sailors -who had found "treasure troves" lying about on the reefs of uncharted -isles of the Southern Seas. - -"Blimey! waiting all day long to search a bloomin' wryck hon an hiland, -and only faund a five-shilling case of Bass's ale--and sour at that--and -a bob's worth of old clothes," groaned the Cockney boatswain, as he -expectorated viciously over the mate's head. They were standing on the -shore again, almost ankle-deep in the shining coral sands. Bilbao and -the two sailors who had watched on the shore while the search was on -were looking up at the rigging, and the huge listed funnel when they -received a shock. - -"God in heaven, what's that!" said the mate so suddenly that everyone -instinctively turned to make a bolt from some unspeakable horror. - -Even Ulysses looked a bit startled as they all stood stiff, like -chiselled figures, staring inland. There, before their eyes, not three -hundred yards away, on a little hill, a dark figure was jumping about, -whirling and waving its hands. - -"Holy Moses!" said one. - -"Gawd forgive me sins!" breathed another. - -"It's a phantom of the seas--a nigger phantom," wailed the mate. - -The figure was certainly a dark man, and perfectly nude; he was quite -visible, for the moon was just coming up over the horizon to the -south-west, sending ghostly fires on the wreck's broken masts and torn -rigging and canvas. - -"It's Macka!--gone mad! He's got Gabrielle Everard somewhere back there -in those palms!" gasped Hillary. - -"No!" said Samuel Bilbao before he had recovered from his astonishment -and realised the obvious absurdity of the young apprentice's remark. - -"Why, it's a maniac Kanaka!" said Bilbao, who had started coolly to walk -up the shore so that he could discern the features of the leaping -figure, that was still waving its hands and behaving generally like a -frenzied lunatic. - -"What the 'ell's the matter with ye?" roared Bilbao. - -Still the figure danced, and only the echoes of Ulysses' big voice and -the screech of disturbed cockatoos in the banyans responded. - -In a moment the dark figure had bolted. In another moment Ulysses, -Hillary, the boatswain and the two sailors had joined in the chase, all -rushing like mad after the flying figure. Only the sorrowful mate stood -still on the sands just by the wreck, his loose clothing flapping over -his shrunken figure as though he was some mysterious scarecrow left -there by the late crew. - -Hillary led the way in that chase, Bilbao following just behind, yelling -forth mighty bets as to the winner, his big, sea-booted feet stirring -the silvery sands into clouds of moon-lit sparkle as he thundered behind -the apprentice. - -"It's Macka! It's Macka Rajah!" Bilbao roared, as he stopped a second -and held his stomach, that heaved with a mirth which seemed considerably -out of place at such a time. Suddenly the flying figure fell down. The -white men, who were rushing down a steep incline, could not stay -themselves, and in a moment they had all fallen on top of the gasping, -terrified figure. - -"O papalagi! Talofa! No kille me! Me nicer Samoan mans. Me shipwreck; -savee mee!" yelled the frightened native, as he felt the full weight of -the white men on his recumbent form. There was something so appealing -and sincere in his voice and broken English that they all realised in a -moment that the poor devil was not to blame for his lonely position on -the island. - -When all was safe, and they had led the trembling Samoan castaway back -to the sands, the chief mate breathed a sigh of relief and gave the poor -castaway a drink from his whisky flask. - -It turned out that he was a Samoan sailor, one of the crew of the wreck -that lay on the reefs. She had left Apia about six months before, bound -for the Bismarck Archipelago, and had run ashore in a typhoon. The -German crew had taken to the boats whilst the Samoan sailor had lain ill -under the palms (just like Germans). And so he had awakened to find -himself alone on the island. - -"Where's all the cargo, and the skipper's property?" said Bilbao, as a -great hope sprang up in his breast, for he thought that perhaps the -native had taken them off the wreck and hidden them on the island. Then -the native told them that about two moons after the wreck had been lying -on the shore a fleet of canoes sighted her and came out of their course -to the islands. - -"They came one day, again next days and next days, for a longer times," -said the castaway. - -It appeared that Tampo, the Samoan, for that was his name, was too -frightened to show himself to the Malabar natives, who toiled from -sunrise to sunset in robbing the wreck of her cargo. The poor native -well knew that many of the natives of the isles in the coral seas were -inveterate cannibals. And he didn't feel inclined to take any risk of -being cooked and eaten. He preferred to hide in the tropical growth till -a white man's ship sighted him or the wreck. And certainly he was wise -in taking this course. - -The castaway was delighted when Ulysses said: "Come along, old Talofa, -get yer traps together, pack yer fig-leaf up and come aboard." - -A few minutes after that the lonely isle was once more uninhabited. -There was no trace of humanity excepting the wreck on the shore. And -long before dawn flushed the east with its silver radiance the _Sea -Foam_ was flying with all possible sail set for the coast of New Guinea. - -"It wasn't old Macka Rajah gone mad after all," said Bilbao to Hillary, -as the apprentice stood dreaming on the deck in the morning. - -"It wasn't a treasure trove on the reefs, crammed up to the hatchway -with chests of golden doubloons and pieces of eight," Hillary retorted -quietly. Even Mango Pango, that rival of how many sad heathen Penelopes, -revealed her pearly teeth when she understood the meaning of Hillary's -sally. - -Samuel Bilbao only laughed, then said: "Boy, we're only about three or -four days' sail from the coastal village where your Rajah Macka has -bolted." - -"Only three or four days before I know! Only three or four days before I -see Gabrielle, and find out--what?" were some of the thoughts that -flashed through Hillary's brain as Bilbao made that momentous -announcement. And it was true enough: the _Sea Foam_ was slowly but -surely nearing the god-forsaken barbarian forest coast of the land where -the ex-missionary and kidnapper was supposed to have taken Gabrielle -Everard. - - - - -CHAPTER XI--KIDNAPPED - - -On the night when Rajah Koo Macka sat in old Everard's bungalow parlour -and successfully threw dust in the ex-sailor's eyes and opium and rum in -Gabrielle's tea, the Papuan half-caste's ship lay out in the bay of -Bougainville, ready to sail at a moment's notice. - -It may be difficult to believe that a white girl could be successfully -kidnapped from her father's homestead, carried half-a-mile across thick -jungle to the shore, thrown into a boat and rowed out to a ship that was -ready to carry her off to New Guinea; but however incredible it may -seem, that's exactly what did happen. And this business was accomplished -by swarthy half-caste sailors who were experts at the kidnapping game. -These kidnappers were men who had devoted their lives to stealing and -enticing ignorant native girls, youths, children and native men from the -Solomon Isles and elsewhere by hundreds, nay, thousands, carrying the -boys and men off to be sold as cheap plantation labour, and the girls -for the seraglios of heathen chiefs (and sometimes seraglios of white -men) in remote isles of the North and South Pacific. And it was easy -enough to carry on the slave trade in those parts, for the German -officials of Bougainville cared little for their prestige so long as -they received a sufficiently large bribe from the slave skippers who -prowled along the coasts of Bougainville and Gualdacanar, etc. The old -white-whiskered German missionary round at B---- made a tremendous fuss -about the depredations of the tribal head-hunters who went off to the -mountain villages to secure their terrible trophies, but the -depredations of the kidnapping thugs, as they crept ashore and stole -girls and youths from the villages, were broadly winked at. - -And these remarks do not apply only to the Solomon Group, but also to -islands as civilised as Samoa and Fiji. So Rajah Koo Macka and his type -calmly carried on their hideous traffic almost in broad daylight. But -still the Rajah, on the present occasion, felt that it would be a bit -too risky to attempt to kidnap Gabrielle while the sun was up, since she -was a sacred white maid. Old Everard was therefore honoured by that last -visit from him under cover of night. For the Rajah was an experienced -hand at the game. He had prowled round the isles of the Pacific from the -Coral Sea to the tropic of Capricorn for years looking for good-looking -native girls and men who would make profitable merchandise, and so had -had many narrow squeaks, although he always carried a large assortment -of religious tracts about with him to allay suspicion. One may easily -imagine, therefore, that the Rajah did not look upon the kidnapping of a -white girl as something very much outside the ordinary routine of his -profession. Indeed, he well knew that white men by scores indulged in -the blackbirding trade, sailing under the slave flag as they too prowled -the Southern Seas kidnapping people of his race. And so, as far as the -actual kidnapping of a white girl is concerned, he was only doing what -the white men did themselves. - -When at last old Everard lay in drunken insensibility on his settee the -Rajah was master of the situation. His hired kidnappers were within -call. - -In the little that he had seen of Gabrielle he had realised perfectly -that his old game of impassioned looks and hypocritical phrases were -utterly useless where she was concerned. He soon realised that it was -one thing to succeed in making a white girl fascinated by his handsome -presence, but quite another to make her cast aside the elementary -principles of her race. And so he had formulated his plans. - -All that evening, while old Everard had been sitting in his arm-chair -listening to the Papuan Rajah's sombre denunciations of his sinful -habits, and Gabrielle stared at his swarthy, handsome face, fascinated -by its assumed noble expression, three stalwart Kanakas squatted -patiently, as they smoked, not twenty yards from Everard's bungalow. -They were the forcible part of the Rajah's go-ashore retinue, all -muscular men. And as they sat there they wondered how much longer the -Rajah was going to keep them waiting for one cursed Christian white -girl, when they had kidnapped hundreds of native girls and strong men in -half the time. But their patience, that greatest of virtues, was at last -rewarded. First the solitary heathen kidnapping thugs saw shadows slip -across the dim-lit bungalow window. "Ugh! Me savoo!" said the big man of -giant mirth, as he got his strangling rope ready in case the expected -victim was obstreperous. As the three thugs got ready for the fray the -first act of the wicked drama was in full progress inside the parlour. -Gabrielle was already swaying and clutching at the air as she felt the -influence of some terrible sleep creeping over her. She fell towards the -window and clutched at the curtains in her endeavour to awaken her -father. But it was too late! The old ex-sailor only smiled in his sleep; -but he must have heard the terrified cry of "Father! Father!" since he -muttered "Gabby, go ter sleep!" And she did go to sleep! - -The Rajah had fixed things up in no time and then appeared outside the -bungalow with the unconscious girl in his arms. As he laid her gently -down beneath the palms, the kidnappers crept out of the jungle thickets, -stretched out their neat little rope ambulance (always carried for -intractable patients) and bundled Gabrielle into its folds. - -While this was going on Gob, a dwarf, kept watch, and Rajah Macka kept -his eyes on his Papuan retinue. They were men of his own race, and he -knew their vile instincts, for was he not one of them? And so he took -good care not to let the girl out of his sight. When all was settled, -and Gabrielle lay insensible, secure in the thug-ambulance, they lifted -her carefully and hurried across the slopes, passing by the lagoon where -she and Hillary had embarked in the canoe to go out to the three-masted -derelict. It was on that very night that Hillary and Gabrielle were to -meet each other, and the apprentice had kept the appointment, only to -wait in vain for the girl's appearance. But had he not in his usual -impatience, walked a mile up the shore away from the trysting-place he -could not have failed to see the kidnappers pass and so might have saved -Gabrielle in a most dramatic fashion. - -When Macka and his crew arrived on the shore they flung the girl into -the waiting boat, and in less than an hour Gabrielle was a prisoner on -board the _Bird of Paradise_. - -Not even the violent bump of the boat against the vessel's side -disturbed Gabrielle ere they carried her helpless form up the rope -gangway and on to the deck of the Rajah's ship. When she awoke, that -same night, she could hardly believe her senses. She looked across the -gloomy, dim-lit room and thought she'd overslept herself. She fancied -she had fallen asleep in her father's parlour, for there was the settee -in the corner--but why was he not on the settee? She noticed that it was -still dark, only a dim oil-lamp burning, hanging strangely, it seemed, -from the ceiling when it should have been standing on the table. - -She rubbed her eyes and stared once more. Her bed seemed to move. What -did it all mean? The settee was lined with blue plush; it should really -have been a very shabby brown. She jumped to her feet and gave a scream -as she spied the little port-holes on the starboard side just opposite -her--she had realised the truth, that she was in the cuddy (saloon) of -some vessel that was rolling along away at sea! - -"Don't, Gabriel-ar-le, solawa soo!" said a voice very softly. - -It was the skipper of the _Bird of Paradise_--Rajah Koo Macka. He had -been asleep in the cabin just near and had leapt from his bunk at -hearing Gabrielle's frightened scream. - -"Where am I? Oh dear! Save me! What's it all mean?" Even Gabrielle laid -her hand on her fluttering heart as she muttered those words in a weak -voice at finding herself out at sea in a ship's cuddy instead of in the -security of her home. - -There was an intense note of appeal in the girl's voice, such a note as -would have touched the heart of the vilest of men, but Macka never moved -a muscle. He had stolen so many girls, men and youths, watched their -tears, heard their heartrending appeals, and thrown their bodies over -the vessel's side when they had died of terror and malaria down in the -stinking, hot-fevered hold, that it seemed nothing awful to him to see a -girl kneel before him and weep. - -He was overjoyed that the girl was awake. He had quite thought that she -had been doped too much and that there was a possibility of her never -recovering sensibility again. As she stood before him, with the oil lamp -swinging to and fro to the heave and roll of the flying ship, -Gabrielle's eyes, which had been agleam with fright, suddenly changed, -and shone with a new strength. She had realised, with a woman's unerring -instinct, the uselessness of appealing to the man before her. As she -steadily returned his gaze, the dark man saw the courage of her father's -race. - -A cowed look leapt into his face. Even in that swift glance he had -realised that all would not go as smoothly as he had anticipated. To -steal helpless Papuans, Samoans, Marquesans, Tahitian maids, to defile -them, pitch them overboard when they were dead or dying, and amuse -himself by revolver shots at the poor, floating, bobbing bodies was one -thing; but to steal a white girl and defile her was quite another. That -much he realised most forcibly, for before he could realise anything -more than that Gabrielle had rushed out of the cabin and bolted. - -She raced along the ship's rolling deck. She looked about her and called -loudly in the dark, still hoping that one of the crew might be a white -man. When she saw the fierce, mop-headed, dark-faced men rush out of the -forecastle at hearing her terrified screams she almost collapsed in her -despair. For one moment she stood still and gazed up at the bellying -sails as they swayed along beneath the high moon. Nothing but the -illimitable sky-lines gleamed around her. She heard the moan of the dark -tossing ocean. She did not hesitate, not the slightest indecision -preceded her act--splash! she had leapt overboard! It all happened in a -few seconds. The Rajah and the mulatto mate at once gave orders for the -crew to heave to and lower a boat. It seemed ages to the Rajah as the -swarthy crew climbed slowly about like dusky ghosts, as though they had -a century in which to fulfil his orders. At this moment the captain of -the blackbirder (to give him his correct title) revealed his solitary -virtue; he could see the girl's struggling form in the dark waters -astern. Not a sound came from the girl's lips, only the tossing white -hands were visible on the moon-lit waters--then they vanished--she had -gone! In a second he had pulled off his coat and boots and plunged into -the sea. The men of his race could swim like fish, and dive too, for -they took to the water before they could toddle. Even as it was, the -Rajah had to dive twice before he could grip hold of Everard's daughter. -He had a tremendous struggle to get the girl back on board, for the sea -was a bit heavy that night. When he did get her on deck the half-caste -mate and the crew stared on her prostrate figure in astonishment. She -had been kept from their sight till then. - -Lying there on the hatchway, her white face turned towards the sky, she -looked like some angel who had mysteriously fallen from heaven and lay -dead before them. They were a superstitious lot, and several of them -began to moan some heathen death chant. Even the Rajah was strangely -influenced at seeing that pallid face, the drenched, dishevelled hair, -the curved, pale lips. The bluish tropical moonlight bathed her form -like a wonderful halo. He looked at the watching crew, a fierce light in -his eyes. In a moment they had all gone, slinking away. "Awaie!" he said -to one who, bolder than the rest, looked back over his shoulder. And -then, as the crew obeyed the mulatto mate's orders to get the vessel -under way once more, the Rajah lifted Gabrielle's prostrate form and -carrying her into the cuddy laid her down on the low saloon table. -Grabbing a decanter, he poured a small drop of spirit between her lips. -Then he closed the door so softly that only the sudden disappearance of -the stream of light on the deck from the lamp inside told that the door -_had_ been closed. - -They were alone, he and she--the frail, helpless girl in the vile power -of passion and hypocrisy. For a second the Papuan Rajah gazed around the -saloon. Even he was startled by the look on the swarthy face that gazed -back on him from the long mirror--his own reflection. Stooping over the -recumbent form, he gently rubbed her hands. They were cold and very -limp. He began to think that it was too late, that she was dead. Gently -pulling the wet bodice open, he slowly unfastened the blue strings of -her underclothing. He gazed in silence on the curves of her breasts, -which were faintly revealed to his eyes by the dim, swaying oil lamp. -That fragile whiteness seemed to appeal even to him; the mute lips, the -closed eyelids, the helpless attitude paralysed the dark cruelty of his -natural self. And it is only, we must think, because God made all men, -be they black or white, that he was loyal to the great trust that the -irony of inscrutable Fate had placed in his hands--he of all men on -earth. - -The seas were beating against the vessel's side as she lay there. The -vessel pitched and rolled as once more it started on its course, and as -it rolled the girl's recumbent form moved and swayed to the lurch of the -table. Her drenched bronze-gold hair fell in a mass to the cuddy floor, -the brown-stockinged ankles fully revealed through the disarrangement of -the soaking skirt. - -Could anyone have peeped from the deck through the cuddy port-hole they -would have seen the Rajah bending over the helpless girl. A strange fire -flashed in his eyes as he gazed and gazed and gently rubbed where her -heart lay. The gleam in his eyes died away, but still he watched, -waiting anxiously. His face was set and wild looking. "Ar-a va loo!" -("She's gone!") he muttered. He tried to feel the pulse of the wrist, -but he dropped it with a sigh. At last it came! His hand visibly -trembled as he lifted her arms up and gently spread them away from her -body. Then he put his ear to her heart and listened--there was a sound -like a tiny echo coming from the remotest distance. Throb! throb! it -came--Gabrielle's soul was hovering between heaven and earth--in more -senses than one. Then the throb ceased as though for an eternity of -time, but once more it came--throb! throb! throb! And before the Rajah -was prepared for it Gabrielle's eyes were staring at him! - -Instinctually the girl's helpless fingers half clutched the wet fringe -of her loosened bodice. And, strange as it may seem, the heathen Papuan -even _helped_ her cold fingers to close the delicate folds. - -The instinctive action of the girl told him more of her true character -than a thousand dissertations on racial codes, morals and inherent -virtue could have done. In a flash he had realised that if he wanted to -gain her respect it had to be gained by astute cunning based on strict -emotional principles. Recovering his embarrassment, he rolled his eyes -and blinked--which is the equivalent of a blush in New Guinea folk. He -was really pleased to see that she was recovering. Immediately flinging -himself on his knees, he sobbed out: "Oh Gabriel-ar-le, Marsoo cowan, -nicer beauty voumna!" In his excitement he had lapsed into execrable -pidgin-English. He heard her sigh. He fondled her hand. "'Tis I who -saved you," he murmured. He fancied that he was a hero. In his perverted -ignorance he saw Gabrielle no longer a kidnapped girl on his ship, but a -maiden whom he had saved from the cruel seas. He was bold enough to -press her hand to his lips. - -Gabrielle watched him. She was terribly ill, too dazed to protest. She -was alone on the seas with this man and what could she do? Her final -response to his miserable hypocrisy was to burst into a violent fit of -weeping. - -For three or four days she was quite unable to move. It was only through -the careful nursing of the Malayan cabin-boy, a frizzly headed, -bright-eyed little fellow, that she was at last encouraged to take food. -He was a child, and so he appealed to Gabrielle. The very innocence of -his eyes as he stared in delightful curiosity at her golden hair and -white arms when he crept in with the food to her bunk cheered her as -much as she _could_ be cheered under such circumstances. - -Sometimes she would lie there helpless and think that she was mad, -strange fancies floating through her brain. And sometimes Macka would -step softly into the dingy saloon and play on the melancholy organ that -he had once used in his tribal mission-rooms. His voice would tremble -with passionate appeal and subtle seductiveness as he breathed forth -Malayan melodies that haunted Gabrielle's ears. Those melodies had a -terrible influence over the girl, and one night when the vessel was -rolling wildly, being buffeted along before a typhoon, the girl screamed -out from her bunk: "Stop! Stop! I'll go mad if you sing that strange -thing again!" - -Then the Rajah ceased as obediently as a scolded child and softly crept -away. He knew the potent magic of those heathen Malayan melodies! He -knew! He knew! And when he had passed out on to the vessel's deck -Gabrielle called out: "Tombo! Tombo!" In a moment the little Papuan boy -rushed into her cabin. - -"Whater you wanter? Whater matter, nicer vovams?" - -"Tombo, what's that shadow-thing that runs about the deck at night? I -saw it through the port-hole last night." Then she said: "And I heard -faint cries, wails. What was it? What does it all mean, Tombo?" - -Tombo made no reply with his lips, but he softly nestled up against the -girl and looked up into her eyes with terrible earnestness. Then he -shook his head and said: "I looker after you, Misser Gaberlelle." -Suddenly the boy rushed from the girl's side and out of the cuddy in -fright. - -Gabrielle listened and heard a scream: the Rajah had called the boy and, -meeting him on the deck, had kicked him. The Papuan skipper had noticed -that the kid was a bit too communicative with his kidnapped prisoner. -Possibly he thought that the boy might let out the truth about the ship -and give Gabrielle some hint as to why it sailed by night with all -lights out, as it tacked on its course far off the beaten track of -trading ships. - -It was quite a week before Gabrielle ventured out of the small cuddy's -berth and entered the saloon. Even when she did so she was apparently so -weak that she was obliged to secure the assistance of little Tombo, who -held her hand as she wandered about. The Rajah immediately began his -sinuous overtures and muttered violent protestations of love into her -ears. At times the Papuan could hardly conceal his temper when the girl -persistently pestered him with questions, asking him where the _Bird of -Paradise_ was bound for. - -"You noa worry. You are all right. I take you across the seas and some -days you go back to your peoples--when you lover me!" he would say, as -he gave a look of deep meaning that the girl persistently pretended not -to understand. He would not allow her to walk out on deck unless he were -close by. His hungry eyes seemed ever on the alert. Probably he had a -fixed idea in his brain that the girl would make another attempt to take -her life. And still he swore most earnestly by the virtue of the -Christian apostles that he had only kidnapped her from her father's -homestead because of his overpowering love for her. - -"You know not what men of my race love like, what we would do for a -white girl such as you, Gabri-ar-le," he muttered, as he glanced -sideways at her. - -Gabrielle saw the look in those flashing eyes of his. She trembled as -she realised how completely she was in his power, and how once she had -been fascinated by his voice and his handsome mien. Even then, at times, -she half believed that he had repented the wrong he had done her. And -the girl was hardly to blame for her credulity, for he never tired of -pouring his flamboyant rhetoric in Malayan _vers libre_ into her ears. -He had some mighty faith in his maudlin Mohammedanistic babblings over -love, winds, seas, stars, night, God and death. He was as crammed with -pretended artlessness as he was of villainy. - -Sometimes the girl felt strangely calm. The religious element that -brings faith and comfort to men and women in the direst moments of life -was part of her special birthright. She became more resigned to her lot -and even went so far as to read some of the old books that she had -discovered in the cuddy locker. So did she endeavour to stifle her -thoughts. Many, many times she thought of the apprentice. What did he -think of her sudden absence from Bougainville, of her not turning up at -the trysting-place by the lagoon? She thought of his impulsive nature. -She guessed that he must have gone straight to her home to see what had -become of her. She thought of a thousand things that he would do in his -attempt to discover her whereabouts. She imagined how her father raved, -and must still be raving, perhaps grieving over her disappearance. But -she never dreamed of all that really happened after she had left -Bougainville in the blackbirding ship. When she recalled the incidents -of the old derelict lying on the rocks off Bougainville and of Hillary's -boyish but earnest declaration of love she trembled in her anguish. She -remembered the look in his eyes, the wild, fond sayings that had come -spontaneously to his lips. Then she laid her head down on the cuddy -table and wept bitterly. - -One night when the _Bird of Paradise_ had been at sea about two weeks -the heat was so terrific that she implored the Rajah to let her sit out -on deck. He was obdurate and would not hear of such a thing. "No, no, -_putih bunga_ (white flower)" was his only reply, as he lapsed into the -Malayan tongue, speaking as though to himself. Then he walked away and -disappeared forward. In a moment Gabrielle made up her mind and had -slipped out of the cuddy, determined to go on deck and breathe the cool -night air. She almost cried out as she rushed, plomp! into the arms of -the half-caste mate. "Savo, maro, Cowan, bunga," whispered the burly -mulatto, as he lost his mental balance at seeing the beauty of the girl. -He caught her in his arms, clutched her flesh like some fierce animal, -put his vile lips to her white throat and breathed hotly on her face. He -tried to press his blubbery lips against her own. In a moment the girl -had managed to release herself from that hateful clasp. - -"What's the matter, my pretty putih bunga, marva awaya?" said Koo Macka, -suddenly coming up, as the mulatto mate slipped hastily along the deck -out of sight. - -"Nothing is the matter; I simply felt ill, faint; I'm better now," said -Gabrielle fearfully, as she swiftly realised that it would not do to -make an enemy of the mulatto mate. For a moment the Rajah looked -suspiciously around him, then he sternly ordered her to go back at once -into the saloon. - -And so it was that Gabrielle sat in her bunk that night and stared -through the port-hole so that she might get a breath of the cool -midnight breeze that drifted at intervals across the hot tropic seas. - -The stars were shining in their thousands as she sat there watching and -crying softly to herself. She could plainly see the bluish, ghost-like -gleam of the horizon, far away, as she stared out of the cabin -port-hole. It was then that she once more heard a mysterious wail coming -from somewhere out in the silence of the night. Her lips went dry with -fright as she gazed and listened in her terror. She distinctly observed -a shadow slip across the deck. Then the wail came again and was followed -by a deep, retching moaning and sounds of the hushed voices of men who -were speaking in a strange language. "What does it all mean?" she -muttered to herself, as once more her ears caught the indistinct -utterances of agony. And still she listened and felt quite sure that -what she heard was no trick of her imagination, but was some last appeal -of helplessness to relentless men ere they strangled their victim. In -the terror of all that she felt her overwrought brain became strangely -calm. She sat quite still and watched in a dazed way, crouching in her -bunk, her eyes peering through the port-hole. She gazed up at the -swaying sails as they glided on beneath the stars. The wind had shifted -to the south-west, for she saw the canvas veer and darken patches of -starry sky as the yards went round and the crew aloft chanted some -Malayan chantey. So weirdly bright was the tropic sky that the rigging -and the forms of the toiling crew were distinctly outlined with the -decks, sails, spars. She could even discern the long cracks of the deck -planks as the ethereal light of far-off worlds pulsed in the sky and -sent a glimmer down between the masts and sails. A fearful curiosity -overcame the fright she first felt as she saw three stalwart, mop-headed -men standing by the lifted hatchway amidships. The scene was directly -along the deck facing the cuddy's cabin port-hole from which she stared. -The sight that met her astonished eyes made her tremble: the three -swarthy, demon-like men were grabbing the bodies of the dead which were -being passed up from the vessel's fetid hold! Some of the crew were down -below busily pushing those limp, pathetic figures up to the outstretched -hands of those on deck. Gabrielle knew they were dead bodies, there was -no mistaking their limpness as the heads of the silent forms fell first -in one direction then in another. And still they pushed up the limp -bodies of dead native girls and youths, and one by one passed them along -to that crew of sea-thugs, who carelessly pushed them over the bulwarks -into the sea! Gabrielle distinctly heard the splash as they fell. - -She half fancied that she heard long-drawn groans coming from the -direction of the sea. Nor was she mistaken, for they pitched the dying -overboard too! The crew of slavers were not over-sensitive in such -matters. - -The girl was still staring, dumbfounded, when the men softly closed the -hatchway over that terrible drama of life below. Then she heard the dull -thuds of the locks being secured and rammed home. They even placed the -thick canvas covering over the hatchway again and so closed the cracks -that mercifully had let a breath of fresh air into that breathing mass -of shrieking merchandise--kidnapped native girls, men and women! As soon -as Gabrielle saw those demon undertakers