SouthSeaTales 10449098 PDF

T h ey d an ce d f o x t w o m o r t a l ho u r s u n de r t h e b ro il mg su n .
Di gi t/ze d by M
i cros oft®
THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI
ES P ITE the hea vy clu ms iness of h er
D lines the A or ai handled easily i n

,
the light breeze and her captai n ,
ran h er well in before he hove to j ust outside

t h e suck o f the surf The atoll of Hi ku e ru
.
l ay low o n the water a circle of pounded

,
coral sand a hundred yards w ide twe n ty ,
m i le s i n c i rcumference and from th ree to

,
five feet above high-water mark O n the .
botto m o f the huge and glassy la goon w a s

muc h pearl shell and from the deck of th e
,
s chooner across the slender ring o f t h e atoll

, ,
the divers could be seen at work But .
t he lagoo n h ad no entrance fo r even a trad

i n g s choo ner . With a favoring breeze cu t
t ers could win in through the tortuou s and
s h allo w channel but the schooner s l ay off

,
an d o n outs i de and sent i n t h e i r s m al l
boat s .
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4 THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI
The A om i swung out a b oat sma r t ly,
i nto which sprang half a dozen brown
skinned sailors clad only in scarlet loin
cloths They too k the oars While in the
.
,
stern sheets at the steering sweep stood

-
, ,
a young man garbed in the tropic white

that mark s the E uropean But he was .
n ot all E uropean The golden strain of .
Polynesia betrayed itself in the sun gilt of -
his fair s k in and cast up golden sheens an d

l i ghts through the glimmering blue of hi s
eyes R aoul he was Alexandre R aoul
.
, ,
youngest so n o f M arie R aoul the wealthy ,
quarter caste who owned and managed

-
,
half a dozen trading schooners si m ilar to

t he A om i Across an eddy j ust outside the
.
entrance and in and through and over a

,
boiling tide rip the boat fought its way to

-
,
the mirrore d calm o f the lagoon Young .
'
R aoul leaped out upon the white sand and

shook hands with a tall native The man s .
’
chest and shoulders were magnificent b u t ,
t he stump o f a right arm beyond t h e fles h ,
o f Which the age-whitened bone proj ecte d
THE HOUSE or MA PUHI 5
s everal inches attested the encounter with

,
a shark that had put an end to h is diving

days and made him a fawner and an i n
t r i gu e r for small favors .
”
H ave you hea rd Alec ! were his first
,
words .
“
Mapu hi has found a pearl
such a pearl Never w a s there one like it
.
ever fished up in H i ku e ru nor in all the ,
P au m o t u s nor in all the world

,
Buy it .
from him H e has it now And remem

. .
b er that I told you first H e is a foo l and.
y o u can get it cheap H ave you any .
tobacco
S traight up the beach to a shack under
a pandanus -tree R aoul headed H e w as his .
mother s supercargo and his b usiness was

’
,
to comb all the P au m o t u s for the wealth of

copra shell and pearls that they yielded up
, ,
.
H e w as a young supercargo it w as his ,
s econd voyage in such cap acity and he ,
s uff ered much secret worry from his lack
o f exper i ence in pricing pearls But when .
Map u hi exposed the pearl t o h is sight he

m anaged to s uppress the s tartle i t ga ve
Di g i t/ze d by Microsoft®
6 THE HOUSE OF MA PUHI
him and to maintain a careless com m erc i al
, ,
expression o n his face For the pearl ha d .
s truck him a blow It w as large as a .
pigeon egg a perfect sphere of a white

, ,
ness that reflected opalescent lights from

all colors about it It w as alive Never .
had he seen anyt hing like it When M a .
puhi dropped it into his hand he w as sur

p rised by the weight o f it That showed .
th at it was a good pearl H e exami ned .
it closely through a poc k et magnify ing

,
glass It was W ithout flaw or blemish

. .
The purity of it seemed almost to me lt

into the atmosphere o u t of his hand In .
the shade it was soft luminous gleaming ,
like a tender moon S o translucently white

.
was it that when he dropped it into a glas s

,
of water he had diffi culty in finding it .
S o straight and swiftly had it sunk to the

bottom that he k new its weight w as excel
lent.
“ ”
Well What do you want for it P he
,
as k ed with a fine assumption of monc h a

,
la n ce .
THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI 7
I want Map u hi began and b e ,
h ind him framing his own dark face the

, ,
dark faces of two women and a girl nodded

co ncu r rence in What he wanted Their .
heads were bent forward they were ani ,
mated by a supp ressed eagerness their ,
e y es flashed avariciously .
“
I want a house Map u hi went on
, .
“
It must have a roof o f galvanized iron
an d an octagon— drop clock It must be
-
.
s ix fathoms long with a porch all around .
A b ig room must be in the centre W ith ,
a round table in the middle o f it and the
octagon-drop clock on the wall There

-
.
must be four bedrooms two on each side ,
o f the b i g room and in each b edroom must

,
b e an iron bed t w o chairs and a wash

, ,
s tand . And back o f the house must be

a kitchen a good kitchen with pots and
, ,
pans and a stove And y o u must build the

.
house on my island which is F ak a rava

,
.
“
Is that all R aoul asked incredulously .
—
There must be a s ewing ma chine ”
,
sp ok e u p Te fara Map u hi s W ife

’
.
,
Not forgetting the octagon—

drop-clock,
a dded Nauri Map u hi s mother
,
’
.
Yes that i s all said Map u hi

,
”
,
.
Young R aoul laughed He laughed long .
and hea rtily But while he laughed he

.
secretly pe rformed problems in mental

a rithmetic He had never built a hou se
.
in hi s li fe and his notions concerning house

,
building were hazy Wh i le he laughed .

,
he calculated the cost of the voyage to

Tahiti for materials of the materials them ,
selves o f the voyage bac k again to F aka

,
rava and the cost of landing the materials

,
and of building the house It would come .
to four thousand F rench dollars allowing ,
a margin for safety four thousand F rench

dollars were equivalent to twenty thousand
francs It w as impossible How was he
. .
t o k now the va lue of such a pearl Twenty

thousand francs w as a lot of money and
of his mother s money at that ’
.
“
Map u hi he said you are a big fool
”
,
“
, .
”
S et a money price .
But Map u hi shook his hea d and t he ,
three heads beh i nd him shook with h is .
THE HOUS E or MA PUHI 9
I want the house he said , It must .
b e six fathoms long with a porch all

a round
“
Ye s y e s R aoul interrupted
, , I know .
all abou t you r h ouse but it won t do I ll

,
’
.
’
”
give you a thousand Chili dolla rs .
Th e four heads chorused a silent neg

ative .
“
And a hundred Chili dollars in tra de .
I want the house Map u hi began ,

.
”
What good will the house do you !
“
R aoul demanded The first hurricane
.
that comes along will wash it away You .
ought to know Captain R aff y says it

.
looks like a hurricane right now .
“
Not on F ak ar av a said Map u hi The
”
,
.
land is much higher there O n this island .

,
yes . Any hurricane can sweep Hi ku e ru .
I W ill have the house on F ak arav a It .
must be six fathoms long with a porch all

around
A n d R aoul listened aga i n to the tale of th e
h ouse S everal hours he spent in t h e e n
.
de avo r t o hammer the house— ob s e ssion out
to THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI
of Map uhi mind ; but Map u hi s mother
’
s
’
an d W ife a n d Nga k ura Map u hi s da u gh ter

’
, , ,
bolstered hi m in his resolve fo r the house .
Through the open doo rway While he lis ,
tened for the twentieth time to t h e detaile d

desc ri ption of the house t hat w as wanted ,
R aoul saw his schooner s second boat draw ’
u p on the beach The sailors rested on the

.
oa rs advertising haste to b e gone Th e

, .
first mate of the Jam i sprang ashore ex ,
c h anged a word w ith the one-armed nat i ve ,
then hurried toward R aoul The day grew .
s uddenly dark as a squall obscured th e

,
face of the sun Across the lagoon R aoul

.
could se e approaching the ominou s l i ne of

t h e pu ff of wind .
“
Captain Raffy says you ve got to get ’
”
t o h ell outa h ere w as the mate s greeting
’
, .
“
If th ere s any shell we ve got to run t h e
’
,
’
risk o f p i ck i ng it up later o n — so h e says .
’
The barometer s dropped to twenty-nine~
”
s e ve n ty
.
The gu s t o f wind struck t h e pandan u s

t ree overhead and tore throu gh th e p al ms
THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI 1!
b eyond, fl i n ging half a dozen ripe cocoa nu t s

wit h heavy thuds to the ground The n .
came the rain o u t of the distance a dvan c ,
i ng with the roar o f a gale of wind and

causing the water of the lagoon to smoke i n
driven W ind rows Th e sharp rattle of the
.
first drops was on the leaves w hen R ao ul

sp rang to his feet .
“
A thousand Chili dollars cash down , ,
Map u hi he said
”
,
“
And two hun dre d
.
Chili dollars in trade

“
I want a house the other began .
Map u hi l R aoul yelled in order to

”
,
“ ”
make himself heard You are a fool 1
.
H e flung out o f the house and side by , ,
s ide W ith t h e mate fought his w ay down

,
the beach toward the boat They could .
not see the boat The t rOp i c ra in sheeted

.
about them so that they could se e only

the beac h under their feet and t he spiteful
little waves from the lago on that snapped
and b it at the sand A figure appeared
.
through th e deluge It w as Hu m Hu m , .
-
t he man wi th the o n e a rm .
”
D id you get the pearl ! he yelle d i n
R aoul s ear
’
.
“
Map u hi is a fool l ”
was the answering
yell and the next moment they were lost
,
t o each other in the descending water .
H alf an hour later Huru Huru watching ,

-
,
from the seaward side of the atoll saw the ,
two bo ats hoisted in and the A om i point

ing her nose out to se a And nea r her .
,
j u s t come in from the sea o n the Wings of

the squall he saw another schooner hove
,
t o and dropping a boat into the water He .
knew her It w a s the Or okan a owned by

.
,
Toriki the half—caste trader who serve d

, ,
as his o w n supercargo and Who doubt

lessly w as even then in the stern sheets of -
the boat Huru —

. Huru chuckled H e knew .
that Map u hi owed Tori k i fo r trade goo d s -
advanced the year before .
The squall had passed The hot s u n was .
blazing down and the lagoon was once more

,
a m irror But the air w as sticky like m u cil

.
age and the weight of i t seem e d to burde n

,
the lungs and make b reath i ng diffi cult .
THE HOUSE OF MA PUHI 13
H ave you heard t he news Torik i ,
H uru-Hu ru asked Map u hi has found .
a pearl Never w as th ere a pearl like it

.
ever fished up in Hi ku e ru nor anyw here ,
i n the P au m o t u s nor anywhere in all t h e

,
world Map u hi is a fool B esides he

. .
,
owes you money R emember that I told .
you first H ave you any tobacco

.
And to the grass shack o f Map u hi went -
Tori k i H e w as a masterful man withal a

.
,
fairly stupid one Carelessly he glanced .
at the wonderful pearl glanced for a

moment only ; and carelessly he dropped
i t into his po cket .
“
You are lucky he said It is a nice
, .
”
p earl . I will give y o u credit on the books .
“
I want a house ”
Map u hi began in , ,
“
consternation It must be six fathoms
.
3,
”
S ix fat homs your grandmother ! was
“
the trader s reto rt You want to pay
’
.
u p your debts that s What you want Yo u

,
’
.
owed me twelve hundred dollars Ch i li .
Very well ; y ou owe the m n o longer The .
amo u nt is squared Besides I will give .

,
y o u credit for two hundred Chili If whe n .

,
I get to Tahiti the pearl sells well I will

, ,
give you credit for another hundred

that will ma k e three hundred But m i nd .
,
only if the pearl sells well I may e ve n .
lose money on it .
Map u hi folded hi s arms in sorrow and

sat with bowed head H e had b e en rob bed .
o f his pearl In place of the house he had

.
,
paid a debt There w as nothing to s how

.
fo r the pearl .
“
Yo u are a fool said Te fara , .
You are a fool said Nauri his mother , , .
Why did you let the pearl into his hand

What w as I to do Map u hi protested .
I owed him the money He knew I had .
the pearl Yo u heard him yourself ask

.
to se e it I had not told him He knew

. . .
S omebody el s e told him And I owed him .
”
the money .
“
Map u hi is a fool mimicked Nga kura , .
S he was twelve years o l d and did not

kn ow any better Mapu hi relieved h is .
Wh ere i s Toriki
In the house of Captain Lyn ch dri nk i ng ,
»
”
abs inthe He has been there an hour
. .
And While L evy and Toriki drank ab

sinthe and cha ff ered over the pearl H u ru ,
Hu r u listened and heard the stupendous

price o f twenty five thousand francs agree d
-
upon .
It w as at this time that both the Ora/t e nd

and the H i m running in close to the shore
, ,
began firing guns and signalling frantically .
The three men stepped outside in t i me to

see the two schooners go hastily abou t and
head off shore dropping mainsail s and
,
fly i n g j ibs on the run in the teeth of the

-
s quall that heeled them far over on the

whitened water Then the rain blo tted
.
them out .
“ ’ ’
They ll be ba ck after it s over s a id ,
“ ’
Tori k i . We d better be getting out o f
”
here .
“
I reckon the glass has fallen some more ,
said Captain L ynch .
H e was a white-bearded sea-capta i n t oo ,
TH E HOUSE OF MA PUH I 17
ol d fo r
service w ho had learned that the
,
only w ay to live on comfortable terms with

his asthma was o n H i k u e ru H e went inside .
to look at the barometer .
“ ”
Great God 1 they heard him exclaim ,
a nd rushed in to j oin him at staring at a

dial which mar k ed twenty nine twenty
,
- -
.
Again they came out this time anxiously ,
to consult s e a and sky The squall had .
cleared away but the sky remained over

,
cast The two schooners under all sail

.
,
and j oined by a third could be seen ma k ing

,
b a ck A veer in the wind induced them

.
to slack off sheets and five minutes after

,
ward a sudden veer from the opposite

quarter caught all three schooners ab ack ,
and those on shore could s e e the boom

tackles being slacked away or cast o ff on
the j ump The sound of the su rf w as
.
loud hollow and menacing and a hea vy

, , ,
s well was setting in A terrible sheet o f

.
lightning burst before their eyes illuminat ,
i ng the dark day and the thunder rolle d

,
w ildly about the m .
Toriki and L evy broke into a ru n for

their boats the latter ambling along like
,
a panic-stricken hippopotamus As their .
two boats swep t out the entrance they ,
passed the boat of the A om i coming in In .
the stern sheets encouraging the rowers

-
, ,
was R aoul Unable to sha k e the vision

.
of the pearl from his mind he was returning ,
to accept Map u hi s p rice of a house

’
.
H e landed o n the beach in the midst o f a

driving thunder squall that w as so dense
that he collided with Huru Hu r u before -
he saw him .
“
Too late yelled Huru Hu ru Map u h i
,
-
.
sold it to Tori k i for fourteen hundred Chili ,
and Tori k i sold it to L evy fo r twenty fiv e -
thousand francs And L evy will sell it

.
in F rance for a hundred thousand francs .
”
H ave you any tobacco !
R aoul felt relieved H is troubles about
.
the pea rl were over H e need not worry

.
!
any more even if he had not got t he
,
pearl But he did not believe H uru —

. Huru .
Mapu hi might well have s old it for fou rtee n
THE HOUSE OF MA PUHI 1-
9
h u n dred Chili but that Levy who knew

, ,
pearls should have paid twenty five thou

,
-
s and francs w as t oo wide a stretch R aoul .
decided to interview Captain L ynch on

the subj ect but when he arrived at that
,
’
ancient mariner s house he found him look
,
ing wide eyed at the barometer

-
.
What do you read it Captain Lync h

asked anxiously rubbing his spectacle s
,
and staring again at the instrument .
— —
Twenty nine ten ”
said R aoul
,
I .
”
h ave never seen it so l o w before .
“ ”
I should say not 1 snorted the captain .
F ifty years boy and man o n all the seas ,
and I ve never seen it go do Wn to that

’
.
”
L isten l
They stood fo r a moment While the surf ,
rumbled and shoo k the house Then they .
went outside The squall had passed .
They could se e the A om i lying becalmed

a mile away and p itching and tossing madly
in the tremendous seas that rolled in stately
proce s sion down out of the no rtheast and
fl un g t h em s elves furiou s ly up o n t h e coral
shore On e of the sailors from the boat

.
pointed at the mouth of the passage and

shook his head R aoul looked and saw
.
a White anarchy of foam and surge .
“
I guess I ll stay with y ou t o-night
’
,
”
Captain he said ; then turned to the
,
sailor and told him t o haul the boat out

an d t o find s helter for himself and fellows .
—
Twenty nine flat ”
Captain Lynch re
,
ported coming o u t from another loo k at

,
the barometer a chair in his hand

,
.
H e s at down and stared at the spectacle

o f the sea The sun came o u t increasing
.
,
the sultriness of the day While the dead ,
calm still held The seas continued to

.
increase in magnitude .
“
What ma k es that sea is what gets me ,
“
R aoul muttered petulantly There i s no .
W ind yet loo k at it look at that fellow

, ,
”
there !
M iles in length carrying tens of thou
,
s ands o f tons in weight i t s impact shook ,
t he frail atoll like a n earth qu ake C apta i n .
Lyn ch wa s s tartled .
THE HOUSE OF MA PUHI ar
”
Graciou s ! he excla i m ed half risi n g ,
-
from his chair then s inking b ack

, .
“ ”
But there i s no w ind R aou l persisted , .
I could under s tand it if there w as W ind

”
along w ith it .
“ ’
You ll get t h e wind soon enough with
’ ”
o ut wo r ry i n fo r it w as the grim reply
, .
Th e t wo men s at on i n silence The .
sw eat stood o ut on their skin in myriads

o f tiny drops that ran together forming ,
blotches o f moisture which in turn co a , , ,
l e sce d into rivulets that dripped to the

ground They p anted for b reath the ol d
.
,
’
m an s eff orts being especially painful A .
s ea swept up the beach licking around the ,
tru nks of th e cocoanuts and subs i ding

almost at their feet .
“
’
Way pa s t high water mark Capta i n-
,
“ ’
Ly n c h re m arked ; and I ve been here
”
eleven y ears . H e looke d at h i s w atch .
“ ”
I t i s three o clock
’
.
A ma n a n d woman at t h e i r h eel s a motley

,
following of b rats and curs tra i led dis ,
co n sol at e l y by They ca m e t o a h alt

.
22 THE HOUS E OF MAPUHI
beyond the house and after much i r re so

, ,
l u t io n sat down in the sand

,
A few min .
utes later another family trailed in from

the opposite direction the men and women ,
carrying a heterogeneous assort ment of

possessions And soon several hundred per
.
sons o f all ages and sexes were congregated

about the captain s dwelling H e called ’
.
to one new arrival a woman with a nursing

,
babe in her arms and in answer received

,
the information that her house had j ust

been swept into the lagoon .
This was the highest spot of land in

miles and already in many places on either
, ,
hand the great seas were ma k ing a clean

,
breach of the slender ring o f the atoll and

surging into the lagoon Twenty miles .
around stretched the ring of the atoll ,
and in no place was it more than fifty

fathoms wide It was the height of the
.
diving season and from all the islands

,
around even as far as Tahiti the native s

, ,
h ad gathered .
There are twelve hundred men wome n, ,
dead calm continued They s at an d.
w atc h ed the seas and the insane pitching

o f the A om i Captain L ynch gazed at
.
the huge mountains of water sweeping in

u ntil he could gaze no more H e covere d .
h is face with his hands to shut out t he

s ight ; then went into the house .
“
Twenty eight sixty
- -
h e said qu i etly
,
when he returned .
I n hi s arm w as a coil of small rope He .
cut it into two fathom lengths giving o n e

-
,
t o R aoul and retaining o n e for himself dis

, ,
t ributed the remainder among the wome n
with the advice to pick out a tree and climb .
A light air began to blow o u t o f the north

east and the fan of it on his cheek seemed
,
t o cheer R aoul up H e could s e e the A om i

.
trimmi ng her sheets and heading o ff shore ,
and he regretted that he was not on her .
S he would get away at any rate but as fo r ,
the atoll A sea b reached across almost ,
sweeping him o ff hi s fe et and he selected ,
a tree Then he remembered the barom

e ter and ran back to the hou s e He e n .
“
THE EHOUSE OF MA PUH I 25
c ou ntered Capta i n Lynch on the same

e rrand and together t h ey went in .
“
Twenty e ight twenty ” !
- - said th e ! o l d ,
“ ’
m ariner It s going t o be fair hell around
.
”
h ere what w as that i
The air seemed filled with t h e rus h o f
s omething The house quivered and vi
.
b r at e d and th ey heard the thrumming

,
of a mighty note o f sound The windows .
rattled Two panes crashed ; a draught

.
of wind tore in striking t hem and making

,
t h e m s tagger The door opposite banged

.
s h ut s h attering the latch

, Th e wh i te door .
kn ob crumbled i n fragments to the floor .
Th e room s walls bulged like a gas balloo n

’
in the p rocess of sudden inflation Then .
ca me a new sound like the rattle of mus

ke t ry as the spray from a sea struck the
,
w all of the house Captain Ly n ch looked .
’
at his watch It w as four o clock H e
. .
p u t on a coat of pilot cloth unhooked the ,
b arometer and stowed it away in a capa

,
cio u s pocket Again a se a st ru ck the house

.
,
wi th a hea vy thud and the light building ,
26 TH HOUS E OF MA PUHI
E
tilted twisted quarter-around on it s fou n
,
dation and sank down its floor at an angl e

, ,
of ten degrees .
R aoul went out first The wind caught .
him and whirled him away H e noted .
that it had hauled around to the east .
With a great eff ort he threw himself on the

sand crouching and holding his ow n
,
.
Captain Lynch driven li k e a W isp of straw

, ,
sprawled over him Two of the A om i s .

’
sailors leaving a cocoanut tree to whic h

,
they had been clinging came to their aid , ,
leaning against the wind at impossible

angles and fighting and clawing every inch
of the way .
’
The o l d man s joints were stiff and he
could not climb so the sailors by means
, ,
o f short ends of rope tied together hoisted ,
him up the trunk a few feet at a time till

, ,
they could make him fast at the top of the ,
tree fifty feet from the ground R aoul

, .
passed his length of rope around the b ase

o f an adj acent tree and stood looking on .
Th e wind was frightful H e had never .
dreamed it could blow so hard A s e a .
breached across the atoll wetting him t o ,
the knees ere it subsided into the lagoon .
The sun had disappeared and a lead ,
colore d twiligh t settled down A few .
drops of rain driving horizontally struck

, ,
him The impact was like that o f leaden

.
pellets A splash of salt spray struck his

.
’
face It was like the slap of a man s hand
. .
H is cheeks stung and involuntary tears of

,
pain were in his smarting eyes S everal .
hundred natives had taken to the trees ,
and he could have laughed at the bunches

of human fruit clustering in the tops .
Then being Tahitian—born he doubled

, ,
h is body at the waist clasped the trunk ,
o f his tree with his hands pressed the soles ,
o f h i s feet against the near surface of the
trunk and began to walk up the tree At

, .
the top he found t wo women two children , ,
and a man O ne little girl clasped a house

.
cat in her arms .
F rom his ey rie he waved his hand to

Capta i n L yn ch and that doughty patr i
,
Dl gl tl ze d by Microsoft®
arch waved back R aoul was appalle d .
at the s ky It had approached much

.
nearer in fact it seemed j ust over his

,
head ; and it had turned from lead to

black M any people were still on the
.
ground grouped about the bases of the trees

and holding on S everal such clusters were
.
praying and in one the M ormon mission

,
a ry was exhorting A weird sound rhy t h

.
,
m ical faint as the faintest chirp o f a

,
far cric k et enduring but fo r a moment

, ,
but in that moment suggesting to him

vaguely the thought o f heaven and ce l e s e
tial music came to his ear H e glanced

, .
about him and saw at the base of another ,
tree a large cluster of people holding on

,
by ropes and by one another H e could .
see their faces wor k ing and their lips mov

ing in unison No sound came to him
.
,
but he knew that they were singing hymns .
S till the W ind continued to blow harder .
By no conscious process could he measure

it for it had long since passed beyond all
,
h is experience o f wind ; but he knew some
how, neverth eless that it w as blowing

,
harder Not far away a tree w as up rooted

.
,
flinging i t s load of human beings to the

ground A sea washed across the strip
.
o f sand and they were gone

,
Things w ere .
happening quickly H e saw a b row n

.
shoulder and a black head silhouetted

against the churning White of the lagoon .
The next instant that t oo had vanished , , .
O ther trees were going falling and criss ,
crossing like matches He was amazed .
at the power of the wind H is ow n tree .
was swaying perilously o n e woma n wa s ,
w ailing and clutching the little girl who ,
in turn still hung on to the cat .
The man holding the other child touched

, ,
Raoul s arm and pointed

’
H e looked and .
saw the M ormon church careering d runk
e n l y a hundred feet away It had been .
torn from its foundations a nd W ind and ,
sea were heaving and shoving i t tow ar d

-
t he lagoon A frightful wall of water caught

.
i t tilted it and flung it against half a dozen

, ,
cocoanut trees The bunche s o f h um a n

.
fruit fell like ripe cocoanuts The s u b .

!
s iding wave showed them on the ground ,
some lying motionless others squirming ,
and writhing They

. reminded him
strangely o f ants H e was n o t shocked
. .
H e had risen above horror Quite as a .
matter of course he noted the succeeding

wave sweep the sand clean o f the human
wreckage A third wave more colossal
.
,
than any he had yet seen hurled the church ,
into the lagoon where it fl oated o ff into the

,
obscurity to leeward half submerged re

,
-
,
minding him for all the world of a Noah s ’
ark .
H e looked fo r Captain Lynch s house and ’

,
was surprised to find it gone Things .
certainly were h appening quickly He .
noticed that many of the people in the tree s

that still held had descended to the ground .
The wind had yet again increased H is .
own tree showed that It no longer swayed

.
o r bent over and back Instead it remained

.
,
practically stationary curved in a rigid

,
angle from the w ind and merely vibra t i ng .
eyes and w as sure that he saw Capta i n
,
Lynch wave farewell .
R aoul did not wait for anything more .
He touched t he n ative and made signs to

descend to the ground The man w as .
willing but his women were paralyzed

,
from terror and he elected to remain wit h

,
them R aoul passed his rope around the

.
tree and slid down A rush of salt water .
went over his head H e held his b reat h .
and clu n g desperately to the rope The .
water subsided and in the shelter of the

,
trun k he breathed once more H e fastened .
the rope more securely and then w as put ,
u nder by another sea O ne of the women .
slid down and joined him the native remain ,
ing by the other woman the two children , ,
an d the cat .
The supercargo had noticed ho w the

groups clinging at the bases of the other
trees continually diminished No w he s aw .
the process work out alongside him It .
required all his strength to hold on and the ,
woman who had j oined h im w as g ro wm g
w eaker E ach time he emerged from a

.
s e a he was surprised to find himself still
there and next surprised to find the woman

, ,
s till there At last he emerged to find

.
himself alone H e looked up The top

. .
o f the tree had gone as well At half it s .
original height a splintered end vib rated

, .
H e was safe The roots still held while

.
,
the tree had been shorn of its windage .
He began to climb up H e w as so weak .
that he went slowly and sea after se a ,
caught him before he was above them .
Then he tied himself to the trunk and

s tiff ened his soul to face the night and he
knew not what .
H e felt very lonely i n th e darkness At .
times it seemed to him that it was the end

o f the world and that he w as the last one
left alive S till the wind increased Hour

. .
after hour it increased By what he cal .
’
cu l at e d w as eleven o clock the wind had ,
become unbelievable It w as a horrible .

