The Tapu of Banderah

"

•ERKEIEY

LITRARY

UNMVEXSITY OF
CALIFORNIA

THE TAPU OF <BANDERAH

THE

TAPU OF BANDERAH

BY

LOUIS BECKE

AND

WALTER JEFFERY

Authors of

"A First Fleet Family,"
"The Mutineer," etc., etc.

London

C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.

Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott Compy.

1901

'The Tapu of Bander ah

I

THE "STARLIGHT"

AS the rising sun had just begun to pierce the
misty tropic haze of early dawn, a small,
white-painted schooner of ninety or a hundred
tons burden was bearing down upon the low,
densely - wooded island of Mayou, which lies
between the coast of south-east New Guinea and
the murderous Solomon Group — the grave of the
white man in Melanesia.

The white population of Mayou was not large,
for it consisted only of an English missionary and
his wife — who was, of course, a white woman — a
German trader named Peter Schwartzkoff and his
native wife ; an English trader named Charlie
Blount, with his two half-caste sons and daughters ;
and an American trader and ex-whaler, named
Nathaniel Burrowes, with his wives.

2 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

Although the island is of large extent, and of
amazing fertility, the native population was at this
time comparatively small, numbering only some
three thousand souls. They nearly all lived at the
south-west end of the island, the rendezvous of the
few trading ships that visited the place. Occa-
sionally a surveying vessel, and, at longer intervals
still, a labour-recruiting ship from Hawaii or Fiji,
would call. At such times the monotony of the
lives of the white residents of Mayou was pleasantly
broken. Once a year, too, a missionary vessel
would drop anchor in the little reef-bound port,
but her visit was of moment only to the Rev. Mr.
Deighton, his wife, and their native converts, and
the mission ship's presence in the harbour was
taken no notice of by the three white traders ; for
a missionary ship is not always regarded by the
average trader in the South Seas as a welcome
visitor.

Almost with the rising of the sun the vessel had
been sighted from the shore by a party of natives,
who were fishing off the south end of the island,
and in a few minutes their loud cries reached other
natives on shore, and by them was passed on from
house to house along the beach till it reached the
town itself. From there, presently, came a deep
sonorous shout, " Evaka ! Evaka ! " (" A ship ! A
ship ! "), and then they swarmed out of their
thatched dwellings like bees from a hive and ran,

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 3

laughing and shouting together, down to the beach
in front of the village.

As the clamour increased, the Rev. Wilfrid
Deighton opened the door of his study and stepped
out upon the shady verandah of the mission house,
which stood upon a gentle, palm-covered rise about
five hundred yards from the thickly clustering
houses of the native village. He was a tall, thin
man with a scanty brown beard, and his face
wore a wearied, anxious expression. His long,
lean body, coarse, toil-worn hands, and shabby
clothing indicated, too, that the lines of the
Rev. Wilfrid had not been cast in a pleasant
place when he chose the wild, unhealthy island of
Mayou as the field of his labours. But if he
showed bodily traces of the hard, continuous toil
he had undergone during the seven years' residence
among the people of Mayou, his eye was still full
of the fire of that noble missionary spirit which
animated the souls of such earnest men as Moffat
and Livingstone, and Williams of Erromanga, and
Gordon of Khartoum. For he was an enthusiast,
who believed in his work ; and so did his wife,
a pretty, faded little woman of thirty, with a great
yearning to save souls, though at times she longed
to return to the comforts and good dinners of
semi-civilisation in other island groups nearer the
outside world she had been away from so long.

The .missionary stepped out on the verandah,

4 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

and shaded his eyes from the glare with his rough,
sun-tanned hands, as he looked seaward at the
advancing vessel. Soon his wife followed him and
placed her hand on his shoulder.

" What is it, Wilfrid ? Surely not the John
Hunt. She is not due for months yet."

" Not her, certainly, Alice," he answered, " and
not a trading vessel either, I should think. She
looks more like a yacht. Perhaps she may be a
new man-of-war schooner. However, we will soon
see. Put on your hat, my dear, and let us go
down to the beach. Already Blount, Schwartzkoff,
and Burrowes have gone ; and it certainly would
not do for me to remain in the background when
the newcomers land.

Mrs. Deighton, her pale face flushing with gentle
excitement at the prospect of meeting Europeans,
quickly retired to her room, and making a rapid
toilette, rejoined her husband, who, white umbrella

in hand, awaited her at the gate.

##•*#*

" Good morning, gentlemen," said the reverend
gentleman, a few minutes later, as, accompanied
by Mrs. Deighton, he joined the three white traders,
" what vessel is it ? Have you any idea ? "

" None at all," answered Blount, with a short
nod to Mr. Deighton, but lifting his leaf hat to his
wife, " we were just wondering ourselves. Doesn't
look like a trader — more like a gunboat."

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 5

Meantime the schooner had worked her way in
through the passage, and, surrounded by a fleet of
canoes, soon brought up and anchored. Her sails
were very quickly handled, then almost as soon as
she swung to her anchor a smart, white-painted
boat was lowered, and the people on shore saw the
crew haul her up to the gangway ladder.

Presently a white man, who, by his dress, was an
officer of the ship, followed by another person in a
light tweed suit and straw hat, entered the boat,
which then pushed off and was headed for the
shore. As she approached nearer, the traders and
the missionary could see that the crew were light-
skinned Polynesians, dressed in blue cotton jumpers,
white duck pants, and straw hats. The officer —
who steered with a steer-oar — wore a brass-bound
cap and brass-buttoned jacket, and every now and
then turned to speak to the man in the tweed suit,
who sat smoking a cigar beside him.

" By jingo ! she's a yacht, I believe," said Charlie
Blount, who had been keenly watching the ap-
proaching boat ; "I'm off. I don't want to be
bothered with people of that sort — glorified
London drapers, who ask ' Have you — ah — got
good shooting heah ? ' '

Then turning on his heel, he raised his hat to
Mrs. Deighton, nodded to the other white men, and
sauntered along the beach to his house.

" I guess Blount's kinder set again meetin' people

6 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

like these," said Burrowes, nodding in the direction
of the boat and addressing himself to Mr. and Mrs.
Deighton. " Reckon they might be some all-
powerful British swells he knew when he was
one himself. Guess they won't scare me a cent's
worth."

"Id was brober dadt he should veel so," re-
marked the German; "if some Yerman shentle-
mans vas to come here und zee me dresd like vom
dirty sailor mans, den I too vould get me home to
mein house und say nodings."

" My friends," said Mr. Deighton, speaking
reproachfully, yet secretly pleased at Blount's
departure, "no man need feel ashamed at meeting
his countrymen on account of the poverty of his
attire ; I am sure that the sight of an English
gentleman is a very welcome one to me and Mrs.
Deighton."

" Wai," said Burrowes with easy but not offensive
familiarity, " I guess, parson, thet you and Mrs.
Deighton hed better form yourselves inter a com-
mittee of welcome, and tell them so ; I ain't much
in the polite speechifying line myself, neither is
'Schneider' here," nodding at the German, "and
you can sling in somethin' ornymental 'bout me
bein' the representative of the United States — a
gentleman a-recrootin' of his health in the South
Sea Islands doorin' a perlitercal crisis in Wash-
ington."

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 7

By this time the boat had run her bows up on
to the white, sandy beach, and the straw-hatted,
tweed-suited gentleman jumped lightly out. Taking
off his hat with a graceful, circular sweep, which
included every one on the beach, white and native,
he said with languid politeness —

" Good-day, gentlemen ; I scarcely hoped to have
the pleasure of meeting Europeans at this place —
and certainly never imagined that pleasure would
be enhanced by the presence of a lady," he added
as he caught sight of Mrs. Deighton standing apart
some little distance from the others.

" I am pleased to meet you, sir," said the
missionary, constituting himself spokesman for the
others ; " you are welcome, sir, very welcome to
Mayou, and to anything that it lies in our power
to furnish you with for your — schooner, or
should I say yacht, for such, by her handsome
appearance, I presume she is."

The visitor, who was a handsome, fair-haired
man, with a blonde moustache and blue eyes,
bowed his thanks, and then said, " May I have
the honour to introduce myself. My name is De
Vere."

"And I am the Rev. Wilfrid Deighton, mis-
sionary in charge of this island. My two "

(here he hesitated a moment before the next word)
" friends are Mr. Peter Schwartzkoff and Mr.
Nathaniel Burrowes,"

8 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

" Delighted to meet you," said Mr. de Vere,
bowing politely to the lady, but extending a white,
shapely hand to the men ; " and now I must tell
you that I shall be very glad to avail myself,
Mr. Deighton, of your kind offer. We are in want
of water, and anything in the way of vegetables,
etcetera, that we can get. We intend, however, to
stay here a few days and refit. Having been in
very bad weather coming through the southern
part of the Solomon Group we must effect
repairs."

