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diff --git a/old/68550-0.txt b/old/68550-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9523b84..0000000 --- a/old/68550-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6007 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The pearl lagoon, by Charles Nordhoff - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The pearl lagoon - -Author: Charles Nordhoff - -Illustrator: Anton Otto Fischer - -Release Date: July 17, 2022 [eBook #68550] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PEARL LAGOON *** - - - - - - -[Frontispiece: _I had my first look at the helmsman._] - - - - - THE - - PEARL LAGOON - - _By_ - - CHARLES NORDHOFF - - - - _ILLUSTRATED BY_ - ANTON OTTO FISCHER - - - - BOSTON - LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY - - - - - COPYRIGHT 1924 BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS - - - - THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS PUBLICATIONS - ARE PUBLISHED BY - LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY - IN ASSOCIATION WITH - THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY - - - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - - _To_ - - _WALTER AND SARAH C. W. NORDHOFF_ - - DEAR PARENTS AND UNDERSTANDING FRIENDS - WHOSE GRANDCHILDREN, I HOPE, - WILL ONE DAY READ - THIS BOOK - - - - -PREFACE - -For some months past, my daily stint at the typewriter has been cheered -by an ambitious hope: that this story might prove entertaining to the -young--the finest of all audiences. They are too wise even to glance -at so dull a thing as a preface, but to you older people, who are -responsible for what the young ones read, I have a word to say. - -I make no claim, in the pages which follow, to have done more than -muster the familiar marionettes and put them through their paces before -your eyes. In one respect, nevertheless, I venture to commit myself. -I know the islands fairly well--white man and native; skipper, trader, -and pearl-diver; the sea, the lagoons, the small and lonely bits of -land; and I can vouch for the genuineness of the story's atmosphere. - -As for the story, there is nothing in it which has not happened, or -might not happen to-day--for Romance, like the sea itself, is ever old -and ever new. - -C. N. - -TAHITI, 1924 - - - - - CONTENTS - - I. The Coming of the Schooner - II. The Pearls of Iriatai - III. Aboard the Tara - IV. At Faatemu - V. Iriatai - VI. The End of the Shark--the Beginning of the Diving - VII. South Sea Fishermen - VIII. I Turn Pearl-Diver - IX. The Cave of the Shark-God - X. The Cholita Comes to Iriatai - XI. Piracy - XII. Boarders! - XIII. Tahiti - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - -_I had my first look at the helmsman_ . . . . . . Frontispiece - -"_You're Charlie, eh?_" _he said, when he had looked me up and down -with a smile that took me back to the evenings by our fireside, ten -years before_ - -_The shark reared almost vertically beneath the swimmer and, opened his -great jaws_ - -_Next moment the wave burst over the gunwale, and we were struggling in -the sea_ - - - - -THE PEARL LAGOON - - - - _O Kahiki, land of the far-reaching ocean, - Land where Olopana dwelt! - Within is the land, outside is the sun! - Indistinct are the sun and the land when approaching. - Perhaps you have seen it? - I have seen it. - I have surely seen Kahiki._ - - - - -I - -THE COMING OF THE SCHOONER - -We lived on the coast of California, on the Spanish grant my -grandfather had purchased from the mission which still stands, deserted -and crumbling, in the Santa Brigida Valley. Our house, built long -before the Civil War, overlooked the lower end of the valley, from a -knoll above the salt marshes at the river-mouth. The house was built -in the form of a hollow square, surrounding a paved court. The walls -were of adobe,--sun-dried bricks of clay, mixed with a little -straw,--four feet thick, and pierced by small grated windows, designed -for loopholes more than for the admittance of light and air. The beams -and rafters were of roughhewn pine, carried down from the mountains by -the Santa Brigida Indians, a tribe long since extinct, and the same -patient workers had moulded and baked the old red tiles of the roof. - -My father and my uncle Harry Selden had been brought up to the -half-Spanish life of old California. For ten miles along the coast and -six miles inland the land was theirs, and in those days three thousand -head of cattle, bearing my grandfather's brand, grazed on the mesas and -filed down in long lines to drink. When the brothers were young, the -grizzly still lingered in the hills, the tracks of deer and mountain -lion were everywhere, the quail trotted in thousands along the -river-bottom, and in the winter months the plains along the seacoast -were clamorous with flocks of wild geese, feeding on the rich grass. -But times were changing, and little by little, civilization was -creeping in. A church and a schoolhouse were built in the township -north of us; taxes were raised; and finally a party of surveyors -appeared, running a line for the new railway. My grandfather abhorred -the idea of a railway passing through his land; he made a bitter fight -and would not give in till his own lawyer showed him that if he refused -to accept what was offered for the right of way, the law would force -him to do so for the public good. He died a short time after the -trains began to run. - -The brothers were young men at that time, and as their mother had been -dead for many years, their friends supposed that they would carry on -the ranch in a sort of family partnership. But Uncle Harry, in his -love of a wild and independent life, was my grandfather over again. He -announced that he had had enough of civilization, persuaded my father -to buy out his share of the Santa Brigida, and bade his brother and his -friends good-bye. I remember, when I was very small, how eagerly we -looked forward to the letters my father used to read aloud to us: -accounts of African gold-mining; of wanderings in Central America and -Mexico; of great cattle-ranches--estancias, Uncle Harry called them--in -the Argentine; of voyages along the barren Chilean coast: of storms and -shipwrecks among distant archipelagoes. In the end he settled as a -trader, a buyer of copra and pearl-shell, in the South Seas. - -As for my father, he was content to marry and to stay at home, but he -clung to his cattle stubbornly, refusing to farm or to sell an acre of -his land and growing poorer with each year that passed. He often said -that we would never starve and that our land was constantly increasing -in value, but at such times my mother used to rise from her chair with -a sigh and walk out alone among her roses in the court. She was a -patient woman and she loved my father dearly, but I knew that the sale -of only a few acres among all our thousands would have provided her -with many things she craved. What with dry years and low prices, our -taxes ate up nearly all the profits from the cattle. We could never -afford a motor-car or the occasional trips to San Francisco of which -our neighbors' children gave me glowing accounts, yet outside of such -luxuries, I must own that we had little need of ready money. Our own -fat steers provided us and our men with beef; my mother was -superintendent of a garden which furnished more vegetables than we -could eat; and in the fall and winter game was still plentiful enough -to be a real resource. - -Our circumstances had made me a rather serious boy, fond of solitude -and given to endless day-dreams--dreams of returning from vague -gold-mines or speculations in land with a fortune, to be invested in -the ranch and to provide my mother with travel, and rest, and pretty -clothes. On my rides to school along a five-mile stretch of coast, -where the pearly fog billowed about the hills and the Pacific broke -lazily beyond the dunes, I lived in a world of pure fancy, from which -the sight of San Isidro, with its single dusty street, its stores, and -hideous frame schoolhouse, recalled me daily with an unpleasant start. -All through the week I lived only for the coming Saturday, when I would -be free to shoot, or fish in the surf, or ride out with our men to -track down some band of half-wild steers, hidden in the thick oak scrub -of the foothills. - -It was on a Saturday that my uncle came. I was fifteen that winter, -and ten years had gone by since he had visited us last, but I had not -forgotten his lean powerful figure, or the black eyes lighting up a -face tanned to an unfading brown, or the stories he had told a -wondering youngster of five, sitting on his knee by the fireplace. - -The month was February, as I remember it, for the wild mustard was tall -and green on the hills and scattered cock-quail were perched on the -fence-posts, filling the air with the long sweet whistle of their -mating-time. We were early risers, all of us, and at dawn, as I was -eating the breakfast my mother had prepared, she asked me if I would -take my gun and try for some wild duck on the marshes. There would be -guests from San Isidro to-morrow, and a few brace of duck would be a -treat for people from the town. I assented joyfully, for such a -request meant that ammunition would be furnished from my father's -store, and I loved nothing more than the long lazy hours in a blind, -where one could watch the strings of wild fowl trailing across the sky. - -I had good sport that morning, hidden close to a shallow pool behind -the dunes. As I waded across the marsh, carrying my gun and -half-a-dozen wooden decoys, a cloud of teal rose quacking from the -grass and headed seaward on beating wings. The redhead were beginning -to fly northward from their wintering grounds on the lonely Mexican -lagoons; small flocks of them, led by drakes with heads glinting like -burnished copper in the sunlight, rose from the creeks ahead of me and -sped away, low over the sand hills. At the place that I had chosen for -my shooting, I unwound the anchor-lines of the decoys, tossed them far -out into the pool, and built myself a rough shelter of pickle-weed, -strung on stakes pounded into the mud. I found an old piece of board -for a seat, loaded my gun, laid out a box of cartridges within easy -reach, and settled myself luxuriously to wait. - -Next moment I glanced upward and crouched down lower than before, -cocking my old-fashioned hammer-gun. High in the air above the marsh, -a flock of sprig was descending in great spiral curves, the wind -humming musically through the rigid flight-feathers of their wings. -Lower and lower they swung, while my pulse raced as I peeped over the -edge of the blind. I could see the snowy breasts of the drakes, the -feathers of their long forked tails, and their heads turning this way -and that as they scanned the marsh warily for signs of danger. They -had seen the decoys, and as they swept past me, still out of range, I -called to them, imitating the feeble quack of the hen bird. Then, -while I held my breath, they turned again, low over the pool, and came -sailing straight at me--necks up and feet dropping to settle among the -decoys. My hands were trembling a little, but I took careful aim at -the old white-breasted leader, pulled the trigger, and saw him crumple -and strike the water with a mighty splash. Wild with alarm, another -drake came towering above my head, and leaning backward till I nearly -fell off my seat, I let drive with the left barrel and watched him fold -his wings and come down plunging to the grass. - -I can recall that warm winter morning as if it were yesterday: the -steady thunder of the breakers, the perfume of the salt marsh, the -wisps of cloud drifting across a soft blue sky. Flock after flock of -wild fowl came speeding in from the sea, circled the marsh, set their -wings to alight, bounded upward, scattering, at the reports of my gun, -and headed back for the ocean--fast-vanishing dots above the dunes. -Once a wedge of geese passed at a great height overhead, flying -northward with slow steady wing-beats, thrilling me with the hoarse -music of their voices. My life seemed cramped and narrow as I gazed at -these free rovers of the sky, travelers beyond the far rim of the -horizon north and south. - -The warm sun and the drowsy chirping and buzzing of insects in the -grass brought on a nap that caught me unaware. It must have been -mid-day when I awoke with a little start, to sit up and rub my eyes, -wondering for an instant where I was. Unloading my gun, I waded out -after the decoys and strung my dead birds on a thong of leather. Then, -yielding to a habit of those days, I climbed to the top of a sand hill, -for a look at the beach. Next moment I nearly shouted aloud in the -excitement of what I saw. - -Close inshore, not far beyond the outer line of breaking seas, a -two-masted schooner was rounding into the wind. She was painted white -and her sails shivered crisply in the light air. One needed small -knowledge of ships to appreciate the beauty of the little vessel: the -high sharp bows, the graceful sweep of sheer, the slender masts, the -taut lines of shroud and stay. The sight of a ship was rare along our -stretch of coast. At long intervals we saw a trail of smoke far out to -sea,--the steamer trading between San Francisco and the west coast of -Mexico,--but this was the first time within my memory that a vessel of -any kind had passed so close to shore. And she was not merely passing, -for I saw now that her crew was sliding a long double-ended boat over -the rail. Three men sprang into the whaleboat: a pair of oarsmen who -seated themselves and began to pull toward shore, and a man in blue, -who stood in the stern, holding a steering-sweep with one hand and -waving good-bye to a gigantic figure at the schooner's wheel. The -giant raised his hand in an answering wave; the schooner bore off, her -sails filled, and she headed out to sea, heeling gracefully to the -breeze. - -There had been a storm in the north and the swell was high that day. -Even from my perch on the dune, the approaching boat was invisible each -time it swung down into the trough. It was just beyond the breakers -now, and as it rose on the crest of a wave I saw that the oarsmen had -ceased to pull and that the man with the steering-sweep had turned his -head and was watching the rearing seas astern. The ground swell, as I -have said, was very high, rolling shoreward a good ten feet from trough -to ridge, and I began to wonder how these three men would win the beach -through the turmoil of white water ahead of them. Rearing and tossing -as the water shoaled, three or four great waves passed under the boat -and crashed forward, racing toward the beach in walls of foam. Then, -clear above the thunder of the surf, I heard a vibrant shout--a command -in some strange foreign tongue. The men on the seats tugged with a -sudden desperate effort at their oars; the man astern, with a single -heave of his sweep, turned the boat straight in toward where I lay. He -was smoking a cigar, and I felt a thrill of admiration at the easy, -careless way he stood at his post. A tremendous comber, with patches -of foam beginning to appear along its crest, lifted the boat high in -air and swept it forward tilting on the brink of a foaming wall. The -wave tumbled and crashed and came rushing far up the beach. - -The boat grounded with a gentle shock and the two oarsmen leaped -overboard to hold her against the strong backwash. They were brown -men, I saw: great brawny fellows more than six feet tall, with -handsome, good-natured faces and teeth that flashed when they smiled. -The steersman sprang out on the damp sand and gave an order, at which -his men dropped a pair of light rollers on the beach and began to drag -the boat up beyond highwater mark. Then he came strolling toward the -sand hill where I lay hidden in the grass. - -He was dressed in blue serge--a double-breasted coat with brass -buttons--and a blue yachting-cap with a white crown. His age must have -been forty or forty-five, but he was straight as an Indian and carried -himself like a boy. His face, of a humorous and rather reckless cast, -was tanned almost to the shade of the brown sailors toiling with the -boat, and his black eyes were the most brilliant I have ever seen. - -His eyes betrayed him. He tossed away the burned-down cigar, folded -his arms, and came walking slowly toward my hiding-place, gazing about -him with a half-smile on his lips, as if this lonely beach recalled a -train of pleasant memories. I was peering down over a clump of rank -salt grass when he glanced up and looked directly into my eyes. - -"Uncle Harry!" I shouted as I came sliding and tumbling down the steep -face of the dune. His strong hands seized me and lifted me to my feet. - -"You're Charlie, eh?" he said, when he had looked me up and down with a -smile that took me back to evenings by our fireside, ten years before. -"You've done well to remember me all this time! By Jove! I'd never -have known you in the world! Here, let's have another look. A chip of -the old block, I reckon--you're going to have your grandfather's mouth. -Well, I never liked a soft man. How are you all? Did you sight me -from the house? Been shooting, eh--let's see your birds." - -[Illustration: "_You're Charlie, eh?_" _he said, when he had looked me -up and down with a smile that took me back to the evenings by our -fireside, ten years before._] - -I led him across the dunes to where I had left my gun and string of -duck. At his request I undid the thong about their necks and laid them -out on the sand, while he took them up one by one, spreading a wing to -admire the changing colors of the speculum, or smoothing the feathers -of a glossy head. At last he sighed, as he cut the end of a fresh -cigar and looked up at me. - -"Ah, Charlie, it takes me back," he remarked. "Many and many a time -I've shot over this pond! I had an old muzzle-loader, twice the weight -of that gun of yours. On a Friday night your grandfather used to say: -'Which one of you is going down to the marsh to-morrow to get me a mess -of duck?' and I always landed the job. Your daddy liked to work with -the cattle; he reckoned shooting was a chore, like splitting kindling, -or driving the milk-cows in from pasture. But it's time for _kaikai_, -and I'm keen to see Ben and Mary after all these years. And -Marion--she'll be seventeen now, eh? I'll bring my boys up to the -house for a bite; the swell was too high to drop anchor, so I told the -mate to stand off and on till I came out." - -He turned toward the beach and called the sailors in his strong vibrant -voice: "_E Ivi! E Ofai e!_" A moment later I saw the two brown men -trotting across the dunes. Their feet were bare and they wore sailor -jackets and trousers of dungaree. Their round caps bore the schooner's -name, Tara, woven in silver thread upon the bands. - -"Good lads," remarked my uncle, as they drew near. "Paumotu boys from -Rangiroa--they've been with me since the Tara was built. Shake hands -with them before we start." He spoke to the sailors in their own -tongue, telling them that I was his brother's son, and they smiled as -they gazed at me with the frank curiosity of savages. At a word from -Uncle Harry, one of them picked up my gun and birds, and I led the way -around the marsh to the Santa Brigida road. - -We had not walked more than half a mile when we met my father, who had -sighted the schooner and was now riding down to the beach. - -"Harry!" he exclaimed, his bearded face transformed by an expression I -had never seen; and in an instant he was off his horse and wringing my -uncle's hand. "It's like you to drop in this way, without an hour's -warning, but your welcome will be all the warmer for that! It's good -to see you, old fellow! You're looking well--your cannibal islands -must agree with you. What do you think of this uncle of yours, eh, -Charlie? He wouldn't for the world drop me a wire a day or two ahead, -or arrive by train or motor-car, like a civilized man. Nothing will do -but to come in a schooner and land like a pirate on the beach! But -come along to the house and bring your men; I can't offer them -missionary, if that's their usual diet, but we killed a steer -yesterday, and there's plenty of fresh beef." - -"Well, Ben," said Uncle Harry, still clasping my father's hand, "ten -years haven't changed you, after all! I can't tell you how good it is -to be back on the Santa Brigida again! Your boy says that Mary and -Marion are well--come, I want to see them; let's be getting along. -I'll bring my sailors, if I may. No need to ask how you are--rugged as -an old grizzly, eh?" - -At sight of Uncle Harry my mother forgot her cares, and only the joy of -preparing dinner for him persuaded my sister Marion to leave his side. -We dined at midday in the old-fashioned manner, and that afternoon we -lingered long at table, until a whispering buzz of talk from the -courtyard told us that the news had spread--that my grandfather's old -retainers were assembling to greet the boy they had known so many years -before. Motioning us to keep our places, Uncle Harry rose from his -chair with a smile and walked out through the door to the sunny court -beyond. - -I heard a chorus of exclamations in Spanish: "Don Enrique! Patroncito! -Ay, Dios Mio!" and the voice of old Juana, the white-haired woman who -had nursed him as a child, sobbing aloud as she murmured over and over: -"My child, my child--you have not forgotten old Juana, no?" He had an -almost uncanny faculty for winning people's love. - -We sat late that evening about the fire of oak logs in the living-room. -Even to-day the scent of wood smoke brings back the picture of that -long, dim-lit room, with its ceiling, so lofty that parts of it were -lost in shadow, crossed by great roughhewn beams, blackened by half a -century of smoke. The heads of antelope and deer and bighorn looked -down from the walls, and close to the chimney my grandfather's -silver-mounted spurs and old Sharp's rifle hung from a peg. The floor -was covered with the skins of animals that he had shot: wildcat and -mountain lion; grizzlies from San Gorgonio and Temescal; a moth-eaten -buffalo-robe from the days when he had crossed the plains. - -At last we rose to bid my mother and Marion good-night. Eager to hear -what my uncle would have to say, I seated myself inconspicuously in a -high-backed chair, and at that moment my father turned and noticed me. -"Bedtime, Charlie," he said in his firm, kindly way. But Uncle Harry -was of a different mind. - -"Let him sit up for once," he put in, with a twinkle in his dark eyes; -"I want to have a yarn with you, and I want Charlie to hear what I have -to say. Don't complain if I keep you up the best part of the night, -for this is my only chance. I am going to tell you a story, which will -explain why I must leave to-morrow, and why I ask you to let Charlie go -with me when I sail." - -"Sailing to-morrow!" exclaimed my father, sitting up suddenly in his -chair; "and you want to take Charlie away! That's a deuce of a thing -to tell me the first time I've seen you for ten years! Why in the -world must you rush away so fast?" - -My uncle smiled a wry smile. - -"It's hard to leave so soon," he said. "I wish I could spend a month -or two with you, wandering over the old place and having a bit of -sport. But I'm short of time. I've been in San Francisco, having a -motor installed in the Tara, and the people at the shipyard were slow. -I would have communicated with you, but I didn't want to make any rash -promises, and it began to look as if I wouldn't have time to put in -here at all. I'll be up next year for a real visit--on my word; but -to-morrow I must sail; I'm going to take Charlie with me if I have to -sit up all night persuading you." - -Uncle Harry gave me one of his brilliant glances, tempered with a wink, -and I felt my heart beat with excitement at the prospect opening -suddenly before me. He rose to his feet, took a pair of long thin -cigars from his case, offered one to my father, and sank back into his -chair, cocking his heels high against the rough stone of the fireplace. - -"Now," he went on, blowing a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling, "if -you're not too sleepy, I'm going to tell you how I came to hear of the -pearls in Iriatai Lagoon." - - - - -II - -THE PEARLS OF IRIATAI - -"Iriatai," my uncle began, "is an atoll in the Paumotus--a narrow ring -of land nowhere more than a few yards high, surrounding a lagoon ten or -twelve miles across. The island has a curious history, for its people -were the last to remain savages among all the eighty islands of the -group. It is a lonely place, far out to the eastward where -trading-schooners seldom pass, and long after the missionaries had -civilized the other atolls, Iriatai remained unknown--no white man had -landed on its beaches, or laid eyes on the wild people whose village -was screened by the dense bush along the shore. - -"In those days there was a famous Catholic school on Mangareva in the -Gambier group, and one year, at Christmas time, a brig set sail from -Tahiti for the South, with a cargo of trade, and half a dozen children -of wealthy half-caste families, sent to be educated by the Church. A -week after the brig's departure, a gale came roaring down out of the -northwest--a storm so fierce and long-continued that old men speak of -it to this day. On Tahiti there was great anxiety for the vessel's -safety, and no one was surprised when many months later a schooner came -north from Mangareva, with word that the brig had never arrived. It -was an old story,--another ship lost somewhere in the lonely spaces of -the South Pacific,--but there was one woman on Tahiti who refused to -believe that the vessel was lost. She was a rich widow whose only -child, a flaxen-haired girl of eight, was missing with the others, and -she offered great rewards to anyone who could bring her news of the -ship. - -"One day a trading skipper came to her with a clew. On his last trip -through the Paumotus he had been blown far out of his course, and while -hove-to in a heavy sea, he had raised an island only vaguely marked on -the charts. He ran in to take shelter in the lee, and as they stood -off and on, close to the leeward reef, the lookout had reported people -ashore. Taking up his glass, the captain made out a crowd of savages -standing on the beach. They brandished spears and were dressed in -girdles of pandanus leaf, but two or three of them wore about their -shoulders pieces of cloth which the skipper took to be of European -make. He was an old-timer in the islands, and he was certain that no -trader had ever visited the place. - -"The widow lost no time in fitting up an expedition at her own expense. -The skipper who had seen the savages on Iriatai was given command; the -old man is living in Papeete to-day--I had the yarn from him. He -picked up half a dozen Rangiroa boys and armed them with rifles in case -of trouble, though they were instructed not to shoot unless attacked. - -"After a fortnight of beating about, they raised the palms of Iriatai, -sailed in through the pass, dropped anchor a stone's throw off the -village, and went ashore. There were canoes hauled up on the beach, -fishing tackle lay about as it had been dropped in haste, and the -thatched huts seemed to have been inhabited within an hour past, but -saving a dog or two and a few half-wild pigs, no living creature was in -sight. The captain heard a shout from one of his men who was exploring -the far end of the village, and the others hastened to the place where -the Christian boy was pointing with horror to the ground. There, close -to the temple of the islanders,--a long platform of rude coral -blocks,--was the _umu tagata_: the oven in which human bodies were -roasted whole. The bones of men, clean-picked by the cannibals of -Iriatai, were scattered on all sides, and hundreds of Chilian silver -dollars--current throughout the Pacific in those days--were arranged in -neat patterns about the cooking-place. A few yards off, mounted on -sharpened stakes along the coral wall, a row of heads was drying in the -sun, and one of them--a small head from which hung wisps of long flaxen -hair--made the whole story clear. The widow's daughter had been found. - -"The skipper was sickened--if he had caught the people then, he told -me, he would have slaughtered them like sheep. Calling to his men, he -set off recklessly through the bush, resolved to shoot down the savages -at sight. Hour after hour the searchers struggled through the dense -green bush, scratched by thorns, streaming with perspiration, stumbling -over the sharp coral underfoot. It was a hot still day, and the jungle -was lifeless and strangely quiet. No leaf stirred, no bird sang, and -the drooping fronds of palms hung motionless overhead. Nothing moved -anywhere saving the small white sea-birds which circled eerily, high -above the tree-tops. The oppression of the bush cooled the skipper's -anger and lowered the spirits of the searching-party; no word had been -spoken for half an hour when they sat down in silence to rest, close to -a pile of jagged coral blocks. Leaning against a tree-trunk, with his -rifle between his knees, the captain was in the act of filling a pipe -when one of the men touched his arm, signing him to make no sound. To -one side of them, in the bleached mass of coral, there was a faint -scratching noise, and presently, as they watched, a brown hand and arm -appeared for an instant in a crevice of the rocks. - -"'That is their hiding-place,' the native breathed into the skipper's -ear; 'I have heard my own people speak of such caverns, where they took -refuge in the old wars.' - -"The captain thought for a moment before he spoke. 'Go alone to the -mouth of the cave,' he whispered to the boy beside him; 'our rifles -will protect you. See if you can talk to the savages. and if they -understand you, try to persuade one or two of the men to come out.' - -"The native rose and stole away, and soon they heard his voice calling -softly in the Paumotan tongue. He seemed to be in conversation with -the people underground. When he returned there was an odd smile on his -lips. 'It is strange,' he said, 'those people speak a tongue such as -our old men use. They are like beasts or cruel children, killing -because they know no better, or are afraid. I do not believe that they -are evil men. There is no entrance to the cave--only a little hole in -the rock, through which a man may thrust his hand and arm. The place -is sacred in these people's eyes and on the ground close to the hole -there is an offering of food. They feared it might betray their -hiding-place; the man we saw was trying to reach it from within. There -is another way out, they said, knowing that I could never find the -place. To reach it, they swim beneath the water of the lagoon. We -cannot get in from above; all our strength would not suffice to move -the rocks. They are afraid to come out, but perhaps I might persuade -them if I could show gifts such as they have never seen.' - -"The captain collected a few bright trifles among his men: a mirror or -two, a gaudy bandanna handkerchief, a clasp knife with a glittering -blade. The native returned to parley with the savages, and while he -was gone the skipper gave instructions to his men--they were to scatter -a little and lie hidden; if the wild people found courage to leave -their cave, and they were not too many, they were to be seized and -bound at once. - -"An hour passed. Then, without the warning crackle of a twig, two -savages stepped from the bush and came toward the native who awaited -them, holding out gifts and speaking encouragingly. They were naked -save for light girdles of grass, and their shocks of hair were tied in -high knots upon their heads. The captain whistled, and a moment later -the two men of Iriatai lay triced and helpless on the ground. - -"The schooner sailed for Tahiti the same night, carrying the prisoners, -whose evidence--the story, freely told, of how the wrecked brig had -been plundered before she broke up, and how every soul aboard had been -massacred--was placed before the French authorities. A few months -later a man-of-war was sent to Iriatai, with one of the prisoners as -interpreter, and the people of the island were carried off to Tahiti to -be civilized. In the end, the chief was executed in reprisal for the -island's crime, and his people were taken away to distant atolls of the -group. - -"Only one of them, so far as I know, ever returned to Iriatai--Turia, -the chief's daughter, a girl of eleven or twelve when she was carried -off aboard the man-of-war. Her beauty and intelligence attracted the -notice of a half-caste Tahitian, who adopted her and gave her an -education at the Sisters' School. At seventeen she married the Baron -von Tesmar--an Austrian nobleman, a man of wealth and taste, brought up -among the capitals of the Old World. He was well known in all the -outlandish ports of the Pacific; for reasons of his own, of which he -never spoke, he had chosen to shut the door on the past. He traveled -on his own yacht with a Kanaka crew, and during a visit to Tahiti he -ran across Turia, the girl from Iriatai. A month later she sailed away -with him, with a marriage certificate, all legal and shipshape, stowed -away in her camphorwood box. I suppose she must have been the Baroness -von Tesmar--By Jove, a funny world! - -"The natives have a quality I like: each one of them loves his own -island in a way that we can scarcely understand. Turia was no -exception, but unlike the rest of her people, she ended her days on -Iriatai. A short time after he married her the Baron became interested -in pearl-culture and--at her suggestion, no doubt--they settled on the -island where her savage forefathers had lived and died. - -"To give you an understanding of the story from now on, I must tell you -one or two things about pearl-shell, which furnishes the -mother-of-pearl used all over the world for buttons and ornaments and -the handles of knives. In the Paumotus where I trade, the -pearl-oysters are of a kind called 'black-lipped,' valuable as -mother-of-pearl but rather barren so far as real pearls are concerned. -Out to the west, about Celebes and in the Sulu Sea, there is another -variety, richer in pearls and far more valuable as shell, called -'gold-lipped,' because the edges of the shell are golden-tinted. Von -Tesmar was a man of some scientific attainments, and he suspected, far -ahead of his time, that the growth of a pearl in the oyster was caused -by a parasite, which it might be possible to transmit by artificial -means. In order to carry out his experiments, he had his schooner -fitted with a kind of well, through which the sea water was allowed to -circulate, and brought shipments of live oysters from distant parts, to -be transplanted in Iriatai Lagoon. He may have had an idea that the -gold-lipped oysters, in this new environment, would prove more -susceptible to infection--to the little-known parasite believed to -cause the pearl. - -"The Baron's career, his studies of the pearl, and his new settlement -on Iriatai were all ended by the hurricane of 1881. The island had -been one of the finest of the Paumotus, with dense groves of coconuts -and a deep soil on the higher spots, but when I first landed there, in -ninety-six, it was a waste of sand and tumbled coral-blocks, -clean-swept from end to end by breaching seas. On an islet, far down -the lagoon, a small clump of palms remained--the only living things, -save Turia and her child, to survive the fury of the sea. - -"The settlement was at the weather end, and when the seas began to -breach across into the lagoon, von Tesmar's schooner was anchored fifty -yards offshore. Both cables snapped and she disappeared in an instant -among the driving clouds downwind. She must have piled up at the -leeward end, or perhaps she was carried clean over into the open sea -beyond. At any rate, no man of her crew was ever seen again. The -people of the settlement--a dozen natives with their wives, brought by -von Tesmar to labor in the oyster-beds--had no time to chop off the -tops of the palms in which they took refuge. A pair of old palms, -eighty feet high, flexible and tough as whalebone, stood close beside -the house. High up on the bole of one, the Baron tied himself, and -Turia swarmed up the other, her three-year-old boy lashed to her back. - -"It is useless to try to describe a South Sea hurricane. One after -another, the houses were carried away. Each frothing comber seemed to -rush over the land more fiercely than the last; the wind came in gusts -that bent the palms like reeds. With a sound audible above the uproar -of the hurricane, a palm-bole snapped, and its top, with two human -beings clinging among the fronds, sped off to vanish in the wrack. -Turia's was the last to withstand the wind; she watched the others -go,--men, women, and babies at their mothers' breasts,--and finally a -faint, splitting report close by told her that von Tesmar's palm had -given way. Next moment her own refuge went, and still clinging to the -upper bole, she was sailing above the torn white surface of the lagoon. -How she survived the impact, disentangled herself from the wreckage, -and lived through miles of angry water is a thing that I have never -understood. When she struggled ashore on the islet which was the only -land above the sea, her child was still alive. No one but a Paumotan -could have done it, and no woman of any other race could have lived and -supported her child--as Turia did for many weeks--on coconuts and the -fish she was able to catch with her bare hands. In the end, the -lookout of a passing schooner saw her signal-smoke." - -My uncle's cigar had gone out and he rose for a moment to scratch a -match against the fireplace. The lamp was turned low; the glowing logs -on the andirons sent waves of light flickering among the shadows of the -room. My father stood up to stretch his legs. Standing with hands -clasped behind his back, he gazed quizzically at his brother, seated in -the deep old leather chair. - -"That's a good story of yours, as far as it goes," he observed; "but -what has all this to do with you, or with the fact that you can spend -only one day with us?" - -"No wonder you're growing impatient," said Uncle Harry, with a smile; -"it must seem an interminable yarn, but it's all linked together, as -you will see. I came into it about ten years ago, when I took a lease -on Iriatai. It was just after my last visit here. A friend suggested -that I have a look at the island with a view to planting coconuts--they -thrive wonderfully in the coral of the atolls. I had heard -half-legendary accounts of von Tesmar and his pearls, but such -experiments are not taken seriously in the islands, where so many -cranks have tried this scheme or that, and failed. The lagoon had -never been a place for shell. - -"I met Turia when I landed there. Von Tesmar had left her a little -money in the Papeete bank, and after a year of civilization, she had -been overpowered by the homing instinct of her race. Her husband had -relatives in German Samoa--the directors of a great Apia -trading-house--and she took her child to them before she set out to end -her days on Iriatai. Then she chartered a small schooner and sailed -away with a couple of poor native families and a stock of provisions -and seed-coconuts. I found her happy in a lonely sort of life, settled -in a one-room cottage, surrounded by groves of fine twelve-year-old -palms. The place was furnished with a bed, an accordion, and a chest -of camphorwood; a portrait of von Tesmar, in the uniform of an officer -of dragoons, hung on the wall. There must have been a human side of -this man's character, for his widow remembered him with a devotion hard -to match. - -"She was the only claimant to rights in the island, and I had no -difficulty in gaining her consent. Within a year I obtained from the -French Government a long lease on Iriatai and now there are sixty -thousand young palms on the island, some of them already beginning to -bear. Another hurricane? We can't afford to think of that--they -strike an island not more than once in every hundred years. During the -visits when I carried labor and supplies to Iriatai, Turia used to spin -me yarns about the hurricane. She was an interesting woman, as those -of the pure old blood are apt to be. When I knew her she was straight -and handsome still--no darker than a woman of southern Spain. -Sometimes she showed me letters from her boy, growing up in far-off -Samoa with his relatives. I did not meet him till after she was dead. - -"I needed a rest last year, and as I didn't have time for a run up to -see you all, I decided to take a vacation among the islands--a short -cruise through the Tongan and Samoan groups. One night in Apia, the -German port, I had been dining at the consulate, and as I walked along -the moonlit beach to where my boat's crew awaited me, I was stopped by -a young half-caste, dressed in soiled white duck. He spoke English, -and he looked so miserable, so poor and ill that it needed a thicker -skin than mine to pass him without a word. His body was no more than -skin and bones, and when he turned in the moonlight, I saw the wreck of -what had been a handsome face, ravaged by quick tropical tuberculosis. -He spoke in abrupt sentences, gasping for breath and stopping at -intervals to cough. - -"'You English?' he asked. 