,
monstrous thing a screaming fury a wall

, ,
that s mote and passed o n but that con
t in ue d to smite and pass on a wall with
out end It seemed to him that he ha d
.
become light and ethereal ; that it was he

that was in motion ; that he was being
driven with inconceivable velocity through
unending solidness The W ind w as n o
.
longer air in motion It had become sub .
s t an t i al as water or quic k silver H e had .
a feeling that he could reach into it and tear

it o u t in chunks as one might do with the
meat in the carcass of a steer ; that he
could seize hold of the wind and hang on
to it as a man might hang on to the face
of a cliff .
The wind strangled him He could not .
face it and b reathe for it rushed in through

,
his mouth and nostrils distending his lungs ,
like bladders At such moments it seemed

.
to him that h i s body was being pac k ed and

swollen with solid earth O nly by pressing .
his lips to the trunk of the tree could he

breathe Also the ceaseless impact o f the
.
,
wind exhausted him Body and brain b e .
came wearied H e no longer observ ed

.
,
no lon ger thought and was but se mi con

,
s c i ou s O ne idea constituted his conscious

.
n ess : S o thi s was a hu rr i can e That one .
i dea p ersi s ted irregula rly It was like a .
feeb le flame that flickered occasio n ally .
F rom a state of stupor he would return to

it S o thi s was a hu rr i can e Then he .
wo u ld go off into another stupo r .
The height o f the hurricane endured fro m

eleven at night till three in the morning ,
and it w as at eleven that the tree i n wh i c h

clu n g Map u hi and his women snapped off .
Map uhi rose t o the surface of the lagoo n ,
s till clutching his daughter Ngakura O nly .
a S ou t h S ea islander could have lived i n

s uc h a d ri ving smother The pandanu s .
tree to which he attached h i mself turn ed

, ,
over and over in the froth and churn ; and

i t wa s only by holding on at time s and wait
i n g and at other times shifting h i s gri ps
,
rapidly that he w as able t o get hi s hea d

,
.
and Ngaku r a s to the su rface at interval s

’
s u ffi c i ently n ear together to keep t h e b reat h

i n th em B ut the air w as mos tly water,
.
wh at with flying S p ray and sheete d ra i n
that poured al ong at right angles to the
perpendicular .
It was ten miles across the lagoon to

the farther ring o f sand Here to ss i ng .
,
tree—trunks timbers wrecks of cutters

, , ,
and wrec k age of houses killed nine out o f ,
ten of the miserable beings who survived

t he passage of the lagoon Half—drowned .
,
exhausted they were hurled into this mad

,
mortar of the elements and battered into

formless flesh But Map u h i was fo rtuna te
. .
H is chance was the one in ten ; it fell to

him by the fre ak age of fate He emerge d .
upon the s and bleeding from a score of

,
wounds Ngaku ra s left arm was b roken

.
’
the fingers of her right hand were crushed ;

and cheek and forehead were laid open
t o the bone He clutched a tree that y e t
.
stood and clung on holding the girl an d

, ,
sobbing for air while the waters of the

,
lagoon washed by kne e-high and at t i m es

waist-h ig h .
At three in the morning the back bo n e
of the h urricane b roke By five no more .
than a stiff breeze was blowing And by .
six it w as dead calm and the sun w as shin

ing The sea had gone down O n the
. .
yet restless edge of the lagoon Map u hi ,
saw the broken bodies of those that had

failed in the landing Undoubtedly Te far a .
and Nauri were among them H e went .
along the beach examining them and came ,
upon his wife lying half in and half out

,
o f the water H e sat down and wept

.
,
making harsh animal— noises after the manner

of primitive grief Then she stirred u n
.
easily and groaned

, H e looked more .
closely Not only w as she alive but she

.
,
w as uninj ured S he was merely sleeping

. .
H ers also had been the o n e chance in ten .
O f the twelve hundred alive the night

before but three hundred remained The .
Mormon missionary and a gendarme made

the census Th e lagoon w as cluttered with
.
co rp s es Not a house n o r a b u t w as sta nd

.
i ng . In the w hole atoll not two s tones

remained o n e upon another One in fifty .
of the cocoanut palms still stood and they ,
were wrecks while on not one of them re

,
mained a single nut There w as no fresh .
water The shallow wells that caught t he

.
surface seepage of the rain were filled with

salt Out of the lagoon a few soaked bags
.
of flour were recovered The survivors .
cut the hea rts out of the fallen cocoanut

trees and ate them H ere and there they .
crawled into tiny hutches made by hollow ,
ing out the sand and covering over w ith

fragments of metal roofing The mission .
ary made a crude still but he could not ,
distill water for three hundred persons By .
the end of the second day R aoul taking , ,
a bath in the lagoon discovered that his ,
thirst w as somewhat relieved H e cried .
o u t the news and thereupon thre e hundred

,
men women and children could have be en

, ,
see n standing up to their necks in the lagoo n

,
and trying to drink water in through their

skins Their dead floated about them o r
.
,
were stepped upon where they still lay upon

t he bottom O n the third day t he pe ople
.
40 THE HOUSE OF MA PUHI }
of hurricanes and while she prayed to her

, ,
shar k god for protection from sharks she ,
w aited for the wind to break But at three .
o cloc k she was in such a stupor that she

’
did not k now Nor did she know at s ix

.
o clock when the dead calm settled down

’
.
S he was shoc k ed into consciousness when

she w as thrown upon the sand S he dug .
in with raw and bleeding hands and feet

and clawed against the backwash until
she w as beyond the reach o f the waves .
S he knew where she was This land .
could be no other than the tiny islet of

Tako ko t a .It had no lagoon No one .
lived upon it Hi ku e ru was fifteen mile s

.
away . S he could not see H iku e ru but ,
s he knew that it lay to the south The .
days went by and she lived on the cocoa

,
nuts that had kept her afloat They sup .
plied her with drinking water and wi th

food But she did not drink all she wanted
.
,
nor eat all s he w anted R escue was prob .
l e m at i cal
. S he saw the smoke of the rescue
s teamers on the horizon but what s teamer ,
THE HOUSE OF MAPUH I 41
could be expected t o come to lonely uni n ,
h abited Tako ko t a
F rom the firs t sh e was tormented by
corpses The sea persisted in flinging them
.
upon her b it of sand and she persisted , ,
until her strength fa i led in thrusting them ,
b ack into the sea where the shark s tore

a t t hem and devoured them When her .
s trength failed the bodies festooned her

,
beach with ghastly horror and she with ,
d rew from them as far as s he could which ,
w as not far .
By the tenth day her last cocoanut was

gone and she w as shrivelling from thirst
, .
S he dragged herself along the sand looking ,
for cocoanuts It w as strange that so

.
m any bodies floated up and no nuts , .
S urely there were more cocoanuts afloat

,
than dead men ! S he gave up at last and ,
lay exhausted The end had come Noth

. .
i n g remained but to wait fo r death .
Coming out of a stupor she became slowly ,
a ware that s he was gazing at a patch o f
s andy red hair o n the head of a corpse

- .
The s e a flung the body toward her th e n ,
drew it back It turned over and she sa w

.
,
t hat it had no face Yet there was some

.
thing familiar a b out that patch o f sandy

red hair An hour passed S he did not
. .
exert herself to make the identification .
S he was waiting t o die and it mattered ,
little to her what man that thing o f horror

once might have been .
But at the end of the hour she sat up

slowly and stared at the co rpse An u n .
usually large wave had thrown it beyond

the reach of the lesser waves Ye s she .
,
was right ; that patch o f red hair could

belong t o but one man in the P au m o t u s .
It w as L evy the German Jew the man who

, ,
had bought the pearl and carried it away

on the Hi m Well one thing was evident
.
,
the Hi m had been lost The pearl buyer s .

-
’
god of fishermen and th ieves had gone

back on him .
S he crawled down to the dead man His .
shirt had been torn away and s he could ,
se e t h e leather mo n ey-b elt about his waist .
TH E HOUSE OF MAPUHI 43
S he held her breath and tu gged at the

buckles . Th ey gave easier than s he had
expe cted and s he crawled hurri edly away
,
across the sand draggi n g the belt after her

, .
Pocket after pocket s h e unbuckled in the

belt and found empty Where could he .
have put it ! In the last pocket of all she

found it the first and only pearl he had
,
bought on the voyage S he crawled a few .
feet farther to escape the pestilence of the

,
belt and examined the pearl It w as the

,
.
o n e Map u h i had found and been robbed of
by Tori k i S he weighed it in her hand and

.
rolled it back and forth caressingly But .
in it she s aw no intrinsic beauty What .
she did see w as the house Map u hi and

Te fara and she had builded so carefully
in their minds E ach time s he looked at
.
the pe arl she s aw the house in all its details ,
i ncluding the octagon drop— clock on the -
wall That was something t o live for

. .
S he tore a stri p from her ai m and tied

t he pea rl securely about her neck Then .
s h e went o n along the b each panting an d ,
groa n i ng,but resolutel y seeking for coco a

n uts Quickly s he found one and as s h e
.
, ,
gla n ced around a second S he broke one

,
.
,
drinking it s water which w as mildew y , ,
and eating the last p article of the meat .
A little later she found a shattered dug

out Its outrigger was gone but s he w a s
.
,
h opeful and before the day was out sh e

, , ,
found the outrigger E very find w as an .
augu ry The pearl was a t alisman L ate

. .
in the afternoon s he s aw a wooden box

floating low in the water When s he .
dragged it out on the beach its contents

rattled and inside she found ten tins o f
,
s almon S he opened one by hammering

.
i t on the canoe When a lea k was started

.
,
she drained the tin After that she spent .
s everal hours in ext racting the salmon ,
hammering and squeezing it out a morsel

at a time .
E ight days longer she waited fo r rescue .
In the meantime she fastened the out rigger

b ack on the canoe using for lashings all ,
t he cocoanut fib re s h e could find and also

-
,
wh at remained of her aka The canoe .
w as badly cracked and she could not make

,
it water tight but a calabash made fro m

-
a cocoanut s he stored on board for a ba iler .
S he w as hard put for a paddle With a p i ece .
o f tin she sawed off all her hair close t o t h e
s calp .Out Of the hair she braided a cord ;

and by means of the cord s he la s hed a three
foot piece o f broom handle to a bo ard fro m
-
the salmon case S he gnawed we dge s with

.
her teeth and with them wedged the lashing .
On the eighteent h day at midnight she , ,
launched th e canoe through the surf and

started b ac k for Hiku e ru S he w as an old .
woman H ardship h ad stripped her fat

.
from her till scarcely more than bones and

s kin and a few stringy muscles remained .
The canoe w as large and should have bee n

paddled by three strong men But she .
d i d it alone with a make-shift paddle

,
.
Also the canoe leaked badly and one third

, ,
-
o f her time w as devoted to bailing By .
clear daylight s he looked vainly for Hi

ku e ru Astern Tako kot a had s u n k b e
.
,
46 THE HOUSE OF MAPUH I
n eath the se a rim The sun blazed down
-
.
on h er nakedness compelling her body ,
to surrender its moisture Two tins of .
s almon were left and in the course of the

,
day she b attered holes in them and drained

the liquid S he had no time to was te in
.
extracting the meat A current was setting

.
to the westward she made westing whether

,
s he made southing or not .
In the early afternoo n standing upright ,
in the canoe s he sighted H i ku e r u It s

, .
weal t h o f cocoanut palms was gone O nly .
here and there at wide intervals could

, ,
she see the ragged remnants of trees The .
sight cheered her S he was nearer than she

.
had thought Th e current was setting

.
h er t o the westward S he bore up against .
it and paddled o n The wedges in the .
paddle lashing worked loose and she lost

-
,
much time at frequent inte rvals in driving

, ,
them tight Then there w as the bailing

.
.
O ne hour in three she ha d to cease paddling

in order to bail And all the tim e s he
.
dri fted to the westwa rd .
48 THE HOUSE OF MA PUH I
on . When the fin disappeared s he l ay ,
face downward on the water and watch ed .
When the fin reappeared she resumed her

swimming The monster was lazy. s he
could see that Without doubt he had been

.
well fed since the hurricane H ad he been .
very hungry S he k new he would not have

,
hesitated from making a dash for her H e .
was fifteen feet long and one bite she , ,
knew could cut her in half

,
.
But s he did not have any time to waste

o n him Whether she swam or not the
.
,
current drew away from the land j ust the

same A half hour went by and the s h ar k
.
-
,
began t o grow bolder S eein g no ha r m in .
her he drew closer in narrowing circles , ,
cocking his eyes at her impudently as he

slid past S ooner or later she knew well
.
,
enough he would get up suffi cient courage

,
t o dash at her S he resolved to play .
first It w as a desperate act S he medi

.
t at e d S he was an old woman alone in

.
,
the s e a and weak from starvation and h ard

ship ; and yet s he in the face of this sea ,
THE HOUSE MA PUHI
‘
OF 49
tiger must anticipate his dash by herself

,
dashing at him S he swam on waiting , ,
he r chance At last he passed languidly

.
by barely eight feet away S he rushed at

,
.
h im suddenly feigning that she w as attack

,
i ng him H e gave a wild flirt of his tail

.
as he fled away and his sandpaper hide , ,
stri k ing her took off her skin from elbow

,
to shoulder H e swam rapidly in a widen

.
,
i ng circle and at last disappeared

,
.
In the hole in the sand covered over by ,
fragments o f metal roofing Mapu hi and ,
Te fara lay disputing .
“
If you had done as I said charged ,
Te fara for t he thousandth time

,
and hid ,
den the pearl and told no one you would ,
”
h ave it n o w .
“
But Hu ru Huru was with me when I
-
opened the shell have I not told you

so times and times and times wi thout
end
And now we shall have no house .
Raoul told me t o day that if you had not -
s old the pearl to Toriki
so THE HOUSE OF MA PUHI
I d i d n ot sell it Torik i robbed m e .
— th at if you had not sold the p earl,

h e would gi ve y ou five thousand F re n c h
dollars wh i ch is ten thousa n d C h i li
,
.
“
H e h as been talking to hi s mothe r ,
Mapu hi exp l ah e d “
S he ha s an eye for
.
”
a pearl .
“
And n ow the pearl i s lost Te fara co m ,
a
p lained .
“
It paid my debt with Toriki Th at is .
”
twelve hundred I have made any way , .
“ “
Toriki is dead S he cried ,
They h ave .
h eard no word o f his schooner Sh e w a s .
lo s t along with the A om i and the Hi ra .
Will Toriki pay y ou the t hree hundred

credit he promised No because To ri k i ,
is dead And had you found no pearl

.
,
would you to-d ay o w e Toriki th e twelve

hundred ! No because Torik i is dea d
, ,
and you cannot pay dead men .
But L evy did not pay Torik i Mapu hi

”
,
“
said . He gave him a piece of paper that
w as good for the money in Papeete ; and
n ow Levy is dead and cannot p ay ; a n d
THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI 51
To ri k i is dead and the pape r los t w i t h h i m,

and th e p earl is lost with L e vy You are .
ri gh t Te fara I h ave lo st th e pearl a n d

, .
,
”
got n ot h i n g for it No w let u s sleep
. .
H e h eld up his hand sudde n ly a n d lis

te n e d F ro m without came a noise as of
.
,
o n e wh o b reathed heavily and w i th pa i n .
A h a n d fumbled against the mat that s erved

fo r a door .
“
W ho i s t h ere ! Map u hi cri ed
”
”
Na u ri , came the answer C an y ou .
tell me where is my son Map u hi ,
Te fara screamed and gripped h er hu s

b and s a rm
’
.
“ ” “ ”
A ghost 1 s he chattered A gh o s t ! .
Map u hi s face was a gh a s tly yellow

’
.
H e clung w eakly to his wife .
“ ”
Good woman he said i n falteri ng
,
“
tones stri vi ng to disguise his voice
, I ,
k n ow your son well H e i s living on th e.
east s ide o f the lagoon .
f F ro m w ith out came the sound o f a si gh .
Mapu hi b ega n to feel elated He had foole d .
t h e gh os t .
But where do you come from ol d ,
”
woman i he asked .
“ ”
F rom the sea wa s the dej ected answer ,
.
' ”
I kn ew i t I knew it 1 screamed
Te fara rockin g t o and fro
,
.
“
S i n ce when has Te fa r a bedded in a
”
strange house i came N au ri s voice through ’
the matting .
Mapu hi looked fear and rep roach at his

wife It was her voice that had betrayed
.
them .
“
And since when has Map u hi my son , ,
”
denied h i s old mother ! the voice went
on
NO no I have n ot
, , Map u hi h as not !
denied you he cried I am not Map u hi

,
. .
H e is on the east end of the lagoon I tell ,
”
you .
Ngakura sat up in bed and began to

cry The matting started to shake
. .
What are you doing ! ”

Mapu hi de
m an de d .
“
I am c o m ing i n , s aid th e vo i ce o f
Nauri .
On e end of t he
matting lifted Te fara .
t ri ed to dive un der the blan kets but ,
Map u hi h eld on to her H e had to hold .
o n to something Together struggling wi th

.
,
each other with shivering bodies and ch at

,
tering teeth they gazed with protruding

,
eyes at the lifting mat They s aw Nauri .

,
dripping with sea-water without her aha , ,
creep in They rolled over b ackward from

.
her and fought for N gak u ra s blanket with ’
which to cover their heads .
“
You might give your old moth er a
drink of w ater the ghost said plaintively
,
“ ”
Give her a drink of water Te fara ,
commanded in a shaking voice .
“
Give her a drink of water Mapuhi ,
p a s sed on the comm and to Ngakura .
And together they kicked out Ngaku ra

from under the blanket A minute later .
,
peeping Map u hi saw the ghost drinking

,
.
W hen it reached o u t a shaking hand and

laid it o n his he felt the weight of it and wa s
,
conv i nced that it w as no ghost Th e n he .
e mer ged ,
draggi n g Te fara aft e r h i m an d ,
54 THE HOUSE OF MAPUH I
in a few minutes all were listening to Nau ri s ’
tale And when she told o f L evy and

.
,
dropped the pearl into Te fara s hand even ’

,
she was reconciled to the reality of her

mother i n — law
-
.
“
In the morning said Te fara y ou
, ,
w ill sell the pearl to R aoul fo r five thousand

”
F rench .
“
The house obj ected Nauri .
”
H e will build the house Te fara an ,
“
swe re d H e says it will cost four thousand
.
F rench Also will he give one thousand

.
F rench in credit which is two thousand,
”
Chil i .
“ ”
And it will be six fathoms long !
Nauri queried .
“
Ay
”
answered Map u hi six fathoms
, , .
And in the middle roo m will be the

octa gon-d rop clock -
“
A V and the round table as well
, .
Then give me something to eat for I ,

”
am hungry said Nauri complace n tly
, , .
“
A n d after that we w ill sleep for I a m ,
wea ry A n d to-morrow we wi ll have m ore

.
THE WHA LE T OOTH
T was in the ea rly days in F ij i when ,
John S ta rb u rst a rose in the mission

ho u se at R ewa Village and announced
h i s intention of carrying the Gospel through
o u t all Viti L evu Now Viti L evu means
.
“
the Great L and it being the largest ,
island in a group com pos e d of many la rge

islands to say nothing of hu ndreds of small
,
ones H ere and there on the coasts living

.
,
b y most p recarious tenure was a sp rink ,
ling o f missionaries tra ders b é che de mer , ,

- -
fishers and whalesh ip dese rters

,
The .
smoke o f the hot ovens a rose under their

windows an d the bodies o f the slain were
,
dragged by their doors o n the w ay to the

feasting .
The Lo tu or the Worship was progress

, ,
i ng slowly and often in crablike fash

, , ,
io n
. Ch i e fs who announced themselve s
,
59
60 THE WHA LE TOOTH
Christians and were welcomed into the
body of th e chapel had a distressing hab it
,
of backsliding in order to pa rtake of the

flesh of some favo rite enemy E at or .
be eaten had been the law of the land ;

and eat or be eaten promised to remain
the law of the land for a long time to come .
There were chiefs such as Tanoa Tu ive i

, ,
koso and Tu i ki l ak il a who had literally

, ,
eaten hundreds o f their fellow men But - .
among these gluttons R a Un dre u n dre

ranked highest R a Un dre u n dre lived at
.
Taki raki. H e kept a register of his gusta

to ry exploits A row of stones outs ide
.
his house marked the bodies he had eaten .
This row was two hundred and t hirty

paces long and the stones in it numbered
,
eight hundred and seventy two E ach -

.
stone represented a body The row o f .
stones might have been longer had not ,
R a U n dre u n dre unfortunately received a

spear in the small o f his back in a bush
skirmish on S omo S omo and been s e rved
u p on the table of N au n gavu l i whose me ,
THE WHA LE TOOTH 61
dioe re s tring o f stones numbered only fo rty

ei ght .
The h ard worked fever stricken miss io n

-
,
-
a rie s stuck doggedly to their task at t i me s ,
despa i ring and looking forward for some

,
special ma nifestation some outburst o f ,
P entecostal fire that would b ring a glorious

h arvest o f souls But cannibal F ij i had
.
remained obdurate The fri zzle headed .

-
man eaters were loath to leave their fl e s h

-
pots so long as the harvest of human car

c ases w as plentiful S ometimes when the
.
,
ha rves t w as t oo plentiful t hey impos ed ,
on t h e missionaries by letting the word
slip out that on such a day there would be

a killing and a barbecue P romptly t he .
m issiona ries would buy the lives o f the

v ictims with stick tobacco fathoms o f ,
calico and qua rts of trade beads Nathe

,
-
.
less the chiefs drove a handsome trade in

thus disposing of their surplus live meat .
Also they could always go out and catch

,
more .
I t w a s at t h i s j u n cture that John S tar
62 THE WHA LE TOOTH
hurst proclaimed that he would carry t h e
Gospel from coast to coast of the Great
L and and that he would begin by pene
,
t rat in g the mountain fastnesses o f the hea d
waters o f the R ewa R iver His words were .
received with consternation .
The native teachers wept softly H i s .
t wo fellow missionaries strove to dissuade

-
h im The King o f R ewa warned him that

.
the mountain dwellers would surely kai

kai him kai—
kai meaning to eat
and that he the King of R ewa having
, ,
become Lotu would be put to the necessity

,
of going to war with the mountain dwellers .
That he could not conquer them he was

pe rfectly aware That they might come
down the river and sack R ewa Village he
was likewise perfectly aware But what .
was he to do i If John S t arhu rs t persisted

in going out and being eaten there would ,
be a war that would cost hundreds of

lives .
L ater in the day a deputatio n o f Rewa

chiefs waited upon John S tarb urst He .
64 THE W H A LE TOO TH
down out o f the mountains and across t he
length and breadth of the Great L and from
s e a to s e a and to t h e isles in the midst of
the s e a There were no wild lights in his

.
mild gray eyes but only calm resolution

,
and an unfaltering trust in the H igher

Power that was guiding him .
O ne man only he found who approved

of his proj ect and tha t was R a Vatu who
, ,
secretly encouraged him and offered to

lend him guides to the first foothills John .
S tarb urst in turn was greatly pleased by

, ,
R a Vatu s conduct F rom an inco r rigible

’
.
heathen with a hea rt as black as his p r ac

,
tices R a Vatu was beginning to emanate

,
light H e even spoke of becoming Lotu

. .
True three years before he had expressed

,
a similar intention and would have entered

,
the church had n o t John S tarb urst entered

obj ection to his b ringing his four wives
along with him R a Vatu had had e co
nomic and ethical obj ections to monogamy .
’
B esides the missionary s hair splitting o b
,
-
j e ct io n had offended him ; and to prove ,
THE WHA LE TOOTH 65
t h at h e w as a free agent and a man of

h onor he had swung his huge war—
, club over
’
S tarb urst s head S t arhu rs t had escaped
.
b y rushing in under the club and holding

on to him until help arrived But all that .
w as n ow forgiven and forgotten R a Vatu .
was coming into the church n o t merely ,
as a converted heathen but as a converted ,
polygamist as well H e was only waiting .

,
he assured S tarb urst until his oldest wife , ,
who was ve ry sick should die , .
John S tarb urst journeyed up the slug

gish R e wa in one o f R a Vatu s canoes ’
.
This canoe was to carry him for t wo days ,
when the head of navigation reached it

, ,
would return F ar in the distance lifted

.
,
into the sky could be seen the great smoky

,
m ountains that marked the backbone o f

the Great L and All day John S t arhu rst
.
gazed at them with eager yearning .
S ometimes he prayed silently At othe r .
times he was joined in p rayer by Narau ,
a native tea ch er who for seven years had

,
b e en Lo tu ever s ince t he day h e had b ee n

,
66 THE WHA LE TOOTH
saved from the hot oven by D r James .
E llery B rown at the trifling expense of one

hundred sticks of tobacco two cotton ,
blankets and a large bottle of painkiller

, .
At the last moment after twenty hours of ,
solitary supplication and p rayer N arau s ,

’
ears had heard the call to go forth wit h

John S tarb urst on the mission to the moun
tains.
“
M aster I will surely go with thee he
, ,
had announced .
John S t arhu rs t had hailed him wi th

sober delight Truly the Lord was with
.
,
him thus to spur o n so bro k en spirited a -
creature as Narau .
“
I am indeed without spirit the weakest ,
”
o f the L ord s vessels Narau explained
’
,
the first day in the canoe .
“
Yo u should have faith stronger faith , ,
the missiona ry chided him .
Another canoe j ourneyed up the R ewa

that day But it j ourneyed an hour astern
.
,
and it took care not to be seen This .
canoe was also the p roperty of Ra Vatu .
THE WHA LE TOOTH 67
I n it w as E ri rol a R a Vatu s first cousin

,
’
and trusted henchman ; and in the small

b asket that never left hi s hand was a whale
tooth It wa s a magnificent tooth fully
.
,
s ix inches long beautifully proportioned

, ,
the ivory turned yellow and purple with

age This tooth w as likewise the property
.
of R a Vatu ; and in F ij i when such a tooth ,
goes forth things usually happen For thi s

, .
i s the virtue of the whale tooth : Whoever

accepts it cannot refuse the request that
may accompany it or follow it The re
quest m ay be anything from a human life
to a tribal alliance and no F ij ian is so
,
dead t o honor as to deny the request

when once the tooth has been accepted .
S ometimes the request hangs fire or the ,
fulfilment is delayed with untoward con ,
sequences .
H igh u p the R ewa at the village of a ,
chief Mo n go n dro by name John S tar

, ,
hurst rested at the end o f t he second day

of t h e j ourney In t h e morning attended
.
,
by Narau h e expected to sta rt on foot fo r

,
68 THE WHA LE TOOTH
t h e smoky mountains that were now green
an d velvety with nearness Mo n go n dro .
was a sweet tempered mild mannered little

-
,
-
o ld chief ,
short-sighted and afflicted with
e lephantiasis and no longer inclined toward
,
t h e turbulence of war H e received the .
missionary with warm hospitality gave ,
h im food from his own table and even ,
d iscussed reli gious matters with him l\I o n .

f
go n dro w as of an inquiring bent of mind ,
and pleased John S tarb urst greatly by

a s k ing him to account for the existence
a n d beginning of things When the mis .
s i o n ary had finished h i s summa ry of the
Creation according to Genesis he s aw that ,
Mo n go n dro was deeply aff ected The little .
o l d chief smoked silently for some time .
Then he took the pipe from h i s mou t h

a n d shook his head sadly .
”
It cannot be he said
, I M on .
,
go n dro in my youth w as a goo d workma n

, ,
w ith the adze Yet three months did it

t ake me to make a canoe a small canoe ,
a very small canoe And you say th at all

.
THE WHALE TOOTH 69
th is land a n d w ater wa s made b y one

m an
“
Nay was made by one God th e only
, ,
”
true God the missionary interrupted
, .
“
It i s the same thing Mo n gon dro went ,
“
on,
that all the land and all the water ,
t h e trees the fish and bus h and mounta ins

, , ,
t h e sun t he moon and the s tars were

, , ,
m ade i n six days ! No n o I tell y o u , .
that in my youth I was an able man yet ,
did it require me three months for one

s mall canoe It is a story to frighte n
.
”
children with ; but no man can believe it .
“ ”
I am a man the missionary said
, .
Tr ue you are a man But it is not

,
.
given to my dark understanding to know

wh at you believe .
“
I tell y ou I do believe that everyt hing
,
”
w as made in s ix days .
“ ”
S o you s ay s o you s ay
,
the old can ,
n i bal murmured soo thingly .
It was not until after John S tarb urst

an d Narau h ad gone off to bed t h at Eri ro l a
i nto the ch i ef s hou s e an d after

’
cre pt , ,
70 THE WHALE TOOTH
diplomat i c speec h h anded th e whale toot h
,
to Mo n go n dro .
The old chief held the tooth in hi s h ands

for a long time It was a beautiful tooth
.
,
an d he yearned for it Also he divined .

,
“
the request that must accompany it No .
,
”
no ; whale teeth were beautiful and hi s ,
mouth watered for it but he passed it ,
back to E ri ro l a with many apologies .
In the ea rly dawn John S tarb urst was

afoot st riding along the bush trail in his
,
big leather boots at hi s heels the faithful

,
Narau himself at the heels of a naked

,
guide lent him by Mo n go n dro to S how the

way to t h e next village which was reached ,
by midday Here a new guide showed the

.
way A mile in the rear plodded E ri ro l a

.
,
the whale tooth in the basket slung on his

s houlder For two days more he brought
.
’
up the missiona ry s rear o fl e ri n g the toot h ,
t o the village chiefs But village after .
village refused the tooth It followed so .
’
quickly the missionary s advent that they
72 THE WHA LE TOOTH
S oon will come a man a white m an , ,
Eri ro l a bega n afte r the p roper p au s e

,
.
“
H e is a missionary man and he will come ,
to— day R a Vatu is pleased to desire his

.
b oots H e wishes to present them t o his

.
good friend Mo n go n dro and it i s in his

, ,
mind to send them with the feet along in

them for Mo n go n dro is an old man and his
,
teeth are not good B e sure 0 Buli that .

, ,
the feet go along in the boots As for the .
”
rest of him it may stop here
,
.
The delight in the whale tooth faded o u t

’
o f the Buli s eyes and he glanced about ,
him dubiously Yet had he already ac .
ce p t e d the tooth .
“
A little thing like a mission ary doe s
not matter Eri ro l a prompted
,
.
“
No a little thing like a miss i onary doe s
,
”
not matter the Buli answered himself
, ,
again .Mo n go n dro shall have the boots .
Go you young men some three or four

, ,
o f you and meet the missiona ry on the

,
trail Be sure you b ring back the boot s

.
”
as well .
TH E WHALE TOOTH 73
It is too late sa i d Eri ro l a L isten !