" Might I inquire, mister," asked Burrowes, " ef
your vessel is a trader, or jest a pleasure schooner,
as the parson here says ? "

" Mr. Deighton is quite correct," said Mr. de
Vere, with another graceful bow; "the Starlight is a
yacht. I can quite understand your not being able
to make her out She was originally built for the
navy as a gunboat, but was sold in Sydney, after
some years' service. I bought her and had her
altered into a yacht to cruise about these delightful
and beautiful South Sea Islands. My friend, the
Honourable John Morcombe-Lycett, accompanies
me. Our English yachting experience had much
to do with our determination to make a cruise
down here. In fact," and here Mr. de Vere
showed his white, even teeth in a smile, and
stroked his drooping blonde moustache, " we left
London with the intention of chartering a vessel

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 9

in Sydney for a cruise among the islands. Mr.
Morcombe-Lycett is, however, very unwell to-day,
and so has not landed, but here am I ; and I am
very happy indeed to make your acquaintance."

Then, turning towards the boat, he called out
to the officer who had brought him, " Come ashore
for me at dinner-time, Captain Sykes."

II

A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

A few hours later Mr. de Vere was on very
friendly terms with Mr. and Mrs. Deighton, who
had carried him off to the mission house, after
the boat returned to the schooner. Before he
accompanied them, however, he told Messrs.
Burro wes and Schwartzkoff, as he shook hands,
that he would not fail to visit them later on in the
day at their respective houses. And both Peter,
and the American, who on any other occasion
would have been justly indignant at any white
visitor not a missionary himself foregoing, even for
a short time, the pleasure of their society for that
of a " blarsted missionary," shook hands with him
most vigorously, and said they would be proud to
see him. Then they hurried off homewards.

Peter's house and trading station lay midway

io THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

between that of Charlie Blount and the American's,
but instead of making for his own place, Peter, to
the surprise of Blount, who was now standing at his
door watching them, went inside Burrowes' house.

" That's d — d curious, now," said Blount, in
English, to one of his half-caste daughters, a girl
of eighteen ; " those two fellows hate each other
like poison. I've never known the Dutchman go
into the Yankee's house, or the Yankee go into his,
for the past two years, and here they are now as
thick as thieves ! I wonder what infernal roguery
they are up to ? "

Charlie Blount's amazement was perfectly natural.
The German and American did dislike each other
most intensely. Neither of them had lived so long
on Mayou as Blount, but each was trying hard to
work the other man off the island by accusing him
to the natives of cheating them. As a matter of
fact they were both scoundrels, but Banderah, the
chief of Mayou, who was fond of white men,
managed to keep a hollow peace between them.
He was perfectly well aware that both of them
cheated himself and his people, but as long as their
cheating was practised moderately he did not
mind. In Blount, however, he had the fullest con-
fidence, and this good feeling was shared with him

by every native on the island.

*****

Perhaps, had Blount been a witness of wha.t

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH n

occurred when the boat landed, his suspicion of
his fellow- traders' honesty would have been con-
siderably augmented. For while the missionary
and Mr. de Vere were bandying compliments, the
German and American were exchanging signs
with the officer who was in charge of the boat,
and whom De Vere addressed as "Captain Sykes."
The American, indeed, had started down the beach
to speak to him, when Mr. de Vere called out to
him to return to the ship, and Captain Sykes,
with a gesture signifying that he would see
Burrowes later on, swung round the boat's head
and gave the word to his Kanaka crew to give
way. As if quite satisfied with this dumb promise,
the American returned to the group he had just
left, and then the moment the missionary, Mrs.
Deighton, and De Vere had gone, he and the
German started off together.

The moment they entered the American's house,
Burrowes sat down on the table and the German
on a gin case.

"Wai, Dutchy," said Burrowes, looking keenly
at his companion, " I reckon you know who the
almighty swell in the brass-bound suit is, hey ? "

" Yaw," replied Schwartzkoff, " it is Bilker, und
I thought he was in brison for ten years mit."

"Wai, that's true enough that he did get ten
years. But that's six years ago, an' I reckon
they've let him out Public feelin' in Australia

12 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

agin nigger catchin' ain't very strong ; an' I reckon
he's got out after doin' five or six years."

" Dot is so," asserted the German ; and then he
leaned forward, " but vat vas he doing here in dis
fine, swell schooner mit ? "

" That's jest what you and me is goin' to find
out, Dutchy. An' I guess that you an' me can
find out darned easy. Bilker ain't going to fool
me ; if he's on to anything good, I guess I'm going
to have a cut in."

" Veil, ve see by und by, ven he comes ashore.
Von ding, I dells you, mine friend. Dot fine
shentleman don't know vat you und me knows
about Captain Bilker."

The American gave an affirmative wink, and
then going to a rude cupboard he took out a
bottle of gin and a couple of tin mugs.

"Look hyar, Peter, I guess you and me's goin\
to do some business together over this schooner,
so let's make friends."

" I vas agreeable," said the German with alacrity,
rising from his seat and accepting the peace-
offering. He nodded to Burrowes and tossed it

off.

*****

By lunch-time Mr. Morcombe-Lycett had been
brought ashore and had accepted Mr. Deighton's
invitation to remain for the night. He was a well-
dressed, good-looking man of about thirty-five, and

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 13

was, so Mr. Deighton sympathisingly announced
to his wife, suffering from a touch of malarial fever,
which a little quinine and nursing would soon put
right. Mr. Deighton himself, by the way, was
suffering from the same complaint.

At noon, as Charlie Blount was walking past
Burrowes' house, he was surprised to see that the
German was still there. He was about to pass on
— for although on fairly friendly terms with the two
men, he did not care for either of them sufficiently
well to enter their houses often, although they did
his — when the American came to the door and
asked him to come in and take a nip.

" Are you going to board the schooner ? " asked
Burrowes, as Blount came in and sat down.

"No, I'm going down to Lak-a-lak. I've got
some natives cutting timber for me there, and
thought I would just walk along the beach and
see how they are getting on. Besides that, my
little girl Nellie is there with her uncle."

"Why," said Burrowes, with genuine surprise,
' won't you go aboard and see if they have any
provisions to sell ? I heard you say the other day
that you had quite run out of tinned meats and
nearly out of coffee."

" So I have ; but I don't care about going on
board for all that." Then looking the two men
straight in the face, he drank off the gin, set the
mug down on the table, and resumed, " I saw by

14 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

my glass that that damned, cut-throat blackbirder,
Bilker, is her skipper. That's enough for me. I
heard that the infernal scoundrel got ten years in
gaol. Sorry he wasn't hanged."

"Vy," said the German, whose face was con-
siderably flushed by the liquor he had been
drinking, "you vas in der plackpird drade your-
selves von dime."

" So I was, Peter," said Blount quietly, " but we
did the thing honestly, fairly and squarely. I, and
those with me, when I was in the labour trade,
never stole a nigger, nor killed one. This fellow
Bilker was a disgrace to every white man in the
trade. He is a notorious, cold-blooded murderer."

The conversation fell a bit flat after this, for Mr.
Burrowes and Mr. Schwartzkoff began to feel un-
comfortable. Six or seven years before, although
then unknown to each other and living on different
islands, they each had had business relations with
Captain Bilker in the matter of supplying him
with "cargo" during his cruises for " blackbirds/'
and each of them had so carried on the trade that
both were ultimately compelled to leave the scene
of their operations with great haste, and take up
their residence elsewhere, particularly as the
commander of the cruiser which arrested Captain
Bilker expressed a strong desire to make their
acquaintance and let them keep him company to
the gallows.

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 15

" Wai," resumed the American, " I guess every
man hez got his own opinions on such things. I

hev mine Why, here's Mr. de Vere. Walk

right in, sir, an' set down ; and Mister Deighton,
too. Howdy do, parson ? I'm real glad to see you."

The moment the visitors entered Blount rose to
go, but the missionary, with good-natured, blun-
dering persistency, pressed him back, holding his
hand the while.

" Mr. de Vere, this is Mr. Blount, a most ex-
cellent man, I do assure you."

" How do you do ? " said Blount, taking the
smiling Englishman's hand in his, but quickly
dropping it. There was something in De Vere's
set smile and cold, watery-blue eyes that he
positively resented, although he knew not why.

However, as the somewhat dull-minded Deighton
seemed very anxious for him to stay and engage in
"doing the polite" to his guest, Blount resumed his
seat, but did so with restraint and impatience show-
ing strongly in his sun-burnt, resolute face. For
some ten minutes or so he remained, speaking only
when he was spoken to ; and then he rose, and
nodding a cool " good-day " to the handsome Mr.
de Vere and the two traders, he strode to the door
and walked out.

Before he was half-way from Burrowes' house to
the mission station, he was overtaken by the
Rev. Mr. Deighton.

16 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

" Mr. de Vere has gone on board again," he said
in his slow, solemn way, " gone on board to get me
some English papers. A most estimable and kind
gentleman, Mr. Blount, an aristocrat to the back-
bone, but a gentleman, Mr. Blount, a gentleman
above all. His visit has given me the most
unalloyed "

" He may be very kind," said Blount, " but my
judgment has gone very much astray if he is what
he represents himself to be."

" Mr. Blount ! " and the missionary looked
genuinely shocked. "You are very unjust, as
well as very much in error. Mr. de Vere is a
scion of one of the noblest of our many noble
English families. He told me so himself."