'No? American, eh? I speak German, -French--not much English. That Tara your schooner? They tell me you -go Tahiti to-morrow. Give me passage, eh? I cook--wash dishes--cabin -boy--anything! I want go Tahiti too much!' - -"He turned away from me and leaned over with a hand to his chest, -coughing frightfully; when the paroxysm had passed he stood gasping and -unable to speak. It was impossible not to be sorry for the poor devil. - -"'I'll let you know to-morrow,' I told him. 'I'm sailing at sundown. -Come to the beach at four or five o'clock.' - -"Next morning, strolling with the American consul, I pointed out the -half-caste, asleep in the shade of a beached canoe. 'Oh, that fellow,' -said the consul; 'Yes, I know him; von Tesmar's his name. Doesn't look -much like a nobleman, does he? As a matter of fact, he's a baron of -the Austrian Empire--when he's drunk enough he'll show you the papers -to prove it! Odd story. His father married a Paumotu woman years ago -and was lost in a hurricane, back in the eighties. The mother brought -her child out here--old Madame Lichtenstein, of the Hamburg Concession, -was the youngster's aunt. The old lady was good to him, sent him to -the Protestant school and finally shipped him off to Europe with plenty -of money to spend. But the cold winters were too much for his native -blood, I guess; t.b. got him after the second year, and as happens so -often in the islands, consumption led to drink. Then one day he turned -up here, a yellow skeleton with a craving for alcohol. The Germans -took pity on him and pensioned him off for a time, but he was sinking -rather low, and finally they cut off the money and ceased to recognize -him at all. One can't really blame them much!' - -"I didn't say anything, but I was interested, I'll admit. So this was -Turia's son--the child of the hurricane on Iriatai! He had traveled a -long road since those days; but I suspected that the end was near. Why -should he want to go to the eastern islands? The old instinct of his -mother's blood, perhaps, calling the wanderer home at last to die. - -"I gave him a passage, at any rate. He was willing enough, but it was -absurd to talk of working his way--when we'd been out three days I knew -that his eyes would never see another landfall. I put him in a berth -in the spare stateroom. He'd picked up his English on the beach, but -in French you'd have been surprised to hear the fellow talk. With the -interest one cannot help feeling in a dying man, I spent a good deal of -time yarning with him, and finally told him that I had heard something -of his story and had known Turia on Iriatai. He was in a steady low -fever by this time, and our talks seemed to excite him; he asked -endless questions about his mother and her life--the island--the lagoon. - -"One night, when I was at the wheel, the cabin boy came on deck, -rubbing the sleep from his eyes, to say that von Tesmar wanted to see -me at once. There was something of great importance to tell me, it -seemed. We were in the middle of the wide, lonely reach of sea that -stretches from Rose Island to the Leeward group. The moon had risen -about eleven o'clock; there was not a cloud in the sky, and a steady -breeze blew warm and fair from the northwest. I had taken the wheel at -moonrise and I hated to go below, but the half-caste's message seemed -so urgent that I called the man on watch to take my place. - -"I found von Tesmar gasping in his berth. He had gotten up to undo a -bundle he carried with him, wrapped in a piece of native cloth, and -when I pulled the curtain aside, he held out to me a tattered sheet of -cheap ruled notepaper. - -"'For you,' he whispered breathlessly, in the French he had picked up -during an edifying year in Paris. 'Ah, _mon ami_, this is the end--now -I must die, and a glass of your excellent rum would help me to die -gracefully. _Merci bien_--you are kindness personified! I wonder why: -there is so little, in your eyes, that I can do. Yes, this is the end. -I cannot complain--I have had my fun and paid for some of it, at least. -Never again shall I watch the faces passing my table on the boulevard, -nor sit with the brown people in a bush-clearing far from the church, -while the drums throb and the sleek young girls twist and flutter their -hands in the torchlight. No doubt you are thinking that I am a _drôle -de type_, and so I am, by training and by birth--half savage, half -_boulevardier_. But the time is short and I weary you with idle -reflections; _allons_, to business! You can read the native Tahitian, -eh? It is difficult for one who knows only the Samoan dialect. I had -hoped to keep that paper to myself; the doctors say that men with my -malady are always optimists. But you have treated me as one white man -treats another--keep it, read it, and do as you please. Perhaps it is -worth another glass of rum, _n'est-ce pas_? Another rum for Monsieur -le Baron! They called me that in Paris, at the Grand Hotel--Ha, ha! -Noble on both sides, _bon Dieu_!--my mother a cannibal -Princess--Monsieur le Baron von Tesmar, Prince of Iriatai! How's that -for a title, _hein_?' - -"At five o'clock, when the moonlight paled before the first flush of -dawn, he turned his face away from me and died. I blew out the light -and went on deck to give orders for his burial. Then, when I had my -coffee, I lay down in my berth and unfolded the paper he had given me. -It proved a quaint document--a letter in the native language from Turia -to her son, written a few days before her death. Here it is--it is -worth translating for your benefit:-- - - -This from your dear mother, who loves you and prays that God's blessing -may bring you prosperity and health. _Amen_. I am ill, and though the -woman who tends me has made medicine, I think that I shall soon die. -Do not weep for me--I shall be happy to be again with your father, whom -I have always loved. Now pay attention, for there is a thing that I -must tell you. Your father was a wise man, and his work was to bring -pearl oysters from foreign seas to this lagoon. After the hurricane, -when I swam so far with you clinging to my back, I believed for many -years that the oysters must all be dead, but that was not true. In the -far end of the lagoon, where no one goes to-day, I have found where the -strange shells with edges like gold lie on the coral in thousands, not -more than fifteen fathoms deep. Many times I have gone alone in my -canoe to dive for them, and I have found fine pearls, great and small. -These are true words. The white man called Seroni, who brings people -to plant coconuts on Iriatai, is a good man and my friend, but I have -said nothing of the pearls to him. They were your father's work, and -you will want them, since you live in the white man's land. The -oysters are on coral bottom, midway between the islet and the reef. -Beware of a great brown shark when you come here to dive; he comes -sometimes to that end of the lagoon, and twice he has nearly had me -when I was intent upon my work. I think he is the old god of my -people, worshiped when I was a child. Farewell, my dear son--I shall -not see you again. - -_On Iriatai, from Turia, to her son, Arno von Tesmar_ - - -"Somehow, as I read this letter, I was convinced that what the woman -said was true. There are nearly a hundred square miles in Iriatai -Lagoon, and though my men did a good deal of fishing, a shell-patch of -the largest size might have escaped their notice for years. No one in -the Eastern Pacific had ever succeeded in acclimatizing the gold-lipped -shell, but that did not prove that it could not be done. If Turia's -words were true, von Tesmar's eagerness to reach the group was -justified. It might prove a rare chance, and I resolved to investigate -at once. - -"Fatu, my big mate, is a man that I can always trust. He is a -first-class diver, and when the Tara was anchored at Iriatai, I told -him the story and explained that he must hold his tongue. We took a -big canoe and made camp on the islet at the far end of the lagoon. -Even with Turia's directions, it took us four days to find the shell, -but when Fatu began to bring up the gold-lipped oysters in both hands, -I saw that the dead half-caste had paid his passage a thousandfold. - -"My man reported the bottom covered with shell for acres on either -side--a little fortune in mother-of-pearl alone. And pearls--By Jove, -I could scarcely drag Fatu away! - -"I didn't dare to linger--there was danger of causing talk. It would -need a dozen or fifteen divers to work the patch properly; the news -would travel like a whirlwind, and I hadn't the shadow of a claim on -the shell. The open lagoons--I must explain--with passes through which -a vessel can enter from the sea are Government property, and during the -legal season any native may dive and keep what he obtains. Unless I -did some careful planning, half the schooners in the South Pacific -would soon be anchored at Iriatai. Well, I headed for Tahiti and did -my thinking on the way. The Governor of French Oceania is a friend of -mine. When we reached Papeete my plans were made and I put the matter -up to his common-sense: By pure chance, in one of the atolls under his -administration I had discovered a brand-new patch of shell. (I said -nothing, of course, about von Tesmar, or the fact that the shell was -golden-lipped.) If properly preserved and worked, this patch might in -the future prove a valuable asset to the Government. As things were, I -could not legally profit by my discovery--any Kanaka diver had as much -right as I to exploit the new lagoon. If I held my tongue, a hundred -years might pass before another man stumbled on the place. In view of -all this, therefore, wouldn't it be fair to give me one season's -exclusive rights, in return for adding a new pearl-lagoon to the five -or six already under French control? - -"It struck me as a fair thing to ask, and I had little difficulty with -the Governor. Within a month the papers were delivered to me all -signed and sealed: a year's rights to the shell and pearls of Iriatai. -I had always wanted an engine for the Tara and now I felt that I could -afford one. In the Paumotus, with reefs and five-knot currents and -frequent calms, a motor is better than a dozen insurance policies. Now -the engine's installed and I am heading back without a day to waste. -It will take time to find the men, to build canoes, and get the diving -under way." - - -As he finished his story, my uncle rose and began to pace back and -forth before the fireplace. My father lay in his chair, smoking and -making no comment; I fancy that the glimpse of an adventurous life on -the other side of the world had set his thoughts to wandering. Though -it was long past midnight, I was wide awake. - -All at once my uncle stopped beside his brother's chair and stood -looking down at him, with a half-apologetic smile. - -"See here, Ben," he said, "I want you to let Charlie come along. A few -months out of school will do no harm and I'll give you my word to have -him back in the fall. I've come to the age when a man feels the need -of youngsters, and yours are all I have. There'll be plenty of work--I -need someone I can really trust. He'll have his share in what we get, -of course, and he'll earn it--I'll see to that. Be a good fellow, and -let him come!" - -My father looked up and sighed before he spoke. "Ah, Harry," he -remarked, "you're a lucky man! All your life you've been a -rainbow-chaser and now you seem to have caught up with one at last. -It's hard not to envy you when I hear a story like the one you've told! -I didn't realize what a dull old stay-at-home I had become. As for the -boy, I'm tempted to let him go; but you're asking a good deal! You -live in a rough part of the world, if the stories one hears are true. -There must be men down there who would make it hot for you if the news -of your pearl-lagoon leaked out. Even in California we used to hear of -the exploits of Bully Hayes." - -My uncle smiled and shook his head. - -"Those days are past," he said. "Pease and Hayes are dead, and they've -left no successors in the Eastern Pacific. So far as I know, there's -only one scoundrel of that type left in Polynesia and he operates far -out to the west: 'Thursday Island Schmidt'--ever hear of him? I don't -know him myself, and I'm not hankering to make his acquaintance until -this job is done. But he's never been east of Samoa, and even old -Thursday Island would hesitate to tackle a barefaced hold-up nowadays. -Warships and the wireless have ended all that. Let the boy come--I'd -be the last man to drag him into any scrapes." - -"He can go, then," said my father, rising from his chair. "I only wish -I'd had such a chance when I was a youngster. But you'll have to talk -his mother around--I wash my hands of that! We'll leave that for -tomorrow, eh? Come, you must be tired; we'd better turn in, all three -of us." - -And so the matter was left, while I wandered in a daze to my room and -lay down to spend a night made sleepless by mingled anxiety and -happiness. - - - - -III - -ABOARD THE TARA - -It must have taken a deal of talking to win my mother's consent, but -Uncle Harry proved equal to the task. When we had breakfasted he sat -with her for an hour in the courtyard, and afterward, when I saw her -alone, she kissed me and told me that I was to go. - -We had guests that day--old friends who had known my uncle when he was -a boy. I sat at dinner with the others, but all I can remember of the -meal is that Uncle Harry praised my ducks. I was still dazed at my -good fortune: my dreams of adventure and of distant wanderings were to -come true at last! A cruise on the Tara in the South Seas--a quest for -pearls in a tropical lagoon--a part in the sequel of my uncle's -tale--indeed, the prospect was enough to intoxicate any boy of fifteen. -Iriatai! There was magic in the word alone, and I repeated it under my -breath while the older people about me spoke of commonplace things. - -The sun was low over the Pacific when we said good-bye. The others -accompanied us to the beach: my father and mother, Marion, and our -guests; and in a little group of people from the Santa Brigida I saw -old Juana sobbing, with a shawl pulled over her head. The two sailors -rolled the whaleboat into the wash of the sea; after the final -handclasps, Uncle Harry and I took our places in the stern. The ocean -was calmer than on the day before. Ivi and Ofai watched their time, -ran the boat out in a lull, leaped in to seize their oars, and pulled -seaward through the gentle surf. The mate of the Tara had seen us with -his glasses and the schooner was headed toward the land. Presently we -came alongside, scrambled over the rail, and helped the sailors haul -the boat on deck. My uncle shouted a command; the sheets were slacked -away, and the Tara bore off to the southwest. - -I turned for a last look at the watchers on the beach, already so far -distant that they were no more than a patch of color against the dunes. -There was a lump in my throat--it was the first time that I had been -away from home. - -"I hate to leave," remarked Uncle Harry, who was standing at my side, -"but we're off now; in the morning we'll be out of sight of land. Come -below and have a look at your quarters. I think you'll like the Tara; -she's my only child!" - -The Tara, as I have said, was schooner-rigged--a vessel of a hundred -tons, fast, comfortable, and designed to ride out any sea. A glance -convinced me of her owner's love. The sides were snowy with fresh -paint; the decks of white pine were holystoned till they gleamed -spotless against their seams of pitch; the masts and spars were newly -varnished, and no spot of mildew stained the sails. On the after deck -a shallow cockpit contained the wheel and binnacle. Forward of the -cockpit, the companionway led down to the saloon, where a pair of -curtained doors gave on staterooms to starboard and to port. The -woodwork was of bright mahogany. On either side of the saloon there -was a leather-upholstered lounge, and half a dozen chairs were screwed -fast to the floor about a handsome dining-table. Forward of the saloon -was the engine-room, shut off by a bulkhead from the main hold where -burlapped bales and packing-cases were piled high between decks. The -galley was on deck, and the forecastle was placed far up in the bows, -furnished with a deal-table and berths made of piping on which lengths -of heavy canvas had been stretched. - -My uncle's was the larger of the two staterooms. It was fitted with a -washstand and a single berth; a few framed photographs hung on the -walls, a large porthole gave a view of the sea outside, and a steel -safe was built into one corner of the room. The cabin opposite was -assigned to me--it was here that the half-caste son of von Tesmar had -breathed his last. - -"You're not afraid of ghosts, eh?" my uncle asked me with a smile. -"The poor devil died in that very bunk, but he's never troubled us -since, and if he did appear, he'd be harmless enough. Come--I want you -to know my boys; excepting the cook I shipped in 'Frisco, I've known -them all for years." - -They were Kanakas--brown Polynesians of the islands, akin to the -Hawaiian people and to the Maoris of far-away New Zealand. Ivi and -Ofai I already knew. Fatu, the mate, was a huge silent fellow with a -smile in his quick dark eyes--a nobly proportioned giant. The -engineer, Pahuri, was an elderly Rarotongan with a passion for fishing: -a small man, gray, wrinkled, and talkative. He had followed the sea -since boyhood and had visited many parts of the world on whaling -vessels and on merchant ships. His heart was kind, but he possessed a -biting tongue and his travels had made him cynical. Then came Rairi, -the half-caste cook my uncle had found stranded in San Francisco after -a voyage before the mast. He was a shade lighter than the others, with -a handsome, sullen face: a tall man and powerfully built, though -dwarfed in the presence of the mate. Rairi spoke a little English, -picked up along the waterfront, and had a pleasant manner when he -wished to make himself agreeable, but at other times his features were -of a forbidding cast. He cooked, and cooked well, in his box of a -galley, set on the forward deck above the hold. Outside of his duties -he had little to do with the men, as if his strain of white blood -caused him to hold aloof. Last of all came Marama the cabin boy, who -served our meals, polished brasses, and made himself useful whenever -there was an odd job on hand. He was a brown lad of my own age, though -larger and much stronger than I, and I liked him from the moment we -met. He was a cheerful worker, his black eyes were bright with humor -and intelligence, and he never lost his temper when a lurch of the deck -threw a potful of hot coffee over his feet. His father, Uncle Harry -told me, was a chief on Raiatea. - -"We're heading straight for Raiatea," said my uncle as we sat at dinner -that night. "I want you to stop there while I run across to unload my -cargo at Tahiti. It's a fine island and the chief of Faatemu is a -great friend of mine. You can put up at his house; I'll leave young -Marama to keep you company. He knows a bit of English--that will help -you at first. By the way, you'll need to pick up the native as fast as -you can; the man who can't speak with them is handicapped. It's easy -to learn; why not work at it during our passage South? I'll help you -and so will any of the men; it always pleases them to find one of us -interested in their language. Try memorizing a few words a day at the -start, then the simple phrases will come to you, and before you know -it, you'll be yarning with the crew. - -"The quieter we keep this business the less trouble we'll have, and for -that reason I'm going to pick up my men on Raiatea. There's a Paumotan -colony on the island--we'll have no trouble in getting all the divers -we need. They work two in a canoe, and we'll want fifteen canoes to be -on the safe side. They'll have to be built specially; I want you to -stay in Faatemu to see that they are ready when I return. It's a great -place for fishing and pig-hunting--you'll have a lot of fun!" - -When dinner was over we sat on deck for a time, while my uncle smoked -one of his slender black cigars. The sails were furled, for the wind -had died away an hour after sunset. An oily swell was running from the -west and the pulsing of the Tara's engine drove us steadily away from -land. By the dim light of the binnacle I could see that Ofai, at the -wheel, was shivering. Finally he called to Ivi, and the other came aft -with a thick woollen jacket on his arm. Uncle Harry tossed the stump -of his cigar overboard; I heard it hiss for an instant as it struck the -sea. - -"Come," he said; "let's turn in before we're both frozen. My blood's -too thin for these chilly winters of yours!" - -Next day we left the zone of coastwise calms and ran into the northeast -trade. The engine was stopped and the Tara headed southward with all -sails set, running almost free. It is a brave wind, the trade, and it -blew strong and fair, making the whitecaps dance on the dark blue -swells, and driving us southward day after day till we were within a -few degrees of the Line. Each day, at noon, my uncle fetched his -sextant on deck to observe the sun, and I watched him afterward, -bending over the chart in his stateroom, marking off our position with -dividers and scale. Finally, with a very sharp pencil, he made a tiny -cross, and I knew that this mark on the great blank spaces of the -mid-Pacific was where the schooner had been at twelve o'clock. - -Sometimes the wind fell away at sunset and the engine chugged steadily -throughout the night; once, when the trade blew day and night without -abating, the Tara reeled off two hundred knots from noon to noon. - -The weather grew warmer day by day. Shoes, stockings, and warm -clothing were stowed away, and the men went about their work in -waistcloths, with brown chests bare. One morning Uncle Harry called me -into the trade-room at the after end of the hold, and handed me half a -dozen _pareus_--strips of cotton print, dyed in barbaric patterns of -scarlet and white, a yard wide and two yards long. - -"If I were you," he said, "I'd put away my trousers from now on--shirts -too, if you're not afraid of the sun. My friends call me a savage, but -aboard my own schooner I dress as I please. The natives invented the -pareu, and it's the most sensible dress for this part of the world. -It's cooler than pyjamas at night, and in the morning you have merely -to hitch a fresh one around your waist and you're dressed for the day. -Let me show you the trick of putting it on." He wrapped the cloth -about my waist, tucked in the ends and made a tight roll at the top. -"There," he remarked with a smile, "that's quick dressing, eh?" - -From that day we went barefoot and bare-chested as the sailors did, and -I was soon burned to a uniform deep ruddy brown, only a shade paler -than the native crew. - -We were in the tropics now. The ocean was of a vivid blue that I had -never seen. Shoals of flying fish rose before the Tara's cutwater to -skim off above the waves, and sometimes the water about us was alive -with the predatory fish which rove the open sea. One afternoon Marama -showed me how to catch my first albicore in native fashion. - -We were standing by the rail, on the after deck. Suddenly, close to -the schooner's side, a dozen great steel-blue fish flashed into the -air, leaping like porpoises. "Albicore!" exclaimed my companion, as he -darted away toward the forecastle. A moment later he was back, -brandishing a twelve-foot pole of heavy bamboo. To the small end of it -he made fast a length of strong cotton line, terminating in a lure of -mother-of-pearl tinted in iridescent shades of yellow and green and -fitted with a barbless hook of brass. The shell was cut and polished -to resemble a six-inch flying-fish, with a tuft of white horsehair -projecting on either side to represent the wings. - -The albicore were still leaping and flashing alongside, now darting -ahead, now circling to follow in our wake. Marama tossed his lure -overboard and allowed it to skitter on the waves, holding the butt of -the rod strongly with both hands. There was a flash of blue in the -sea; the lure disappeared; the line snapped taut; the bamboo bent with -the struggles of a powerful fish. A yell burst from my companion's -lips. He braced himself to heave with all his strength, and a -thirty-pound albicore, vibrant and flashing in the sunlight, broke from -the water, sailed over the rail, and thudded to the deck. - -"Quick!" shouted Marama. "You try! I kill this one--take him -forward--Seroni no like blood on deck." - -My own blood was up and the hint was enough. In an instant the lure -was overboard and I was doing my best with unskilled hands to make it -skitter as the native boy had done. The fish had circled and were -following astern; I could see the spray of their leaping in the -schooner's wake. Then, as I gazed into the clear water, I saw a single -monstrous albicore rushing at my hook. His jaws gaped wide--there was -a mighty wrench; I found myself doubled over the rail, clinging to the -rod with all my strength and shouting for help. Marama had turned to -come aft and his quick eye took in the situation at a glance. He -bounded to the forecastle and came running along the deck, holding -aloft a long, four-pointed spear. "_Tapea maitai!_" he shouted--"Don't -let go!" At that moment, Seroni himself--for that was my uncle's -native name--appeared on deck. He seized the spear from Marama's hand -and sprang to the rail. I was beginning to learn that Uncle Harry -prided himself on excelling the natives in their own pursuits. His arm -shot out in a swift dexterous thrust which transfixed the wallowing -fish, so heavy that we could not lift it till a noose had been thrown -over its tail. - -That night, for the first time in my life, I tasted the characteristic -dish of Polynesia: raw fillets of fish, soaked in vinegar and served as -an appetizer. - -The trade wind held for sixteen days, and when it died away at last we -were only four hundred miles north of the Line. Then the Tara's sails -were furled and for three days and three nights the engine drove us -southward over a sea ruffled by light airs from the west. I shall -never forget those equatorial nights, when all the others, saving the -steersman and myself, were asleep on deck--the steady pulsing of the -Tara's motor; the calm sea, heaving gently as a sleeper's breast; the -Southern Cross, low down among the blazing constellations. Each day at -dawn the air cooled and freshened; presently the sky to the east began -to pale, the little clouds on the horizon grew luminous with rosy -light, and the sun appeared above the rim of the sea, a disk of -dazzling brightness, glaring like burnished brass. The sunsets, on -evenings when masses of cloud were piled along the western sky, were -still more beautiful. Long after the sun had sunk beyond the slope of -the world the clouds were tinted with opal and rose, and pierced by -lofty shafts of golden light. - -We crossed the Line and met the southeast trade, blowing from the -far-off Chilean coast. Then the sheets were close-hauled and the Tara -began to beat southward, pitching and bucking into the head sea. -Marama brought racks to hold the dishes on our table; we moved about -the deck in short runs, grasping at the rail or a convenient stay; and -for the first time I felt a landsman's seasick qualms. The constant -tossing made all hands irritable, and brought on the trouble between -Pahuri and the cook. - -I heard from Marama how the affair began. Fatu and the engineer ate -their meals forward with the men, old friends and natives like -themselves, with whom there was no occasion to enforce strict -discipline. Pahuri, the little Rarotongan engineer, was the oldest man -and the recognized story-teller of the crew. He had seen many strange -parts of the world, and no doubt, like other story-tellers I have -known, he was quite ready to describe other places he had never seen. -No matter how often the story had been told, nor how obviously -embellished by a resourceful imagination, the men always listened -eagerly when Pahuri began his tale. Rairi, the half-caste cook, was -the only skeptic of the lot, and his comment on the engineer's accounts -of Sydney and Wellington and Singapore, coupled with his own white -blood and pretense of superiority, caused daily friction between the -two. There was soup on the day of the trouble, scalding-hot soup, -carried to the forecastle by Rairi's own hands, and a plate of it, -poured down the engineer's neck when the Tara gave a sudden violent -lurch, brought Pahuri raging to his feet. Rairi was Paumotan on the -native side; to a man of his kind no epithet could have been more -offensive than the engineer's angry: "_Uri Paumotu!_--Paumotan dog!" -But the mate's presence tied his hands and he retired sullenly to the -galley, trembling with rage. The sequel came late that night. - -Pahuri had been working on his engine and he came on deck, a little -after midnight, for a breath of air. He was leaning on the rail by the -shrouds when strong hands seized his throat and he heard a fierce -whisper in his ear:-- - -"Ah!--Pig of a Rarotongan!" - -Pahuri was a wiry little man and he struggled frantically in the -other's grasp, for he realized at once that the cook intended to -strangle him into silence and heave him overboard. He twisted his body -about, gripped the shrouds like a monkey, doubled up his knees and -drove both heels into Rairi's stomach. The cook relaxed his hands for -a moment with a grunt of pain, and Pahuri managed to give a stifled -shout. But the half-caste's fingers tightened once more, and the -engineer felt his senses leaving him. His hands fell from the shrouds -to which he had clung, his body was lifted to the height of the rail, -and he thought numbly that the end was near. Then, suddenly as he had -been seized, he was dropped to the deck, where he lay gasping for a -time before he realized what had occurred. - -The giant mate was standing over him, gazing down with an expression of -concern. There was a waning moon, and by its light Pahuri saw that -Fatu held the cook with one huge outstretched hand, the thumb and -fingers sunk in the half-caste's corded neck. He held him easily as -one lifts a puppy by the scruff. - -"What is this?" the mate asked mildly, in his soft deep voice. "Has -this man tried to do you harm?" - -The man at the wheel had given the alarm, and my uncle came on deck a -moment later, dressed only in a pareu, his chest and powerful shoulders -bare. I had been sleeping, but the noises of the scuffle awakened me, -and I followed close behind. Pahuri was able to speak when we arrived -and he told a story that left out no detail of the affair. For a -moment, no one thought of the half-caste, struggling weakly in Fatu's -mighty grip. Even in the moonlight, I could see that his face was -blackening--I pointed and touched my uncle's arm. - -"Let him go, Fatu!" he ordered sharply. "You'll kill the man!" - -The mate had been listening intently to Pahuri's tale, and at Uncle -Harry's words he dropped Rairi with an air of surprise, as if he had -forgotten him. The cook had fainted; we could not revive him until a -bucket of sea water had been dashed over his face. At that he sat up -feebly, groaning as his hands went up to feel his neck. My uncle -glanced down, his dark eyes burning with a glitter that made Rairi turn -away his face. - -"Feel better now?" asked my uncle in a hard vibrant voice. "I'm glad -of that, for I've something to say to you. You understand English, eh? -You needn't do any talking--I know all about this affair. You tried to -kill Pahuri--an old man half your size and your superior on board. -These boys would like to heave you into the sea; I fancy they're right, -it would be a riddance of damned poor trash. The only difficulty is -that I need a cook. We're going to Raiatea first, and if you value -your skin, you'll stick close aboard. Then I'm going to Tahiti and -I'll drop you there. If you behave yourself from now on, I'll say -nothing to the authorities; but if you try any more tricks, if any -member of the crew goes overboard accidentally at night, or if anyone -so much as falls ill before we reach Tahiti, I'll feel it my duty to -turn you over to the French, who know me well. They guillotine their -murderers down there--it's not a pleasant way to die! Think it over. -You can go forward now." - -Rairi struggled to his feet and tottered forward with a hand on the -rail. At that moment, moved by a boy's emotion, I felt almost sorry -for him, but as he passed me I caught a glimpse of his face in the -moonlight--dark handsome features distorted by passion. I drew back as -if he had raised his hand to strike me, but the others had not seen -what I had seen, and I stifled the cry of warning which rose to my lips. - -There was no more trouble with Rairi while he remained aboard the Tara; -he went about his duties in silence, ignored by the sailors and sitting -alone in his galley during the slack hours of the day. But I know now -that it would have been better for us, and better for him, perhaps, in -the long run, if my uncle had given his men their way--had let them -throw the revengeful half-caste to the sharks. - -On the morning after the trouble we raised our first land--the western -islands of the Marquesas. At sunset we had seen flocks of birds flying -steadily southeast, and my uncle told me that if we followed them they -would lead us to the land. At dawn, when I came on deck, I heard the -ringing shout of landfall from aloft, and gazing eastward, I made out -the high silhouette of Hatutu, a faint outline against the flushing -sky. An hour later we drew abreast of Eiao, a saw-toothed ridge, -falling away gently at either end; and toward midday we raised the rock -of Motu Iti, and the long highlands of Nukuhiva, veiled in masses of -black thundercloud. At nightfall, in the darkling east, the pinnacled -skyline of Uapou faded and disappeared. - -"A beautiful group," remarked my uncle, standing by the rail. "When I -was trading there I knew every bay from Hanavave to Tai-O-Hae. The -larger islands have a fascination--a gloomy beauty that gets into one's -blood. The people, though they were cannibals, were a fine savage -race, who had developed, during the course of centuries in their -isolated group, an interesting culture of their own. But their blood -was too wild to stand contact with our civilization, and when the white -man came they died off, as the Indian and the buffalo disappeared from -our American plains. Now the valleys where people once dwelt in -thousands are silent and deserted, the lonely burial-places of a -vanished race. I suppose I'm a heathen, but I can see the savage's -point of view--he asked no more than to be left in peace, a favor we -white men have never been willing to grant...." - -Two days afterward I had my first glimpse of the coral islands. The -moon was bright that evening as we passed through the twelve-mile -channel separating the atolls of Rangiroa and Tikehau. I climbed to a -perch in the shrouds and lingered there as we coasted the western end -of Rangiroa; the night-breeze blowing off the land brought to my -nostrils a faint sweet perfume, the odor of pandanus blossoms. The -line of palms, growing on the low ring of land, stood out sharply in -the moonlight, and at times, when we passed a region of sparser -vegetation, I had glimpses of the great lagoon beyond, silvered by the -moon and stretching away to the horizon without land in sight. - -It was close to midnight when the atoll dropped away astern and I -climbed down to the deck, stiff from my long vigil aloft. I found -Uncle Harry busy over some papers at the little desk in his stateroom. -He swung about in his chair and lit a cigar as I sat down on the berth. - -"Been having a look at Rangiroa, eh," he remarked. "There's a kind of -beauty about the atolls, especially on a moonlight night. Iriatai is -the same sort of place, though on a much smaller scale. There's no -other group in the world like the Paumotus: eighty lagoon islands, some -of them of immense size, strung out northwest and south-east in a -cluster a thousand miles long. Darwin believed that they were the -peaks of a submerged mountain-range, on which the coral polyps have -built, as the mountains sank little by little beneath the sea. The -lagoons are accounted for on the ground that the polyps tend to die in -calm water, and thrive best in the froth and spray of breaking seas. -As time went on, you see, the ones on the outside would build higher -and higher, while the ones inside would die. Then, as the island -continued gradually to sink, with the live polyps all working in the -wash of the sea along the outer run, a deepening lagoon would form -inside--and there you have your atoll. The passes are believed to be -caused by fresh water, the heavy rainfall of these latitudes, finding -an outlet to the sea. Running out at low tide over the lowest portion -of the reef, it kills the coral-builders and causes the slow formation -of a pass, often deep enough to allow large vessels to enter the lagoon. - -"There was a day, perhaps, two thousand years ago, when the Paumotus -lay lonely and uninhabited, spread out like a vast net, a thousand -miles long and four hundred miles across, to catch the canoes of -wanderers who had missed the higher and richer islands to the west. -The Polynesians were daring seamen, but their methods of navigation -were of the most primitive sort--by the stars, the clouds, the trade -wind, and the flight of birds. Hundreds of their great double canoes -with clumsy sails of matting must have left Samoa for the eastern -groups, and some of them, missing the Cook Islands or Tahiti, of which -they had only half-legendary accounts, fetched up along this chain of -atolls. The Paumotan people of to-day are their descendants. The -names of the islands still show the wonder of those ancient wanderers -at the strange sea in which they found themselves, and the joy and -relief the landfalls brought--'The Spread-out Heavens'; 'The Place of -Rejoicing'; 'The Windward Rainbow'; 'The Land of Great Beacon-Fires.' -But perhaps this doesn't interest you very much--I have a way of -preaching when I start on the subject of the islands!" My