, .
”
H e comes now .
B reaking through the thicket of brush ,
John S t arhu rst with Narau close on his

,
h eels strode upon the scene The famou s

, .
boots having filled in w ading the stream

, ,
s qu irted fine j ets of water at every s tep .
S tarb urst looked about him with flashing

eyes Upborne by an unwavering trust
.
,
u ntouched by doubt or fear he exulted in ,
a ll he s aw H e knew t h at since the begin

.
n ing of time he w as the first white man ever
to tread the mountain stronghold of G at o ka .
The grass hou s es clung to the ste ep

mountain side or overhung the r ush n
R ewa O n either side towered a mighty
.
p recipice At the best three hours of

.
,
sunlight p enetrated that narrow gorge .
No cocoanuts nor b ananas were to be seen ,
though dense tropic vegetation overran

,
everything dripping in airy festoons from

,
the sheer lips of the precipices and running

r iot in all the crannied ledges At the far .
end of t h e gorge the R ew a leaped e i ght
74 THE WHA LE TOOTH
hundred feet in a sing le s p an wh i le t h e ,
atmosph ere of t h e roc k f ortress pul se d to
the rh yt hmic thunder of the fall .
F rom the Buli s house John S tarb urst

’
s aw emer gi ng the Buli and his followers .
“ ”
I b ring you goo d tidings was the mis ,
s io n ary s greeting
’
.
“ ”
Who has sent y o u ! th e Buli rej oined
q uietly
.
“
God .
It i s a new name in Viti L evu the Bul i ,
“
g rinned . Of what islands villages or , ,
”
passes may he be chief P ‘
“
H e is the chief over all islands all ,
villages all passes

, John S t arhu rs t an
,
sw e re d solemnly He is the Lord over

.
heaven and earth and I am come to ,

!
bring H is word to y o u .
“ ”
Has he sent whale teeth ! was the
insolent qu e ry .
“
No but more precious t h an whale
,
teeth is the
“
It is the custom between chiefs to , ,
”
s e n d wh ale teeth , the Buli i nterrupted .
THE WHA LE TOOTH 75
Your c h ief i s eith er a niggard or y o u ,
a re a fool to come empty handed into th e

,
-
mountains Behold a more gene rous tha n

.
,
”
you is before you .
S o saying he s howed the whale tooth h e

,
h ad received from E ri ro l a .
Narau groaned .
“ ”
It is the whale tooth of R a Vatu h e ,
“
whispered to S tarb urst I know it well . .
Now are we undone

“
A gracious thing the missionary an ,
s w e re d passing his hand through his long

,
beard and adj usting his glasses R a Vatu .
h as arranged that we should be well re

”
ce ive d
.
But Narau groaned again and backed ,
away from the heels he had dogged so

faithfully .
“
R a Vatu is soo n to become Lotu ,
S t arhu rs t explained and I have come ,
”
b rin gi ng t h e L otu t o you .
“
I want none of your Lotu s aid the ,
“
B uli proudly
,
And it is in my mi n d th at
.
”
y o u will be clubbed this day .
76 THE WHA LE TOOTH
The Buli nodded to one of hi s b i g mou n a
t ai n e e rs who stepped forward swing ing a

, ,
club Narau bolted into the nearest house

.
,
seeking to hide among the women and mats

but John S tarb urst sp rang in under the
club and threw his a rms around his e x e cu
t i o n e r s nec k F rom this point of vantage
’
!
he p roceeded to argue H e w as arguing .
for his life and he knew it ; but he w as

,
neither excited n o r afraid .
“
It would be an evil thing fo r you to kill
“
me he told the man
,
I have done you .
”
no wrong nor have I done the Buli wrong
, .
S o well did he cling to the nec k of the

one man that they dared not stri k e with
their clubs And he continued to cling and
.
to dispute for his life with those w ho clam

ored for hi s death .
“
I am John S t arhu rst he went on ,
“
calmly I have labored in F ij i for three
.
years and I have done it for no profit I

, .
am here among y o u for good Why should .
an y man kill me To kill me w ill not profit

”
an y man .
TH E W HA LE TOOTH 77
Th e Buli stole a look at the wh ale tooth .
H e was well paid for the deed .
The missionary w as surrounded by a

m ass of naked savages all struggling t o ,
get at him The death song which is the

.
,
s ong o f the oven was raised and his expos

, ,
t u l at i o n s could no longer b e heard But .
s o cunningly did he twine and wreathe hi s

b ody about hi s captor s that the deat h
’
blow could n o t be struck E ri ro l a smiled .

,
and the Buli grew angry

‘
”
Away with you ! he cried A nice .
sto ry to go bac k to the coast a dozen

o f y o u and one missiona ry without weapons , ,
”
weak as a woman overcoming all of you
, .
“ ”
Wait 0 Buli
, John S tarb urst called
,
o u t from t h e thick of the scuffl e and I ,
wi ll overcome even you F or my weapons.
are Truth and R ight and no man can with ,
”
s tand them .
“ ”
Come t o me th en the Buli answered
, , ,
for my weapon i s only a poor miserable

club a n d as you s ay i t cannot wi th s ta n d
, ,
you .
78 THE W HALE TOOTH
The grou p separated from him a n d John ,
S ta rb urst stood alone facing the Buli who , ,
was lea n i ng o n an enormous knotted war ,
club .
“
Come to me missionary man and over
, ,
”
come me the Buli challenged
,
.
“
Even so will I come to you and o ver
”
come you John S tarb urst made answer
, ,
first wiping his spectacles and settling them

properly then beginning his advance
,
.
The Buli raised the club and wa ited .
“
In the first place my death will profit ,
”
y ou nothing began the argument
, .
“
I leave the answer t o my club w as ,
’
the Buli s reply .
And to every point he made th e same

reply at the same time watching t he
,
missionary closely in order t o forestall t hat

cunning ru n — i n under the lifted club Then .
,
and for the first time John S t a rhu rs t knew,
that his death was at hand H e made no .
attempt to r u n in Bareheaded he stood

.
,
i n th e sun and prayed aloud t h e my st e

ri ou s figure of the i ne vitable Wh i te m an,
80 THE WHALE TOOTH
w as be i ng dragged to the oven as h e h eard
the words
“
D rag me gently D rag me gently
. .
F or I am the champion of my land .
Give than k s ! Give thanks ! Give

”
thanks !
Next a single voice arose o ut of the din
, ,
asking
“ P”
Where i s the b rave man
A hundred voices bellowed the answer
“
Gone to be dragged into the oven an d
”
cooked .
“
Where i s the coward the single voice
demanded .
“ ”
Gone to report ! the hundred voices
“
bellowed back .Gone to report ! Gone
t o report
Narau groaned in anguish of spi ri t The .
words of the old song were true H e was .
the coward and nothing remained to h im

,
b ut to go and report .
MAUKI
E we i gh ed one h undred an d t e n
pounds H is hair w as ki nky and
.
n egroid and he w as black

, H e was .
p eculiarly black H e was neither blue

.
b lack nor purple black but plum black

-
,
-
.
Hi s name was M a n ki and he was the son,
o f a chief . H e had three tambos Tambo .
i s M elanes i an for t aboo and is first cous i n

,
to that Polynesian word Mau ki s three .

’
tambos were as follows : first he mu st ,
n ever shake hands W it h a woman nor ,
’
h ave a woman s hand touch him or any
of h is personal belongings ; s econdly he ,
must n ever eat clams nor any food from

a fire in which clams had been cooked ;
thirdly he must never touch a crocodile

, ,
n o r travel in a canoe that carried an y

p art of a crocodile even if as large as a
t oo t h
.
84 MAUKI
Of a differen t black were h is teet h wh i c h
,
were deep black or pe rhaps better l amp

, , ,
black They had been made so in a single

.
night by his mot her who had compres s ed

, ,
ab out them a powdered mineral which wa s
dug from the landslide back o f Port Adams .
Port Adams i s a salt water village on -
M alaita and M alaita is the most savage

,
i sland in the S olomons s o savage th a t
n o traders nor planters have yet ga i ned a
foothold on it ; while from the time of ,
the earliest b éche -de—mer fishers and s andal

wood traders down to the latest labor
recruiters equipped with automatic ri fles
and gasolene engines scores of white ad
,
ven turers have been passed out by toma

hawks and soft nosed S nider bullets S o
-
.
M alaita remains t o -day in the twentieth ,
century the stamping ground of the labor

,
rec ruiters who farm its coasts for laborer s

,
who engage and contract themselves to

toil on the plantations of th e neighboring
an d more civilized islands for a wage of
thirty dollars a ye ar Th e nat i ve s of tho se

.
MAUKI 35
n e i ghbori ng a n d more c ivilized i sla n ds h ave

themselves become t oo civilized to work
o n plantations .
Mau ki s ears were pierced not in o n e

’
,
place nor two places b ut i n a couple of

, ,
dozen places In one of the smaller holes

.
h e carried a clay pipe The larger hole s .
w ere t oo large for such use The b owl .
o f th e pip e would have fallen through In .
fact in the large s t hole in each ear he ha

,
b it u all y wore round wooden plugs that were

an even four inches in diameter Roughly .
S pe aking th e circumference of said hole s

,
w as twelve and o n e -half i nches Mau ki .
was catholic in h i s tastes In the various .
s maller holes h e carried suc h things as

empty rifle cartridges horseshoe nails , ,
copper screws pieces of string b raids o f

, ,
s enn i t strips of green leaf and in the cool

, , ,
of the day scarlet hibiscus flowers F rom

,
.
wh i c h it will be seen that pockets were

n ot necessa ry to his well-b e i n g Besides
! fi
.
,
p o ckets were impossible fo r his only wearing ,
apparel consisted of a piece of calico sev
86 MA UKI
e ral i nc h es wi de A p ocket k n ife h e wore
.
i n hi s hair the blade snapped down on a

,
kinky lock H is most p r ized possessio n

.
w as the han dle of a china cup which he ,
suspended from a ring of turtle shell which -

, ,
i n turn w as passed through t h e pa r t ition

,
cartilage o f hi s nose .
But in S pite of embellishments M an ki ,
had a nice face It w as really a pretty face,

.
viewed by any standard and for a M elane ,
s ian it w as a remarkably good loo ki ng -
face Its one fault w as it s lack of stren gth

. .
It was softly eff eminate almos t girlish , .
The features were small regular and deli , ,
cate The ch i n wa s weak and t he mout h

.
,
was weak Th ere w as n o strength n o r

.
character in t he j aws forehead and nos e , , .
In t he eye s onl y could be caught any hi n t

of t he unknown quantities that were so
large a part of his make— u p and that oth er
persons could not understand These u n .

n
known quantitie s were pluck pertinacity , ,
fearlessne ss imagination and cunning ;

, ,
an d wh e n t h ey fou n d exp re ssi o n i n so me
88 MA UKI
They tri ed i t once in the days wh e n t he
,
s earch w as on for gold but they alway s ,
left their heads behind to grin from the

’
s moky rafters of the b u s hm e n s huts .
When Mau ki w as a young man of se ven

teen F an fo a got out of tobacco H e got
,
.
dreadfully out of tobacco It was hard .
times in all his villages H e had been .
guilty of a mistake S uo was a harbor

.
s o small that a large schooner could not

s wing at anchor in it It w as surrounded
.
by mangroves that overhung the deep water .
It was a trap and into the trap sailed two

,
white men in a small ketc

h They were .
after recruits and they possessed much

,
tobacco and trade-goods to say nothing ,
of three rifles and plenty o f ammunition .
Now there were no salt-water men living

at S uo and it w as there th at the bushmen
,
could come down to the sea The ketch .
did a splendid t rafli c It signed on twenty

.
recruits the first day E ven old F an fo a .
signed on And that same day the score of

.
n ew recru i t s chopped off the two wh ite
MA UKI 89
m en s heads , killed the boat s crew, and

’ ’
b urned the ketch Thereafter and fo r three

.
,
m onths there was tobacco and trade goods

,
-
i n plenty and to spare in all the bush

v illages Then came the man—
. o f—
war that
threw shells for miles into the hills frighten ,
ing the people out of their villages and into

the deeper bush Next the man-o i — war
.
s ent landing pa rties ashore The V illage s .
were all bu rned along with the tob acco and

,
trade-stuff The cocoanuts and bananas

.
w ere chopped down the taro gardens u p ,
rooted and the pigs and chickens killed

,
.
It taught F an fo a a lesson but in the ,

i
‘
meantime he w as out of tobacco Also .

,
his young men were too frightened to S ign

o n with the rec ruiting vessels That was .
why F an fo a ordered his slave Mau ki , ,
to be ca rried down and signed on for half

a case of tobacco advance along with ,
knives axes calico and beads which he

, , , ,
would pay fo r with his toil on the planta

tions Mau ki was sorely frightened when
.
t hey b rought h im on b oard the schooner .
90 MAUKI
He was a lamb led t o the slaughter Wh i te .
men were ferocious creatures They had .
to be or else they would not make a practice

,
of venturing along the M alaita coast and

into all harbors two on a schooner whe n , ,
each schooner carried from fifteen to twenty

blacks as boat s crew and often as high
’
,
as sixty o r seventy black recruits In .
addition to this there w as always the danger

,
of the shore population the sudden attack ,
and the cutting o ff of the schooner and al l

hands Truly white men must be terrible
.
, .
Besides they were possessed of such devil

,
devils r i fl e s that shot ve ry rapidly many

-
times things of iron and b rass th at made

,
the schooners go when there wa s no wind ,
and boxes that tal k ed and laughed j ust as

men talked and laughed A y and he .
,
had heard of one white man whose p art i c »
ular devil devil w a s so powe rful t hat he

-
could take out all hi s teeth and put the m

b ack at will .
D own into the cab in they took Mau ki .
On deck t he one wh i te man kept guar d

,
MAUK I 91
with two revol ver s in his belt In t he .
cabin the other wh it e man sat w ith a

book before him in which he inscribed
,
s trange ma rks and lines H e looked at .
Mau k i as though he had been a pig or a

fowl glanced under the hollows of his arms
, ,
an d wrote in the book Then he held o u t

.
the w riting stick and Mau ki j ust b arely

touched it with his hand in so doing pledging
,
himself to toil fo r three years on the planta

tions of the Moo n gl e am S oap Company .
It wa s not explained to him that the will

of the fero c i ous white men would be used
t o enforce the pledge and that behind all
, , ,
fo r the same u s e w as all the pow er and all

,
t h e warships of Great B ritain .
O ther blacks there were o n b oard from ,
u nheard -o f far places and when the white

,
man spoke to th em they tore the long

,
feather from Mau ki s hair cut that same

’
,
h air sho rt and wrapped about his w a ist

,
a lava -lava of b right yellow calico .
After many days on the schooner an d ,
after beholdin g more land and i s land s tha n
92 MA UKI
he h ad ever dreamed of h e was landed o n ,
New Georgia and put to work in the field

,
clearing j ungl e and cutting cane grass .
For the first time he knew what work was .
Even as a slave to F an fo a he had not

work ed li k e this And he did not like work
. .
It w as up at dawn and in at dark on two ,
meals a day And the food w a s tiresome

. .
For weeks at a time they were given noth

ing but sweet potatoes to eat and for week s ,
at a time it would be nothing but rice H e .
cut out the cocoanut from the shells day

after day and fo r long days and weeks he
fed the fires that smoked the copra till ,
his eyes got sore and he was s e t to felling

trees H e was a good axe—
. man and later ,
he w as put in the bridge building gang -

.
O nce he w as punished by being put in

,
the road building gang At times he served

-
.
’
as boat s crew in the whale boats when -
,
they brought in copra from distant beache s

or when the white men went o ut to dynamite
fish .
Among other t hings he lea rned b éche
MA UKI 93
d e-m er En gl i s h w ith whic h h e cou ld talk

,
w ith all wh i te men and wit h all recru it s ,
who ot h erw ise would have talked i n a t hou

s an d d iff erent dialects Also he learned .
,
certa i n th ings a bout the white men pri nci ,
p ally th at they kept their word If they .
tol d a b oy he was going to rece i ve a st i ck o f

.
t obacco h e got it
, I f they tol d a b oy t h ey
.
wo u ld knock seven bells ou t o f h i m i f h e

did a ce rtain thing when he did that t h i ng
,
s eve n b ells invariably were knocked o u t

of h i m .Mau ki did n o t know wh at s eve n
b ells w ere but they occurred in b éche -de
,
m er and he i m agined them to b e th e blood

,
and teeth that sometimes accompa n i ed

th e process of knocking o u t s eve n b ell s .
O ne ot h er thing he learned : no b oy wa s
s tru ck or punished unless he did wrong .
Even wh en the white men were dru nk a s ,
th ey were frequently they never s tru ck ,
u nless a rule h ad been broken .
M a n k i did n o t like the plantati o n He .
h ated work and h e was t h e so n o f a c h i ef

,
Fu rt h er m ore i t w as ten years s i nce h e h a d

,
94 MAUKI
b een s tolen from Port Adam s by F an fo a ,
and h e was homesick H e was even home .
s i ck for the slavery under F an fo a S o he .
ran away H e struc k back into the bush

.
,
with th e idea of working southward to the

beac h and stealing a canoe in wh ic h t o
go home to Port Ada m s But the fever .
got h i m and he w as captured and b rou ght

,
back more dead than al i ve .
A second time he ran away in t he com ,
pany of t wo M alaita boys They go t down .
the coast twenty miles and were hidden i n ,
the b ut o f a M alaita freeman who dwelt ,
in that village But in the dead of night

.
t wo white men came who were n o t afraid

,
o f all the village people and who k n ocked
seven bells out of the three runaways tie d ,
them like pigs and tossed them into th e

,
whale-boat But the man in whose house

.
they h ad hidden seven times seven bells

mu s t have been knoc k ed out of him from t h e
way the hair sk i n and teeth flew and he was
, , ,
discouraged for the rest of his natu ral l i fe

from h arboring ru naway la b orers .
Digi t/ze d by Microsoft®

96 MAUKI
The northwe s t monsoo n was b lowi n g,
an d th ey fled south i n th e night-t i me ,
h i d i n g by day on detached and un i nhab i ted

is let s o r dragging their whale boat i nto
,
-
th e b ush on the large island s Thu s they .
ga i n ed Gu adal can ar skirted halfway along

,
i t and crossed the Indi s pensable S trait s

,
to F lorida Island It was here that they

.
k i lled the S an Cristoval b oy savi ng h i s ,
h ead and cooking and eat ing the rest o f

h im The NI al ait a coast was only twenty
.
mile s away but the la s t night a strong

,
current and baffling winds prevented them

from gaining across D ayligh t found th em
.
s t ill several miles from t h e i r goal B ut .
daylight brough t a cutter in whic h were ,
t wo white men who were not afraid of

,
eleve n M alaita men armed with tw elve

rifles Mau ki a n d his companion s were
.
carri ed back to Tulagi where live d t he ,
great white master of all the white m e n .
And the great white master held a cou rt ,
after which o n e by o n e the runaways

, ,
were t i ed up a n d given twe n ty lashe s e ac h,
Digitized by Microsoft®
MA UKI 97
an d sentenced to a fine of fifteen dollars .
Th en they were sent back to New Georgia ,
where the white men knocked seven bells

ou t of them all around and put them to
work B ut Mau k i w as no longer house

.
boy H e was put in the road making gang

.
-
.
The fine o f fifteen dollars had b een paid

b y the white men from whom he had run
away and he w as told that he would have
,
’
to work it out which meant six months
,
additional toil F urther his share o f the

.
,
stolen tobacco earned him another year

o f toil .
Po rt Adams was now three years and a

h alf away so he stole a canoe one night
, ,
h id on the islets in M anning S traits passed ,
through the S traits and began working ,
along the eastern coast of Ysabel only to ,
be captured two-thirds of the way along

, ,
b y the wh i te men on M eringe L agoon .
After a week he escaped from them and

,
took to the bush There were no bus h .
n ati ves o n Y sabel only salt water men ,

-
,
who w ere all Christians The white me n .
98 MA UK I
put up a reward o f five hu n dred s t i ck s of

tob acco and eve ry time Mau ki ventured
,
down to the sea to steal a canoe he was

chased by the salt-water men F our .
months o f this passed when the reward , ,
having been raised to a thousand sticks ,
h e was caught and sent bac k to New

Georgia and the road building gang No w -
.
a thousand sticks are worth fifty dollars ,
and Mau ki had to pay the reward himself ,
’
which required a year and eight months
labor So Port Adams was n ow five years
.
away .
H is homesickn e ss was greater t han ever ,
and it did not appeal to him to settle down

and be good work o u t his four years and
, ,
go home The next time he was caught

.
,
in the very act of running away H is .
case was brought before M r H aveby t he .

,
is land manager of the Mo o n gl e am S oa p

Company who adj udged him an incorri
,
gi b l e
. The Company had plantations on
the S anta Cruz Islands hundreds of mile s ,
across the s e a and there it sent its S olomon

,
t oo MAUKI
s and sticks and to him Mau ki w as b rought
,
by the bushmen with a year and eight

months tacked on to h is account Again .
,
an d before the schooner called in he go t ,
away this time i n a whale boat acco m

,
-
p an i e d by a case of the trader s tobacco

’
.
B ut a northwest gale wrecked him upon

Ugi where the Christian natives stole his
,
tob acco and turned him over to the Moon

gleam trader who resided there The .
t obacco the natives stole meant another
y ear for him and the tale was now eight

,
y ears and a half .
“ ’
We ll send him to Lord Howe said ,
“
M r H aveby B u n s t e r is there and we ll ’
. .
,
let them settle it between them It wil l .
be a case I imagine of Mau k i gett i n g

, ,
B u n st e r o r B u n st e r getting Mau ki an d
, ,
good riddance in either event .
If one leaves M eringe L agoon on Ysa ,
b el and steers a course due north mag

, ,
n etic at the end of one hundred and fifty

,
m iles h e will lift the pounded coral beache s

of L ord Howe above the sea Lord Howe .
MAUKI 10:
is a ri ng of land some one hundred and

fifty miles in circumference several hun ,
dred yards wide at its widest and towering ,
i n places to a height of ten feet above sea

level Inside this ring of sand is a mighty
.
lagoon studded with coral patches L ord .
Howe belongs to the S olomons neither

geograp h ically n o r ethnologically It is an .
atoll while the S olomons are high i s

,
lands ; and i t s people and language are

Polynesian while the inhabitants of the
,
S olomons are M elanesian Lord Howe has

.
been populated by the westward Polynesian

drift which continues to this day big ou t ,
rigger canoes being washed upon its beaches

by the southeast trade That there has
.
been a slight M elanesian drift in the period

of the northwest monsoon is also evident ,
.
Nobody ever comes to Lord Howe or ,
O ntong— Java as it is sometimes called .
Thomas Cook 8C S on do not sell tickets

to it and tourists do not dream of i t s exist
,
ence Not even a white missiona ry h a s

.
l an de d on its s hore Its fi ve th o u san d

.
102 MA UK I
n at i ves are as peaceable as they a re pri m i

tive Yet they were not always peaceable
. .
The S ai l i n g Di r ect i on s S peak o f them as

hostile and treacherous But the men who .
compile the S a il i n g D i re cti on s have never

hea rd o f the change that was worked in the
hearts of the inhabitants w ho not many , ,
years ago cut o ff a big bark and k illed all

,
hands with the exception of the second

mate .This s urvivor carried the news
to his brothers The captains of three
.
trading schooners returned with h im to

Lord Howe .They sailed their vessel s
right into the lagoon and proceeded to
preach the white man s gospel that only ’
white men S hall k ill white men and that the

lesser breeds must k eep hands off The .
schooners sailed up and down the lagoon ,
har rying and destroying There w as no .
escape from the narrow sand circle n o -

,
bush to which to flee The men were shot .
down at sight and there w as no avoiding

,
being sighted The villages were burned

.
,
the canoe s s mashed the chickens and pigs

,
m4 MA UKI
on S avo
. Wh en a consumptive colon i al
w as s ent t o take his place he beat him up
,
with his fists and sent him off a wreck i n

the schooner that b rought him .
M r H aveby next selected a young York

.
shire giant to relieve B u n st e r The York .
shire man had a reputation as a b ruiser

and preferred fighting to eating B ut .
B u n s t e r wouldn t fight
’
He was a regular
.
little lamb — for ten days at the end o f ,
which time the Yorkshire man w as pros

t rat e d by a combined attac k of dysentery
and fever Then B u n st e r went for him

.
,
among other things getting him down and

j umping on him a score or s o of time s .
Afraid of what would happen wh e n hi s

victim recovered B u n st e r fled away in a
,
cutter t o Gu vu t u where he signalized him

,
self by beating u p a young E nglishman

already crippled by a Boer bullet t hrough
both hips .
Then it was that M r H aveby sent Bun

.
ster to Lord Howe the falling off place

,
-
.
H e celebrated hi s landing by mopp i ng
MAUKI 105
up h alf a case o f gin and b y thr ash i ng t he

elderly an d wheezy mate o f the schooner
w hich had brought him Whe n the .
s chooner departed he called the kanakas

,
down t o the beach and challenged them to

throw him in a wrestling bout promising ,
a case o f tobacco to the one who succeeded .
Three kanakas he threw but was promptly ,
t h rown by a fourth who instead of re ce i v

, ,
i ng the tobacco got a bullet through hi s

,
lungs .
And so began B u n st e r s reign o n Lord ’
Howe Three thousand people lived in

.
the principal village ; but it was deserted ,
even in b road day when he passed through

,
.
M en women and children fled before him

, ,
.
E ven the dogs and pigs got out of the way ,
while the king was n o t above hiding under

a mat The t wo prime ministers lived in
terror of B u n st e r who never discussed any
,
m oot subj ect but struck o u t with his

,
fists instead .
And to Lord Howe came Mau ki to toil ,
fo r B u n st e r for eight long years a n d a
106 MAUK I
half There w as n o escaping from Lo rd
.
Howe For better or worse B u n s t e r and

.
,
he were tied together B u n s t e r weighed .
two hundred pounds M an k i weighed one .
hundred and ten B u n st e r was a de

.
generate b rute But Mau ki was a primi

.
ti ve savage While both had wills and

.
ways o f their o w n .
h/Iau ki had no idea of the so rt of master

he was to work for H e had had no warn
.
ings and he had concluded as a matter

,
of course that B u n s t e r would be like other

white men a drin k er of much whiskey a
, ,
ruler and a lawgiver who always kept his

word and who never struck a boy u n
deserved .B u n s t e r had the advan tage .
He knew all about Mau ki and gloated over ,
the coming into possession of him The .
last cook was suff ering from a broken arm

and a disloca ted shoulder so B u n s t e r made ,
Mau k i cook and general house boy -

.
And Mau k i soon learned that t here were

whi t e men and white men O n t he very .
day the schooner depa rted he was ordered
108 MA UK I
th i s an d h e res olved to w alk s mall an d
,
never off end H e s aw the b oat-b oys

.
k nocked a bout and o n e of them put in

,
i rons for three days with nothing to eat

fo r the cr i me o f b reaking a rowlock while
pulling Then t o o he heard t h e gossip
.
, ,
of the village and learned why Bu mste t

h ad taken a third wife — b y force as was ,
well known The first and second wives

.
lay in the graveyard under the white ,
coral sand with slabs of coral rock at head

,
and feet They had died i t w as said

.
, ,
from beatings he had give n them The

third wife w as certainly i ll-u s ed a s Mau k i ,
could see for himself .
But there was no w ay b y which to

avoid offending the white man who seemed ,
off ended with life When Mau ki kept .
silent he was struck and called a sullen

,
b rute Wh en he spoke he w as struck for

.
,
giving back talk When h e wa s grave .