" Ah, did he ! That just confirms me in my
opinion of him. Now, look here, Mr. Deighton,"
and his tone became slightly irritated, " I'm not
surprised that this Mr. de Vere — who, whatever he
is, is not a scion of any noble English family —
should impose upon men like Burrowes and the
German, but that he should impose on you does
rather surprise me. And yet I don't know. It is
always the way, or nearly always the way, that
those whose education and intelligence should be
a safeguard to them against imposture, are as often
imposed upon as the ignorant and uncultured."

" Imposture, Mr. Blount ! Do you mean to
say "

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 17

" I mean to say that this man De Vere with his
flashy get-up and imposing name is not an English
gentleman. He may deceive you and the men we
have just left, but he doesn't deceive me. I once
lived in England a long time ago, Mr. Deighton,"
here Blount turned his face away, and then added
dreamily, " a long time, a very long time ago, and
met .some fairly decent people. And I no more
believe that Mr. de Vere comes from a good
family than I do that Nathaniel Burro wes, a low,
broken-down New Orleans wharf-loafer, comes
from one of the ' first families in Virginia ' that
American newspapers are always blathering about."
" What is wrong with him, Mr. Blount ? "
" Nothing from your point of view — everything
from mine. And, so far as I am concerned, I
don't mean to have anything to do with these two
English gentlemen and the yacht Starlight. Well,
here we are at the mission. Good-day, Mr.
Deighton ; I'm going to Lak-a-lak to see how my
timber-getters are doing." And with a kindly nod
at the troubled missionary, the big, dark-faced
trader strode along the beach alone.

Ill

BANDERAH

Banderah, the supreme chief of Mayou, was, vide
Mr. Deighton's report to his clerical superiors, " a

3

i8 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

man of much intelligence, favourably disposed to
the spread of the Gospel, but, alas ! of a worldly
nature, and clinging for worldly reasons to the
darkness." In other words, Banderah, although
by no means averse to the poorer natives of the
island adopting Christianity in a very free and
modified form, and contributing a certain amount
of their possessions to the missionary cause, was
yet a heathen, and intended to remain one. For
Mr. Deighton he had conceived a personal liking,
mingled with a wondering and contemptuous pity.
During an intertribal war he had received a bullet
in his thigh, which the missionary had succeeded,
after much difficulty, in extracting. Consequently,
his gratitude was unlimited, and he evinced it in a
very practical manner, by commanding some hun-
dreds of his subjects to become Christians under
pain of death. And, being aware that polygamy
would not be tolerated by Mr. Deighton, he went
a step further, and ordered all those of these forced
converts who had more than one wife to send them
to his own harem. This addition to his family
duties, was, however, amply compensated for by
the labour of the surplus wives proving useful to
him on his yam and taro plantations.

In his younger days Banderah had once made a
voyage to Sydney, in the service of a trading
captain, one Lannigan, whose name, in those days,
was a name to conjure with from one end of

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 19

Melanesia to the other, and for whose valour as
a fighter and killer of men Banderah had acquired
a respect he could never entertain for a mis-
sionary. This captain, however, died in Sydney,
full of years and strong drink, and left the chief
almost broken-hearted, to return a year later to
Mayou.

In his curious, semi-savage character there were
some good points, and one was that in compliance
with the oft-expressed wishes and earnest en-
treaties of Blount and Mr. Deighton, he had
agreed to put down the last remnants of cannibalism
which had lingered among the coast tribes on the
island down to the time of this story. And
although the older men, and some of the priests of
the heathen faith, had struggled against his drastic
legislation, they finally gave in when Mr. Deighton,
weeping tears of honest joy at such a marvellous
and wholesale conversion, presented each convert
with a new print shirt and a highly coloured
picture of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.

An hour after Blount had walked along the
beach to Lak-a-lak, Banderah saw the captain of
the schooner come ashore and walk up the path to
Nathaniel Burrowes' house, where he was warmly
greeted by Burrowes and the German. He re-
mained there for nearly an hour, and then came
out again, and looking about him for a few
moments, made direct for Banderah's house, which

20 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

stood about three hundred yards back from that of
the American trader.

When close to the chiefs house the captain of
the Starlight raised his head, and Banderah caught
sight of his features and recognised him.

" How are you, Bandy ? " said the seaman, walk-
ing smartly up to the chief, who was sitting on a
mat inside his doorway, surrounded by a part of
his harem and family, " you haven't forgotten me,
have you ? "

" Oh, no, sir. I no forget you," said the native,
civilly enough, but without warmth. " How are
you, Cap'en Bilker?"

" Sh', don't call me that, Bandy. I'm Captain
Sykes now."

"Yes?" and Banderah's face at once assumed
an expression of the most hopeless stupidity. "All
right, Cap'en Sike. Come inside an' sit down."

" Right, my boy," said Bilker genially, fumbling
in his coat pocket, and producing a large flask of
rum,. "I've brought you a drink, Bandy; and I
want to have a yarn with you."

" All right," and taking the flask from the
captain's hand without deigning to look at it, he
passed it on to one of his wives. " What you want
talk me about, Cap'en ? You want me to get you
some native for work on plantation?" and he
smiled slily.

" No, no, Bandy. Nothing like that, I don't

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 21

run a labour ship now. I'm a big fellow gentleman
now. I'm captain of that yacht."

The chief nodded, but said nothing. He knew
Captain "Sykes" of old, and knew him to be an
undoubted rascal. Indeed, about ten years before
the cunning blackbirder captain had managed to
take thirty of Banderah's people away in his ship
without paying for them ; and the moment the
chief recognised the sailor he set his keen native
brain to work to devise a plan for getting square
with him. And he meant to take deadly vengeance.

" Banderah, old man," and the captain laid one
hand on the chief's naked knee, " I meant to pay
you for those men when I came back next trip.
But I was taken by a man-of-war," here Bilker
crossed his wrists to signify that he had been hand-
cuffed ; " taken to Sydney, put me in calaboose —
ten years."

" You lie," said Banderah quietly, but with a
danger spark in his eye, " man-o'-war no make you
fas' for a long time after you steal my men. Plenty
people tell me you make two more voyage ; then
man-o'-war catch you an' make you fas'."

"Don't you believe 'em, Banderah," began the
ex-blackbirder, when the chief interrupted him —

" What you do with my brother ? " he said
suddenly; "he die too, in Fiji?"

The white man's face paled. " I don't know,
Banderah. I didn't know your brother was aboard

22 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

when my mate put the hatches on. I thought he
had gone ashore. I never meant to take him away
to Fiji anyway."

" All right ; never mind that. But what you
want talk to me about?" And then, as if to put
his visitor at his ease, he added, " You dam rogue,
me dam rogue."

" Yes, yes," assented Captain Bilker cheerfully ;
" but look here now, Bandy, I'm not only going to
pay you for those men I took, but give you a lot
of money as well — any amount of money ; make
you a big, rich chief; big as Maafu Tonga.1 But
I want you to help me."

" You speak me true ? " inquired the chief.

" I swear it," answered the captain promptly,
extending his hand, which, however, Banderah did
not appear to see.

" All right," he said presently, after a silence of
a few moments; then making a sign for his women
and slaves to withdraw to the further end of the
room, so that their muttered talk might not disturb
the white man and himself, he lit his pipe and said,
" Go on, tell me what you want me to do, Cap'en."

" Look," said the ex-blackbirder, laying a ringer
on the chiefs arm and speaking in a low voice,
" these two white men on board the yacht have
got any amount of money, gold, sovereigns — boxes

1 Maafu of Tonga, the once dreaded rival of King Cacobau of
Fiji. He died in 1877.

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 23

and boxes of it. They stole it ; I know they stole
it, although I didn't see them do it."

Banderah nodded his huge, frizzy head. " I
savee. These two fellow rogue, all same you an'
me."

"See, now, look here, Banderah. I mean to
have that gold, and I want you to help me to get
it. As soon as these men on board are dead I
will give you a thousand golden sovereigns — five
thousand dollar. Then I'll go away in the schooner.
Now, listen, and I'll tell you how to do it. The
Yankee and Peter are going to help."

Then Captain Bilker, alias Sykes, unfolded his
plan as follows : Banderah was to entice De Vere
and his friend some miles into the interior, where
there was a large swamp covered with wild-fowl.
Here they were to be clubbed by Banderah and
his people, and the bodies thrown into the swamp.
Then Bilker, accompanied by SchwartzkofT and
Burrowes, were to go on board the schooner and
settle the mate and the white steward.

" How much sovereign you goin' to give Peter
and Missa Burrowes ? " asked Banderah.

" Five hundred," answered Bilker ; <{ five hundred
between them. But I will give you a thousand."

" You no 'fraid man-o'-war catch you by and
by?" inquired Banderah.

" No. Who's going to tell about it ? You and
your people won't."

24 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

"What 'bout Missa Blount? What 'bout
mission'ry ? "

Bilker grinned savagely. " Peter and Burrowes
say they will kill Blount if I give them another
five hundred sovereigns."

"What 'bout mission'ry and mission'ry woman?"

For a moment or two Bilker, crime-hardened
villain as he was, hesitated. Then he raised his
head and looked into the dark face of the native
chief. Its set, savage expression gave him con-
fidence.