uncle tilted -his chair and smiled at me through a cloud of smoke. - -"The wind is shifting toward the north," he went on, "and with a little -luck we'll sight Raiatea before dark to-morrow night. As I said, I'll -leave young Marama with you; you're getting on well with the language, -but you'll need an interpreter for the present. I'll be gone a month, -at least, and when I return I'd like to be able to start at once for -Iriatai. You'll stop with Marama's father, the chief of Faatemu Bay. -I'll be careful to explain what I want to the old man, but remember -that a native hasn't the least notion of the passage of time. I'm -leaving this to you--if you don't keep after old Taura every day, the -canoes may not be finished for months. I want fifteen strongly made -canoes of hibiscus wood, about twenty feet long, and complete with -outriggers, cinnet for lashings, and a pair of paddles with each. Then -we'll need twenty-five or thirty pairs of diving-goggles, with the -glass set in wood or horn. Some of the men will have their own, but -they're always losing them, and once his goggles are lost, a diver is -no more use. I'll leave you the glass and the diamond to cut it with; -Marama will find you men who understand this work. I have a store at -Faatemu; you can take the keys and advance a certain amount of goods to -the canoe-builders, but don't let them get too far ahead of you! Old -Taura, the chief, is as good a native as I know, and he'll see that you -enjoy your stay on the island. You'll be swimming, and spearing fish, -and hunting wild pig in the mountains--I only wish that I were stopping -over, myself!" - -The north wind blew all night with sudden fierce gusts and squalls of -rain. The day broke wild and gray, but toward noon the sun shone out, -and presently the clouds were left behind, sinking along the horizon to -the north. At four bells land was in sight--the peaks of Huahine, -bearing a little west of south, minute irregularities on the line where -sea met sky. It was an afternoon such as one sees rarely in the -tropics: a cloudless horizon and an atmosphere clear as the air above -our deserts at home. An hour before sundown the Leeward Islands were -all in view, strung out in the shape of a great half-moon on the sea -ahead of us. The tall mountain rising abruptly in the north was Bora -Bora; Tahaa and Raiatea, sheltered within the same circling -barrier-reef, lay straight before the Tara's bows; and Huahine made the -southern horn--beautiful as some land remembered from a dream. - -At midnight we saw the torches of fishermen on the Raiatea reef, and -dawn found us off Faatemu Bay. The sails were furled, Pahuri started -the engine, and we glided in through the Nao Nao passage, past the -green islet of Haaio, past Tuuroto Point, and into the deep inlet where -the thatched roofs of the village clustered beneath the palms. - - - - -IV - -AT FAATEMU - -I wish that I had space to tell more of the month I spent at -Faatemu--the story of all that happened in those days would fill a -thicker volume than this one. I was young, keenly alive, and set down -among strange and kindly people in a brand-new world. When the Tara -set sail at nightfall I felt a little lonely and forlorn, but before -another day had passed I was beginning to enjoy one of the happiest -periods of my life. No matter how far I wander, or how remote those -dreamy island days, I shall never forget the kindness of my friends, -the brown Faatemu villagers. - -We had been sighted offshore and canoes were thick about the Tara when -her anchor dropped. Taura was the first man aboard--a stately, -gray-haired native, of a type not common nowadays. He was barefoot, -but his suit of drill was spotless and he wore a beautifully plaited -hat. His fat old wife Hina came behind him, her kindly face working -and her eyes full of tears; and Tetua, Marama's little sister, stood -shyly at her mother's side. Hina made straight for her son and clung -to him for a time, sobbing gently; Tetua kissed her brother bashfully; -and finally the chief, after he had shaken hands with the rest of us, -sat down beside Marama for the silent greeting of their race. - -"Come ashore with me," called my uncle, as the ship's boat went over -the side; "there's some copra here and I still have room for a bit of -deck cargo. We must hurry if I'm going to get away to-night!" - -The boat plied back and forth all morning, laden with bags of copra, -while Uncle Harry unlocked his store, showed me how to keep account of -the goods, and explained to Taura that I was to stop over and that the -canoe-building must be hurried as much as possible. The chief promised -to have the canoes ready in a month's time. As for divers, he believed -we could pick up all we needed on Raiatea--Paumotu men who had settled -in the Leeward group. My bag and light blanket were brought ashore and -installed in Taura's house, and toward evening my uncle bade us -good-bye and was pulled out to the schooner. It was dusk when she -stole out through the pass, before the gentle night-breeze which comes -down from the hills. - -I lay awake long that night, in my bed in a corner of Taura's great -single room. The others had spread a mat on the floor and set a -turned-down lamp near by. Father, mother, and sister lay in a circle -about Marama while he recounted, in a low voice and with many gestures, -the story of his adventures in the north. I lay staring up at the -rafters under the lofty thatch, thinking of all that had happened since -Uncle Harry had steered his boat in through the California surf; of the -von Tesmars, father and son; of Iriatai, and what the future held in -store. The lamp flickered when the land breeze found its way through -the thin bamboo walls, causing the shadows above me to deepen and -retreat; Marama's rapid flow of words droned on monotonously; and at -last sleep closed my eyes. - -Early next day, when Taura came to demand half a dozen axes for his -men, I did my first bit of trading. Then I closed the store, and -Marama and I went with the canoe-builders to select their trees in the -valley far up among the mountains. We followed the river up from the -bay toward Faaroa, the great central valley of the island. A dim path, -along which we walked in single file, led through the jungle, winding -about the trunks of fallen trees, across the rushing, waist-deep -stream, high along the mountain-side, at a place where the valley -became a gorge. I saw thickets of _fei_, the wild plantain, bearing -great bunches of its reddish fruit; jungle cock crowed shrilly among -the hills; and once a troop of wild pig, led by a gray old boar, -crashed off, grunting, through the undergrowth. It was strange to -think that only three generations had passed since Marama's ancestors, -fierce brown warriors armed with rude ironwood clubs and spears, had -stolen along this same path on forays against neighboring clans. - -The wild hibiscus seldom grows large enough to furnish a log for a -twenty-foot canoe, and it took us the best part of the day to choose -our trees. All were close enough to be dragged to the river and -floated down to Faatemu, and while the work was going on Marama and I -went out every day with the men. First of all, the tree was felled and -the branches chopped off smoothly, flush with the trunk. Then a -twenty-foot length was measured along the straightest part of the tree -and the ends cut off, before the log was rolled and dragged to the -riverside. Finally, when our fifteen logs were ready, it took a -strenuous day's work, pushing over shallow reaches and swimming through -deep pools, to float them to the beach. - -Once our logs were at Faatemu, Taura was for giving a feast and resting -for a day or two. But I urged haste, recalling my uncle's words to the -chief. Then the logs were laid out in the shade, close to the village, -and one man set to work on each, fashioning a canoe with axe and adze. -Day after day the builder chopped, while the chips flew and the form of -the canoe emerged--the curve of sheer, the rounded bilge, the sharp -lines of bow and stern. Sometimes a man stood off, squinting at his -handiwork with one eye closed--judging the symmetry of the slender -hull. When the outside was roughly chopped to shape, the log was -turned over and the builder began to hollow out the inside with his -adze. At last, when the walls of wood were of the required thickness, -the process of finishing began: a slow and laborious rubbing with hard -bits of coral, and a final smoothing with the rough skin of a -stingray's tail, tacked to a wooden block. Then a pair of narrow -planks of hibiscus were sawn out to make the raised gunwales, six -inches high and of the same thickness as the sides of the canoe. After -long scraping and repeated trials, these gunwales were made to fit so -perfectly that no crack of light appeared when they were set in place. -At intervals of about a foot, holes were drilled in the gunwales and -corresponding holes in the dugout-sides beneath. The planks were -joined at stem and stern and lashed to the canoe with cinnet--strong -cording made of the braided fibre of the coconut. Now, save for its -outrigger, the canoe was finished. - -Round-bottomed and very narrow for their length, the native canoes -would capsize at once were it not for their outriggers--light slender -logs which float in the water alongside at a distance of four or five -feet, attached to the hull by a pair of transverse poles. When Captain -Cook first sailed among the islands, the natives marveled at the great -canoe which remained upright without an outrigger--more wonderful by -far, in their eyes, than the white man's cannon, or muskets, or axes of -steel. "_Aué!_" they exclaimed, in astonishment. "_E vaa ama -oré!_"--a canoe without an outrigger! - -We made our outriggers of light _purau_ wood, twenty feet long, five or -six inches thick, and pointed at the forward end. The attaching poles -were of iron wood--_casuarina_ is the name of the beautiful, -pale-foliaged tree--lashed across the gunwales fore and aft, the bow -pole rigid, the rear one curved and flexible. At Taura's suggestion, I -gave orders that all the outriggers and their fittings be assembled, -and the canoes tested in the water before they were taken apart to be -loaded aboard the Tara. Thanks to the chief, they were ready some days -before the schooner came in sight, and our diving-goggles, made in the -evenings by the old men of the village, were finished and waiting at -the store. - -To the native fisherman, these goggles are nearly as important as his -spear. They are not unlike the goggles used by motorists at home: a -pair of glasses, set in wooden rims which fit tightly about one's eyes, -and held in place by an elastic around the head. With such glasses, -well fitted and water-tight, one can see nearly as well in the clear -sea-water as in the air above. - -I kept two pairs for Marama and myself, and we went out often, on -afternoons of leisure, to spear fish inside the reef. Paddling to a -place where the water was from five to ten feet deep, we moored our -canoe to a coral mushroom and set out, swimming for long distances or -wading as the water shoaled. Little by little I learned one of the -most difficult of native arts: to swim gently with my face under water, -holding the spear between my toes. I learned to distinguish the good -fish from the bad, the wholesome from the poisonous; to recognize the -holes where the fat black _maito_ hide; to see the octopus dart into -his cranny; to transfix my quarry with a well-aimed thrust. Sometimes -we were in the water for three hours at a stretch, but I never wearied -of admiring the strange beauty of this underwater world. The sunlight, -filtering through the clear lagoon and reflected from the bottom in -delicate tints of blue and green, revealed shoals of fish, colored like -jewels and of fantastic shapes, gliding among the branches of the coral -forest. In deeper water a gleam of vivid blue showed where the -tridacna--the giant clam--lay in his hole with jaws agape, and I -learned to swim down with a bar of steel and pry him from the rock. - -Sometimes, on moonless nights, we took torches and went out spearing on -the reef. The Raiatea barrier-reef, about a mile offshore, is no more -than a low dyke of coral, half awash and breaking the landward run of -the swell. By night, when the torches flicker and flare, and mighty -combers, bursting on the outer edge, come foaming waist-deep across the -jagged rock, the reef is an eerie place, not without dangers of its -own. Under cover of darkness, strange monsters have been known to -crawl up from the depths on the seaward side--the huge decapods on -which the sperm whale feeds, and nameless creatures of which the -natives speak with whispered dread. There were tales of fishermen who -had paddled out at nightfall, never to return.... Nothing would have -tempted me to fish on the reef alone at night, though when several of -us went out together, armed with machetes and heavy spears, there was a -wild charm about the sport. - -We walked abreast in a line that reached from lagoon to sea, each man -bearing in his left hand a torch of dry bamboo. At times, a cry from -the seaward man caused us to brace ourselves for the big sea he had -seen rearing in the torchlight. Then with a roar and a crash the wave -would break, sending a wall of white water across the barrier. -Sometimes a shark came thrashing across with the wave, to be speared -before he could reach the deep water of the lagoon. Sometimes a series -of shouts went up as a great silver cavally swept by us so fast that -man after man missed his thrust. When the wave receded there were -spiny crayfish to be caught in the pools, and enormous pink-spotted -crabs to be held down with a spear-shaft till one could take a safe -grip, out of reach of the menacing claws. - -One day, when the sun was bright and the current in the pass was slack, -Marama showed me a pleasanter and lazier kind of fishing. He had -caught a great quantity of hermit crabs the night before, and at -daybreak I found him on the beach, picking up the pebbles used for -sinkers and tossing them into the bottom of the canoe. He had brought -a line fitted with strong hooks on wire leaders, and his water glass--a -small wooden box, open at the top and with a bottom made of a pane of -clear glass. We paddled to the passage and anchored the canoe on one -side, where she could swing out over the wall of coral, shelving almost -vertically into deep blue water. Then Marama began to crack the shells -of his crabs, smash the claws and bodies between two stones, and toss -this ground bait over the side of the canoe. I took the glass and -watched the fragments of crab-meat eddying down beside the seamed and -crannied wall. The water was so clear that every detail of the scene -was visible: the strange fish drifting along the face of the cliff; the -mouths of the caverns from which larger fish looked out; the sandy -bottom beneath us, scoured clean by the current of the pass. At first, -only a shoal of small fry gathered to gobble up the bait, but suddenly -they scattered in terror as a pair of parrot fish, bright blue and a -yard long, with horny beaks instead of mouths, moved leisurely from -their hiding-place. There was so little wind that my companion had -seen them without his glass. He baited his hook with the soft body of -a hermit crab, tied a pebble to his line with the curious hitch that -allows the sinker to be released by a jerk, and dropped hook and stone -over the side. I watched the pebble rush down toward the bottom; saw -it halt below the drifting bait; saw the line jerk and the sinker drop -off and disappear; watched the baited hook rise slowly to the level of -the parrot fish, that were beginning to feed in their deliberate way. - -Now Marama's bait was eddying among the other morsels of crab, and I -almost shouted as I saw it disappear in the beak of the larger of the -big blue fish. The native boy struck sharply and began to haul in his -line, cutting the water in crisp zigzags this way and that. A final -heave brought the twenty-pound fish tumbling into the canoe, a blow of -a short club ended its struggles, and I examined it at leisure while -Marama baited his hook once more. It was the first that I had seen--a -strange and beautiful creature, covered with scales larger than a -fifty-cent piece, scales of a vivid iridescent blue with a green spot -at the base of each. A nip of its horny beak would have severed a -man's finger clean. Later that day when I ate my share of it, -steaming-hot from the oven, I understood why the parrot fish was prized -so highly. - -When Taura's family assembled for a meal, all of their cooked food came -from the native oven, under the shed behind the house. Their method of -cooking seemed to me--and still seems, when I think of those dinners at -Faatemu--the finest in the world, preserving as it does all the juices -and flavor of fish or fowl or meat. The native cook's equipment -consists of a heap of waterworn pebbles, picked up along the beach, a -pile of large green leaves, and a supply of firewood. Fish and chicken -and pork are cut into pieces of convenient size and made into little -leaf-wrapped packages. Yams, sweet potatoes, plantains, and bananas -are selected for cooking and laid out beside the packages of meat. -Then a shallow hole is scraped out in the earth--perhaps a foot deep, -and two feet across--and a hot fire is built inside. When the fire is -blazing well, the pebbles are heaped on the wood and left till they are -heated almost to a glow. At this stage the hole is raked out clean, -the food put in and covered with hot pebbles, and the whole overlaid -with a thick layer of leaves and earth. An hour later the oven may be -opened, the baked vegetables peeled, and the packages of fish and meat -removed from their clean leafy wrappings. - -As time went on, it seemed to me that my friend Marama possessed more -useful accomplishments than any lad of his age at home. The fishing -excursions in which I was always eager to join were in reality his -work, for we supplied more than half of the household's food. My -friend could read and write, but otherwise he had no education in our -sense of the word. He knew nothing of history, algebra, or geometry, -but his mind was a storehouse of complex fishing-lore, picked up -unconsciously since babyhood and enabling him to provide himself and -his family with food. And when you come to think of it, that is one of -the purposes of all education. - -The habits of the fish in the South Pacific are regulated by the moon, -and Marama knew what kinds were to be found on any night of the native -lunar month. On nights of bright moonlight we cast a white fly for the -small rockfish which frequent patches of live coral; on dark nights we -gathered the mollusks abounding in the lagoon. During the week of the -new moon's first appearance, we went out at dawn to fish for tunny in -the pass. Sometimes Tetua, the twelve-year-old sister of Marama, took -me with her to spear prawns in the Faatemu River. Carrying torches and -armed with small barbless spears, we slipped and clambered over the wet -rocks, scanning the pools for the little fresh-water lobsters which -soon filled our pail. Sometimes I took a paddle in one of the long -narrow bonito-canoes and went with the men on trips that took us far -offshore, following the birds above the leaping schools. I grew hard -and browned by the sun, and the native language came to me surprisingly. - -Once on a Saturday, when my uncle's work was done, Taura took us to the -mountains to hunt for pig. The chief's two lean dogs ranged ahead, and -far up in the Faaroa Valley they started a bristling gray boar, fierce, -old, and fleet of foot. He led us a long chase over the rough -stream-bed and through dense thickets of tree-fern and hibiscus. In -the end we heard a fierce uproar of snarls and yelps and grunting, and -knew that he had turned at bay. Taura was too old to run as we did, -and by this time the chief was a good half-mile behind. We had no -weapons, and when I saw the angry brute, foam dripping from his jaws as -he faced the dogs with his back to a great tree-trunk, I wondered what -we were to do, now that we had come up with him. But Marama did not -share my hesitation. - -"Take care!" he warned me--unnecessarily, I thought. "He is a bad pig! -If he runs at you, jump into a tree!" - -He took a clasp knife from the tuck of his pareu, cut a limb of -hibiscus, and peeled off a length of the tough bark--the strongest of -natural cord. Then he shouted encouragingly to the dogs, and while -their attack diverted the boar's attention, he stole quickly around the -sheltering tree-trunk. I saw his brown hands shoot out to seize the -boar's hind legs, and the next moment--grunting and struggling -ferociously--the old brute was thrown heavily upon his back. I rushed -to lend a hand and our combined strength was enough to hold him while -we tied his legs with strips of bark. Taura found us lying exhausted -beside our captive, while the dogs lay in the cool stream, with heaving -flanks and tongues lolling in the water. - -That evening, when Marama had recounted the details of our hunt, his -mother told us one of her tales of heathen days--the story of how the -first pigs were given by the ancient gods to mankind. Many of her -words I understood; at times her son whispered a translation in rapid -broken English. We were lying on a wide mat, spread under the palms -close to the beach. A new moon was setting behind the point and the -evening was so calm that only the faintest of murmurs came from the -reef. - -There was a time--so the story ran--many years ago, when there were no -pigs on any of these islands. In those days men ate only fish, and -sometimes, in seasons of famine, the flesh of rats. The clans of the -different valleys were constantly at war, for there was no one -government over the island--no family of Raiatean chiefs. Men lost -heart for the planting when villages were destroyed and crops burned on -every hand, and many of the people left their lands to live in hidden -caves among the hills. - -In this bay of Faatemu lived a feeble old man, blind with age and -weeping, for his wife and all but one of his children had been -slaughtered in the wars. He was called Vatea, and the name of his -young son, who cared for him, was Tamatoa. They lived in a rude -thatch-shelter the boy had built. It was a time of famine; a war-party -from Tahaa had burned the village, and there were no plantations of -yams or sweet potatoes. The men of Tahaa, as was their custom, had -chopped down all the coconut palms, and Tamatoa feared to go after -plantains. By day the father and son kept to their hidden shelter, and -each night the boy came cautiously to the seaside, to catch what fish -he could. Since he dared not use a torch, that was not much; on many -occasions his patience was rewarded by no more than one small fish. -Then he would make for himself a poor dish of scraped banana-stalks, -not fit to keep the life in a man, and after preparing his single fish, -he would carry the food to where blind old Vatea awaited him. "I have -caught only two small fish," he told the old man at these times; "one -for you, and one for me. Now let us eat!" And while the hungry father -devoured his fish, the son would make a great noise of smacking his own -lips over the wretched scrapings of banana stalk. - -Each day the fish were smaller and more difficult to catch, and finally -the old man was starving, though Tamatoa gave him all the real food -that he could find. As happens at such times, Vatea grew suspicious of -his son, thinking that the boy was taking advantage of his blindness to -save the best morsels for himself. One day, when the son brought a -small raw fish and his own dish of grated banana-stalk, the old man -spoke. 'Fetch me a calabash of cool water from the stream,' he said; -and when the boy was gone, he felt his way across to where his son's -food lay in a wooden bowl. Then his tears fell, and his heart was -heavy with remorse. - -That night, as they lay side by side on their mats, old Vatea spoke to -his son. "Listen carefully to my words," he said, "and forget nothing -that I say. To-morrow I shall die; when I am dead, bury me by the -great rosewood tree yonder in the valley. Then, every morning, you -shall go to my grave at the hour when the sun first strikes the ground. -Watch closely; take what you find and use it wisely--it will make you a -powerful man." - -Next morning old Vatea died, and his son, who was a dutiful lad, did as -the father had instructed. For two days, when the first rays of -sunlight touched his father's grave he was watching by the rosewood -tree, and on the third morning his eyes saw a strange thing. The earth -cracked and heaved, and he heard a new sound, the sound of grunting, as -a pair of pigs came up out of the dust--the first pigs that any man had -seen. Marveling greatly, Tamatoa took them home and cared for them, -and only a day or two later, peace was made among the clans, and a -bountiful run of fish entered the lagoon. - -Litters of young pigs were born as time went on, and the fame of -Tamatoa went abroad among the islands--to Huahine, to Bora Bora, and -even to distant Maupiti. Then the high priest of Oro, at the Opoa -temple, was seized with a frenzy, and through his lips the chiefs -learned that Tamatoa, the favored of the gods, was to be made ruler of -the island. Thus Tamatoa became king, and the race of swine was given -to furnish food for men. - - -As she finished the story, Marama's mother heaved herself to her feet -and led the way to Taura's steep-roofed house. The moon had set, and -as I followed through the warm darkness, I thought drowsily of my uncle -and wondered when the Tara would return. I might have slept less -soundly if I had known that she was then within twenty miles, and that -in the morning she would anchor in Faatemu Bay. - - - - -V - -IRIATAI - -I was awakened at daybreak by a noise of shoutings and running out of -the house, my eyes still heavy with sleep, I saw the Tara standing in -through the Nao Nao Pass. I called to Marama. We launched our canoe -and paddled out as the schooner rounded to and dropped anchor with a -prolonged rattle of chain. My uncle was standing at the wheel--a tall -bronzed figure in a scarlet waist-cloth; he called out a jovial -greeting as we paddled alongside. Ivi and Ofai were busy with the -whaleboat; Fatu waved an enormous hand at us; I saw Pahuri standing by -the rail, smiling his cynical and wrinkled smile. - -"Come aboard, boys," my uncle shouted. "Eh, Charlie, the islands agree -with you, I see! You're brown as a native and an inch broader than -when I saw you last! Hello, Marama! _Mai ai oe_? How's the work -coming on? All the canoes ready?" - -It seemed like returning home, to breakfast once more in the Tara's -saloon. Uncle Harry was in high spirits at the prospect of an early -start. Everything had been arranged in Tahiti; the Tara's cargo had -been unloaded, and a fresh cargo--all our supplies for the -diving-season on Iriatai--taken aboard. - -"An odd thing happened," remarked my uncle as we sat down. "I lost a -lot of papers from my desk. Remember the letter I translated to you at -home--the one about Iriatai, from the old native woman to her son? -Well, that was among them; it's of no use to anyone, of course, now -that we have the lagoon tied up. A piece of spite-work, I think. -Rairi, that precious cook of ours, boarded the schooner one day while I -was ashore--said he'd forgotten a bundle of his things. - -"I wish you'd been with me," he went on, "you'd have had a look at a -famous schooner and the most picturesque scoundrel in the South Seas. -Ever hear of Thursday Island Schmidt? Oh yes, I remember--I mentioned -him that night at the ranch. Well, this was my first glimpse of him, -and I'll own that I was interested. A week ago he brought his little -schooner into Papeete with a load of shell from the Gambier Islands. -She's as pretty as her reputation is black, and the way he handled her -was a treat to watch. She's flying the tricolor now; he transferred -her to French registry in Noumea, last year. They know less than the -British about her past! She's dodged Russian gunboats when Schmidt was -seal-poaching in the foggy North Pacific; she's kidnapped wild -bush-niggers, out in the Solomons and New Hebrides; she's posed as an -Australian revenue-boat to hold up the Malay pearlers in Torres -Straits, where her skipper got his name. I saw Schmidt in the club -that afternoon--he's a big German, with a full beard and a pair of cold -blue eyes. They say he's a cashiered naval officer--a great talker at -any rate, and speaks English like a professor. - -"Papeete's a gossipy place! After Schmidt had left the club, I heard -some queer yarns. There's a rumor that he has a prisoner aboard the -Cholita--someone who's never allowed ashore and whom visitors are never -allowed to see! The traders have nothing to think about but the price -of copra, and other men's affairs! - -"One night on the water-front I saw Schmidt walking with a man I -thought was Rairi, but the native turned away before I was close enough -to make sure, and old Thursday Island gave me a long stare as I passed -under a street lamp. By Jove! It set me to thinking, you know! -Suppose Rairi has the letter--he may be cooking up some deviltry with -the master of the Cholita! I'll be nervous as an old woman till I get -that shell safely stowed away! But that's nonsense--we're living in -the twentieth century, and even if Rairi knows more than is good for -him, Thursday Island wouldn't dare try any of his old tricks nowadays. - -"Come," concluded Uncle Harry, who had been talking as I breakfasted, -"we must be getting ashore. Fatu can bring the canoes out and stow -them away while we have a yarn with the chief. I hope he has found me -some divers." - -Taura had sent word to the small Paumotan settlements scattered around -the island, and for a week past the divers had been drifting in to -Faatemu, traveling by cutter or sailing-canoe with their women, their -children, and their household goods. My uncle went to their camp to -select his men, and soon the bay was a lively place, echoing with -laughter and shouts as the laden canoes plied between the schooner and -the beach. The Tara, once smart as a yacht, took on the aspect of a -floating menagerie: pigs grunted disconsolately on deck; dogs barked; -hens clucked; roosters crowed. A swarm of Paumotans lay about, -smoking, chattering in high-pitched voices, playing accordions. The -decks were littered with their mats and bedding, on which small brown -babies lay asleep, unconscious of the uproar of departure. - -Late in the afternoon Marama and I made our parting gifts to his family -and paddled out to where the Tara lay, her engine going and her anchor -up. We clambered over the rail; old Taura stood in the canoe, waving -his hat while the schooner got under way and glided out toward the -pass. Months were to pass before we saw the gray-haired chief again. - -My uncle laid his course due east, to pass between the great atoll of -Fakarava and Faaite, the smaller island to the south. The fair weather -held while the Tara threaded her way through the strange Sea of -Atolls--the dangerous archipelago, dreaded by mariners since the -Pacific was first explored. We passed the southern end of Fakarava, a -lagoon like an inland sea, surrounded by a narrow ring of palms, passed -Katiu and Tuanake, turned south to skirt the treacherous reefs of -Makenio, were swept eastward by the current racing between Nihiru and -Marutea, and breathed freely once more as we turned north, past Reka -Reka, the Island of Good Hope. Sometimes a low smudge of palms lay -along the horizon; sometimes, with no land in sight, the Tara battled -with the fierce uncharted currents of this maze of reefs; and there -were days when a green glimmer in the sky told of the presence of some -huge lagoon, hidden from our eyes by the curving slope of the world. -In the open sea to the east of Reka Reka, the bad weather began. - -The wind veered to the northwest--the storm wind the natives call the -_toerau_. Black clouds closed above the Tara like a canopy; for two -days and two nights she made heavy weather through squalls of wind and -rain. My uncle spent much of his time at the rail, binoculars raised -to scan the empty horizon east of us. - -"We must be close to Iriatai," he said to me on the morning of the last -day, "but in these shifting currents, and without a chance for a shot -at the sun, it's hard to say just where we are! Risky business, this -knocking about at night--if we don't raise the land to-day, I'm going -to heave to." - -I had been gazing idly at the clouds drifting overhead, and had noticed -several flocks of sea birds, passing high above us, all heading -southward. As my uncle spoke, another flock appeared in the north. He -saw them, too, and shouted a command to alter the schooner's course. - -"That's the third lot of birds I've seen this morning," he remarked; -"there's a chance that they are coming from Iriatai. We'll beat up to -the north a bit, and have a look." - -An hour later I heard a long-drawn cry from the crosstrees, and soon -from the deck I made out the familiar atoll-landfall--a level dark line -of palm-tops, low on the northern horizon. It was Iriatai. - -The island differs from most of the atolls in that the pass is on the -weather side. The lagoon is nearly circular, ten miles long and about -eight across, and the surrounding land is composed of three long -curving islands, separated by short stretches of reef over which the -sea washes no more than knee-deep on a calm day. A dense growth of -young palms--planted by my uncle--covered the islands, and just inside -the pass, where von Tesmar's settlement had stood before the hurricane, -I saw the loftier tops of the trees planted by Turia, the dead Paumotan -woman. From a perch high up in the shrouds, gazing with the glasses -toward the far end of the lagoon, I could make out the tall old palms -of the islet where the woman and her child had fetched up in that -long-ago storm. We were at the end of our voyage: somewhere between -the islet and the reef lay the patch of gold-lipped shell planted by -the strange Austrian wanderer! - -That night we anchored the Tara off the village of my uncle's laborers, -natives established on the island to plant and to make copra as the -trees began to bear. Next morning, with a dozen fresh helpers -gossiping on deck and a man at the masthead to give us warning of -shoals, the Tara sailed the length of the lagoon and found a berth -close to the high islet at the farther end. Our divers made their camp -on that ten-acre dot of land, shaded by old palms which had survived -the hurricane. - -While the divers floated their canoes ashore and set to work to lash on -the outriggers, the other men launched the boats to transfer the -schooner's cargo to the beach. The women and children went ashore at -once, stacked their belongings in individual heaps, and busied -themselves with plaiting the palm-fronds with which their houses would -be thatched. - -The younger women and some of the boys swarmed up the trees like -monkeys, machete in hand, and soon the green fronds were crashing to -the ground on every side. Their older companions chopped off the heavy -butts and split each rib down the middle, making a pair of tough strips -of fibrous wood, fringed along one side with the narrow leaves of the -coconut. Squatting on their heels, while their fingers worked with -marvelous rapidity and skill, the women braided these leaves together -to form strips of coarse green matting, a foot wide and eight feet -long. As each piece was finished it was stacked on the growing family -pile. By nightfall the last of the canoes was assembled and they were -hauled up in a line on the beach. The men were now ready for their -task of housebuilding. In two days our village on the islet was -complete. - -They began by clearing the chosen site, a couple of acres in extent. -There was a dense growth of wild hibiscus under the coconut palms, and -as they chopped this away with axe and bush-knife, they took care to -save the long straight poles which would be of use. Then each man -selected the place for his house and set to work by himself. With the -help of his wife and children he dug four holes and set the -corner-posts, forked at the top to receive the long poles corresponding -to plates. Midway between the corner-posts at each end of the house, a -much taller post was set, to support the ridgepole. Then plates and -ridgepole were laid on their forked supports and lashed in place with -strips of tough hibiscus-bark. Next, the rafters were made fast at a -steep pitch, laid at intervals of about a foot, and a similar light -framework was lashed to the gable ends. At this stage the house was -ready to be thatched. - -Now the entire family went to the far end of the islet to cut armfuls -of bark for tying on their thatch, and when a supply of this natural -cord was on hand, they set up light temporary scaffoldings of poles and -took their places,--the woman outside, the man inside the roof,--to lay -the thatch of plaited fronds. Working from the eaves toward the -ridgepole, the strips were laid on like shingles, each one overlapping -by four or five inches the one beneath, with the split midrib tied -firmly to each rafter that it crossed. After the roof, the gable ends -were thatched; a doorway was framed on the leeward side, and a rustic -siding of hibiscus wands, placed vertically as close together as they -would go, was set up from ground to plates. Then the family gathered -the snowy coral gravel on the beach and spread it several inches deep -to make a floor. The house was finished--cool, airy, and weatherproof, -beautifully adapted to an environment where lumber and corrugated iron -were out of place. - -But lumber and iron were necessary for our water supply, and while the -natives were busy with their housebuilding, we set to work to build a -long low shed, with a gutter along the lower edge of the roof, from -which tin piping would conduct the rain water to a series of large -connected tanks. The drinking-nuts would never suffice for such a -gathering, and fresh water was the one important thing the islet -lacked. We relied on the rains to furnish our supply, and the shed was -to serve as a store, and as a warehouse for our shells when that had -been cleaned and sacked. - -The building was finished on a Saturday, and that night the men went -out in their canoes to fish. They were all Christians and they kept -the Sabbath more religiously than most of us at home. The missionaries -who had converted them were of the strict old Calvinist school, which -taught that it was sinful to fish, or plant, or to do any kind of work -on the day of rest. My uncle respected the divers' beliefs, but he had -communicated his own restless energy to the members of the Tara's crew, -and on that Sunday, while the Paumotans dozed in the shade of their new -houses, we took the whaleboat on an excursion to explore the -diving-grounds. When we returned at sunset the others shook their -heads--in their eyes we had reaped the reward of sacrilege, for our -boating-party had come near to ending tragically. - -The lagoon was calm that morning, calm as an inland lake, its surface -ruffled at intervals by faint catspaws from the north. Looking back -toward the pass, there was no land in sight--the blue water met the sky -in an unbroken line. Ahead of us, at the northern end of the atoll, -the seabeach was little more than a mile away, and the thunder of the -breakers was borne to our ears, now loud, now soft, on flaws of air. -My uncle stood in the stern and I sat beside him; Fatu was in the bow, -Ivi and Ofai at the oars. Once or twice Fatu motioned my uncle to -change his