CHAPTER III. THE MISSIONARY.
AS I came out on
the verandah, the mission-boat was shooting for the mouth of the river. She was
a long whale-boat painted white; a bit of an awning astern; a native pastor
crouched on the wedge of the poop, steering; some four-and-twenty paddles
flashing and dipping, true to the boat-song; and the missionary under the
awning, in his white clothes, reading in a book, and set him up! It was pretty
to see and hear; there's no smarter sight in the islands than a missionary boat
with a good crew and a good pipe to them; and I considered it for half a minute,
with a bit of envy perhaps, and then strolled down towards the river.
From the opposite
side there was another man aiming for the same place, but he ran and got there
first. It was Case; doubtless his idea was to keep me apart from the
missionary, who might serve me as interpreter; but my mind was upon other
things. I was thinking how he had jockeyed us about the marriage, and tried his
hand on Uma before; and at the sight of him rage flew into my nostrils.
"Get out of
that, you low, swindling thief!" I cried.
"What's that
you say?" says he.
I gave him the
word again, and rammed it down with a good oath. "And if ever I catch you
within six fathoms of my house," I cried, "I'll clap a bullet in your
measly carcase."
"You must do
as you like about your house," said he, "where I told you I have no
thought of going; but this is a public place."
"It's a
place where I have private business," said I. "I have no idea of a
hound like you eavesdropping, and I give you notice to clear out."
"I don't
take it, though," says Case.
"I'll show
you, then," said I.
"We'll have
to see about that," said he.
He was quick with
his hands, but he had neither the height nor the weight, being a flimsy
creature alongside a man like me, and, besides, I was blazing to that height of
wrath that I could have bit into a chisel. I gave him first the one and then
the other, so that I could hear his head rattle and crack, and he went down
straight.
"Have you
had enough?" cried I. But he only looked up white and blank, and the blood
spread upon his face like wine upon a napkin. "Have you had enough?"
I cried again. "Speak up, and don't lie malingering there, or I'll take my
feet to you."
He sat up at
that, and held his head - by the look of him you could see it was spinning -
and the blood poured on his pyjamas.
"I've had
enough for this time," says he, and he got up staggering, and went off by
the way that he had come.
The boat was
close in; I saw the missionary had laid his book to one side, and I smiled to
myself. "He'll know I'm a man, anyway," thinks I.
This was the
first time, in all my years in the Pacific, I had ever exchanged two words with
any missionary, let alone asked one for a favour. I didn't like the lot, no
trader does; they look down upon us, and make no concealment; and, besides,
they're partly Kanakaised, and suck up with natives instead of with other white
men like themselves. I had on a rig of clean striped pyjamas - for, of course,
I had dressed decent to go before the chiefs; but when I saw the missionary step
out of this boat in the regular uniform, white duck clothes, pith helmet, white
shirt and tie, and yellow boots to his feet, I could have bunged stones at him.
As he came nearer, queering me pretty curious (because of the fight, I
suppose), I saw he looked mortal sick, for the truth was he had a fever on, and
had just had a chill in the boat.
"Mr.
Tarleton, I believe?" says I, for I had got his name.
"And you, I
suppose, are the new trader?" says he.
"I want to
tell you first that I don't hold with missions," I went on, "and that
I think you and the likes of you do a sight of harm, filling up the natives
with old wives' tales and bumptiousness."
"You are
perfectly entitled to your opinions," says he, looking a bit ugly,
"but I have no call to hear them."
"It so
happens that you've got to hear them," I said. "I'm no missionary,
nor missionary lover; I'm no Kanaka, nor favourer of Kanakas - I'm just a
trader; I'm just a common, low-down, God- damned white man and British subject,
the sort you would like to wipe your boots on. I hope that's plain!"
"Yes, my
man," said he. "It's more plain than creditable. When you are sober,
you'll be sorry for this."
He tried to pass
on, but I stopped him with my hand. The Kanakas were beginning to growl. Guess
they didn't like my tone, for I spoke to that man as free as I would to you.
"Now, you
can't say I've deceived you," said I, "and I can go on. I want a
service - I want two services, in fact; and, if you care to give me them, I'll
perhaps take more stock in what you call your Christianity."
He was silent for
a moment. Then he smiled. "You are rather a strange sort of man,"
says he.
"I'm the
sort of man God made me," says I. "I don't set up to be a
gentleman," I said.
"I am not
quite so sure," said he. "And what can I do for you, Mr. - ?"
"Wiltshire,"
I says, "though I'm mostly called Welsher; but Wiltshire is the way it's
spelt, if the people on the beach could only get their tongues about it. And
what do I want? Well, I'll tell you the first thing. I'm what you call a sinner
- what I call a sweep - and I want you to help me make it up to a person I've
deceived."
He turned and
spoke to his crew in the native. "And now I am at your service," said
he, "but only for the time my crew are dining. I must be much farther down
the coast before night. I was delayed at Papa-Malulu till this morning, and I
have an engagement in Fale- alii to-morrow night."
I led the way to
my house in silence, and rather pleased with myself for the way I had managed
the talk, for I like a man to keep his self-respect.
"I was sorry
to see you fighting," says he.
"O, that's
part of the yarn I want to tell you," I said. "That's service number
two. After you've heard it you'll let me know whether you're sorry or
not."
We walked right
in through the store, and I was surprised to find Uma had cleared away the
dinner things. This was so unlike her ways that I saw she had done it out of
gratitude, and liked her the better. She and Mr. Tarleton called each other by
name, and he was very civil to her seemingly. But I thought little of that;
they can always find civility for a Kanaka, it's us white men they lord it
over. Besides, I didn't want much Tarleton just them. I was going to do my
pitch.
"Uma,"
said I, "give us your marriage certificate." She looked put out.
"Come," said I, "you can trust me. Hand it up."
She had it about
her person, as usual; I believe she thought it was a pass to heaven, and if she
died without having it handy she would go to hell. I couldn't see where she put
it the first time, I couldn't see now where she took it from; it seemed to jump
into her hand like that Blavatsky business in the papers. But it's the same way
with all island women, and I guess they're taught it when young.