steal away into the shadows -towards the forecastle she realised that it was no nightmare, no horror -of an imaginary world that she had felt and witnessed. It was all real -enough. In a flash her brain had realised all that it really meant. She -remembered how her own father had talked about the horrors of the -blackbirding ships, and how the huddled victims died in the fetid hold. -She recalled how he had even confessed that he too had once dabbled in -the slave traffic. And as she remembered she saw herself as a child -again, listening in wonder at her father's knees as he proudly told his -beachcomber guests of the "glorious good old blackbirding days." - -After seeing that sight Gabrielle became seriously ill, mentally as well -as physically. She lay sleepless through the night and longed for -forgetfulness. The scene she had witnessed as they cast the kidnapped -dead into the sea had completely horrified her. In her mind over and -over again she found herself counting the dead bodies she had seen -thrown overboard. It took her that way. She had often heard the mission -men talk about the cruelty of the kidnapping business, but it required -such a sight as she had witnessed to make her realise the truth of what -she had heard. True enough, it is hard for anyone to realise the horrors -of the slave traffic till they see the actual results with their own -eyes. - -Possibly the great poet will never be born who could write the poem that -would adequately describe the Brown Man's Burden so that the Western -world could read and realise that the White Man's Burden is not the only -one that men have to bear through spreading Western principles among the -islands of remote seas. - -Gabrielle got out of her bunk that same night and pushed every available -article of furniture against her cabin door. She realised what she was -in for. It was the first hint she had had that she was not the only -wretched victim that trembled in fear on that ship. And as she lay -sleepless, thinking of everything and of those trembling, -terror-stricken girls and youths that made the cargo in the airless, -fevered hold not twenty feet from her bunk, she half envied her own -terrible position. - -Next day when the Rajah noticed the look of horror in the girl's eyes as -he rattled off his _vers libre_ he retired as gracefully as possible and -quickly arrayed himself in his most attractive attire of Rajahship. - -He placed the rich, scarlet-hued turban on his skull. He tied the yellow -waist-sash about him so that the bow fell coquettishly down at his left -hip. He even cleaned his teeth with cigar ash and manipulated an -artistic curl at the ends of his dark moustache. Then he proceeded to -haunt Gabrielle again. He read the Bible aloud; he put such -well-simulated sincerity into his melodious voice that Gabrielle rubbed -her eyes and half wondered if she had dreamed that terrible sight of the -night before. As she sat at the low cuddy table and the dark man sat -right opposite her with the knees of his long, thin legs bunched beneath -the table, she listened to his splendid lies. He went so far as to tell -her how he had a great reputation for good works, of how he roamed the -seas searching to redress the wrongs done to helpless girls, men and -native women! He swore that his ship roamed the South Seas expressly to -attempt to put down slave traffic! He knew! he knew! that the girl had -some inkling of the kind of vessel she was on. - -"Gabrielle," said he, "you knower not my troubles, and how when I do -capture slave-ship I have to rescue the victims and put them down in the -hold of this vessel till sucher time as I can take them to some isle -where they can be safe till they are returned to their own people!" - -"Could it be true?" was Gabrielle's inward thought, as she watched the -man's face and saw nothing but the light of a proud achievement in his -eyes. And it must be admitted that there was some truth in all that he -told the girl about his reputation. For was it not well known from Apia -to Dutch New Guinea that Rajah Koo Macka was a great Christian Rajah? -And was it not true that he had been in receipt of thousands of pounds -that had been collected through the kind medium of Christian societies -who were interested in the noble endeavour to put down slave traffic in -the South Seas? And who can deny the fact that thousands of men and -women in England had unconsciously contributed towards the expenses -incurred by the Rajah in fitting out his ship, the _Bird of Paradise_, -for the sole purpose of abducting natives and for following his -monstrous inclinations. - -And there he sat in his cosy cuddy, a splendid example of the civilised, -converted Papuan invested with a hideous power by weak-minded -charity-givers who saw no just cause for their charity in their own -country. - -The Rajah was a living libel on true missionary work and on the -reputation of the missionaries themselves. With others of his -profession, he had often let his helpless merchandise out on hire into -the hands of wealthy half-caste and sensual white men. And when native -girls gave birth to half-caste children soon after their arrival on the -sugar plantations as far away as Brisbane, the innocent missionaries got -the blame for what had happened to the girls who had been contaminated -after leaving their native isles. But all this is only a detail in the -Rajah's life. He was a genius in his way. No man living would have had -the patience to talk and talk, and sing and chant as he did to his -beautiful, helpless prisoner. God only knows how he got Gabrielle to -believe in him again. Perhaps it wasn't so strange when one thinks of -her tender years and the mighty pretence of the astute Rajah. Night -after night he came to her and went on his bended knees. Sometimes he -held the Bible in his hand, babbled over its pages and said: "O -Gabri-ar-le, give thy purest love unto me and I swear on this divine -book that I will take thee back unto thy father." - -On hearing this Gabrielle's heart leapt with hope. "Perhaps he isn't all -bad and has relented," she thought. Then she glanced steadily into the -Papuan's eyes and said: "I swear that I will bear no ill-feeling towards -you if you will only take me home again." Then with that wonderful -instinct that women reveal when in such a grievous pass, she added: "I -can easily say that I was washed out to sea in a canoe that night and -that your ship picked me up, and then no blame will be attached to you; -you may even be rewarded. Will you take me back to Bougainville?" Saying -this, she looked earnestly into the heathen's eyes and continued: -"Father was very drunk that night, you know; he heard or guessed nothing -of all that happened; he wouldn't dream of the truth." - -The man sat there silent, chin on hand, as he gazed steadily upon the -girl. It was evident by the look in his eyes that he admired the clever -way she had put the whole matter before him. Gabrielle mistook that -look. Her heart fluttered. She felt like screaming in the ecstasy of -hope that thrilled her in the thought that she might yet get back to -Bougainville and see the young apprentice again. The man sat opposite -her for a long while in thought, then he shook his head as though in -response to his own reflections. He gave a cruel smile as he noticed the -expression of delight in the girl's eyes at the thought of getting out -of his clutches. He rose to his feet and, giving her one of his -lascivious looks, walked slowly out of the cuddy. - -Gabrielle's hopes faded. The reaction set in. Her despair was terrible -as loneliness came to her heart. She went into her dismal berth. She was -now left quite alone, for little sympathetic Tombo had ceased to come -near her. She well knew that it wasn't the little cabin-boy's fault; he -was ordered to keep out of the way. - -"He's a murderer, a cruel villain, a heathen--and once I thought he was -a god among men, an apostle of beauty and truth." So ran Gabrielle's -reflections as she sat alone and thought critically about the Rajah. She -looked out of the port-hole. It was a brilliant moon-lit night. She saw -the dark crew climbing aloft to reef the sails. She knew that the vessel -had altered its course. The sight of everything depressed her terribly. -There was something weird in the sight of those dark men toiling aloft -as they sang their strange Malayan chanteys. She saw the shining -clasp-knives between their teeth as their shadows dropped softly down -onto the deck. Once more she heard the whistle blown to call the next -watch. Then complete silence reigned. She had nearly gone off to sleep -when once more she heard the wails and muffled screams. Though terrified -at those sounds, she again peeped through the port-hole and watched. -Again she heard the heart-rending moans. Again the awful dragging -silence came as the hatchway was lifted. "Plomp! plomp! plomp! plomp!" -She knew then that four more victims had been cast into the deep. She -strained her neck and put her head right out of the port-hole. She saw -the dusk of the burning tropic seas and the stars as the vessel kept -steadily on its course, leaving the floating bodies in its wake. - -The next day the Rajah came into the dismal cuddy several times and -spoke to her, but she shrank instinctively from his presence. He noticed -her manner and wondered. The girl's uncongenial attitude did not rhyme -in with the plans he had so nicely mapped out. But determination was his -great virtue. He made many attempts to ingratiate himself. "Why you no -liker me now?" he said, as he looked at her. She made no reply. In his -excitement he mixed his language up so much that Gabrielle could hardly -understand what he said. His mixture of pidgin-English and broken -Biblical phrases made a kind of musical potpourri of exotic sensuousness -that haunted the girl's ears, reviving vivid memories of her own people -and at the same time reminding her how far away she was from their -protection. - -"Gabri-ar-le, allow me," he murmured in his soft, insinuating voice, as -he leaned forward and stuck a small red frangipani blossom in the folds -of her hair. It was a bloom from the pots of flowers that swung to and -fro from the cuddy ceiling. - -Gabrielle looked steadily at the man. A strange gleam was in his eyes. -It was just after sunset. Already the eight members of the crew, who -were devout sun-worshippers, had lain prone on the forecastle deck and -murmured their dolorous chants to the last gold and purple glow of the -departed day. - -The stars were shining over the sea. It was almost calm. Every now and -again came the muffled drum-like sounds of the heavy canvas sails that -bellied out to the breath of the sleepy night wind, flopped, and fell -loosely as the halyards rattled and the ship rolled to the glassy swell. - -The Rajah had sat down at the low table, right opposite Gabrielle. His -turban was tilted rakishly on one side. As he looked sideways, glancing -poetically towards the deck roof, his firm, handsome, curved throat was -certainly shown to advantage. He looked like some Byronic corsair. There -was no denying that he was a handsome man of his type. He leaned gently -towards Gabrielle, one hand on chin, continuing to gaze as though in -sorrowful reflection over his shortcomings and the white girl's sorrow -resulting therefrom. - -"Gabri-ar-le, I lover thee. You know not the ocean of my soul, how dark -it is since your eyes should be the stars to shine over its darkness. -Wilt love me a little, O white maiden?" - -He still had his eyes fixed upon her in rapt admiration, eyes that moved -up and down her form. - -She looked beautiful indeed as she suddenly rose, stood there in the dim -light, attired in her sarong-like bluish robe, the divided sleeves of -which revealed her rounded arms. The broad scarlet sash, tied bow-wise -at the left hip, fell negligently almost down to her ankle. A hot breath -of sleepy wind crept through the cabin doorway, wafting the rich odours -of exotic flowers that hung all along by the cuddy port-holes on the -starboard side. The ship's black cat suddenly whipped across the saloon, -looked up into its master's face with its yellow, burning orbs and then -disappeared like a shadow. - -Gabrielle trembled as she sought to answer the Rajah's questions. She -could faintly hear the tinkle of the weird _zeirung_ as some dark man -forward in the forecastle accompanied the mellow voice of someone who -was singing a Malayan chantey. - -"I felt that I liked you once, but I hate you now!" said Gabrielle -impulsively. Then she added: "How could you expect me to like such as -you, after all you've done?" - -The Rajah gave a grin. - -"I want you to take me back to my people," the girl almost sobbed. Then -she rose and began stealthily to move away from his presence; she had -noticed the flushed, half-wild expression on his handsome face. She saw -the fixed look of resolve in his eyes. - -He swiftly put forth his hand and, catching hold of her fingers firmly, -softly forced her to sit down once more in front of him. - -For a moment he looked at her as though he was about to clasp her in his -arms. Gabrielle's heart thumped. She noticed that he sat on the side -near the open door and so barred her progress should she attempt to make -a bolt. She heard the voice of the man at the wheel humming words of an -unknown tongue just over her head out on the poop. She knew that the -Rajah's mate was laid up with fever in the deckhouse amidships, and so -she was quite alone with the Rajah. - -"I know that I am only Pa-ooan. You no' like me 'cause I dark man, eh? -Wilt lover me, canst thou deny me, O maid of mine heart?" - -Gabrielle knew by his lapse into Biblical pidgin-English that he was in -an excited, treacherous state of mind; she also realised that it was -wiser for her to attempt to mollify him. - -"I don't dislike the people of your race at all; it's the wicked way -that you kidnapped me that makes me hate you. Won't you take me back to -my people?" - -Though she spoke with apparent calmness, her heart was thumping so -violently that she half fancied he heard it beat. She instinctively knew -why the man stared at her so. She noticed that he had not lit the -hanging lamp in the usual way, either. Only the faint, flickering -glimmers from the lantern that swung by the saloon door and the deck -sent its gleams towards them. She could just discern the shadowy-like -face of the Rajah sitting opposite her. His voice had become strangely -soft and seductive, almost musical: "Do you lover me, one little much, -pretty whiter girl?" - -"I don't know," she whispered hastily in a hushed, frightened voice, -hardly knowing what she _did_ say, as she swiftly glanced around and -realised her terrible helplessness in that cabin far away on the coral -seas. No escape there for her! The glimmer of the seas outside the -port-holes only gave her a deeper sense of loneliness, if that were -possible. She heard the tramp! tramp! of the watch walking the poop just -over their heads as they sat there. - -"Let me go to my berth, I'm tired, I want to sleep," she said softly, as -she hastily rose to her feet. The state of her feelings was obvious. The -Rajah could almost hear the fluttering of the girl's heart in that soft, -tremulous voice. Standing there with flushed face and her eyes staring -with fright, she looked very beautiful. He put his hand out gently and -leaned across the table towards her. In her fright she gripped his -extended hand. Her hair had fallen down to her neck and shoulders, -tumbling in a golden mass, as she lifted her hand and glanced wildly -about her. It had been loosened from its neat coil by the flowers that -the Rajah had stuck in the glossy folds. The heathen corsair's vanity -was so profound that he imagined the girl had deliberately made her -tresses tumble in luring deshabille for _his_ eyes. - -A great fire leapt like a blown flame into the man's eyes. And Gabrielle -noticed it. She began to move backwards, very slowly, step by step, in -the direction of her cabin door. One of her hands clutched her robe -tightly against her trembling figure, as though she would not have him -see the way her stealthy feet were moving from his presence. He too had -swiftly risen from the cuddy table and was moving with a stealthy, -cat-like step towards her. It was like some tragic scene in a drama as -she moved backward, her eyes fixed on him, and he followed step by step -over the cuddy floor. The girl's pale face and frightened, alert eyes -were reflected in the large saloon mirror as she crept round the table. -His taller form sent a monstrous silhouette