" Plenty missionaries get killed. And, all the
man-o'-war captains know that the Mayou bush-
men x are very savage. Some day — in about a
week after I have gone away in the schooner, you
will take the missionary and his wife to the little
bush town, that Peter and Burrowes tell me he
goes to sometimes. They will sleep there that
night. You and some of your people will go with
them and sleep in the same house with them. You
do that sometimes, Banderah, eh ? " .

" Yes, sometimes."

This was perfectly true. The bush tribes on
Mayou, although at war with Banderah and his
coast tribes, yet occasionally met their foes in an
amicable manner at a bush village called Rogga,
which had been for many decades a neutral

1 " Bushmen," a term applied to natives living in the interior of
the Melanesian Islands.

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 25

ground. Here Banderah and his people, carrying
fish, tobacco, and bamboos filled with salt water,1
would meet small parties of bush people, who, in
exchange for the commodities brought by Ban-
derah, would give him yams, hogs, and wild
pigeons. At several of these meetings Mr.
Deighton had been present, in the vain hope
that he might establish friendly relations with the
savage and cannibal people of the interior.

" Well," resumed the ruffian, " you will sleep at
Rogga with the missionary and his wife. In the
morning, when you and your people awake, the
missionary and his wife will be dead. Then you
will hurry to this place ; you will go on board the
man-of-war and tell the captain that the bad
bushmen killed them when they were asleep."

" I savee. Everybody savee Mayou man-a-bush
like kill white men."

" That's it, Bandy. No one will say you did it."

" What 'bout Peter an' Burrowes ? Perhaps by
and by those two fellow get mad with me some
day, and tell man-o'-war I bin kill three white
man and one white woman."

"Banderah," and Bilker slapped him on the
shoulder, " you're a damned smart fellow ! There's
no mistake about that. Now look here, I want

1 Having no salt, the bush tribes of Melanesia, who dare not
visit the coast, buy salt water from the coast tribes. They meet a
a spot which is always sacredly kept as a neutral ground.

26 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

you to get another thousand sovereigns — the
thousand I am going to give to Burrowes and
Peter. And after the man-a-bush have killed the
missionary and his wife, they are coming down to
the beach one night soon after, and will kill the
two white men. Then there will be no more white
men left, and you'll be the biggest chief in the
world — as big as Maafu Tonga."

A curious smile stole over the grim features of
the chief.

" By God ! Cap'en, you savee too much ; you
dam fine man altogether."

" Well, look here now, Banderah. Are you going
to do it ? "

" Yes, I do it right enough."

" When ? "

" To-mollow."

" To-morrow will do. And, look here, Bandy,
I'm going to give you ten sovereigns each for the
men I took away from you."

"All right," answered the chief, "now you go
away. I want go and look out for some good men
come along me to-mollow."

"Right you are, Banderah. Take plenty good
men. You know what to do — white men walk
along swamp to shoot duck, then one, two" and
Captain Bilker made a motion with his right hand
that was perfectly comprehensible to the chief.

Banderah sat perfectly quiet on his mat and

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 27

watched the captain return to Burrowes' house,
from where a short time after he emerged, accom-
panied by his two fellow-conspirators. Then the
three of them hailed the schooner. A boat put off

and took them on board.

*****

An hour or two later Blount returned along the
beach from Lak-a-lak, and walked slowly up the
path to his house. Just as he entered the door the
sounds of revelry came over to him from the
schooner, whose lights were beginning to glimmer
through the quick-falling darkness of the tropic
night. Some one on board was playing an accor-
dion, and presently he caught the words of a song —

" Remember, too, the patriots' gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore ;
Maryland, my Maryland."

" Burrowes only sings that when he's very
drunk," he said to himself, as he sat down to
drink a cup of coffee brought to him by his
eldest daughter Taya. " No doubt he and that
anointed sweep Bilker are having a very happy
time together."

" Father," said the girl in the native tongue, as
he put down his cup, " Banderah is here. He
came but now, and will not come inside, but waits
for thee in the copra-house, lest he be seen talking
to thee."

28 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

" What the devil is wrong ? " muttered Blount, as
without waiting to touch the coffee prepared for
him he went outside to the copra-house.

In half an hour he and the native chief came out
together, and as they stood for a minute in the
broad streak of light that streamed out from the
lamp on the table in the big room, Taya, who sat
in the doorway, saw her father's face was set and
stern-looking.

" Shed thou no blood, Banderah," he said in the
native tongue, " not even that of these two dogs
who have eaten and drunk in my house for four
years."

" Challi,1 that is hard. Already are my people
thirsty for the blood of this dog of a captain — he
who stole thirty and one of my people. And
because of my brother, who was stolen with them,
have I promised them vengeance. But the other
two who are with him on the ship I will spare."

" As you will. And as for these two dogs who
have planned to kill me, with them I shall deal
myself. If, when the schooner saileth away from
here, these men go not with her, then shall I shoot
them dead."

"Good," and then grasping the white man's hand,
the chief pressed his nose to his, and vanished in
the darkness.

1 Charlie.

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 29

IV
" DEATH TO THEM BOTH ! "

Early on the following morning Messrs, de
Vere and Morcombe-Lycett — the latter being
now quite recovered — informed Mr. and Mrs.
Deighton that, having heard from the two traders
there was good shooting at the big swamp, they
were going there under the guidance of Banderah
and a party of natives ; and shortly after break-
fast the chief, accompanied by a number of his
people, appeared.

" I will send with you two of my best men," said
Mr. Deighton, indicating a couple of his pet
converts, who stood by dressed for the occasion in
white starched shirts and black coats, but minus
trousers, of which garments the pet converts had
divested themselves, knowing that they should
have to wade through the swamp.

But suddenly, to the missionary's astonishment,
Banderah, with a savage look, bade them stay
where they were. He had, he said, plenty of
men, and did not need Mr. Deighton's servants.

Presently the two yachting gentlemen, arrayed
in a very stylish sporting get-up, appeared with
their breach-loaders and cartridge-belts, and waving
their hands gracefully to the missionary and his

30 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

wife, disappeared with Banderah and his dark-
skinned companions into the dense tropical jungle,
the edge of which was within a very short distance
of the mission station.

For about an hour the Honourable Morcombe-
Lycett and Mr. de Vere, with Banderah leading
the way, walked steadily onward through the
jungle. Not a word was spoken among the
natives who followed close at their heels, and
Banderah himself, in answer to their frequent
questions, replied only by monosyllables.

At last they came out of the stifling heat of the
thick jungle, and saw before them a great reedy
swamp, the margin fringed by a scanty growth of
cocoanut and pandanus palms. Out upon the open
patches of water, here and there showing upon the
broad expanse of the swamp, they saw large flocks
of wild duck feeding and swimming about, betray-
ing not the slightest fear at their approach.

"By Jove, Baxter," said Mr. de Vere to his
friend, " looks good enough, doesn't it ? I wonder
if these blasted niggers will go in for us."

" Of course they will. But let us have a drink
first. Here, you, bring us that basket. I wonder
what sort of tucker old Godliness has given us.
He's not a bad sort of an ass. His wife, too, isn't
bad."

" Bah," and Mr. de Vere twirled his long, yellow
moustache, " you're always finding out something

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 31

nice in the face of every woman you come across.
Wait until we get up to Japan ; then you can amuse
yourself with a new type of woman. Be a bit of a
change for you after the Melbourne and Sydney
peroxided-hair beauties. Here, nigger, give me
that corkscrew."

" I say, Dalton," suddenly remarked his friend,
" 'pon my soul I believe we are making a mistake in
going to Japan. You may be sure that we'll have
a lot of trouble awaiting us there."

" Not a bit of it. Before we get there every one
will have read the cable news that we have been
seen in Callao, and no one in Yokohama will ever
think of associating Mr. Herbert de Vere and the
Honourable Morcombe-Lycett — just arrived from
Manila via Singapore in the Spanish mail-steamer
— with — er — hum — the two gentlemen who arrived
at Callao from Tahiti, after successfully diddling
the Australian financial public of thirty thousand
quid."

" But what are we going to do with the schooner
at Manila ? "

" Sell her, my innocent ! Sell her to our esteemed
friend, Mr. Moses Steinberg, who has assisted me in
previous financial transactions — before I had the
pleasure of meeting my present valued colleague,
the Honourable Mr. Morcombe-Lycett — and who is
now taking care to inform the world that we are
living in South America."

32 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

"And how are we going to account for our boxes
of sovereigns? Two mining speculators don't
usually carry about heavy sums in gold."

" All managed, my boy. My friend, Mr. Moses
Steinberg, will see to that. The ten thousand
sovereigns will be valuable gold specimens from
Queensland, and will be placed on board the North
German Lloyd's steamer at Singapore for safe
conveyance to London, where you and I, my dear
boy, will follow it. And there also we shall find, I
trust, an additional sum of fifteen thousand lying
to our credit — the proceeds of our honest toil."

" What are you going to do with Sykes ? "

"Give him .£500 and tell him to hold his tongue.
He's a thundering rascal, and we must pay to shut
his mouth."

Then the two proceeded to discuss their lunch,
and as they ate and drank and talked and
laughed, Banderah and three or four of his men
whispered together.