"Now,"
said I, with the certificate in my hand, "I was married to this girl by
Black Jack the negro. The certificate was wrote by Case, and it's a dandy piece
of literature, I promise you. Since then I've found that there's a kind of cry
in the place against this wife of mine, and so long as I keep her I cannot
trade. Now, what would any man do in my place, if he was a man?" I said.
"The first thing he would do is this, I guess." And I took and tore
up the certificate and bunged the pieces on the floor.
"AUE!"
(2) cried Uma, and began to clap her hands; but I caught one of them in mine.
"And the
second thing that he would do," said I, "if he was what I would call
a man and you would call a man, Mr. Tarleton, is to bring the girl right before
you or any other missionary, and to up and say: 'I was wrong married to this
wife of mine, but I think a heap of her, and now I want to be married to her
right.' Fire away, Mr. Tarleton. And I guess you'd better do it in native;
it'll please the old lady," I said, giving her the proper name of a man's
wife upon the spot.
So we had in two
of the crew for to witness, and were spliced in our own house; and the parson
prayed a good bit, I must say - but not so long as some - and shook hands with
the pair of us.
"Mr.
Wiltshire," he says, when he had made out the lines and packed off the
witnesses, "I have to thank you for a very lively pleasure. I have rarely
performed the marriage ceremony with more grateful emotions."
That was what you
would call talking. He was going on, besides, with more of it, and I was ready
for as much taffy as he had in stock, for I felt good. But Uma had been taken
up with something half through the marriage, and cut straight in.
"How your
hand he get hurt?" she asked.
"You ask
Case's head, old lady," says I.
She jumped with
joy, and sang out.
"You haven't
made much of a Christian of this one," says I to Mr. Tarleton.
"We didn't
think her one of our worst," says he, "when she was at Fale-alii; and
if Uma bears malice I shall be tempted to fancy she has good cause."
"Well, there
we are at service number two," said I. "I want to tell you our yarn,
and see if you can let a little daylight in."
"Is it
long?" he asked.
"Yes,"
I cried; "it's a goodish bit of a yarn!"
"Well, I'll
give you all the time I can spare," says he, looking at his watch.
"But I must tell you fairly, I haven't eaten since five this morning, and,
unless you can let me have something I am not likely to eat again before seven
or eight to-night."
"By God,
we'll give you dinner!" I cried.
I was a little
caught up at my swearing, just when all was going straight; and so was the
missionary, I suppose, but he made believe to look out of the window, and
thanked us.
So we ran him up
a bit of a meal. I was bound to let the old lady have a hand in it, to show
off, so I deputised her to brew the tea. I don't think I ever met such tea as
she turned out. But that was not the worst, for she got round with the
salt-box, which she considered an extra European touch, and turned my stew into
sea- water. Altogether, Mr. Tarleton had a devil of a dinner of it; but he had
plenty entertainment by the way, for all the while that we were cooking, and
afterwards, when he was making believe to eat, I kept posting him up on Master
Case and the beach of Falesa, and he putting questions that showed he was
following close.
"Well,"
said he at last, "I am afraid you have a dangerous enemy. This man Case is
very clever and seems really wicked. I must tell you I have had my eye on him
for nearly a year, and have rather had the worst of our encounters. About the
time when the last representative of your firm ran so suddenly away, I had a
letter from Namu, the native pastor, begging me to come to Falesa at my
earliest convenience, as his flock were all 'adopting Catholic practices.' I
had great confidence in Namu; I fear it only shows how easily we are deceived.
No one could hear him preach and not be persuaded he was a man of extraordinary
parts. All our islanders easily acquire a kind of eloquence, and can roll out
and illustrate, with a great deal of vigour and fancy, second-hand sermons; but
Namu's sermons are his own, and I cannot deny that I have found them means of
grace. Moreover, he has a keen curiosity in secular things, does not fear work,
is clever at carpentering, and has made himself so much respected among the
neighbouring pastors that we call him, in a jest which is half serious, the
Bishop of the East. In short, I was proud of the man; all the more puzzled by
his letter, and took an occasion to come this way. The morning before my arrival,
Vigours had been sent on board the LION, and Namu was perfectly at his ease,
apparently ashamed of his letter, and quite unwilling to explain it. This, of
course, I could not allow, and he ended by confessing that he had been much
concerned to find his people using the sign of the cross, but since he had
learned the explanation his mind was satisfied. For Vigours had the Evil Eye, a
common thing in a country of Europe called Italy, where men were often struck
dead by that kind of devil, and it appeared the sign of the cross was a charm
against its power.
"'And I
explain it, Misi,' said Namu, 'in this way: The country in Europe is a Popey
country, and the devil of the Evil Eye may be a Catholic devil, or, at least,
used to Catholic ways. So then I reasoned thus: if this sign of the cross were
used in a Popey manner it would be sinful, but when it is used only to protect
men from a devil, which is a thing harmless in itself, the sign too must be, as
a bottle is neither good nor bad, harmless. For the sign is neither good nor
bad. But if the bottle be full of gin, the gin is bad; and if the sign be made
in idolatry bad, so is the idolatry.' And, very like a native pastor, he had a
text apposite about the casting out of devils.
"'And who
has been telling you about the Evil Eye?' I asked.
"He admitted
it was Case. Now, I am afraid you will think me very narrow, Mr. Wiltshire, but
I must tell you I was displeased, and cannot think a trader at all a good man
to advise or have an influence upon my pastors. And, besides, there had been
some flying talk in the country of old Adams and his being poisoned, to which I
had paid no great heed; but it came back to me at the moment.
"'And is
this Case a man of a sanctified life?' I asked.
"He admitted
he was not; for, though he did not drink, he was profligate with women, and had
no religion.
" 'Then,'
said I, 'I think the less you have to do with him the better.'
"But it is
not easy to have the last word with a man like Namu. He was ready in a moment
with an illustration. 'Misi,' said he, 'you have told me there were wise men,
not pastors, not even holy, who knew many things useful to be taught - about
trees for instance, and beasts, and to print books, and about the stones that
are burned to make knives of. Such men teach you in your college, and you learn
from them, but take care not to learn to be unholy. Misi, Case is my college.'