,
B u n st e r accused him of plott i ng and gave

him a thrashing i n advance ; and when he
s trove to be c h eerful and to s mile he was ,
MA UK I 109
c h arged wi th sneering at his lord and master

and given a taste of stick B u n st e r was a .
devil The village would have done for

.
him had it not remembered the lesson r

, of
the three schooners It might have done

.
for him any w ay if there had been a bush

,
to which to flee As it w as the murder o f

.
,
the white men of any white man would

, ,
bring a man o f war that would kill the

- -
offenders and chop down the preciou s

cocoanut trees Then t here were the boat
-
.
b oys with minds fully made up to drown

,
him by accident at the first Opportunity

to capsize the cutter O nly B u n st e r sa w
.
t o it that the boat did not capsize .
Mau k i was of a diff erent breed and , ,
escape being impossible while B u n st e r

lived he was resolved to get the white
,
man The troubl e w as that he could never

.
find a chance B u n st e r was always o n

.
guard D ay and night his revolvers were

.
ready to hand H e permitted nobody to

.
pas s b ehind h i s back as Mau ki learn ed ,
after hav i n g been knocked down severa l
n o MA UKI
times B u n st e r knew that he had more

.
t o fear from the good-natured even sweet ,
faced M alaita boy than from the entire

,
population of L ord Howe ; and it gave

added zest t o the p rogramme of tormen t
he was carrying out And Mau ki walked
.
small accepted his punishments

,
and ,
waited .
All other white men had respected hi s

ta mbos ,
but not so B u n st e r Mau ki s .
’
weekly allowance of tobacco was t wo sticks .
B u n st e r passed them to his woman and

ordered Mau ki to receive them from her
hand But this could not b e and M an ki
.
,
went without his tobacco In the same .
w ay he w as made to miss many a meal ,
and to go hungry many a day H e w as .
ordere d to make chowder out of the big

clams that grew in the lagoon This he .
could n o t do for clams were ta mbo S ix

, .
times in succession he refused to touc h

the clams and s ix times he w as knocked
,
se ns e less . B u n st e r knew that t he boy

would die first b ut called h is refusal mutiny,
,
1 12 MAUKI
h is wi fe a ta s te of the m itten a n d t ri ed ,
it ou t thoroughly on t h e b o at b oy s The a
.
pri me m inisters came i n for a s troke each ,
and th ey had to grin and take it for a j oke .
“ ”
L augh da mn y o u laugh ! w as the
, ,
cue h e gave .
Mau ki came i n for the largest s h are of

the mitten Never a day passed wi thout
.
a caress from it There were time s when

.
the loss of s o m uch cuticle kept him awake

at night and ofte n the half-healed surface
,
was raked raw afresh by the facetiou s M r .
B u n st e r Mau ki cont i nued his pat i ent

.
wait s ecure i n the knowledge that soone r

,
o r later h is time would come An d he .
knew j ust what he was go i ng to do down ,
to th e s mallest detail wh en the t i m e did

,
come .
O ne morn i ng B u n st e r got up in a mood

for knocking seven bells out of t h e un i
verse He bega n o n Mau ki and wound
.
,
up on Mau ki i n the i nterval knocking

,
down h i s wife a n d hammeri n g al l th e b oat

boys . At breakfast h e called th e coffee
MAUKI
s l ops an d t h rew th e scalding contents o f
the cup into Mau ki s face By ten o clock ’
.
’
B u n st e r was 3 g with ague and half ,
a n hour later burning with fever .
It w as no ordin ck It quickly .
became pernicious and developed into ,
black-water fever The days passed and

.
,
he grew weaker and weaker never leaving ,
h is bed Mau ki waited and watched the

.
,
wh ile his skin grew intact once more H e .
ordered t h e boys to beach the cutter scrub ,
h er bo ttom and give h er a general over

,
h auling They th ought the order eman

.
ated from B u n st e r and they obeyed But

,
.
B u n s t e r at the time was lying u nconscious

a nd giving no orders This was Mau ki s .
’
chance but still he waited

,
.
W h en the worst was past and B u n s t e r ,
lay convalescent and conscious but weak ,
as a baby hf au ki packed his few trinkets

, ,
i ncluding the china cup handle into his ,
trade box Then he went over to the vil

.
lage and i n te rviewed the king and his t wo

p rime m inisters .
114 MA UKI
Th is fella B u n st e r him good fella yo u

,
”
like t oo much i he asked .
Th ey explained in one voice th at t h ey

l i ked the trader n o t at all The ministers .
poured forth a recital o f all the indign iti es

and wrongs that had been heaped upo n
them The king bro k e down and wept
. .
Mau ki interrupted rudely .
“
You savve me — me big fella m arst e r
my country You no li k e m this fella
.
’
white m arst e r Me no li k e m P lenty

.
’
.
good you put hundre d cocoanut t wo hun ,
dred cocoanut three hundred cocoanut along

,
cutter H im finish you go sleep m good

.
,
’
fella Altogether k ana k a sleep m go od fella

.
’
.
Bime by big fella noise along house y ou n o ,
’
s avve hear m that fella noi se Yo u alto .
gether slee p strong fella t oo much .
I n like manner Mau ki intervi ewe d t h e

b oat b oys
’
-
Then he ordere d B u n st e r s
.
wife to return to her family hous e H ad .
s he refused he would have been in a quan

,
dary fo r his tambo would not ha v e permitte d

,
him to lay hands on her .
116 MAUKI
the scorc h ing su n M an ki looked tow ard i t
.
and hesitated Then he went over and

.
removed the head which he wrapped in ,
a mat and stowed in the stern— locker of

the cutter .
S o soundly did the kanakas sleep through

that long ho t day that they did not s e e the
cutter run out through the passage and head
south close—
,
hauled on the southeast trade .
No r w as the cutter ever sighted on that

long tack to the shores of Y sabel and dur ,
ing the tedious head beat from there to -
M alaita H e landed at Port Adams with

.
a wealth of rifles and tobacco such as no

o n e man had ever possessed before But .
he did not stop there He had taken a .
’
white man s hea d and only the bush could ,
shelter him S o back he went to the bush

.
villages where he shot old F an fo a and half

,
a dozen of the chief men and made himself ,
the chief over all the villages When his .
father died Mau k i s b rother ruled in Po rt

,
’
Adams and joined together salt water

, , ,
-
m e n and bushmen the resulting combin a ,
MA UKI 1 17
t i o n w as t h e s t rongest of th e te n score
fighting tribe s o f M alaita .
More than his fear of the British govern

m ent was Mau ki s fear of t h e all powe rful
’
-
Moo n gl e am S oap Company ; and o n e day

a message came up to him in the bush ,
reminding him that he owed the Company

eigh t and one half years of l abor H e sent
-
.
back a fa vorable answer and then appeared

,
the inevitable white man the captain o f ,
the schooner the only white man during

,
Mau ki s reign w ho ventured the bush and

’
came o u t alive This man not only came

.
o u t but he brought with him seven hundred

,
and fifty dollars in gold sovereigns the

money price of eight years and a half o f
labor plus the cost price of certain rifles
and cases o f tobacco .
Mau ki no longer weighs one hundred

and ten pounds H is stomach is three
.
times its former girth and he has four

,
wives H e has many other things

. rifles
and revolvers the handle of a china cup
, ,
an d an excellent collection of b u shm e n s

’
118 MA UKI
h eads But more pre cious th an t h e enti re

.
collection is another head perfectly dried ,
and cured with sandy hair and a y ellowis h

,
b eard which is kept wrapped in the fines t

,
of fi b re lava— lavas When Mau ki goes to

.
war with villages beyond his realm he inv a ,
ri ab l y gets o u t t his head and alone in hi s

, ,
grass palace contemplates it long an d so l

,
e mn l y
. At such times the hush o f deat h
falls on the village and not even a pick
,
an i n n y dares make a noise The head is .
esteemed the most powerful devil devi l -
o n M alaita , and t o the possession of it i s

as cri b ed all of Mau ki s greatnes s
’
.
”
YAH ! YAH ! YAH !
E w as a wh iskey guzzling S cotch -
man and he downed his whiskey

,
neat b eginn i ng with his first tot

,
p unctuall y at six in t h e morning and ,
thereafter repea t i ng it at regular intervals

th roughout the day till bed time whic h -
,
was usually midnight H e slept but five

.
h ours out of twenty four and fo r the re

-
,
m ain i ng n i neteen hours he w as quietly and

decently d runk D uring the eight weeks I
.
s pent with h i m on O olong Atoll I never s aw ,
h im draw a s ober breath In fact his sleep

.
,
w as so s hort that he never had time t o

s ober up . It w as the most beautiful and
orderly perennial drunk I have ever ob
s erved.
McA l l i st e r was h is name He was a n .
o ld ma n , and very shaky on h i s p i ns H i s .
h an d trem b led a s wi t h a palsy espec i ally ,
12 1
”
5 22
“
YAH ! YA H ! YAH !
noticeab le when he poured his wh i skey ,
though I never knew him to spill a drop .
H e had been twenty eight years in M ela

-
n e sia ranging from German New Guine a

,
to the German S olomons and so thoroughly ,
h ad he become identified with that portio n

of the world that he habitually S po k e in
,
“ ”
th at bastard lingo called b eche de mer - -
.
Thus in conversati on with me s u n he

, ,
come up meant sunrise ; hai —

ha i he s top
meant that dinner was served ; and bel l y
bel on g me wal k abou t meant that he w as sick
at his stomach H e was a small man
.
,
and a withered one burned inside and o u t

,
s ide by ardent S pirits and ardent sun He .
was a cinder a bit of a clinker of a man

, ,
a little animated clinker not yet quite ,
cold that moved stiffl y and by sta rts and

,
j erks like an automaton A gust o f wind .
would have blown him away H e weighed .
ninety pounds .
But the immense thing abou t h im wa s

the power with which b e ruled Oolong .
Atoll was o n e h undred and forty miles
“
124 YAH ! YA H ! YAH
The ki n g w as in debt to the Co m pa n y t o

t h e tune of cocoanuts and until ,
that w as paid he was not to spend a s i ngle

cocoanut o n anything else .
And yet the king and his people did not

love McA l l i st e r In truth they hated hi m ,
horribly and to my k nowledge t h e whole

, , ,
population with the priests at the head

, ,
tried vainly for three months to pray him

to death The devil devils they sent after
.
-
him were aw e inspiring but since McAl

-
,
lister did not believe in devil devils they -

,
were without power over him With .
drunken S cotchmen all signs fail They .
gathered up scraps of food which had

touched his lips an empty whiskey bottle
, ,
a cocoanut from which he had drunk and ,
even his spittle and pe rformed all kind s

,
of deviltries over them But McA l li st e r .
lived on H is health was superb H e

. .
never caught fever ; n o r coughs nor colds ;

dysentery passed him by ; and the malig
n ant ulcers and vile skin diseases that
attack blacks and whites alike in that d i e
”
YA H ! YA H ! YA H 1 12 5
m ate never fastened upon him H e must .
h ave been so satu rated with alcohol as to

defy the lodgment of germs I used t o .
i magine them falling to the ground in

showers of microscopic C inders as fast a s
they entered his whiskey sodden aura No -
.
one loved him not even germs while he

, ,
loved only whiskey and still he lived

,
.
I w as puzzled I could not understand

.
s ix thousand natives putting up with that

withered shrimp of a tyrant It was a .
miracle that he had not died suddenly long

since U nlike the cowardly M elanesians
.
,
the people were high stomached and warlike

-
.
In the big graveyard at head and feet of

,
the graves were relics o f past sangu i nary

,
histo ry — blubber— spades rusty o l d b ay

,
c n e t s and cutlasses c0 p p e r bolts

,
rudder ,
i rons ha rpoons bomb guns bricks that

, , ,
could have come from nowhere but a

whaler s trying out furnace and Old b ras s
’
-
,
pieces of the sixteenth century that verifie d

the traditions of the early S panish naviga
t ors
. S hip after ship had come to gri ef
”
126 YA H YAH YAH 1
on Oolo n g Not thi rty years before th e

.
,
Whaler B l e n n er dal e running into the lagoon

,
for repairs had been cut o ff with all hands

,
.
In similar fashion had the crew of the

Gas ket a sandalwood trader
,
perished ,
.
There was a big F rench bark t h e Tou l on , ,
becalmed o ff the atoll which the islanders,
boarded after a S harp tussle and wrecked

in the L ipau P assage the captain and a ,
handful of sailors escaping in the long

boat Then there were the S panish pieces
.
,
which told of the loss of one of the early

explorers All this of the vessels named
.
, ,
is a matter of history and is to be found ,
i n the S ou th P acifi c S ai l i n g Di r ect ory B ut .
that there was other histo ry unwritten , ,
I was yet to learn In the meantime I .
puzzled why six thousand p rimitive savage s

let o n e degenerate S cotch despot live .
O ne hot afternoon McA l l i s t e r and I sat

o n the veranda looking out over the lagoon ,
with all its wonder of j ewelled colors At .
o u r b acks across the hundred yards of

,
alm -s t u dded s and , t he outer surf roare d

p
“
12 8 YAH ! YAH ! YAH
ga rrulou s wi t h apologetic e xpl anation In .
s hort, th e king s lept and w as n o t t o b e

,
disturbed .
“
King he plenty stro n g fella s leep ,
w as h is final sentence .
McA l l i st e r was in such a rage that t he

prime minister incontinently fled to return ,
with the king himself Th ey were a mag .
n ifice n t pair the k ing especially who must

, ,
have been all of six feet three inches in

height His features had the eagle-like
.
quality that is so frequently found in those

o f the North American Indian H e had .
been bot h moulded and born to rule H is .
eyes flashed as he listened but right meekly ,
he obeyed McA ll i s t e r s command t o fetch

’
a couple of hundred of the best dancers ,
m ale and female in the vi llage And dance

,
.
they did for t w o mortal hours under that

, ,
b roiling s u n They did not love him for

.
i t and little he cared in the end dismissin g

, ,
t h em with abuse and snee rs .
The abj ect servility of t ho se magnifice n t

s a v ages was terrify i n g How could it b e !
.
“
YA H YAH YAH 12 9
Wh at w as the secret of his rule ! M ore

an d more I puzzled as t h e days w ent by ,
a nd though I Observed perpetual example s

of hi s undisputed sovereignty never a ,
clew w as there as to how it w as .
O ne day I happened to speak o f my dis

appointment i n failing to trade for a beauti
ful pair of orange cowries The pair was .
worth five pounds in S ydney if it was worth

a cent I had offered t w o hundred sticks
.
o f tobacco to the owner w ho had held out ,
for three hundred When I casually men .
t io n e d the situation lVIcA ll i st e r imme

,
di at e l y sent for the man took the shells ,
from him and turned them over to me

, .
F ifty sticks were all he permitted me to

pay for them The man accepted the .
tobacco and seemed overjoyed at getting

o ff so easily As for me I resolved to keep
.
,
a bridle on my tongue in the future And .
s till I mulled over the secret of McA ll i s t e r s

’
power I even went to the extent of asking

.
h im directly but all he did wa s to cock on e

,
e y e look wise and take another drink

, ,
.
“ ”
130 YAH ! YAH ! YAH !
O ne n ight I w as out fish i ng in the lagoo n

with Oti the man who had been mulcted
,
of th e cowries Privily I had made up t o .

,
h im an additional hundred and fifty sticks ,
and he had come to regard me with a re

spect that was almost veneration which ,
was curious seeing that he was an ol d,
man twice my age at least

,
.
“
What name you fella kana k a all the
”
s ame pic k aninny i I began on him This .
fella trader he one fella You fella kana k a .
plenty fella t oo much You fella kanaka .
j ust like m dog plenty fright along that

’
fella trader H e no eat you fella He

. .
n o get m teeth along him What name

’
.
! ”
you too much fright
“ ”
S pose plenty fella kanaka k ill m i
’ ’
he asked .
“
H e die I retorted Yo u fella kana k a
,
.
k ill m plenty fella white man long time

’
before What name you fright this fella

.
white man
“ ”
Yes we kill m plenty was his an swer
,
’
,
.
My word ! A n y amount ! Long t i me
“ ”
13 2 YA H ! YA H ! YA H 1
finish M e no fright Plenty kanaka t oo

. .
much no fright .
Old Oti s pride had been touched for he

’
,
s uddenly stripped down his lava lava and -
showed me the unmistakable scar of a bullet .
Before I could spea k his line ran out su d ,
de n l y H e checked it and attempted to

.
haul in but found that the fish had run

,
around a coral branch Casting a look of .
reproach at me for having beguiled him from

hi s watchfulness he went over the side feet , ,
first turning over after he got under and

,
following hi s line down to bottom The .
water w as ten fathoms I leaned over and .
watched the play of his feet growing dim ,
and dimmer as they stirred the wan phos,
p ho re s ce n ce into ghostly fires Ten fathoms .
sixty feet it was nothing to him an old ,
man compared with the value of a hoo k and

,
line After What seemed five minutes

.
,
though it could not have been more tha n

a minute I saw him flaming whitely u p
,
ward Hé broke surface and dropped a ten

.
pound rock cod into the canoe the line a n d ,
“ ”
YAH ! YAH ! YA H ! 13 3
hook i n tact, the latter still fast in the fish s ’
mouth .
“
It may be I said remorselessly
, .
You no fright long ago You plenty fright .
”
yfl OW along that fella trader .
“ ”
Ye s plenty fright
, he confessed with , ,
a n air of dismiss ing the subj ect F or half .
an hour we pulled up our lines and flung

them out in S ilence Then small fis h sharks
.
-
began to bite and after losing a hoo k apiece

, ,
w e hauled in and waited for the sharks to go

their way .
“
I speak you true Oti b roke into speech
, ,
”
then y ou s avve we fright now .
I lighted up m y pipe and waited and the ,
story that Oti told me in atrocious b éche de -
mer I here turn into proper E nglish Other .
wise in spirit and order o f narrative the

, ,
tale is as it fell from Oti s lips ’

.
“
It was after that that we were very proud .
We had fought many times with the strange

wh ite men who live upon the sea and always ,
we ha d beaten them A few of us were .
k illed b u t wh at was that compared w ith

,
“ ”
13 4 YA H ! YA H ! YA H !
the stores of wealth of a thou s a n d thousa n d

kinds th at w e found on th e s h ip s ! A n d
then o n e day maybe twenty years ago o r
, ,
twent y-five there came a sch ooner right

,
through the passage and into th e lagoon ! .
I t w as a large schooner with t hree mast s .
S he had five white men and mayb e forty

boat s crew black fellows from New Guinea
’
,
and New Britain ; and she had come t o fish

b éche de -mer -
S he lay at anchor acro s s t he
.
lagoon fro m here at P au l oo and h er boats

, ,
scattered ou t eve ry where mak i n g ca mp s ,
o n the beaches where they cured the b é che
de mer This made them weak by dividing

-
.
them fo r tho s e who fished he re and those

,
on the schooner at P au l oo were fifty miles

apart and there we re others fa rther aw ay
,
s till
Our k i n g and headmen held council ,
an d I was one i n the canoe that paddled
all afternoon and all night across the lagoon ,
b ringing word to the people of Pau l oo that

i n the morning we would attack t he fish i ng
camps at th e o n e time and th at it wa s
“
13 6 YAH ! YAH ! YAH
I understand at last why the white men ha ve
t aken t o themselves all the islands in the se a .
It is becau s e they are hell Here are you .
in the canoe with me You are hardly more

.
than a b o y You are not wise for each day

.
,
I tell y o u many things you do not kn ow .
When I was a little pic k aninny I knew more ,
about fish and the ways of fish than you

know now I am an old man but I swim
.
,
down to the bottom of the lagoon and y o u ,
cannot follow me What are you good for

.
,
anyway ! I do not know except to fight , .
I have never seen y o u fight yet I k now that ,
you are li k e your brothers and that you will

fight li k e hell Also y o u are a fool li k e
.
, ,
your brothers You do n o t know when you

are beaten You will fight until you die
.
,
and then it will be t oo late t o k now that you

are beaten .
“
Now behold what this mate did As .
we came down upon him covering the s e a ,
and blowing our conches he put off from ,
th e schooner in t he small boat along w ith ,
the three black b oys and rowed for the ,
“
YAH ! YAH ! YAH 13 7
p assa ge Th ere aga i n h e w as a fool for

.
,
no wi se man would put out to sea in so small

a boat The S ides of it were not four inches
.
above t h e water Twenty canoes went .
after him filled with two hundred young

,
men We p addled five fathoms while his

.
blac k boys were rowing one fathom H e .
h ad no chance but he was a fool ,H e stood .
up in the boat with a rifle and he shot many ,
times H e w as n o t a goo d S hot but as we

.
,
drew close many of us were wounded and

killed But still he had no chance
. .
“
I remember that all the time he was
smoking a cigar When we were forty feet .
away and coming fast he dropped the rifle , ,
lighted a stick of dynamite with the cigar ,
and threw it at u s H e lighted another .
and another and threw them at us very

,
rapidly many of them I know n ow that

,
.
he must have split the ends of the fuses and

s tuck in match— heads because they lighted ,
so quickly Also the fuses were very S hort

.
, .
S ometimes the dynamite sticks went off in

t he air but most of them w ent o ff in t he
,
13 8 YAH YAH YAH l
canoes And eac h time they w en t off i n

.
a canoe that canoe was finished Of the

, .
twenty canoes the half were smashed to ,
pieces The canoe I was in was so smashe d

.
,
and l i kewise the two men who sat next

t o me The dynamite fell between them
. .
The other canoes turned and ran away .
Then that mate yelled Yah Y ah Yah ,

‘
at us Also he went at us again with his

.
rifle so that many were k illed through the

,
back as they fled away And all t he time .
the black boys in the boat went on rowing .
You se e I told you true that mate was hell

, , .
“
No r was that all Before he left the .
schooner he set her on fire and fixe d up all

, ,
the powder and dynamite so that it would

go off at o n e time There were hundreds .
of us on board tryi ng to put out t he fire

, ,
heaving up water from overside when t h e ,
schooner blew up So that all we had .
fought for was lost to us besides many more ,
of us being killed S ometimes even now .

, ,
i n my old age I have bad dreams in whic h

,
I hear that mate ye ll Yah ! Yah ! Yah

‘
,
140 YAH YAH YAH
s c hoo n er i nth ree small boats filled w ith

White men They went right through t he
.
village shooting eve ry man they s aw Also

,
.
they shot the fowls and pigs We w ho .
were not killed got away in canoes and pad

dl e d o u t into th e lagoon Lo o k ing back .
,
we could see all the houses o n fire L ate in .
the afternoon we s aw many canoes coming

from Nihi which is the village near the Nihi
,
P assage in the northeast They were al l .
that were left and like us their village had

,
b e en burned by a second schooner that had

come through Nihi Pa s sage .
“
We stood on in the dark ness to the west
ward fo r Pau l o o but in the middle o f the
,
night w e heard women wailing and then we

ran into a big fleet of canoes They were .
all that were left of P au l oo which li k ewise ,
was in ashes for a third schooner had come

,
in through the P au l oo P assage You see .

,
that mate with his black boys had not bee n

, ,
drowned H e had made the S olomon Is

.
lands and there told his b rothers of what

,
we had done in Oolong And all hi s .
“ ”
YAH l YA H ! YAH !
'
141
b roth ers h ad said th ey wou l d come an d

pu n i s h u s and there they were in the three
,
s c h ooners a n d o u r three v i llage s w ere w iped

,
out .
“
An d wh at w as there for u s to do ! In
t h e morning t he two sc hoo n ers from wind
ward sailed down upon u s in the middle o f
the lagoo n The trade wind was b lowing
.
-
fresh and b y scores of canoe s th ey ran u s

,
down And the rifles never cea s ed talking

. .
We scattered like fl y i n g-fish before the

bon i ta and there were so m any of us that
,
w e escaped by thousands this w ay and that , ,
to t he islands on t h e rim of the atoll .
“
And th ereafter the schooners hunte d
u s up an d down the lagoon In t he night .
time we slipped past them But the next .
day o r i n two days o r three days th e

, ,
s chooners would be coming b ack hunti n g u s ,
toward th e other end of the lagoo n A n d so .
it went We no longer counted nor remem

.
b ered our dead True we were m any and

.
,
they were few But what could w e do. I

wa s i n on e of t he tw enty can oe s fille d wi th
Digitized by Mic osoft®

r
”
142
‘
YAH ! YAH ! YAH !
m en who were not afraid to die W e .
attacked the smallest schooner They s ho t .
u s down in heaps They threw dynamite.
into the canoes and when the dynamite

,
gave out they t hrew hot water down upo n

,
us And the rifles never ceased ta lking

. .
And t hose whose canoes were sm ashed were

shot as they swam away A n d t h e mate .
danced up and down upon t he cabi n-top an d

yelled Yah Yah Yah
,
‘
E ve ry house on every smalles t islan d

was bu rned Not a pig nor a fowl was left
.
alive Our wells were de fil e d with t h e

.
bodies of the slain or else heaped high with

,
coral rock We were twenty -five thousand

.
on Oolong before the three schooners came .
To-day w e are five thousand After th e .
s chooners left we were but t hree t housand,

,
as you shall see .
“
At last the t hree schoo n ers grew ti red
o f chasing u s b ack and fort h S o they went .
,
th e three of them to Ni hi in the northeast

, , .
And then they drove u s steadily t o the wes t .
Their nine b oats were i n t he w ater as welL
“
144 YAH
,
YAH YAH
died and the wounded died And wors t

, .
of all we had no water to quench our thirst

, ,
and for two days the sun beat dow n on us ,
and there was no shade M any men and .
women waded out into the ocean and were

drowned the su rf casting their bodies back
,
o n the beach And there came a pest of flies

. .
S ome men swam to the sides of the schooners ,
but they were shot to the last one And w e .
that lived were ve ry sorry that in o u r pride

we tried to ta k e the schooner with the three
masts that came to fish for b eche -de mer -
.
“
O n the morning o f the third day came
the s k ippers of the three schooners and that
mate in a small boat They carried rifles .
,
all o f them and revolvers and they made

, ,
talk It w as only that they were wea ry

.
o f killing us that they had stopped they ,
told us And we told them that we were

.
sorry that never again would w e harm a

,
white man and in to k en of our submission

,
we poured sand upon ou r heads And all .
the women and children set up a great wail

ing for w ater so that for some time no ma n
,
‘
YAH ! YA H ! YA H 145
c o u ld ma ke himself heard Then we were .
told ou r punishment We must fill th e

.
t h ree schoo ners with copra and b é che —

de mer -
.
And we agreed for we wanted water and

, ,
o u r hearts were broken and w e knew that

,
w e were children at fighting whe n we fought

w it h white men who fight like hell And .
w hen all the talk was finished the mate ,
stood up and mocked us and yelled Yah , ,

‘
Y ah !Y ah After that we paddled away in

o u r canoes and sought water .
“
And fo r weeks we toiled at catching
b éche — de-mer and curing it in gathering the ,
cocoanuts and turning them into copra .
By day and night the smoke rose in clouds

from all the beaches of all the islands of
Oolong as we paid the penalty o f our wrong
doing F o r in those days of death it was
.
bu rned clearly on all our b rains that it was

very wrong to harm a white man .
“
By and by the schooners full o f copra
,
and b é che de mer and our trees empty o f

- -
cocoanuts the three skippers and that mate

,
called u s all together for a big talk A n d .
146 YAH YAH YAH
they sa i d they were very glad th at we h a d

learned our lesson and we said for the ten
,
thousandth t ime that we were sorry and that

we would not do it again Also we poured .
,
sand upon o u r heads Then the s k ippers

.
said that it was all very well but j ust to ,
show u s th at they did not forget us they ,
would send a devil devil that we would

-
never forget and that we would always re

member any time we might feel like ha rming
a white man After that the mate mocked
.
us one more time and yelled Yah ! Yah ! ,

‘
Yah Then six of our men whom w e ,
thought long dead were put ashore from

,
one o f the schooners and the schooners

,
hoisted their sails and ran out through the

p assage for the S olomons .
“
The six men who were put ashore were
the first to catch the devil devil the skippers
-
”
sent back after us .
“
A great sickness came I interrupted , ,
for I recognized the tric k The schooner .
had had measles on board and the six pris ,
oners had been deliberately expo sed to it .
148 YA H YAH YAH
a long him a n d kanaka want m kill m ’ ’

,
kanaka he think devil-devil and kanak a

he hear that fella mate sing o u t Yah ! ,
‘
Yah Yah and kanaka no kill m

’
.
Oti baited hi s hoo k with a piece of squid ,
which he tore with his teeth from the live

and squirming monster and hoo k and bait
,
s ank in white flames to the botto m .
“ ”
S hark wal k about he finish he said ,
.
”
I thin k we catch m plenty fella fish
’
.
H is line j er k ed savagely H e pulled it i n

.
rapidly hand under han d and landed a

, ,
big gasping rock cod in the bottom of the

canoe .
“
S un he come up I make m that da m
,
’
”
fella trader one p resent b ig fel la fish s a i d ,
Ot i .
15 2 THE HEATHEN
Th e s ix of us cabin passengers were pearl ~
b uyers Two were Americans one w as

.
,
Ah C hoo n ( the Whitest Chinese I have ever

known ! one was a German one was a Polish
, ,
Je w and I completed the half dozen

, .
It had been a p rosperous season Not one .
o f us had cause fo r complaint nor one of the ,
eighty five deck passengers either All had

-
.
done well and all were looking forward to

,
a rest— off and a good time in P apeete .
L O f course the P eti t e j eamze was over

,
loaded S he w as only seventy tons and

.
,
she had no right to carry a tithe of the mob

she had o n board Beneath her hatches she .
w as crammed and j ammed with pearl shell -
and copra E ven the trade room w as packed

.
full with shell It was a miracle that the

.
sailors could work her There was no .
moving about the decks They s i mply .
climbed back and fo rth along the rails .
In the night time they walked upo n -
the sleepers who carpeted the deck I ll

, ,
’
swear two deep Oh I and there were pigs

,
.
an d chicke n s on deck and sack s of ya rn s , ,
TH E HE ATHE N 15 3
while every conceivable place w as festooned

w ith strings of drinking cocoanuts and
bunches o f bananas O n both sides b e .
,
tween the fore and main shrouds guys had ,
been stretched j ust low enough for the fore

,
boom to swing clear ; and from each of these

guys at least fifty bunches of bananas were
suspended .
It promised to be a messy passage even ,
if we did ma k e it in the two or three days

that would have been required if the south
east trades had been blowing fresh But .
they weren t blowing fresh After the first

’
.
five hours the trade died away in a dozen

o r so gasping fans The calm continued all
.
that night and the next day one of those

glaring glassy calms when the very thought
, , ,
o f opening one s eyes to look at it is su ffi cient

’
t o cause a headache .
The second day a man died an E aster

Islander one o f the best divers that season
,
in the lagoon S mallpox . that is what it

wa s ; though how smallpox could come on
b oard when there had been no known case s
,
154 THE HEATHE N
ashore when we left Ran gi ro a i s beyond me ,
.
There it was though smallpox a man

, ,
dead and three others down on their b acks

,
.
There was nothing to be done We could

not segregate the sick nor could we care ,
for t hem We were packed li k e sardines

. .
There w as nothing to do but ro t and die

that is there w as nothing to do after the
,
night that followed the first death O n that .
night the mate the supercargo the Polish

, , ,
Jew and four native divers sneaked away

,
in the large whale— boat They were never .
heard of again In the morning the captain

.
promptly scuttled the remaining boats and ,
there we were .
That day there were two deaths ; the

following day three ; then it jumped to
eight It was curious to see how w e took it
. .
The n at ive s fo r instance fell into a condition

, ,
,
of dumb stolid fear The captain

, Ou .
douse his na m e w as a F renchman — b e

, ,
came very nervous and voluble H e actually .
go t the twitches H e w as a large flesh y

.
,
man weighing at least t wo hundred pounds ,

,
156 THE HE ATHE N
of germ s We always took another drink

.
when we saw it going up from the dea d and

dying and usually we took t wo or three
,
more drinks mixing them exceptionally st ifi

,
.
Also we made it a rule t o take an addi

,
t io n al several each time they hove the dead
over t o the shar k s that swarmed about us .
We had a wee k of it and then the whis k ey

,
’
gave out It is j ust as well or I shouldn t
.
,
be alive n o w It too k a sober man to pull

.
through what followed as you will agree ,
when I mention the little fact that only two

m en did p u l l through The oth e r man was
.
the heathen at least that w as what I ,
heard Captain Ou do u se call him at the m o

ment I first became aware of the heathen s ’
existence But to come back

. .
It was at the end of the week with the ,
whis k ey gone and the pearl—

, buyers sober ,
that I happened to glance at the b arometer

that hung in the cabin companionway Its .
n ormal register in the P au m o t u s was

an d it was quite customary to se e it vacillate
b etwee n and or even
THE HE ATHE N r5 7
bu t to s ee it as I saw it down to ,wa s

s uffic i ent to sober the most drunken pearl
b uyer th at ever i n cinerated s m allpox m i
crob e s in S cotch whiskey .
I called Captain Ou dou se s attent io n to i t

’
,
only to b e informed that he h ad watched i t

going down for several hours There w a s .
l i ttle to do but that little he did very w ell

, ,
co n sider i ng the circumstances H e took o ff .
t h e light sails sho rtened right down to storm

,
ca n vas spread life lines and waited for the

,
-
,
w i nd H is mistake lay in what he did after

.
t h e w ind came H e hove to on the port

.
tack which w as the right thing t o do south

,
of th e E quator if and there was the rub

,
if o n e w ere n ot in the direct pat h o f the

hurr i ca n e .
We were i n the direct path I coul d se e .
th at b y th e steady increase o f the wind an d

th e equally steady fall o f the b arometer .
I wanted him to turn and run with the win d

o n t h e port quarter until the b arometer
ceased fall i ng and then to heave to We

, .
arg u e d t i ll he w a s reduced to h y s teri a , b u t
r5 8 THE HE ATHE N
budge he woul d n o t The worst of it w as .
that I could not get the rest of the pearl

buyers to b ack me up Who was I anyw ay .
, ,
to kn ow more about the sea and its ways

than a properly qualified captain w as what
w as in their minds I knew , .
Of course the sea rose with the wind

frightfully ; and I shall never forget the
first three seas the P e t i te j e an n e shipped .
S he had fallen off as vessels do at times when

,
h ove to and the first sea made a clean b reach

,
.
The life lines were only for the strong and

-
well and little good were t hey even for

,
them when the women and children the ,
bananas and cocoanuts the p igs and trade ,
b oxes the sick and the dying were swept

, ,
along in a solid screeching groaning mass

, , .
The second sea filled the P e ti te j e an n e s ’
dec k s fl ush with the rails ; and as her stern ,
sank down and her bow tossed S kyw ard all ,
the miserable dunnage of life and luggage

poured aft It was a human torrent They
. .
came head firs t feet first sidewise rolling

-
,
-
, ,
over and over twisting squirming writhing

, , , ,
160 THE HE ATHE N
poured to starboard Away they went .
v ahine Ah Choo m and steersman ; and I

, ,
s wear I s aw Ah C ho o n grin at me wit h
philosophic resignation as he cleared the

rail and went under .
The third s e a the biggest o f the three

—did not do so much damage By the .
time it arrived nearly eve rybody was in

the rigging O n deck perhaps a dozen
.
gasp ing half drowned and half stunned

,
-
,
-
wretches were rolling about or attempting

to crawl into safety They went by the .
b oard as did the wreckage of the two

,
remaining boats The other pearl— buyers

.
and myself between seas managed to get

, ,
about fifteen women and children into the

cabin and b attened down L ittle good
, .
i t did the poor creatures in the end .
Wind ! O ut of all my experience I

could not have believed it possible for the
wind to blow as it did There is no de .
scribing it How can one describe a night

.
mare ! It was the same way with th at

wind It tore the clothes off our bodies
. .
THE HE ATHE N 16 1
I say tore the m f and I mean it I am

o , .
not asking you to believe it I am merely .
telling something that I saw and felt .
There are times when I do not believe it

myself I went through it and that i s
.
,
enough O ne could not face that wind

.
and live It was a monstrous thing and

.
,
the most monstrous thing about it w as that

i t increased and continued to increase .
Imagine countless millions and billion s

of tons of sand Imagine this sand tea ri ng
.
along at ninety a hundred a hundred and

, ,
twenty or any other number of miles per

,
hour Imagine further this sand to be

.
, ,
i nvisible impalpable yet to retain all the

, ,
weight and density of sand D o all this .