course, to avoid the coral mushrooms rising to within a few -inches of the surface, but in general the depth of the lagoon varied -from six to twenty fathoms. Gazing down through the blue translucent -water, I could see the strange forms of growing coral far beneath us; -and sometimes, as the bottom turned sandy and the water shoaled, the -lagoon shaded to purest emerald green. Clad only in a scarlet pareu, -with his bronzed back and shoulders bare, Uncle Harry was leaning over -the side, gazing intently at the bottom through a water glass. He had -given the word to go slowly, and the men were resting on their oars. - -"This is the place," he said; "we'll anchor here and let Ofai go down -for a look." - -While Fatu was paying out the anchor line, I took the glass and leaned -over to see what I could make out. The water was about twelve fathoms -deep, and far down beneath the whaleboat's keel I could distinguish the -purple coral on the floor of the lagoon. Ofai, the Rangiroa boy, was -preparing himself to dive. He coiled a long cotton line in the bottom -of the boat, and made fast to one end of it a thirty-pound bulb of -lead, like an enormous sinker. Then he adjusted his goggles and went -over the side. While he lay in the water, drawing a series of deep -breaths, Fatu passed him the weight. He allowed it to sink a yard -beneath him, seized the rope between the toes of one foot, and took a -grip, high up on the line, with his left hand. - -"_A haere_!" ordered Fatu--"Go ahead!" - -The diver filled his lungs with air, grinned at us like some -goggle-eyed creature of the sea, and let go the gunwale. Coil after -coil of line flew over the side, and a train of bubbles rose to the -surface, hissing faintly. When the line ceased to run out, Fatu pulled -in the slack till it stood taut from the bottom, and made it fast to a -cleat. Gazing downward through the water glass, I found that I could -see Ofai dimly, in the twilight of the depths. He was swimming close -to the bottom, with strange slow motions of his arms and legs; at times -he stopped as if examining something, and finally--after what seemed a -longer time than any man could hold his breath--I saw him approach the -rope, pull himself upright, and heave strongly with one hand. He -seemed to shoot upward faster than he had gone down; an instant later -his head broke water and he was expelling his breath with the eerie -whistling sound I was to know so well. Then he shouted--the long-drawn -yodeling cry which announces a lucky dive. - -"Never have I seen shell of such a size!" he exclaimed, as he handed up -a great coral-encrusted oyster and came clambering over the side. "It -grows everywhere--the bottom was covered as far as my eyes could see!" - -My uncle was opening the oyster with the blade of his clasp knife. It -was a rough, roundish thing, uncouth to the eye, and a full eight -inches across. He cut the muscle, felt skillfully but vainly for -pearls under the fringe, tossed the soft body overboard, and handed the -shells--still attached at the hinge--to me. Craning their necks to -see, the natives exclaimed with wonder. When closed, the oyster might -have been mistaken for an ugly lump of coral, picked up at random on -the floor of the lagoon; when open, it displayed the changing -opalescent shades of mother-of-pearl, fringed with a band of gold. - -"Get up the anchor," ordered Uncle Harry; "we'll try again, a hundred -yards farther on." - -"There would be a sensation on Tahiti," he went on, turning to me, "if -you showed the traders that shell! It's worth twenty dollars a ton -more than the black-lipped variety, and the books say that it produces -a great many more pearls. We'll do a bit of prospecting to-day, mark -the best places, and let the men begin diving in the morning." - -We wandered on for several hours, examining the bottom at each halt and -marking the more likely spots with a small buoy, moored to the coral -with a few fathoms of line. By mid-afternoon, our work seemed -finished--we had found more shell than our men could bring up in all -the months ahead of us. Our final halt was close to the reef, and -there, in about ten fathoms of water, Ofai went overboard for the last -time that day. - -The coral was light-colored at this place and I could see every motion -of the diver beneath us. Suddenly, when he had been about a minute -under water, I saw him crouch and disappear in a crevice of the rock, -and an instant later a long moving shadow passed beneath the boat. - -"_E mao_!" exclaimed Fatu. "A shark!" My uncle sprang to the side. - -I leaned over with the rest, watching with acute suspense to see if the -shark would move away. No--he had seen Ofai and was turning back -toward the deep crevice in which the diver had taken refuge. Then the -shark rose toward us and we saw him clearly--longer than our boat, -livid-brown and hideous. An exclamation of horror went up from the -men. There seemed nothing we could do. Thirty seconds passed; Ofai -had been under water a minute and a half. My uncle had reached the -limit of his endurance. He spoke to Fatu sharply: "Your goggles! That -knife! The other weight!" - -The shark had approached the surface again, and as he turned to go -down, before any of us could utter a cry of protest Uncle Harry went -over the side, plunging downward with all the impetus of the heavy -leaden bulb. It was an act of the most reckless courage; for in spite -of the stories one reads, men do not attack the great sharks of the -South Pacific in their own element. - -Half sickened with suspense, I watched what followed: a drama played -out in the limpid water beneath our boat. Grasping in his right hand a -keen broad-bladed knife, my uncle shot down so fast that half-way to -the bottom he overtook his monstrous antagonist. The shark was still -intent upon Ofai; I saw him start and turn with a sweep of his tail as -the man's body struck him and the thrust of a powerful arm sent the -knife deep into his side. A pink cloud of blood gushed from the wound, -and at that moment I saw Ofai emerge from his hiding-place, seize the -rope, and bound toward the surface of the lagoon. The diver's lungs -must have been nearly bursting, and he mounted the rope with desperate -speed. Now he was close to my uncle. The shark had circled, turning -on his side with a livid gleam of his under parts, and was coming -straight at the native. The monster reared--again I saw Uncle Harry -raise his arm, saw the long knife sink home and the water reddened by a -cloud of blood. The respite had been enough for Ofai; his head broke -water with a gasp, and before a hand could be raised to help him he had -seized the gunwale and was over the side of the boat. - -My uncle was in desperate straits. He had been under water nearly a -minute and was still eighteen or twenty feet beneath the surface. Fatu -and Ivi were brave men and devoted to him, but it would have been -insanity to think of going to his rescue now. I heard Fatu's voice, -unreal and far-off, shouting to the men to move to the other side of -the boat; I felt the boat list, and saw, out of the corner of my eye, -the gigantic figure of the mate standing on the seat beside me, bent -almost double as he watched the scene below. - -Uncle Harry had dropped the weight at the first attack, and now, still -grasping his knife, he made for the rope and seized it with his left -hand. The shark had darted away as he felt the steel for the second -time, but now he was returning straight for the antagonist he seemed to -recognize at last. Moving with horrid deliberation, he reared almost -vertically beneath the swimmer, and opened his great jaws. My uncle -stopped himself with his left hand on the rope, gathered his body -together, and drove the knife into the broad rounded snout beneath -him--the shark's most vulnerable point. For a moment the monster lay -stunned and motionless, and in that moment Uncle Harry nearly reached -the surface of the lagoon. Fatu was bent double, his hands already in -the water. Then the shark seemed to regain his senses and came rushing -upward grimly. I saw the muscles of the mate's arms standing out as -though cast in bronze, I saw the swimmer's goggled face within a yard -of the surface, and the great fish charging with open jaws, fearfully -close behind. Then the whaleboat lurched as Fatu plunged his arms deep -into the water, seized my uncle and swung him up and inboard with a -single mighty heave. - -[Illustration: _The shark reared almost vertically beneath the swimmer -and opened his great jaws._] - -The shark came crashing against the side of the boat--a blow that -nearly stove in the planking and started a dozen seams. - -A minute passed before my uncle sat up and lifted the goggles from his -eyes. "Get the oars out," he gasped, "and pull for the shallow water -yonder. Bale, you two, and look lively--that fellow means mischief!" - -The shark was at the surface now, swimming in swift zigzags like a -hound at fault. While Ofai and I baled and the others began to row, I -glanced over my shoulder and saw the tall dorsal fin heading straight -for us, so swiftly that the water rippled away on either side. - -"Pull hard--he's after us!" shouted my uncle, standing in the stern -with a twelve foot oar in his hand. - -We were making for the shallows over a large coral mushroom, a hundred -yards away, and the men were rowing at top speed, for they realized -that our light cranky boat gave little protection against such an -enemy. The shark drew rapidly abreast of us and as his head ranged -alongside Uncle Harry raised the oar and thrust down with all his -strength. The blow was a glancing one, and before he recovered his -weapon the three-inch shaft of tough wood was between a pair of -formidable jaws. My uncle's eyebrows went up as he raised what was -left of the oar, sheared off as a child bites through a stick of candy. -Next moment Ivi cried out, as the monster seized his sweep and wrenched -it from his hands. I saw it float to the surface with a splintered -blade--felt our boat shaken violently as the shark took the keel in his -teeth. Then the bow grated on coral, and we leaped out in the shallows -to pull the boat into the safety of a foot of water. - -After a time the ominous fin tacked away toward the reef and -disappeared. We were not anxious for another encounter and allowed our -enemy plenty of time to go. The men were talking excitedly in -high-pitched voices, when my uncle lit one of his long cigars and -turned to me. - -"What a brute!" he remarked. "I thought he had me that last time! By -Jove! When Fatu took hold of me I could fairly feel those teeth -sinking into my legs! Well, our work is cut out for us--there'll be no -diving till that fellow is dead. The men are saying that in all -probability there are no other dangerous sharks in the lagoon. Do you -remember the letter I read you that evening at home? This is the same -shark, without a doubt,--he may have been here for a hundred years. -He's of a rare kind, by good luck; so rare that I know only his Latin -name: _Carcharodon_. They are relics of prehistoric times and seem to -be nearly extinct to-day, though a few of them still linger in the warm -waters close to the Line. Remember the big fossil teeth, from Florida, -on the mantel at the ranch? They came from one of this fellow's -ancestors who grew to be ninety feet long and swarmed in the Tertiary -seas." - -"But won't he die?" I asked. "I saw you stab him three times." - -My uncle laughed. "No more than you will," he replied. "A shark of -that size takes a lot of killing. But he's going to die to-morrow, if -we have to sit up all night hammering out a lance and a harpoon. Our -fish-spears would only tickle his ribs. Come, he seems to have given -us up--let's be getting back to the Tara." - - - - -VI - - THE END OF THE SHARK AND - THE BEGINNING OF THE DIVING - -That Sunday night, while the crew of the Tara told to their friends the -story of Ofai's rescue, my uncle and I labored with forge and anvil and -grindstone under the shed of corrugated iron. From the schooner's -trade-room we took a couple of the whale-spades used throughout the -islands as agricultural tools, and removed the wooden hafts from their -sockets. While I pumped the bellows, Uncle Harry heated one of these -in the forge and hammered it into the shape of a harpoon, welding on a -piece of steel to make the socket into which the hinged barb would fit. -Then, gripping a morsel of steel in the tongs, he forged out the barb, -punched a hole through it, and riveted it in place, so that it folded -into its socket when the harpoon was thrown and opened to prevent the -iron's withdrawal from the wound. When the harpoon was finished to his -satisfaction, I turned the grindstone while he ground it to a -razor-edge. After that he heated the other spade and forged out a -lance for killing: a slender, double-edged blade, two inches wide and -eighteen long--a murderous weapon in skilled hands. We fixed the lance -on a twelve-foot pole of hibiscus, and whittled out a short stout shaft -for the harpoon, tapered to fit loosely in the socket. Then my uncle -fetched from the storeroom a coil of heavy cotton line. Passing one -end of it through a screw eye halfway up the shaft of the harpoon he -lashed it firmly to the small of the iron. It was long past midnight. - -"We won't get much sleep," he remarked, as we paddled out to the -schooner in a canoe. "We must kill that shark to-morrow--to-day, -rather--without fail! The natives are superstitious as children; they -used to worship sharks, you know, before the missionaries came, and if -any ghost-talk starts, we may have to go back for another lot of men. -I'll wake you at five o'clock." - -I dreamed strange dreams that night, for my mind was feverish with the -excitement of the day. I was diving, and like Ofai, I had taken refuge -in the coral while a great shark nosed at me from above. But the -crevice was too narrow for his head, and I crouched there with bursting -lungs, praying that the monster would leave me to reach the air before -I drowned. At last I could stand it no longer; I sprang out from my -retreat--past the shark gazing at me with fierce green eyes, upward -toward the surface, so far off that I gave myself up for lost. The -water weighed on me like lead; I seemed to sink instead of rising; I -saw the monster approaching, grimly and deliberately. Then he seized -my shoulder in his jaws. I felt the sharp teeth tear the flesh and -crunch the bone--and I awoke with a strangled shout. - -The stateroom was lit by the first gray light of dawn, and my uncle's -hand was on my shoulder as he shook me awake. - -"Time for coffee," he said, smiling at my bewildered face. "The men -have killed a pig for bait, and they're getting the surfboat ready. -We'll be off in half an hour." - -We left before sunrise, in the broad heavy boat used for landing cargo -from the schooner. I sat aft with Fatu, who held the steering-sweep; -Ivi and Ofai pulled, and my uncle stood forward in the bows. The -morning was calm, and as we reached the line of buoys we kept a close -lookout for the shark, but no fin cut the water and no long shadow -passed beneath the boat. Finally, at the place where we had sighted -our enemy the day before, we cut open the carcass of the pig, tied it -to a buoy, and pulled off a little way to watch. - -An hour passed; the sun rose, and the lagoon began to shimmer in the -heat. I heard the booming of the breakers where the ring of land was -broken north of us and saw the smoke rising vertically from the ovens -at our island camp. The natives were half dozing, but my uncle had not -relaxed his watch. - -"There he is!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Quick--pull over there--don't -make a noise with your oars!" - -I glanced up as he spoke and saw the dead pig rise and disappear in a -circle of ripples. Then the head and forelegs came to the surface -again--the carcass of our pig had been bitten in two. - -"Row faster," my uncle whispered in the native tongue. "Make haste, or -he will eat the pig and go." - -Our boat glided toward the feeding monster. Without turning his head, -Uncle Harry motioned to the men to cease their rowing, and it was then -I caught sight of the huge brownish body of the shark, rising to finish -what was left. My uncle brandished the harpoon above his head--hurled -it with all the strength of his arm. The water swirled and coil after -coil of line flew out through the chock. We were fast. - -As he felt the iron, the shark turned with a mighty sweep of his tail -and rushed off swiftly to the south. Fatu swung the boat around to -follow, and before half the line had streaked overboard we were -gathering way. Then my uncle got his hands on the line, paying it out -more gradually until our full weight was on the fish; the oars came in -and we foamed along at a faster gait, perhaps, than the clumsy surfboat -had ever known. The shark seemed tireless--we passed the islet, where -the people stood on the beach, waving in answer to our shouts, and sped -on toward the southern end of the lagoon. We were following a deep -channel in the coral, which turned westward halfway to the pass and -approached the long island that formed the atoll's western side. At -the end of an hour I could see the village of the copra-makers and the -distant pass, a gap in the low ring of wooded land. The channel had -brought us close to the inner beach and our pace was slowing -appreciably. My uncle was beginning to haul up, when all at once the -fish turned at right angles toward the submarine cliff of coral, close -at hand. The line went slack; the boat drifted quietly for a few -yards, and came to a halt. My uncle turned his head. - -"Look," he said, "he's gone into that hole yonder! See the mouth of it -a couple of fathoms down? This must be his den." - -Holding the line with one hand, he took up the lance and ordered the -rowers to back water--to keep a steady galling strain on the fish. -"The iron is tickling him," he remarked when five minutes had passed. -"I can feel him twitch. Look lively now! He'll be out in a -moment--Ah! Here he comes!" - -Far in beneath the coral the cave must have broadened, for the shark -had turned to face the entrance of his lair. He came out with a rush, -maddened by the pain of his wound, open-mouthed and at bay. Before -Ofai could pull in his oar the monster had wrenched it from his hands -and turned to sink his teeth in the cutwater of the boat. But my uncle -was ready with the lance. Again and again his arm rose and thrust -downward, and at each stroke the keen blade bit deep. The water -reddened; the jaws relaxed their hold; the tail ceased its lashing and -lay quiet. The huge carcass turned belly-upward and sank in the clear -blue channel beneath us. - -Uncle Harry laid down the lance and came aft to light a cigar. "That's -a good day's work," he said. "No diving with that fellow about! He's -sinking now; we'll have the boys cut the line and make the end fast to -the coral. To-morrow he'll float high--I'll send a couple of men to -cut out the jaws. They'll make you a fine souvenir of Iriatai." - -There was rejoicing when we arrived at camp, for the native regards a -large shark with a peculiar, superstitious dread. There had been much -talk among the divers since the night before, but now their fears were -at an end and they busied themselves with preparations for the ensuing -day. - -That night, when dinner was over and we sat talking on the Tara's deck, -my uncle explained to me the terms of the agreement under which his -divers worked. "Ordinarily," he said, "when the Government opens the -lagoons the men are free to keep everything they bring up: the shell -and the pearls are theirs to do with as they please. The traders keep -track of all the better men and do their best to get them as deeply as -possible in debt before the season begins. You can imagine what -happens when credit is offered to simple fellows like these Paumotans: -they run up bills for all sorts of useless trash--guitars; silk dresses -and high-heeled shoes for their women; cheap perfume at five or six -dollars a bottle; every kind of fancy white-man's food in tins. They -load up with this sort of stuff till they are over their heads in debt. -By the time he begins to dive, each native is safe in the clutches of -some trading-house--Chinese, more often than not--and every pearl and -every pound of shell must be sold to the creditor at the creditor's -price. - -"It is different here on Iriatai, for the men know that I have a year's -monopoly of the lagoon. But there is more shell, and it lies in -shallower water than in the lagoons which have been worked for a -generation, so the divers are glad to accept my terms. Ever since I -came to the islands I have tried to deal honestly with the people, for -I have a theory that the savage appreciates a square deal as well as a -civilized man. It has paid me, too. As you know, I am furnishing the -canoes and advancing a reasonable amount of food and goods. The men -have agreed, on their side, to work every day the weather permits and -to let me make the first offer on their catch. Half of the shell goes -to me; all of the pearls and the other half of the shell will be -theirs. At the end of the season I'll make each man an offer on his -shell--cleaned, sacked, and loaded aboard the Tara. As for the pearls, -they will be brought out every night and offered for sale to me. Those -I do not care to buy, or for which the owners think they can get a -higher price in Tahiti, will be sold in the open market when we go -North. But I'll get all the really fine ones--I can pay good prices -and still double my money in every case!" - -In the morning I had my first sight of pearl-diving as it is practised -among the atolls of the Paumotus. - -The men we had brought with us from Raiatea, reënforced by a few -volunteers from the copra-makers of Iriatai, made up fifteen crews of -two men each. I say men, but one of the best of the lot was an elderly -brown woman, and there was not a man who could dive deeper than old -Maruia, or bring up more shell in a day. - -Each canoe was equipped with its paddles, an anchor at the end of -thirty fathoms of line, a five-gallon kerosene-tin, a stout knife, and -two coils of light rope--one attached to the diving-weight, the other -to a large openwork basket of bamboo. The two members of the crew -shared equally in the catch, though almost without exception one man -did all the diving while his partner remained at the surface, raising -and lowering the basket, cleaning the shell roughly, opening the -oysters and inspecting them for pearls. - -As they worked no more than five hours a day, we did not leave camp -till the sun was well up, illuminating the bottom of the lagoon. I -went out with a pair of middle-aged Paumotans whose acquaintance I had -made during the passage from Raiatea. It was about half a mile from -the islet to the patch of shell on which work was to begin. Uncle -Harry had gone out ahead of us in the whaleboat and as the little fleet -of canoes drew near, he pointed out to the paddlers the two acres of -lagoon in which they were to work. The bow-man in our canoe dropped -anchor in about seventy feet of water, and began to prepare himself to -dive. - -First of all, he stripped off the cotton shirt he had been wearing and -hitched the pareu tight about his waist. Then he polished his water -goggles, adjusted them carefully over his eyes, and thrust his right -hand into a heavy working-glove. A pile of coral lumps, picked up on -the beach the night before, lay in the bottom of the canoe; the -stern-man placed a couple of these in the basket and lowered it into -the lagoon till it came to rest on the bottom. Then the diver went -over the side and lay in the water with a hand on the gunwale of the -canoe, while his partner coiled the diving-line and lowered the leaden -weight till it hung a few feet beneath the surface. The man in the -water gripped the line with his left hand and the toes of his left -foot; he took two or three long breaths before he jerked his head -upward in a sudden gesture that meant: "Let go!" Coil after coil of -line went leaping overboard, as the diver sank like a stone, leaving a -trail of bubbles in his wake. When the lead touched bottom the -stern-man hauled it up at once, coiling the line in readiness for the -next dive. - -A minute passed--a minute and a quarter--a minute and a half. The -canoe lurched to a sudden strain on the taut basket-line. I looked -over the side. Far down in the green water I could see the shadowy -figure of the diver, mounting the rope with leisurely movements of his -arms. He came to the surface, exhaling the breath from his lungs with -the strange shrill whistle I had heard before. Then, raising the -goggles from his eyes, he gave the exultant whoop of the diver who has -brought up a rich haul--a cry that was beginning to ring out on all -sides, where the canoes lay at anchor. He lay resting alongside while -his companion pulled up the basket, loaded with six or seven great -gold-lipped oysters; and craned his neck to watch as the other opened -the shells with a twist of his knife at the hinge, felt for pearls -under the soft mantle, and tossed the body of each mollusk into the -open kerosene-tin. My companions seemed excited. - -"_Aué_!" exclaimed the diver. "There is no other island like this! It -is as Seroni told us--the bottom is covered with shell, and the water -is not overdeep: twelve fathoms, by the knots on my line. Last year, -at Hikueru, I worked at twenty till my head ached all through the -night. And this shell--the size, the weight, the color of the -lip--think of what it must be worth a ton! No man in all these islands -has ever seen its like! I would still dive if there were fifty sharks -instead of the one Seroni killed yesterday. But watch carefully, and -if a shark comes, move the basket up and down a little so that I may be -warned. Now pass me the weight, for I am ready to go down again." - -At the end of three hours the diver clambered stiffly into the canoe; -even in this water, only a few degrees below the temperature of one's -blood, a man grows chilled and must come out to rest and warm himself -in the sun. He had averaged a minute and a half to two minutes under -water, and five minutes' rest at the surface between dives, and I -noticed that he sent up five or six oysters each time he went down. We -had brought along a bottle of water and a package of cold food done up -in leaves. When lunch was over and the diver lay basking in the sun, I -asked him how he could stay under water so long, and how a man could -stand the pressure of the depths. At home in California I had excelled -my friends by bringing up sand from the bottom at thirty feet, and my -ears had ached for an hour afterward. These natives thought nothing of -working at seventy feet, and from what they said, I knew that one -hundred and twenty feet was not considered an extraordinary depth. - -"It is not difficult," the diver remarked, smiling at my efforts to -question him in his own tongue. "If he would take the trouble, the -white man could learn as well as we. But one must know how. You say -that at six fathoms your head ached and your lungs were bursting. That -was because you tired yourself by swimming down instead of letting a -weight pull you to the bottom. And perhaps you held all of your breath -until you rose--that is wrong. First of all, you must learn never to -tire yourself beneath the water, and not to fill your lungs too full -before you start. When your time is half up, you must begin to let the -air out of your lungs, little by little,--a few bubbles now and -then,--so that, as you reach the top, there will be scarcely any air -left in you. If your ears ache, swallow; or hold your nose and -blow--this will clear the little passages between your nose and ears, -and stop the pain. That is all, except that in deep water you must -never look up, nor bend your body backward. As for the sharks, there -is little danger--not one in a hundred will do you harm. When that one -comes, you will know him by the way he swims, and if there is sand or -mud on the bottom, you can escape by throwing it up to cloud the water -while you pull yourself quickly up the basket-rope. Otherwise you can -only take refuge in a crevice of the coral, hoping that the shark will -leave you before your lungs go flat. Conger eels are more to be -feared; you must watch sharply as you pass the holes where they lie -hidden. The big eel's jaws are like the jaws of a dog! If a conger -seizes wrist or ankle, it is useless to struggle--ten strong men could -not drag one from his hole. Three times, when I was young and -careless, I have felt the teeth of the eel; see--my ankles bear the -scars to this day. But I remembered what the old men had told me and -lay quietly without struggling, till the conger relaxed his jaws to -dart forward for a better hold. Each time I tore my ankle free and -reached the surface with only the loss of a little blood. But we must -get to work--the others are beginning to dive." - -The canoes returned to camp in mid-afternoon. The women were waiting -to begin their task of cleaning shell, and there were exclamations of -wonder as the day's catch was brought ashore. While the men went off -to rest, their wives and daughters sat gossiping in little groups, -hammering, chipping, and washing the mother-of-pearl. Half of the -catch of each canoe had been set aside as my uncle's share, and some of -his own people--Ivi, Ofai, and a few men and women from the settlement -on Iriatai--set to work to clean it in a space reserved for them. I -saw a number of women along the beach, filling the tins from the canoes -with sea water, mashing the soft meat between their fingers, and -pouring off the mess little by little, as they searched for any pearls -that might have been overlooked. My uncle was delighted with the first -day's work. - -"It is going better than I had hoped," he said, as we sat in his -stateroom that evening. "They brought in about two tons of shell -to-day, and the quality is superb--nothing like it has ever been seen -in this part of the Pacific. Your canoe had no luck, but the others -netted four handsome pearls and a number of small ones for the day. -That alone proves that there must be something in von Tesmar's theory. -I've seen thousands of black-lipped oysters opened without a pearl. -Old Maruia found a beauty to-day, with her usual luck. I gave her a -thousand dollars for it, and any jeweler in Paris would jump at a -chance to offer twice as much. You are smiling, eh, to think of that -funny old woman having a thousand dollars, all at once? Why, in the -eyes of her people Maruia is a millionaire! Twenty years of diving -have made her the owner of a fine plantation, and one of the prettiest -villas on Tahiti. Ah--I almost forgot to show you our first pearls." - -He leaned over to twirl the knob of the safe, swung open the door, and -took from the shelf a small tobacco-tin, which he opened and handed to -me. It was lined with cotton and there, lying side by side like tiny -eggs in a nest, were four pearls, pale, lustrous, and without a flaw. -Three of them were like peas in size and the other was larger than the -three together,--I had never seen a pearl of such size and -beauty,--shimmering with a soft opalescence in its bed. My uncle took -it in his hand, turning it to admire the perfection of its shape. - -"You won't see a pearl like this five times in a season," he remarked. -"There are many larger ones of greater value, but there is nearly -always something wrong with them--a flattened spot, a flaw on the -surface, a dullness in orient. Though not of great size, this is a -really perfect pearl. If I had a mate for it I could ask my own price -for the pair! - -"I wish now that I had brought a few more men," he went on, "but I -think we can make out by shutting down the copra-making and putting -everyone at work. I am going to put Fatu and Ofai to diving, with a -couple of stern-men from the village; they say we can find trees to -build two or three more canoes. The others will have to work at -cleaning shell, and from now on I'm counting on you and Marama to feed -us. Tins are all right in an emergency, but it would be absurd to make -ourselves ill on canned stuff in a place swarming with excellent fish. -There are eight of us on board, counting the new cook, and I want you -to supply us with fish. You can begin to-morrow--I'll give you the -small canoe and whatever gear you need." - - - - -VII - -SOUTH SEA FISHERMEN - -I have always loved fishing since I was old enough to hold a rod and -cast out into the surf at home, and now, as I look back on the months -spent with my uncle in the South Seas, I know that my happiest memories -of Iriatai are of the long hours in a canoe with Marama in the lagoon -or on the open sea beyond the reef. It was fishing in unspoiled -waters--fishing to dream about in after years. Our primitive tackle, -much of which was fashioned by our own hands, did not detract from the -charm of the sport, and the background--the land, the sea, the sky--was -hauntingly and strangely beautiful. - -Some of those nights were unforgettable--calm nights when we lay off -the reef from sunset till dawn began to brighten in the east. In all -that solitude our lantern was the only light, the only sign of man. -Iriatai lay like a shadow on the sea, stretching off vaguely to the -south, and the heavens above us were powdered with stars of a -brilliance I had never known before. The native boy was a better -astronomer than I; he had names for many of the constellations, and -strange old stories to tell of them. Castor and Pollux, the Twins, -sinking on the horizon to the west, he called _Pipiri-Ma_--a boy and a -girl, he told me, who had lived in very ancient times and who, because -of their unkind parents, had fled away to the skies. The Southern -Cross was _Tatauro_; the Scorpion was a great fishhook, flung into the -sky after a god had used it to pull up the islands of the Paumotus; the -Pleiades, visible in the east an hour before the dawn, he called -_Matarii_--the Little Eyes, and told me a pretty story of their origin. - -Much of our fishing was done at night, when we fished offshore for the -great bottom-feeders of the South Pacific: the deep-water albicore, the -castor-oil fish, and the _manga_--a long black creature shaped like an -enormous pickerel, with goggle-eyes and rows of formidable teeth. - -Our custom was to start an hour before sunset and paddle north to a -break between the two long islands, where we dragged our canoe through -the ankle-deep wash of the barrier, waited our moment, and slipped out -through the surf. The outer face of the reef shelved off steeply, and -our line, which reached the bottom at two hundred fathoms, would have -reached the reef as well. Marama usually took the stern, paddling -gently, while I did the fishing forward. Our bait was fish, saved from -the previous day's catch and salted. I chose a morsel large as a man's -fist and tied it with strong thread to the point of one of the great -wooden hooks used in this deep-sea fishing: a fork of ironwood, six -inches from tip to tip, and barbed with a cod-hook lashed on to point -down and inward. It was useless, I learned, to fish with an ordinary -hook for these dwellers on the bottom. Their habit of swimming down -vertically, to seize the bait from above, made necessary the use of our -barbaric implement. When my hook was baited, I fastened a large pebble -to the line, with a special hitch that Marama had taught me. Coil -after coil ran out as the pebble sank, until at last I felt the -slackening which told me that it had touched bottom. Hauling up a yard -or two, I gave the jerk which freed my coral sinker, and settled myself -to wait. Sometimes an hour passed without a strike, and then, when I -was least prepared for it, some monster of a hundred pounds seized my -hook with a rush that carried my arm elbow-deep into the black water -alongside. Hand over hand I brought him slowly to the surface till he -lay wallowing beside the canoe, eyes bulging with the release from the -pressure of his deep-sea haunts. A blow with the blunt side of our -whale-spade ended his struggles, and taking hold by the gills, we -tilted the canoe and slid the quivering body inboard. - -Sometimes, as my fish neared the surface, I felt a sudden slackening of -the line--one of the small sharks that prowled along the reef at night -had helped himself, leaving only a bodiless and gaping head upon the -hook. Once or twice, when the marauder rose close to our canoe, Marama -sprang to his feet in a rage--keen-bladed spade in hand--and ended the -shark's life with a cutting blow forward of the eyes. At those times -we seized our paddles and made off swiftly for new fishing-grounds; for -the scene of the ensuing feast was no place for our light canoe. - -Fishing by night meant sleeping through the warm hours of the day. -Sometimes, when we wearied of this, the order was reversed and we went -out at daybreak to pursue the schools of bonito far offshore. The -lures for bonito are made of mother-of-pearl, and the fisherman must -carry six or seven different shades to suit the varying conditions of -sea and sky. Marama selected half a dozen large pearl-shells, shading -from light to dark, and marked with a pencil on the thickest part of -each the outline of a small fish. When this was done we took our shell -to the shop my uncle had set up ashore, and set to work with vise and -hacksaw to cut out the lures. Then came the grinding and polishing, -and finally a barbless hook of brass was attached to each, the line -made fast to the forward end, and a tuft of coconut fibre bound on -across the rear. We tied the lines to a stiff pole of bamboo, ten or -twelve feet long and equipped with a ring at the butt end, in which to -hook the lures when not in use. - -Bonito-fishing was hard work and not unspiced with danger,--the risk of -being swamped or blown offshore in a squall,--but it had a fascination -of its own. We used to paddle half a mile out to sea and wait in the -morning calm, on the lookout for birds. At sunrise the boobies and -noddy terns left their roosting-places by hundreds and cruised about -over the sea, singly or in little bands, in search of breakfast. We -watched them flying this way and that until at last, perhaps a mile -away, a dozen noddies began to circle and dive. Then it was time to -seize our paddles and strain our backs to make for the birds at top -speed. Keener eyes than ours had been on the watch, and before a -minute had passed hungry sea-birds were flapping from all directions -toward the school of fish. The small fish, pursued by both bonito and -birds, were far from remaining stationary; sometimes they sounded and -disappeared altogether; sometimes, when our backs were aching with an -hour's chase, they swept off to windward at a pace that made us lay -down our paddles in despair. There were days when we went home worn -out and empty-handed, but there were other days when luck was with us -and we drove the canoe into the midst of ravenous schools. Then, while -the man forward paddled with all his might, the stern-man faced about, -long rod in hand and lure skittering over the waves behind us. A hasty -trial proved which shade of mother-of-pearl was most attractive, and -next moment fish after fish came tumbling aboard--fat, steel-blue, and -vibrant. There were days when we hooked and landed thirty fish in half -as many minutes, before we sank down exhausted to rest, leaving the -birds to circle off above the foaming sea. - -Sometimes, when we could get bait, we enjoyed a sport even more -thrilling than bonito-fishing--trolling along the reef at daybreak for -tunny, barracuda, and the giant cavally of the Pacific. A silvery -species of mullet proved the best lure for the fish that lay in wait in -the caverns