" Seize them from behind and bind them tightly,"
said the chief, " but kill them not, for that I have
promised to Challi."

The Honourable Morcombe-Lycett had just
finished his last glass of bottled beer and wanted
to smoke. He had taken out his cigar-case, and,
wondering at the sudden silence which had fallen
upon their native guides, turned round to see
where they were, and saw swiftly advancing upon

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 33

himself and his companion some half a dozen
stalwart natives. In that momentary glance he
read danger, and quick as lightning — for he was no
coward — he seized his loaded gun, which lay beside
him, and fired both barrels one after another, at not
ten yards' range.

A chorus of savage yells answered the shots, as
two of the natives fell, but ere he could reload or
Dalton could fire there came a fierce rush of all
the dark-skinned men upon them, and, struggling
madly for their lives, they were borne down.

And then the lust of slaughter overcame their
fierce assailants, and despite Banderah and two or
three of his most trusted men, a club was raised
and fell swiftly upon the white, fair forehead of
" Mr. de Vere " as he sought to tear away his
hands from the vice-like grasp of two huge natives
who held them.

"Death to them both!" cried a thin-faced,
wrinkled old man named Toka ; " hutu : I for the
lives of the thirty and one." Then springing out
from the rest, he swung a short-handled, keen-
bladed hatchet over his head, and sank it into
the brain of the wretched Baxter.

" Stand thou aside, Banderah, son of Paylap,"
screamed the old man, waving the bloody hatchet
fiercely at him. " I, old Toka, the priest, will to-

1 Synonymous with Maori utu — revenge.

4

34 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

day again show the men of Mayou how to drink
the blood and eat the flesh of the long pigs the
gods have given into our hands," and again he
buried the weapon in Baxter's breathless body.
And as Banderah looked at the old man's working
face, and saw the savage mouth, flecked with foam,
writhing and twisting in horrible contortions, and
then saw the almost equally dreadful visages of the
rest of his men, he knew that the old, old lust for
human flesh had come upon them.

So, with the one idea of saving Blount and the
missionary and his wife, he turned and fled through
the forest towards the beach.

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

The Rev. Wilfrid and Mrs. Deighton were at
lunch, talking about the genial manners and other
qualifications of their guests, when suddenly they
heard a rapid step on the verandah, and Blount
dashed into the room.

His face was white with excitement, and they
saw that he carried his revolver in his hand.

" What in heaven's name is wrong, Mr. Blount ?
Why are you armed "

" For God's sake don't ask me now ! Our lives

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 35

are in danger — deadly, imminent danger. Follow
me to my house ! "

" But, my dear sir," began Mr. Deighton, " I do
not see— I fail "

" Man, don't talk ! Do you think I do not
know what I am saying? Your two friends are
both murdered. Banderah is now at my house,
too exhausted to tell me more than to come and
save you."

" Dear, dear me ! Oh, this is dreadful ! Let us,
Alice, my dear, seek Divine "

" You fool ! " and the trader seized the missionary
by the arm as he was about to sink upon his knees.
" Stay here and pray if you like — and get your
throat cut. In ten — in five minutes more, every
native except Banderah will be here ready to burn
and murder. I tell you, man, that our only chance
of safety is to reach my house first, and then the
schooner. Come, Mrs. Deighton. For God's sake,
come ! "

Pushing past the missionary, he seized Mrs.
Deighton by the hand and descended the steps.
They had scarcely gone two hundred yards when
they heard a strange, awful cry peal through the
woods ; and Mr. Deighton shuddered. Only once
before had he heard such a cry, and that was when,
during the early days of the mission, he had seen a
native priest tear out the heart of a victim destined
for a cannibal feast, and hold it up to the people.

36 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

Suddenly little Mrs. Deighton gasped and tottered
as they hurried her along; she was already ex-
hausted. Then Deighton stopped.

" Mr. Blount ... go on by yourself. We have
not your strength to run at this speed. I will help
my wife along in a minute or two. Some of the
mission people will surely come to our aid."

"Will they?" said Blount grimly. "Look for
yourself and see ; there's not a soul in the whole

village. They have gone to see " and he made

an expressive gesture.

Mr. Deighton groaned. " My God, it is terrible ! "
— then suddenly, as he saw his wife's deathly features,
his real nature came out. " Mr. Blount, you are a
brave man. For God's sake save my dear wife ! I
am too exhausted to run any further. I am too
weak from my last attack of the fever. But we are
only a quarter of a mile away from your house
now. Take her on with you, but give me your
revolver. I can at least cover your retreat for a
time."

Blount hesitated, then giving the weapon to the
missionary, he lifted the fainting woman in his
arms, and said —

" Try and come on a little ; as soon as I am in
sight of the house your wife will be safe; you must
at least keep me in sight."

As the trader strode along, carrying the uncon-
scious woman in his strong arms, the missionary

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 37

looked at the weapon in his hand, and shuddered
again.

" May God forgive me if I have done wrong," he
muttered. "But take the life of one of His creatures
to save my own I never will. Yet to save hers I
must do it."

Then with trembling feet but brave heart he
walked unsteadily along after the trader and his
burden. So far, no sound had reached him since
that one dreadful cry smote upon his ear, and a
hope began to rise in his breast that no immediate
danger threatened. A short distance away, em-
bowered among the trees, was the house of Burrowes.
The door was closed, and not a sign of life was dis-
cernible about the place.

" Heavens, were they asleep ? " He had heard
that Burrowes and the German had been carousing
all the morning with the captain of the Starlight.
Likely enough they were all lying in a drunken
slumber. " God, give me strength to warn them,"
he said to himself ; and then with a last glance at
Blount and his wife, he resolutely turned aside and
began to ascend the hill.

But before he gained the summit, Blount had
reached the fence surrounding his house, and
Banderah and Taya and her two young brothers,
rifles in hand, met the trader.

" Quick, take her ! " and he pushed Mrs. Deighton
into Taya's arms and looked back.

38 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

" My God ! he's going up to Burrowes' house !
Come, Banderah," and he started back again, " he'll
be speared or shot before he gets there."

Just as the missionary reached the door and
began in feeble, exhausted tones to call out, Blount
and the chief caught up to him, and seizing his
hands dragged him away again down the hill.

" Don't bother about them, they are all on
board," was all Blount said. And there was no
time to talk, for now fierce cries were heard in the
direction of the mission house, and Blount and
Banderah, looking back, saw black, naked figures
leap over the low stone wall enclosing the mis-
sionary's dwelling and disappear inside.

" Just in time," muttered the trader, as dragging
Mr. Deighton between them they gained the house,
and sat the missionary down beside his wife, who
with a cry of thankfulness threw her arms about
his neck and then quietly fainted.

*****

For nearly half an hour Blount, with Banderah
and the missionary by his side, looked out through
the windows and saw the natives plundering and
wrecking the mission house and the dwellings of
Schwartzkoff and Burrowes. A mile away,
motionless upon the glassy waters of the harbour,
lay the schooner, with her boat astern, and every
now and then Blount would take a look at her
through his glass.

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 39

" I can't see a soul on deck," he said to Mr.
Deighton. " I heard that Peter and Burrowes went
off this morning with the captain, all pretty well
drunk. Would to God I knew what is best to do !
To go on board would perhaps mean that those
ruffians would shoot us down before we were along-
side. No, we'll stay here and take our chance.
Banderah says he feels pretty sure that he can
protect us from his own people. They'd never
dare to hurt him ; and I think that will steady
them a bit," and he pointed to the fence, upon
which, at intervals, were tied green cocoanut
boughs. These had just been placed there by
Banderah himself, and meant that the house was
tapu — it and all in it were sacred.

" God grant it may ! " said Mr. Deighton, and
looking at the mystic sign, the use of which he
had so often tried to put down as a silly, heathenish
practice, he felt a twinge of conscience.

At last the work of plunder was over, and
then Blount saw a swarm of black, excited sav-
ages, led by two or three " devil-doctors " or
priests, advance towards the house. At the same
moment Banderah, looking seaward, saw that the
boat had left the schooner and was pulling ashore.
He was just about to point her out to the trader
when, for some reason, he changed his mind, turned
away, and joined his white friends at the other end
of the room.

40 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

Following the lead of the " devil-doctors," who,
stripped to the waist, and with their heads covered
with the hideous masks used in their incantations,
looked like demons newly arisen from the pit, the
yelling swarm of natives at last reached the fence
outside Blount's house ; and Mr. Deighton, with
an inward groan, saw among them some of his pet
converts, stark naked and armed with spears and
clubs.

Leaping and dancing with mad gyrations, and
uttering curious grunting sounds as their feet
struck the ground, the devil-doctors at last came
within a few feet of the gate in the trader's fence.
Then, suddenly, as they caught sight of a branch of
cocoanut leaf twisted in and around the woodwork
of the gate, they stopped their maddened whirl as
if by magic ; and upon those behind them fell the
silence of fear.

" Thank God ! " muttered Blount, " we are safe.
They will not break Banderah's tapu"

Then, rifle in hand, and with quiet, unmoved
face, Banderah opened the trader's door and came
out before them all.

"Who among ye desires the life of Banderah
and those to whom he has given his tapu f" he
said.