,
and you may get a vague inkling of what

that wind w as like .
P erhaps sand i s n o t the right comparison .
Consider it mud invisible impalpable but

, , ,
h ea vy as mud Nay i t goes beyond that

.
, .
Consider every molecule of air to be a mud

b ank in itself Then try t o imagine the
.
m ultitud i nous i mpact of mud-banks No ; .
16 2 THE HE ATHEN
it is beyond me L anguage may be ade
.
quate to express the ordina ry conditions

o f life ,
but it cannot possibly express any
o f the conditions of so enormous a blast of
wind It would have been better had I

.
stuck by my original intention o f n o t

attempting a description .
I will say this much : The sea which

had risen at first was beaten down by that
,
wind More : it seemed as if the whole

.
ocean had been sucked up in the maw of

the hurricane and hurled o n through that
,
portion of space which previously had been

occupied by the air .
O f course our canvas had gone long

,
before But Captain Ou do u se had o n the

.
P e t i te j ea n n e something I had never before

seen on a S outh S ea schooner — a sea
anchor It was a conical canvas bag
.
,
the mouth o f which w as kept open by a

huge h00 p of iron The sea anchor w as .
-
bridled something like a kite so that it ,
bit into the water as a kite bites into the

air but with a difference The sea—
, anchor .
164 THE HE ATHE N
the awful p ressure o f that wind A n d the n . .
s uddenly the pressure was removed

,
I .
know that I felt as though I w as about to

expand to fly apart in all directions It
,
.
s eemed as if every atom composing my body
w as repelling every other atom and was o n

the verge of r ushing o ff irresistibly into
s pace But that lasted only for a moment
. .
D estruction w as upon u s .
In the absence of the wind and pressure

t he sea rose It j umped it leaped it
.
, ,
s oared straight toward the clouds Re .
m ember from every point of the compas s

,
that inconceivable wind was blowing in

toward the centre o f calm The result .
was that the seas sprang up from every

point of the compass There was no wi nd .
to check them They popped up like .
corks released from the bottom o f a pa i l

of water There was no system to them
.
,
no stability They were hollow maniacal

.
,
seas They were eighty feet high at t he

.
least Th ey were not seas at all They

. .
resembled no sea a man had ever seen .
THE HEATHE N 165
They were splashes monstrous S plash e s

—that is all S plashes th at were eighty
,
feet high E ighty 1 They were more tha n

.
e ighty They went over o u r mastheads .
They were spouts explosions They were , .
drunken They fell anyw here anyhow

.
, .
They jostled one another ; they collided .
They rushed together and collapsed upo n

o n e another or fell apart like a thousand
,
wate rfalls all at once It w as no ocean any .
man had ever dreamed of that hurricane ,
centre It was confusion thrice confounded

. .
It w as anarchy It w as a hell—. pit of sea

water gone mad .
’
The Peti te j ean n e ! I don t know The .
h eathen told me afte r wards that he did

not know S he was literally torn apa rt
.
,
ripped wide open beaten into a pulp , ,
s mashed into kindling wood annihilated , .
When I came to I w as in t h e water swim ,
ming automatically though I was about ,
two-thirds drowned How I go t there I .
h ad n o recollection I remembered s ee i ng
.
t he Pe t i t e j ean n e fly to pieces at what mu s t
166 THE HE ATHE N
h ave been the instant that my own co n
s cio u s n e ss was buff eted out of me But .
there I was with nothing to do but make

,
the best of it and in that best there was

,
little promise The wi nd w as blowing

.
again the s e a was much smaller and more

,
regular and I knew that I had passed

,
through the centre Fo rtunately t h ere

.
,
were no sharks about The hurricane had .
dissipated the ravenous horde that had

surrounded the death ship and fed o ff the
dead .
It was about midday when the P et i te

Jean n e went t o pieces and it must have ,
been two hours afterwards when I picked

u p with one of her hatch covers Thick -
rain was drivi ng at the time ; and it wa s

the merest chance that flung me and t h e
h atch cover togeth er A short length o f
-
.
line w as trailing from the rope handle ;

and I knew that I was good for a day at ,
least i f the s harks did not return Three

, .
hours later possibly a little longer stick

, ,
i ng clo s e to t h e cover and w i t h closed eye s

, , ,
168 THE HE ATHE N
kicked out at h i m with b oth feet Also .

,
at the moment of delivering each kick ,
he called the kana k a a black heathen .
“
Fo r two centimes I d come over there
’
”
and drown you you white beast I I yelled
,
.
The only reason I did not go was that I

felt too tired The ve ry thought of the
.
eff ort to swim over was nauseating S o I .
called to the kanaka to come to me and ,
proceeded to share the hatch—cover with

him Otoo he told me his name was ( pro
.
,
n o u n ce d 6 —
to also he told me that ,
he w as a na t ive o f Bora Bora the most ,
westerly of the S ociety Group As I .
learned afte rward he had got the hatch,
cover first and after some time encounter

, , ,
ing Captai n Ou dou se had off ered to share ,
it with him and had been kicked o ff for

,
h is pains .
And that was how O too and I first came

together H e w as no fighter H e was all
. .
sweetness and gentleness a love creature ,

-
,
though he stood nearly six feet tall and w as

muscled like a gladiator H e w as no .
THE HE ATHE N 169
fighter b ut he was also no cowa rd H e

, .
h ad the heart o f a lion ; and in the years

that followed I have seen him run risks
that I would never dream of taking What .
I mean is that wh i le he was no fighter and ,
while he always avoided precipitating a

row he never ran away from trouble when
,
“ ”
it started And it was
. Ware shoal ! ’
when once Otoo went into action I shall .
n ever forget what he did to Bill King It .
occurred in German S amoa Bill King .
was hailed the champion heavyweight of

the American Navy H e w as a big brute .
of a man a veritable gorilla one of those

, ,
hard-hitting rough housing chaps and

,
-
,
clever with his fists as well H e picked .
the quarrel and he kicked Otoo twice and

,
s truck him once before O too felt it to be

necessary to fight I don t think i t lasted
.
’
four minutes at the end of which time Bill

,
King was the unhappy possessor o f four

broken ribs a broken forearm and a di s
, ,
located shoulder— blade O too knew noth .
i n g o f s cient i fic box i ng H e was merely a .
170 THE HEATHE N
manhandler ; and Bill King was someth ing
l i ke three months in recovering from the
bit o f manhandling he received that after
noon o u Apia beach .
But I am running ahead of my yarn .
We shared the hatch cover between us -

.
We took turn and tu rn about one lying ,
flat on t h e cover and resting while the ,
other submerged t o the neck merely held

, ,
on with his hands For two days and

.
nights spell and spell on the cover and

, ,
in the water we drifted over the ocean

, .
Towards the last I w as delirious most of

the time ; and there were times too when , ,
I heard Otoo babbling and raving in his

native t ongu e Our continuous immersion
.
prevented us from dying of thirst though ,
the sea-water and the sunshine gave us the

prettiest imaginable combination of salt
pickle and sunburn .
In the end Otoo saved my life ; for I

,
came t o lying on the beach twenty feet

from the water s h eltered from the sun by
,
a couple o f cocoa n ut leaves No on e b u t.
172 THE HE ATHE N
“
It was a brave deed you did master , ,
“
h e replied and D eath was not vile enough
to speak .
“ ‘ ’
Why do you master me I de
m an de d with a s h ow of hurt feelings
,
.
“
We have exchanged names To you I .
am Otoo To me you are Charley And

. .
between you and me forever and forever , ,
you shall be Charley and I shall be O too ,

.
It is the w ay of the custom And when .
we die if it does happen that w e live again

,
s omewhere beyond the stars and the sky ,
still shall you be Charley to me and I ,
”
Otoo to you .
“
Ye s master
, he answered his eye s
, ,
luminous and soft with j oy .
“ ”
There you go I I cried indignantly .
W hat does it matter what my lips

” “
u tter ! he a rgued They are only my .
lips . But I shall think Otoo always .
Whenever I think of m vs e l f I shall think ,
o f you .Whenever men call me by name ,
I shall think of vou And b e vo n d the s ky .
an d beyond the stars always and forever , ,
THE HE ATHEN 173
y ou s h all b e Otoo to m e Is i t w ell .

,
”
m aster !
I h id my s mile and a n swered that i t
,
w as w ell .
We parted at P apeete I rema i ned .
ashore to rec u perate ; and h e went o n i n
a cutter to hi s own island Bora Bora ,

.
S ix weeks later he was back I wa s sur .
prised for he had told me o f his wife and

, ,
s aid that he was returning to her and ,
would give over s ailing o n far voyages .
“ ”
Where do you go master ! he a s ked
, ,
after o u r first greetings .
I s hrugged my shoulders I t wa s a h ard .
questio n .
“
Al l th e world ,was my answer
all the world all the sea and all th e
, ,
”
i slands t h at are in the se a .
“ ”
1 wi ll go with y ou he s aid simply
, .
”
M y wi fe i s dead .
I n ever had a brother ; b ut from wh at I

have seen o f other men s brot h ers I dou b t
’
,
i f any man ever h ad a b rother t h at wa s to

h i m what Otoo wa s to m e H e was .
174 THE HE ATHE N
b rother and father and mother as wel l .
And this I know : I lived a straighter and

better man because o f Otoo I cared little .
fo r other men but I had to live straight

,
’
in Ot oo s eyes Because o f him I dared
.
n ot tarnish myself H e made me his ideal

.
,
compounding me I fear chiefly o u t of

, ,
his own love and worship ; and there were

times when I stood close to the steep pitch
o f hell and would have taken the plunge
,
h ad not the thought of Otoo restrained

me H is pride in me entered into me
.
,
until it became one of the maj or r ules in

my personal code to do nothing that would
diminish that pride of hi s .
Naturally I did not learn right away

,
What his feelings were toward me He .
never criticised never censured ; and slowly

,
the exalted place I held in his eyes dawned

upon me and slowly I grew to compre
,
hend the hurt I could inflict upon him by

being anyt hing less than my best .
Fo r seventeen years we were together ;

fo r s eventeen years he was at my shoulder ,
176 THE HE ATHE N
high and the drink ran high ; and I am
,
v ery much afraid that I kept later hours

than were becoming o r proper No matter .
what the hour was when I left the club ,
there w as Otoo waiting to see me safely

home .
At first I smiled ; next I chided him .
Then I told him flatly that I stood in need

o f no wet nursing -After that I did not
.
se e him when I came out of the club .
Quite by accident a week or s o later I

, ,
discovered that he still saw me home ,
lurking across the street among the shad

o w s of the mango -trees What could I .
do ! I know what I did do .
Insensibly I began to k eep better hours .
O n wet and stormy nights in the thick of ,
the folly and the fun the thought would ,
persist in coming to me o f Otoo keeping

his drea ry vigil under the dripping
mangoes Truly he made a better man
.
,
of me Yet he w as not strait-laced And

. .
he knew nothing of common Christian

morality All the people o n Bora Bora
.
THE HE ATHE N 177
were Christians ; but he w as a heathen ,

t h e only unbeliever on the island a gross ,
materialist who believed that when he

,
died he was dead H e believed merely

.
in fair play and square dealing P etty .
meanness in his code w as almost as seri

, ,
ous as wanton homicide ; and I do believe

that he respected a murderer more than a
m an given to small practices .
Concerning me personally he obj ected

, ,
to my doing anything that w as hurtful to

m e Gambling was all right H e was an
. .
ardent gambler himself But late hours .

,
’
he explained were bad for one s health
,
.
H e had seen men who did not take care

o f themselves die of fever He w as no .
teetotaller and welcomed a stiff nip any

,
time when it w as wet work in the boats .
O n the other hand he believed in liquor

,
in moderation He had seen many men

.
killed or disgraced by square face or S cotch -

.
O too had my welfare always at heart .
H e thought ahead for me weighed my ,
p lans and took a greater i nterest in t h e m

,
178 THE HEATHE N
th a n I did myself At first when I was
.
,
unaware o f this interest of his in my a ff airs ,
he had to divine my intentions as fo r , ,
i nstance at P apeete when I contemplated

, ,
goin g pa rtners with a knavish fellow coun -
t ry m an on a guano venture I did not .
know he w as a knave Nor did an y white .
man in P apeete Neither did O too know

.
,
but he s aw how thick we were getting ,
and found out for me and without my ask ,
ing him Native sailors from the ends of

.
the seas k nock about o n the beach in

Tahiti ; and Otoo suspicious merely went
, ,
among them till he had gathered suffi cient

data to j ustify hi s suspicions O h it w as .
,
a nice history that of R andolph Waters

, .
I couldn t believe it when O too first nar

’
rated it ; but when I sheeted it home t o

Waters he gave in without a murmur and ,
got away on the first steamer to Aukland .
At first I am free to confess I couldn t

, ,
’
’
h elp resenting Ot oo s pok i ng his nose into
my business But I knew th at he wa s
.
wholly unselfish ; a n d soo n I had to ac ~
180 THE HEATHE N
M elanesia Otoo s aw to it that he always
.
p ulled stroke-o ar in my boat O ur cus .
tom in rec ruiting labor was to land the

recruiter on the beach The covering boat
always lay o n i t s oars several hundred
’
feet o ff shore while the recruiter s boat
, ,
also lying on its oars kept afloat on the ,
edge of the beach When I landed with .
my trade goods leaving my steering sweep

-
,
apeak Otoo left his stroke position and

,
came i nto the stern-sheets where a Win ,
chester lay ready to hand under a fl ap of

’
canvas The boat s crew w as also a rmed
.
,
the S niders concealed under canvas flap s

that ran the length o f the gunwales W h ile .
I w as busy a rguing and persuading the

woolly headed cannibals to come and la
-
bor on the Queensland plantations Otoo

kept watch And often and often his low
.
voice wa rned me o f suspicious actions and

impending treachery S ometimes it was .
the quick shot from h is rifle knocki n g a ,
nigger over that w as the first warning

,
I recei ved And in my rush t o the boa t

.
THE HE ATHE N 18 1
h is h and w as always there t o j erk me flying

a b oard . O nce I remember on S an ta
, ,
A n n a the boat grounded just as the trouble

,
b egan. The covering b oat was dashing

to our assistance but the s everal score o f
,
s avage s would have wi ped us out before

i t arrived Otoo took a flying leap ashore
.
,
dug both hands into t h e trade-goods and ,
s cattered tobacco beads,

tomahawks , ,
kni ves and calicoes in all directions

, .
This w as too much for the woolly heads -

.
While they scrambled for the treasures ,
the boat w as shoved clear and we were ,
aboard and forty feet away And I got .
thi r t y rec r uits off that very beach i n t h e

n ext four hours .
The particular instance I h ave in mind

w as o n M alaita the most savage island in
,
th e easterly S olomons The natives had

.
b een remarkably friendly ; and how were

we to know that the whole village had b een
taking up a collection for over two years
’
w ith which to buy a white man s head !
T h e beggars are all head-h unters an d they ,
182 THE HEATHE N
especially esteem a wh ite man s h ea d ’
.
The fellow who captured the head would

receive the whole collection As I say .
,
th ey appeared very friendly ; and on this

day I was fully a hundred yards down the
beach from the boat O too had cautioned .
me ; and as usual when I did not heed

,
him I came to grief

,
.
The first I knew a cloud o f spears sailed

,
o u t of the mangrove swamp at me At .
least a dozen were sticking i nto me I .
started t o run but tripped over one th at

,
was fast in my calf and went down The

,
.
woolly-heads made a run for me each wi th ,
a long handled fantail tomahawk with

-
,
which to hack off my head They were so .
eager for the prize that they got in o n e

’
another s way In the confusion I avoided
.
,
several hacks by throwing myself right and

left on the sand .
Then Otoo arrived Otoo the man

handler In some way he had got hold
.
o f a heavy war club and at close quarter s

,
i t was a far more effi cient weapon than a
184 TH E HEA THENJ
white men O n the beaches are many old

.
men who were young once and w ho coul d ,
get money j ust li k e you Now they ar e .
old and they have nothing and they wait

, ,
a bout for the young men like you to come
ashore and buy drinks for them .
“
The black boy is a slave on the planta
t ions H e gets twenty dollars a year He
. .
works hard The overseer does no t work

.
hard H e rides a horse and watches the

.
black boy work H e gets twelve hundred .
dollars a year I am a sailor on the

.
schooner I get fifteen dollars a month

. .
That i s because I am a good s ailor I work .
hard The captain has a double awning

.
,
and drinks beer out of long bottles I .
have never seen him haul a rope o r pull an

oar H e gets one hundred and fifty do l
.
lars a month I am a sailor H e is a

. .
navigator IVIas t e r I think it would be

.
,
very good for you to know navigation .
Otoo spurred me o n to it H e sailed .
with me as second mate on my first

s chooner and he was far prouder of my
,
THE HE ATHE N 185
command than I w as myself L ater o n .
i t w as
“
The captain is well paid master ; but ,
the ship is in his keeping and he is never ,
free from the burden It is the owner .
who is better p aid — the owner w ho sits

ashore with many servants and turns his
money over .
“
True but a schooner costs five thou
,
sand dollars — a n old schooner at that ”

,
I obj ected . I should be an old ma n

before I saved five thousand dollars .
“
There be short ways fo r white men to
”
make money he went on pointing ashore
, ,
at the cocoanut fringed beach - .
We were in the S olomons at the time ,
p icking up a cargo of ivory nuts along the -
east coast o f Gu adal can ar .
“
B etween this river mouth and the next
”
i t is two miles he said
,
The flat land
.
runs far back It i s w orth nothing n o w

. .
Next year — w ho knows ! o r the year

after men will pay much money for that
,
l an d
. The anchorage 18 good Bi g .
186 THE HEATH E N
s tea m er s ca n lie close up You can b uy
.
the land four miles deep from the o l d chief

for te n thousand stic k s o f tobacco ten ,
b ottles of s quare— face and a S nider wh i c h

, ,
will cost y ou maybe one hundred dollars

, ,
.
Then you place the deed with the commis

s io n e r ; and the next year or the year after
, ,
”
ou sell and become t h owner o f a s hip
y e .
I followed his lead and his words came

,
true though in three years instead of two

, , .
Next came the grasslands deal on Guadal

canar — twenty thousand acres on a gov ,
e rn m e n t al nine hundred and ninety-nine

’
years lease at a nominal sum I owned .
the lease for p recisely ninety days when I ,
s old it to a company for half a fortune .
Always it was Otoo w ho loo ked ahead

and saw the opportunity H e w as respo n
.
sible for the salving of the D on cas ter

bought in at auction for a hundred pound s ,
and clearing three thousand after every

expense was paid H e led me i nto the
.
S avai i plantatio n and t he coco a ve ntu re

o n Upol u .
188 THE lHEA THEN
‘
w ay s o f catching them In the b u s h it

.
w as the same thing At seven Tom knew

.
,
more woodcraft than I ever dreamed ex

i st e d
. At six M a ry went over the S liding
,
Rock without a quiver and I have s ee n

,
s trong men balk at that feat And whe n

.
F rank had j ust turned six he could bring

up shillings from the bot t om in three
fathoms .
“
My people i n Bora Bora do not l i ke
heathen they are all Christian s ; and I
”
do n o t li k e Bora Bora Christians he said ,
one day when I with the idea of getting

, ,
him to spend some o f the money that was

rightfully his had been trying t o persuade
,
him to make a visit to his own island in one

of our schooners a special voyage which
I had hoped to make a record breaker i n
the matter of prodigal expense .
I s ay one of ou r schooners though legally at

,
the time they belonged to me I stru ggled

long with him to enter i nto part nership .
“
We have been partn ers from the day
”
t he P e ti te j e an n e w ent do wn he said at
,
THE HE ATHE N 189
l ast . B ut
if your heart so wi shes then ,
shall we become partners by the law I .
h ave no work to do yet are my expense s ,
large I drink and eat and smo k e i n

.
plenty i t costs much I know I do not , .
pay for the playing of billiards fo r I play ,
o n your table ; but still the money goes .
F ishing on the reef i s only a rich man s ’
pleasure It is shoc k ing the cost o f hooks

.
,
and cotton line Yes ; it is necessa ry that .
we be part ners by the law I n eed the .
money I shall get it from the head clerk

.
i n the office .
S o the papers were made out and t e

c orded A year la er I was compelled to t
.
complain .
“
Charley said I you are a wicked
, ,
o l d fraud a miserl y s k i n fl i n t a miserable

, ,
land crab B ehold your share fo r the year

-
.
,
i n all our partnership has been thousands

o f dollars The head clerk has given me
.
th is paper It says that in the year you

.
h ave drawn j u s t eighty-seven dollars an d

”
t w e n ty cents .
199 THE HEATHE N
”
Is there a n y owing m e ! h e as ke d
anxiously .
“
I tell y ou thousands and th ou s a n d s I ,
answered .
H i s face b rightened as with an imme n se

,
relief.
“
It is well he said
,
S ee that the head
.
clerk keeps good account of it When I .
want it I shall want it and th ere mu st

, ,
not b e a cent missing .
“ ”
If th ere is he added fiercely after a
, ,
“
i t must com e o u t of the clerk s
’
pause ,
wages .
And all the time as I afterwards learned

, ,
his will drawn up by Carruthers and

, ,
making me sole beneficiary lay i n the ,
American consul s safe ’

.
But the end came as th e end must ,
come t o all human assoc i ations It o c .
curred in the S olomons where our w i ldest ,
work had been done in the wild young

days and wh ere we were once more
,
princ i pally on a holiday i n c i dentally to ,
look after ou r hold in gs o n F lorida Island
Digit zed by Mic osoft®

i r
191 TH E HE ATHE N
i t w as no use They were in a bl i nd

.
funk The canoe could barely have sup

.
ported o n e of them U nder the three it

.
U pended and rolled sidewise throwing ,
them back into the water .
I abandoned the canoe and started t o

swim toward the schoo ner expecting to ,
b e picked up by the boat before I go t there .
O ne of the niggers elected to come with

me and we swam along silently side by
, ,
s ide now and again putting o u r faces into

,
the water and peering about for shar k s .
The screams o f the man w ho stayed by

the canoe informed us that he w as taken .
I was peering into the water when I saw

a big shark pass directly beneath me H e .
w as fully sixteen feet in length I saw .
the whole thing H e got the woolly head

.
-
by the middle and away he went the poor

, ,
devil head shoulders and arms out of

, , ,
w ater all the time screeching in a heart

,
rending w ay He w as carried along in

.
this fa shion for several hundred feet whe n ,
he was dragged b eneath the su rface .
THE HE ATHE N 193
I swam doggedly on h oping that that ,
was the last unattached shark B ut there .
was another Wheth er it was one th at

.
had attacked the natives ea rlier or whether ,

'
i t was o n e that had made a good meal

elsewhere I do not know At any rate
, .
,
he was not in such haste as the others I .
could not swim so rapidly now for a large ,
part of my eff ort w as devoted to keeping

track of him I w as watching him whe n
.
he made his first attack By good luck .
I got both hands on his nose and though , ,
h is momentum nearly shoved me under I ,
m anaged to keep him off H e veered .
clear an d began ci rcl i n g ab o u t again A

,
.
s econd time I escaped him by the same

manoeuvre The third rush w as a miss
.
o n both sides H e sheered at the moment

.
my hands should have lan ded on his nose ,
b ut his sandpaper hide ( I had on a sleeve

less undershi rt! scraped the skin off one
a r m from elbow t o shoulder .
By this time I was played out and gave ,
up hope . The schooner was still t wo hun ‘
194 THE HEATHE N
dred feet away My face w as in the wate r
.
,
and I was watching him manoeuvre for

another attempt when I s aw a brown body
,
pass between us It was Otoo

. .
“ ”
S wim for the schooner master ! he ,
said And he spoke gayly as though the

.
,
a ff air was a mere lark I k now sharks

. .
The shar k is my b rother .
I obeyed swim m ing slowly on while

, ,
O too swam about me keeping always ,
b etween me and the shark foiling his ,
rushes and encouraging me .
“
The davit tackle carried away and ,
”
they are rigging the falls he explained a , ,
minute or so later and then went under

,
to head o ff another attack .
By the time the schooner w as thi r t y feet

away I was about done for I could .
scarcely move They were heaving lines

.
at us from on board but they continually

,
fell short The shark finding that it was

.
,
receiving no hurt had become bolder

, .
S everal times it nea rly got me but each ,
time O too w as there j ust the moment b e
196 THE HEATHE N
O too h e called softly And I cou l d .
s ee in his gaze the love that th rilled in h is

voice .
Then and then only at the ve ry last

, ,
of all our years h e called me by that

,
n ame .
“
Good b y Otoo -
he called
, .
Then he w as dragged under and I wa s ,
hauled aboard where I fainted in the

,
’
captain s arms .
And so passed O too who saved me and ,
made me a man and w ho saved me in the,
end We met in the m aw of a hurricane

.
,
and parted in the maw of a shark with ,
seventeen intervening years o f comrade

ship the like o f which I dare to assert
,
has never befallen two men the one brown ,
and the other white If Jehovah be fro m .
H is high place watching ever sparrow y
fall not least in H is kingdom shall be Otoo,

,
t he o n e heathen of Bor a Bor a .
2 00 THE TERR IB LE SOLOMON S
is to catch a m an wi th h i s back tu rned
and to smite h i m a cunn i ng blow w ith a
tomahawk t hat severs the spinal column
at the base o f the brai n It is e qually .
true that on so m e island s such as M alaita

, ,
the profit and los s accou n t of social i nter

course is calcu lated in homo ci de s Heads .
are a medium o f ex change and white h ead s

,
a re extremely valuable Very often a

.
dozen villages m ake a j ack-pot whic h they ,
fatten moon b y moon against the time

,
when s ome b ra v e warrior present s a white

m an s head fre s h and gory and cla i m s
’
, ,
the pot .
A ll the foregoing is qu i te true and y e t ,
there are white men who have lived in the

S olomons a score o f years and who feel
h omesick whe n th ey go away from t h em .
A m a n needs only to b e careful and

lucky to live a long time in the S olomons ;
but he must also be o f the right sort He .
must hav e the hall mark of the ine vi table

-
wh ite m an sta mped upon his sou l H e .
m u s t b e in evi tab le H e m ust have a ce r

.
THE TERR IB LE SOLOM ON S 20 1
tain grand carelessness of odds a certai n ,
colossal self satisfaction and a racial e go

-
,
t i s m that convinces him that o n e white
i s better than a thousand niggers every

day in the week and that on S unday he
,
is able to clean o u t two thousand nig

gers F or such are the things that have made
.
the white man inevitable Oh and one .

,
other thing — the white man who wishes

t o be inevitable must not m e re l v despise
,
the lesser breeds and think a lot o f himself ;

he must also fail to be t oo long on imagina
tion H e must not understand t oo well
.
t h e instincts customs and mental processe s

, ,
of the blacks the yellows and the browns ;

, ,
for it is not in such fashion that the white

race has tramped its royal road around the
world .
B ertie Arkwright was not inevitable .
H e w a s too sensitive t oo finely strung and

, ,
he possessed too much imagination The .
world was t o o much with him H e pro .
j e ct e d himself t o o quiveringly into his

e nvironment . Therefore the last place i n ,
202 THE TERR IB LE SOLOMON S
the world for him to come was the 3 01- 1
o mo n s .H e did not come expecting to ,
’
stay A five weeks stop-over between
.
steamers he decided would satisfy the

, ,
call of the primitive he felt thrumming the

strings of his being At least so he told
.
,
the lady tourists on the Makem bo though ,
in diff erent terms ; and they worshipped

h im as a hero for they were lady tourists
,
and they would k now only the safety of

the s teamer s deck as she threaded her w ay
’
through the S olomons .
There w as another man on board of ,
whom the ladies too k no notice H e was a .
little shrivelled wisp of a man with a ,
withered s k in the color of mahogany H is .
name on the passenger list does not matter ,
but his other name Captain M alu w as a

, ,
name for niggers to conj ure with and to ,
scare naughty pic k aninnies to righteous

ness from New H anover to the New
,
H ebrides H e had farmed savages and

.
s avagery and from fever and hardship

, ,
the crack of S niders and the las h of the
the outer barrel back along the inner one .
“
That loads it and cocks it you see And ,
.
t hen all I have to do is pull the trigger ,
e ight times as fast as I can quiver my

,
finger . S ee that safety clutch That s .