"I knew not
what to say. Mr. Vigours had evidently been driven out of Falesa by the
machinations of Case and with something not very unlike the collusion of my
pastor. I called to mind it was Namu who had reassured me about Adams and
traced the rumour to the ill- will of the priest. And I saw I must inform
myself more thoroughly from an impartial source. There is an old rascal of a
chief here, Faiaso, whom I dare say you saw to-day at the council; he has been
all his life turbulent and sly, a great fomenter of rebellions, and a thorn in
the side of the mission and the island. For all that he is very shrewd, and,
except in politics or about his own misdemeanours, a teller of the truth. I
went to his house, told him what I had heard, and besought him to be frank. I
do not think I had ever a more painful interview. Perhaps you will understand
me, Mr. Wiltshire, if I tell you that I am perfectly serious in these old
wives' tales with which you reproached me, and as anxious to do well for these
islands as you can be to please and to protect your pretty wife. And you are to
remember that I thought Namu a paragon, and was proud of the man as one of the
first ripe fruits of the mission. And now I was informed that he had fallen in
a sort of dependence upon Case. The beginning of it was not corrupt; it began,
doubtless, in fear and respect, produced by trickery and pretence; but I was
shocked to find that another element had been lately added, that Namu helped
himself in the store, and was believed to be deep in Case's debt. Whatever the
trader said, that Namu believed with trembling. He was not alone in this; many
in the village lived in a similar subjection; but Namu's case was the most
influential, it was through Namu Case had wrought most evil; and with a certain
following among the chiefs, and the pastor in his pocket, the man was as good
as master of the village. You know something of Vigours and Adams, but perhaps
you have never heard of old Underhill, Adams' predecessor. He was a quiet, mild
old fellow, I remember, and we were told he had died suddenly: white men die
very suddenly in Falesa. The truth, as I now heard it, made my blood run cold.
It seems he was struck with a general palsy, all of him dead but one eye, which
he continually winked. Word was started that the helpless old man was now a
devil, and this vile fellow Case worked upon the natives' fears, which he
professed to share, and pretended he durst not go into the house alone. At last
a grave was dug, and the living body buried at the far end of the village.
Namu, my pastor, whom I had helped to educate, offered up a prayer at the
hateful scene.
"I felt
myself in a very difficult position. Perhaps it was my duty to have denounced
Namu and had him deposed. Perhaps I think so now, but at the time it seemed
less clear. He had a great influence, it might prove greater than mine. The
natives are prone to superstition; perhaps by stirring them up I might but
ingrain and spread these dangerous fancies. And Namu besides, apart from this
novel and accursed influence, was a good pastor, an able man, and spiritually
minded. Where should I look for a better? How was I to find as good? At that
moment, with Namu's failure fresh in my view, the work of my life appeared a
mockery; hope was dead in me. I would rather repair such tools as I had than go
abroad in quest of others that must certainly prove worse; and a scandal is, at
the best, a thing to be avoided when humanly possible. Right or wrong, then, I
determined on a quiet course. All that night I denounced and reasoned with the
erring pastor, twitted him with his ignorance and want of faith, twitted him
with his wretched attitude, making clean the outside of the cup and platter,
callously helping at a murder, childishly flying in excitement about a few
childish, unnecessary, and inconvenient gestures; and long before day I had him
on his knees and bathed in the tears of what seemed a genuine repentance. On
Sunday I took the pulpit in the morning, and preached from First Kings,
nineteenth, on the fire, the earthquake, and the voice, distinguishing the true
spiritual power, and referring with such plainness as I dared to recent events
in Falesa. The effect produced was great, and it was much increased when Namu
rose in his turn and confessed that he had been wanting in faith and conduct,
and was convinced of sin. So far, then, all was well; but there was one
unfortunate circumstance. It was nearing the time of our 'May' in the island,
when the native contributions to the missions are received; it fell in my duty
to make a notification on the subject, and this gave my enemy his chance, by
which he was not slow to profit.
"News of the
whole proceedings must have been carried to Case as soon as church was over,
and the same afternoon he made an occasion to meet me in the midst of the
village. He came up with so much intentness and animosity that I felt it would
be damaging to avoid him.
"'So,' says
he, in native, 'here is the holy man. He has been preaching against me, but
that was not in his heart. He has been preaching upon the love of God; but that
was not in his heart, it was between his teeth. Will you know what was in his
heart?' - cries he. 'I will show it you!' And, making a snatch at my head, he
made believe to pluck out a dollar, and held it in the air.
"There went
that rumour through the crowd with which Polynesians receive a prodigy. As for
myself, I stood amazed. The thing was a common conjuring trick which I have
seen performed at home a score of times; but how was I to convince the
villagers of that? I wished I had learned legerdemain instead of Hebrew, that I
might have paid the fellow out with his own coin. But there I was; I could not
stand there silent, and the best I could find to say was weak.
"'I will
trouble you not to lay hands on me again,' said I.
"'I have no
such thought,' said he, 'nor will I deprive you of your dollar. Here it is,' he
said, and flung it at my feet. I am told it lay where it fell three days."
"I must say
it was well played, said I.
"O! he is
clever," said Mr. Tarleton, "and you can now see for yourself how
dangerous. He was a party to the horrid death of the paralytic; he is accused
of poisoning Adams; he drove Vigours out of the place by lies that might have
led to murder; and there is no question but he has now made up his mind to rid
himself of you. How he means to try we have no guess; only be sure, it's
something new. There is no end to his readiness and invention."
"He gives
himself a sight of trouble," says I. "And after all, what for?"
"Why, how
many tons of copra may they make in this district?" asked the missionary.
"I daresay
as much as sixty tons," says I.
"And what is
the profit to the local trader?" he asked.
"You may
call it, three pounds," said I.
"Then you
can reckon for yourself how much he does it for," said Mr. Tarleton.