over the panelled walls, his -turbaned head going right across the ceiling. And still she moved on. - -Gabrielle had sought to mislead him as to her exact intentions. She made -a rush, whipped into her cabin and slammed the door. Not till then did -the Rajah realise his mistake in thinking that her tresses had fallen -for his benefit. - -A look of rage swept across his swarthy face at the way Gabrielle had -baffled him. But he knew the way to play the game. In a second he had -placed his mouth to the small grating circle that was in the top of her -cabin door. "Gabri-ar-le, beloved mine, I do swear not to hurt you; let -me comer in," he whispered. "Why you rush away from me like that?" he -added in an injured tone. He did not wish to raise his voice. He knew -there was a possibility of the girl screaming when she realised the full -import of his wishes. He had no desire that the crew should know that he -was a rank outsider so far as the white girl's affections were -concerned. He had loved to walk the schooner's deck, his chest swelling -with that pride that dark men feel when a white woman is theirs; he also -knew that his Kanaka crew envied him his saloon quarters, where they -knew the lovely white girl dwelt. - -"Don't try to come in! You dare not! Leave me alone. I want to sleep," -replied Gabrielle, as he continued softly and persistently to knock at -the cabin door. - -He heard the trembling note of appeal in her voice. "I swear by the gods -of my land and the stars of your own that should you open the door and -let me kiss your hand no harm shall come to you." - -He heard Gabrielle smash something heavy against the door. It was the -reply to his appeal. His voice took on a rougher tone, he was evidently -getting impatient. "If you don't let me in I'll smash the door down; -it's my ship!" he said in a threatening undertone, then swiftly added: -"But, sweeter girl, if you let me in I swear to keep my promise." - -Gabrielle glanced round her berth. Not a weapon was handy. She was -trembling. "Perhaps he speaks the truth," she thought. - -"Won't you go? We'll speak to-morrow!" she said softly, as though she -would appeal to his heart. Again he swore that he would not harm her. - -Gabrielle looked in despair through the port-hole. For a moment she was -half inclined to put her head out and scream. Then she thought of the -hideous mulatto mate and the fierce Kanaka crew. She shuddered. What -hope had she? Even as she realised the hopelessness of her position the -Rajah's booted foot crashed at the door. - -Gabrielle hardly knew what she was doing as she flung the door open. "I -believe you," she said, as she stood there, just inside her cabin and -gazed courageously into the man's eyes. For a moment he was taken aback, -but in another moment he had responded by hastily stepping forward. - -Gabrielle was quite unprepared for his sudden outburst, notwithstanding -all that had happened. He took her hand in his own. He pressed warm -kisses on the soft white fingers. He became almost incoherent as he -talked and told her how he had dreamed of her and seen her image in the -great magical lagoons in his native land. - -"The gods said that such as you would be mine. Yes, Gabri-ar-le, long -years ago before you were born." - -He had seized her in a passionate clasp. The terrible magic of his vile -personality began to work on the girl's overwrought mind. "Go away! Go -away!" she pleaded. But still he wailed on about his old gods, their -magic and the wonders of his country. For a moment he leaned against the -frame of the cabin door as though he were about to depart, but he did -not go. He leaned forward and began to murmur a weird Papuan chant. His -voice was peculiarly mellow and sweet. There was something melodiously -caressing in the strain. Just for a moment his eyes softened, as though -his heart was influenced by the music of his lips. It was only for a -second, though, ere the tiger beast of his nature returned and once more -he gazed unabashed at the girl, as only the low order of the dark races -can gaze. He touched her fingers. His dark hands had begun to creep in a -caressing way up her arms. His burning eyes still stared relentlessly -into the terrified eyes of the girl. He would not vary that glance, no, -not for one second, as he stared on triumphant, magnetising her soul by -the eerie fire of his own. - -"My beloved, putih bunga!" he murmured, as he noticed the look of terror -fading away from the eyes that had looked up so appealingly into his. - -Gabrielle's face, ghastly pale but a moment before, now appeared -strangely flushed, almost swarthy-looking. But even the Rajah looked -startled as he saw the change in her expression, as she stood there -dimly revealed by the light of the stars that gleamed through the little -cabin's port-hole. Standing there framed between her bunk and the -slanting beam of the bulwark, her tumbled hair about her neck, she -looked like some wonderful emblematic figure of spiritual beauty -struggling against the temptation of passion. But still his hands stole -stealthily up her arms and about her: now he softly touched the silky -material of her blouse, his face within three inches of her own. His -arms curved snake-wise over her shoulders. "Marlino sa wean, placer your -lips to mine--quick, quick!" he whispered. His voice was hoarse with -passion as he drew her near to him. "Putih bunga, mine! Ola savoo, -beautiful!" he babbled. He felt the sighing heave and fall of her bosom. -Gently but firmly he pressed her head slowly backwards, so that her face -should be uplifted to his own. Even in the gloom he noticed that her -eyes stared up at him as though in sleep. He leaned half fearfully -forward and let his mouth touch her lips. - -"Go! Go!" she wailed, as she tried to overcome the darkness that was -sweeping her very life away. She fancied that a shadow had slipped out -of the night to torture her soul. Again in some terrible rivalship of -dark and mystery it sought to strangle her. She fancied she saw strange, -wild eyes appealing to her, peering over the Rajah's shoulder; but it -was only the Rajah's eyes she really saw. - -He saw her eyelids quiver. He felt the wild throb of her bosom still; -but he noticed that the limbs had ceased to tremble. - -"She hath given herself unto me!" so ran a thought through his mind. He -lost control of his acquired civilised astuteness and began to press -impassioned kisses on her upturned mouth. He felt her arms clasp him in -a responsive embrace. - -"Putih! Mine!" he whispered, his voice hoarse with passion. Her scented -tresses fell about his face. He fiercely pulled the fringe of her bodice -open at the neck and pressed burning kisses on the whiteness of her -throat. - -"Don't! Don't!" she cried softly. But he held her the tighter; it was a -merciless grip. She had begun to struggle. He was surprised at her -strength as she suddenly put forth her arms, clutched him by the throat -with one hand and with the other caught him by the shoulder and pushed. -For a moment he made little effort to ward her off. Slowly, to her -delight, she felt him going back, backwards towards her cabin door as -she pushed in her frenzy. And still she struggled and still she felt his -big form receding till his turbaned head was half-an-inch out of the -door. She gave a smothered cry of delight; she was winning in that -terrible encounter that was a struggle of life and death to her. Alas! -she had not reckoned with the cunning of that Papuan kidnapper. He -almost smiled as he allowed her to force him back yet a little more. -Even she half wondered why she was winning so easily. Then out shot his -hand; at last she had enabled him to reach and grip hold of the handle -of the cabin-door that opened _outwards_ into the saloon; in a moment he -had pulled it to; crash! it went as he slammed it and pushed the bolt! - -She and he were alone, shut in the cabin. They stood facing one another -in the dusk, like two half-baffled figures. Only the stars faintly -visible through the port-hole told of the ocean world outside as -Gabrielle looked first at the dark form before her and then out into the -night. She could not scream as he seized her in a tight clasp. Only a -moment and she had ceased to struggle, was crying softly to herself as -he pressed burning kisses on her face and drew her towards him. - -He continued his love-making ill far into the night. Although the girl -was completely in the Rajah's power, he still showed an unaccustomed -restraint. Heathen though he was, he could, when occasion demanded, hold -his passions in reserve. They would be gratified later, he told himself, -as he gloated over the defenceless girl. She would be even more at his -mercy in his native coastal village, in his own private dwelling. - -And still the stars shone over the wide ocean-way of night. Only the -sounds of the swelling sails and their muffled flop! flop! broke the -silence, as the vessel rose to the swell and rolled like a helpless -derelict on the silent tropic seas. Tramp! tramp! went the watch over -head. Then someone in the forecastle began to sing; it came faint but -distinct, some old Malayan chantey drifting aft as the wide wings of the -wind moved across that great world of waters. - - -It was night-time, and three days after the Rajah's cowardly attack, -when Gabrielle heard the Malayan sailors singing one of their weird -chanteys in a cheerful voice. She at once looked through the port-hole -of her berth, wherein she had made herself a willing prisoner, only -allowing the Malayan cabin-boy Tombo to enter with her meals. She stared -aloft. The vessel at that very moment was altering its course. She -distinctly noticed the apparent movement of the stars as the dark canvas -sails veered. Again she heard the gabble and hustle as the helm was put -hard over. It looked just as though the moon had given a frightened skid -across the sky. They had just let the hatchway down with a bang, had -finished pitching the dead victims of the hold overboard. But still the -Rajah shouted his orders. He was calling in a strange language. She -tried to understand, but not a word was familiar to her. "What's it all -mean? Are we there?" she wondered, as she looked round her in despair. -She gazed to the southward. Her heart gave a tremendous thump as she -sighted, a long, low line of dark coast to the starboard. Then she knew -that at last the _Bird of Paradise_ lay off the dreaded coast of wild -New Guinea. - -Words cannot describe the misery of Gabrielle's heart as she saw the -coast-line of that strange, rugged land and realised that when once she -was ashore there she would be completely in the Rajah's power. It seemed -to her that a great shadow from that mountainous world swept across the -sea and struck her soul with despair as a solitary cloud, like a -castaway's raft, crept under the moon. Her hair fluttered to the cool -night breeze, her fingers clutched the rim of the port-hole as she still -stared towards that desolate, terrible coast-line. But had Gabrielle -Everard been able to look astern and see across half-a-thousand miles -what a sight would have cheered her despairing heart. She would have -seen the _Sea Foam_ dipping gracefully, bounding onward, travelling -south-south-west across the coral sea beneath the tropic moon with all -sail set, and Mango Pango dancing on deck, while the great Ulysses, with -hand placed sentimentally on his heart, thundered out: - - "Oh, I went down South for to see my Sal, - Singing Polly-wolly-doodle all the way!" - -and Hillary, still full of romance and hope, playing the violin like -some pagan god, accompanying each song the big man sang. - - - - -CHAPTER XII--IN NEW GUINEA - - -It was close on midnight when the _Bird of Paradise_ dropped anchor off -the coastal township of Tumba-Tumba. It was the Papuan kidnapper's -native home on the coast of New Guinea, north-west of Astrolabe -mountains. - -"Keep near me, dear Tombo," whispered Gabrielle, as the little cabin-boy -ran into the cuddy full of excitement at hearing the anchor go. Before -the little fellow could make any response to Gabrielle the Rajah lifted -his foot and with a straight kick impelled the boy forcibly out on deck -again. Then he went away forward to give orders to the bustling crew. -Two or three Herculean Dyaks stood with revolvers in their hands by the -main hatchway. They had apparently thrown over all the dead bodies of -the victims who had died in the hold. Gabrielle looked through the -port-hole and saw half-a-dozen terror-stricken brown faces peep over the -rim of the hatchway. She saw the clutching brown fingers of old men, -girls and youths curled on the hatchway rim as the slaves struggled to -get a purchase and stare up at the blue, star-lit sky before the hatch -was slammed down again. - -She ran out on deck and stared shoreward in her despair. They were -anchored about a quarter of a mile from the line of coral reefs that -loomed afar, looking like grim, gnarled monsters of the sea, where the -ridges lifted their wave-washed backs for miles and miles. There, before -Gabrielle's eyes, were the wild coastal forests and mountains of a -strange land. Away to sea on the starboard side she saw strange figures -with mop-haired heads; some had curly, dishevelled hair, and their heads -sticking out of the moon-lit water made them look like dusky mermaids, -distinctly visible, as they crawled about searching for pearls on the -reefs. They were not mermaids. They were simply Papuan women and girls -and men searching for beche-de-mer in the shallow waters. - -"Solo bungo mass!" ("My flower of life!") whispered the Papuan skipper -into her ear. He had approached her silently. She looked up into his -face. The pallor of her own face, the despair in her blue eyes as they -shone with intense beauty of sorrow, had no effect on the man before -her. Indeed, her despair only increased his desire to get her completely -in his power. - -"Cannot I stay here? Must I go?" she said in a voice the appeal of which -cannot be described. The swarthy man was staring shoreward at his native -land, a half-wild look in his fiery eyes as he thought of the -helplessness of the trembling victim who stood beside him. He only shook -his head in reply, then gazed into her eyes in a way that struck terror -to her soul. She knew that she must obey. She had no belongings to pack, -and so in a few moments she was ready, standing like some helpless -_condamne_ awaiting the fall of the guillotine. - -It was almost a relief to the girl's mind to hear the sudden clamouring -just over the vessel's side. And as she looked over she saw dozens of -strangely ornamented canoes and outriggers crammed with mop-headed, -tattooed savages. - -"Sowan! Tiki, soo, Rajah!" shouted the barbarian horde, as the Rajah -looked down upon them, bowing grandiloquently in response to their -savage salutations. For the Rajah was the one "quite civilised" man of -their primitive heathen coastal township, and so looked upon with -almighty respect by his fellows. It was a momentous event in the life of -the population of the coastal village when the _Bird of Paradise_ came -in. The Rajah usually dropped anchor leagues away to the north, near the -Bismarck Archipelago. It was there that he usually got the biggest -prices for his freightage of trembling captives, destined for the slave -markets of German and Dutch New Guinea. But the Rajah on the present -occasion was in a mighty hurry to get ashore, so he had decided to take -Gabrielle with him and leave his mulatto mate to sail the _Bird of -Paradise_ to the next port and dispose of his terrified human cargo. - -When Gabrielle arrived under the cover of night on the shores of that -barbarian hut city, and saw the savage-looking women and men staring at -her, as tattooed _ridi_-clad chiefs shouted, "Cowan! to mita putih -purumpuan! ('Welcome to the white girl!') she trembled in her terror, -and even felt glad of the Rajah's presence as they mobbed her and -pinched her white flesh deliciously. The population rushed out of their -huts by hundreds. Hideous old tattooed chiefs (bare as eggs down to the -loins, bone ornaments in their ears) moaned and blew with their blubbery -lips as they spotted her whiteness. The deep-bosomed tawny women who -stood beneath the sheltering ivory-nut palms by their huts stopped their -unintelligible hubbub as the Rajah hurried her past. - -"Cowan! The Rajah! The Soo Rajaaah!" they shouted, as they recognised -that cultured heathen in civilised attire, the great squire, the lord of -the manor in Tumba-Tumba. The news spread like wildfire. "Cowan!" -("Friend!") gabbled