’
what I like about it It is safe It i s . .
”
positively fool proof -
He slipped out t he
.
“ ”
m agazine . You see how safe it i s .
As he held it in his hand the muzzl e ,
came in line with Captain M alu s stomach ’

.
’
Captain M alu s blue eyes looked at it
u nswervingly .
“
Would you mind pointing i t i n some
other direction he asked .
“ ’ ”
It s perfectly safe Bertie assured him
, .
’
I withdrew the magazine It s not loaded .
”
n ow y o u know
,
.
“
A gun is always loaded .
” ’
But this o n e isn t .
Turn it away j ust the same .
’
Captain M alu s voice was flat and me
t al li c and l ow but his eyes never left the
,
muzzle until the line of it was drawn p a s t

h i m and away from h i m .
THE TERR IB LE SO LOMON S 19 5
“ ’ ’
I ll b et a fi ver it isn t loaded B ert ie ,
p ropo s ed w a rmly .
The oth er shook his hea d .
“ ”
Then I ll show you
’
.
B erti e s tarted t o put t h e muzzle to h is

o w n temple with the evide n t i n tention of
pulling t h e tr i gger .
“
Ju s t a second Capta i n M alu said
,
“
q u iet ly reac h i ng out his h a n d
, L et me .
”
look at i t .
H e poi nted i t s eaward a n d pulled t he

trigger A h eavy ex plosion followed i n
.
,
s t an t an e o u s w it h the sharp click of the
m echanism t h at flipped a ho t and smoking

cartridge s idewise along the deck Bertie s ’
.
j aw dropped in amazement .
“ ’
I slipped the barrel back once didn t ,
” “
I ! h e expla i ned It wa s silly o f me I
.
,
”
m ust s ay .
H e g i ggle d fl ab b il y and s at dow n in a,
s teamer cha i r The bloo d had ebbed from

.
h i s face expos in g dark circles under his eye s

,
.
H is hand s were trembling and unable t o

gu i de t he s h aki n g c i garette to hi s l ip s The .
206 THE TERR IB LE SOLOM ON S
world was t oo much with him and he saw ,
himself w it h dripping brains prone upo n

the dec k .
“
R eally he said ,
really ,
.
“ ’
It s a pretty weapon said Captai n ,
Malu returning the automatic to him

,
.
The Commissioner was on board the

Makembo returning from S ydney and by
, ,
his perm ission a stop was made at Ugi to

land a missionary And at Ugi lay the .
ketch A ri a Captain H ansen s k ipper Now

, ,
.
the A ri a was one o f many vessels owned by

Captain M alu and it w as at his suggestion
,
and by his invitation that Bertie went

aboard the A r i a as guest for a four days ’
recruiting cruise on the coast of M alaita .
Thereafter the A r i a would dro p him at

Re m i n ge P lantation ( als o owned by Cap
tain M alu ! where Bertie could remai n for
,
a week and then be sent over to Tulagi

, ,
the seat o f government where h e would ,
b ecome the Commissioner s guest

’
Captain .
M alu was responsible for two other s u g

gesti ons which given he disappears from
, ,
TERR IB LE SOLOMON S
w
20 8 THE
h elmsman w ho so attracted Bertie s eye s ’
s ported a ten penny nail stuck skewer ,
wise through his nose About his neck .
was a string of pants buttons Thrust .
through holes in his ears were a can— O pener ,
the bro k en handle o f a tooth b rush a clay -

,
pipe the brass wheel o f an alarm clock and

, ,
several Winchester rifle ca rtridges O n his .
chest suspended from around his neck

,
hung the half o f a china plate S ome forty .
similarly apparelled blac k s lay about the

deck fifteen of which were boat s crew the
,
’
,
remainder being fresh labor recruits .
“ ”
O f course it w as an accident spo k e up ,
the A ri el s mate Jacobs a slender dark

’
, , ,
eyed man w ho loo k ed more a professor than

“
a sailor Johnny B edip nearly had the
.
same kind of accident H e w as bringing .
bac k several from a flogging when they ,
capsized him But he knew how t o swim as

.
well as they and two o f them were drowned

,
.
H e used a boat stretcher and a revolver -

.
”
O f course it w as an accident .
“
Quite common them accidents , ,
THE
l TERR IB LE SOLOMON S 209
m arked t h e skipper You see t h at man at .
t h e wheel M r Arkwright ! H e s a man

, .
’
eater S ix months ago he and the rest of

.
,
t h e b oat s crew drowne d the then captain o f

’
t h e A rl a They did it on deck sir right

.
, ,
”
aft there by the mizzen traveller
- .
“
The deck was in a sho cking state said ,
t h e mate .
“
D o I understand Bertie began .
Y e s j ust that
,
said Captain H ansen , .
“ ”
It w as accidental drowning .
“
But o n deck
Just so I don t mind telling you i n
.
’
confidence o f course that they used a n

, ,
axe .
“ ”
This p resent crew of yours !
Captain H ansen n odded .
“
The other skipper always w as t oo care
“
l es s,
explained the mate He but just .
”
tu rned his back when they let him have it ,
.
“ ”
We h aven t any show down here wa s’
,
“ ’
t he skipper s complaint The government .
p rotect s a n igger against a white every time .
You can t shoot first You ve got t o give

’
.
’
t he nigger firs t s hot o r else th e government ,
’
calls it murder and y o u go to F ij i That s .
’ ”
why there s so many drowning a ccidents .
D inner was called and Bertie and the ,
s kipper went below leavi n g the mate to ,
w atch on deck .
“
Keep an eye out for that black devil ,
”
A u i ki was the skipper s pa rting caution
’
.
,
”
I haven t liked his loo k s for several days
’
.
“
R ight 0 said the mate , .
D inner was part way along and the skip ,
per was in the middle of his sto ry of th e cut

ting out of the S cotti s h C hi efs .
“ ” “
Yes he w as sayin g she wa s t he finest
, ,
vessel o n the coast But whe n s h e missed .
stays and before ever she hit the reef the

, ,
canoes started for her There were five .
white men a crew o f twenty S anta Cruz

,
boys and S amoans and only the super ,
cargo escaped B esides there were sixty

.
,
recruits They were all led i -leai d K a i

.
’
.
kai ! oh I beg your pardon I mean

, .
they were eaten Then there wa s th e f ame:

.
Edwards a da n dy-rigged
,
The mate wh irled upon him s narling ,
“ ’ ’
It s a damned lie There ain t bee n .
”
a shot fired The nigger fell overboard
. .
Captain H ansen regarded Bertie with u n

blinking l ack-lustre eyes
, .
“
I I thought Bertie w as begin
ning .
“
S hots said Captain H ansen dreamily , .
S hots ! D i d you hear any s hots M r , .
Jacobs
“ ”
Not a shot replied M r Jacobs , . .
The skipper looked at h is guest t riu m

p han t l y and said
°
“
E vidently an accident L et us go down .
,
M r Arkwright and finish dinner

.
, .
’
B ertie slept that night in the captain s
cabin a tiny stateroom o ff the main cabin
,
-
.
’
The fo r ard bulkhead w as decorated with
a stand of rifles Over the bunk were th ree
.
more rifles U nder the bunk was a big

.
drawer which when he pulled it out he

, , ,
found filled with ammunitio n dynamite and , ,
s everal boxes of detonators He elected t o .
t ake t h e s ettee on the opposite s ide Lyi ng .
THE, TERR IB LE SOLOM ON S 1 13
co n sp i cuously on t h e small table was t h e ,
A rl a s log B ertie did not know that i t

’
.
h ad been especially prepared for the occa

s ion by Captain M alu and he read th erein,
’
how o n S eptember 2 1 two boat s crew had
,
falle n overboard and been drow ned Bertie .
read between the lines and knew b etter .
H e read how the A r l a s whale boat had bee n

’
-
bushwhacked at S u u and had lost t h ree

’
men ; of how the skipper discovered t h e

cook stewing human flesh on th e galley
fire flesh purchased by the boat s crew ’
ashore i n F ui ; of how an accidental d is

charge of dynamite while signalling had
, ,
k i lled another boat s crew ; o f night attacks ;

’
ports fled from between the dawns ; attacks

by bushmen in mangrove swamps and by
fleet s o f salt— water men in the larger pas
s ages . O ne item that occurred w ith monot
onc u s frequency was death by dysentery .
He n ot i ced with alarm that two white me n

had so d i ed guests like himself on the
, ,
I s ay, y ou know , Bertie s a i d n ext day
2 14 THE TERR IB LE SOLOM ONS
“
to Captain H ansen I ve been glanc i ng .
’
”
through your log .
The skipper displayed quick vexation that

the log had been left lying about .
“ ’
And all that dysentery you know that s , ,
”
all rot j ust li k e the accidental drownings
, ,
“
Be rt ie continued What does dysente ry
.
”
really s tand for !
The skipper Openly admired his guest s ’
acumen stiff ened himself to ma k e indignant

,
denial then gracefully surrendered

, .
“
You see it s like this M r Arkwright
,
’
, . .
These i slands have got a bad enough name

as it is It s getting harder every day to
.
’
sign o n white men S uppose a man i s .
killed The company has to p ay through

.
the nose for another man to take the job .
But if the man merely dies of sickness i t s ,

’
all right The new chums don t mind

.
’
disease What they draw the line at is

.
being murdered I thought th e skipper o f

.
the A ri a had died of dysentery when I took

his billet Then it w as t oo late I d signed
. .
’
”
the co ntract .
2 16 THE TERR IB LE SOLOM ON S
H e dropped them as they went over the rail ,
and he dropped them as fast as they picked

u p their paddles Then they j umped into
.
the water and started to swim for it and , ,
being mad he got half a dozen more And

,
.
”
what did he get for it !
“ ”
(
8
, S even years in F ij i snapped the mate , .
“
The government said he wasn t j ustified ’
in shooting after they d taken to the water ’

,
the skipper explained .
“
And that s w hy they die of dysentery
’
”
nowadays the mate added
,
.
“ ”
Just fancy said Bertie as he felt a long
, ,
ing fo r the c ruise to be over .
L ater on in the day he interviewed the

black who had been pointed out to him as
a cannib al This fellow s name was S u m as ai
.
’
.
H e had spent three years on a Queensland

plantation H e had been to S amoa and
.
,
F ij i and S ydney ; and as a boat s crew had

,
’
been on recruiting schooners through New

Britain New Ireland New Guinea and the
, , ,
Admiralties Also he w as a wag and he

.
, ,
had taken a line on his skipper s conduct ’

.
THE TERR IB LE SOLOMON S 2 17
Yes he had eaten many men How many

, .
H e could not remember the tally Yes .

,
w hite men t o o ; they were very good unless

, ,
they were sick H e had once eaten a sick

.
on e .
“
My word he cried at the recollection , .
M e sick plenty along him My belly .
”
w alk about t o o much .
Bertie shuddered and asked about heads

, .
Y es S u m as ai had several hidden ashore

, ,
in good condition sun dried and smoke

,
-
,
cured O ne was o f the captain of a schooner

. .
I t had long whis k ers H e would sell it for

.
two quid Black men s heads he would sell

.
’
for o n e quid H e had some pic k aninny

.
heads in poor condition that he would let

, ,
go fo r ten bob .
F ive minutes afterward Bertie found ,
himself sitting o n the companionway— slide

alongside a blac k with a horrible skin disease .
H e sheered o ff and on inquiry was told that

,
it was leprosy H e hurried below and

.
washed himself with antiseptic soap H e .
took many antiseptic washes in the cours e
of the day for every native on board w as
,
affl icted with malignant ulcers o f one so rt

or another .
A s the A r l et drew in to an anchorage in t h e

midst o f mangrove swamps a double ro w o f ,
'
b arbed wire w a s stretched around above he r

rail That loo k ed like business and when
.
,
B ertie saw the shore canoes alongside arme d ,
with spears bows and arrows and S niders

, , ,
he wished more earnestly than ever that t he

cruise w as over .
That evening the natives were slow i n

leaving the ship at sundown A number .
of them chec k ed the mate when he ordere d

t hem ashore .
“ ’
Never mind I ll fix them s aid Captai n
, ,
H ansen diving below

,
.
When he came b ack he showed Bertie ,
a stick of dynamite attached to a fis h hook -

.
Now it happens that a paper— wrappe d

bottle o f chlorodyne with a piece of harmless
fuse proj ecting can fool anybody It fooled .
Be rtie and it fooled the natives When

, .
Captain H ansen lighted the fuse and hooked
was in whiskey bottles so B e rtie d i d n ot
,
know it w as cold tea they were mopping

up All he knew w a s that the two men got
.
very drunk and argued eloquentl y and

at length as to whether the exploded nigger
should be reported as a case of dysentery
or as an accidental drowning When they .
snored o ff to sleep he was the only white

,
man left and he kept a perilous watch

,
till dawn in fear of an attack from shore

,
and an uprising o f the crew .
Three more days the A r i a spent on the

coast and three more nights the s k ipp er and
,
the mate dran k ove rfondly of cold tea leav ,
ing Bertie to k eep the watch They knew .
he could be depended upon while he w as ,
equally certain that if he lived he would re ,
port their drun k en conduct to Captain h Ial u .
Then the A rl a dropped anchor at Re m i n ge

P lantation on Gu adal can ar and Bertie
, ,
landed on the beach with a sigh of relief and

shook hands with the manager M r H arri . .
well w a s ready for him .
“ ’
Now you mustn t be alarmed if some
THE TERR IB LE SOLOM ON S 221
of ou r fellows seem downcast M r H arri ,

.
well said having drawn him aside in con

,
“
fide n ce There s been tal k of an out
’
.
b rea k and two o r three suspicious signs

,
’
I m willing to admit but personally I ,
’
think it s all poppycock .
“
How — how many blacks have y o u
”
on the plantation ! Bertie asked with a ,
sinking heart .
“ ’
We re working four hundred j ust now ,
“
replied M r H ar riw e ll cheerfully ;
. but ,
the three of us with vo u of course and the

, , ,
s k ipper and mate of the A ri a can handle ,
”
them all right .
B ertie turned to meet one McTavi sh ,
the store k eeper who scarcely ackn o wl

,
e dged the introduction such w a s his eager ,
n ess to present his resignation .
“
It being that I m a married man M r ’
, .
H arriw e ll I can t ve ry well aff ord to re

’
,
main o n longer Trouble is working up.

,
as plain as the nose on your face The .
’
niggers are going t o b reak out and there ll ,
”
be another Hoho n o horror here .
222 THE TERR IB LE SOLOM ON S
”
’
What s a Ho b o mo horror ! Be rt i e
asked after the storekeeper had been per
,
s u ade d to remain until the end of the

month .
“
Oh he means Ho hon o Plantation on
, ,
“
Ysabel said the manager
,
The niggers .
killed the five white men ashore captured ,
the schooner k illed the captain and mate

, ,
and escaped in a body to hi al ai t a But .
I always said they were careless on Ho

hono They won t catch us napping here
.
’
.
Come along M r Arkwright and see o u r

, ,
”
view from the veranda .
Bertie was t o o busy wondering how he

could get away t o Tulagi to the Commis
’
s io n e r s house to se e much of the view
, .
He w as still wondering when a rifle ex ,
p l o de d very near to him behind his back , .
At the same moment his arm w as nearly

dislocated so eagerly did M r Harriw e l l
, .
drag him indoors .
“
I say old man that was a close shave
, , ,
said the manager pawing him over to see if

,
“ ’
h e had been hit I can t tell y o u how
.
Mr Harriwe l l
. .
“
And n ow
’
let s have th at
”
drink .
“ ”
But where d he get that S nider ! M r
’
.
“
Brown insi sted I always obj ected t o
.
”
keeping those guns o n the premi s es .
“ ”
They re still there M r H ar riwe ll said
’
,
.
,
w ith a show of heat .
Mr B rown smiled i n cre du l o u sl v

. .
“
Come along and see said the man ,
ager .
Bertie joined the procession into t he

o fli ce where Mr H arriwe l l pointed tri
,
.
u m p h an t l y at a big packing—
case in a dusty
corner .
“
Well then where did the beggar get
, ,
”
that S nider ! harped M r B rown . .
But j ust then McTavi sh lifted the pack

ing case The manager sta rted then tore
- .
,
o ff the l i d The case w as empty They

. .
gazed at one another in horrified silence .
H arriw e l l droo ped wearily .
Then McV e igh cursed .
“
What I contended all along — t h e
”
house boys are not to be trusted
- .
TH E T ERR IB LE SOLOM ON S 11 5
It does look serious H arriwe ll ad ,
“
mit t e d ,but we ll come t h rough it all ’
right What the sanguina ry n iggars need

.
is a shaking up Will y o u gentlemen please

.
b ring your rifles to dinner and will y ou , ,
M r B rown kindly p repare forty o r fifty

.
,
s ticks of dynamite M ake the fuses good .
’
and sho rt We ll give them a lesson And
. .
”
now gentlemen dinner i s served
, , .
O ne thing that Bertie detested was rice

and curry so it happened that he alone par
,
took of an inviting omelet H e had quite .
finished his plate when H arriw e l l helped ,
himself to the omelet O ne mouthful he .
tasted then spat out vociferously

,
“ ’
That s the second time ”
McTavi sh ,
announced ominously .
H ar r iw e l l was still hawking and spitting .
“ ”
S econd time what ! Bertie quave red , .
” “
Poison was the answer
, That cook .
”
w ill b e hanged yet .
That s t h e way the bookkeeper went

’
”
out at Cape M arsh B rown spoke up ,
.
“
D ied horribly They said on the j ess i e
.
2 26 THE T ERR IB LE SOLO MON S
t h at th ey h e ard him screaming three m i le s
”
away .
“
I ll put t h e cook in irons
’
sputtered ,
“
Harriwe l l Fo rtunately we discovered it
i n time .
Bertie sat paralysed There was no .
color in his face H e attempted to speak

.
,
but only an inarticulate gurgle resulted .
All eyed him anxiously .
Don t say it don t say it McTavi sh

’
,
’
,
cried in a tense voice .
“
Yes I ate it plenty of it a whole
, , ,
plateful Bertie cried explosively like a ,
diver suddenly regaining breath .
The awful silence continued half a minute

longer and he read his fate in their eyes
, .
“ ’
M aybe it wasn t poison a fter all ,
s aid H arri we l l dismally ,

.
“ ”
Call in the coo k said B rown , .
I n came the cook a grinning black b oy , ,
n ose-spiked and ear plugged -

.
“ —
H ere you W i w i what name that !
, ,
”
,
Harriwe ll bellowed pointing accusi n gly at ,
t he omelet .
n ative poisons Try and compose yoursel f,
.
and if
Two sharp reports of a rifle from without ,
interrupted the discourse and B rown e n , ,
tering reloaded his rifle and s at down to

,
table .
“
The cook s dead ’
he said F ever
,
. .
A rather sudden attack .
“
I was j ust telling M r Arkwright that .
there are no antidotes for native po i

s ons
77
“
Except gin said Brown , .
H arri we ll called himself an a b sent

minded idiot and rushed fo r the gin
bottle .
“
Neat man neat ,
he warned Be rtie
, , ,
w ho gulped down a tumbler two-thirds

full of the raw spirits and coughed and ,
choked from the ang ry bite o f it till t he

tears ran down his cheeks .
H arr iw e ll too k his pulse and tempera

ture made a show of looking out for him
, ,
and doubted that the omelet had b ee n

poisoned Brown an d McTavi s h also
.
THE T ERR IB LE SOLOMON S 119
d oub ted ; but Bertie discerned an i nsincere

ring in their voices H is appetite had.
left him and he took his own pulse stealth

,
ily under the table There w as no ques

.
tion but what it w as increasing but h e ,
failed to asc ribe it to the gin he had taken .
McTavi s h rifle in hand went o u t on

, ,
the veranda to reconnoitre .
“ ’
They re massing up at the cook house -
,
“
w as his repo rt And t hey ve no end of ’
.
S niders My idea is to sneak around on

.
the other side and take them in flank .
S trike the first blow you know Will , .
you come along B rown ,
H ar ri we l l ate on steadily while Bertie ,
discovered that his pulse had leaped up

five beats Nevertheless he could n o t help
.
,
j umping when the rifles began to go off .
Above the scattering of S niders could b e

’
heard the pumping of B rown s and M c
Tavish s Winchesters
’
all against a back
ground o f demoniacal screeching and yell
i ng
Th ey ve got them on the run H arri
’
,
23 0 THE TERR IB LE SOLO MON S
well remarked as voices and gunshots
,
faded away in the distance .
S carcely were Brown and McTavi sh

back at the table when the latter recon
n o i t re d .
“
They ve go t dynamite he said
’
,
.
’ ”
Then let s charge them with dynamite ,
Ha rri we ll proposed .
Thrusting half a dozen sticks each into

their poc k ets and equipping themselves
with lighted cigars they started for the ,
door And j ust then it happened They

. .
blamed McTavi sh for it afte rward and he ,
admitted that the charge had been a trifle

excessive But at any rate it went off
.
u nder the house which lifted up corner

,
w ise and settled back on its foundations .
Half the china on the table was shattered ,
W hile the eight day clock stopped-

Yell .
ing for vengeance the three men rushed ,
ou t into the night and the bombardment ,
began .
When they returned there was no Bert i e , .
He had dragged himself away to the ofli ce ,
236 THE IN E V ITAB LE WH ITE MA N
bald pate bespoke a tomahawk intimacy
w ith the black and of equal intimacy was
,
the advertisement front and rear on the

, ,
ri ght side of his neck where an arrow had

,
at one time entered and been pulled clean

through As he explained he had been in
.
,
a hurry o n that occasion the arrow i m

p e d e d his running — and he felt that he
could not take the time to break o ff the
head and pull out the shaft the way it had
come in At the present moment he was
.
commander of the S avai i the big steamer ,
that recruited labor from the westward for

the German plantations o n S amoa .
“
H alf the trouble is the stupidity of the
whites , said Roberts pausing to ta k e a
,
swig from h i s glass and to curse the S amoan

“
b ar boy in aff ectionate terms
-
If the .
white man would lay himself o u t a bit to

understand t h e workings o f the black man s ’
”
mind most o f the messes would be avoided
, .
“ ’
I ve seen a few w ho claimed they under
”
stood niggers Captain Woodward reto rted
, ,
“
and I always took notice that they were
THE IN E VITAB LE WH ITE MAN 237
t he first to be kai —
hai d ( eaten! L ook at
’
.
the missionaries in New Guinea and the

New H ebrides the martyr isle of E rro
-
m a n ga and all the rest Loo k at the Aus

.
trian expedition that w as cut to pieces in the

S olomons in the bush of G au dal can ar
, .
And look at the traders themselves w ith ,
’
a score of years expe rience making their ,
b rag that no nigger would ever get them ,
a n d whose heads to this day are ornament
ing the rafters of the canoe houses There .
w as old Johnny S imons twenty-s ix years

o n the raw edges of M elanesia s wore he ,
’
knew the niggers like a book and that they d
never do fo r him and he passed out at
,
M arovo La goon New Georgia had his

, ,
head sawed off by a black M a ry (woman!

and an o l d nigger with only o n e leg having ,
left the other leg in the mouth of a sh ark

while diving fo r dynamited fish There .
w as Billy Watts horrible reputation as a

,
nigger killer a man t o scare the devil I

, .
remember lying at Cape L ittle New Irelan d ,
you know whe n t h e n i ggers stole half a c as e

,
23 8 THE IN EV ITAB LE WH ITE MA N
of trade tobacco cost him about th ree
-
dollars and a half In retaliation he turned.
ou t shot s ix niggers sm ashed up their war

, ,
canoes and burned t wo v illages And it w as .
at Cape L ittle four years afterward that he

, ,
w as j umped along with fifty Bu k u boys he

had with him fishing b é che de— mer In five - .
minutes they were all dead with the e xce p ,
tion of three boys w ho got away in a canoe .
D on t talk to me about understanding the

’
nigger The white man s mission is to farm

.
’
the world and i t s a big enough j ob cut o u t

,
’
for him What time has he go t left to under

.
”
s tand niggers anyw ay !
“ ”
Just so said Roberts ,
And some .
’
how it doe sn t seem necessary after all to , ,
u nderstand the niggers In direct p ro .
po rtion t o the white man s stupidity is hi s ’
success in farming the world

“
And putting the fear of God into the
”
nigger s heart Captain Woodward blurted
’
,
out . P erhaps you re right Roberts ’

, .
Perhaps it s his stupidity that makes hi m

’
s uccee d and surely one phase of his stupidity

,
240 THE IN E VITAB LE WH ITE MA N
But I wonder what the black ma n
”
must think of the the inevitablenes s ,
I said .
Captain Woodward broke into quiet

laughter . H is eyes had a reminiscent
gleam .
“’
I m j ust wondering what the niggers of
k I al u thought and still must be thin k ing of
the o n e inevitable white man we had on
”
board when w e visited them in the D u ches s ,
he explained .
Robe rts mixed three more Abu Hameds .
“
That was twenty years ago S axt o rp h .
w as his name H e was certainly the most

stupid man I ever saw but he w as as i n e v,
i t abl e as death There was only o n e thing

that chap could do and that w as shoot I
, .
remember the first time I ran into him

right here in Apia twenty years ago That
, .
w as before your time R oberts I was sleep

,
.
ing at D utch H enry s hotel down where the

’
,
market is n ow E ver heard of him ! He

.
made a tidy stake smuggling arms in to the

rebels sold out his hotel and w as killed in
, ,
THE IN E VITAB LE WH ITE MA N 2 41
S ydney j ust six weeks afterw ard in a saloo n

row .
“
But S axt orp h O ne night I d j ust got .
’
to sleep when a couple of cats began to sing

,
i n the cou rtyard It was o u t of bed and

.
up window water j ug in hand But j ust

,
.
then I heard the window of the next room

go up Two shots were fired and the win
.
,
dow was closed I fail to impress y o u with

.
the celerity of the transaction Ten seconds .
at the outside Up went the window bang

.
,
bang went the revolver and down went the ,
window Whoever it w as he had never

.
,
s topped to see the effect of hi s shots He .
knew D o y o u follow me
. he kn ew .
There w as no more cat concert and in the -

,
m orning there lay the two off enders stone ,
dead It was marvellous to me It still is

. .
marvellous F irst it w as starlight and

.
, ,
S axt o rp h shot without drawing a bead ;

next he shot so rapidly that the two reports
,
were like a double report ; and finally he ,
knew he had hit h is marks without looking

t o see .
242 THE I N E V ITAB LE WH ITE MAN '
Two days afte rward he came on board

t o s ee me I was mate then o n the D u chess
.
, , ,
a whacking big one hundred and fift y ton - - - -
schooner a blackbirder And let me tell

,
.
you that blac kbirders were blackbirders in

those days There weren t any govern
.
’
ment inspectors and no government pro ,
t e ct io n for u s either It was rough work

,
.
,
give and ta k e if w e were finished and noth

, ,
ing said and we ran niggers from every

,
south sea island they didn t k ick us o ff from ’

.
Well S axt o rp h came on board John S ax

, ,
t o rp h was the name he gave H e was .
a sandy little man hair sandy complexio n , ,
sandy and eyes sandy t oo Nothing strik

, ,
.
ing about him H is soul was as neutral .
as his color scheme He said he was strapped .
and wanted t o ship on board Would go .
cabin b o y cook supercargo or common

-
, , ,
sailor D idn t know anything about any

.
’
of the billets but said that he was willing to

,
’
lea rn I didn t wa nt him but his shooting
.
,
had so impressed me that I took him as com

mon s ailor wages three pounds per mont h
, .
244 THE IN E VITAB LE WH ITE MA N
h is speech And that was all we ever
.
did know .
And now w e begin t o get t o the point .
We had bad luck in the New Hebrides only ,
fourteen boys for five weeks and we ran ,
up before the southeast fo r the S olomons .
M alaita then as now w as good recruiting

, ,
ground and we ran into M alu on the no rth

, ,
western corner There s a shore reef and an

.
’
outer reef and a mighty nervous anchorage ;

,
but we made it all right and fired off o u r

dynamite as a signal to the niggers to come
down and be recruited In three days w e .
got n o t a boy The niggers came o ff t o us

.
in their canoes by hundreds but they only ,
laughed when we showed them beads and

calico and hatchets and tal k ed of the delight s
of plantation work in S amoa .
“
O n the fourth day there came a change .
F ifty odd boys signed on and were billeted

-
in the main hold with the freedom of the

-
,
dec k of course And of course looking

,
.
,
bac k this wholesale signing on w as s u sp i

,
ci on s but at the time we thought some pow

,
!THE IN E VITAB LE WHITE MA N 245
e rfu l chief had removed the ban against re

cru it i n g The morning of the fifth day o ur
.
two boats went ashore as usual one to

cover the other you know in case of trouble , ,
.
And as usual the fifty niggers o n board

, ,
were on deck l o afin g talking smoking and

, , , ,
sleeping S axt o rp h and myself along with

.
,
fou r other sailors were all that were left on ,
board The two boats were manned with

.
Gilbe rt I slanders In the o n e were the cap .
tain the supercargo and the recruiter I n

, , .
the other which was the covering boat

,
and which lay o ff shore a hundred yards ,
was the second mate Both boats were .
well armed though trouble was little ex

-
,
p e ct e d .
“
Four of the sailors including S axt o rp h , ,
w e re scraping the poo p rail The fift h .
s ailor rifle in hand was standing gua rd by

, ,
the water-tank j ust fo r ard of the mainmast ’

.
I was fo r ard putting in the finishing lick s

’
,
o n a new j aw for the fore ga ff I was j ust -

.
reac h ing for my pipe where I had laid it
do wn when I h eard a shot fro m s hore

,
I .
246 THE IN E V I TAB LE WH I TE MA N
s traightened up to look S omething struck
.
m e on the back of the head partially stun ,
n ing me and knoc k ing me to the dec k M y .
firs t thought w as that something had carried

away aloft ; but even as I went down and ,
’
before I struck the deck I heard the devil s
,
own tattoo o f rifles from the boats and , ,
twisting sidewise I caught a glimpse o f the

,
s ailor who w as standing guard Two b ig .
niggers were holding hi s a rms and a third ,
nigger from behind was b raining him with

, ,
a tomahawk .
“
I can see it now the water tank th e
,
-
,
mainmast the gang hanging on to him the

, ,
hatchet descending on the back of his head ,
and all under the blazing sunlight I was .
fascinated by that growing vision of death .
The tomahawk seemed to take a horribly

long time to come down I s aw it land and
.
,
’
the man s legs give under him as he crumpled .
The n iggers held him up by sheer strength

while he was hacked a couple of times more .
Then I got two more hacks on the head and

decided that I was dead S o did the b rute .
2 48 THE IN E VITAB LE WH ITE MA N
The niggers s aw me standing and started ,
for me I reached for my revolver and

.
,
’
found they had ta k en it I can t s ay that .
I w as scared I ve been near to deat h

.
’
several times but it never seemed easier

,
than right then I was half stunned and .