along the outer edge of the reef, and many of our -afternoons were spent in mullet-catching. First of all we prepared a -mass of paste, made of flour or arrowroot, and with this for bait, we -paddled to a place in the lagoon where the water shoaled to three or -four feet over a coral bottom. Our tackle was a stick of light wood -eighteen inches long, attached by a trace to twenty feet of line, and -fitted with a small hook on a leader at either end. One of us baited -the hooks with bits of paste and stood ready to cast the stick, while -the other threw pieces of our dough ahead of the motionless canoe. -Presently the water would dimple and swirl with rising mullet--it was -time to cast. The float lay quietly for a moment--bobbed--jerked -disappeared under water, with a pair of fat mullet, as often as not, -fast on the hooks. We kept them alive in an openwork basket floating -alongside, and towed our catch back to the Tara, in readiness for the -morning's fishing. - -An hour before sunrise we dragged our canoe over the reef, shot out -through the breakers, and paddled to our favorite trolling-grounds--a -shoal which ran out a quarter of a mile to sea. Our hook for this kind -of fishing was equipped with a leader of piano-wire, which was passed -lengthwise through the body of a mullet and pulled through the mouth -until the shank of the hook was out of sight. Then the lips were -lashed to the wire with a bit of thread and the leader made fast to the -end of a hundred yards of heavy line. Arranged in this way and towed -at a good pace behind the canoe, the mullet flashed and zigzagged -through the water in imitation of a living fish--an imitation so -perfect that many a wary old dweller on the reef was deceived and came -rushing upward to his death. - -The handling of these powerful fish required all our skill, and Marama, -being more experienced than I, usually took the stern on -trolling-expeditions. Making the line fast to the outrigger-pole which -crossed the canoe behind his seat, he gave the word, and we began to -paddle our hardest, following the edge of the shoal. As the sun rose, -one could look down and see the changing colors of the coral--every -fold and crevice clearly visible ten fathoms beneath us. There were -certain crannies and caverns where we knew the big fish lay, and as we -passed above them we increased our efforts to make speed. In this kind -of sport there was no holding the line to feel for a bite; we were -never in doubt when a monster tunny or barracuda struck. The canoe -quivered with the shock. Sometimes we fought for half an hour while -the hooked fish towed us in rushes, this way and that. One old -barracuda, I remember,--seven feet long and with the jaws of a -shark,--pulled us more than a mile before he lay exhausted at the -surface. - -We seldom returned from trolling till the trade wind came up at eight -or nine o'clock, for a good catch, sufficient for two or three days, -meant rest and time for other amusements. The weather was hot of -course, and we had no ice, but the native method of cooking--baking -over and over again, which improves the flavor with each succeeding -day--permitted fish to be kept for as long as a week. On days of -leisure we rested, overhauled our tackle, or went in search of the -shellfish which abounded at Iriatai. - -There were lobsters, crabs, and sea snails on the reef, clams and -mussels in the lagoon, and best of all,--to be found on patches of -shallow sandy bottom,--there were _varos_, creatures whose repulsive -English name is "sea centipede." They look like the tail of a lobster, -with rows of legs along the sides and a small head, armed with a pair -of wicked nippers, said to inflict a poisoned wound. The varo is no -beauty, but if it is broiled over a charcoal fire and eaten hot with -melted butter, I agreed with my uncle that the sea produced nothing -half so good. - -One calm morning, when there was a plentiful supply of fish aboard, -Marama suggested that we try our luck at varo-fishing and showed me the -tackle he had made the afternoon before. It consisted of half a dozen -slender sticks of wood to which rows of small fishhooks were lashed, -points out. Each stick was provided with a few feet of line and a -light float, made fast to the upper end. While I was examining these -curious snares, my uncle passed along the deck and stopped at sight of -us. - -"Going after varos, eh?" he remarked. "The men used to say there were -plenty of them here. Good luck to you--we'll have a feast here tonight -if you can get some!" - -The native boy threw his snares and a few pieces of smelly fish into -our canoe and we paddled to the western shore of the lagoon, where a -bottom of mud and sand ran out from shore. He allowed the canoe to -drift over the shoal while he scanned the bottom through the calm -water, clear as glass. Here and there I saw that the sand was pitted -with holes, the burrows of various marine creatures; and presently -Marama pointed down to one, smaller than the rest and surrounded by a -little mound of sand. "That is the dwelling of the varo," he said, "I -can tell by its freshness and the smallness of the opening that he is -at home." - -I held the canoe in place while he took up one of the snares, tied a -bit of fish to the upper end, and unwound the short line attached to -the float. Then he tucked up his pareu and went overboard. Taking a -long breath and working with head and shoulders submerged, he enlarged -the mouth of the burrow until its full size was exposed and inserted -the baited stick--gently, so as not to alarm the creature inside. -Varos were plentiful at this place; we set all our snares within a -radius of fifty yards and sat at leisure in the canoe, watching the -floats for the first signs of life. We had not long to wait; Marama -pointed to one of the floats which was beginning to bob and twitch; a -few strokes of the paddle brought us alongside and he went overboard -again. - -The fishhooks on the snares were lashed on in tiers of three, pointing -out and up. The bait was tied to the upper half of the stick, so that -in order to get at it, the varo was obliged to pass the uppermost tier -of hooks. As it tore the fish with its nippers and crammed the pieces -into its mouth, its hard back was against the wall of the burrow and -its more vulnerable under-parts in range of the barbs. Marama put his -head under water again, seized the end of the stick and held the varo -against the side of its hole; then, with a quick pull, he sank his -hooks into the creature's under joints and held up the snare with a -triumphant shout, the captive struggling and waving its claws. "Take -care you are not hurt," he told me as he broke off the nippers. "They -cut like scissors and they are poisoned--the wounds will fester and -swell for weeks!" - -At ten o'clock, when the breeze came up, we paddled back to the -schooner with a score of varos in the bottom of our canoe, a feast for -all hands. - -As we crossed the lagoon Marama spoke to me suddenly at the end of a -long silence. "Listen, Tehare," he said,--"Tehare" was as near as he -could come to pronouncing my name,--"let us speak together, for there -is a plan in my mind. I dare not ask Seroni myself. Fishing is the -work he gave me, but he is your father's brother and if you desire to -do the thing that I propose, perhaps you will speak to him. You have -learned much about our fishing and you see how easy it is to provide -for the Tara's needs: two or three nights each week give us more fish -than we can use. It is in my mind that on days when there is fish in -plenty we might take this canoe and go out with the others to dive. I -can dive deeper than one need go in this lagoon, and you can pull up -the basket and open shell, since men are not accustomed to diving in -your land. We shall get much shell, and perhaps a great pearl like the -one Maruia found. What say you--will you ask Seroni?" - - - - -VIII - -I TURN PEARL-DIVER - -My chance came the same afternoon, as we were finishing lunch. At last -Uncle Harry lit a cigar and called for coffee. "By Jove!" he remarked -as he blew out a cloud of fragrant smoke, "those varos were wonderfully -good. I reckon the best restaurant in San Francisco couldn't produce a -finer dish!" The moment seemed opportune. - -"We can always get plenty when the weather is calm," I said, "in fact -it only takes a third of our time to catch more fish than the Tara can -use. We were speaking of this to-day and wondering if you wouldn't let -us go out with the divers in our spare time; Marama says he has often -been down to twelve fathoms, and offers to do the diving if I will open -shell. I wish you could let us go--it would be fun and somehow I feel -sure that we'd be lucky. Of course, if you'd let me, I'd like to try a -little diving myself." My uncle looked at me with a twinkle in his -dark eyes. - -"I knew you'd ask me that sooner or later," he said. "As a matter of -fact I ought not to let you do it--I'm responsible to your father, -after all, and old Taura's a good friend of mine. Diving is always a -dangerous business, though I don't believe there are any more bad -sharks in the lagoon. Still, the other men do it every day, and you -two are old enough to take the same risks. If I had youngsters of my -own, they'd have to take their chances with the rest--otherwise they'd -miss their share of good times and hard knocks, and become the helpless -sort of men and women who are no use in the world. Yes, you may go, -and dive too, if you wish. But, for my sake, keep your eyes open and -be as careful as you can!" - -That evening, when the day's work was over and the people lay on mats -before their houses, smoking and gossiping in the brief twilight, we -went ashore. My uncle led the way to where old Maruia lived with one -of her nephews: Teura, a pleasant and amusing boy, who paddled her -canoe to the diving-grounds and opened the shell that she brought up. -Her house was surrounded by a fence of stakes, inside which a pair of -pigs wandered, rooting up the earth. As we opened the gate, I heard -her voice give the hospitable shout of "_Haere mai_!--Come in!" - -"I have come to talk with you about Tehare, my nephew," said Uncle -Harry, when a mat had been spread and we had taken our places on it, -native-fashion. "He and Marama have become so clever at the sea -fishing that we are glutted with fish and time hangs heavy on their -hands. To-day they have asked me if they might go out and dive for -shell with you others; they are strong boys and well grown--it is in my -mind to let them go. What think you of the plan? Is Iriatai a lagoon -overdangerous for boys?" - -The old woman shook her head as she replied. - -"There is little danger here," she said. "Ten fathoms would not hurt a -child, and the great shark you killed was the only evil shark in the -lagoon. And he was not a shark, as I and all the others know! For the -rest, we have seen neither _tonu_ nor conger eel in all the days we -have been diving, though it is well to watch closely, for a tonu is an -ill thing to meet! But let them go--they will come to no harm; perhaps -they will find a pearl like mine, and in any case the white boy will -have strange tales to tell when he returns to his own land. I myself -will show them where there is shell in seven fathoms of water--not so -much as where we dive, but a good place to begin. Let them beware of -the clefts and crevices where an eel might lurk, and avoid the dark -caverns in the coral, for it is in such places that the tonu lies in -wait. There seems little to fear in Iriatai, but one is never sure. -As for pearls, watch always for the great lone oysters crusted with -coral and misshapen with old age--_parau tahito_, we call them, and -every diver knows that they contain the finest pearls." - -When the divers went out next morning Marama and I went with them, our -canoe equipped like the others with basket and weight and line. -Maruia, smoking a cigarette in the bow of her canoe while Teura -paddled, showed us the way to a patch of shell she had found in shallow -water, a quarter of a mile east of where the others were diving. "Drop -your anchor here," she said, bending over the gunwale to examine the -bottom. "The depth is seven fathoms and there is enough shell to keep -you busy, though not so much nor of such great size as in the deeper -water where we work. Now I must leave--stay here, you two!" - -I weighted the basket with a heavy stone and lowered it till it rested -on the bottom, while Marama tucked up his pareu, adjusted his goggles, -and fastened the glove on his right hand. Then he went overboard, a -grin on his brown good-natured face. I passed him the weight; at the -signal, I let go the line and watched him shoot down into the blue and -green of the depths. After all, seven fathoms were more than forty -feet. I pulled up the lead, coiled the line for the next dive, and -waited, watching the figure of my companion, seen dimly in the twilight -beneath the canoe, as he moved along the bottom with deliberate motions -of the arms and legs. Once I thought I saw him place something in the -basket, and finally, when more than two minutes had elapsed, he seized -the upright line and pulled himself to the surface. But he gave no -shout of exultation as he raised the goggles from his eyes. - -"Aué!" he exclaimed, shaking his head, "it is more difficult than I had -thought! The oysters are there, but I have not the eyes to see them, -nor the art to twist them off the rocks. There is no need to pull up -the basket; I got only two oysters, though in all my life I have never -stayed longer beneath the water. But I shall learn!" - -All through that morning Marama dove with increasing success. It was -well for me that he did not send up as much shell as the older divers, -for I was clumsy at opening it and so afraid of missing a pearl that I -wasted a great deal of time in useless fumbling under the fringes of -the oysters. At mid-day I had found no pearls, but the shell Marama -had brought up was opened and neatly stacked amidships, and the soft -bodies of the oysters were thrown into our kerosene-tin for inspection -in the evening. - -"I am going to dive this afternoon," I announced to Marama, as we lay -resting after lunch. - -"That is well," he answered. "I am not accustomed to being so long in -the water--my bones are chilled! I will open the shell and you can try -your hand as I have done. It is strange down there, and very -beautiful, with the coral colored like flowers and the great fish -passing close at hand. At first I was a little afraid. Do not let -yourself grow discouraged; the shell is hard to see and harder still to -wrench off until you learn the trick. Remember that the old divers -never look upward--to gaze into the blue water overhead gives one a -horror of the depth!" - -At last, with a beating heart, I made ready for my first dive. I loved -the sun, which had burned my back and shoulders to the color of -mahogany, and I wore nothing but a pareu. This savage garment I -hitched about my waist as I had seen the others do, before I polished -my glasses and fastened the glove tightly on my wrist. Once in the -water, I held the lead-line with my left hand and the toes of my left -foot, adjusted the goggles to my eyes and gave the signal to let go. I -saw Marama's answering grin--felt the water close over my head. Then, -gripping the line tightly, I plunged down into a strange purple -twilight. - -An instant later there was a gentle shock and the line slackened in my -hand. I had reached the bottom. My ears ached and the pressure on my -chest and stomach made my body feel as if it were being squeezed flat. -I could understand now the curiously deliberate movements of the -divers, for my limbs seemed weighted with lead--the same feeling I have -had in dreams, when to my horror I have found myself unable to avoid -the attack of some nightmare monster. I swallowed as I had been -instructed, then held my nose and blew. The pains in my head ceased at -once. - -Frightened and ill at ease, I let go the line and saw the weight -ascending through the deep bluish purple of the sea above me, which -seemed, like the earth's atmosphere, to extend upward into infinity. -There was no sign of the surface--nothing to catch the eye in the break -between sea and air. For a moment I was in a panic; it seemed to me -that I should never reach the air again, never feel the friendly warmth -of the sun nor see the bright sun-lit world above. Then I saw the -bottom of the canoe, close over my head. Fifteen or twenty seconds had -passed, and though far from feeling at home, I had gained enough -assurance to gaze with interest at the strange new world in which I -found myself. - -Though not so dark as the greater depths I visited later on, there was -far less light than I had supposed. The floor of the lagoon, here at -seven fathoms, was bathed in a sort of purplish twilight which enabled -me to see as clearly, I should say, as on an average moonlight night -ashore. But instead of being silvery, like moonlight, the light was -purple, and tinged with changing shades of green and blue. The bottom -was of dense reef-coral, which dies when sheltered from the breaking -sea, but a hundred fantastic varieties of still-water coral grew on the -dead madrepore, as vegetation grows on the inanimate earth, and its -forms were those of vegetation. Close beneath me I saw little coral -plants, fragile as violets or anemones; on a level with my head were -leafless shrubs, marvelously colored and perfect in trunk and limb and -twig; yonder a giant mushroom, ten feet across and growing on a tall -thick stalk, towered above the undergrowth. Shoals of small fish, gay -as the bird life of the tropics, drifted through the coral foliage or -darted into the shelter of the mushrooms when larger fish passed -overhead. - -The floor of the lagoon was irregular, seamed by gullies and rising in -rough hillocks here and there, and my weighted basket lay at the edge -of one of these ravines. By swimming slowly in a horizontal position I -could move from place to place without great effort, and hoping to find -at least one oyster before I was forced to rise for air, I swam along -the brink, scanning the coral sharply for the pearl oysters I knew to -be plentiful at this place. A great silver cavally, four feet long and -with goggle-eyes as large as dollars, darted out of a gloomy cleft, -halted to gaze at me for an instant, passed within a foot of my face, -and disappeared in the shadows. The fish gave me a start; in the -flurry I let go a good half of my breath, which rose in a string of -bubbles toward the air. My lungs were cramped. I had reached the -limit of endurance. - -I made for the line, seized it with both hands, heaved strongly and -felt myself bounding upward like a cork. When my head broke water and -I raised the goggles from my eyes, I saw that the native boy was -bending over me with an air of concern. - -"Another moment," he said, "and I would have gone down after you. You -were long on the bottom--I feared that you had been seized with cramps." - -"It is strange down there," I answered, a little apologetically, "the -pressure--the dim light--I was so interested that I nearly forgot to -look for shell and when I did look there was none to be seen." - -"It was the same with me at first," declared Marama, smiling, "but if -you look closely in the rough places, on piles of coral and along the -edges of the gullies, you will see the oysters there by hundreds. It -is easy to mistake them for lumps of rock--coral and barnacles grow on -them as on the rock itself. They lie open like the _pahua_ (the -tridacna clam), but that helps you little, for their fringes are not -blue and yellow like the clam's tongue." - -I did not waste my strength by climbing into the canoe, but lay in the -water resting as I had seen the natives do. When five minutes had -passed I put down my glasses and went to the bottom again, and this -time I saw two pearl-oysters. I found them at the edge of the gulley, -when I was on the point of giving up in despair of seeing the elusive -things. They looked for all the world like irregular lumps of coral, -projecting like hundreds of other lumps from the rocky wall, and I -would have passed without a second glance if one of them had not moved. -Though they have no eyes, in our sense of the word, all bivalves which -do not habitually lie buried in sand or mud seem to possess a subtle -sense of light. As my body passed over the oyster, shutting off the -light, the creature was thus mysteriously warned, and instantly its -shells closed with a smooth swiftness. Looking more closely, I -recognized the outlines of the _margaritifera_, the pearl oyster, -beneath a protective growth of parasites, and grasping it with my -gloved hand, I endeavored to wrench it from its fibrous moorings. As I -struggled to free it from the coral, the water must have been agitated, -for another rough lump closed with the same smooth swift movement, -revealing a second great oyster. By this time I had been under nearly -a minute, and though I tugged with all my might I was unable to wrench -the shell free before I rose. - -"I have seen the oysters," I told Marama, as I lay resting in the -sunlight, "but try as I would, I could not tear one loose!" - -He picked up an opened shell from the bottom of the canoe. - -"Take hold thus," he instructed me, "and turn the oyster with a sudden -wrench. It is useless to pull. Ah--your left hand is bleeding--take -care to use the gloved hand only, for the coral cuts like a knife, and -oftentimes the wounds are poisoned." - -By the third time down I had gained confidence and was beginning to -feel at home on the bottom. Now I remembered the trick of which the -Paumotan diver had told me, and when I had been half a minute under -water I began to let the air out of my lungs. The native had spoken -truly; each little string of bubbles brought its moment of relief and -enabled me to go about my work more calmly. - -I was beginning to see the oysters now: my eyes were growing accustomed -to the dim light. This time I managed to tear off a couple of oysters -and put them in the basket before I rose for air. Three dives filled -the basket, and when Marama pulled it from the water with its -coral-encrusted load, I gave an imitation of the exultant native -shout--a cry which brought a grin to my companion's face. - -"We are learning," he said mockingly, "but it will be time to shout -when we can fill the basket at one dive!" - -That afternoon, when we joined the little fleet of canoes to paddle -home, Maruia stood up, craning her neck for a look at our catch. "You -have done well," she remarked, a smile wrinkling her brown face, "not -badly for the first day's diving! I have seen grown men do worse. No -pearls? Never mind--you will find them surely. Beginners always have -the luck!" - -From that day onward the fishing occupied less than a third of our -time, and the balance was put in on the lagoon. We learned fast, as -boys do, and gradually worked our way into deeper water till we were -diving with the rest. Within a few weeks we were bringing in as much -shell as the Paumotans, and my uncle was enthusiastic over our success! -He could dive with any native, and once or twice, when he had leisure, -he sent Marama out alone to fish and accompanied me to the -diving-grounds. On those days my uncle's share of the shell went to -the native boy's account--growing into a round little sum. - -As for me, the diving fascinated me more each day: the beauty and -strangeness of the underwater world; the spice of danger--small, but a -reality, nevertheless; the thought of the money I was earning; the -daily, even hourly, hope of finding a rich pearl, perhaps worth a small -fortune. From time to time we found a few small pearls, but when at -last good fortune came to us, it came hand in hand with tragedy. - -As the nearer shell-patches became worked out, the canoes moved -gradually northward, taking the cream of the shell without diving -enough to exhaust the beds at any one place. One morning, in the -latter part of July, Marama and I anchored close beside Maruia's canoe, -on new and very promising grounds. It was my turn to open shell. The -Paumotan woman, not ten yards away from me, was loafing that -day--letting her nephew dive, for once. Teura was a boy of twenty or -twenty-one, a favorite among the natives because of his skill as a -musician and his jokes. I had grown fond of him since we had been -thrown with the divers, and often went ashore in the evening to chat -with old Maruia and listen to her nephew's songs, accompanied by wild -native airs on his accordion. - -I remember that morning as if it were yesterday. The bottom was at -about eleven fathoms, rougher than any part of the lagoon that we had -seen. Here and there pinnacles of coral rose to within a few yards of -the surface; in the shadowy depths below, the bottom was seamed with -crannies and pitted with the mouths of caves. The look of the place, -in fact, was by no means reassuring, but the men sent out to survey the -bottom reported that the lagoon there was fairly paved with shell. - -It had become my habit to take a water glass in the canoe, for by now I -was expert at opening the shell, and I found it interesting, in leisure -moments, to watch my companion at his work. The depth was too great to -see clearly, but I watched Marama plunge feet-first into the shadows, -and a moment later, a second string of bubbles told me that Maruia's -nephew had followed him down. Vaguely in the depths I could see Marama -moving about, a dim moving shadow when his body passed above a patch of -sand. Then, before half a minute had passed, the canoe lurched -suddenly and sharply--the native boy was pulling himself up the line in -desperate haste. - -His head broke water. With a heave and a spring that nearly capsized -us, he threw himself into the canoe. - -"Ah, the great tonu--he nearly had me!" he panted, trembling with -excitement. "Aué! Teura! Where is he?" - -I snatched up the water glass, and side by side, with our heads close -together, we gazed down into the blue water. Hearing the boy's words, -Maruia had seized her own glass. Next moment a sudden sharp wail came -from her lips. Then I saw the figure of her nephew, mounting his line -with great heaves of both hands--and rising deliberately beneath him a -monster hideous as a nightmare memory. It was a huge fish, eight or -nine feet long and of enormous bulk. Its great spiny head, four feet -across and set with a pair of eyes like saucers, terminated in jaws -larger than a shark's; its rough body was spotted and brindled in a way -that rendered it almost invisible against the coral; its pectoral fins, -frilled and spiny as the fins of a sculpin, spread out like wings on -either side. It had the look of an incredibly old and gigantic -rock-cod--to which family, indeed, I have been told that the tonu -belongs. - -We watched in terrible suspense, all three of us, Teura was nearing the -surface; in another moment he would be safe. The tonu seemed -undecided, as if it were following the man out of curiosity rather than -pursuing him. I began to breathe more freely. Then when the diver was -within twenty feet of us. the fish reared itself suddenly and came -rushing up, huge jaws agape. - -In a twinkling it was beneath us, so close that the water beneath the -canoes swirled with its passage. The next instant the monster flashed -downward and the man was gone. - -The tonu halted, four or five fathoms down, and lay with gently moving -fins. It was then I saw, to my unutterable horror, that Teura's feet -and the calves of his legs hung from the creature's twitching jaws. - -Another spectator was close at hand. "Aué!" cried old Maruia bitterly, -in a choking voice. "Teura is gone! But I shall kill that devil as he -has killed my boy!" - -She had been baptized--she was a churchgoer and a keeper of the Sabbath -day; but now I heard her half chanting a strange invocation, in loud -and solemn tones. "She prays to the heathen gods," muttered Marama in -an awed whisper, "to Taiao, and to Ruahatu, the old shark-god of her -people!" - -I glanced up. The woman was standing in the stern of her canoe. She -wore her usual diving-dress, a loose gown of cotton over a pareu worn -as the men wore theirs. The goggles were on her eyes and she had taken -up a heavy fish-spear from its place on the outrigger-poles of the -canoe. It was a formidable weapon, a haft of tough black wood tipped -with a yard of steel: a tapering lance sharpened to a needle-point. I -turned my head to look into the water glass. The great fish lay -beneath us, a monstrous vision in the blue twilight below; but now the -man's legs had disappeared. - -Maruia's canoe came alongside. I heard the outrigger knock softly -against our own. Then both canoes rocked violently, and we started at -the sound of a heavy plunging splash. - -Without a word to us or an instant's hesitation, Maruia had leaped -overboard. One hand held a leaden diving-weight and the other gripped -the spear, point downward. The fish scarcely moved at the turmoil in -the water; the hideous lord of the lagoon was making his meal. Our -hearts beat fast as we watched what followed, gazing through our little -pane of glass. Swift and straight, the woman went down head-first till -she was within two yards of the tonu's back. She let go the weight, -which plunged down out of sight among the shadows; she drew herself -together and struck--struck squarely where the head joined the -misshapen body, a foot behind the monstrous goggle eyes. I saw the -steel strike deep--saw Maruia raise herself upright in the water to -drive the spear home with both hands on the shaft. The fish started; -its jaws gaped wide--the sprawled and mangled body of Teura eddied down -toward the coral forty feet below. The wounded monster turned on his -side, the shaft of the spear protruding from his spiny back, and swam -feebly and aimlessly to the surface, where the divers, now gathering -from all sides, put a quick end to his struggles. - -Then I heard the eerie diver's whistle close beside our canoe and the -voice of Maruia calling to us. "I am going home," she said. "Lend me -a hand to put Teura in the canoe." She had been nearly four minutes -under water and had brought up with her the body of her boy. - -The natives did no more diving that day. Anchors came up, gear was -stowed away, and one after another the canoes fell in behind old -Maruia, while the wailing of the _tangi_, the native mourning for the -dead, floated across the lagoon. I reached for our own anchor-line, -but Marama stopped me with a gesture. - -"Wait," he said seriously, "we will go back soon, but first there is -something I must tell you." - -"Let us go to the Tara," I answered, "and tell Seroni what has -happened. This place makes me shudder. I have no more heart for -diving to-day." - -The native boy looked at me solemnly. - -"Like you, I am afraid," he confessed, "but I have seen what moves me -more strongly than fear. And I know that our fears are baseless, for -my grandfather, who was the most skilled fisherman of Raiatea, has told -me many times that where one tonu lives, another is never to be found -close by. - -"Watch well," he went on, "and move the basket if there is danger, for -I am going down once more. In the cave where I first saw the tonu, are -two _parau tahito_--the old oysters of which the divers speak. They -are covered with barnacles, very old and huge, and perhaps they hold -pearls--great pearls that will make rich men of you and me. But that -cave is an evil place! Teura went down with his back to me, and I saw -him reach the bottom close to the entrance of the cavern, which he did -not see. Then I looked in, and my heart beat fast as I saw that pair -of old oysters, just inside. I looked more closely, and there in the -shadows were the eyes of the tonu watching me, and his great jaws -opening as he made ready to rush out. For a moment my limbs were -paralyzed! The rest you saw." - -I was becoming infected with my companion's excitement. Ever since we -had begun to dive I had heard stories of famous pearls, taken -throughout the group in years gone by, and the pearls which fetched the -greatest sums and made immortal the names of their finders had always -come from these huge, old, and sickly-looking oysters, growing apart -from the rest. - -Marama had picked up his goggles and was making ready to go over the -side, when a saying of my uncle's flashed across my mind. "Never let -one of your men do a job you're afraid to do yourself!" Then all at -once I knew that I should have no peace unless I acted quickly. - -"Stop," I said--a little shakily, at the prospect of the task before -me. "You have been down once. Now it is my turn!" - -All my life I have found that the more one fears a thing, the quicker -it should be done. Without heeding Marama's protests, I snapped on my -glasses, tucked up my waistcloth, and went overboard. Next moment I -seized the lead-line and signaled Marama to let go. - -Never, before or since, have I been more afraid than on that day, as -the weight took me plunging down into a bluish gloom. The bottom, as I -have said, was at about eleven fathoms,--close to seventy feet,--and -since the coral was of the dark-purple kind, the light was very dim. -When my weight struck the coral my heart was beating so that I nearly -choked; I lost my bearings and wasted half a minute before I found the -entrance of the tonu's cave. Suddenly, five yards ahead of me, I -perceived the dark mouth of the cavern, like a low wide doorway, -fringed with pink coral and gently waving weeds. As I stared into the -darkness which seemed to fill a vast chamber, I felt a prickling at the -roots of my hair--what if the tonu had a mate. - -Then, dimly in the gloom, I made out the forms of the two great -oysters, their barnacled and crusted shells agape. I moved forward to -wrench them from the rock. With one in each hand I swam toward the -basket, glancing back fearfully as went. There was no shout of triumph -when I reached the surface--I flung myself into the canoe and lay there -while Marama pulled up the basket. - -"You got them?" he inquired eagerly, without turning his head in my -direction. - -"They are In the basket," I said, "but if I had not found them, I would -not have gone down again!" - -"My stomach was cold at the thought of it. Come--let us open the shell -and leave this evil place. I can scarce wait to see what is inside!" - -"You take one," I suggested, "and I will open the other." - -"Yes!" he answered, with a boy's eagerness to prolong the moment of -suspense, "I will open mine first, and when we have seen what it -contains, you can look into the other one." - -He inserted his knife close to the hinge, severed the muscle connecting -the shells, and laid the great oyster open on the bottom of the canoe. -His fingers, skilled with long practice, went under the fringing mantle -where nearly all pearls are found, searching rapidly and in vain. He -felt more carefully--uttered an exclamation of disgust. - -"There is nothing," he said mournfully, "not so much as a blister -pearl!" - -I took my knife and opened the oyster he had handed me. It was very -old and diseased; the shells seemed half rotten, pierced with the holes -of borers, and the flesh of the creature inside had a sickly, greenish -look. My forefinger went under the mantle--felt something hard and -smooth, which moved loosely at the touch. Next moment I laid in -Marama's hand a magnificent pearl, the size of a marble, round, -flawless, and glimmering with the sheen of perfect orient. - -We gazed at it, awed by our good fortune. A man might spend years -among the atolls without laying eyes on a pearl one half so beautiful! -My fingers had gone back to the oyster to complete the habitual -inspection when Marama found his voice. - -"With such a pearl," he said softly, "a man could buy a schooner like -the Tara, or an entire island for himself! Not one of the divers has -ever seen its match, nor--" - -I interrupted him with a frenzied shout, as I laid in the palm of his -hand, beside the first pearl, a second one--its twin in size, in color, -in lustre, and perfection of form. - -"Marama," I said when we had grown a little calmer, "we must say -nothing of this to anyone except Seroni. I know little of pearls, but -the value of this matched pair is too great to be made known. The -sight of them would tempt a man to things he might regret." - -Our mood of exultation was quenched by the wailing of mourners as we -passed the islet, and the sight of my uncle's sober face when he met us -at the Tara's rail. "I'm glad you came in," he said. "This has been a -bad day and I'm feeling anxious and depressed. Teura--poor devil; he -was one of the best of the lot; I've known him since he was a lad at -school. This business won't stop the diving, of course,--it's all part -of the day's work to them,--but it's a pity that such a tragedy has -come to spoil our season at Iriatai. I've been jumpy as an old woman -since the canoes came in--a silly idea that you might have gone on -diving and that there might have been another of those damned tonus -about!" - -"We want to have a talk with you, Uncle Harry," I said. "Can we go -down to your stateroom--all three of us?" - -I followed my uncle and Marama into the stateroom and closed the door -behind me. Then I unrolled the tuck of my pareu, opened a knotted -handkerchief and laid on the table the twin pearls of the tonu's cave. -My uncle's dark brilliant eyes opened wide, his eyebrows went up, and -he whistled a soft and long-drawn note. Without a word he took up -first one pearl and then the other, turning them in his fingers and -letting the light play over their gleaming and flawless surfaces. - -"By Jove!" he exclaimed at last, "you take my breath away! I reckon -this is the most beautiful matched pair that ever came out of the -Paumotus--by long, long odds! In Paris, on the Rue de la Paix, the -jewelers would fight one another for a chance to bid on them! You -can't set a price on a pair of pearls like these. One of them by -itself would make you independent in a small way; the fact that they're -matched probably doubles the value of each." He turned to the native -boy. "Eh Marama," he said to him, in his own tongue; "you are a lucky -boy! This morning's work will make you the richest man of Raiatea, -with a fine house, a cutter, and plantations enough to keep all your -relatives in plenty. But say nothing of this, for not all men are good -at heart." - -"Of course they are yours," he went on in English, "to do with as you -wish; but I advise you two to let me handle this matter for you. They -must be sold as a pair, and I know a Jew on Tahiti who will give us the -top of the market. He is buyer for one of the largest firms in Paris, -and in a case like this, something more than money is involved. These -pearls will make history, you will see; I haven't a doubt they'll end -among the jewels of some European court. Sikorsky knows me and knows -that I know the game; it will be a matter of naming our own price, -within reason, for the acquisition of such a pair of pearls would be a -tremendous feather in his cap. Come, we must christen them, for pearls -of real importance are always named. What do you say to calling them -the _Marama Twins_? Marama means the moon, and their orient has the -pure, pale glimmer of moonlight. What beautiful things! If I were a -rich man I'd take them off your hands myself! - -"See--we'll put them in cotton-wool in this tobacco-tin, and stow it -away in the safe. The less said the better, I fancy, even among -ourselves. Such a temptation might prove too much for almost any man! -But tell me about Teura--his aunt was too much cut up to talk." - -Marama left us to go on deck while I told my uncle the story of the -morning's happenings. He shook his head when I told of how the