the girls, women and youths, as they rushed out of -their small thatched homesteads to see the great Rajah and the beautiful -_putih purumpuan_. The thick-haired half-caste Malayan girls, dancing -beneath the festival palms, jingling their leglets and shell-threaded -armlets, stopped chanting to see so unusual a sight. They laid their -hands in a romantic way on their hearts and sighed out, "O wean soo -loo," as a white girl with wondrous golden hair tossing to the breezes -was hurried along a prisoner in the Rajah's loving grip. - -On, on he hurried. The tropic moon cast a weird light over the barbarian -world that was framed by distant mountains. Nothing but mighty brooding -forest haunted with mystery and uncouth sounds came into view for miles -and miles as Gabrielle was hustled along. And still she heard the low -chanting salutations of "Cowan le soo!" floating to her ears. Then came -the weird sounds of the tribal bone flutes and beating drums, and the -sudden hush as she passed beneath the rows of hanging coco-nut-oil lamps -of some festival ceremony. Those wild people had often seen the Rajah -arrive from his blackbirding schooner with many a trembling victim -looking up into his eyes for mercy, but never had they seen such a one -as they saw that night. They marvelled at the glory of her eyes, the -cataract of dishevelled hair, like the sunset on their mountains off -Tumba-Tumba (so they said). Besides, all the previous victims were -tawny-hued like themselves and had dark eyes, eyes that shone, -delightedly sometimes, to hear the acclamations of admiring chiefs in -the slave markets. But the girl before them looked wildly beautiful with -some fright that they knew nothing of. - -As Gabrielle Everard saw their repulsive, blubbery lips, the yellowish, -hot-looking eyes, the animalistic bodies of the huge, -pendulous-breasted, over-fed chiefesses, she felt a tremendous pang -strike her heart, in the thought that somewhere back in the past she had -kinship with them. As she heard the distant drums in the mountains a -strange feeling came over her. She even clutched the man's hand beside -her: she half fancied that those beating drums were the drums that she -had heard in the bungalow away in Bougainville when the shadow crept -into her bedroom. - -As they passed under the banyan groves they came to a large group of -huts of various shapes and sizes. It was the Rajah's native village. - -"Helaka!" murmured the _taubadus_ (chiefs), and when they saw Gabrielle -they looked with surprise and said: "Dimdim Wovou!" ("White -foreigner!"). - -Gabrielle's bare feet were bleeding through contact with the sharp -shingle by the shore reefs. But that didn't worry the Rajah, his only -response to her appeal that he would go slower was to hurry faster than -ever. He crossed the cleared village space and took the girl straight to -his domestic tambu temple. "Tepiake!" grunted the _taubadas_ as he -passed through the thickly overgrown bamboo stockade. He had now arrived -at his parental residence, a kind of palatial heathen hall, where his -own people resided and held semi-Malayan fetishes and all that would -remind them of their past in the Malay Archipelago. As Gabrielle stood -before that big wooden building her heart sank. She was too weary to say -much to the man beside her. She hardly noticed the fiendish-looking -children about her and the ape-like being who ran out from the palms and -danced with glee before her. She trembled as she looked at the Rajah's -flushed face and noticed the change in his manner. She saw a look of -command in his eyes, that she had only vaguely felt was there before. -His walk had become majestic. The pleading obeisance she had received -from him aboard the vessel had disappeared. He behaved like one who had -complete authority over all around him and over her also. Her feminine -instincts awoke, came to her assistance immediately. She felt that she -was utterly alone in that awful haunt of barbarism. - -"I'll die first!" was the secret resolution of her heart. She half hated -herself to think she had once had her arms about him and had returned -his embrace. He had looked so handsome, so god-like, as he swore by the -Christian apostles and Jesus Christ. The tears started to her eyes as -she looked at that sinister heathen homestead as it loomed before her by -the light of a hundred tiny hanging coco-nut lamps. She thought of her -father, the old bungalow in Bougainville and of Hillary. - -The sounds of the barbarian drums seemed to make her realise with -terrible vividness the almighty simplicity of the apprentice's love for -her. She instinctively felt that, though the stranded apprentice had -never mentioned the apostles or Christ's name, or even God, that he did -not do so because God and Christ spoke for him in the great silence of -his own actions. And as she remembered these things she stood still, her -thoughts far away across the seas. She forgot the presence of the wild, -staring people around her. Her spirit leapt into Hillary's arms, she -looked into his eyes and asked him to die with her. The hordes of -savages, the pagan huts, the feathery palms and distant moon-lit -mountains slowly dissolved, vanishing like the fabric of a dream. She -did not hear the voice of the heathen missionary beside her as he spoke -in his own tongue to the clamouring hordes, so intense were her thoughts -as she dreamed of Hillary and all that she had lost. - -Her despair was so bitter that she hardly cared what might happen as, -like one awakening from a dream into the light of miserable reality, she -mechanically turned her head as Koo Macka spoke to her. - -"Solan putih bunga, my Gabri-ar-le," he muttered. Then he gripped her by -the arm and led her under the thatched verandah and into his wooden -ancestral halls. - -A hideous, baboon-like woman fell on her knees before the Rajah and -moaned out: "Solan, soo wa eala!" Then she gazed upon the girl and -lifted her claw-like hands as though in approval. It was Macka's old -mother. Then a ferocious-looking half-caste (Malayo Papuan) mop-headed -old man rose from his stinking squatting-mat, hobbled forward and stared -keenly at the girl as she stood beneath the tiny hanging lamps. He made -hideous grimaces as he inspected her, touched her smooth arms, smelt her -golden hair, put his dirty fingers between the folds of her torn blue -blouse and stared at the whiteness revealed to his eyes through the -divided material. And all the time that he gazed his mouth emitted -betel-nut juice that dropped down on to his tattooed, hairy breast. - -"Le putih purumpuan bunga!" ("O flower of beautiful whiteness!") he -groaned out in his Malayan lingo. Then he too turned to Macka, and by -his gesticulations revealed the enormous pride he felt that the Rajah -should return to the palatial homestead with so wonderful a prize. The -old Malayan chieftain was the Rajah's esteemed _bapa_ (father). Though -he was old and wrinkled, it was evident that he too had been handsome in -his day. From that old _bapa_ Macka had inherited the indescribable -sensualism that had placed Gabrielle in her awful position. - -"Cowan, wanoo, wanoo wooloo!" he seemed to shout, as he gazed with pride -on his hopeful son. Even the Rajah recognised the results of his own -virtues and swelled his chest, put his arms half up and gaped to hide -the embarrassment of an invisible blush. And why shouldn't old _bapa_ be -proud of his son? Had he not listened to the pleadings of the German -missionary at Astrolabe, who had come over from the isles of the -Bismarck Archipelago? - -"O great _bapa_," said the missionary, "take thee this little Macka, -this small son of thine, teach unto him the Word of God, rear him up in -the path of righteousness, so that he may follow the divine calling and -teach thy people the beauty of the Western creed!" - -And old _bapa_, listening to that good German missionary's advice, took -his hand and said: "O white papalagi from over the _moan ali_ (seas) I -have listened. And I say unto thee, that it shall be as thy godly words -have said." Then immediately he called his son, little Macka, from his -idol worship in the tambu temple, and, laying his tawny hand on the -boy's head, said: "O my son, the Fates have willed on thy behalf that -thou shalt go hence across the big waters to Honolulu and be educated -like unto a noble white man. For, I say, it beseemeth good that thou -shalt grow up and be one good missionary, so that thou mayst guide thy -people in the path of the new righteousness." - -So spake proud old _bapa_, who truly had his son's interest deep in his -heart. The result was that soon after the German tramp steamer _Lubeck_ -sailed from Aru, up the coast, taking the boy Macka across the seas to -Honolulu. And as the boy's years increased the missionaries marvelled -that so bright a youth had come amongst them, for he was clever and -became as one of them in learning. Soon Macka became head of one of the -biggest missionary classes at K---- O----. But alas! with the -development of manhood the old instincts, the passions developed in his -race through centuries of tropical desire, burst into flame. They were -not to be overthrown by the sad aspirations of a few old missionaries at -Honolulu. Those kind, well-meaning men had endeavoured to change the -spots on the leopard's back--in vain! For what was the inevitable result -of their life-long pilgrimage away from their native lands? This--there -stood Macka once more, after all those years, back in his native -village, the personification of the full-blooded heathen attired in -Western garb, with a white girl trembling beside him, looking first into -the eyes of the son, then into the eyes of the father. And still the -drums beat on. And still far away over the seas old Pa Everard wailed -through his delirium, "My Gabby! My Gabby!" till the asylum-keepers at -Ysabel soothed his rum-stricken nerves. - -"Ah! ah! koola, Cowan! my faithful son! Thou art indeed the joy of old -_bapa's_ soul!" And as the old father's eyes filled with tears of pride, -and the hideous, bloated mother waved her skinny arms with joy, the -Rajah bowed. For the Rajah was a good and faithful son, and had repaid -his parents well from the proceeds of his exertions in the dangerous -slave traffic. - -The civilised blackbirding skipper well knew that the girl was now -utterly in his power. He was in no hurry to further his wishes. Indeed -he was the first to suggest to his old _bapa_ that Gabrielle should stay -with them till the final arrangements could be made that would chime in -with his secret desires. - -So Gabrielle Everard actually found herself living in the squalor of a -Malayo-Papuan homestead on the coast of New Guinea. She was down with -fever for the first three days. Then the Rajah came into her thickly -matted chamber (mats denoted that the visitor was an honoured guest) and -wailed forth his hypocritical vows. - -He sobbed to see her lying ill. He said that if anything should happen -to her he would fade to a shadow and die. Then he rubbed his eyes with -his big coat-sleeve, and opened a little bottle of medicine. The foolish -girl, sick and weak, felt that perhaps the man had a heart after -all--she drank! Then he whispered soft words into her ears, but she did -not listen. - -"Come on, putih bunga!" said he. She rose like one in a dream, and he -led her away to the great tambu temple that stood right opposite Macka's -ancestral halls. It was a wooden building, sheltered by enormous -mahogany-trees. - -Only the devil himself could adequately describe the deeper meanings of -the ritual of the tambu houses in New Guinea. - -The tambu house in which Gabrielle found herself was a low-roofed -apartment about forty feet long and thirty wide, not more than twelve -feet in height. Its rows of windows consisted of small circles cut in -the wooden walls, something after the style of port-holes in a ship. It -was lit by the artificial glimmer of coconut-oil hanging lamps, which -seemed only to add to its shadowy mystery. These innumerable oil lamps, -hanging from beams over the wide _pae pae_ (stage platform), were for -the prime purpose of revealing the attractions of the half-caste girls -who regularly performed at the tambu fetishes. These girls were mostly -Polynesians, Arafuras, Bugis, Dyaks and a bastard type of Chinese and -Melanesian, mostly girls who had been brought to the coast of New Guinea -by the blackbirding ships when they had been children. Such was the -mixed group of feminine frailty that was performing and dancing when -Gabrielle entered the tambu temple. The stage walls were richly -decorated with scarlet and white hibiscus blossom that hung on woven -threads. The floors were thickly covered with ornamental matting. On the -walls hung the revered fetish ceremonial implements and sacred taboo -remnants, such as--skulls, old men's beards, dead maidens' hair, -threaded human teeth and all that was weirdly suggestive of death and -orgyism. The front of the wide stage was adorned by the hideous fetish -idols. The middle figure was about eight feet high, had four arms, and -seemed to be carved out of one solid lump of wood. It had one mighty -yellow tooth issuing from the carven mouth, which leered in an -everlasting grin that did not seem out of place when the grotesque -dances were in full swing. A serpent-like thing was twined about its -wooden arms and again round the waists of the two somewhat smaller -images that stood one on each side of it. A look of agony was -wonderfully expressed by the swollen veins on the chest, arms and -forehead, as the fanged mouth of the strong embracing reptile gripped -the right ear of that symbolical piece of New Guinea sculptural art. It -represented some tragic legendary Malayan episode; indeed it was a kind -of Laocoon of heathen-land; but instead of being clothed with those -symbols of beauty that exalt a lump of carven insensate wood to a higher -state, it was clothed with symbols of ugliness and lust. And the -barbarian sculptor who had achieved this revolting but still artistic -result had fashioned the idol on the left-hand side with feminine -attributes that were physically expressed from the full wooden lips down -to the twisted ivory-nailed toes of the delicate feet. Notwithstanding -the allegorical hint of sexuality in the huge middle figure (its hideous -character was intensified by Nature's artless handiwork, for fat-bodied -green palm worms crawled in and out of its stretched wooden lips), it -was a truly wonderful bit of work; it stood there telling with an -indisputable voice how strong a force man's passions often are. - -Even the Rajah had the grace to stand between Gabrielle and that -monstrous wooden trio as they passed them by. The Rajah was getting -wary. A look in Gabrielle's eyes at times had told him that a fire -smouldered in her soul. And once while on board his schooner she had -lifted his set of crockery presented to him by the Astrolabe German -Missionary Society (together with an illuminated address) and smashed -them to atoms at his feet, calling him such names as he deserved. As for -the tambu dancers who stood by the idols in a semi-nude state, armlets -and leglets and threaded shells jingling on their moving limbs, they -were as wonderful in their way as the South Sea Laocoon. For in some -unexplainable way they did the very things that the idol so hideously -expressed; yet they did not inspire an observer with that artistic -admiration and feeling of terror which the idol inspired. Had it not -been for the love of life that burns so fiercely in youth and her newly -awakened love for Hillary--for Gabrielle still believed that he would -cross her path again--she would have snatched up one of the barbarian -scimitars that lay by the floor-mats of that hellish abode and -dramatically ended her existence. - -Koo Macka had fiercely gripped her by the arm as he led her along the -centre transept. The rich scents that came from the abundant wreaths of -exotic flowers on the walls and in calabashes on the floor made -Gabrielle feel sick. A large, black-winged cockatoo, with its right foot -chained to a small pedestal on which it stood, looked sideways at -Gabrielle and started to yell its discordant language in a most vicious -way as it snapped its big curved beak. It was evidently some sacred -tambu bird, for the high priest gazed in horror as the bird flapped its -wings, and glanced up and down at Gabrielle's white face and -golden-bronze tresses that tumbled over her shoulders. - -"Shut up!" yelled the Rajah. In a moment the bird closed its wings and -seemed subdued. This