-
,
nothing seemed to matter .
“
The leading nigger had armed himself
with a cleaver from the galley and he ,
g ri mm ace d like an ape as he prepared to

slice me down But the slice was never
.
made He went down on the deck all of

a heap and I saw the bloo d gush from his
,
mouth In a dim way I heard a rifle go

.
o ff and continue t o go o ff Nigger after .
nigger went down My senses be gan to .
clear and I noted that there was never a

,
miss E very time that rifle went o ff a nig

.
ger dropped I sat down on deck beside

.
the winch and loo k ed up P erched in th e .
crosstrees was S axt o rp h How he had .
’
managed it I can t imagine for he had ,
carried up with him two Winchesters and

I don t know how many b andoliers of am-
’
w
THE I N E V ITAB LE W H I TE MAN 149
mu n it io n ; and he wa s now doi n g the one

only th i ng i n this world t h at h e was fitte d
t o do .
“ ’
I ve s een shooting and s laughter b u t I ,
n ever s aw anyt h ing like t h at I s at b y t h e .
wi nc h and watched the show I was weak .
and fa i nt and it seemed to be all a dream

, .
B a n g b a n g b ang bang went h is rifle a n d

, , , , ,
th u d thud thud thud we n t t h e n i gger s

, , , ,
to t h e deck It w as amazing to s ee t h em
.
go down After their first rush to get m e

.
,
wh e n a b out a dozen had dropped they ,
s eemed paralysed ; but he never left off

p umping hi s gun By this time ca noe s and .
the two b oats arrived from shore arm ed ,
w i th S niders and with Winc h ester s which

,
they h ad captured in the b oats The .
fus illade they let loose o n S axt o rph wa s

tre m en dou s L uck i ly for him the n i gger s
.
are only good at close range They are n ot .
u sed to putting the guns to their s hou lders .
Th ey w a i t u ntil they are right o n t op of

a m a n and t h e n they shoot fro m t h e hip
, .
W h e n h is r ifl e got t oo h ot S axt o rp h c h an ge d ,
25 0 THE IN E V ITAB LE WH ITE MA N
o ff . That had been his idea when he carri e d
two rifles up with him .
“
The astounding thing w as the rapidity
o f his fire Also he never made a miss
.
,
.
If ever anything was inevitable that m an ,
w as It was the swiftness of it that made

.
the slaughter so appalling The niggers .
did not have time to thin k When they did .
manage to think they went over the side in ,
a rush capsizing t he canoes of course

,
.
S axt o rp h never let up The water w as .
covered with them and plump plump , , ,
plump he dropped his bullets into them

,
.
Not a single miss and I could hear distinctly ,
the thud o f every bullet as it buried i n

human flesh .
“
The niggers spread out and headed for
the shore swimming The water was car
, .
p e t e d with bobbing heads and I stood up , ,
as in a dream and watched it all — the ,
bobbing heads and the heads that ceased to

bob S ome of the long shot s were m a gn ifi
.
cent O nly one man reached the beach

.
,
but as he stood up to wade ashore S axt o rp h ,
15 1 THE IN E VITAB LE WH ITE MAN
b e washed out my scalp-wounds and sewed
t h em up A big drink of whiskey braced
.
me to make an effort to get o u t There was .
nothing else to do All the rest were dead . .
We tried to get up sail S axt o rp h hoisting ,
and I holding the turn He was once more .
the stupid lubber H e couldn t hoist worth .

’
a cent and when I fell in a faint it loo k ed all

, ,
up with u s .
“
When I came to S axt o rp h was sitting ,
helplessly on the rail waiting t o as k me what ,
he shou ld do I told him to overhaul the

.
woun ded and s e e if there were any able to

c rawl . H e gathered together six O ne I .
,
remember had a broken leg ; but S axt o rp h

,
s aid his arms were all right I lay in the .
shade brushing the flies o ff and directing

,
operations while S axt o rp h bossed his ho s

,
pital gang I ll be blessed if he didn t make

.
’ ’
those poor niggers heave at every rope on

the pin rails before he found the halyards
-
.
O ne of them let go the rope in the midst o f

the hoisting and slipped down to the deck
dead ; but S axt o rp h hammered the other s
THE IN E VITAB LE WH ITE MA N 1 53
an d made them st i ck by the j ob Whe n .
the fore and main were up I told him to ,
knock the shackle out of the anchor chain

an d let her go .I had had myself helped aft
to the wheel where I w as going to make a
,
shift at steering I can t guess ho w he did

.
’
it but instead of k nocking the shackle out

, ,
down went the second anchor and there ,
w e were doubly moored .
“
In the end he managed to knock both
shac k les o u t and raise the staysail and j ib ,
and the D uchess filled away for the entrance .
Ou r decks were a spectacle D ead and .
dying niggers were everyw here They were .
w edged away some of them in the most i n co n

ce i v ab l e places The cab in was full o f them
.
where they had crawled off the deck and

cashed in I put S axt o rp h and his grave
.
yard gang to work heaving them overside ,
and over they went the living and the dead

, .
The sharks had fat pickings that day O f .
co u r se o u r fo u r mu rdere d s ailor s w e n t t he
sam e w ay . The i r he ads how ever w e p ut

, ,
i n a s ack w ith w ei ghts so th at b y n o ch an ce

,
25 4 T HE INE VITAB LE W H IT E MA N
s houl d th ey drift o n the be ach an d f al l i n to

the hands of the niggers .
“
Our five prisoners I decided to u se a s
crew but they deci de d otherwise They
,
.
watched their oppo rtunity and went over

the side S axt o rp h got two in mid air wi th
.
-
h is revolver and would have shot the other

,
three in the water if I hadn t stopped h i m ’

.
I w a s s i ck of the s l au ghter y ou s ee an d , , ,
b es ide s they d helped w or k the s choon e r

’
,
out .But it w as mercy throw n aw ay for ,
the sharks got the three of them .
I had b rain fever or something after we

got clear of the land Anyway the D u ches s
.
,
l ay h ove to f o r three w ee ks w he n I p ulled ,
myself together and w e j ogged on with her to

S ydney Anyway t hose niggers of M alu
.
learned the everlasting lesson that it is not

good to mon k ey with a white man In their .
”
case S axt o rp h was certainl y inevitable
, .
Charley Roberts emitted a long whistle

and said
Well I should sav so But whateve r .
b ecame of S a xt o rp h
260 T HE S EE D OF MccOY
the signal o f distress H e thought of hi s .
happy islanders and hoped it was not disease

,
.
P erhaps the ship was short of water or pro

visions H e shook hands with the captain
.
who se gaunt face and care worn eyes made -
no secret of the trouble whatever it w as ,

.
At t h e same moment the new-comer w as

aware o f a faint i n de fin ab l e smell It ,
.
seemed li k e that of burnt b read but dif ,
fe re n t .
He glanced curiously about him Twenty .
feet away a weary faced sailor was cal k ing -
the deck As his eye lingered on the man

.
,
he saw suddenly a rise from under his hands

a faint spiral of haze that curled and twisted
and was gone By now he had reached the
.
dec k H is b are feet were pervaded by a dull

.
warmth that quic k ly penetrated the thick

calluses H e k new now the nature of the
.
ship s distress H is eyes roved sw ift l v for

’
.
ward where the full crew of weary faced

,
-
sailors regarded him eagerly The glance .
from his liquid brown eyes swept over them

li ke a benedict i on s oothing them w rapp in g
, ,
THE SEE D OF M C COY; 26 1
them about as in the mantle of a great p eace .
“ ”
Ho w long has s he been afire Captain !
,
he as ked in a voice so gentle and u n p e r

t u rb e d that it was as the cooing of a dove .
At first the captain felt the peace and

content of it stealing in upon him ; then
the consciousness o f all that he had gone
through and was going through smote him ,
and he w as resentful By what right did

.
this ragged beach comber in dungaree

-
,
trousers and a cotton shirt s u ggest such a,
thing as peace and content to him and his

overwrought exhausted soul ! The cap
,
tain did not reason this ; it was the u n co n

scious p rocess of emotion that caused hi s
resentment .
“
F ifteen days he answered shortly
, .
Who are y o u
“
My name is McC o y came the ans wer
,
i n tones that b reathed tenderness and com
p ass ion
.
“
I mean are you the p ilot
,
McC oy passed the benedictio n of his gaze

o ve r the tall heavy—
, s houldered man w i t h
2 62 THE SEE D OF M C COY
the haggard unshaven face who had j o i ne d

,
the captain .
“
I am as much a pilot as anybody wa s ,
McC oy s answer
’ “
We are all pilots here
.
,
Captain and I know eve ry inc h of thes e

,
”
w aters.
But the captain was impatient .
“
What I want is some of the authorities .
”
I want to talk with them and blame quick ,
.
“
Then I ll do j ust as well
’
.
Again that insidious suggestion of p e ace ,
an d his ship a raging furnace benea t h h i s
feet ! The captain s eyebrows lifted i m’
patiently and nervously and his fist clenched ,
a s if he were about to stri k e a blow with it .
“
Who in hell are you he demanded .
”
I am the chief magistrate was the ,
reply in a voice that w as still the softest

and gentlest imaginable .
The tall heavy shouldered man broke out

,
-
in a harsh laugh that w as part ly amusement ,
but mostly hysterical Both he and the cap .
t ain regarded McC o y with i n credulity an d
a maze m en t That t h i s barefooted b e ach

.
264 THE SEE D OF M C COY
Then y ou made a mistake Captai n , ,
s aid McC o y
“
Yo u should have slacked
.
away for lVI an gare va There s a beauti .

’
ful beach there in a lagoon Where the ,
”
water is like a mill pond -
.
“ ”
But we re here ain t we ! the first
’ ’
'
’
mate demanded That s the point . .
’ ’
We re here and we ve got to do some
,
th ing .
McC oy shook hi s head kindly .
“
Yo u can do nothing here There i s .
”
no beach There isn t even anchorage
.
’
.
“ ” “
Gammon ! s aid the mate Gam .
mon he repeated loudly as the capt ain ,
signalled him to be more soft spoken -

.
“ ’
You can t tell me that sort of stuff .
Wh ere d ye keep your own boats hey

’
,
your schooner or cutter o r whatever you

, ,
”
have ! Hey ! Answer me that .
McC oy smiled as gently as he spoke .
H is smile was a caress an embrace that ,
surrounded the tired mate and sought t o

draw him into the quietude and rest of
McC o y s tranquil soul
’
.
THE SEE D OF M C COY 2 65
We have no schooner or cutter he ,
“
r eplied And we carry our canoes to the
.
”
t o p of the cliff .
’
You ve go t to show me sno rted the ,
“
mate . Ho w d ye get around t o the ’
other islands heh Te ll me that .
“
We don t get around As governor .
o f P itcairn I sometimes go When I w as

, .
younger I was away a great deal

, some
times o n the trading schooners but mostly ,
on the missionary brig But she s gone .

’
n ow,
and we depend on passing vessels .
S ometimes we have had as high as six call s

in one year At other times a year and
.
, ,
even longer has gone by without one pass

,
i ng ship Yours is the first in seven

.
m onths .
“
And you mean to tell me the mate
began .
But Captain D avenport interfered .
’
E nough of this We re losing time . .
What is to be done M r M c coy ,

.
The o l d man turned his b rown eyes ,
’
s weet as a woman s shoreward and both , ,
2 66 THE SEE D OF M C C OY
capta i n and mate followed his gaze a rou n d

from the lonely rock o f P itcairn to the
crew clustering fo rw ard and waiting an x
iou s l y for the announcement of a decision .
McC o y did not hurry H e thought .
smoothly and slowly step by step with the , ,
cert itude o f a mind that w as never vexed

or outraged by life .
“
The wind is light now he said finally ,
.
There is a heavy cu rrent set ting to t he

”
westward .
“
That s what made us fetch to leeward
’
,
the captain interrupted desiring to vin ,
di cat e his seamanship .
“
Yes that is what fetched you to lee
,
” “
ward M c coy went on
, Well vou can t .
,
’
work up against this current to day And - .
if you did there is no beach Your ship

, .
”
will be a total loss .
He paused and captain and mate looked

,
despair at each other .
“
But I will tell you what you can do .
The b reeze will freshen t o — night around

m idnight see those tails o f clouds an d
hot sole against the leg of his trousers t he ,
mate laughed in a savage snarling fashion ,

.
“ ” “
The anteroom of hell he said Hell ,
.
herself is right down there under your feet .
“
It s hot ! McC o y cried involuntarily
’ ”
,
mopping his face with a b andana h an dke r

chief .
“
H ere s M angareva
’
the captain said, ,
bending over the table and pointing to a

blac k spec k in the midst o f the white
“
blan k ness o f the chart And here in .
,
between is another island Why not run

, .
for that
McC o y did not look at the chart .
“ ’
That s Crescent Island he an ,
“
swe re d It is uninhab ited and it i s onl y
.
,
two or three feet above water L agoon .

,
but no entrance No M angareva is the.

,
”
nearest place for your purpose .
“ ”
M angareva it is then said Captain
, ,
D avenport interrupting the mate s growl

,
’
“
i ng obj ection Call the crew aft M r
.
, .
”
Konig .
The sailors obeyed sh uffl ing w eari ly ,
THE SEE D OF M C C OY 2 69
a long t he deck and painfully endeavor i ng

to make haste E xhaustion w as evident
.
in every movement The cook came out .
o f his galley t o hear and the cabin-boy ,
h ung about near him .
When Captain D avenport had explained

the situation and announced his intention
of running for M angareva an uproar broke ,
out Against a background of throaty

.
rumbling arose inarticulate cries of rage ,
with here and there a distinct curse or ,
word or phrase A shrill Cockney voice

,
.
soared and dominated for a moment cry ,
’
ing : Gawd After bein in ell for fifteen ’
’ ’
days an now e wants us to sail this
’ ’
fl o at i n ell to s e a again
The captain could not control them ,
but M c coy s gentle presence seemed to

’
rebuke and calm them and the muttering ,
and cursing died away until the full crew , ,
s ave here and there an anxious face directed

at the captain yearned dumb ly toward
,
the green-clad p eak s and beetling coast

of P itca irn .
“
S oft a s a s pring zephyr was the vo i ce of

McC oy
“
Captain I thought I heard some of
,
”
them say they were starving .
“ ” “
Ay was the answer and so we a re
, ,
.
I ve had a sea biscuit and a spoonful of

’
-
’
salmon in the last two days We re on .
whac k You se e when we discovered the

.
,
fire we battened down immediately to

,
suffocate the fire And then w e found .
how little food there was in the pant ry .
’
But it was t oo late We didn t dare b reak .
’
out the lazarette Hungry ! I m j ust as
.
hungry as they are .
H e spoke to the men agai n and again ,
the throat rumbling and cursing arose

-
,
their faces convu lsed and animal like with -
rage The second and third mates had

.
joined the captain standing behind him ,
at the break of the p oo p Their face s .
were se t and expressionless ; they seemed

bored more than anyt hing else by thi s
, ,
mutiny of the crew Captain D avenport .
glanced questioningly at his first mate,
when he succeeded in calking them tighter

,
an d tighter .
”
Well what do y ou think ! the cap
,
tain finally as k ed McC o y who w as watch ,
i ng the carpenter with all a child s interest

’
and curiosity in his eyes .
McC oy looked shoreward where the land ,
w as disappearing in the thic k ening haze .
“
I thin k it would be better to square
away for Mangareva With that breeze .
that is coming you ll be there t o morrow

,
’
-
”
evening .
“
But what if the fire breaks out ! It is
”
liable to do it any moment .
H ave your boats ready in the falls .
The same breeze will carry your boats to

M angareva if the ship burn s out from
”
under .
Captain D avenport debated for a mo

ment and then McC o y heard the ques
,
tion he had not wanted to hear but which ,
he knew was surely coming .
“
I have no chart of M angareva On .
t h e general chart it is only a fl y -speck I .
wou ld n ot know wh ere t o look fo r the

entra n ce i nto the lagoon Will y ou co me .
”
along and pilot her in for me !
M c coy s serenity was u nb roke n

’
.
“ ”
Y e s Captain h e sa i d w it h t h e same
, , ,
qu i et u n concern with which h e would h ave

“
accepted a n i nvitation to d i n ner ; I ll ’
go wi th you to M angare va .
Agai n the crew w as called aft an d the ,
captain s poke t o them from th e b reak o f

th e poop .
“ ’
We ve tried to work h er u p b ut you ,
see how we ve lost grou n d S he s s et

’
.
’
ting off i n a two knot current Thi s gen

-
.
t l e m an i s t h e Honorable M c co y Chief ,
M agistrate a n d Governor o f Pitca i rn Is

land He w ill come along wi t h u s t o
.
M a n garev a S o y o u s e e the s i tu at io n is
.
n ot s o dangerous H e would not make

.
suc h an off er i f he thought he was going

to lo s e h is life Besides Whatever ri sk
.
,
t h ere i s i f h e o f his own free wi ll come

,
o n b oard and take it we can do n o le ss

, .
What do y ou s ay for M angare v a

T

r
274 THE SEE D OF MC C OY
This time th ere was no uproar M c .
’
Coy s presence the surety and calm that
,
seemed to radiate from him had had its ,
eff ect They conferred with one another

.
in low voices There w as little urging

. .
Th ey were virtually unanimous and they ,
shoved the Coc k ney o u t as their spo k es

man That wort hy w as overwhelmed with
consciousness o i the heroism of himself
and hi s mates and wi th flashing eyes he
,
cried
“ ’
By Gawd if e will we will ,
The crew mumbled its assent and started

fo rw ard .
“
O ne moment Captain McC o y said
, , ,
as the other was turning to give orders to

“ ”
the mate I must go ashore first
. .
M r Konig was thunderstruck staring

.
,
at M cC o y as if he were a madman .
“ ”
Go ashore ! the captain cried .
What for ! It will take you three hours

t o get there in your canoe .
McC o y measured the distance of t he

land away and nodded , .
”
Are you sure !
”
Quite sure .
Then if you know they wi ll gi ve it ,
W hy bother with getting it ! Think o f
t h e delay a whol e night .
“
It is our custom was the i mpe rt u rb
,
’
“
able reply . Also I am the governor
, ,
and I must make arrangements for the

”
conduct of the island during my absence .
“
But it i s only a twenty four hour ru n - -
’
to M angareva ,
the captain obj ected .
“
S uppose it took you six ti m es that long
to retu r n to windward ; that would bring
”
y ou back by the end of a week .
McC o y smiled hi s large benevolent ,
s mile.
“
Very fe w vessels come t o P itcairn ,
an d when they do they are usually from

,
S an F rancisco or fro m a round t h e Horn .
I shall be fortunate if I get b ack in six

months I may be away a year and I
.
,
may have to go to S an F rancisco in order

to find a vessel that wi ll b ring me back .
My father once left P itcai rn to be go ne
THE s EED 177
t h re e months and two years passed before

,
h e could get back Then t oo you are .

, ,
s hort of food If y o u have to take to the

.
boats and the weather comes up bad

, ,
you may be days in reaching land I can .
b ring off two canoe loads of food in the

morn ing D ried bananas wi ll be b es t As
. .
the b reeze freshens you b eat up aga i nst

,
it . The nearer y o u are the bigger load s ,
”
I C an bring off Go od b y .
- .
H e held o u t his hand The captain .
shook it and w as reluctant to let go H e

,
.
s eemed to cling to it as a drowning sailor
C lings to a life buoy - .
“
How do I know you will come back
”
i n the morning ! he asked .
“
Y es that s it
,
c ri ed the mate
’
How .
’
do we know but what he s skinning out to
save his own hide
McC oy did n ot speak He looked at
“
them sweetly and benignantly and it ,
s eemed to them that they received a m e s

sage from h is tr emendou s certitude of
so u l.
The captain rel eased his hand an d, ,
with a last sweeping glance that embraced

the crew in its benediction McC oy went ,
over the rail and descended into his canoe .
The wind freshened and the Py re n e es , ,
despite the foulness of her bottom wo n ,
half a dozen miles away from the westerly

current At daylight with P itca irn three
.
,
miles to windward Captain D avenpo rt ,
made out two canoes coming off to him .
Again McC o y cl am b f red up the side and

dropped over the rail to the hot deck H e .
was followed by many packages of d ried

bananas each package wrapped in drv l e ave s
, .
“ ” “
Now Captain
, he said swi n g the
, ,
yards and drive for dear life Yo u se e .

,
”
I am no navigator he explained a few
,
m inutes later as he stood by t he captai n

,
aft the latter with gaze wandering from

,
aloft to overside as he estimated t h e Py r

“
e n ees
’
spee d You mu s t fetch her to
.
M angareva When you have picked up

.
t h e land then I w ill pilot h er i n

, Wh at .
”
do you t hi nk she is making !
All day t he Py ren ees carryi n g her loa d ,
of living fire tore across the foa m ing sea

,
.
By nightfall royals and t opgal l an t s ai l s

,
were in and she fle w on into the darkness

, ,
wi th great crested seas roari n g after her

, .
The auspicious wind had had it s eff ect,

and fore and aft a vi sible brightening was
apparent In the second dog-watch some
.
careless soul started a song and by eight ,
bells the whole crew was singing .
Captain D avenport had his blankets

b rought up and spread on top the house .
“ ’ ”
I ve forgotten what sleep is he ex ,
plained t o McC o y “
I m all in But .
’
.
give me a call at any time you think n e ce s

”
sary .
At three in the morning he was arouse d

by a gentle tugging at his arm H e sat up .
quickly b racing himself against the s ky

,
light stupid yet from his hea vy sleep

, .
The wi nd was th rumming its wa r-song in

the rigging and a wild se a was buff eting
,
the Py ren ees Amidships s he was wallow

.
i ng first o n e rail under and then t he ot h er ,
fl ood in g t h e wa is t more ofte n than n ot .
McC oy wa s s houti ng something he coul d

n ot hear H e reached ou t clutched the
.
,
oth er by t h e shoulder and drew him close ,
s o that his own ear was clos e to the other s

’
lips.
“
It s t h ree o clock
’
came M cc oy s ’
,
’
voice still retain i ng i t s dovelike quality

, ,
b ut curiously muffled as if from a long ,
“ ’
w ay o ff We ve run t wo hundred and
.
fifty Crescent Island is o nl y thi rty miles

.
away ,s omew h ere there dead ahead .
There s no light s o n it If we keep run

’
.
n i ng we ll pile up and lo s e ourselves a s

,
’
,
”
w ell as the s hi p .
“ ”
Wh at d ye th ink heave t o !
’
Yes ; he a ve to till dayl i ght It wi ll .
only put us back four hours .
S o the Py r en ees with her cargo o f fire , ,
w as hove to h it t i n g the teeth of the gale

,
and fighting and smashing the pounding

s eas . S he was a shell fil led with a con ,
fl agr at i o n and on the outside of the shell

, ,
clinging precar i ous ly the l i ttle motes of ,
Digitized by Mi cros ofl®

282 TH E SEE D OF M C COY
m en by pull and haul helped her i n t he

, ,
battle .
“
It is most unusual this gale M c coy , ,
told the captain in the lee of the cabin

,
.
“
By rights there should be n o gale at this
time of the year But everything about .
the weather has been unusual The re has .
been a stoppage of the trade s and now ,
it s howling right out o f the trade quar

’
ter . He waved hi s hand into the dark

n ess as if his vision could dimly penetrate
,
for hundreds of miles It is o ff to the .
westward There i s something big mak

.
ing off there somewhere — a hur ricane or

’
something We re lucky to be so far to
.
the eastward But this is only a little

.
” ’
blow he added,
It can t last I can
. .
tell y o u that much .
By daylight the gale had eased down to

normal B u t daylight revealed a n e w
.
danger It had come on thic k The sea

. .
w as covered by a fog or rather by a , , ,
pearly mist that w as fog like in de ns ity -

,
i n so far as it ob s tructed vi s ion but t h at ,
284 THE SEE D or M C CO Y
mo rn ing You haven t a pair of s hoes I

.
’
can wear ! It is getting unco mfortable

”
for my bare feet .
The Py ren ees shipped two h e avy seas

as she was swung off and put once more
before it and the first mate expressed a
,
desire to have all that water down in the

hold if only it could be introduced with
,
o u t taking o ff t h e hatches McC o y ducked .
his head into the binnacle and watched the

course set .
“
I d hold her up some more Cap t ain
’
, ,
“
h e said S he s been ma k ing drift when
’
hove to .
“
I ve se t it t o a point higher already
’
,
“ ”
was the answer Isn t that enough ! ’
.
“
I d make it two points Captain Thi s
’
, .
b it o f a b l o w k i ck e d t h a t we s t e r l y cu r r e n t
”
ahead faster than you imagine .
Captain D avenport compromised on a

point and a half and then went aloft ac , ,
companied by McC oy and the first mate ,
to keep a lookout for land S ail had been .
m ade so t h at the P y re n ees was doing t e n

,
THE SEE D or M C COY as;
kn ot s Th e follow ing se a w as dyi n g down

.
rapidly There was no b rea k in the pearly

.
fo g and by ten o clock Captain D aven

’
,
p o r t was growing nervous All hands were .
at their stations ready at the first warning

, ,
o f land ahead to spr in g like fiends t o the

,
task of bringing the P y ren ees up on the

W ind . That land ahead a su rf washed ,
-
outer reef would be perilously clos e whe n

,
i t revealed itself in such a fo g .
Anot h er hour passed Th e three .
w atchers aloft stared intently into the

pearly radiance .
“
What i f we miss M angareva C ap
ta in D avenpo rt asked ab ru ptly .
M c coy wi t hout sh ifting his gaz e an

, ,
swe re d softly
“
Why let her dri ve Capta i n Th at is
, , .
al l we can do All the Pau mo t u s are b e

.
fore u s We can d rive for a thousand

.
m iles through ree fs and atoll s We are .
”
bound t o fetch up somewhere .
“ ”
Then drive it is Capta i n D a v en
.
o t evidenced h i s i ntent i o n of des ce n di ng

p r
to t he deck We ve missed M angareva

.
’
.
God knows where the next land i s I .
Wi s h I d held her up that other half point

’
-
,
“
he confessed a moment later Thi s .
cu rsed current plays t h e devil wi th a navi

”
gator .
“
The old navigators called the P au mo
”
tus the D angerous Archipel ago M c coy ,
s aid ,
when they had regained the poop .
“
This very current w as pa rtly responsible
”
for that name .
“
I was talking with a sa ilor chap i n
” “
S ydney once , said M r Konig
, He d . .
’
been trading in the Pau mo t u s H e told .
me insurance w as eightee n per cent Is .
P”
that right
McC o y smiled and nodded .
“
E xcept that they don t insure he
’
,
“
explained The ow ners write o ff tw enty
.
per cent of the cost of their schooners each

”
y ea r .
“ ”
My God ! Ca ptai n D avenport
“
groa n e d That makes the life of a
.
”
sch ooner only five years ! He s hook h is
288 THE SEE D OF MC C OY
But morning b roke clear with a blaz ,
i n g tropic sun The southeast trade had

.
s wung around to the eastward and w as ,
driving the P y re n ees through the water at

an eight knot clip Captain D avenport
-
.
worked up h i s dead reckoning allowing ,
generously for drift and announced ,
Mo e re n ho ut Island to be not more than

ten miles off The P y ren ees s ailed the
.
ten miles ; she sailed ten miles more ; and

the loo kouts at the t hree mastheads s aw
n aught but the naked sun— washed sea , .
“ ”
But the land is there I tell you Captain , ,
D avenport shouted to them from t he poop .
M c coy smiled s oothingly but the cap ,
t ain glared about him like a madman ,
fetched his sextant and took a ch ro n o m

,
e ter sight .
“
I knew I was right he almost shouted , ,
when he had worked up the observation .
“
Twenty -o n e fift y —
,
five south ; one-thirty ,
’
six two west
, , There y o u are
. We re .
eight miles to windward yet Wh at did .
y ou make it out M r Konig , .
THE SEE D o r M C COY 2 89
The first mate glanced at his own fig

u res and said in a low voice :
,
“
Twenty-o n e fift y five all right ; but
,
-
’
my longitude s one thi rty six forty eight
- -
,
-
.
That puts us considerably to leeward

B ut Captain D avenport ignored his fig
u res with so contemptuous a silence as to
make M r Konig grit his teeth and curse
.
savagely under his breath .
“ ”
Keep her off the captain ordered the
,
“
man at the Wheel Three points .
”
steady there as she goes !
,
Then he returned to his figures and

M ke d t h em over The sweat poured
.
f ro m hi s face H e c h ewed his mustache

.
,
h i s lips and his penc i l sta ring at the fig

, ,
ures as a man might at a ghost S ud .
de n l y with a fierce muscular outburst he

, , ,
crumpled the scribbled p aper in his fis t
and c rushed it under foot M r Konig . .
g r inned vindictively and turned away ,
while Captain D avenport leaned against

the cabin and for half an hour spoke no
word contenting himself with gaz i ng t o
,
leeward with an expression of musing hop e :
lessness on his face .
“
Mr McC oy
.
”
he broke silence
,
“
abruptly The cha r t indi cates a group
.
of islands but not ho w many o ff there to ,
the north ard o r nor —’

nor westward about
,
’ ’
,
forty miles the A ct eo n Islands What .
about them
There are four all low McC oy an , ,
sw e r e d . F irst t o the southeast is M a

t u e ru i — n o people no entrance to the
,
lagoon Then comes Te n ar u n ga There

. .
used t o be about a dozen people there but ,
they may be all gone now Anyway there .