canoes -had gone home, and of our resolution to go down after the two old -oysters Marama had seen. Then I spoke of my feeling that I must be the -one to dive, and how I had gone down to bring up the oysters from the -tonu's cave. - -"I know what you mean," he remarked, as I concluded, "and you did the -right thing; but don't take such chances very often! You'll have to -keep on diving for a few days, if only for the sake of public morale, -but I wish you'd slack off gradually and give it up altogether in a -week or two." - - - - -IX - -THE CAVE OF THE SHARK GOD - -I went on deck that night and lay alone in the warm darkness, building -castles in Spain. Every lad has dreamed of all that he would do for -his parents when he had gone out into the world and made his fortune, -and now my dreams seemed to have come true at last. I thought of my -mother, and the things I might do to brighten the dullness of her life; -of Marion, and how my good fortune would send her to the Eastern school -she longed for; of my father, who had dreamed for years of improving -and restocking the ranch. The old Santa Brigida where I had been born -and where I hoped to end my days--a sudden understanding came to me, a -rush of gratitude for my father's determined clinging to our land. I -realized as never before how I loved the valley, the brown hills, the -lonely stretch of coast. A home to go back to--that was the best thing -in life! - -Teura was to be buried in the morning, and no man on the islet slept -that night. After the native fashion the divers were assembled at -Maruia's house, and all night long their wild and melancholy songs -floated out across the water. The hymns of the islanders have a power -to stir one strangely: the voices of the women wailing in a minor key, -the deep, chanting refrain of the men--gradually, under the influence -of their music, my thoughts wandered, and I fell asleep. - -The natives observe Sunday with a strictness unknown among more -civilized Christian races. Saving a few unavoidable tasks like -cooking, no work of any kind is done on that day, and the man bold -enough to break the rule would make an outcast of himself. If he went -fishing, they believe that his fishing would be accursed; if by any -chance he caught a fish, its flesh would be poisonous; and in all -probability a shark would be sent to overturn his canoe and make an end -of the impious Sabbath-breaker. White men are a law unto themselves, -of course, but my uncle had warned me long since that it would be a -mistake to urge Marama to break the rules of his religion. Our -Sundays, therefore, were what Sundays should be--days of rest and -change from the occupations of the week. - -Marama and I often persuaded the cook to put up a cold lunch for us, -and set out in our canoe to explore the distant portions of the lagoon. -To amuse ourselves, and for easier traveling on these occasions, we had -rigged a sail--a bamboo mast, a big leg-of-mutton sail of unbleached -cotton, and a spar of tough light wood. We selected from the Tara's -stock of lumber a long two-inch plank, and when we set out for a day's -sailing this plank was lashed to the canoe--one end to the outrigger, -the middle to the gunwales, and the other projecting up and out, six -feet on the starboard beam. We carried a tremendous spread of sail for -so small a craft, and the long narrow canoe, with a fresh breeze astern -or on the beam, skimmed the lagoon at a speed that delighted our -hearts. One of us managed the sheet and steered with an oar from the -whaleboat; the other took his place on the plank, changing sides when -we tacked, and crawling out on the weather beam when the wind freshened -and the canoe lay over--bounding forward to rush through the water with -a tearing sound. - -On the Sunday after Teura's burial, we took our lunch and set out for -an all-day sail, and toward the middle of the afternoon the trade wind -fell away and died. We were on the west side of the lagoon, a mile or -two north of the village of the copra-makers, built on the site of the -ancient Paumotan settlement. It was the first time that we had passed -close to the place where the shark had met his death, and as we paddled -slowly along the coral cliffs rising almost to the surface, we watched -for the opening of the cave. - -Finally, through the calm blue water, not more than ten or twelve feet -down, we saw the mouth of the cavern where the monster had taken -refuge. The palms alongshore almost overhung the lagoon at this place. -The fringing reef which fell away in a line of submarine cliffs was -only a few yards wide, and beyond it lay the highest land on Iriatai, -the path of an ancient hurricane where the breaching seas of centuries -ago had piled great blocks and masses of coral to a height of eight or -ten yards above the sea. Marama dropped his paddle and took up a pair -of water goggles. - -"Hold the canoe here a moment," he said; "I am going overboard for a -look. There was only one shark and I do not believe that a tonu would -live so close to the surface." - -Next moment he was over the side and swimming down toward the -cave-mouth, into which I saw his body disappear. Presently, with -leisurely strokes, he swam into sunlit water and rose to take breath, -with a hand on the gunwale of the canoe. "Have patience a little -longer," he said with a smile, as he pulled down his goggles for the -second time. "I am going down once more." - -Again he disappeared, and again I waited idly for his reappearance. A -minute passed; a minute and a half; two minutes. I began to be -alarmed. Three minutes were gone. I knew that never before had my -friend stayed down so long. Four minutes--I hauled up the canoe in the -shallows, snapped on my glasses and plunged down to the entrance of the -cavern. As I peered in anxiously, I saw that there was a strange -glimmer of light where only darkness should have been. Suddenly the -light was blotted out, and Marama emerged from the tunnel and rose with -me to the surface of the lagoon. When we had taken breath, his hand -went up to interrupt my hasty demand for an explanation. - -"Aué!" he exclaimed in an excited voice, "but that is a strange place! -The hole in the coral rises as it runs inward, and seeing light ahead I -thought that I would swim in a little way. The light grew stronger; -all at once my head was out of water and I was breathing air. When I -pushed up my glasses to look about me, I found that I was swimming in -the midst of a great pool, arched over with a low ceiling of rock. At -the farther end a single ray of sunlight shines through a crack between -two wedged-in boulders, and beneath the light I saw a broad ledge, -sandy and high above the water. On that ledge, where a hundred might -stand together, are things of the old times: a heathen god, spears, -stone axes, the whitened heads of men. I am afraid, but I will go back -if you desire to see." - -A sudden memory flashed into my mind--the scent of wood-smoke; the -long, shadowy living room at home; my uncle lying in a rawhide chair -with his feet against the stones of the fireplace; the missing brig; -the savages of Iriatai; the story of the searching-party--beyond doubt -we had stumbled on the cave where the cannibals took refuge on that day -so long ago! - -"There is nothing to fear in old bones," I said. "Lead the way, if you -are not weary, and I will follow close behind." - -Marama ducked under like a rolling porpoise, to swim down the face of -the cliff with long easy strokes, and I swam after him down the cliff -and into the faintly luminous gloom. The light grew stronger as we -advanced; twenty yards from the entrance my head came out of water and -I breathed the welcome air again. We were swimming in a black pool -which half filled a long shadowy cavern, illuminated by a beam of -sunlight filtering in through a cranny in the rocks. Stalactites of -fantastic shape hung from the low roof, and I saw the broad ledge of -which the native boy had spoken. We were in the hidden refuge of the -savages, the lurking-place of the terrible carcharodon, the shark which -had come so near to making an end of my uncle during our early days on -Iriatai! - -It was an eerie place. We swam to the far end, and my heart was -beating faster than usual when my feet touched bottom and we walked -out, side by side, upon the ledge. A glance showed me that the place -had been a heathen temple of some sort. Under the hole which admitted -light stood a small platform of roughhewn coral blocks, a kind of -_marae_, like others to be found throughout the Polynesian islands. On -the platform, with his misshapen back to the ray of afternoon sunlight, -squatted a hideous little god of stone, leering and monstrous, with -hands folded on his belly and with a grinning mouth. A semicircle of -crumbling skulls lay about the idol, and leaning against the rocky wall -I saw carved war-clubs, beautifully fashioned spears, and axes of -polished stone. Marama touched my arm. - -"Let us go," he whispered. "This is an ill place, indeed! I have -heard the old men's tales of the days when there were still wild people -in the Paumotus; without doubt that _tiki_ is Ruahatu, to whom you -heard old Maruia pray. These heads are the heads of men slain here in -sacrifice--their bodies were offered to _Atua Mao_, the shark god. Let -us go!" - -That night, when I was telling my uncle of the cavern, Maruia came -aboard to show him a pearl that she had found. Her eyes gleamed as he -translated to her the story of our adventure, and she nodded her head -violently in confirmation of each fresh detail. - -"Aye," she remarked at the end; "It was thus in the old days among the -Paumotan people. On my island, Matahiva, we had such a place; my -father has told me how in his childhood the women took refuge there -when the warriors went out to meet the men of Rangiroa, raiding in -their great canoes. And that stone god was Ruahatu, the Lord of -Sharks. For know that the shark you killed was not a shark, nor would -you have killed him had you not been a white man! You smile--but I am -speaking true words. For a hundred years, two hundred, since time -beyond reckoning, perhaps, he has lived in that cave and fattened on -the bodies of men, cast to him by the priests. Yet his own people -might swim about him fearlessly, for he knew them, and they were of his -clan. One of my own ancestors, after his death, took on the semblance -of a shark!" - - -"You'll have an interesting yarn to tell at home," said my uncle, when -the woman was gone. "I've heard of these Paumotan refuge-caves, but I -never knew a man who had laid eyes on one. Some Sunday we'll run down -for a look. I'd like to get those weapons for my collection in Tahiti." - - - - -X - -THE CHOLITA COMES TO IRIATAI - -In those days Marama and I were accounted among the skilled fishermen -of the island, and a few weeks after we explored the shark's cave, we -decided to make an expedition after a fish seldom captured in the South -Seas--the dolphin, or dorado, which the natives called _mahimahi_. He -is a noble fish, swift, predatory, and difficult of approach, a rover -of the open sea, where his pursuit requires no small degree of -hardihood and skill. And the dolphin's flesh is delicate above all -other fish--a feast for island kings before the white man came. -Pahuri, the Tara's wrinkled engineer, gave us the idea of -dolphin-fishing: we were listening to his yarns one night when he -chanced to speak of the mahimahi. - -"Aye," he said, as he twisted a bit of tobacco in a pandanus-leaf, -"there is one fish that you have never caught! How many men on this -island have tasted of the dolphin? Not you--nor you?" We shook our -heads. - -"When I was a boy in the Cook Islands," he went on reminiscently, "that -fish was often in the oven at my father's house. In those days the men -had not grown lazy and timid, clinging to the land. For it needs a man -to bring the dolphin home: he is not to be found in a few fathoms of -water close to shore! The mahimahi is the swiftest of all fish and the -most beautiful, with his colors of blue and green, changing like flame. -He ranges far out to sea in little bands--three or four males and as -many females together. You will know them apart easily, for the male -will often weigh a hundred pounds, while his mate is never more than -half his size. How can you find the dolphin? Listen and I will tell -you--I have forgotten more of fishing-lore than these others will know -in all their lives! - -"Paddle offshore a mile, two miles, three miles, and wait in the early -morning calm, when the birds fly out to feed. When you see the -_itatae_, the small, pure white tern, watch carefully! Remember that -the brown noddy-tern, which follows the bonito, never circles above the -mahimahi. But if you see four or five white birds circling low and -fast above the waves, hasten to that place and make ready for the -dolphin-fishing. As for bait, flying-fish is good, but I will tell you -a secret. Above all other food, the mahimahi loves the lobster! Take -with you the white meat from the tails of the lobsters, and when your -canoe is close to the birds throw this bait into the water directly -under them. Then watch closely and you will see the dolphin dart up -from the depths like a living flame! Let your baited hook sink slowly -and presently a fish will seize it, but you must handle him gently, for -he is very swift and strong. If one is taken, the others will stay -about the canoe, and you will catch them all. You are going to try? I -would go with you if I had time--it is work from daybreak to darkness!" - -That night we made torches of dried coconut-leaves, bound in long -bundles, and paddled out to the reef separating the two islands north -of camp. There was a new moon, by good luck--the best time of the -month for lobsters and other dwellers on the barrier. We wore -rope-soled shoes to protect our feet from the sharp spines of sea -urchins, and when we had anchored the canoe in shallow water we walked -abreast along the outer edge of the reef, brightly illuminated by our -torches. When a comber toppled and crashed, sending a foaming rush of -water across the coral, we halted and waited till the water cleared in -the interval before the next breaker came rolling in. Then we walked -slowly, bending to scan each weedy crevice and hole. Sometimes a -lobster darted like a flash from his refuge and was gone; sometimes the -torchlight reflected from a pair of stalk-eyes betrayed our quarry in -time for us to press a foot down on the lobster's back, seize him -warily from behind, and toss him into the gaping sack. In an hour we -had more than we could use. - -The stars were shining and there was only the faintest glimmer of dawn, -when we dragged our canoe over the reef and shot out seaward through -the breakers. Gradually, as we left Iriatai behind us, the eastern sky -paled, grew luminous, flushed a rosy pink. The sea changed from black -to gray, and from gray to blue--a new day had begun. Around the vast -circle of the horizon, saving in the west, where masses of dark cloud -towered to a great height, light scattered trade-wind clouds hung above -the line where sea met sky. - -"I do not like the look of the weather," remarked Marama, glancing -westward; "there is wind in those clouds, and if they draw nearer we -must return in haste. But the sea is calm, so let us go about our -fishing for an hour or two." - -We were perhaps four miles offshore. The palms of Iriatai lay like a -low smudge along the horizon to the south of us. Singly and in twos -and threes, the birds had left their roosting-places ashore and were -flying this way and that over the sea, on the lookout for schools of -fish. There were boobies and noddy terns in plenty, and a few of the -small snow-white terns on which we kept a special watch. Suddenly, a -quarter of a mile from us, a pair of noddies began to circle and dive; -other birds came flapping hastily from all directions, and soon -hundreds of them were wheeling and plunging through the air. - -"Bonito," said my companion, heading the canoe toward the school. "Let -us make sure of not returning empty-handed!" - -It was an old game to me, but one of which I never wearied. We bent -our backs and dug our paddles into the sea. The light canoe flew over -the swells at a pace that left a wake of foam. I heard Marama drop his -paddle; knew that he had turned to face the stern and taken the long -bamboo pole from its place on the outrigger-supports. "_Hoe! Hoe!_" -he cried. "Paddle your hardest--the school is turning, and in a moment -we shall be among them!" - -Now the birds were all about us, and the sea was alive with the small -fish on which birds and bonito feed, leaping and flashing by thousands -in a frenzy of fear. A bonito leaped with a heavy plunge, close to the -canoe--another--another; next moment an acre of sea was churned into -foam as they fell upon their prey like wolves. I was in the bow place, -and now my efforts were redoubled, for everything depended on keeping -the canoe in rapid motion. Marama was seated on the stern thwart, -facing the rear. In his right hand he held the butt of the rod, braced -against the thwart. As the sun was bright, he had selected a dark -lure,--a piece of greenish-black mother-of-pearl, fashioned in the -shape of a four-inch minnow,--and it skittered along behind us in an -extraordinary lifelike way. Cupping his left hand, Marama leaned over -the side and began to throw water over the lure, five yards astern--a -custom believed to attract the fish. I heard a shout--a fat bonito -came tumbling through the air and thumped into the bottom of the canoe. -Next instant the hook was free and over the side again, and the native -boy was calling: "Paddle! Paddle! You are letting them draw away from -us!" For a quarter of an hour, with aching muscles and a dry throat, I -held the canoe on the outskirts of the school. At last the pace became -too much for me, and I dropped my paddle as the rearmost birds left us -in their wake. - -We sank into the bottom of the canoe and lay there panting. Marama was -worn out, for bonito-fishing is a strenuous sport. In fifteen minutes, -after paddling five hundred yards at racing speed, he had hooked and -swung into our canoe nearly a score of fish, averaging seven or eight -pounds each! It was still calm, and the dugout rose and fell gently on -the swell as we lay there resting. The bank of black clouds was moving -imperceptibly toward us, blotting out the horizon with an ominous -violet gloom. It was time that we went home and I was about to speak -when I saw Marama was pointing eastward. - -"The dolphin!" he exclaimed, as my eye caught the glint of half a dozen -small white birds circling rapidly above the sea. "Shall we paddle out -yonder for a try, or shall we leave the mahimahi for another day?" - -"Let us chance it," I suggested. "Pahuri knows, and from what he said -there must be dolphin yonder. It may be a long time before we see the -white birds circle again!" - -We were young and far from prudent. In spite of the approaching -squall, we headed the canoe away from land and strained at our paddles -anew. When first sighted, the birds were not more than half a mile -distant, but they were moving slowly away from us, and twice, before we -caught up, the fish must have sounded, for the terns ceased their -feeding and flew about uncertainly till they fell to circling again. -At last the birds were diving fearlessly about the canoe--beautiful -little creatures, smaller than a pigeon, with pointed wings and dark, -incurious eyes. Remembering Pahuri's advice, I baited my hook and -stood up in the bow to throw out morsels of lobster. Then I swung the -line around my head and cast far out in front of the canoe. - -"_Te mahimahi!_" cried Marama excitedly; and I saw a great fish, -gleaming with the colors of a fire opal, dart up from the depths, seize -a morsel of bait, and disappear. At that instant the line tautened -with a jerk that cut the skin of my hand: I was fast to my first -dolphin. - -He seemed strong as a wild horse. Fathom after fathom of line hissed -over the gunwale and into the sea, at a speed that brought a shout to -Marama's lips. Then the fish turned and shot up to the surface, -rushing this way and that--a streaking flame of azure in the sea. As -the line shortened, Marama leaned over the side, long-handled gaff in -hand. The dolphin was growing weary; still fighting, but at a slowing -pace, he passed close to the side of the canoe--and the native boy's -arm shot out. The dugout lurched and nearly capsized as he brought the -fish alongside, the gaff deep-buried in the gleaming back. A stroke of -the club, a dying quiver, and we seized gills and tail to drag the fish -aboard, exclaiming in excited admiration at the play of gorgeous color -on his sides. - -I had forgotten the impending squall, and now, as I glanced back toward -Iriatai, I saw that there was no land in sight. Sea and sky were -merged in a thick gloom; the air stirred uneasily; the black clouds -were almost overhead. Marama was cutting short lengths of fishline to -make fast the loose articles in the canoe; the fish-blub, the baler, -the gaff. He passed me a bit of line. "Tie one end to the thwart and -the other to your paddle," he said, "and remember that if we swamp -there will be no cause for fear--there is small chance that the sharks -will find us. Three times have I been swamped at sea, and each time we -lay in the water till the waves had calmed, and reached the land -without mishap. Look well to the outrigger-lashings forward there--a -turn of line might make them more secure." - -I doubt if any other type of craft as small and light would have -weathered what our canoe went through in the half hour that followed. -Long before the wind reached us we could hear the moaning sound of it -and see an unbroken line of white advancing across the face of the sea. -Then, after a sharp preliminary gust, the squall was on us, shrieking -and raving out of the west. - -A spume of torn salt water, white and stinging like sleet, drove from -crest to crest of the seas, mingling with horizontal sheets of rain -which blinded us as we fought desperately to hold the plunging canoe -bow-on. It was then that I began to realize the wonderful -seaworthiness of the Polynesian canoe--light, sharp, and high-sided, -balanced by its outrigger of hibiscus wood, buoyant as cork. In riding -such a sea there were sudden fierce strains on outrigger and -outrigger-poles--strains which would have snapped the tough wood in an -instant, save for its strong and flexible cinnet-lashings. Each time a -sea came rearing high above us the bow tossed up to meet the slope of -broken water--rose up and up, surmounted the wave, and plunged into the -seething trough beyond. - -"Bale!" Marama was shouting in a voice that came to me faintly above -the screaming of the wind. "Bale, or we shall be swamped!" - -As I leaned back to take up the baler I saw that the canoe was a third -full of water--mingled sea water and rain. I set to work in a panic, -while Marama fought to hold us head-on to the seas, with clenched teeth -and a steady eye ahead. Working at top speed to throw the water out, I -perceived with a sinking heart that the task was beyond his strength; -we had done our best, but in another moment the canoe would fill and -swamp. Three times, with a sweep of the paddle that knotted his -muscles as though cast in bronze, Marama saved us by a miracle. A -white-crested roller seized us with a fierce caprice, spinning the -canoe about. Marama's paddle dug deep to swing our bows to meet the -oncoming sea and then, with a crackling sound audible above the wind, -the haft of hard black wood snapped clean in two. - -Next moment the wave burst over the gunwale, and we were struggling in -the sea. - -[Illustration: _Next moment the wave burst over the gunwale, and we -were struggling in the sea._] - -For a time I felt that the end was near. The water was warm and I was -clinging to the outrigger-pole, but it seemed impossible to breathe. I -think I should have suffocated, without my long experience of diving at -Iriatai. My eyes were filled with water, and each time I strove to get -a breath, the sea broke over me to fill my nose and mouth. Little by -little I learned to watch my chance, to fill my lungs hastily at -moments when I could get a gulp of air. - -Marama worked his way along the gunwale of the swamped canoe and took -hold beside me, on the forward outrigger pole. The buoyant wood -supported our bodies in the water, and our weight at the forward end -held the long hull bow-on. The clouds were breaking to the west; the -squall was passing suddenly as it had come. The ocean was calming -rapidly, steep breaking seas giving place to a long swell, though for -the time being there could be no thought of baling the canoe. Before -long we were able to speak of our predicament, and I remember that -neither of us mentioned sharks, the subject uppermost in both our -minds. It is curious that the white man, like his savage cousins, -brown or black, is still the prey of an ancient instinct of the race: -Never speak of the evil thing you dread! - -If the sharks had found us that day, our end would have been a sudden -and a ghastly one. - -Toward noon the sun shone out through the last of the storm clouds and -the sea had gone down so much that Marama made ready for an attempt to -get the water out of our canoe. "You have seen it done at Faatemu," he -said; "I will watch the waves carefully till our chance comes--and then -you must do your best!" - -We swam aft and took our places on either side of the stern, holding -the canoe head-on while two or three long swells rolled by. Then, at -the beginning of a lull, the native boy gave the signal, and we put all -our weight on the stern, sinking it deep. "Now!" cried Marama, and we -dove down, pushing it still deeper and thrusting forward as our hands -let go their hold. The canoe shot into the air, leaping forward as the -light wood bounded to the surface; the hull smacked down on the sea, -and a rush of water tumbled forward and poured in a cascade over the -bows. Piloted by Marama's skilled hands, she took the next swell -without shipping a cupful, her gunwale four or five inches clear of the -sea. - -"Hold on with one hand and bale with the other," ordered my companion, -"and I will swim forward to keep her head-on till she is dry." - -There were still a good fifty gallons of water and my task was a weary -one, but at last she floated high and one after the other we clambered -in gingerly over the stern. Without a word Marama stood up, balancing -himself with one bare foot on either gunwale as he gazed out intently -to the west. - -"There is no land in sight," he said. - -I felt no great concern at his words, for I believed the squall could -not have carried us many miles offshore and though we had only one -paddle between us, a few hours would bring us within sight of the palms -of Iriatai. I learned afterward that we were in the clutch of one of -the uncharted currents of the Paumotus--a current which swept around -the north end of Iriatai and was carrying us farther and farther into -the vast stretch of ocean between the coral islands and the South -American coast. - -Toward three o'clock, while I paddled and Marama scanned the empty line -of the horizon from his perch in the bows, he gave a sudden shout. "_E -pahi!_--a ship!" he cried, and presently I made her out, a two-masted -schooner, hull down in the north. Could it be the Tara, come out in -search of us? But no--this was not the first time we had spent a day -away from camp; by evening my uncle would begin to feel anxiety, but -for the present he would think we had been caught in the squall and -forced to land--a stove-in canoe, perhaps, and a weary journey on foot -through thorny bush and over sharp and broken rocks. - -A light steady breeze ruffled the sea that afternoon, and anxious -minutes passed before we made certain that the schooner was heading -south. When she was still miles away I saw that she was not the Tara. -She carried a pair of lofty topsails, a rare sight in these seas; and -unlike the schooners in the island trade, the stranger's mainsail -sported a gaff, cocked at a jaunty yachting angle. As she came closer, -her towering canvas drawing every ounce of power from the air, she made -a picture to delight more critical eyes than mine. The Tara had a -sturdy beauty of her own, but she was a "bald-headed" schooner, without -topmasts, and she would have had the look of a barge beside the tall, -graceful vessel approaching us, skimming the sea like a cup-defender -under her press of sail. - -Presently she was within hailing-distance and we saw her native crew -along the rail. The brown men began to shout questions at us, after -the fashion of their race: Who were we--whence did we come--where were -we going? Then I heard a command, in a roaring voice that made the -sailors spring to their posts. The schooner shot into the wind with a -crisp shiver of canvas, bobbing and ducking into the head sea as she -moved forward and lost way close alongside. Lines were passed down, -strong hands came out to help us; the next moment our canoe lay on deck -and we were standing beside it, surrounded by good-natured islanders -who were chattering, gesticulating, grinning with flashes of their -white teeth. - -Again the roaring voice boomed out from astern: "Back the -fore-staysail! Eh, Tua! Send the Kanaka forward and bring the white -boy aft to me!" - -Tua, the mate, a tall native with a handsome determined face, touched -my arm. Walking aft while the schooner filled away again, I had my -first look at the helmsman, a white man of herculean build. He wore a -suit of drill, freshly starched and ironed, snowy yachting-shoes, and a -Panama of the finest weave. The lower part of his face was concealed -by heavy moustaches and a thick blond beard, but the skin above his -cheek-bones was smooth as a woman's. His eyes were of a blue I have -never seen before nor since: dark and sparkling when his humor was -good--in anger, glittering with the cold glare of ice. In some subtle -way the eyes reflected the man's whole personality, at once virile, -magnetic, daring, unscrupulous, and cruel. But I was young and his -cordial manner disarmed me; for the time, my eyes were not open to the -evil in our rescuer. He smiled and stretched out a hand to me--an -enormous hand with fingers like so many bananas. - -"Well, young man," he said, his deep voice and the order of his words -carrying a foreign hint, "from where are you come? In that direction, -South America is the nearest land!" - -I had asked for water as I stepped aboard, and now a black man with a -great shock of hair came aft to hand me a pitcher and a glass. The -captain watched me, smiling behind his beard as I drank the water to -the last drop. Finally I set down the glass. - -"Excuse me, sir," I said, "I was very thirsty! It was lucky for us -that you happened to pick us up. We went fishing this morning and our -canoe was swamped in a squall. Afterward, when the clouds passed, the -land was out of sight, and we've been paddling ever since." He glanced -down at a chart unrolled before him on the cockpit floor. - -"From Iriatai you are come, then," he remarked. "That is strange, for -the island is marked as uninhabited. Well, it is not far out of my -course--I am bound for Mangareva to load shell." - -His courteous manner and lack of curiosity made me feel that it would -be boorish to be reticent. I had no suspicion that he was feeling me -out for information. And my uncle had nothing to conceal. - -"My name is Selden," I told him, "and I have been on the island several -mouths. My uncle, Henry Selden, has leased Iriatai from the Government -and planted coconuts. Last year he discovered a patch of shell in the -lagoon, and the French have granted him a season's diving-rights." - -I was going to say more, but a sudden sound interrupted my words. The -ship's bell rang out two sharp and measured beats, paused, and sounded -twice again. It was six o'clock. The watch was changing, and at a -word from the captain the tall mate came aft to take the wheel. - -"Keep a man aloft," the skipper said. "It grows dark, but within half -an hour you will raise the land." He turned to me. "Come below," he -suggested, "you will be hungry after your day at sea. When we have -dined, I shall be interested to hear more of your island." - -He followed me down to the saloon, where the table was set with shining -glass and porcelain. A young woman rose as we appeared, a slender, -graceful girl, with sullen eyes and a great bruise disfiguring one pale -brown cheek. She wore a loose gown of scarlet silk; crescents of gold -were in her ears; and her dark hair, dressed in a single braid thick as -a man's arm, hung to her knees. I learned afterward that she was a -half-caste from the Carolines. The captain spoke to her and glanced at -me. - -"Madame Schmidt," he said in introduction; and as I took her hand, I -realized suddenly how I must have appeared. It was months since -scissors had touched my hair, which stood on my head like a Fijian's, -tangled and bleached by the sun. My skin was tanned to a sort of -saddle-color, and I was naked save for the torn and faded pareu about -my waist. The captain seemed to divine my thought. - -"Eh, Raita!" he ordered, "get out for our guest some clean clothes. He -will feel more at ease." - -I slipped into a stateroom to put on the garments the woman laid out -for me: an enormous pair of trousers I rolled up at the bottom, and a -coat in which Marama and I could have buttoned ourselves with room to -spare. The meal was served by the captain's body servant, the black, -shock-headed savage I had seen on deck. He was an evil-looking -creature, like some fierce ape masquerading in a sailor's clothes. -Several times during the meal Schmidt gave him orders in an outlandish -jargon I had never heard, and once, when the captain told him to fetch -wine, he asked his master a question in a shrill chatter, grimacing -with his eyebrows like a monkey. The woman ate sullenly, without once -raising her eyes; when she had finished, she rose and left us without a -word. - -It was still daylight outside, but the swinging lamp above the table -was lit, and under its light I had an opportunity to study the features -of my host. I began to change my first opinion of him, for the -scrutiny was not reassuring: the more I looked, the more he puzzled me -and the less I trusted him. When the black man set cups of coffee -before us Schmidt began to question me. How long had we been on -Iriatai? How many divers were at work? Was there plenty of shell? -Was its quality good? Had we been lucky with pearls? But by now I was -on my guard, and returned evasive answers, feigning the stupidity of -weariness--a deception which did not require much acting on my part. A -long-drawn shout from above brought us suddenly to our feet. - -"Land ho!" - -When I came on deck the western sky was glowing with a fiery sunset, -and under the crimson clouds I could make out the long dark line of -Iriatai. Puzzled and vaguely uneasy in my mind, I was leaning on the -rail when my eye fell on a handsome dinghey, slung on davits close to -where I stood. Her stern was toward me, and there, neatly lettered on -the bright varnished wood, I saw the word, "Cholita." So Schmidt's -vessel was called Cholita--a pretty name for a pretty schooner--and -then I remembered with a sudden start. My thoughts flashed back to the -morning when I had paddled out to breakfast with my uncle in Faatemu -Bay--to his account of Thursday Island Schmidt. My uncle's words came -back to me: "His schooner's as pretty as her reputation is black, and -the way he handled her was a treat to watch." - -So this was the Cholita, and I was the guest of the famous Thursday -Island Schmidt! - -I felt a touch on my shoulder, Marama was beside me, a serious -expression on his face. "Listen!" he said in a hurried whisper; "I -must go forward before the captain returns. If we approach the land -to-night, let us slip overboard and swim ashore. Seroni must be -warned, for I think that there is evil afoot. Do you remember Rairi, -the Tara's cook who tried to kill old Pahuri that night on our passage -south? He is aboard--I have seen him, though his face was turned away -from me. He has been ordered to keep out of your sight. This schooner -was bound for Iriatai before she picked us up. The mate, who is a good -man and beginning to fear for himself, has told me as much." - -The captain was approaching with a noiseless step; when I glanced up he -was not four yards off. He halted and looked at Marama in angry -astonishment. "Get forward," he bellowed, in a voice that made the -sailors turn their heads, "_verdammt_ Kanaka cheek!" He turned to me, -the former suavity gone from his manner. "And you," he ordered--"go -below!" - -I obeyed him, choking with anger and a sense of impotence. The -half-caste girl was sitting on the lounge, she had been sewing, but now -her hands were clenched and her work lay where it had dropped to the -floor. There was a look of apprehension in her eyes. When she saw -that I was alone she beckoned me with a swift gesture. - -"Come here, boy--me want talk with you," she whispered in quaint broken -English. "Me hear Schmidt say 'Go below'--he too much bad man! _Guk_! -Me hate him!--Suppose we go near land tonight, me jump overboard, swim -ashore. You come too--we go hide in bush." - -Her fierce eyes blazed as she pointed to the bruise on her cheek. - -"Schmidt do that yesterday," she went on. "Me like kill him, but too -much 'fraid! Before, me think him good man. My father white man--same -you. Me, my mother, live Ponape, Caroline Island. One day Cholita -come--everybody think Schmidt good man--spend plenty money--have good -time. Every day he come my house. By and by he say: 'To-morrow I go -'way; you my friend--give me orange, pig, drinking-coconut. To-night -you bring old woman aboard--we have big _kaikai_.' My mother think he -good man--we go. Schmidt bring us aboard schooner--we eat, play -accordion, have good time. Pretty soon hear noise on deck. My mother -stand up. 