obedience of the bird to the will of the Rajah made -a great impression among the superstitious throng. The chanting maids -and tambu chiefesses lifted their thick-lipped faces and shouted: -"Cowan! Lao Rajahah! a loca Laki, putih bunga bini!" ("The Rajah has -brought unto his people a beautiful flower-like wife!") - -Hideous stout old cannibals lifted coco-nut goblets to their blubbery -lips and forcibly expressed by hideous winks and squints their inward -thoughts about the white girl's beauty. - -It must indeed have been a novel sight to see that bronze-golden-haired -girl led towards the festival altars by their mighty Rajah Koo Macka. As -to what the girl herself was thinking, she was utterly ignorant of the -cause of the hubbub and the barbarian cheering around her. The liquor -that had been forced between her lips had quite dazed her brain. As -Macka's old _bapa_ came forward from the front row of the squatting -audience and led the tambu dancers up to the stage, Gabrielle only -stared as one stares on a strange scene in a dream. She didn't move a -muscle as rows of mop-headed Papuan, Malayan and half-caste girls stood -in a row and then threw their limbs about till the treduca shells made -music that harmonised with the lewdness displayed before her happily -unconscious eyes. - -It was only when the Rajah stepped forward, attired in full civilised -costume that proclaimed him a member of New Guinea Rajahship, that the -girl began to tremble. The large scarlet waist-sash, the magnificent, -coiled-up turban and the robe that fell to his feet only made him appear -the more terrifying to her eyes. - -In a moment he had seized her by the wrist. And in her helpless terror -she did all that he demanded of her--lifted her arms to the roof, -chanted and sang a song with strange words in a strange tongue. Just by -her side sat a raving old _tiki_-priest; he was the finest bit of -hideousness extant; even the big wooden idol before which he repeatedly -prostrated himself had pleasant features compared to that living -representative of the tambu temple creed. - -Directly he had finished his weird incantations and hollow-voiced -acclamations he made the tribal sign to the handsome Rajah, who -thereupon immediately stooped and kissed Gabrielle, first on the mouth, -then on her feet, as he fell prone before her. Then he rose, looked into -her eyes and began to chant. To his astonishment the girl looked up at -him, a half smile on her sad face as she swayed her flower-bedecked form -and began to swerve with inimitable grace to the tum-tum of the -barbarian orchestra. She lifted her hands to the wooden ceiling, softly -chanting an old Malayan melody that neither they nor she had ever heard -before. The music of her voice seemed to hold the wild audience -spellbound. And when the girl put forth her hands and responded in a -wonderful way to the mystical passes of the Rajah's small, womanish -hands, the whole motley crew waved their dusky arms in delight. The -dancing maidens threw their limbs in envious rapture, and tried in vain -to imitate the rhythmical grace of Gabrielle's trance-like movements. -For all their wild acts, and the jingle of their brass and bone leglets -and armlets as they made their wretched limb-tossings, their performance -was as nothing compared to the white girl's wondrous grace. - -As Gabrielle stopped and stared at the dusky horde of raised faces and -tossing limbs beneath rows of hanging lamps, she seemed to awaken from -her trance-like state. She raised her hands and gave a cry. The whole -audience, who thought that cry was an exclamation expressing some -ecstasy of the moment, renewed their volleys of applause. Only the Rajah -knew the truth, the meaning of that cry. He hurried forward, gripped the -girl's hand, breathed hotly in her face and murmured, "Come, Bini, mine! -Wife!" Then the Rajah gave a start. Above the guttural cries of the -tambu marriage assembly one voice had begun to ring out shrill and -clear. It was the voice of Maroshe, the Rajah's long-cast-off tribal -wife. She had been a beautiful Koiari maid when the Rajah, who was ten -years her senior, had first wooed her. But her feminine attractions had -been cruelly brief. The girls of the Papuan races leap into full-blown -womanhood at fourteen, and at twenty-five, sometimes earlier, have -apparently reached old age, their brows and cheeks being seared with -wrinkles. But Maroshe still had a remnant of the old fire gleaming in -her fine eyes. But it was a fire that boded no good for the amorous -Macka as she stood amidst the motley audience and yelled: "_Tao se -cowana tumbi!_" (May the gods send thee twins!) - -Macka heard that voice. It was the one voice on earth that could echo -into the depths of his soul and awaken a tinge of remorse in him. -Indeed, as he gripped Gabrielle's wrist he looked against his will -across the tiers of uplifted dusky faces till his eyes met the magnetic -glance of the scorned Maroshe. Again she held her hand mockingly aloft, -and once more yelled: "_Tao se cowana tumbi!_" The tambu maidens ceased -dancing, and stood with fingers to lips beneath the rows of hanging -lamps. They knew Maroshe, and also knew that something in her voice -revealed the fact that, after all, she still retained her old love for -the Rajah. The huge wooden idol, its big eyes agog, was the only face -that did not express the horror that seemed to transfix every heathen -countenance. - -Suddenly Maroshe waved her skinny hand thrice. Then at the sight of her -late husband standing there with a new bride, and a white girl to boot, -she lowered her wrinkled but still half-beautiful face and disappeared. -Macka gave a sigh of relief to see her go. - -Suddenly the audience seemed to be awakened from their horrified stupor. -"Bang! To woomb!" It was the sound of a monstrous heathen drum banged -twice only, somewhere in a mountain village. - -Once more the Rajah gripped Gabrielle by the wrist. "Come, my pretty -putih bunga!" - -According to the ceremonial rites of the creeds of Tumba-Tumba, -Gabrielle Everard was now Macka's wife. That orgy of lust, toddy and -heathen seraglio chanting and dances was a genuine old-time New Guinea -marriage ceremony. - -Gabrielle hardly realised all that it meant for her. She placed her hand -to her brow and stared as though she gazed on some strange sight afar -off. The village priests and _darah tiki-tiki_ enchanters and -enchantresses beat their skinny breasts to show their appreciation of -the bride's beauty. Such an honour had never been theirs before; for had -they not been the means of binding a beautiful white maid in marriage -bonds to one of their own race. - -Directly the Rajah got Gabrielle outside the tambu house he pressed hot -kisses on her face. She struggled in that embrace. Her cries brought -hordes of dusky, imp-like girls and mop-headed youths on to the scene. -He desisted in his matrimonial advances. In a moment he had decided to -take her to his old _bapa_. - -As Gabrielle once more prepared to enter the Rajah's homestead, old -_bapa_, and his hideous, baboon-like wife, rushed forth from the palms -just behind, and threw wedding gifts of a suggestive nature upon the -trembling girl. After they had been in the presence of old _bapa_ for -some little time, the Rajah altered his mind, and throwing his body on -the sacred mats of his father's home expressed a wish to leave the -parental roof and take his bride up to his own private establishment in -the mountains (two miles off), a place where he had taken so many -victims who had fallen under the lure of his university education and -the glory of the Christian apostles. - -As the Rajah once more went forth, taking his pretty _putih bini_ up the -little village track that led under the feathery palms and ivory-nut -trees, he gazed upon Gabrielle's form as only Macka the ex-missionary -could gaze. At last they arrived outside a large wooden building (made -of thick, rough-hewn mahogany logs) situated on the lower slopes of the -Tomba-Tomba Mountains. - -The Rajah at once took Gabrielle within. Heaven only knows what the -white girl went through before the Rajah realised that it was no brown -woman he had in his vile power. There had been considerable trouble -before he was finally vanquished and sent about his business; he had -done his best before leaving to become friendly with the girl again. He -knew by her desperate act in jumping overboard on the _Bird of Paradise_ -that she was quite likely to attempt to take her life again. The look in -her eyes spoke volumes to him. He told off two of the old ki-ki chiefs, -ordering them to keep strict watch over that wooden building where she -was imprisoned. So the two barbarian sentinels grunted and smoked by the -door and Gabrielle lay down on the thick sleeping mats and tried to -rest. - -On the second night the Rajah once more crept into her chamber. He fell -on his knees. He swore she was his beloved spouse in the eyes of God and -the heathen apostles of his own heathen land. He began chanting and -making weird passes, swearing all the while that the idols of the tambu -temple had been placed in the glow of the moonbeams and had spoken. - -"They have teller me to come to thee. They say that you must giver -yourself up to me and to my gods. You understand?" - -Gabrielle looked in wonder at the man as he fell at her feet, groaning -and wailing. He even wept. She saw the tears in his eyes. - -"Gabri-e-arle. I lover th-ee. Thou art my own, my putih bunga," he -repeated over and over again. He pressed hot kisses on her face. But the -girl struggled and overcame him. Then he diverted her attention and -swiftly placed his old ki-ki drugs in her water goblet. Drugging was, -and is, the highest art in New Guinea, and so he had little fear of the -results not being according to his requirements. Then he went away. He -had not been gone an hour before Gabrielle was startled by hearing the -sound of jabbering outside the tambu door. She could distinctly hear a -pleading voice, as though some native woman wailed and talked to the -sentinels. Then the silence returned, but to her surprise the tappa -curtains of her little chamber were suddenly thrown aside, and a -strange-looking native woman stood before her. It was Maroshe, the late -divorced! She held no stiletto in her hand. No malignant gleam of hatred -shone in her eyes; only a weary look of sorrow as she stood before -Gabrielle. The unexpected visitor fell on her knees and at once began to -chant and mumble mysteriously, as though she thought Gabrielle -understood all the magic of her land. - -Gabrielle noticed the note of appeal in her voice. She at once took -heart and bade her rise. - -"What's the matter? What you want?" said Gabrielle, as she tried to -speak to the wailing woman in pidgin-English and made many -gesticulations. At last the white girl seemed to understand. - -It was wonderful how swiftly the souls of two women of different races -fathomed each other's secrets, peered into each other's eyes and read -all that they wanted to read. - -Gabrielle's sorrow had probably brought to the fore the old instincts -with which Nature originally endowed the human races so that they might -scent danger before it was actually upon them. - -Maroshe it seemed could speak a little pidgin-English, and so the two -women were able before long to understand the exact position of things. -Then the native girl, for she was not much more than a girl, kissed -Gabrielle's hands, fell prone and touched her feet in grovelling -subjection. Tears came into Gabrielle's eyes as she realised the woman's -sorrow and observed the swift glance of delight in her eyes as she heard -that she, the white girl, was a most unwilling prisoner in the tambu -marriage chamber. "I comer gain. Me goer now, nicer, whi ladi. You no -putih bunga. Ah!" she said. - -Before Gabrielle had realised that the woman was going, Maroshe had -slipped out of the door. But she came again, and under circumstances -that Gabrielle never cared to recall. - -The next night the Rajah returned again to the solitary building by the -mountains of Tomba-Tomba. He sent his chieftain sentinels away to their -huts. He stooped his turbaned head as he entered the low doorway, and -approached the girl with the old fascinating look in his fiery eyes. -With the almighty deceit of his race he told her he had relented, and -would take her back to Bougainville. He made her heart leap with hidden -delight as he talked. His voice seemed tender as a woman's as he poured -forth his semi-Mohammedanistic _vers libre_. Again he knelt before her, -as a bigot heathen might kneel before an idol, and stared into her blue, -frightened eyes. - -Gabrielle, as though in a trance, felt his caressing hands; they seemed -shadow hands as his burning words crept into her ears. She heard the -winds sigh outside in the mountain palms. She and he were alone. - -"Gabri-ar-le! thou art more than life itself; the moon, the stars, thou -art; and like unto the stars shall our children be!" he murmured in -Biblical tones as he returned to the lingo of the old mission-room. Only -the chantings of the cicalas in the ivory-nut palms disturbed the -silence. Gabrielle felt the strength of those strong hands, the warm -breath of those terrible lips. A mist came before her eyes; she heard -the wild tribal drums beating across the centuries! The Papuan's voice -sounded far off; a shadowy figure had whipped across the rush-matted -floor as the lamps burnt dimly with a magic light. And still the drums -were beating as though in impatient haste across the centuries. And -still her soul struggled as she fearfully watched for that which her -eyes had surely seen; then, once again, the tappa curtains that -separated her chamber from the door that led straight to the jungle -outside seemed to divide softly. She could not scream as that terrible -thing peeped between the divided curtains, its burning eyes staring upon -her. Its beautiful woman's head was faintly visible. The eyes gleamed -with rapture as the enchantress from the past stared appealingly, -beckoned to the white girl, nodded her dusky head and besought Gabrielle -to do her bidding! Gabrielle stared wildly round. Only she and the -terrible enchantress faced one another whichever way her eyes turned. -She still peeped beneath the uplifted curtains--now she had begun to -crawl on her belly like unto a serpent. Tears were in the shadow woman's -eyes! And still Gabrielle heard the drums beating across the mountains, -coming across the silent hills of sleep. And still the struggle went on. -The phantom woman crawled slowly beneath the tappa curtain as the white -girl watched. She noticed the beauty of the smooth, oily, -terra-cotta-hued limbs, the curved, sensuous thighs. At last the -visitant lifted her beautiful shadowy head, and began slowly to rise to -her feet as the tappa curtain fell softly. She had entered Gabrielle's -chamber! A shadow fell across the girl's pallid, terror-stricken face, -darkening her eyes. She groped in terrible blindness, just for a moment, -then pushed it from her. She recognised the terrible presence and -recalled in a flash how she had mastered it when it had come to her in -the dead of night in her bedroom, at her old home in Bougainville. She -fell on her knees and prayed. She wrestled with the evil presence in an -indescribable agony of spirit. And then, quite suddenly, the enchantress -who had crept out of the jungle of the past gave a wail--and vanished. - -Gabrielle stared round her. The perspiration was dropping from her brow; -she was trembling from head to foot. She was alone! The Rajah, too, had -seen that look in her eyes and had disappeared. In a moment she had -recovered her senses. She rushed into the little off-room where she -slept, and in two seconds was hastily piling up the mahogany boxes and -huge native clubs against the door, so that none could enter without her -knowledge. Then she lay on her rush-matted bed and thanked God. - -For now she realised instinctively, with a force amounting to certainty, -that never again would she be haunted by this shadow woman--her dark -ancestress from the past. Gabrielle knew that that struggle in the tambu -house had meant for her a complete spiritual victory. The evil spirit -had been exorcised. - -Perhaps also it meant something more. Perhaps it symbolised a physical -triumph over Rajah Macka and his heathen desires. Strange as it may -seem, she no longer felt the same fear of him which had possessed her on -board the ship. She was trying to persuade herself that, after all, he -was only a grotesque heathen, eaten up with his own