"But the more important thing is to defeat him. It is clear he spread some
report against Uma, in order to isolate and have his wicked will of her.
Failing of that, and seeing a new rival come upon the scene, he used her in a
different way. Now, the first point to find out is about Namu. Uma, when people
began to leave you and your mother alone, what did Namu do?"
"Stop away
all-e-same," says Uma.
"I fear the
dog has returned to his vomit," said Mr. Tarleton. "And now what am I
to do for you? I will speak to Namu, I will warn him he is observed; it will be
strange if he allow anything to go on amiss when he is put upon his guard. At
the same time, this precaution may fail, and then you must turn elsewhere. You
have two people at hand to whom you might apply. There is, first of all, the
priest, who might protect you by the Catholic interest; they are a wretchedly
small body, but they count two chiefs. And then there is old Faiaso. Ah! if it
had been some years ago you would have needed no one else; but his influence is
much reduced, it has gone into Maea's hands, and Maea, I fear, is one of Case's
jackals. In fine, if the worst comes to the worst, you must send up or come
yourself to Fale-alii, and, though I am not due at this end of the island for a
month, I will just see what can be done."
So Mr. Tarleton
said farewell; and half an hour later the crew were singing and the paddles
flashing in the missionary-boat.
CHAPTER IV - DEVIL-WORK.
Near a month went
by without much doing. The same night of our marriage Galoshes called round,
and made himself mighty civil, and got into a habit of dropping in about dark
and smoking his pipe with the family. He could talk to Uma, of course, and
started to teach me native and French at the same time. He was a kind old
buffer, though the dirtiest you would wish to see, and he muddled me up with
foreign languages worse than the tower of Babel.
That was one
employment we had, and it made me feel less lonesome; but there was no profit
in the thing, for though the priest came and sat and yarned, none of his folks
could be enticed into my store; and if it hadn't been for the other occupation
I struck out, there wouldn't have been a pound of copra in the house. This was
the idea: Fa'avao (Uma's mother) had a score of bearing trees. Of course we
could get no labour, being all as good as tabooed, and the two women and I
turned to and made copra with our own hands. It was copra to make your mouth
water when it was done - I never understood how much the natives cheated me
till I had made that four hundred pounds of my own hand - and it weighed so
light I felt inclined to take and water it myself.
When we were at
the job a good many Kanakas used to put in the best of the day looking on, and
once that nigger turned up. He stood back with the natives and laughed and did
the big don and the funny dog, till I began to get riled.
"Here, you
nigger!" says I.
"I don't
address myself to you, Sah," says the nigger. "Only speak to
gen'le'um."
"I
know," says I, "but it happens I was addressing myself to you, Mr.
Black Jack. And all I want to know is just this: did you see Case's figurehead
about a week ago?"
"No,
Sah," says he.
"That's all
right, then," says I; "for I'll show you the own brother to it, only
black, in the inside of about two minutes."
And I began to
walk towards him, quite slow, and my hands down; only there was trouble in my
eye, if anybody took the pains to look.
"You're a
low, obstropulous fellow, Sab," says he.
"You
bet!" says I.
By that time he
thought I was about as near as convenient, and lit out so it would have done
your heart good to see him travel. And that was all I saw of that precious gang
until what I am about to tell you.
It was one of my
chief employments these days to go pot-hunting in the woods, which I found (as
Case had told me) very rich in game. I have spoken of the cape which shut up
the village and my station from the east. A path went about the end of it, and
led into the next bay. A strong wind blew here daily, and as the line of the
barrier reef stopped at the end of the cape, a heavy surf ran on the shores of
the bay. A little cliffy hill cut the valley in two parts, and stood close on
the beach; and at high water the sea broke right on the face of it, so that all
passage was stopped. Woody mountains hemmed the place all round; the barrier to
the east was particularly steep and leafy, the lower parts of it, along the
sea, falling in sheer black cliffs streaked with cinnabar; the upper part lumpy
with the tops of the great trees. Some of the trees were bright green, and some
red, and the sand of the beach as black as your shoes. Many birds hovered round
the bay, some of them snow-white; and the flying-fox (or vampire) flew there in
broad daylight, gnashing its teeth.
For a long while
I came as far as this shooting, and went no farther. There was no sign of any
path beyond, and the cocoa-palms in the front of the foot of the valley were
the last this way. For the whole "eye" of the island, as natives call
the windward end, lay desert. From Falesa round about to Papa-malulu, there was
neither house, nor man, nor planted fruit-tree; and the reef being mostly absent,
and the shores bluff, the sea beat direct among crags, and there was scarce a
landing-place.
I should tell you
that after I began to go in the woods, although no one offered to come near my
store, I found people willing enough to pass the time of day with me where
nobody could see them; and as I had begun to pick up native, and most of them
had a word or two of English, I began to hold little odds and ends of
conversation, not to much purpose to be sure, but they took off the worst of
the feeling, for it's a miserable thing to be made a leper of.
It chanced one
day towards the end of the month, that I was sitting in this bay in the edge of
the bush, looking east, with a Kanaka. I had given him a fill of tobacco, and
we were making out to talk as best we could; indeed, he had more English than
most.
I asked him if
there was no road going eastward.
"One time
one road," said he. "Now he dead."
"Nobody he
go there?" I asked.
"No
good," said he. "Too much devil he stop there."
"Oho!"
says I, "got-um plenty devil, that bush?"
"Man devil,
woman devil; too much devil," said my friend. "Stop there all-e-time.
Man he go there, no come back."
I thought if this
fellow was so well posted on devils and spoke of them so free, which is not
common, I had better fish for a little information about myself and Uma.
"You think
me one devil?" I asked.
"No think
devil," said he soothingly. "Think all-e-same fool."
"Uma, she
devil?" I asked again.
"No, no; no
devil. Devil stop bush," said the young man.
I was looking in front
of me across the bay, and I saw the hanging front of the woods pushed suddenly
open, and Case, with a gun in his hand, step forth into the sunshine on the
black beach. He was got up in light pyjamas, near white, his gun sparkled, he
looked mighty conspicuous; and the land-crabs scuttled from all round him to
their holes.