The smaller of the two priests dashed aside his
mask, and revealed the face of the old man Toka,
who had struck Baxter his death-blow.

THE TAPU OP BANDERAH 41

"Who indeed, O chief? If it be to thy mind
to make tapu this house and all in it, who is there
dare break it ? To the white man Challi and his
sons and daughters we meant no harm, though
sweet to our bellies will be the flesh of those
whom we have slain and who now roast for the
feast. But more are yet to come ; for I, Toka, lost
my son, when thou, Banderah, lost thy brother ;
and the gods have told me that I shall eat my fill
of those who stole him."

The savage, bitter hatred that rang through the
old man's voice, and the deep, approving murmur
of those who stood about him, warned both
Banderah and Blount that the lust for slaughter
was not yet appeased ; so it was with a feeling of
intense surprise and relief that he and the
missionary saw them suddenly withdraw, and
move rapidly away to the rear of the house
among the thick jungle.

" That's d — d curious ! " said Blount, turning
to Banderah and speaking in English ; a^nd then the
chief took him by the arm and pointed towards the
shore — the boat, pulled by Schwartzkoff and Bur-
rowes, with Captain Bilker sitting in the stern, had
just touched the beach. Then it flashed across his
mind in an instant why the natives had left so
suddenly — they were lying in ambush for the three
men !

" By God ! bad as they are, I can't let them walk

42 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

to their deaths," said Blount, jumping outside, so as
to hail and warn them, But before he could utter
a sound, Banderah sprang upon him and clapped
his hand to his mouth.

" Challi," he said, " they must die. Try to save
them, and we all perish. For the sake of thy
daughters and of thy sons, raise not thy voice nor
thy hand. Must all our blood run because of these
three dogs' lives ? "

Even as he spoke the end came. Staggering up
the beach in drunken hilarity, the three whites did
not notice, as they headed for the path, a file of
natives, armed with spears and clubs, walk quietly
along between them and the water's edge. There
they sat down and waited. But not for long, for
presently from out the thick, tangled jungle in
front came a humming whirr of deadly arrows
and in a few seconds the three white men were
wallowing in their blood. Then came that blood-
curdling shout of savage triumph, telling those who
heard it that all was over. Before its echoes died
away the bleeding bodies were carried to where a
thick, heavy smoke rising from the jungle told the
shuddering missionary that the awful feast was
preparing. When he looked again not a native
was in sight.

Standing apart in the room from the others,
Blount and Banderah spoke hurriedly together,
and then the trader came to the missionary.

THE TAPU OF BANDERAH 43

" Mr. Deighton, if you wish to save your wife's
and your own life, and escape from this slaughter-
house, now is your time. As God is my judge I
believe we shall never be safe again, and I would
gladly go with you if I could. But my daughter
Nelly is at Lak-a-lak, and — well, that settles it.
Banderah here will tell you that he dreads your
staying, as the priests may plot your death at any
moment. I implore you, sir, to think of your wife.
See, there is the boat, drifting along the beach with
the tide. For God's sake be advised and get on
board the schooner, and whatever port you do
reach, send a vessel to take me away ! "

Then, before the missionary and his wife could
realise what was happening, Banderah had run to
the beach, swam to the boat, seized the painter,
gained the shore again, and pulled her along till
opposite the trader's house, just as Blount and
Taya, supporting Mrs. Deighton between them,
were leaving the house to meet him.

In twenty minutes more they were close to the
Starlight, and saw that her crew were weighing the
anchor. On the after deck stood the mate and
steward with rifles in their hands.

" What in the name of God is wrong ? " said the
mate, as the boat ranged up alongside, and the
missionary and his wife were assisted on deck.

" Don't ask now, man. Get your anchor up as
quick as you can and put to sea. Your captain

44 THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

and the two passengers are all dead. Clear out at
once if you don't want the ship to be taken."

" I thought something was wrong when I saw
the native dragging the boat along. Lend us a
hand to get under weigh, will you ? " and the mate
sprang forward.

In another five minutes the Starlight's anchor
was up, and then Blount and Banderah, with a
hurried farewell to Mr. and Mrs. Deighton, sprang
into the boat and pushed off.

" May God bless and keep you," called out the
missionary to Blount, " and may we meet again
soon ; " then sinking on his knees beside his wife,
he raised his face to heaven, and the trader saw
that tears were streaming down his worn and
rugged cheeks.

Blount never heard of the missionary and his
wife again. Long, long afterwards he did hear
that some wreckage of a vessel like the Starlight
had been found on Rennel Island, and that sove-
reigns were discovered among the pools and
crevices of the reef for many years after. Whether
she ran ashore or drifted there dismasted — for a
heavy gale set in a week after she left Mayou —
is one of those mysteries of the sea that will never
be solved.

The Beginning of the Sea Story
of Australia

TO many people in England the mention of
Australia conjures pictures of tented gold-
fields and tall, black-bearded, red-shirted bush-
rangers ; of mounted police recruited from " flaxen-
haired younger sons of good old English families,
well-groomed and typically Anglo-Saxon " ; of
squatters and sheep runs ; of buckjumpers ridden
by the most daring riders in the world ; and of
much more to the same purpose ; but never is pre-
sented a picture of the sea or sailor folk.

Yet the first half-century of Australian history is
all to do with the ocean. The British sailor laid
the foundation of the Australian nation, and, in the
beginning, more than any other class, the sailorman
did the colonising — and did it well. This, how-
ever, is the story of most British possessions, and
generally it is gratefully remembered and the sailor

45

46 THE BEGINNING OF

duly credited and kindly thought of for his work.
But in these days the dry west wind from the back
blocks seems to have blown the taste of brine and
the sound of the seethe of the curling " white
horse" out of the mind of the native-born Aus-
tralian ; and the sailing day of a mail boat is the
only thing that the average colonial knows or
cares to know about salt water.

To write on such a subject as this, one has to
leave out so much, that it is necessary to begin
almost in the middle in order to reach an ending.
Sea exploration and coast surveying opened the
ways ; whaling — it may surprise the reader, but it
is nevertheless true — was once the main support of
Australia and New Zealand ; and runaway sailors
formed a very considerable part of the back country
population, such men making handier and better
farm labourers, stockmen, and, later on, miners, by
reason of their adaptability to strange surround-
ings, than ticket-of-leave men or the average free
emigrant.

The first four successive Governors of Australia
— in the beginning, be it remembered, the continent
was one colony — were captains in the Navy.
Governing in those rough days was not a mere
master-of-the-ceremonies appointment, and Phillip,
Hunter, King, and Bligh, if they made mistakes,
considering their previous training, the populations
they governed and the times in which they lived,

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 47

amply justify Palmerston's words that if he wanted
a thing done well in a distant part of the world ;
when he wanted a man with a good head, a good
heart, lots of pluck, and plenty of common sense —
he would always send for a captain of the Navy.

Phillip, the first of these Governors, was sent out
to found " a penal settlement at Botany Bay, on the
coast of New Holland," and did the work in such
fashion, in spite of every discouragement from the
forces of nature, the Home Government, and his
own officers, as to well entitle him to a place among
the builders of Greater Britain. What was known
of Australia, or rather New Holland — the name of
Australia was still in futurity — in 1788, when
Phillip first landed on its shores?

Let us say nothing of Spanish, Portuguese, and
Dutch voyages ; of wrecks and piracies ; of maroon-
ings, and massacres by blacks ; of the discoveries of
Dampier and of Cook, but sum the whole up thus :
the east coast of Australia, from its northernmost
extremity to its southernmost, was practically un-
known to the world, and was absolutely unknown
to Englishmen until Cook's first voyage. Cook, in
the Endeavour, ran along the whole east coast,
entering a few bays, naming many points, and par-
ticularly describing Botany Bay where he stayed
some little time ; then he sailed through Torres
Straits, and thence, via Batavia, home to England,
where he arrived in June, 1771. The English

48 THE BEGINNING OF

Government took no advantage of his discoveries
until 1786, when Botany Bay was fixed upon as
the site of a new penal settlement ; and this choice
was determined, more than anything else, by the
advice of Sir Joseph Banks, who, from the time
of his voyage with Cook in the Endeavour till his
death, took the keenest interest in the continent ;
and colonists are more indebted to the famous
naturalist for his friendly services than to any other
civilian Englishman of the time.

Phillip's commission ordered him to proceed to
Botany Bay, but authorised him to choose another
site for the settlement if he considered a better
could be found. He arrived with his fleet of trans-
ports in 1788, after a voyage of many months' dura-
tion, so managed that, though the fleet was the first
to make the passage and was made up of more
ships and more prisoners than any succeeding fleet,
there was less sickness and fewer deaths than on any
of the convoys which followed it. Phillip made a
careful examination of Botany Bay, and finding it
unsuitable for planting, the settlement was removed
to Port Jackson. After landing the exiles, the trans-
ports returned to Europe via China and the East
Indies, and their route was along the north-east
coast of Australia. The voyages of these returning
transports, under the navy agent, Lieutenant Short-
land, were fruitful in discoveries and adventures.
Meanwhile Phillip and his officers were working

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 49

hard, building their homes and taking their recrea-
tion in exploring the country and the coast for
many miles around them. And with such poor
means as an indifferent Home Government pro-
vided, this work of exploration went on continually
under each naval governor, the pressing want of
food spurring the pioneers ever on in the search for
good land ; but that very need, with the lack of
vessels, of men who could be trusted, of all that
was necessary for exploration, kept them chained
in a measure to their base at Sydney Cove.