'What that?' she say. Then Kwala hold old woman--Schmidt -throw me in stateroom--lock door. Outside reef he throw my mother in -canoe--tell her go ashore. Porthole open--me hear old woman -crying--Guk! Schmidt never let me go ashore. In Tahiti--Noumea--me -'fraid--he say suppose me swim ashore, send police fetch." - -Her quick ear caught the sound of a footstep on deck and she signaled -me hurriedly to move away. Next moment Schmidt came down the -companionway, glancing at the woman sharply. Without a word he -motioned me into the stateroom, slammed the door behind me, and turned -the key. - -I heard Raita's voice raised in protest, and the captain's gruff reply. -Then the companionway creaked under his weight as he went on deck again. - -Until now I had viewed the Cholita and her master in an adventurous -light; but as I lay there in the dark behind a locked door I began to -feel anxious and a little afraid. Little by little, as realization -grows at such a time, I put together the scattered recollections in my -mind: what my uncle had said of Schmidt; the half-caste girl's story; -the presence aboard the Cholita of Rairi, our former cook; the old -letter, telling of the gold-lipped shell in Iriatai lagoon; Rairi's -stealthy visit to the Tara after his discharge; Schmidt's treatment of -me; Marama's words, and the brutal stopping of our conversation. There -was small room for doubt--each detail fitted perfectly into the story -taking form in my mind. - -While the schooner lay alongside the Papeete wharf (I thought), -discharging the load of shell of which my uncle had spoken, Rairi must -have made the acquaintance of Schmidt. Our one-time cook had looked -through the papers snatched up in hope of doing my uncle an injury, and -had come upon Turia's letter, written to her son. It was a chance in a -thousand, but how was Rairi to make use of it? Then, meeting Schmidt -and knowing something of his character from gossip along the -waterfront, the vengeful Paumotan must have seen his opportunity. A -few cautious questions to feel out his man, increasing confidence, the -final disclosure of Turia's old letter--and the compact made. It would -be a daring bit of robbery in these modern days; I wondered how Schmidt -could hope to keep out of trouble in the long run. He might scuttle -the Tara, of course, and leave us marooned on Iriatai, but our -whereabouts was known to many people, and before many months had passed -someone was bound to set out with a schooner to see what had become of -us. But he was a resourceful scoundrel, from all I had heard; he must -have weighed his chances before embarking on such a piece of barefaced -piracy. And robbery was the Cholita's errand. I knew it now as surely -as if Schmidt had disclosed his plans to me. - -As I lay there in the berth, tired and frightened, I began to blame -myself for not having played a more cunning game. Now that my chance -had gone, I saw that I might have played the part of a talkative and -unsuspecting lad, answered Schmidt's questions freely, and perhaps have -kept my liberty until we drew near the land. Then I might have gone -overboard in the darkness, made my way to my uncle and given him -warning of the Cholita's approach. Now it was too late. They would -take the Tara by surprise. There might be bloodshed. A terrible -thought flashed into my mind--Uncle Harry stretched out on his -schooner's deck-- - -I sat up in the berth, clenching my hands. I had no dearer friend in -the world. But at last excitement and weariness overcame my anxious -thoughts, and I fell into a dreamless sleep. - -When I awoke the morning sun was shining through my porthole, and -looking out, I saw that we lay close to the beach, just inside the pass -of Iriatai. A noise of thumping and scrubbing overhead told me that -the decks were being washed down. We were at anchor, I knew, for the -schooner lay motionless, though the current at this place was strong. -An hour passed and as I craned my neck out the port I saw the Cholita's -dinghey approaching us from the north. The handsome little boat drew -near and I saw Rairi in the stern, a Winchester across his knees and a -bandolier of cartridges over one shoulder. Schmidt's shock-headed -black was at the oars and at his feet a man lay in the bottom of the -dinghey--an elderly native, bound hand and foot, his gray head matted -with blood and unsheltered from the sun. It was Pahuri--I knew with a -sudden breathlessness that they had taken the Tara and that Rairi was -enjoying a savage's revenge. - -The dinghey passed out of my sight around the schooner's stern. I -heard the thump of a body flung down roughly on the after deck, Rairi's -voice raised in a sharp command, and the creak of the davit-blocks as -the boat was hoisted to the rail. Then, for a long time, all was -quiet. Rairi had gone below for a rest and a nap, leaving the black on -guard, for most of the crew were new men whom neither Rairi nor Schmidt -would trust too far. Finally the silence was broken by a weak -voice--old Pahuri begging monotonously for water. Heavy steps came aft -over my head and I heard the mate order the black man to give water to -his prisoner. But the savage chattered a refusal in his own uncouth -tongue; he had a rifle and he was under orders from Rairi, so Tua -strode forward angrily, muttering to himself. Then suddenly I heard a -rapid whispering at the keyhole of my door. It was Raita. - -"Eh, boy!" she said, "listen--you asleep?" - -"No," I whispered back. - -"Last night," she went on, "Schmidt take your schooner--Rairi bring -back old man he no like. I sorry that man--head hurt--too much blood. -Rairi leave him in sun--no give water. Schmidt stop aboard your -schooner--suppose wind come up, Cholita go there. Native boy, your -friend, swim ashore last night. Me think go too, then think no--me -stop aboard, maybe help you. Ah--me hear Rairi--me go!" - -I heard her move away, quickly and softly, from the door. Her words -added little to my anxiety, for Pahuri's presence told me that Schmidt -had captured the Tara, but the thought of my uncle tortured me: Where -was he--captured, wounded, perhaps dead? I glanced out the porthole. -The palms were swaying to the first of the trade wind, heralded by long -blue streaks outside the pass. Presently there were sounds of activity -on deck; shouting and creaking of blocks as they hoisted the foresail, -the deep-voiced chant of the sailors at the windlass. Then, heeling a -little to the freshening breeze, the Cholita filled away on the port -tack, turned to leeward as she gathered way, and slacked off for the -long run across the lagoon. - -When we drew near the islet, toward midday, I saw that the Tara's -anchorage had been changed: she was lying fully a quarter of a mile off -shore. Eight bells struck as we rounded into the wind beside her; I -heard the anchor plunge overboard and the prolonged rattle of the -chain. Then the bellowing voice of Schmidt hailed us, shouting orders -and instructions. A moment later the key turned in the lock of my door -and Rairi entered to grasp me by the arm. - -"Come," he said roughly, "Schmidt want you aboard Tara!" - -He half dragged me up the companionway and across the deck, where I had -a glimpse of our engineer lying bound in the sun, his gray hair clotted -with blood. Rairi motioned me into the dinghey alongside, sprang in -after me and signed to the oarsman to pull us across to the Tara. -Schmidt was standing by the rail. - -"Where's the Kanaka boy?" he asked. - -"Swim ashore last night; maybe shark take him--no matter." - -"Let him go--no harm can he do us. Wait for me." - -I clambered over the rail in obedience to Schmidt's gesture, and he -followed me below. My uncle's stateroom was open and in great -disorder. We halted opposite the door of my own cabin. The German -drew from his belt a heavy Colt's revolver, cocked it, unlocked the -door quickly, and pushed me inside. As I stood there, dazzled by the -bright light of the porthole, I heard the key turn behind me, and then -my uncle's quizzical voice. - -"Well, old fellow," he remarked, "it's good to see you safe and sound. -We seem a bit down on our luck, eh?" - -He was lying in my berth, quietly puffing one of his long, thin cigars. - - - - -XI - -PIRACY - -For a moment I was overcome by astonishment and relief; my mouth half -opened and tears came into my eyes. My uncle stretched out his hand. - -"Cheer up!" he said, smiling at my long face. "We're not beaten yet! -Before I tell you my side of the yarn, let's hear how our friend -Thursday Island happened to pick you up." - -Speaking in a low voice, I told him of our fishing, of the squall, how -the canoe was swamped, how we had baled her, and how Schmidt had picked -us up. His only comment was a soft whistle when I spoke of how I had -nearly drowned before the sea went down. Then I told him of the -Cholita: her captain, the half-caste girl, Rairi, and the story I had -pieced together. As I finished, Uncle Harry nodded his head. - -"That's it," he remarked--"not a doubt! That scoundrel Rairi--I wish -I'd handed him over to the authorities as I was tempted to do! I wish -also that I hadn't built my stateroom doors so well; they're solid oak, -an inch and a half thick, with hinges and locks to match! And Schmidt -took care to clear away everything movable: even the water-bottle's -gone! But I must tell you about last night. - -"You know the family next door to Maruia's house--their baby died -yesterday, and when dinner was over I gave the men permission to go -ashore for the singing. It was careless, of course, but we've never -stood an anchor watch since we've been here. Pahuri stopped aboard--he -was asleep up forward--and I was in a pareu, working on my ledger. I -keep the books in the safe, you know, and the door of the safe, like -the stateroom door, was open. At about eleven o'clock I heard a boat -bump softly against the Tara's side, but Fatu was due to bring the men -aboard and I paid no attention to the sound. I glanced up from my work -a moment later, and there was Mr. Thursday Island Schmidt in the -doorway, with a big revolver cocked and aimed at my chest. He -requested me, very politely, to hold up my hands and keep them there, -and as my own gun was in a drawer behind me, I could see no way of -refusing him! - -"The only men with Schmidt, I believe, were Rairi and some sort of -outlandish nigger. All I saw of the black man was a glimpse of his -fuzzy head outside the door, but Schmidt still keeping me covered, -ordered Rairi in to go through the contents of the safe. He wanted to -get me out of the way, but he saw that the safe was open and he was too -wise to turn his back on his partner, even for a moment. He's a cheeky -devil, Rairi: he gave me a sour grin that must have done him good. -First he pulled out the little drawer where I keep my loose money for -emergencies--about a thousand dollars in gold. He laid it on the -table, and as Schmidt glanced down I was tempted to have a go at him. -But I knew his reputation, and I knew that Rairi was aching for a -chance at me. At that moment, when I was half decided to try to knock -Schmidt out, I was distracted by a glimpse of something that escaped -him altogether. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rairi's hand shoot -out suddenly behind his back and come up to his waist, where he seemed -to fumble for an instant with the tuck of his pareu. I looked more -closely--one of the small round tobacco-tins was missing from the row -on the shelf! Rairi stooped down as though he had just perceived them, -gathered the little boxes in a double handful, and stepped across the -room to lay them on the table beside the drawer of gold. 'Pearls, -perhaps,' he said. - -"Schmidt showed signs of interest at that. He ordered Rairi to open -them, and gave each lot a glance, one after the other, but he never -relaxed his watch on me. Thursday Island is not a man to trifle -with--he's proved that over and over again! 'A nice lot of pearls, Mr. -Selden,' he observed, grinning behind his beard; 'there will be a -sensation on Tahiti when they learn that the gold-lipped shell has been -acclimatized. The Government will owe you a debt for the discovery.' - -"I'd been keeping an eye on the pearls and when the last tin was opened -I saw that the Twins were missing: by the purest chance, Rairi's -thieving hand had landed on their box. I was on the point of telling -Schmidt that the pearls he had seen were not bad, but that the finest -of the lot were in the tuck of his partner's waistband. I don't know -why I didn't speak,--they might have had a row which would have given -me my chance--but for some reason I kept my mouth shut. When Rairi had -made a bundle of my papers and made sure that there was nothing else of -value in the safe, Schmidt told him to clear all the loose stuff out of -the stateroom across the way. Then he invited me to make myself at -home here until his business was done. He spent some time in assuring -himself that the door and lock were strong. 'It may ease your mind,' -he said, polite as a dancing-master, 'to know that your nephew is safe; -I picked him up yesterday at sea; he'll join you presently.' - -"They must have overlooked Pahuri when they first came aboard. As the -German left my door I heard a racket up forward: that half-caste, -mauling the old man in a way that made me see red. I was fool enough -to try to break down the door until Schmidt bellowed out something that -stopped the noise." - -My uncle held up his hands to show me the knuckles, bruised and clotted -with blood. - -"The noise must have given the alarm to Fatu," he went on, "for a few -minutes afterward he put off with Ivi and Ofai in the boat. The -current had swung the Tara around so that I could see what followed out -of the porthole. Schmidt heard them launching the boat and called his -men. He had a powerful electric torch and when he flashed it toward -the land I saw my boys taking their places at the oars, Fatu in the -stern, and ten or a dozen divers on the beach. Schmidt growled out an -order to his partner and I heard Rairi's voice raised to warn the boat -away. But our men paid no attention; the light showed them making for -the Tara at top speed. - -"'Let them have it, then!' bawled Thursday Island. I heard two rifles -crack, the snap and click of the levers, and two more quick shots. Ivi -dropped his oar and sank down on the grating with a hand to his -shoulder. Fatu sprang to his feet, snatched up the oar, and took the -wounded man's place, to pull straight for the schooner. Rairi and the -nigger would have slaughtered them like sheep, but they held their fire -when I shouted through the porthole, telling my men to go back; that a -strange schooner was in the lagoon, that her skipper had made me -prisoner, and that they had best leave the affair in my hands. There -isn't a gun of any sort ashore and I don't want to be rescued at the -cost of half a dozen lives! Well, they obeyed me and went ashore. The -sound of the shooting roused the whole camp--things have been humming -ever since. Perhaps Fatu has some scheme for setting me free; Schmidt -seems to think so at any rate, for he and his men went to work on the -windlass, got the anchor off the bottom, and allowed the Tara to drift -offshore with the current before they anchored her again. As for the -fix we're in, the worst that can happen is that we'll lose our pearls. -I doubt if even Schmidt has the audacity to load a hundred tons of -shell under the noses of the men ashore--I wonder if he would dare? -What sort of crew has he--many men he can trust for this sort of -villainy?" - -I said that I believed most of Schmidt's men were newly shipped, that -aside from Rairi and the black they seemed an average lot of natives, -not particularly bad. From Marama's words and what I had seen of the -man himself, I judged that Tua, the mate, was a first-class fellow, -beginning to feel qualms about the company in which he found himself. - -"Tua," remarked Uncle Harry, musingly, "Tua--that's not a common name! -Did he ship in Papeete? He isn't by any chance a youngish chap, rather -light brown and more than six feet tall? That's the man? By Jove! -I'd like fifteen minutes alone with him--he's Maruia's foster son!" - -A sound of voices put an end to our talk. Schmidt and the black man -had come across in the dinghey and were making her fast alongside. -Raita was with them, for I heard the captain order her roughly to climb -aboard. There was a step on the deck overhead; a sound made me look up -and I saw that a basket of food had been lowered to our porthole. -Schmidt hailed us. - -"I am sorry, Mr. Selden," he said, "that your lunch comes late. For -me, these are busy days!" He spoke with a kind of cool politeness he -had not troubled to affect toward me. I never heard any man speak -rudely to my uncle; even now, while he lay helpless to resent an -injury, Schmidt chose to address him courteously. Water was to be had -at the tap, and we ate with good appetites while Schmidt conversed with -my uncle through the stateroom door. He had come below for a yarn, he -said, and he seemed in a communicative mood. - -"My friend Rairi," he began abruptly, "does not love that old man of -yours. Last night, when he tied his hands, he hurt him more than I -thought necessary--I believed that he was taking him back to the -schooner that he might bind up his wounds. To-day I found that old man -delirious in the sun, and I was forced to speak plainly. Ach! A -savage--I have had more than enough of the native--It would be good if -business did not deprive me of your company." - -"See here, Schmidt," remarked my uncle good-naturedly, "do you realize -that this business of yours is apt to deprive you of all company except -your own, for a good many years to come? You have brains, man--use -them! So far, you've played your cards well: we'll grant that you are -able to get away from Iriatai with the pearls. You know pearls. I'll -be frank: they're worth forty or fifty thousand at least. But think of -the future--you can't do this sort of thing nowadays. Matters were -different twenty years ago. Sooner or later this affair will be the -talk of the Pacific. Think of the wireless, man--they'll be looking -for you in every port in the world! Don't mistake me,--I'm not telling -you this for your own good,--but the lawyers have a very unkind name -for what you are doing. Think it over, Schmidt. If you're wise, -you'll return what you've taken and clear out of Iriatai. As a matter -of fact I rather admire your nerve. If you'll turn over Rairi to me, -I'll let the matter drop at that." - -The answer to my uncle's words was a rumbling chuckle; I could fancy -the ironical glint in the German's cold blue eyes. "A handsome offer," -he said mockingly. "You are more than kind! Since you are good enough -to be frank, I will be frank as well. As for thinking, mine was done -long ago. I do not fear all the warships and all the wireless in the -world! There can be no harm in telling you, for that matter; in -estimating my chances of escape, you can amuse yourself for the next -day or two. - -"This morning I took my glasses and had a look ashore. A nice stack of -shell you have made ready for me, under the shed! That I must have. -If there is trouble in loading it and any of your men are hurt, they -will have themselves to blame. Bloodshed I do not like: it is always -foolishness! Without an axe you will not break out of your stateroom. -Matches I have left you and you could set fire to the schooner, but -that would be for you unpleasant and would only save me trouble in the -end. If you should succeed in breaking out, always there will be one -of my men to deal with. Kwala, the black, is a Malaita boy--not a man -to trifle with. And Rairi I do not trust overmuch myself; he is a -primitive, and he bears you an old grudge. I was nervous last night -when he brought me in through the pass; did you know that long ago he -lived on this island? Yes--his mother was one of the savage women -deported by the French. So you see, I put you out of my mind." - -"Well," said my uncle in an amused voice, "suppose you do load the -shell and get away from Iriatai. Can't you see that your troubles -would only be beginning then?" - -"Ach, Mr. Selden," said Schmidt with reproachful irony, "you do me -injustice! Remember, please, I am a man of resource. There can be no -harm in it: I shall open my heart to you and tell the truth--what my -vulgar Australian friends used to call, in their picturesque way, the -'straight griffin,' or the 'dinkum oil.' First of all, much though I -regret, I must scuttle your pretty Tara. When I am ready to leave and -the holes are bored, the key will be given you through the porthole in -time, that you may swim to land before the schooner goes down. Your -boats I shall tow to sea with me. I hope you are not foolhardy enough -to venture to sea in the native canoe. Many months will pass before -information can be laid against me. One chance I take--that a schooner -might put in here soon after I leave; but that chance is small. Like -your schooner, the Cholita is of French registry now; on paper, my -mate, Tua, is her captain; I am cleared for the Paumotus, to pick up -copra and shell. What shall I do? The simple thing, which all my life -I have found the wisest: go straight to Tahiti, sell my cargo to the -highest bidder, and clear once more for the Paumotus within a week. As -for the gold-lipped shell, there will be a hint of a discovery in a -remote lagoon; I can see now the wise ones among the traders hastening -to a place five hundred miles from Iriatai! My men may talk, but two -things will close their mouths, I think--love of money and fear of me. -Clear of Tahiti, my beard and my schooner's topmasts will come off; she -will have a new name and a new set of papers. At filling them out, I -am clever--you would be surprised! Then, one fine day, long before -they have come to look for you on Iriatai, a strange schooner will put -into a far-away port, South America, perhaps, or among the Dutch East -Indies--Ach--who knows? There is a Chinaman in Gillolo who would -gladly take the schooner off my hands. It is a sad thing to grow old, -my friend; I am tired of the Pacific and of this wandering life. Much -is forgotten in twenty years; it is my dream to settle quietly in the -German village where I was born--But you must excuse me--I hear my good -Rairi calling!" - -I heard Rairi's voice and the sound of Schmidt's footsteps as he -climbed on deck. Then all was silent for an hour or more, while my -uncle and I spoke in low tones of our predicament. Suddenly there was -a whispering at our door--the voice of Raita. the half-caste girl. - -"Eh, boy," she said rapidly, "you hear me? No talk loud--Kwala, that -black man, on deck! Schmidt, Rairi, they go aboard Cholita. You got -_kaikai_--got water? Good--me 'fraid you hungry. Listen: Raita tell -you what they do. Schmidt go Cholita tell that mate, Tua, go ashore. -Tua tell people on island stop in bush to-morrow; suppose they come on -beach, they get shot! When Tua come back, Schmidt, Rairi come aboard -this schooner sleep. Keep pearls here. When dark, maybe me swim -ashore hide in bush." - -"Raita," I called softly, as a sudden idea came to me, "wait by the -door for a minute. I want to speak to you when I've talked with my -uncle." - -I climbed into the upper berth and squeezed my head and shoulders -through the porthole. It was as I thought; no man could have passed -through such a narrow aperture, but the feat was possible for a slender -boy. "Listen, Uncle Harry," I whispered as I climbed down to his side, -"you heard what that woman said; now see what you think of the plan I -have in mind. Schmidt has sent Tua ashore to warn the people to keep -away from the beach while he loads our shell. Tua, you say, is -Maruia's foster son, and I feel sure that he and most of the crew are -uneasy in their minds. This is my plan: we can see the shore from our -porthole, and if, by the time it is dark, Tua has not returned to the -Cholita, I will wriggle through the port and swim ashore. It will be -easy, I think, to explain the situation to Tua and to our divers. Tua -can go off to the Cholita and tell his crew what kind of venture they -are engaged in. Once they understand, I'm sure there won't be a hand -raised to help Schmidt to-night. Then, in the darkness after the moon -has set, I'll swim off quietly with Fatu, Ofai, and a few of the -divers, climb aboard and take the Tara by surprise. Once we have -Schmidt and his two followers, there'll be no trouble with the others, -I think. We must decide quickly--let me try!" - -For a moment, while I waited in suspense, my uncle puffed meditatively -at his cigar. His eyes were half closed and he seemed scarcely to have -heard what I had said. Suddenly, with a shrug of his shoulders, he -spoke. - -"Very well, Charlie--see what you can do. But take care of yourself. -Remember that I'd rather lose the Tara and all the shell than have -anything happen to you! It's the devil to have to sit here helpless -while those scoundrels sail away with our property. I was beginning to -believe they held the winning cards! You've a level head, old man; -this plan of yours has a chance of working out, I should say. Can you -really squeeze through that porthole? By Jove! I'd give something to -have the laugh on our friend Herr Schmidt!" - -Before he had finished I was at the door. "Raita!" I whispered; and -when I heard her answering voice, I told her that I planned to escape -through the porthole and swim ashore. Knowing her hatred of Schmidt, I -confided the fact that we were going to attack the schooner that night, -and begged her to leave a rope's end hanging over the stern. The girl -was all eager excitement. The blood of a fierce and vengeful people -ran in her veins. - -"Guk!" she exclaimed. "Maybe you kill Schmidt, eh? Me too much happy! -Stop aboard now. That other man--tell him when plenty dark me get axe -from galley. He watch porthole, eh? Suppose you come aboard--he break -door, go help kill Schmidt! Guk! Me like see that!" - -"It's lucky you made friends with her," remarked my uncle quizzically, -when Raita was gone; "I should dislike to have that young lady for an -enemy! Well, if she doesn't forget that axe, I'll do my best to -entertain her!" - - - - -XII - -"BOARDERS!" - -The sun went down that night behind banks of crimson clouds, which grew -black as twilight gave place to darkness and blotted out the young moon -sinking in the west. The evening was calm, but the night promised to -be a stormy one. The Tara still lay broadside to the beach and a close -watch informed us that Tua had not left the islet. My time had come. - -Our chief concern was to make no sound which might give the alarm to -the sharp ears of the savage on watch. Pulling together the curtains -of the lower berth and muffling the operation in blankets to avoid the -slightest noise, we tore a sheet into strips and braided a length of -clumsy cord. Then in the upper berth my uncle knotted our rope to one -of my ankles, and very gently and cautiously I began to squirm my way -out through the porthole. It was a tighter fit than I had supposed; -after a twist or two it seemed to me that I could neither move forward -nor go back. I was naked save for a pair of swimming trunks, and -several square inches of my skin remained on the porthole's sharp brass -rim, but at last I was through, hanging by one leg with my head and -arms in the water. Knowing that the least splash would bring Kwala -instantly to the side, my uncle lowered me little by little into the -lagoon, until I lay motionless in the black water and the end of the -cord fell into my outstretched hand. I undid the knot, heard Uncle -Harry's faintly breathed "Good luck!" and dove without a sound. It was -not yet fully dark and I feared that the black man's eyes might discern -my head in the reflections of the sunset. Thirty yards nearer the -shore I rose to the surface and expelled the breath gently from my -lungs. All was quiet aboard the Tara. I had neither been seen nor -heard. - -I landed under an overhanging thicket of hibiscus, in a little cove -where Marama and I kept our canoe hauled up. There were no lights in -the doorways that I passed, but when I came to Maruia's house I found -the population of the islet assembled there, women and children outside -and the divers in the house, surrounding Maruia and Schmidt's mate who -sat in earnest conversation on the floor. The light of a lamp shone on -the pair and I saw that Tua's face wore an expression of dejection and -perplexity. A murmur of astonishment went up as I arrived, and indeed -I must have presented a strange appearance--wet, nearly naked, bleeding -in a dozen places. Maruia rose and put an arm about me, patting my -bare shoulder softly. - -"Ah, Tehare," she said, "you have escaped from that wicked man--that is -good. And Seroni, your uncle?" I told her how we had been imprisoned -in the stateroom, and how I had escaped through the porthole, too small -for the broader shoulders of a man. Then I asked for news of Marama. - -"He is here," she answered, leading me to her bed, screened off with -mats in a corner of the spacious room; "see, he sleeps, and we must not -wake him. He followed the western shore on foot, hastening to warn -Seroni, but when he came here it was too late. His feet are cut to -ribbons by the coral and the sun has given him a fever; I have bandaged -his wounds and brewed a tea of herbs. But come--there are other things -of which we must speak." She led me back through the crowd and pointed -to Tua. - -"This man is my foster son," she said, "a good man, but he serves an -evil master. He brings us a message from that German that we must go -to the far end of the islet while our shell and Seroni's is carried -away. Tua is greatly troubled in his mind. He has signed papers and -the white man's laws are strict. Furthermore those men are fierce and -wary; they are armed with rifles, while we have none. What are we to -do?" - -I turned to the mate. "Saving Schmidt and the black and Rairi," I -asked him, "are the others of the Cholita's crew good men?" - -"I know them all," he replied, "and they are like others of their kind, -neither good nor bad. But like me, they are in fear of Schmidt and of -the white man's prison." - -"Listen, then," I went on, "and I will show you how to act the part of -honest men. Schmidt is indeed an evil captain and to stand by him -means prison in the end. My own ears have heard him say that after he -has stolen our pearls and our shell he plans to sell the schooner and -leave you deserted and friendless in a foreign land. Take warning, -therefore, while there is time. You have heard of Seroni--Maruia will -tell you whether he or Schmidt is the more to be trusted. Give heed to -my words, then. Schmidt and that dog Rairi await your coming on the -Cholita. Go to them now and tell them that you have delivered their -message; that the people will obey, being unarmed and in fear of the -rifles. In a little while those two men will go to the Tara, where -they will sleep this night. Once they are gone, arouse the crew softly -without showing lights, and talk to them in the forecastle, telling -them what I have said. Remember that you on the Cholita need run no -risks: only lie quietly if there are noises from the other schooner. -In the morning the Tara will be ours and those three men our prisoners. -Seroni will see to it that no man of you is wrongly accused. The truth -is that the Government will praise you for having refused to aid a -captain who is no better than a robber. Think of old Pahuri, whose -blood is on your decks--is that the work of honest men?" - -"Aye, and this!" A deep voice rang out as Fatu rose from the dark -corner where he had been lying, and pointed downward with a gigantic -outstretched arm. Then for the first time I saw Ivi, grinning at me -over a shoulder done up in blood-soaked rags. "It is well said that -Rairi is a dog," Fatu went on. "If I had my hands on his throat once -more, I would not let go so soon!" An angry murmur went up from the -divers; I perceived that the moment was ripe for my proposal. - -"Who will come with me this night," I asked--"who will follow Fatu to -capture the Tara and to set Seroni free?" Ofai sprang from his seat at -Ivi's side. The divers crowded about me eagerly to hear my plan. - -"We shall need only six or seven of the strongest," I told them. "Let -us give Tua time to return and deliver his message, and then, when -Rairi and the bearded captain have gone back to the Tara to sleep we -will swim out without noise, climb softly on deck, and take them by -surprise. Only one man will be on watch; Seroni waits our coming to -break down the door with an axe that will be given him." - -While I lay on a mat, discussing our plan with Maruia and the others, -Tua took leave of us. I felt a reasonable confidence that he would -play his part and keep his men from interfering on behalf of Schmidt. -Maruia's blood was up; she was keen to go with us and it was not easy -to persuade her to stay behind. An hour dragged -by--another--another--it was nearly midnight when I gave the word to -set out. Each man was naked save for a breechclout; our bodies were -well rubbed with coconut oil, and we carried the long keen knives used -for clearing bush. - -The moon had set long since, and black clouds blotted out the stars. A -stir of air from the south caused the palms to rustle and sigh -uneasily. We were in for a squall. I saw that unless the wind grew -strong enough to rouse the sleepers on the Tara, the weather was in our -favor: the squall would put the watcher off his guard and drown the -slight noises of our approach. Presently the wind was sweeping in -gusts across the lagoon, driving a fine rain into our faces. The -schooner must be facing the south, with her stern toward shore. - -"I think there will be a line astern," I told the men crouching beside -me under the dripping hibiscus trees, "and Fatu and I will go aboard -that way. You others must swim to the bow without a sound and climb up -by the chain or by the jib-boom stay. We will allow you time to get -aboard. Wait by the forecastle till you hear the alarm given and then -come aft to take them by surprise. As I told you, there will be only -one man on watch, and Fatu alone can handle him. We must not use our -knives unless they drive us to it. Come--it is time we set out--this -squall will drown the noise of our approach." - -"Yes," put in Fatu, whose closest friend was Pahuri, the old engineer, -"let us go quickly! My hands yearn for the feel of Rairi's throat!" - -I led the way into the water, deeper and deeper, till we were swimming -in the black lagoon. We seemed an hour in reaching the Tara, anchored -no more than four hundred yards offshore. The little waves slapped -against my face and the rain stung my eyes. At last, when I was -wondering if we had taken the wrong direction, the clouds broke and the -stars shone out, disclosing the dim outlines of the Tara close ahead -and Schmidt's schooner, riding at anchor a hundred yards away. At that -moment a man appeared on deck,--whether Schmidt or Rairi I could not -make out,--carrying a lantern in his hand. He made the lantern fast to -the main boom and left it hanging there. Then he drew a deck-chair -into the circle of faint light, and sat down, facing the schooner's bow. - -With Fatu close behind, I swam under the overhang of the stern, and -next moment my hand touched a heavy rope, trailing overboard from the -rail. The half-caste girl had kept her word. The others were -clustering about us, and as the wind was still strong I ventured to -whisper fresh instructions there in the schooner's lee. "The rope is -here," I told them softly; "do not hurry about getting aboard. Give -that man time to settle down quietly in his chair. Be ready to come -running aft in five minutes." - -I had not reckoned on Fatu's impatience, nor on the native vagueness -about time. My companion was roused as I had never seen him before. -For a little while, with the greatest difficulty, I restrained his -eagerness, but finally he shook my hand off his shoulder and began to -pull his huge body up the rope, hand over hand. I followed: there was -nothing else to do. The wind was still blowing strongly from the south. - -Fatu reached the rail in an instant, heaved himself aboard with uncanny -agility, and dropped to the deck without a sound. I was desperately -slow in following, for I was tired and chilled, and my arms were not -trained to sailors' work. When at last my head rose above the rail, I -saw that the giant was stealing toward the unconscious man in the -deck-chair, creeping forward with a stealthy swiftness in the shadow of -the binnacle. The lantern, flickering in gusts of wind, cast a dim -yellow light on the scene. Then my hand slipped on the wet rail, and I -fell thumping to the deck. - -I was on my feet in an instant, but the man in the chair was quicker -still. It was Schmidt, and his senses must have been keen as those of -a savage, for his eye was on me before I had taken a step, and the -rifle came to his shoulder with a snap. In the same instant Fatu -leaped at him from behind the binnacle, springing like a monstrous -cat--but the spring was a breath too late. I saw a bright tongue of -flame, heard a crashing report, and felt a great blow on my leg--a -shock that spun my body about and sent me sprawling to the deck. I lay -there sick and numb, yet keenly alive to every detail of the scene that -followed: a swift drama stamped indelibly on my memory. - -Fatu seized the rifle with a single mighty wrench, tore it from -Schmidt's hands and sent it flying overboard, then his arms closed -about the German's body. Schmidt was a very strong and active man. -His foot went out behind the leg of his antagonist; he twisted his body -with the movement of a skilled wrestler, and the pair came crashing to -the deck. But Fatu's grip never relaxed and I knew that in the hug of -those mighty arms Schmidt's moments of consciousness were numbered. He -seemed to realize it too, and his right hand, free from the elbow down, -began to move painfully toward the holster at his belt, where I saw the -gleam of an ivory pistol-butt. Then I heard my uncle's axe thundering -at the stateroom door, and the shouts of the divers, climbing over the -bows. - -I raised my eyes, hoping to see the natives running aft. I glanced -back at the wrestlers and saw Raita there beside them--a slender, -crouching figure in white, her face framed in waves of dusky hair. She -had drawn Schmidt's revolver in the nick of time, and held it cocked in -her hand. - -But Kwala, the black savage, who must have been sleeping on the forward -hatch, still had a part to play. In the second while Raita crouched -there, fiercely seeking her chance to kill, there was another streak of -flame, and the report of another rifle-shot. The girl sank down on the -deck. I saw the shock-headed savage blinking in the lamplight while a -wisp of smoke eddied from the muzzle of his Winchester. Then, with -fierce shouts and a rush of bare feet on deck, the divers were on him, -and he went down in a smother of brown arms and legs. - -For an instant, Raita lay where she had fallen, but though she was -dying, hatred of the German gave strength for the last act of her life. -"Guk!" I heard her exclaim with a weak fierceness, as her hand went out -to take up the pistol a second time. By chance it had not gone off -when she had dropped it. With a wavering hand she aimed it at -Schmidt's temple and pulled the trigger. A third shot rang out above -the tumult--Schmidt's body quivered and relaxed--Fatu rose slowly to -his feet. - -Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man standing at the companionway. -It was Rairi, an expression of angry astonishment on his handsome, -sullen face. - -He glanced swiftly about him, seemed to arrive at a decision, and -bounded across the deck. Before I could cry out, he was over the rail -and into the lagoon. - -The appearance of my uncle, dressed in a scarlet waistcloth and -brandishing an axe, smothered the shout on my lips. - -"Eh, Fatu!" he cried, as his eye fell on the gigantic figure of the -mate. "Have you got them safe? Where's Charlie?" - -"Here!" I said in a weak voice, and next moment he was bending over me. -"Schmidt shot me in the leg. He's dead, I think, and so is that poor -girl. Ofai and the divers have the black man--look--they're tying him -now! And Rairi--he dove over the side a second before you came on -deck! Quick! Send someone after him!" - -At my words Fatu sprang away to lower a boat. When my uncle had made -sure that Schmidt and the woman were dead and that the black was safely -bound, he took me in his arms and carried me below to dress my wound. -He laid me on the lounge in the saloon, turned up the lamp and bent -over my wounded leg, his face wearing an expression I had never seen. -Then he straightened his back with a great sigh of relief. - -"Well, old fellow," he said, patting my bare shoulder, "you've given me -a scare! But you're not badly hurt: the bullet has passed through the -muscle of your thigh without touching the bone. Hurts like the deuce, -eh? That won't last long--we'll have you on foot within a month!" - -He made me drink a glass of brandy, the first I had tasted: burning -stuff that made me cough and ran through my veins like fire. I was -weak from loss of blood, and when he had staunched the bleeding and -bandaged the wound with wet compresses, I fell into an uneasy sleep. - -It was later that I was told of the happenings of that night: how one -of the divers swam