"Hullo, my
friend!" says I, "you no talk all-e-same true. Ese he go, he come
back."
"Ese no
all-e-same; Ese TIAPOLO," says my friend; and, with a
"Good-bye," slunk off among the trees.
I watched Case
all round the beach, where the tide was low; and let him pass me on the
homeward way to Falesa. He was in deep thought, and the birds seemed to know
it, trotting quite near him on the sand, or wheeling and calling in his ears.
When he passed me I could see by the working of his lips that he was talking to
himself, and what pleased me mightily, he had still my trade mark on his brow,
I tell you the plain truth: I had a mind to give him a gunful in his ugly mug,
but I thought better of it.
All this time,
and all the time I was following home, I kept repeating that native word, which
I remembered by "Polly, put the kettle on and make us all some tea,"
tea-a-pollo.
"Uma,"
says I, when I got back, "what does TIAPOLO mean?"
"Devil,"
says she.
"I thought
AITU was the word for that," I said.
"AITU
'nother kind of devil," said she; "stop bush, eat Kanaka. Tiapolo big
chief devil, stop home; all-e-same Christian devil."
"Well
then," said I, "I'm no farther forward. How can Case be
Tiapolo?"
"No
all-e-same," said she. "Ese belong Tiapolo; Tiapolo too much like;
Ese all-e-same his son. Suppose Ese he wish something, Tiapolo he make
him."
"That's
mighty convenient for Ese," says I. "And what kind of things does he
make for him?"
Well, out came a
rigmarole of all sorts of stories, many of which (like the dollar he took from
Mr. Tarleton's head) were plain enough to me, but others I could make nothing
of; and the thing that most surprised the Kanakas was what surprised me least -
namely, that he would go in the desert among all the AITUS. Some of the
boldest, however, had accompanied him, and had heard him speak with the dead
and give them orders, and, safe in his protection, had returned unscathed. Some
said he had a church there, where he worshipped Tiapolo, and Tiapolo appeared
to him; others swore that there was no sorcery at all, that he performed his
miracles by the power of prayer, and the church was no church, but a prison, in
which he had confined a dangerous AITU. Namu had been in the bush with him
once, and returned glorifying God for these wonders. Altogether, I began to
have a glimmer of the man's position, and the means by which he had acquired
it, and, though I saw he was a tough nut to crack, I was noways cast down.
"Very
well," said I, "I'll have a look at Master Case's place of worship
myself, and we'll see about the glorifying."
At this Uma fell
in a terrible taking; if I went in the high bush I should never return; none
could go there but by the protection of Tiapolo.
"I'll chance
it on God's," said I. "I'm a good sort of a fellow, Uma, as fellows
go, and I guess God'll con me through."
She was silent
for a while. "I think," said she, mighty solemn - and then, presently
- "Victoreea, he big chief?"
"You
bet!" said I.
"He like you
too much?" she asked again.
I told her, with
a grin, I believed the old lady was rather partial to me.
"All
right," said she. "Victoreea he big chief, like you too much. No can
help you here in Falesa; no can do - too far off. Maea he small chief - stop
here. Suppose he like you - make you all right. All-e-same God and Tiapolo. God
he big chief - got too much work. Tiapolo he small chief - he like too much
make-see, work very hard."
"I'll have
to hand you over to Mr. Tarleton," said I. "Your theology's out of
its bearings, Uma."
However, we stuck
to this business all the evening, and, with the stories she told me of the
desert and its dangers, she came near frightening herself into a fit. I don't
remember half a quarter of them, of course, for I paid little heed; but two
come back to me kind of clear.
About six miles
up the coast there is a sheltered cove they call FANGA-ANAANA - "the haven
full of caves." I've seen it from the sea myself, as near as I could get
my boys to venture in; and it's a little strip of yellow sand. Black cliffs
overhang it, full of the black mouths of caves; great trees overhang the
cliffs, and dangle-down lianas; and in one place, about the middle, a big brook
pours over in a cascade. Well, there was a boat going by here, with six young
men of Falesa, "all very pretty," Uma said, which was the loss of
them. It blew strong, there was a heavy head sea, and by the time they opened
Fanga-anaana, and saw the white cascade and the shady beach, they were all
tired and thirsty, and their water had run out. One proposed to land and get a
drink, and, being reckless fellows, they were all of the same mind except the
youngest. Lotu was his name; he was a very good young gentleman, and very wise;
and he held out that they were crazy, telling them the place was given over to
spirits and devils and the dead, and there were no living folk nearer than six
miles the one way, and maybe twelve the other. But they laughed at his words,
and, being five to one, pulled in, beached the boat, and landed. It was a
wonderful pleasant place, Lotu said, and the water excellent. They walked round
the beach, but could see nowhere any way to mount the cliffs, which made them
easier in their mind; and at last they sat down to make a meal on the food they
had brought with them. They were scarce set, when there came out of the mouth
of one of the black caves six of the most beautiful ladies ever seen: they had
flowers in their hair, and the most beautiful breasts, and necklaces of scarlet
seeds; and began to jest with these young gentlemen, and the young gentlemen to
jest back with them, all but Lotu. As for Lotu, he saw there could be no living
woman in such a place, and ran, and flung himself in the bottom of the boat,
and covered his face, and prayed. All the time the business lasted Lotu made
one clean break of prayer, and that was all he knew of it, until his friends
came back, and made him sit up, and they put to sea again out of the bay, which
was now quite desert, and no word of the six ladies. But, what frightened Lotu
most, not one of the five remembered anything of what had passed, but they were
all like drunken men, and sang and laughed in the boat, and skylarked. The wind
freshened and came squally, and the sea rose extraordinary high; it was such
weather as any man in the islands would have turned his back to and fled home
to Falesa; but these five were like crazy folk, and cracked on all sail and
drove their boat into the seas. Lotu went to the bailing; none of the others
thought to help him, but sang and skylarked and carried on, and spoke singular
things beyond a man's comprehension, and laughed out loud when they said them.