Phillip, white-faced, cold and reserved, but with
a heart full of pity, was responsible for the lives of
a thousand people in a desolate country twelve
thousand miles from England — so desolate that his
discontented officers without exception agreed that
the new colony was " the most God-forsaken land in
the world." The convict settlers were so ill-chosen,
and the Government so neglected to supply them
with even the barest necessities from Home, that
for several years after their landing they were in
constant distress from famine ; and disease and
death from this cause alone was an evil regularly to
be encountered by the silent, hard-working Phillip.
The only means of relief open to the starving
settlement was by importing food from Batavia and
the Cape of Good Hope, and to procure such sup-
plies Phillip had but two ships at his disposal — the
worn-out old frigate Sirius (which was lost at Nor-

5

50 THE BEGINNING OF

folk Island soon after the founding of the settle-
ment) and a small brig of war, the Supply — which
for many weary months were the only means of
communication with civilisation.

The Home Government, when they did despatch
a second fleet, instead of sending supplies for the
starving people under Phillip's care, sent more
prisoners, and very little to eat was sent with them.
The authorities seem to have had an idea that a
few hundred shovels, some decayed garden seeds,
and a thousand or two of Old Bailey men and
women criminals, were all the means needed to
found a prosperous and self-supporting colony.
How Phillip and his successors surmounted these
difficulties is another story ; but in the sea history
of Australia the work of the naval governors occu-
pies no small space in it. Remember, too, that
the Torres Straits route and the Great Barrier
Reef, now as well charted as the Solent, were only
then being slowly discovered by clumsy old sailing
craft, whose masters learnt to dread and avoid the
dangers of the unknown coast as children grow
cautious of fire, by actually touching it.

Hunter, the second Governor of New South
Wales, and King, the third Governor, both did
remarkable surveying work on the coast while
serving under Phillip, and both made still more
remarkable voyages to England. Hunter was the
senior naval officer under Phillip, and was in com-

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 51

mand of the Sirius when she was lost on Norfolk
Island.

This is how the dauntless Hunter got home with
the crew of the Sirius, after waiting six months
on Norfolk Island for the chance of a passage. The
Waaksamheyd) a Dutch snow I of 3OO-tons burden,
which had brought supplies to Sydney from Batavia,
was engaged to take Hunter and his shipwrecked
crew to England. She was thirteen months on the
voyage, and here are some extracts from Hunter's
letter to the Admiralty, written from Portsmouth
on the 23rd of April, 1792 : —

" ' I sailed from Port Jackson on the 27th of
March, 1791, victualled for six months and with
sixty tons of water. We were one hundred and
twenty-three people on board all told " (remember
this vessel was of three hundred tons burden). " The
master was directed to call at Norfolk Island to
receive despatches, but contrary winds prevented
us carrying out these orders. We steered to the
northward and made New Caledonia, passing to the
westward of it, as the master (a Dutchman) did not
feel himself qualified to navigate a vessel in these
unknown seas. He had, upon leaving Port Jack-
son, requested my assistance, which I gave him. In
sailing to the northward we fell in with several

1 A snow differed somewhat slightly from a brig. It had
two masts similar to the fore and mainmasts of a brig or
ship, and, close abaft the mainmast, a topsail mast.

$2 THE BEGINNING OF

islands and shoals, the situations of which we deter-
mined, and it is my intention, if the Navy Board
will permit me, to lay a short account of this
northern passage before the Board, when the dis-
coveries will be particularly mentioned. No ship
that I have heard of having sailed between New
Britain and New Ireland since that passage was
discovered by Captain Carteret in Her Majesty's
sloop Swallow, I was the more desirous to take that
route. . . . We passed through the Straits of
Macassar and arrived at Batavia after a tedious and
distressing passage of twenty-six weeks."

After burying an officer and two seamen at
Batavia, Hunter left that place on October 2Oth,
reached the Cape on the I7th of December, and
was driven to sea again after the loss of two anchors,
till the 3Oth. So weak and ill were his men from
the effects of their stay in the unhealthy climate of
Batavia, that he had to remain at the Cape till the
1 8th of January, when he again put to sea and
sailed for England.

Hunter's brief and precise official account of his
voyage discloses little of the great distress of that
thirteen months' passage ; but it shows how the
spirit of discovery was in the man ; how, in spite of
the care of one hundred and twenty-three people
in a 3OO-ton vessel, and half rations, he had time
and energy enough to think of surveying. One
result of his voyage was his strongly expressed

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 53

opinion that the proper route home from Australia
was via Cape Horn — now the recognised homeward
route for sailing vessels.

The name of King ought never to be for-
gotten, for the services of father and son in
Australian waters were very great. King, the
elder, came out with Phillip as second lieutenant
of the crazy old Sinus. He had previously served
under Phillip in the East Indies, and soon after the
arrival of the first fleet in " Botany Bay," as New
South Wales was then called, he was sent with a
detachment of Marines and a number of convicts
to colonise Norfolk Island. His task was a hard
one, but he accomplished it in the face of almost
heartbreaking difficulties.

Phillip, finding that his despatches failed to
awaken the Home Government to a sense of the
deplorable situation of the colony he had founded
at Port Jackson, determined to send home a man
who would represent the true state of affairs. He
chose King for the service. Every other officer —
both naval and military — was ready to go, and
would have eloquently described the miseries of
the colonists, and harped on the necessity for an
instant abandonment of the settlement — they were
writing letters to this effect by every chance they
could get to forward them — but this was not what
Phillip wanted. He, and he alone, recognised the
future possibilities of New South Wales, writing

54 THE BEGINNING OF

even at the time of his deepest distress : " This
will be the greatest acquisition Great Britain has
ever made." All he asked was for reasonable help
in the way of food and decent settlers who could
work. All he got in answer to his requests was the
further shipment of the scum of the gaols and the
hulks — and some more spades and seeds. King
believed in his chief and cordially worked with
him — and King was the silent Phillip's one friend.

So King went home, his voyage thither being
one of the most singular ever made by naval
officer. He left Sydney Cove in April, 1790, and
after a tedious passage reached Batavia. Here he
engaged a small Dutch vessel to take him to the
Cape of Good Hope, sailing for that port in August.
Before the ship had been a week at sea, save four
men, the whole crew, including the master, were
stricken with the hideous "putrid fever" — a common
disease in " country " ships at that time. King, a
quick and masterful man, took command, and with
his four well men lived on deck in a tent to escape
contagion. The rest of the ship's company, which
included a surgeon, lay below delirious, and one
after another of them dying — seventeen of them
died in a fortnight.

King tells how, when handling the bodies to
throw them overboard, he and his men covered
their mouths with sponges soaked in vinegar to
prevent contagion. In this short-handed condition

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 55

he navigated the vessel to the Mauritius, where,
" having heard of the misunderstanding with
the French" the gallant officer refused to take
passage in a French frigate ; but procuring a new
crew worked his way to the Cape, where he arrived
in September, reaching England in December,
after a passage which altogether occupied eight
months — a letter from England to Australia and
a reply to it now occupies about ten weeks.

In England King was well received, being con-
firmed in his appointment as Commandant of Nor-
folk Island, and he succeeded in getting some help
for his fellow-colonists. Upon his return to his
island command the little colony proved a great
worry. The military guard mutinied, and King
armed the convict settlers to suppress the mutiny !
This act of* his gave great offence in some quarters.
Phillip had resigned the command at Sydney, and
the Lieutenant-Governor of the colony, who was in
charge, was the commanding officer of the New
South Wales Regiment — more celebrated in the
records for its mutinies than its services — and the
degradation of the Norfolk Island detachment by
King was never forgiven by the soldiers, but the
Home Government quite approved his conduct.

But King made one very serious mistake. He
had sent a vessel to New Zealand, and from thence
had imported certain Maori chiefs to instruct the
settlers on Norfolk Island in flax cultivation.

56 THE BEGINNING OF

King had pledged his word to these noble savages
to return them to their native country, and in order
to do so, and make sure of their getting there, he
himself embarked in a vessel, leaving his command
for a few days to the charge of his subordinate,
while he sailed the thirteen hundred miles to New
Zealand and back. For this he was censured, but
was notwithstanding afterwards appointed the third
Governor of New South Wales, succeeding Hunter.

King's son, who was born at Norfolk Island in
1791, entered the Navy in 1807, an^ saw anv
amount of fighting in the French war ; then went
to Australia in 1817, and surveyed its eastern coast
in such a manner that, when he returned to Eng-
land in 1823 there was little but detail work left for
those who followed him. Then he was appointed
to the Adventure, which, in conjunction with the
Beagle, surveyed the South American coast. In
1830 he retired and settled in Australia, dying there
in 1856. His son in turn entered the service, but
early followed his father's example, and turned
farmer in Australia. He still lives, and is a mem-
ber of the Legislative Council or Upper House of
the New South Wales Parliament.