conceit. And these -thoughts, or something like them, were stirring in her mind when she -finally fell asleep. - - -Gabrielle had been a close prisoner in the private tambu house for just -eight days before the Rajah came to her again. The girl had almost -recovered from the shock of that terrible visitant from the past and the -Rajah's advances. Indeed, she had bribed one of the sentinel chiefs by -giving him a tortoise-shell comb from her hair, and so had received -valuable information. She had discovered that there were several white -settlers residing in the villages by Astrolabe Bay, some twenty-five -miles round the coast. And so she had resolved to take flight at the -first opportunity, and risk death in the wild coastal forest in a last -attempt to secure the help of civilised men. - -Sunset had sunk over the mountains as she sat hollow-eyed and miserable -in her prison chamber. Gabrielle could hear the terrible tiki priests -chanting and beating drums to their great god Urio Moquru, whose mortal -power was represented in monstrous carven wood somewhere near the sacred -banyans at the foot of the mountains. - -Suddenly the Rajah entered her chamber. A fierce, unearthly look gleamed -in his eyes. He did not approach her in his usual oblique fashion; he -caught her by the arm and began to whisper fierce words in her ears: - -"Bini mine! You are mine! I curse your race, curse your apostles, your -Christ and all that you damnable Christians believe in!" - -The girl stood trembling. What had happened, she wondered. A new feeling -of hope flashed through her misery as the man continued to blaspheme and -rave. - -Gabrielle knew nothing about the schooner that had anchored off the -village of Tumba-Tumba that afternoon. But the Rajah knew. He had -watched the obstinate tacking of the schooner for three hours that -afternoon as it persistently hugged the coast. And his apprehensions had -been increased when it had finally anchored within a quarter of a mile -from the shore where his own vessel the _Bird of Paradise_ lay. For the -blackbirding craft had returned the day before from the Bismarck -Archipelago, after disposing of its remaining living freight in the -various slave markets. There was little doubt in Macka's mind as to -_why_ that craft was hugging the coast. He knew what white men were like -in their wrath, and what they were likely to do when they discovered -that a girl of their own race had been kidnapped in the same manner that -they themselves had kidnapped thousands of natives. He knew that old -Everard, drunkard though he was, would develop a mighty virtue when he -discovered that his own daughter had met a kidnapping fate! He knew also -that many of the Papuans and half-castes of the Solomon Isles had sailed -with him on his blackbirding voyages, and so knew him for a blackbirder -by night and a noble missionary by day. And, realising that those old -shipmates of his would give him away for a bribe, he had come to -Gabrielle with the intention of taking her farther along the coast. He -was determined not to give her up after all his trouble and scheming. - -"Gabri-ar-le, I comer you, for I wanter you to fly away from here. I go -forth before dawn, we go together to Arfu where I have many friends and -can make you great princess," said he, lapsing in his fright into the -old pidgin-English. - -A look of horror leapt into the girl's eyes. - -"You promised--you know what you've promised about my going home to my -father again?" she murmured. - -The man turned his face away. Even he seemed ashamed as he turned aside -and looked through the door out into the night. He put forth his hands -in a pleading way: "Gabri-ar-le, you must, must come, I will----" - -He said no more. He turned his head and then rushed to the door. What -was that gabbling? A mob of curious natives, all excited and murmuring -in a hubbub of expectation, were evidently coming up the track that led -to the quiet tambu house. - -"What's that noise? Who are you fetching here?" shouted Gabrielle, as -she heard the sounds coming nearer and nearer. - -Then he heard it again--it was a sound that came to Macka's ears like -the trump of doom!--and to the girl's ears like the voice of an angel. -It was the sound of a big voice shouting in her own tongue, the English -language: - -"By the gods of this b---- cannibal isle, I'll pulverise him to dust! -Macka! Macka! Where art thou, old missionary of the South Seas? I'm yer -man!" - -The Rajah turned a ghastly yellowish hue. He made a rush but he was too -late--Gabrielle caught him by the coat and tripped him up. He fell -headlong to the floor. - -A mighty wind like the first breath of warning from a tornado seemed to -blow as a hoarse voice, vibrant with pent-up emotion, said: "In there, -say ye! You god-damned heathen!" - -Gabrielle stared, petrified with astonishment; there before her stood -the big rude man who had disturbed Hillary and herself when she sat -singing on the banyan bough by the lagoon in Bougainville. If she was -surprised, it is certain that Rajah Koo Macka was. He thought that the -world had tumbled on his turbaned head as he fell. He struggled to his -feet, and rushed outside the door of the tambu house. - -"Stand up!" said Samuel Bilbao, confronting him quite calmly as he began -to tuck up his coat sleeves. Hillary, who had made a rush for Macka, was -stayed by Gabrielle's hand. She had rushed forward and leapt into his -arms. The attitude of the big Britisher as he stood there, cool as a -cucumber, as calm as though he stood on a village green in England -preparing to exchange fisticuffs in a five minutes' contest, made every -onlooker step back and form a half-circle behind Ulysses's back. - -"Put your fists up, Macka mine! Old Macka the missionary!" yelled -Ulysses, as he struck the clasp-knife from the man's hand and threw it, -plop! like a tennis ball into the cook's hand. The rest of the _Sea -Foam's_ crew stood just behind, fronting the huddled natives in the -shade of the stunted ivory-nut palms. Some had revolvers in hand ready -to obey Bilbao their esteemed skipper's wishes. - -The Rajah made a desperate rush towards the white man. He saw that his -only chance was to escape through the throng that had encircled him as -he stood there hesitating. - -No mercy shone in the depths of those clear, grey, English eyes; no -sympathetic gleam for the swarthy coward who defiled girls, kidnapped -husbands, wives, lovers and children, yet had not the courage to stand -up and protect himself from the fists of a white man. - -Ulysses stood with shoulders thrown back, and as the winds from the -mountains blew his yellowish moustache-ends backwards, till they almost -touched his shoulder curves, he looked a veritable Nemesis in dungaree -pants and dilapidated helmet-hat. But a more relentless Nemesis lurked -in the shadows of the jungle, waiting to put the finishing touch to the -Papuan Rajah's sinister career. It was Maroshe, his long-ago, cast-off -wife, the Koiari maid into whose ears he had once breathed the sacred -ritual vows, when he was in love with her. - -She had been the most eager to give Bilbao the information he and -Hillary sought on first coming ashore in that village at sunset. She had -quickly understood why the white men were so anxious to get information -concerning the Rajah's whereabouts. She knew that they were seeking the -white girl--her rival! The sudden turn of affairs had made her chuckle -with delight. "The gods are kind to me," she had said to herself. She -had intended that very night to creep into the Rajah's sleeping-chamber -and deal with him according to the old prescribed rites of her creed, -which had a special punishment for those who dare trample on a maiden's -vows. She had followed Bilbao and the crew stealthily up the track. She -even heard Gabrielle's astonished cry before she rushed into her own hut -and made her secret preparations. And now she lay close in the shade of -the jungle, prone on her belly like some half-reptilian, half-human -creature, as she watched her old lover tremble before the glance of the -stern papalagi. She held a goblet in her skinny hand; it was half filled -with a dark fluid. On she crawled, hand over hand and knee over knee, -nearer and nearer to the spot where Macka and Ulysses faced one another. -She chuckled, half-woefully, at the thought of this dramatic opportunity -which would give her her long-desired revenge. The Fates had willed it -so. She had once really loved that man, and it would have been hard to -have approached him whilst he slept in his old _bapa's_ tambu house. And -there he was, standing in the presence of the white girl whose beauty -inspired her with courage to give him the sacred draught. - -"Calre!" (Splendid!) she murmured, as her stiff limbs twinged and she -began to hurry on, seeing the beautiful white girl standing there, her -pretty month open, her blue eyes staring as the men of two races faced -each other. Once more her wrinkled body moved on, softly brushing aside -the scented frangipani blossoms and cinnamon grass. She was now within -twelve yards of the trembling Macka. In a moment she had leapt to her -feet, and made a running jump across the hollow village ditch that -separated her from the two men. - -"Holy Moses!" yelled Ulysses, as an apparition seemed to appear before -him. He dodged, making sure that Maroshe was going for him. - -Gabrielle, recognising the strange native woman who had come to her in -the tambu house a few nights before, gave a cry of astonishment. - -Hillary, who still held his coat in his hand, itching to get at Macka, -and had just begged Gabrielle to let him go, gasped in wonder. He made -sure that the figure that had leapt out of the jungle was the phantom -creature whom he had heard Gabrielle talk about. - -All the huddled Papuan, Malayan and Hindu bastard natives made a rush -backwards into the thick jungle groves, and then stuck their chins out -between the thick dark leaves, peering with awestruck eyes, half in -fright and half in curious anticipation. They alone knew the true -history of Macka's connection with the Koiari woman and of the awful -potency of the sacred goblet that she held in her outstretched hand. As -for Macka, he stood transfixed with terror. His swarthy face had gone -yellowish-brown! Indeed, as his eyes met those of the brown woman, he -gazed with even greater despair into the savage, still half-beautiful -face than he felt when he gazed upon Ulysses. Maroshe, standing there by -the tall palm, her finger pointing towards the crescent moon, that -looked like a gold feather over the mountains, her body clad in the -ornamental shelled, _rami_, looked the part she had come to play in that -night drama by the Tomba Tomba ranges. Her eyes shone like living fire. -She lifted her dusky face till her chin stuck out. One hand held the -goblet slightly aloft, with the other hand she pulled the wrinkled skin -of her shrunken bosom and let it go back, click! and looked sideways at -Gabrielle's full white throat in a meaning way. The venom of her hatred -for the man before her made her appear terribly old. - -Ulysses stepped backwards. He instinctively knew that that weird-looking -woman had the prior right to deal with the Rajah at that particular -moment. Step by step she approached, putting her knees far forward in a -peculiar way. Even the night winds seemed hushed; not a leaf stirred on -the tree-tops. She had begun the old tambu death chant. "Le rami lakai -Putih se lao, darah! Cowan ma saloe!" she wailed, as she chanted the -words of an eerie Malayan fetish melody. - -The crew of the _Sea Foam_, the natives, children and -feather-head-dressed chiefs, all watched, spellbound; yellowish faces, -brown faces, white faces looking like some dilapidated collection of men -dumped down there haphazard. The Rajah seemed the only living, movable -presence; his limbs shook violently as he stood in the Fate-like -presence of the faded, half-wild woman who had come in so dramatically -for the final act. - -She was swaying her body, making mystical passes with one hand; her -voice trembled in an emotional way as she chanted. The only audible sigh -from all that watching throng came from Gabrielle's lips. The shells of -the Koiari woman's _rami_ made a faint tinkle-tinkle as she moved -another step forward. - -Macka listened. He understood the meaning of that mumbling song and -heathenish incantation. He did not appeal for mercy. Strange as it may -seem, he looked half sadly on the faded beauty of the Koiari woman who -had once lain in his arms, had felt the passion of his caresses long -ago. For a moment she stood perfectly still before him, not in -hesitation, but with a look in her eyes as though she would recall some -old memory before she did that which the gods had decreed. - -It was only a moment's respite. Up went her hand, taking the goblet -right up against the Rajah's chin quite gently, as though she would bid -him drink once again of some old love-token--before he died! She tossed -her hand up, very carefully, so that there should be no mistake--she had -thrown the contents of the goblet! - -The terribly potent vitriol smoked on his face! - -A cry of horror went up from Ulysses' lips and from all the watching -crew. The natives yelled out in anguish. Even the mangy Papuan tribal -dog, sitting close to the idol's wooden feet, lifted its nose to the -crescent moon and howled. The sight of the Rajah's eyes had gone! -Standing there, blind, his face seared with fire, the fumes from the -goblet issuing from the top of his tilted turban and rising in a -shivering vapour to the palms above his head, he made a terrible -picture! He violently clapped his hands to his face. He began to dance -in a wild frenzy. His mind was shattered with pain. He jumped and -jumped, stamping on the ground as though he would crush his very soul -out with his feet. - -Notwithstanding all that the man had done to Hillary the young -apprentice felt some sympathy for the afflicted Rajah. It was so -unexpected. Ulysses, who had sworn to do so much when he had Macka in -his grasp, re-echoed the horror, the murmur that went up from the -huddled, onlooking crew. And no wonder, for as they watched a woman's -scream of anguish echoed to the mountains. In a moment they all moved -back as the Rajah, hearing that scream, put his hand forth in mute -appeal. _He_ heard the sympathetic wail in that blood-curdling cry. The -final act of the terrible drama, enacted before Ulysses and his crew, -was strangely in harmony with its wild setting. None expected that final -act, the thrilling exit from the stage when Maroshe the Koiari woman -forgave and became united to the Rajah! Mango Pango jumped with fright -and clutched Bilbao's arm. "Saver me, poor Mango," she wailed. Bilbao -dispelled the tense silence by yelling out: "By thunder!" - -The hollow-eyed mate stood like a spectre of misery who saw retribution -ahead as he lifted his shrunken hands and stared upward at the stars. - -The hubbub of the cowardly natives had suddenly ceased as they too -watched Macka's exit from his old life. Gabrielle clutched Hillary in -fear; indeed, every onlooker drew in a mighty breath as they saw them -go--Macka, a blind, groping figure, looking like some demon of the night -flying onward, and shouting in his Malayan tongue, one hand waving in -the air, Maroshe clinging to his other arm. They were reunited at last, -and she was leading him away to watch over him in his eternal darkness. - -For quite twenty seconds Ulysses and all the crew stared after them. - -By now the cowardly natives, who had sought to give no help to one of -their own kind, had begun their infernal hubbub and were clamouring -round Ulysses, begging for the several bribes he had promised should -they lead him to the place where the Rajah had taken the white girl. - -Bilbao, who had lived with the natives from Dampier Strait to Sarawak, -Borneo, knew they were a treacherous lot and liable to turn on him and -his scanty crew at any moment, so he was anxious to get back to the _Sea -Foam_. He wiped the perspiration from his brow. His voice was almost -gentle as he turned to Hillary and Gabrielle and said, with evidently -simulated calm: "I say, we'd better clear out of this at once." Then he -turned to the crew: "Hurry up, boys; let's get back to the boats." The -sallow mate, who had fallen down in a kind of fit, rose to his feet, and -stood swaying like a branch in a wind as he brushed the dust from his -brass-bound, peaked cap. - -In a moment Hillary, Gabrielle, Mango Pango and the crew had started -off, hurrying down the track as Ulysses led