So the rest of the day Lotu bailed for his life in the bottom of the boat, and
was all drenched with sweat and cold sea- water; and none heeded him. Against
all expectation, they came safe in a dreadful tempest to Papa-malulu, where the
palms were singing out, and the cocoa-nuts flying like cannon-balls about the
village green; and the same night the five young gentlemen sickened, and spoke
never a reasonable word until they died.
"And do you
mean to tell me you can swallow a yarn like that?" I asked.
She told me the
thing was well known, and with handsome young men alone it was even common; but
this was the only case where five had been slain the same day and in a company
by the love of the women- devils; and it had made a great stir in the island,
and she would be crazy if she doubted.
"Well,
anyway," says I, "you needn't be frightened about me. I've no use for
the women-devils. You're all the women I want, and all the devil too, old
lady."
To this she
answered there were other sorts, and she had seen one with her own eyes. She
had gone one day alone to the next bay, and, perhaps, got too near the margin
of the bad place. The boughs of the high bush overshadowed her from the cant of
the hill, but she herself was outside on a flat place, very stony and growing
full of young mummy-apples four and five feet high. It was a dark day in the
rainy season, and now there came squalls that tore off the leaves and sent them
flying, and now it was all still as in a house. It was in one of these still
times that a whole gang of birds and flying foxes came pegging out of the bush
like creatures frightened. Presently after she heard a rustle nearer hand, and
saw, coming out of the margin of the trees, among the mummy-apples, the
appearance of a lean grey old boar. It seemed to think as it came, like a
person; and all of a sudden, as she looked at it coming, she was aware it was
no boar but a thing that was a man with a man's thoughts. At that she ran, and
the pig after her, and as the pig ran it holla'd aloud, so that the place rang
with it.
"I wish I
had been there with my gun," said I. "I guess that pig would have
holla'd so as to surprise himself."
But she told me a
gun was of no use with the like of these, which were the spirits of the dead.
Well, this kind
of talk put in the evening, which was the best of it; but of course it didn't
change my notion, and the next day, with my gun and a good knife, I set off
upon a voyage of discovery. I made, as near as I could, for the place where I
had seen Case come out; for if it was true he had some kind of establishment in
the bush I reckoned I should find a path. The beginning of the desert was
marked off by a wall, to call it so, for it was more of a long mound of stones.
They say it reaches right across the island, but how they know it is another
question, for I doubt if anyone has made the journey in a hundred years, the
natives sticking chiefly to the sea and their little colonies along the coast,
and that part being mortal high and steep and full of cliffs. Up to the west
side of the wall, the ground has been cleared, and there are cocoa palms and
mummy-apples and guavas, and lots of sensitive plants. Just across, the bush
begins outright; high bush at that, trees going up like the masts of ships, and
ropes of liana hanging down like a ship's rigging, and nasty orchids growing in
the forks like funguses. The ground where there was no underwood looked to be a
heap of boulders. I saw many green pigeons which I might have shot, only I was
there with a different idea. A number of butterflies flopped up and down along
the ground like dead leaves; sometimes I would hear a bird calling, sometimes
the wind overhead, and always the sea along the coast.
But the queerness
of the place it's more difficult to tell of, unless to one who has been alone
in the high bush himself. The brightest kind of a day it is always dim down
there. A man can see to the end of nothing; whichever way he looks the wood
shuts up, one bough folding with another like the fingers of your hand; and
whenever he listens he hears always something new - men talking, children
laughing, the strokes of an axe a far way ahead of him, and sometimes a sort of
a quick, stealthy scurry near at hand that makes him jump and look to his
weapons. It's all very well for him to tell himself that he's alone, bar trees
and birds; he can't make out to believe it; whichever way he turns the whole
place seems to be alive and looking on. Don't think it was Uma's yarns that put
me out; I don't value native talk a fourpenny-piece; it's a thing that's
natural in the bush, and that's the end of it.
As I got near the
top of the hill, for the ground of the wood goes up in this place steep as a
ladder, the wind began to sound straight on, and the leaves to toss and switch
open and let in the sun. This suited me better; it was the same noise all the
time, and nothing to startle. Well, I had got to a place where there was an
underwood of what they wild cocoanut - mighty pretty with its scarlet fruit -
when there came a sound of singing in the wind that I thought I had never heard
the like of. It was all very fine to tell myself it was the branches; I knew
better. It was all very fine to tell myself it was a bird; I knew never a bird
that sang like that. It rose and swelled, and died away and swelled again; and
now I thought it was like someone weeping, only prettier; and now I thought it
was like harps; and there was one thing I made sure of, it was a sight too
sweet to be wholesome in a place like that. You may laugh if you like; but I
declare I called to mind the six young ladies that came, with their scarlet
necklaces, out of the cave at Fanga-anaana, and wondered if they sang like
that. We laugh at the natives and their superstitions; but see how many traders
take them up, splendidly educated white men, that have been book-keepers (some
of them) and clerks in the old country. It's my belief a superstition grows up
in a place like the different kind of weeds; and as I stood there and listened
to that wailing I twittered in my shoes.
You may call me a
coward to be frightened; I thought myself brave enough to go on ahead. But I
went mighty carefully, with my gun cocked, spying all about me like a hunter,
fully expecting to see a handsome young woman sitting somewhere in the bush,
and fully determined (if I did) to try her with a charge of duck-shot. And sure
enough, I had not gone far when I met with a queer thing. The wind came on the
top of the wood in a strong puff, the leaves in front of me burst open, and I
saw for a second something hanging in a tree. It was gone in a wink, the puff
blowing by and the leaves closing. I tell you the truth: I had made up my mind
to see an AITU; and if the thing had looked like a pig or a woman, it wouldn't
have given me the same turn. The trouble was that it seemed kind of square, and
the idea of a square thing that was alive and sang knocked me sick and silly. I
must have stood quite a while; and I made pretty certain it was right out of
the same tree that the singing came. Then I began to come to myself a bit.
"Well,"
says I, "if this is really so, if this is a place where there are square
things that sing, I'm gone up anyway. Let's have my fun for my money."