ashore to tell the people that Seroni was free; how -a great fire was built on the beach and a fleet of canoes put off to -swarm about the Tara; and how her decks were crowded with brown men and -their women and children, all eager to shake my uncle's hand. It was a -night of rejoicing. A fire was built in the galley to brew huge pots -of tea, and cases of bully beef and ship biscuit were opened on deck. - -The morning found me feverish and in pain with the stiffening of my -wound. Old Maruia had installed herself in my stateroom. The season -was over, she declared; she had earned enough for one year, and now she -was going to nurse me till I was well. I was eating the gruel she had -prepared, when I looked up and saw my uncle standing in the splintered -doorway, a long cigar in his mouth. - -"It's tough luck to be laid up this way!" he remarked, "Hurts, eh? It -will for a few days. But you've a first-class nurse; I reckon she'll -have you in a steamer-chair inside of a fortnight! I didn't know how -many friends you had ashore--the whole lot of them were asking after -you last night--Eh, Maruia, don't let him move that leg! - -"About Rairi," he went on--"he got clean away. A Paumotu boy in the -water on a dark night is a hard proposition to catch! We don't know -which way he swam, of course; we'll search the two islands on the east -side of the lagoon to-day. I'm leaving now; the boats will follow -along the beach to the pass and meet us there to-night. With fifteen -men we'll be able to comb the bush so that a dog couldn't pass us! If -we don't get him to-day, we'll try the west side to-morrow--You've -guessed why I'm going to so much trouble? Yes, he's gotten away with -your pearls! - -"This morning, when the excitement was over, I made an inventory of the -things in the safe. The door was open; Schmidt had left everything in -place, only taking the precaution to lock the inner door. I found the -key in his pocket. He never knew about the Twins--I told you how I saw -Rairi steal them under his eyes. I was losing hope of coming out of -this affair so well. I owe you a lot, old man; I'll try to repay part -of it by getting your pearls for you. We'll catch Rairi, never fear! -Schmidt and the girl were buried this morning. He was a man, that -German, though he had the morals of a wolf! It's odd--but there was -something I almost liked about him--It takes courage to play a game -like his, and he might have succeeded if he'd been a little less -contemptuous of the natives he's abused so long. I wonder who he -really was! I'm sorry the girl was killed--I would have sent her home. -She couldn't have been more than twenty, poor child--a forlorn way to -die. The black is in irons aboard the other schooner, where he's not -popular with the crew!" - -When my uncle had gone I sent a man ashore for Marama, and presently he -was installed in the upper berth, a mass of bandages about his swollen -feet. It was good to see my friend once more. - -"I do not know where Rairi is now," he said, when Maruia had left us to -smoke her cigarette on deck, "but if he was barefoot when he went -overboard, he will be in no shape to run away! Aué! That dry coral is -sharp underfoot! When I escaped from the Cholita, I had one thought in -mind; to get to Seroni quickly, to warn him and bring help to you. I -landed close to the village of the copra-makers and there was an old -canoe on the beach, but when I took thought, I saw that the day would -break before I reached the Tara, and that I would run a risk of being -picked up again by that bearded captain who is now dead, so I traveled -the length of the western island afoot. The sun was high when the time -came to swim, and I was faint with pain and loss of blood--the coral -cuts deep! If I had been stronger I would have gone directly to the -Tara, for I had no suspicion that Rairi's boat had come to her in the -night. Fatu was the first man I saw on shore; he told me of the -shooting, of Ivi's wound, and how Seroni was a prisoner on his own -schooner. All that day I lay in great pain, and my head was light with -the sun." - -At midday Maruia dressed our wounds and brought up food, and we dozed -through the long warm afternoon. It was evening when my uncle returned -with his weary men. They had scoured the eastern islands from end to -end without finding so much as a footprint. - -Next day, when they searched the long island on the western side of the -lagoon, the story was the same, though one of the divers claimed to -have found the half obliterated tracks of a man on a stretch of muddy -beach. That night my uncle went to bed with scarcely a word; I could -see that he was discouraged, mystified, and very tired. Marama and I -were silent for a long time after the others had gone to bed. Finally -the native boy spoke. - -"Are you asleep?" he asked in his own tongue. - -"No," I whispered back; "I lie here thinking." - -"And I too. Listen, for there is something in my mind. First of all, -know that Rairi is not a stranger on this land of Iriatai. His mother -was a woman of the island--one of the wild people the French soldiers -came to take away. And when he was a boy he came here to labor at the -copra-making, with the woman who lived here before Seroni's coming. -There are true words! Knowing all this, I have tried to put myself in -his place. He has our pearls--pearls of great value, for which a man -would endure hardships and long months of waiting. The question in his -mind must be: 'Where shall I hide myself till the schooners are gone -and I can steal a canoe to chance a passage to the nearest land?' -Where, indeed? The three islands about the lagoon are long, but they -are flat and narrow. The bush is thick in places, but not too thick to -be searched as one searches for a dropped fishhook in a canoe. Where, -then? Listen, and I will tell you--in the Cave of the Shark! Is it -not possible that in his boyhood Rairi found the cavern even as we -found it, or that the woman Turia showed it to him as an ancient sacred -place? He would believe that no other man on the island knew of it; -that he might lie hidden there for months, stealing out by night to -catch fish and to gather coconuts for food and drink. I tell you that -the thought of losing our pearls has weighed like a lump of lead on my -stomach, but now I feel hope!" - -When my uncle had returned that evening, discouraged and empty-handed, -I had felt the full bitterness of disappointment--the hopeless collapse -of all my dreams. After all, our hopes had been absurd; a three or -four mile swim at night was a risky business, even for a native. -Perhaps Rairi had been seized with cramps; perhaps a roving shark had -picked him up. In reality, the chances were against his being alive. -But now, as the possibility of the cave grew large in my mind, I could -scarcely wait for the morning, to tell my uncle of Marama's idea. -Eight bells struck. It was midnight, and the soft breathing in the -upper berth told me that Marama was asleep. He had a wholesome lack of -nerves, and to him the loss of the pearls meant no more than a passing -disappointment. In his eyes, money was not a thing that mattered -greatly--if one had none of it, one did without; if one's pockets were -full, it was pleasant to spend. I envied him, for with me it was far -different. - -Hour after hour I lay there, wakeful with anxiety and the fever of my -wound, while the round ship's clock in the saloon struck off the bells. -The glimmer of dawn was in the stateroom when at last I fell asleep. - -Maruia woke us with a tray of breakfast, steaming hot from the galley. -The sun was high, and glancing through the door, I could see my uncle, -bending over some papers at his table. My head was heavy with lack of -sleep, but the fever seemed gone and the pain in my leg diminished. I -called to Uncle Harry and he rose at the sound of my voice. - -"Well, boys," he said, smiling in at us, with a hand on either side of -the doorway, "had a good night? I was for letting you sleep, but the -old lady thought it was time you were eating breakfast." I told him -what Marama had suggested the night before, and his eyes lit up with a -brilliant gleam of interest. - -"I believe you've hit it!" he exclaimed. "That's the one place we -haven't searched. I remember now Schmidt's saying that, as a boy, -Rairi had lived on Iriatai. I lay awake half the night puzzling over -this business--I was beginning to believe that the man must have been -taken by a shark. But we must waste no time; I'm off now for a look at -this cave of yours. Wish me good luck!" - -The hours of that day dragged past with interminable slowness. I grew -depressed as time went on: perhaps we had been unduly sanguine the -night before; the thread supporting our hopes was a slender one, after -all. Even if Rairi were found, he might have lost the pearls or hidden -them. Marama laughed at my fears, refusing to share in my renewed -depression. At noon the old woman brought us lunch and we ate with -good appetites, for by now we were on the way to recovery. Afterward, -when she had cleared the things away, I fell into a dreamless and -refreshing sleep. - -It was late afternoon when I awoke. There was a hail from the deck and -the sound of a boat, bumping against the schooner's side. Next moment -my uncle ran down the companionway and burst into our stateroom, a -smile on his lips and in the dark brilliance of his eyes. Without a -word he placed in my hands a small tin box--a box that I had seen -before. I opened it with a beating heart, and there, side by side in -their nest of damp cotton-wool, were the Marama Twins! The native boy, -gazing down over the side of his berth, gave a shrill whoop of joy. - -"It was a tame affair," remarked my uncle, when he had answered our -first rapid questions, but your cave is certainly a curious place. We -had no difficulty in finding the entrance. I led the way in, with -Fatu, Ofai, and a couple of others close behind. Whew! That's a bit -of a swim before you can come up to blow! I had warned the men to make -no noise; it was possible that Rairi might have clung to the -six-shooter I had seen at his belt, and good ammunition is almost -waterproof. Presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, I -made out the idol and the heathen altar, and then, on the ledge a -little to one side, the huddled figure of a man. It was Rairi--his -eyes were open and he had been watching us all the time. He's a plucky -scoundrel; when I was standing over him wondering why he had not moved, -he shook his head and grinned at me as he made an effort to hold up his -right arm, blackened and horribly swollen out of shape. 'I glad you -come!' he said in a weak voice. He was burning with fever. - -"Then he told me what had happened. Swimming across the lagoon in the -dark, he had run squarely on a patch of the purple coral, the poisonous -kind that cuts like a razor-edge. He managed to get to the cave before -the wounds stiffened, but next morning, when daylight began to appear -through the cranny in the rock, he realized that it was all up with him -unless help came. Both legs and his right arm are frightfully -infected--I'm not sure that we can pull him through. Well, if he dies, -it will save the Government from supporting him in jail! The pearls -were in the pocket of his dungarees--he handed them to me of his own -accord. We had the deuce of a time getting him out to the boat; he'd -have been drowned if Fatu hadn't been along!" - - - - -XIII - -TAHITI - -There is little more to tell of our days at Iriatai. For a fortnight, -while I lay bored and convalescent in a steamer-chair, the diving went -on. Then each man's share of the shell was laid out for my uncle's -inspection, sacked, weighed, and loaded in the Tara's hold. There were -a hundred and twenty tons of it, of a quality unknown in the lagoons of -the Eastern Pacific, and Uncle Harry was jubilant over our good luck. -His safe held a little fortune in pearls, and the divers had others -they were keeping to sell on their own account. - -A day came at last when the village on the islet was dismantled; when -the people crowded our decks, noisy and gay with the joy of being -homeward-bound; when the Tara, deeply laden, turned her sharp bows -toward the pass, away from the anchorage which had been our home so -long. - -Pahuri was at his accustomed place in the engine-room--the old man had -soon recovered from the rough handling he had endured. Ivi, with his -left arm in a sling, was the hero of the forecastle; the divers never -tired of discussing the memorable night when he had received his wound, -and I could see that in the future the story would be passed from -island to island, growing to epic proportions as the years went by. -Marama and I had thriven under Maruia's care; his feet were healed by -now, and I was able to get about the deck, though my leg still gave me -an occasional twinge. - -The Cholita, with Tua in command and our two prisoners stowed away -below, followed us southward toward the pass. Rairi was out of danger -at last, after days of raging fever when there seemed small chance that -he would live. The copra-makers had been on Iriatai for more than a -year, and Schmidt's schooner halted off their village to take them -aboard and load the twenty tons of copra stacked under the shed on the -beach. - -Outside the pass, when the Tara dipped her nose into the long Pacific -swell, I lay alone on the after deck, gazing back at the line of -palm-tops that was Iriatai, fast disappearing beyond the slope of the -world. I thought of Schmidt, sleeping forever under a wooden cross on -the deserted islet; of the woman in the shallow coral grave beside him, -the half-savage girl he had stolen from her home in the far-off -Carolines--Raita, who had been my friend, and whose hand, at the last, -had ended his strange life. I felt a lump in my throat, as I realized -that in all probability my eyes would never again rest on Iriatai, this -dot of land, immeasurably lonely and remote. - -A week later we dropped anchor in Faatemu Bay. The other schooner had -gone on to Tahiti and would await us there. The village hummed with -the excitement of our arrival; there were long stories to be told, -friends and relatives to be greeted, and good fortune to be shared. -Forty pigs were killed for the feast that Taura, the gray-haired chief, -gave in our honor. Fat old Hina welcomed me like a mother, with easy -native tears. I had not forgotten her kindness, and on the last day I -tendered my parting gift: two handsome pearls--one for her, and one for -my former playmate, Marama's little sister. When the Tara sailed out -through the Nao Nao Passage and I went below, I found my stateroom -littered with their presents--fans, hats, baskets, wreaths of -bright-colored shell. - -Marama and his father accompanied us to Tahiti. At dawn of the second -day I was awakened by my uncle's voice, calling me on deck to see the -land. The schooner was slipping through a calm gray sea, running -before a light breeze from the north, and a glimmer along the horizon -told of the approaching day. Close on our starboard beam, and so -unreal that I half-expected the vision to fade before my eyes, I saw -the fantastic pinnacles of Eimeo. Tahiti lay straight before the -Tara's bows--faint, lofty outlines rising from the sea to disappear in -veils of cloud. We were standing side by side at the rail, and at last -my uncle spoke. - -"This is my home-coming," he said quietly. "To me, that island is the -most beautiful thing in all the world." - -At ten o'clock we were opposite the pass, and I saw for the first time -the little island port of Papeete: the masts of trading-schooners -rising along the docks; the warehouses and the line of sheds for -freight; the narrow, shaded streets running inland from the waterfront; -the background of green, jagged mountains, cleft by the Fautaua Gorge. - -A crowd gathered while the Tara docked. There were shouted greetings -in native, in English, and in French. As the schooner was warped -alongside and the gangplank came out, the people began to stream -aboard. The Cholita had brought news of our coming, with the story of -our gold-lipped shell and Schmidt's attempted piracy. My uncle had -given Tua a letter to the authorities, turning over the schooner and -the prisoners to the Government, exonerating the crew, and giving a -detailed account of the affair. The news had caused a stir in this -peaceful and remote community; we refused a dozen invitations to lunch, -and Uncle Harry was forced to tell the story twenty times--to traders, -to officials, to his own agents in Papeete--before his friends would -give him peace. And through it all I heard a chorus of exclamations at -the gold-lipped shell. - -I spent the afternoon wandering about the town. It was all new and -strange to me: the strolling bands of sailors, the Chinese shops, the -houses with their deep, cool verandas shaded by exotic trees. At four -o'clock I met my uncle by appointment at the bank. He took me to a -private room upstairs, and as he opened the door a man rose and came -toward us with outstretched hand. He was small and dapper--a shade too -well dressed. His nose was long, and his black eyes bright and beady -as shoe-buttons; his radiant smile, under a little waxed moustache, -disclosed teeth like the pearls in which he dealt. - -"Monsieur Sikorsky," murmured my uncle, "my nephew, Charles." - -"It is a pleasure," said the Jew, shaking my hand warmly, "to meet the -nephew of my old friend. I have been aboard the Tara this afternoon -and have heard much of you! They told me you had been diving with the -natives--a wonderful experience, young man, but dangerous, _hein_? Ah, -those sharks--those great man-eating fish--it is _épouvantable_!" He -shuddered delicately, offered my uncle a cigarette from a case of -tortoise-shell, and blew out a cloud of perfumed smoke. - -"Yes," he went on, "Monsieur Selden has told me how old Maruia's -kinsman was taken by the tonu, and how you dove down to the cave for -the old oysters your native boy had seen. And he said that if I came -here this afternoon you might show me the matched pearls you found that -day." - -"I have them here," put in my uncle, drawing the familiar tobacco-tin -from his pocket. "We'll show them to Sikorsky, eh? Perhaps he'll want -to make you an offer." He drew up three chairs about a table close to -the window, and pulled back the blinds to admit the afternoon sunlight -into the room. Then he opened the little box and laid the pearls side -by side on the green tablecloth. - -"Well, what do you think of them?" he asked. "You've never seen a -finer matched pair, eh?" - -For a moment Sikorsky lost his urbane composure. His black eyes -glittered and his hand trembled a little as he reached out to take up -the pearl nearest him. As he turned it over and over in his palm, -admiring the perfection of its form and the play of light on its -flawless surfaces, he muttered to himself in a language I had never -heard. Presently he laid down the first pearl and took up the other -for examination; rose to fetch a black leather case from a corner of -the room; laid out his jeweler's scales and measuring instruments. -Without a word to us, he weighed and measured to his satisfaction, took -out writing-materials and covered a sheet of paper with the figures of -a complex calculation. Then he took up the pearls for a last glance, -and leaned back, lighting another of his perfumed cigarettes. - -"There is no need of beating about the bush," he said. "You know -pearls, Selden--such a pair does not turn up twice in a lifetime. They -would make a gift for an empress! It has been a privilege to see them, -even though nothing comes of it. If they were mine, I would go hungry -before I would part with them!" - -"What are they worth?" asked my uncle. - -"Ah, that is hard to say--they are for sale?" - -"Yes, at a price; I would buy them myself if I could afford to own such -luxuries." - -"I will make you an offer, then, though the responsibility is more than -I am authorized to take. They are matched almost to the weight of a -hair--Let me see--for one of them, alone, I could safely offer you -twelve thousand dollars. Double that for the matching--forty-eight -thousand for the pair--Yes--I will make my offer fifty thousand." - -He raised his hand as my uncle was about to speak. - -"That is a fair offer," went on the Jew, "I assure you, a long time -might elapse before my firm could find a purchaser. I would not make -it except that they love fine pearls as I do. But if you think that -this is not enough, name your own price and give me time to wire my -people in Paris. One thing I ask of you as an old friend: show them to -no one else till I have had my chance!" - -"A fair enough offer, I should say," remarked my uncle, as he put the -pearls in their box and rose to leave. "I must go down to the schooner -now; my nephew and I will talk over your price to-night. Can you meet -us here after breakfast to-morrow? We'll let you know our decision in -the morning." - -The pearl-buyer ushered us to the door and bowed us out with another -radiant smile. - -That evening, when we were sitting alone on the balcony of our hotel, -Uncle Harry told me something of the Jew. "If you met Sikorsky at -home," he said; "you'd think he was a little counter-jumper, but as a -matter of fact there's no squarer or more decent fellow in this part of -the world. I've known him for years. He speaks half a dozen languages -and has been in most of the odd corners of the earth. What do you -think of his offer? In your place I'd be inclined to accept. I doubt, -in fact, if the Twins would fetch much more. One might take them -abroad, of course, and find some rich fancier who would pay twice as -much, but peddling jewels is not in our line. What do you say?" - -"Oh, let's accept his offer!" I exclaimed. I had been thinking of -nothing else since our visit to the bank. Half of fifty thousand -dollars seemed a tremendous sum to me. - -"Very well," said Uncle Harry with a smile. "To-morrow will be a great -day for Marama and the old man!" - -He drew from his pocket the familiar case of worn brown leather and -selected a cigar. When it was drawing to his satisfaction he tossed -the match into the street and cocked his feet against the railing of -the balcony. - -"I've good news," he remarked. "We have a week before your steamer -sails. I want you to see my place in the country. When does your -school begin? The first of October? That's good--you'll be home in -plenty of time. Now about the money; it's yours to do with as you -like, of course, but let me give you a bit of advice. If I were you, -I'd turn the bulk of it over to your father--he's in need of cash, and -a few thousands would put the Santa Brigida on its feet. It will be -yours eventually; stick by the land, old fellow--it doesn't pay to -knock about the world as I have done. By the way, there'll be -something coming to you from your lay in the season's work, though it -will look small beside Sikorsky's check. Well, it's getting late--time -we were turning in." - -In the morning, when we had finished breakfast, we met the pearl-buyer -at the bank. Half an hour later, as we shook hands and strolled out -the door, I carried in the inner fold of my pocketbook a draft for -twenty-five thousand dollars, on a San Francisco banking house. We -found Marama and his father aboard the schooner. Their eyes were -bright with wonder when my uncle told them of the bargain he had made, -and they were glad to accept his offer to look after the money for -them, letting them draw on him whenever they were in need of funds. - -"I'm having some friends to dinner to-morrow," he told me as we walked -down the gangplank. "We must be getting out to Fanatea now. My boat -got in early this morning--come along and have a look at her." - -She was lying a quarter of a mile down the beach, moored to the -sea-wall under the old trees bordering the avenue. On her narrow stern -I saw the word "Marara" lettered in gold, and her lean lines and the -six great exhaust-pipes standing in a row left no doubt that she could -show the speed of her namesake, the flying fish. A native in a suit of -oily overalls sprang ashore to greet us and smiled when I spoke to him -in his own tongue. - -"What do you think of her?" asked my uncle. "Isn't she a beauty? I -built her myself--every plank. That's a French engine--ninety -horsepower--and it drives her at better than twenty knots!" - -The mechanician fetched our bags from the hotel. We took our places in -the cockpit, the spray-hood was raised, the anchor came up, and the -stern line was cast off. The deep-throated roar of the exhaust brought -a little crowd to the quay while the man turned up grease cups and -oiled a bearing here and there. He raised his head and glanced at my -uncle with the odd native lift of the eyebrows which means "All ready!" -The motor burst into a deeper and a fiercer roar; my uncle took the -wheel and pulled back the lever of the clutch. The boat quivered and -sprang forward swiftly, heading for the docks where the stevedores were -dropping their wheelbarrows to watch. She swept around the harbor in a -great curve, turned seaward, and headed out through the pass, her bows -parting the waves in sheets of spray. Outside the reef we swung -southward toward Fanatea, twenty miles off. - -An hour later I saw a break in the white line of the reef. As we sped -in through the gap, the huge blue combers, with spray whipping back -from their crests, raced in on either side of us to topple and crash in -thundering foam. - -"There's Fanatea!" shouted my uncle, pointing to a long white house at -the end of an avenue of pahns. - -A path, bordered by ornamental palms, led from the pier to my uncle's -house, set on a rise of land a quarter of a mile beyond. The -plantation had a long frontage on the beach and extended inland, across -the rich alluvial flat, up into the hills. More than two hundred acres -were planted with coconuts,--stately young palms in rows ten yards -apart,--and lines of fencing divided the land into paddocks, where I -saw fat cattle grazing belly-deep in grass. - -The house was long and low, plastered with burned coral from the -lagoon. The veranda overlooked a matchless view of dark-green -foreshore, placid lagoon, white reef, and sparkling sea. Far off -across the channel the horizon was broken by Eimeo's jagged peaks. -Deep, cool, and airy, the veranda was my uncle's living-room, and at -the windward end, in a great glassed-in bay, I found his collection of -idols, weapons, and native implements. That night, when the Chinese -houseboy rang the gong, I scarcely knew Uncle Harry in pumps, flannel -trousers, and a smart white dinner-coat. It was his custom to potter -about all day on the plantation, bush-knife in hand and clad only in a -cotton pareu; but when evening came and he had had his bath, he never -failed to appear immaculate at the dinner hour. - -"This is the only home I have," he remarked as we sat down, "and when -I'm here I make a little effort to keep up appearances. It saves me -from becoming a savage. I have a good many friends scattered about the -island--I visit them sometimes and they often come here. As I told -you, a few of them will be out to-morrow: Sikorsky is coming and a -couple of Government men. Old Jackson said he would come, too--he's my -agent here; by the way, he's reserved a deck cabin for you on the -steamer. Maruia is the most famous cook on the island--she's promised -to come out to superintend the kitchen." - -Maruia arrived early the next afternoon, and when she had shaken hands -with us she went straight to the back of the house, where the Fanatea -people, who stood in awe of such a rich and celebrated character, -sprang this way and that to do her bidding. - -The motor-boat had gone to town, and just before sunset I heard the -hoarse bellow of her exhaust and saw her moving swiftly across the -lagoon toward the pier. When he had presented me to his guests, my -uncle took the Frenchmen in charge and left me with old Mr. Jackson and -Sikorsky. The gold-lipped shell and his adventure with Schmidt had -made Uncle Harry the hero of the hour, and since the Jew had showed the -Marama Twins to several of his friends, I found myself an object of -interest to these older men. But Mr. Jackson, a gaunt old Englishman -with friendly eyes and an enormous white moustache, knew how to put me -at my ease. - -"A beautiful pair of pearls," he remarked when we were walking into the -dining-room; "they'll make a sensation in Paris! Sikorsky showed them -to me last night; he's planning to take the next boat north, on his way -to France. Told me how you found them, too--the tonu and all the rest -of it. Bad brutes, those tonus--one nearly had me when I was a lad. -Forty years ago, that was--I'm getting old, eh? In those days I was -supercargo aboard a schooner of the Maison Brander. We were lying -becalmed inside the pass at Mangareva, and in spite of what the natives -said, I thought I'd have a bit of a swim. In the nick of time I saw -the brute coming up at me--a great spiny, mottled beast, with a mouth -like an open door. We were towing a boat, by good luck--I went over -her stern so fast I scraped half the skin off my chest!" - -"He's off!" said my uncle, at the other end of the table. "Mr. -Jackson's our champion spinner of yarns, Charlie; he's a true artist, -and you mustn't believe everything he says!" - -The old man chuckled--they were friends of many years standing. "I'll -promise not to do any more talking," he said. "I'm hungry, and I can -tell by that salad of shrimps that old Maruia is somewhere about. -Lucky man! How did you persuade her to officiate?" - -An hour later, when the Chinese boy had brought coffee, one of the -Frenchmen pushed back his chair and rose. He was the treasurer of the -colony, a stout, middle-aged man, with keen dark eyes and a -close-cropped beard. - -"First of all," he said, with a friendly smile at my uncle, "permit me -to thank you for an excellent dinner, such as I know how to appreciate. -Nor must we forget Maruia, whose skill in her art I have known for so -many years. And now let me propose the health of our host, whose -discovery of gold-lipped shell in the Paumotus marks an addition to the -resources of the colony. To Monsieur Selden, then, whose enterprise -has earned the Government's warm thanks!" - -My uncle rose as the Treasurer sat down. - -"Monsieur Durand has been more than kind," he said. "And speaking of -Maruia, she has been good enough to offer to entertain us this evening. -You all know the old-time native songs, and how rarely one hears them -nowadays. She has composed an _uté_ on our diving-season at Iriatai. -I think she is waiting for us on the veranda--bring your coffee along." - -We found her in the bay-window, examining a piece of tapa cloth. She -seemed known to all the company and perfectly at ease, addressing Mr. -Jackson in native and the others in fluent French. Her hair, which was -brushed back loosely, was fastened with a pearl-studded clasp at the -nape of her neck; golden earrings were in her ears, and she wore a -flowing gown of thin black silk. I could scarcely believe that this -was the old savage beside whom I had dived day after day, the fierce -creature who had leaped overboard, spear in hand and muttering a -heathen prayer, to avenge her nephew's death. - -I sat down between Mr. Jackson and Sikorsky, on a long lounge covered -with a scarlet-bordered mat. Beyond the railing of the veranda a score -of natives squatted on the grass. - -Maruia took her place cross-legged on the floor, and a boy placed in -her hands a great piano-accordion, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. In the -silence which proved the interest of her audience, she drew out the -bellows and let her fingers play over the stops. Then I heard for the -first time the music of the uté--a wild minor melody, stirring, -exultant, heathen, and profoundly sad. Suddenly she began to sing, in -a high-pitched wail, a song such as our ancestors must have sung in the -firelight, centuries before history dawned. Here and there I could -catch a word,--enough to piece together the story the verses told,--but -the language was full of imagery and many of the words were of the -ancient tongue which only a few of the older people understood. She -sang of how the Tara came to Faatemu and sailed away to Iriatai; of how -Seroni killed the old god in the form of a shark; and of the temple in -the cave; of the strange shell with lips like gold, such as no man in -the Paumotus had seen; of her nephew's death, and how Teura had been -avenged; of Schmidt and the fight aboard the schooner, when the woman -from a far land was killed. - -All this sounds commonplace enough, as I read over the words I have set -down, but there was something far from commonplace in the quality of -the woman's voice, in the wild imagery of her words, in the primitive -and stirring cadences of her song. At last the music died away, and -Maruia leaned back with a sigh as she snapped the hooks of her -accordion. - -We were silent for a time, and then my uncle spoke. He turned to Mr. -Jackson. - -"It's curious," he observed--"the spell of those old songs!" The -trader looked up at him, raising his snowy eyebrows in the native -gesture of assent. - -"Either there's real art in a thing of that kind," he answered, "or -I've become a savage after forty years!" - -The Jew had not moved once while Maruia sang. The perfumed cigarette, -forgotten between his fingers, had burned out. The old man's words -seemed to rouse him from a reverie. - -"Ah, gentlemen," he said, more seriously than I had heard him speak -before, "make no mistake--the essence of all art is in such a song! So -our old Hebrew minstrels sang, long before my people's captivity in -Egypt! So, perhaps, the Greek bards sang of the fall of Troy!" - -As the next day was Sunday, we persuaded our guests to stop over, and -it was late afternoon when we took our places in the motor-boat, -slipped out through the pass, and headed north along the reef. The -breeze had died away and the Marara drove through a long, gentle swell, -running in from the west. I was beginning to understand my uncle's -love of the island: on such an evening, it was impossible to believe -that any part of the world could be more beautiful. Beyond the line of -breakers the lagoon lay like a mirror in the sunset calm, and I saw the -smiling coastal land, with its coconut and breadfruit groves, sheltered -at the mouths of valleys which pierced the lofty wooded hills. Out to -the west, half hidden in clouds all rosy and edged with gold, Eimeo -rose from unruffled waters. A long spit of land ran out to sea ahead -of us. - -"Point Venus," remarked my uncle, leaning over to speak in my ear. -"The speck of white at the end is the lighthouse, the only one in this -part of the world. It is built on the site of Captain Cook's -observatory; he came here, you know, to observe the transit of Venus in -1769. He was a wonderful man--have you read the account of his -voyages? Ah, you've a treat ahead! His ship anchored in Matavai Bay, -this side of the point, and he named the group the Society Islands, in -honor of the Royal Society, which sent him out. Sometimes I wish I -could have lived in those days, when there were still islands left to -discover--" - -We were turning into the pass. Half an hour later we had bidden our -guests good-night, and the Marara was speeding homeward in the dusk. - -My week at Fanatea passed with the swiftness of a dream, and the day -came all too soon when I said good-bye to the people of the plantation -and stepped aboard the boat for the last time. As we entered the pass -at Papeete, I saw the mail steamer from New Zealand lying alongside the -dock, hideous and huge beside the trim sailing vessels of the port. -She was to carry me to San Francisco. - -We went aboard at once to look up my stateroom and inquire at what hour -the steamer would sail. The captain, a gray-haired Englishman, with a -red face and a great jutting stomach, tightly buttoned in a -double-breasted coat of drill, was an old friend of my uncle's. He -called us to his quarters by the bridge. - -"Hello, Selden," he said, "they tell me you've had a row with old -Thursday Island. He was done in, eh? Good job, to my way of thinking! -An odd bloke; gentleman born, I should say, but a hard case, and crook -as they make 'em! I knew him out in the Solomons, in ninety-eight." -He turned to me, holding out an enormous hairy hand. - -"I've heard about you, young man," he rumbled. "You're the lad who -found Sikorsky's pearls, eh? He's going north with us. They're aboard -now, safe in the purser's strongbox. I'll tell the chief steward to -put you at my table. We'll be sailing by three o'clock." - -We lunched aboard the Tara that day, and when the meal was finished my -uncle and I sat talking in steamer-chairs on deck. "It's hard to see -you go, old fellow," he said, "I'll be lonely without you; but don't -forget that you're coming down again. I wish I could go north with you -now--I'd give something to be there when your father hears of our good -luck, and sees how tall and strong you've grown! But I'll be up next -year without fail; perhaps I'll bring the Tara, and you'll see Marama -and the rest of them again. I've always wanted a cruise down the Lower -Californian coast, to have a look at those Mexican islands and bays. -Give my love to your father and mother, and to Marion--tell them how -glad I am that they let you come with me. This is for your sister, by -the way; take good care of it--perhaps you'd better put it in the -purser's safe." He handed me a little plush-lined jewel-case, opening -it to display a string of beautifully graduated pearls. - -"I've been collecting them for several years," he went on with a smile. -"Marion is the only niece I have, and I hope this will give her -pleasure for a long time to come. But it's time you were getting -aboard--the men are up forward, waiting for you to say good-bye." - -I felt a lump in my throat as I shook hands with them, one after the -other: Ofai, Ivi with his bandaged arm, Pahuri, Fatu, and the cook. -Marama and the chief of Faatemu were standing with Maruia on the dock. - -"My heart is heavy to-day," said Marama, as I took his hand, "but -Seroni has promised that shall go with him when next he sails away to -your land. Perhaps it will not be long before we meet." - -"Come back to us one day," said the old woman. "Your welcome will be -warm, for your friends are many in these islands!" - -"_E, parau mau_," put in Taura, in his deep voice. "Those are true -words!" - -The ship was whistling for the last time. Half laughing and half vexed -at the delay, my uncle seized my arm to drag me away from the group of -kind native friends. As we pushed our way through the crowd about the -gangplank, the sailors were casting off the lashings. Uncle Harry -grasped my hand. - -"Time you were aboard," he said. "Good-bye, old man." - -The gangplank came up, lines were cast off, and the propeller began to -churn. I stood by the rail, gazing down at the faces of friends among -the crowd ashore, while the steamer backed, turned, and headed for the -open sea. A handkerchief fluttered on the Tara's deck; her ensign -dipped gracefully in a farewell salute. All at once a feeling of -sadness came over me--I turned my eyes away from the land, walked -blindly to my stateroom, and closed the door. - -That evening, when the bugle announced the dinner hour, I went on deck -and gazed back across the calm sea astern. The far-away peaks of -Tahiti and Eimeo stood like faint blue clouds on the line where sea met -sky--lands of enchanted memory, fast disappearing in the fading light. - - - - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PEARL LAGOON *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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