,
is no entrance for a ship only a boat e n

trance with a fathom o f water V e hau ga
, .
and Te u a— raro are the other two No e n .
trances no people very low There i s no

, ,
.
bed fo r the P y ren ees in that group S he .
”
would be a total wreck .
“ ”
L isten to that 1 Captain D avenport
“
was frantic No people ! No entrances !
.
What in the devil are islands good for

”
Well then he barked suddenly like
, , ,
292. THE SEE D OF M C C OY
no people Nengo-Nengo is fo rty mile s

.
beyond them in turn and it has no people

, ,
and no entrance B u t there is H ao Is .
land It is just the place The lagoon is

. .
thirty miles long and five miles wide .
There are plenty of people Yo u can usu .
ally find water And any ship in the .
world can go throu gh the entrance .
H e ceased and gazed solicitou s ly at

Captain D avenport w ho bending over , ,
the chart with a pair of dividers in hand ,
had j ust emitted a low groan .
Is the re any lagoon with an entran ce any

wh e r e n e ar e r t h an H ao I s l a n d 3 h e as k e d ”
.
“
No , C ap t ai n 5 t h at i s t h e n e ar e s t.
”
Well it s three hundred and forty

,
’
”
miles Captain D avenport w as spea king
.
“
ve rv S lowly with decision I won t ris k ’
.
,
’
the res ponsibility of all these lives I ll .
’
wreck her o n the A ct e o n s And she s a .
”
good ship t oo he added regretf ully
, , ,
after alte ri ng the course this time making ,
more allowan ce than ever for t he wes terly

current .
THE SEE D or M CC OY 293
An hour later t h e sky w as overcast .
Th e southeast trade still held but th e ,
ocean was a checker board of squalls -

.
“ ’ ” ’
We ll be there by o n e o clo ck C ap ,
tai n D avenpo rt announced confidently .
“
By t wo o clock at the outside M c coy
’
.
,
y o u put her ashore on the one where the

”
peop l e are .
The su n did not appear again nor at , ,
o n e o clock w as any l and t o be seen

’
, .
Capta in D avenport looked astern at the

’
Pyr e n e es canting wake .
“ ”
Good L ord ! he cried An easterly .
”
t urre nt i Look at t h at !
lVIr . K onig
was incredul ou s McC oy .
was noncommittal though he said t hat in ,
the P au m o t u s there w as no reason w hy

i t should n o t be an easterly current A .
few minutes later a squall robbed the

Py re n e es temporarily o f all her wind and ,
s he was left rolling heavily in the trough .
“
Where s that deep lead ! Over with
’
i t y o u there
,
Captain D avenpo rt held
t h e lead-line and watched it sag o ff to t he
northea s t
. There look at that ! Take
,
”
hold of i t for yourself .
M c coy and t he mate tried it and ,
felt the line thrumming and vibrat i n g sa v

age l y to the grip of the tidal stream .
“ ”
A four knot current said M r Koni g
-
, . .
An easterly current instead of at we st

”
erly , s aid Captai n D avenpo rt glaring ,
a cc u s in gly at l\ IcC oy as if to cast th e

/
,
b la m e for it upon him .
“
That is one o f the reasons Captain , ,
for insurance being eighteen per cent in

these waters McC o y answered cheerfully
”
, .
“
YOu never can tell The currents are
alway s changing There w as a man who.
w rote bo oks I forget his name in the

, ,
yacht C as eo He missed Tak aro a by t h i rty

.
mile s and fetched Ti k e i all because of the ,
s hifting currents You are up to W ind

.
’
ward now and you d better keep off a
,
fe w points .
“
But how much has th is cur re nt s et me
“
th e captain demanded irately How am .
I t o kn ow how much to keep off
296 THE SE ED or M C COY
“ ’
I ll get an observation in the morn
he told McC o y “
i ng , though what my ,
latitude is is a puzzler But I ll use the

, .
’
S umner method and settle that D o you

, .
k now the Sumner line !

”
And thereupon he explained i t i n deta il

to McC o y .
The day proved clear the trade blew ,
s teadily o u t of the east and the Py re n ees ,
j ust as steadily logged her nine knots .
Both the captain and mate work ed out the

position on a S umner line and agreed and , ,
at noon agreed again and verified the ,
morning sights by the noon sights .
“
Another twenty four hours and we ll -
’
”
b e there Captain D aven port assured
,
M c coy ’
It s a miracle the way the o ld
.
’
girl s decks hold o u t But they can t last .
’
.
They can t last Look at them smoke

’
,
more and more every day Y et it w as a .
tight deck to begin with fresh— calked in ,
’
F risco I was su rprised when the fire
.
first broke out and we battened down .
”
L ook at that !
TH E SEE D or M C COY 2 97
H e b roke off to gaze with dropped j a w

at a spiral o f smoke that coiled and
twisted in the lee of the mizzenmas t
twenty feet above the deck .
“
Now how did th at ge t there ! h e
,
demanded indignantly
I
B eneath it there w as no smoke .
Crawling up from the deck sheltered ,
from the wind by the mast by some freak ,
it took form and V isibility at that height .
It writhed away from the mast and for a ,
moment overhung the captain like some

threatening po rtent The next moment .
the wind whis k ed it away and the cap ,
tain s j aw returned to place

’
.
“
As I was saying when we first bat ,
tened down I w as surprised It w as a

, .
t i gh t d e ck , yet it l e ak e d s m o ke l ik e a.
sieve A n d we ve cal k ed and calked ever

.
’
s ince There must be tremendous pres

.
sure u n derneath to drive so mu ch smoke

”
through .
That afternoon the s k y b ecame overca s t

again and s q ually drizzly weather set i n
, , .
The wind shifted back and forth betwee n

southeast and northeast and at midnight ,
the P y ren ees was caught aback by a sha rp

squall from the southwest from wh ich ,
point the Wind continued to blow inter

m it t e n t ly .
“
We won t make H ao until ten or
’
eleven , Captain D avenport complained

at s even in the morning when the fl e e t ,
ing promise of the sun had been erase d by

hazy cloud masses in the eas tern s ky .
And the n ext moment he was plaintively

“
demanding And what are the current s
,
doing
Lookouts at the mastheads could report
no land and the day passed in d ri zzling
,
calms and violent squalls By nightfall .
a heavy sea began to make from the west .
The barom eter had fallen to

There was n o wind and still the ominous ,
sea continued to i ncrease S oon the Py r

en e es w as rolling madly in the huge waves
that marched in an unending procession

from o ut o f the darkness of t h e west S ail .
related t o the S trategy of s hi p m a s ters i n

cyclonic storms F rom so m ewh ere am i d
. e
ships the silence was broken by a low

whim pering fro m the cabin-bo y .
“ ”
Oh shut up ! Capta in D avenport
,
yel led suddenly and with such force as

to sta rtle eve ry man on bo ar d and to
frighten the off ender into a wi ld wail of te rror .
“ ”
M r Konig
. the captain s aid in a
,
voice that trembled with rage and nerves ,

“ ’
will you kindly step fo r ard and stop that
b rat s mouth with a deck mop
’
But it was McC o y who went fo rward ,
and in a few minutes h ad the b o y com

fo rted and asleep .
S ho rtly before daybreak the firs t breath

o f air began to mov e from out the south
east increasing swiftly to a stiff and stiff e r

,
b reeze . A l l hands were o n deck waiting

for what mi ght be behind it .
“ ’
We re all right now Captain sa id
, ,
M c coy standing close to his shoulder

,
.
“
The hurricane is to the w e s t ard and we ’
,
are south of it This breeze is the i n -s uck

. .
THE SEE D OF M C COY 301
’
I t wo n t b low any h ard er You can b e .
”
gi n to p u t sail on her .
“ ’
B u t what s the goo d ! Wh ere s hall I
s ail Th i s is the second day wi thout o h
s e rvat io n s a n d we should h a ve s igh ted
,
H ao Is land yesterday morning Whic h .
w ay does i t bear north south ea s t o r what

, , , ,
”
Tell me t hat and I ll make sail i n a j iff y
,
’
.
“
I am no n avi gator Capta i n ”
Mc coy , ,
s aid i n h i s mild way .
“
I used to think I w as o n e was the r e ,
“ ”
tort, b efore I got i n to these Pau mo t u s .
“
At mid day th e cry o f B reakers ahead
-
was h ea rd from the lookout The Py re n ees .
w as kept off and sail after s ail wa s loosed

,
and s h eeted home The P y ren ees was slid

.
ing throug h t h e water and fighting a c u rrent

tha t threatened to s e t her down upon the
breakers Officers and me n were working
.
like mad cook and cab i n-boy Captain

, ,
D aven port h i mself and M c coy all le n d ing,
a hand I t was a close sha v e I t wa s a low

. .
shoal a b leak and perilous place o ver whi ch

,
t he s eas b roke u n ceasingly wh ere no m an ,
3 02, THE SEE D or M aco n
could l ive and o n wh i ch n o t even s ea-bi rds

,
co u ld rest The Py ren ees w as swept w ithi n

.
a hu n dred yards o f it before the wind carri ed

h er clear and at this moment the panting
,
crew its work done burst out in a torrent

, ,
of curses upon the head of M c c oy of

M c coy who had come o n board and pro ,
pos ed the run t o M angareva and lured th em ,
all away from the safety of P itcairn Island

to ce rtain dest ruction in this b affl ing and
terrible stretch of sea But M c coy s tran .
’
quil soul w as undisturbed H e smiled at .
them wi th s imple and gracious benevolence ,
and so mehow the exalted goodness of h i m

, ,
seemed t o pen etrate to their dark and sombre

s ouls shaming them and from very shame
, ,
s tilli n g the curses vibrating in their throats .
Bad waters bad waters Captain

D avenport was murmu ring as his ship forged
clea r ; but he broke off ab ruptly t o gaze at
the shoal which should have been dead
astern but which was already o n th e
,
P y ren ees w eather quarter and workin g up

’
-
rap i dly to windward .
3 04
. THE SEE D OF M C COY
No more than you do, McC oy s a id

gently .
At four in the afternoon cocoanut-tree s

were sighted apparently growing o u t o f
,
the water A little later the low land of

.
an atoll w as raised above the se a .
“
1 know where we are now Captain , .
M c coy lowered the glasses from his eyes .
“
That s R esolution Island We are forty
’
.
m iles beyond H ao Island and t h e W ind is ,

”
in o u r teeth .
“
Get ready to b each her the n Wh ere s .
’
P”
the entrance
“ ’
There s only a canoe passage But .
n ow that we k now where we are we ca n ,
run for Barclay de Tolley It i s only one .
hundred and twenty miles from here due ,
’ ’
nor -nor west With this breeze we can b e
.
’ ”
there by nine o clock t o morrow morning
-
.
Captain D avenport consulted the chart

and debated with himself
“
If we wreck her here McC oy added , ,
we d have to make the run to Barclay

’
”
de Tolley in t he boats j ust t he same .
THE SEE D or M C COY 39 5
The captain gave his orders , and once

more t he P y r e n ees
swung off for another
r un across the inhospitable s e a .
And the middle of the next afternoon

saw despair and mutiny on her smoking
deck The current had accelerated the
.
,
wind had slackened and the P y ren ees had

,
s agged off to the west The lookout sighted

.
B arclay de Tolley to the eastward barely ,
visible from the masthead and vainly and ,
fo r hours the Py ren ees tried to beat up to it .
E ver like a mirage the cocoanut trees

, ,
-
hovered o n the ho rizon visible only from ,
the masthead F rom the deck they were

.
hidden by the bulge of the world .
Again Captain D avenpo r t consulted

McC o y and the chart Make mo lay .
seventy— five miles to the southwest Its .
lagoon was thi rty miles long and its entrance ,
was excellent Wh en Captain D aven

.
port gave his orders the crew refused duty

,
.
Th ey announced that th ey had had enough

o f hell fire under their feet
- There w as the .
l and
. What if the ship could not make it !
306 THE SEE D or M C COY
They could make it in the boat s L et h er .
burn then Their lives amounted to some

, .
thing to them They had served faith

.
fully the ship now they were going to serve

,
themselves .
They sprang to the boats b rushing the ,
second and third mates out of the w ay and ,
proceeded to swing the boats out and to

prepare to lower away Captain D aven .
port and the first mate revolvers in hand , ,
were advancing to the brea k of the poop ,
when McC o y who had climbed on top o f

,
the cabin began to speak

,
.
H e spoke to the sailors and at the first ,
sound of his dovelike cooing voice th ey ,
paused to hear H e extended to them his

.
own ineff able serenity and peace H is soft .
voice and simple thoughts flowe d out to

them in a magic stream soothing t hem ,
against their wi lls Long forgotten things

.
came back to them and some remembered ,
lullaby songs of childhood and the content

and rest of the mother s arm at the end of ’
the day There was no more trouble n o

.
,
like plea s ure as he descended from th e t op

of the cabin There was no trouble Fo r
. .
that m atter there had been no trouble

averted There never had been any trouble
.
,
for there w as no place for s uch in the blissfu l

world in which he lived .
“
You hypnotized em M r Kon i g ’
, .
grinned at him speaking in a low voice

, .
“ ”
Those boys are goo d was the answer , .
Their hearts are good They have had .
a hard time and they have work ed hard

, ,
‘
and they wil l work hard to the end .
M r Konig had no time to reply H is

. .
voi ce was ringing out orders the sailors ,
were springing to obey and the P y ren ees ,
was paying slowly off from the wind until

h er bow should point i n the direction of
Make mo .
The wind w as very light and after su n ,
down almost ceased It was insuff erably .
warm and fore and aft men s ought vainly

,
to sleep The deck w as t oo h ot to lie upon

.
,
an d poisonous vapors ooz i ng th rough the

,
s eams crept l i ke evi l sp i rits over the s h ip,

,
st eal i n g i nto th e n ostrils and w indpipes o f

t h e unwa ry and causing fits of sneezing and
c o ughing The s t a rs blinked lazily in the
.
dim vault overhead ; and t h e full moon ,
rising in t h e east touched with its light

,
the myriads of wisps and th reads and spidery

films of smoke that i n tertwi ne d and writhed
an d twisted along the deck over t he rails , ,
an d up the mas t s and shrouds .
“ ”
Tell me ,
Captain D avenpo rt said ,
rubb ing his sma rting eyes what happened ,
wi t h that B ou n ty crowd after they reached

Pit ca ir n ! Th e account I read said they
burnt the B ou n ty and that they were n ot
,
discovered until many years later But .
’
w hat happened in the meantime ! I ve
always been curious to know They were .
m en with their necks in the rope There .
were some native men t oo And then ,

.
t h ere were wome n That made it look like

.
”
t rou ble right from the j u mp .
“
There wa s trouble McC oy answered
”
,
.
They were bad men They quarrelled .
ab out the women right away O ne o f the .
3 10 THE tS EED or M C COY
m utineers , W illiams , lost his wife All t he .
women were Tahitian women Hi s wife fell .
from the cliff s when hunting sea bird s -

.
Then he took the wife o f on e of the n ative

men away fr om him All the native men .
were made ve ry angry by this and they ,
killed off n early all the mutineers The n .
the mutinee rs that escaped kil led off all the

native men The women helped And t h e
. .
natives k illed each other E verybody killed .
everybody They were terrible men

. .
“
Ti m it i was killed by two other natives
while they were combing his hair in friend
ship The white men had sent them to do
.
it Then t h e white men k illed them The

. .
W ife of Tull al o o killed him in a cave because

she wanted a white man for husban d .
They were very wicked God had hidden .
H is face from them At the end of t wo .
years al l the native men were murdered ,
and all the white men except four They .
were Young John Adams M c coy who wa s

, , ,
my great-gran dfather and Quintal H e , .
was a very bad man t oo On ce ju s t b e

, .
,
3 12 THE SEE D OF M C CO Y
I should say so Captain D aven port ,
“
s norted There was nobody left to kill
.
“
You se e Go d had hidden H is face
, ,
McC oy said .
By morning no more than a faint air was

blowing from the eastward and unable t o , ,
make appreciable southing by it Captain ,
D avenpo rt hauled up full and b y on the - -
port trac k He w as afraid of that terrible

.
westerly current which had C heated him o u t

o f so many ports o f refuge All day the .
calm continued and all night while the

, ,
sailors on a short ration of dried banana

, ,
were grumbling A lso they were growing

.
,
wea k and complaining o f stomach pains

caused by the straight banana diet All .
day the current swept the Py ren ees to t he

westward while there was no wind to bear
,
her south In the middle of the first dog

.
watch cocoanut trees were sighted due

,
-
south their tufted heads rising above the

,
water and marking the low-lying atol l

b eneath .
“
That i s Tae n g a Island McC o y said ,
.
W e need a breeze to - n i g ht , or else w e ll’
miss Make m o .
”
“ ’ ”
What s become o f t h e southeast trade !
“
the captain demanded Why don t it .
’
”
blow ! What s the m atter’
!
“
It is the evapo ration from the big la
”
goons there are so many of them ,
“
M c coy explained The evaporation u p
.
sets the whole system of trades It even .
causes the W ind to back up and blow gales

from the southwest This is the D angerou s
.
Archipelago Captain , .
Captain D avenport faced the old man ,
opened his mouth and was about to curse

, ,
but paused and refrained McC o y s pres .

’
ence was a rebuke to the blasphemies that

stirred in his b rain and trembled in hi s
larynx M c coy s infl uence had been grow
.
’
ing during the many days they had been

together Ca pta i n D avenport was an au
.
t o crat o f the se a fearing no man ,

never ,
b ridling his tongu e and now he found him

,
self unable to curs e i n the presence o f thi s

o l d man wit h the femi n ine b rown eyes and
3 14
. THE SEE D OF M C COY
t he voice of a clove When he realized this

.
,
Captain D avenport experienced a distinct

shock This old man was merely the seed of
.
McC oy of hI cC o y o f the B ou n ty the muti

, ,
neer fleeing from the hemp that waited him

i n E ngland the McC o y who w as a power
,
for e vil in the early days of blood and lust

and violent death on P itcairn I s land .
Captain D avenport w as not religiou s ,
y e t in th at moment he felt a mad impulse

’
to cast himself at the other s feet and to
say he knew not what It was an emotion.
t hat so deeply st i rred him rather than a ,
cohe rent thought and he was aware in

,
s ome vague way of his own unworthiness
and smallness in the prese n ce of this other

man who possessed the s implicity of a child
and the gentleness o f a woman .
Of course he could n o t so humble himself

before the eyes of his offi cers and men .
And yet the anger that had prompted the

blasphemy still raged in him He sud .
de n l y smote the cabin with his clenche d

h and and crie d
3 16 THE SEE D or M C C OY
But the curre nt sucking between t he

,
two i slan d s swept them to t h e nort hwest

, ,
and at o n e in the aftern oo n they saw the

p alms o f Katiu rise above the s e a and sink
b ack into the sea again .
A few minutes later just as the capta i n ,
had di s covered that a new current from the

northeast had gripped the Py re ne es the ,
ma s thead lookouts raised cocoa nut palm s

i n the northwest .
“ ”
It is R araka said M c coy
, We won t .
’
make it without wind The cu rrent i s .
drawing us down to the s outhwest But .
we must watch out A few miles fa rth er

.
on a current flows north and turns in a c i rcle

to the northwest This will sweep u s away
from F ak ar ava and F ak ar ava is the place
,
for the Py re n ees to find her bed .
“
They can sweep all they da all they
”
well please Captain D avenport remarke d
,
W ith heat We ll find a bed for her some

’
.
”
where j ust the same .
But the situation o n the Py re n ees was

r eaching a culmination The deck was so .
THE SEE D or M C C OY 3 17
hot that it seemed an increase of a few

degrees would cause it to burst into flames .
In ma ny places even the hea vy soled shoe s -
of the men were no protection and they ,
were compelled to step lively to avoid

scorching their feet The smoke had i n
.
o
creased and grown more acrid E ve ry man .
o n board was suff ering from inflamed eyes ,
and they coughed and strangled like a crew

o f tub erculosis patients In the aft e rnoon
.
the bo ats were sw ung o u t and equipped .
The last several packages of dried bananas

were stored in them as well as the i n st ru
,
ments of the o fli ce rs Captain D avenport

.
even put the ch ronometer into the long

boat fearing the blowing up of the deck at
,
any moment .
All night th i s apprehension weighed

h eavily on all and in the first morning light
, ,
with hollow eyes and ghastly faces they ,
sta red at one another as if in surprise that

the P y ren ees still held together and that they
s t i ll were a l ive .
Walking rapidly at times and even cc ,
cas io n al l y breaking into an u n di gn ifie d

hOp skip and rim Captain D avenport i n
- - -
,
s p e ct e d his ship s dec k

’
.
“
It is a matter o f hours now if n o t of ,
”
minutes he announced o n his return to
,
the p oo p .
The cry of land came down from the

masthead F rom the deck the land was
.
i nvisible and McC o y went aloft while the

, ,
captain too k advantage of the opportunity

to curse some of the bitterness out of hi s
hea rt But the cursing was suddenly
.
s topped by a dark line on the water which

he sighted to the no r t heast It was not a .
squall but a regular breeze

,
the disrupted
trade— wind eight points out of its direction
,
but resuming business once more .
“
Hold her up Captain McC o y said
”
, ,
“ ’
as soon as he reached the p oop That s .
’
the easterly point o f F ak arav a and we ll ,
g o in through the passage full -t ilt the wind ,
”
abeam and every sail drawing
, .
At the end o f an hour the co co anut trees ,

-
an d the low-lying l and we re vi s ible fro m
merely k n ew that it w as about to h appe n .
M c coy started fo rward to take up his

p osition o n the bow in order to con the
vessel in ; but the captain gripped hi s arm
and whirled him around .
” ’
D o it from here he said That deck s
,
.
”
no t safe What s the matter
.
’
! he de -
r
“
m an de d the next instant We re stand ’
.
”
i n g still
.
McC oy smiled .
“
You are bucking a seven knot current -
,
” “
Captai n he said
,
That is the w ay the
.
”
full ebb runs out of this passage .
At the end of another hour t he P y ren ees

had scarcely gained her length but the wind ,
freshened and she began to forge ahead

“
Better get into the boats some of you , ,
Captain D avenport commanded .
H is voice was still ringing and the men ,
were j ust beginning to move in obedience ,
w hen the amidship deck of the Py r en ees in ,
a mass of flame and smo k e was flung u p ,
ward into the sails and rigging part of it ,
remaining there and the rest falling into t he
TH E SEE D or M C COY 32 :
se a . The wi nd b eing abeam w as Wh at had ,
s aved the men crowded aft They made .
a blind rush to gain th e boats but McC oy s ,

’
voice carrying i t s convincing message of

,
v ast calm and endless time stopped them , .
“ ” “
Take it easy he was s aying E very
, .
t h i ng i s all right P ass that b oy down some

.
”
body please, .
T h e man at th e wh eel had forsaken i t

i n a funk and Captain D avenport had
,
leaped and caught t h e spokes in time to pre

vent the ship from yawing in the current
a nd going ashore .
B etter take charge of t h e boats he ,
“
s a i d to M r Konig Tow one o f them
. .
s hort ri gh t under the quarter

,
Whe n
I go over it ll b e on the j ump
’
.
,
M r Konig hes i tated then went over t h e

.
,
ra il and lowered himself i nt o the boat .
Keep her off half a point Captain ,

.
Captain D avenport gave a start He .
h ad thought he had the ship t o h imself .
”
A v ay ; h alf a po i nt i t i s, h e an
,
swe re d .
Amidships the Pyre n ees was an open ,
flaming furnace out o f which poured a n

,
immense volume o f smo k e which rose high

above the masts and completel y hid the
forward part of the ship McC o y in the .
,
shelter of the mizzen— shrouds continued his ,
diffi cult task of conning the ship through

the intricate channel The fire w as work .
ing aft along the deck from the seat of ex

plosion while the soaring tower of canva s
,
on t h e mainmast went up and vanished in

a sheet of flame Forward though they
.
,
could not se e them they knew that the ,
head— sails were still drawing .
“
If only s he don t burn all her canva s
’
”
o ff before she makes inside the captain ,
groaned .
“
S he ll make it McC o y assured him
’
,
with supreme confidence There is plenty .
of time S he is bound to make it And

. .
once inside we ll put her before it ; that

,
’
will keep the smoke away from us and hold

”
back the fire from work ing aft .
A tongue of flame sprang up the mizze n ,
3 24 THE SEE D OF MC COY
spokes over sudde n ly revers i ng a n d co m

,
ing back o n e to check her .
”
S teady .
S teady she is right on it .
D espite the fact that the win d was now

aste rn the heat w as so intense that Cap
,
tain D avenport w as co mpelled to steal

s idelong glances into the binnacle letting ,
go the wheel now with one hand now , ,
wit h th e other to rub o r shield his blister

,
ing cheeks M c coy s beard was crinkling

.
’
and shrivelling and the smell of it strong ,
’
in the other s nostrils compelled him to ,
lo ok toward McC o y with sudden solici

tude Captain D avenpo rt was letting go
.
the spo kes alternately wit h his hands in

o rder to rub their blistering backs against
his trousers E very sail on the mizzen

.
mast vanished i n a rush of flame compel ,
l i ng the two men to crouch and shield their

faces .
“
Now said McC o y stealing a glance
, ,
“
a he ad at the low shore fo u r po i nt s up, ,
C ap tain and let h er dr i ve

, .
THE S EED OF M C COY
Sh red s an d pat ches of b u r n ing ro pe an d

can v as w ere falling about t h em and upon
t h em The tarry s moke from a smou lde r

.
i n g p i e ce of rope at th e captai n s feet se t ’
h im off into a violent cough i ng fit du ri n g ,
w hic h he still clung to t h e s pokes .
The Py ren ees s truck her b ow l i fte d, ,
an d s h e ground ahead gently to a stop A .
s how er of burn i ng fragments dislodge d ,
b y t h e s hock fell about them

, The sh ip.
m o ved a h ead aga i n a nd struck a s eco n d

t i me
. S he crushed t h e fragile coral u nder
h er keel drove on and s tru ck a third time
, ,
.
“ ”
Hard over said M c coy
, Har d .
”
o v er ! h e qu est ioned gently a m inu t e ,
l ater
.
“
Sh e won t ans w er was the reply
’
,
.
”
Al l ri ght . S he i s swi n ging arou nd .
“
M ccoy peered over the s i d e S oft white
.
,
s and.
’
Couldn t ask better A beautiful .
”
b ed i
As the Py ren ees s wu n g around her stern
away fro m the w ind a fearful blast o f smo ke
,
an d fl a m e p o u red aft Capt ai n D a ve nport

.

r
deserted the wheel in bli s teri n g ago n y H e .
reached the painter o f the boat that lay

under the quarter then looked for M c coy
, ,
who was standing aside to let him go down .
“ ”
You first the captain cried gri pping
, ,
him by the shoulder and al most throwing

him over the rail B u t the flame and .
smoke were too terrible and he followe d ,
hard after M c coy both men w r ig gling ,
on the rope and sliding down into the b o at

together A sailor in t he bow without
.
,
w aiting for orders slashed the pain ter ,
through wit h his sheath k nife The oars -

,
poised in readiness bit int o the wate r an d

, ,
the boat shot aw ay .
“
A beautiful bed Captain M c coy , ,
m urmu red looking back, .
“
A y a b e autiful bed and all than ks to
, ,
y ou ,was the answer .
The three boats pulled away for the

white beach of pounded coral beyond ,
which on the edge of a cocoanut grove

, ,
could be seen a half-doz en gra ss -hou s es ,
an d a s core or more of exc i te d n at ive s ,

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T h ey d an ce d f o x t w o m o r t a l ho u r s u n de r t h e b ro il mg su n .

ES P ITE the hea vy clu ms iness of h er

D lines the A or ai handled easily i n

the light breeze and her captai n ,

ran h er well in before he hove to j ust outside

l ay low o n the water a circle of pounded

coral sand a hundred yards w ide twe n ty ,

m i le s i n c i rcumference and from th ree to

ﬁve feet above high-water mark O n the .

botto m o f the huge and glassy la goon w a s

s chooner across the slender ring o f t h e atoll

the divers could be seen at work But .

t he lagoo n h ad no entrance fo r even a trad

s h allo w channel but the schooner s l ay off

an d o n outs i de and sent i n t h e i r s m al l

stern sheets at the steering sweep stood

a young man garbed in the tropic white

n ot all E uropean The golden strain of .

Polynesia betrayed itself in the sun gilt of -

his fair s k in and cast up golden sheens an d

youngest so n o f M arie R aoul the wealthy ,

quarter caste who owned and managed

half a dozen trading schooners si m ilar to

entrance and in and through and over a

boiling tide rip the boat fought its way to

the mirrore d calm o f the lagoon Young .

R aoul leaped out upon the white sand and

chest and shoulders were magniﬁcent b u t ,

t he stump o f a right arm beyond t h e ﬂes h ,

o f Which the age-whitened bone proj ecte d

s everal inches attested the encounter with

a shark that had put an end to h is diving

ever ﬁshed up in H i ku e ru nor in all the ,

P au m o t u s nor in all the world

from him H e has it now And remem

b er that I told you ﬁrst H e is a foo l and.

y o u can get it cheap H ave you any .

mother s supercargo and his b usiness was

to comb all the P au m o t u s for the wealth of

H e w as a young supercargo it w as his ,

s econd voyage in such cap acity and he ,

s uff ered much secret worry from his lack

o f exper i ence in pricing pearls But when .

Map u hi exposed the pearl t o h is sight he

expression o n his face For the pearl ha d .

s truck him a blow It w as large as a .

pigeon egg a perfect sphere of a white

ness that reﬂected opalescent lights from

had he seen anyt hing like it When M a .

puhi dropped it into his hand he w as sur

th at it was a good pearl H e exami ned .

it closely through a poc k et magnify ing

glass It was W ithout ﬂaw or blemish

The purity of it seemed almost to me lt

the shade it was soft luminous gleaming ,

like a tender moon S o translucently white

was it that when he dropped it into a glas s

of water he had diffi culty in ﬁnding it .

S o straight and swiftly had it sunk to the

as k ed with a ﬁne assumption of monc h a

I want Map u hi began and b e ,

h ind him framing his own dark face the

dark faces of two women and a girl nodded