But I thought I
might as well take the off chance of a prayer being any good; so I plumped on
my knees and prayed out loud; and all the time I was praying the strange sounds
came out of the tree, and went up and down, and changed, for all the world like
music, only you could see it wasn't human - there was nothing there that you
could whistle.
As soon as I had
made an end in proper style, I laid down my gun, stuck my knife between my
teeth, walked right up to that tree, and began to climb. I tell you my heart
was like ice. But presently, as I went up, I caught another glimpse of the
thing, and that relieved me, for I thought it seemed like a box; and when I had
got right up to it I near fell out of the tree with laughing.
A box it was,
sure enough, and a candle-box at that, with the brand upon the side of it; and
it had banjo strings stretched so as to sound when the wind blew. I believe
they call the thing a Tyrolean (3) harp, whatever that may mean.
"Well, Mr.
Case," said I, "you've frightened me once, but I defy you to frighten
me again," I says, and slipped down the tree, and set out again to find my
enemy's head office, which I guessed would not be far away.
The undergrowth
was thick in this part; I couldn't see before my nose, and must burst my way
through by main force and ply the knife as I went, slicing the cords of the
lianas and slashing down whole trees at a blow. I call them trees for the
bigness, but in truth they were just big weeds, and sappy to cut through like
carrot. From all this crowd and kind of vegetation, I was just thinking to
myself, the place might have once been cleared, when I came on my nose over a
pile of stones, and saw in a moment it was some kind of a work of man. The Lord
knows when it was made or when deserted, for this part of the island has lain
undisturbed since long before the whites came. A few steps beyond I hit into
the path I had been always looking for. It was narrow, but well beaten, and I
saw that Case had plenty of disciples. It seems, indeed, it was a piece of
fashionable boldness to venture up here with the trader, and a young man scarce
reckoned himself grown till he had got his breech tattooed, for one thing, and
seen Case's devils for another. This is mighty like Kanakas; but, if you look
at it another way, it's mighty like white folks too.
A bit along the
path I was brought to a clear stand, and had to rub my eyes. There was a wall
in front of me, the path passing it by a gap; it was tumbledown and plainly
very old, but built of big stones very well laid; and there is no native alive
to-day upon that island that could dream of such a piece of building. Along all
the top of it was a line of queer figures, idols or scarecrows, or what not.
They had carved and painted faces ugly to view, their eyes and teeth were of
shell, their hair and their bright clothes blew in the wind, and some of them
worked with the tugging. There are islands up west where they make these kind
of figures till to- day; but if ever they were made in this island, the
practice and the very recollection of it are now long forgotten. And the
singular thing was that all these bogies were as fresh as toys out of a shop.
Then it came in
my mind that Case had let out to me the first day that he was a good forger of
island curiosities, a thing by which so many traders turn an honest penny. And
with that I saw the whole business, and how this display served the man a
double purpose: first of all, to season his curiosities, and then to frighten
those that came to visit him.
But I should tell
you (what made the thing more curious) that all the time the Tyrolean harps
were harping round me in the trees, and even while I looked, a green-and-yellow
bird (that, I suppose, was building) began to tear the hair off the head of one
of the figures.
A little farther
on I found the best curiosity of the museum. The first I saw of it was a
longish mound of earth with a twist to it. Digging off the earth with my hands,
I found underneath tarpaulin stretched on boards, so that this was plainly the
roof of a cellar. It stood right on the top of the hill, and the entrance was
on the far side, between two rocks, like the entrance to a cave. I went as far
in as the bend, and, looking round the corner, saw a shining face. It was big
and ugly, like a pantomime mask, and the brightness of it waxed and dwindled,
and at times it smoked.
"Oho!"
says I, "luminous paint!"
And I must say I
rather admired the man's ingenuity. With a box of tools and a few mighty simple
contrivances he had made out to have a devil of a temple. Any poor Kanaka
brought up here in the dark, with the harps whining all round him, and shown
that smoking face in the bottom of a hole, would make no kind of doubt but he
had seen and heard enough devils for a lifetime. It's easy to find out what
Kanakas think. Just go back to yourself any way round from ten to fifteen years
old, and there's an average Kanaka. There are some pious, just as there are
pious boys; and the most of them, like the boys again, are middling honest and
yet think it rather larks to steal, and are easy scared and rather like to be
so. I remember a boy I was at school with at home who played the Case business.
He didn't know anything, that boy; he couldn't do anything; he had no luminous
paint and no Tyrolean harps; he just boldly said he was a sorcerer, and
frightened us out of our boots, and we loved it. And then it came in my mind
how the master had once flogged that boy, and the surprise we were all in to
see the sorcerer catch it and bum like anybody else. Thinks I to myself,
"I must find some way of fixing it so for Master Case." And the next
moment I had my idea.
I went back by
the path, which, when once you had found it, was quite plain and easy walking;
and when I stepped out on the black sands, who should I see but Master Case
himself. I cocked my gun and held it handy, and we marched up and passed
without a word, each keeping the tail of his eye on the other; and no sooner
had we passed than we each wheeled round like fellows drilling, and stood face
to face. We had each taken the same notion in his head, you see, that the other
fellow might give him the load of his gun in the stern.
"You've shot
nothing," says Case.
"I'm not on
the shoot to-day," said I.
"Well, the
devil go with you for me," says he.
"The same to
you," says I.
But we stuck just
the way we were; no fear of either of us moving.
Case laughed.
"We can't stop here all day, though," said he.
"Don't let
me detain you," says I.
He laughed again.
"Look here, Wiltshire, do you think me a fool?" he asked.
"More of a
knave, if you want to know," says I.
"Well, do
you think it would better me to shoot you here, on this open beach?" said
he. "Because I don't. Folks come fishing every day. There may be a score
of them up the valley now, making copra; there might be half a dozen on the
hill behind you, after pigeons; they might be watching us this minute, and I
shouldn't wonder. I give you my word I don't want to shoot you. Why should I?