the way; the natives came -clamouring behind them, whirling and humming in guttural appeals like -bunches of monstrous two-legged stalk-flies. - -It all seemed like a wonderful dream to Hillary as Gabrielle once more -walked by his side, her hair blowing against his face. Even dusky Mango -Pango had a shadowy look as she clung to Gabrielle's arm, her broad -showy yellow sash blowing out behind her as the two girls kept close to -the heels of the hurrying crew. - -"Don't tremble, dear. I've come, you see. I never thought to see you -again," said Hillary, as he realised that he did not move through a -shadow world of phantoms and dreams. - -"I knew you'd come," said Gabrielle, as she looked him in the eyes. - -Hillary half noticed that strange look of her in the hurry and bustle of -the flight back to the boats--a bustle and hurry that Gabrielle -appreciated. At last they arrived on the beach. In a moment the natives -who were waiting paddled their canoes to the shore. A tremendous hubbub -had begun just behind them. What was it? - -Gabrielle gasped as she heard that loud, terrible voice yelling from far -off: "Butih Bunga, my kali bini!" - -It was the enraged voice of old _bapa_ (Macka's father) hurrying through -the jungle. He wanted to know where his son was, and so he called aloud -for the beautiful white wife (_putih bini_). - -The natives whom Ulysses had bribed had rushed straight away to Macka's -people and told them all that had occurred. - -"Hurry up, you damned niggers," yelled Ulysses, as he looked behind him. -He was busy undoing the knotted tackle that held the ship's boat. - -"Now we shan't be long!" he said, as he gave a low whistle. For he had -spotted the huddled masses of dusky figures who had just rushed out of -the forest of mahogany-trees, as old _bapa_ drove them on, keeping -warily behind them! Old _bapa_ could distinctly be seen waving his arms -as he came into sight just round the edge of the belt of mangroves; he -was following closely behind the heathen horde who were rushing down to -the beach. From the loud shouts, and the courage of the pursuers, it was -every evident that old _bapa_ was yelling forth mighty promises of -prizes for those who could clutch hold of the Rajah's _putih bini_. - -"Jump into the boat, never mind me," whispered Hillary. In a moment -Gabrielle was safely sitting just behind Mango Pango in the ship's one -boat, as the rest of the crew embarked in the unstable canoes in which -they had come ashore. - -Hillary and Ulysses still stood on the shore. As the apprentice turned -his head he saw a dusky Papuan crouch down by the reefs just up the -shore. Swish! A spear was thrown. - -"Crack! crack!" Hillary had fired his revolver to make sure. He was -taking no risks. Old _bapa's_ voice was still shouting lustily, till his -words echoed in the mountains: "Putih bini! The Rajah's beautiful bunga -bini!" And though the top of the dusky Papuan's head had been blown off, -and Ulysses had given a muffled oath and told Hillary to jump into the -canoe and not stand there on the beach writing poetry, those dreadful -words echoed in the young apprentice's brain--for he knew the meaning of -them. - -Hillary, recovering his mental equilibrium, turned to embark, and was -helped by a shove from the irritated Ulysses into the canoe. - -In a moment the paddles were splashing. They were off! The covey of -canoes shot out into the silent waters of the forest-locked bay! In a -quarter of an hour they had all safely reached the decks of the -hospitable _Sea Foam_. - -"Clear off, you niggers," said Ulysses, as the clamouring natives -received payment for the job in tins of condensed milk, sugar, tea and -tobacco plug. But still they clamoured for more! In no time Ulysses had -picked up a deck broom and cleared them over the side, back into their -canoes. In less than an hour the _Sea Foam_ was stealing along the coast -to the north-west. - -It appeared that Samuel Bilbao had got wind that the North German -steamer _Lubeck_ was about due from Apia, bound for the ports of German -New Guinea along the western coast. The _Sea Foam_ was right dead in the -trading course. He was anxious to get Hillary and Gabrielle off the _Sea -Foam_ in case of trouble. Ulysses was no fool: he well knew that the -original skipper of the _Sea Foam_ would not stagnate in Bougainville, -but would make a hue-and-cry and seek Government help to trace the -whereabouts of his vessel. Bilbao loved liberty, and the idea of -languishing for five or ten years in some island _calaboose_ (jail) or -in Darlinghurst, New South Wales, a punishment that would not be out of -place in the verdict of the kindest judge and jury extant, made him -anxious to seek the outer seas. Consequently, before dawn the _Sea Foam_ -once more dropped anchor, under the cover of dark, some miles to the -east of Astrolabe Bay. - -"Come along, boy, now's yer chance. Bring the gal forward," said -Ulysses, as he put his hand to his brow and scanned the sea horizon. - -"What's the matter?" whispered Gabrielle, as she stepped forward, half -recovering from the stupor that had made her fall asleep as she had -sobbed in Hillary's arms under the awning aft. Hillary, who had hardly -spoken a word to her during the three hours they had been on board the -_Sea Foam_, said: "We are going to leave the _Sea Foam_. Our friend here -has got to fly, to go a voyage that we cannot take." Hillary said no -more. He could not very well explain to the girl, especially in her -distressed condition, _how_ Samuel Bilbao had obtained possession of the -_Sea Foam_ and that now that Gabrielle had been rescued from the -kidnapper, Macka, he must sail her to remote isles where he could strand -her, make a bolt, or do anything he liked except go back to -Bougainville. Indeed, Ulysses, Hillary and the bilious, haunted mate had -planned the whole programme before they had first dropped anchor off -Tumba-Tumba. Ulysses knew that Hillary could easily obtain a passage -from Astrolabe Bay for the Admiralty Isles, and then again ship for -Bougainville. And so it happened that at the first flush of dawn, when -all the stars were taking flight, Samuel Bilbao put forth his big hand -and gripped Hillary affectionately by the wrist: "Farewell, pal; good -luck to ye." - -"Good-bye, Bilbao; and may good luck come to you," said Hillary, with -deep meaning and sincerity in his voice as he looked into the clear eyes -of the Homeric sailorman. - -"Awaie! O le Sona Gaberlel," wailed sad Mango Pango, as she threw her -arms affectionately round the white girl's neck. She had known Gabrielle -as a child in Bougainville. For a moment the two girls wept. It was a -strange sight to see Mango Pango's brown arms entwined with Gabrielle's -white arms as they bade each other farewell and wept together. They were -only girls after all. Then the mate crept out of the shadows of the -awning aft; he had worried so much over his share in stealing the _Sea -Foam_ and in helping to install Ulysses as skipper, and he had so -reduced his frame, that he seemed to consist only of clothes and bones, -a veritable skeleton of sorrow with a cheese-cutter on its skull. -"Farewell, for ever, friends; farewell!" he almost sobbed, as his bones -creaked. At hearing that melancholy voice, Samuel Bilbao, in his -thunderous, inconsequential style, gave a loud guffaw and brought his -fist down with wonderful artistic gentleness on the mate's bowed form. -Had Ulysses struck the mate with his usual forcible exuberance he would -have surely doubled up as though he were no more than a bit of muslin -wrapped round an upright skeleton. - -Then Ulysses gently took hold of Gabrielle's hand and said: "I knew yer -brave old father years ago!" Then he added: "Good-bye, girl; he's a good -boy, he is." - -Hillary felt truly sorry to say farewell to that strange man of the -seas. Samuel Bilbao still held the girl's hand. His voice had gone as -tender as the girl's. And Mango Pango's eyes looked very fierce as -Ulysses, stooping forward, bent one knee with a massive gallantry that -belonged to another age: - -"Farewell, Miss Gabrielle; farewell!" - -Even the huddled crew seemed to come under the spell of Bilbao's -personality as the first pallid hint of dawn swept across the seas. A -hot wind from the inland forests on the starboard side stirred Ulysses' -magnificent moustache as he slowly rose to his feet, and with his hand -arched over his clear blue eyes stared seaward. Then he lifted his -dilapidated helmet-hat. The soft sea winds fluttered the bronze-hued -curls that hung like an insignia of chivalry over his lofty brow. With a -magnificent gesture he gently pulled the disheveled golden head towards -his big bosom, then softly kissed Gabrielle's upturned face as though he -had loved her a thousand years ago, and now, once again, they must part, -each going their separate ways. - -Gabrielle couldn't help coming under the influence of that extraordinary -man: she too felt a definite sorrow over the parting. And as she looked -up into the flushed, honest countenance, half in wonder at her own -thoughts, and caught one glimpse from those fine eyes, she saw the -_real_ Ulysses--all that he might have been. - -"Captain, it's a-getting loight, dye's a-coming!" came like a rasp from -the Cockney seaman. But even that voice could hardly break the romance -of the farewell scene. - -Then a mist seemed to come over the silent world as Ulysses, standing -like a giant on deck amidst his wondering crew, dissolved into the -shadows. - -"Dip, dip," went the splashing oars as Gabrielle and Hillary looked into -each other's eyes. They were in the ship's boat being rowed hurriedly -ashore at Aufurao. - -Half-an-hour after they both stood on the beach of a strange, desolate -land. Sunrise had just begun to throw ineffable hues over the mountain -peaks just behind them. Once more they stared seaward and saw the _Sea -Foam_ fading away on the wine-dark seas, the sails fast disappearing -like a grey bird, taking Ulysses, his remorseful mate and crew, and -laughing Mango Pango, beyond the horizon, out of sight, far from their -aching, watching eyes. - - -It was a wild god-forsaken spot where Hillary and Gabrielle found -themselves stranded. They were miles away from A----, where a scanty -population of white men, half-a-dozen in all, owned copra, coffee and -sugar plantations. But though it was the wildest spot in the whole of -New Guinea, the young apprentice preferred it to any other. Even the -great loneliness, that seemed to come out of the wide, endless seas into -which the _Sea Foam_ had faded, was more welcome than his own thoughts. - -"Come on, Gabrielle," he said, as he sighed, and looked seaward. He -thought how he was seeing the great world with a vengeance, reaping -life's full meed of romance and sorrow. He realised how one by one his -old ideals had disappeared, receding into the past like frightened -birds. But who can tell what thoughts haunted the young apprentice as -the tropic sun blazed over the wild coast of New Guinea and as -Gabrielle, exhausted, slept beneath the mountain trees. - -As she lay there in the leafy glooms of the dwarf ivory-nut palms, he -looked down on her sleeping face till the soft-lashed eyelids seemed to -be two tiny graves wherein lay buried all the purest passion of his -dreams. - -Up in the tall, dark-green-fingered palms a strange yellow iris bird was -singing. And it seemed to him that it had come to serenade him in his -loneliness and whistle some hope into his heart. Then it flew away, and -he, too, lay down and slept till once more the great tropic night crept -with stars over that wild, godforsaken forest coast. He heard the call -of the red-wings in the jungle and the forest that ran sheer to the -rugged mountains that overlooked the shore. It seemed that he and she -dwelt alone in all that primitive world of sombre forest lands and -interminable gullies. - -"Gabrielle, we must get away from here," he said, as she stood beside -him trembling. She had just awakened from a dream that had given her -Hillary's love and the security of civilisation far from the unreal -world of jungle that met her eyes. - -"Come on, Gabrielle." The girl took his hand like an obedient child, and -then walked with him out on to the reefs where the waves came hurrying -in, tossing their white, foamy hands by the caves and coral bars. -Neither spoke one word about the arranged trip up the coast to the -settlements, and of the _Lubeck_, N.G.L. steamer, and all that Ulysses -had so carefully planned, so that they might not be stranded on that -dreadful, fever-stricken coast. It seemed that they had read each -other's souls and by instinctive communion stood there caring not where -their steps might take them so long as they were together. - -As they stood there at the edge of the promontory, beneath the bright -stars, Hillary half imagined he stood again on the old hulk off -Bougainville; the two dead screw-pines ahead of them looked just like -the rotting masts of an old wreck. - -"Come nearer, dearest," said the young apprentice, just as he had done -on the derelict hulk. Then he said: "Gabrielle, don't cry, dearest. I -love you with all my heart and soul. I realise now how you must have -felt that night on the old hulk off Bougainville, when you wanted me to -jump into the sea and die with you." - -He pulled her softly towards him, rained impassioned kisses on her mouth -and once more looked down into the depths of her eyes. Their lips met -again and again. He placed his fingers in the folds of her glorious hair -and breathed the music of his soul into her ears. - -Like some herald of a phantom day, a great radiance flushed the -horizon--it was the moon rising far out to sea. It was then that Hillary -looked into the girl's eyes and said tenderly: "Is this to be the end, -dearest?" - -"I'll go anywhere with you," said Gabrielle. - -A soft drift of wind came across the hot seas, ruffled the glassy deep -swell of the ocean, blowing Gabrielle's tresses out as she stood there. -Nor did the torn blue blouse, the dilapidated shoes and her -jungle-scratched face impair her beauty. - -Gabrielle simply pressed her lips to his and repeated: "I'll go wherever -you go." - -It was not till then that Hillary realised the soundness of Ulysses' -advice. A moment before in his dreamy, melancholy mood he had thought of -putting out to sea with Gabrielle in an old canoe which he had found -among the reefs. It would make so romantic a climax to their adventure: -he had thought of the mysterious and wonderful shores on which they -might find themselves driven by the sea, without chart or compass. -Gabrielle said she would go wherever he went. Well, after all, they -would make their way to the small white settlement, and see what turned -up then. Hillary would probably be able to find a ship to take him and -Gabrielle away. And then--and then. - -He turned again to the girl who was still staring out to sea. - -"Are you ready?" he said, rousing himself. "For it seems to me the first -thing we've got to do is a good long tramp. That'll bring us to the -settlement. Don't you want to see people who are more or less civilised -once again?" - -"Of course I do. But when you said that about going away with you -wherever you went, I thought--I thought you meant----" She hesitated. - -"Oh! so you thought that," said Hillary. "Well, never mind. Come, we -ought to make a move. And as we go you can tell me of everything that's -happened." His face darkened. "Gabrielle," he added a moment later, "you -know that I always believed in you." - -"Yes," she added simply. "And--and, Hillary, thank God you _were_ in -time to rescue me from that Rajah Macka. Oh, if you had been too late!" - -Hillary for a moment turned away, his eyes wet with emotion. He had -feared such unutterable things. - -"Yes," he said, his voice hardly steady; "thank God, we were in time. -What an adventure it has been. But now everything seems to have come -right again. And I've got you for always, haven't I?" he added. And the -wind, singing in the palms, drifted a tress of Gabrielle's hair against -his face as they stood there gazing on the great moonlit ocean before -them. - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GABRIELLE OF THE LAGOON *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40614 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the -General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and -distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works to protect the -Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and trademark. 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