You don't hinder me any. You haven't got one pound of copra but what you made
with your own hands, like a negro slave. You're vegetating - that's what I call
it - and I don't care where you vegetate, nor yet how long. Give me your word
you don't mean to shoot me, and I'll give you a lead and walk away."
"Well,"
said I, "You're frank and pleasant, ain't you? And I'll be the same. I
don't mean to shoot you to-day. Why should I? This business is beginning; it
ain't done yet, Mr. Case. I've given you one turn already; I can see the marks
of my knuckles on your head to this blooming hour, and I've more cooking for
you. I'm not a paralee, like Underhill. My name ain't Adams, and it ain't
Vigours; and I mean to show you that you've met your match."
"This is a
silly way to talk," said he. "This is not the talk to make me move on
with."
"All
right," said I, "stay where you are. I ain't in any hurry, and you
know it. I can put in a day on this beach and never mind. I ain't got any copra
to bother with. I ain't got any luminous paint to see to."
I was sorry I
said that last, but it whipped out before I knew. I could see it took the wind
out of his sails, and he stood and stared at me with his brow drawn up. Then I
suppose he made up his mind he must get to the bottom of this.
"I take you
at your word," says he, and turned his back, and walked right into the
devil's bush.
I let him go, of
course, for I had passed my word. But I watched him as long as he was in sight,
and after he was gone lit out for cover as lively as you would want to see, and
went the rest of the way home under the bush, for I didn't trust him
sixpence-worth. One thing I saw, I had been ass enough to give him warning, and
that which I meant to do I must do at once.
You would think I
had had about enough excitement for one morning, but there was another turn
waiting me. As soon as I got far enough round the cape to see my house I made
out there were strangers there; a little farther, and no doubt about it. There
was a couple of armed sentinels squatting at my door. I could only suppose the
trouble about Uma must have come to a head, and the station been seized. For
aught I could think, Uma was taken up already, and these armed men were waiting
to do the like with me.
However, as I
came nearer, which I did at top speed, I saw there was a third native sitting
on the verandah like a guest, and Uma was talking with him like a hostess.
Nearer still I made out it was the big young chief, Maea, and that he was
smiling away and smoking. And what was he smoking? None of your European
cigarettes fit for a cat, not even the genuine big, knock-me-down native
article that a fellow can really put in the time with if his pipe is broke -
but a cigar, and one of my Mexicans at that, that I could swear to. At sight of
this my heart started beating, and I took a wild hope in my head that the
trouble was over, and Maea had come round.
Uma pointed me
out to him as I came up, and he met me at the head of my own stairs like a
thorough gentleman.
"Vilivili,"
said he, which was the best they could make of my name, "I pleased."
There is no doubt
when an island chief wants to be civil he can do it. I saw the way things were
from the word go. There was no call for Uma to say to me: "He no 'fraid
Ese now, come bring copra." I tell you I shook hands with that Kanaka like
as if he was the best white man in Europe.
The fact was,
Case and he had got after the same girl; or Maea suspected it, and concluded to
make hay of the trader on the chance. He had dressed himself up, got a couple
of his retainers cleaned and armed to kind of make the thing more public, and,
just waiting till Case was clear of the village, came round to put the whole of
his business my way. He was rich as well as powerful. I suppose that man was
worth fifty thousand nuts per annum. I gave him the price of the beach and a
quarter cent better, and as for credit, I would have advanced him the inside of
the store and the fittings besides, I was so pleased to see him. I must say he
bought like a gentleman: rice and tins and biscuits enough for a week's feast,
and stuffs by the bolt. He was agreeable besides; he had plenty fun to him; and
we cracked jests together, mostly through the interpreter, because he had
mighty little English, and my native was still off colour. One thing I made
out: he could never really have thought much harm of Uma; he could never have
been really frightened, and must just have made believe from dodginess, and
because he thought Case had a strong pull in the village and could help him on.
This set me
thinking that both he and I were in a tightish place. What he had done was to
fly in the face of the whole village, and the thing might cost him his
authority. More than that, after my talk with Case on the beach, I thought it
might very well cost me my life. Case had as good as said he would pot me if
ever I got any copra; he would come home to find the best business in the
village had changed hands; and the best thing I thought I could do was to get
in first with the potting.
"See here,
Uma," says I, "tell him I'm sorry I made him wait, but I was up
looking at Case's Tiapolo store in the bush."
"He want
savvy if you no 'fraid?" translated Uma.
I laughed out.
"Not much!" says I. "Tell him the place is a blooming toy-shop!
Tell him in England we give these things to the kids to play with."
"He want
savvy if you hear devil sing?" she asked next.
"Look
here," I said, "I can't do it now because I've got no banjo- strings
in stock; but the next time the ship comes round I'll have one of these same
contraptions right here in my verandah, and he can see for himself how much
devil there is to it. Tell him, as soon as I can get the strings I'll make one
for his picaninnies. The name of the concern is a Tyrolean harp; and you can tell
him the name means in English that nobody but dam-fools give a cent for
it."
This time he was
so pleased he had to try his English again. "You talk true?" says he.
"Rather!"
said I. "Talk all-e-same Bible. Bring out a Bible here, Uma, if you've got
such a thing, and I'll kiss it. Or, I'll tell you what's better still,"
says I, taking a header, "ask him if he's afraid to go up there himself by
day."
It appeared he
wasn't; he could venture as far as that by day and in company.
"That's the
ticket, then!" said I. "Tell him the man's a fraud and the place
foolishness, and if he'll go up there to-morrow he'll see all that's left of
it. But tell him this, Uma, and mind he understands it: If he gets talking,
it's bound to come to Case, and I'm a dead man! I'm playing his game, tell him,
and if he says one word my blood will be at his door and be the damnation of
him here and after."
She told him, and
he shook hands with me up to the hilt, and, says he: "No talk. Go up
to-morrow. You my friend?"
"No
sir," says I, "no such foolishness. I've come here to trade, tell
him, and not to make friends. But, as to Case, I'll send that man to
glory!"
So off Maea went,
pretty well pleased, as I could see.
(2)
Alas!
(3)
Aeolian