Here is a family record ! Three generations, all
naval officers, and all men who have taken an
active share in the founding and growth of Greater
Britain ; and yet not one man in a thousand in
Australia, much less in England, has probably the

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 57

remotest idea of the services rendered to the
Empire by this family.

The fourth and last naval Governor, Bligh, is
more often remembered in connection with the
Bounty mutiny than for his governorship of New
South Wales. He was deposed by the military in
1 808, for his action in endeavouring to suppress the
improper traffic in rum which was being carried on
by the officers of the New South Wales Regiment.
This second mutiny, of which he was the victim,
certainly cannot be blamed against the honesty of
his administration ; and the assertion, so often
repeated, that he hid himself under his bed when
the mutinous soldiers — who had been well primed
with rum by their officers — marched to Government
House, can best be answered by the statement that
Nelson publicly thanked him for his skill and
gallantry at Copenhagen, and by the heroism which
he showed in the most remarkable boat voyage in
history. He may have been the most tyrannical
and overbearing naval officer that ever entered the
service, but he was not the man to hide himself
under a bed.

There were other naval officers of the early
Australian days whose services were no less
valuable to the infant colony. Think of the
men associated with this time, and of the names
famous in history, which are in some way linked
with Australia. Dampier, Cook, La P^rouse,

58 THE BEGINNING OF

Bligh, Edwards and the Pandora, Vancouver,
Flinders, Bass — all these are familiar to the world,
and there are others in plenty; for example,
Grant, who in his vessel, the brig Lady Nelson,
did such work in Australian waters as, if performed
nowadays say in Africa, would have been re-
corded in hundreds of newspaper interviews, many
process-work pictures and a 2 is. book with cheap
editions !

What a story is that of Bass and Flinders !
Such noble, disinterested courage ! Such splendid
service to English colonisation, and such a sad
ending to it all.

Bass and Flinders, in their tiny open boat, the
Tom Thumb, and in the sloop Norfolk, dotting
the blank map of Australia with the names of
their discoveries — it is not necessary surely to
remind the reader that Bass began, and together
the two men completed, the discovery and passage
of the straits between Van Dieman's Land and
the main continent. Bass surveyed something
like six hundred miles of the Australian coast
in a whaleboat with a crew of six men ! And one
cannot summarise Flinders' work in the Norfolk
and in the Investigator before the old ship was
condemned and converted into a hulk to rot in
Sydney Harbour.

How were these men rewarded for their services,
and what has posterity done to keep their names

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 59

in remembrance? In 1803 Flinders started for
England, was wrecked, and making his way to
the Mauritius was there, to the everlasting disgrace
of Napoleon's Island governor, detained a prisoner
for more than six years. Of course the English
Government ultimately procured his release, but
it took them all that time to do it ; and when
he did get back they promoted his juniors over
his head. When he died in 1814, a broken heart
was as much as anything else the cause of his
death.

Bass, after leaving Australia, went to England
and sailed in an armed merchantman bound
to South America. At Valparaiso the Governor
of the town refused to allow the vessel to trade.
Bass, who was then in command of the ship,
threatened to bombard the town, and the refusal
was withdrawn ; but, watching their opportunity
the authorities seized him when he was off his
guard, and it was supposed he was sent to the
interior. As the years passed by there were one
or two reports that he was seen working in the
mines, but it seems to have been no one's business
to inquire into his fate. It is more than probable
that the brave Bass died a slave.

But the whalers, "South Seamen" and East
Indiamen, did no less good service than the King's
ships in the early days, and yet even the old books
do "them but scant justice. For the first fifty

60 THE BEGINNING OF

years of Australian colonisation the merchantmen
charted reefs, discovered harbours, and did just
those things for the desert waters of the Aus-
tralasian Pacific as were afterwards done by land
explorers, in their camel and pack-horse journey-
ings into the waterless interior of the continent.
And the stories that could be told ! The whalers
and sealers who were cast away on desert islands,
and lived Robinson Crusoe lives for years ! The
open boat voyages. The massacres by blacks.
The cuttings-off by the savage islanders of the
South Pacific. The mutinies and sea fights !

Hobart in Tasmania, Twofold Bay in New
South Wales, and many New Zealand ports were
the great whaling stations, and Sydney the com-
mercial headquarters. Fifty years ago there were
something like twenty whalers in the Hobart
Fleet alone ; now, one or two hulks lying in
Whaler's "Rotten Row" is practically all that
survives of the trade.

The Americans took a leading part in the
industry, and ships with New Bedford or Nan-
tucket under their sterns traversed the Pacific
from one end to the other. Australian whaling
was begun (Dampier reported whales as early
as 1699) in Governor Phillip's time, by some of
the convict transports coming out with whaling
equipment in their holds, and after disembarking
their human freight, departing for the " Fisheries."

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 61

Some of these ships often remained in the
Pacific for years, making cruises of twelve or
eighteen months' duration, returning to Sydney
when full ships to discharge and refresh, their
cargoes being sent to England in some returning
" favourite fast clipper," while the whalers went
back to their greasy and dangerous vocation, until
they were lost, or cut off by the savages, or worn
out and converted into hulks.

What numbers of them were lost ! and what
wonderful and blood-curdling experiences their
crews underwent when they were castaways, or
deserted, or were marooned on " the islands " !
Here is a story of a vessel lost in Torres Straits
in 1836 — not a whaler, but an East Indiaman.
Some of her crew and passengers managed to
land on the mainland of North Australia and
were there captured by blacks. Six months later
a few survivors were rescued and landed in
Sydney ; and this is what had happened to the
only woman of the party, Mrs. Fraser, wife of
the captain : She had seen her child die, her
husband speared to death before her face, the
chief mate roasted alive, the second mate burned
over a slow fire until he was too crippled to walk,
and otherwise horribly and indescribably tortured,
and she herself was made to climb trees for honey
for her captors by having lighted gum branches
applied to her body.

62 THE BEGINNING OF

In another instance a vessel was wrecked on
the North Australian coast in 1846, and nearly
twenty years later the sole survivor turned up
at a cattle station near Port Denison, in North
Queensland. He had been all this time living
among the blacks, unable to escape, and civilisa-
tion had found its way, in the years that had
elapsed, far enough into the back country to reach
him. The stockman who first saw the man took
him for a black and levelled his rifle at him,
when he was stopped from shooting the poor
fellow by the words, " Don't fire, I am an English-
man."

Here, told in a few words, is the story of the
first landing in Victoria, and the' first discovery
of coal in New South Wales : On the map of
Tasmania, in the north-east corner, is marked
the Furneaux Group of islands in Bass's Straits.
Dotted about the cluster are such names as
Preservation Island, Clarke Island, and Armstrong
Channel. These names all commemorate the
wreck of the Sydney Cove, Captain Hamilton,
bound from Calcutta to Sydney, and lost in
February, 1797. She sprang a leak on the I3th
of December, 1796, and her crew, chiefly Lascars,
managed to keep her afloat till the 9th of the
following February, when the skipper made Pre-
servation Island, and there beached her. All the
people landed safely, and got what stores they

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 63

could ashore. Then it was decided to despatch
the long boat to Port Jackson for help.

Thompson the mate, Clarke the supercargo,
three European seamen, and a dozen Lascars
manned the boat and left the island on the 29th
of February. On the 1st of March the boat was
driven ashore and battered to pieces close to Cape
Howe (near the present boundary line of Victoria
and New South Wales) three hundred miles from
Sydney, in a country never before trodden by the
feet of white men. All hands were saved, and
after a fortnight's rest, feeding on such shellfish as
they could obtain, the party set out to walk to
Sydney.

Clarke kept a rough diary of this journey, telling
of encounters with blacks, of death and madness
by starvation and other privations ; of how they
crossed wide and shark-infested rivers by building
rafts of tree branches cut down and fashioned with
jack knives ; of how the lives of men were pur-
chased from the blacks by strips of clothing ; and
of how they counted the buttons on their ragged
garments, and thus reckoned how many lives could
be bought from the savages with what remained.

The terrible march lasted until the 1 5th of May ;
then three exhausted men, horrible to look upon,
and the only survivors of seventeen who had, sixty
days before, begun the journey, were picked up a
few miles to the south of Sydney by a fishing boat,

64 THE BEGINNING QF

The spot where they were seen walking along the
beach was close to Port Hacking, and Clarke, three
days before his rescue, had lit a fire and cooked
some fish with coal he picked up. This was the
first discovery of the great southern coal-fields
of New South Wales.

There are other less gruesome stories than these ;
for example that of the Sydney whaler Policy,
which, sailing under a Letter of Marque for the
Moluccas, was set upon by a Dutch private ship
of war — the Swift — at one time a formidable and
successful French privateer. Captain Foster of
the Policy, though his armament was very inferior
and many of his crew were prostrated with fever,
engaged the Dutchman, fought him for some hours,
and brought his ship a prize into Sydney Harbour.
Two Spanish vessels were captured in the same
way by armed Sydney whalers ; so that Australian
waters have seen a little fighting.

On board the convict ships of those early days
there were often mutinies, desperate and some-
times bloody, and some of these led to remark-
able results. In one instance the soldiers — not
the prisoners — rose upon the crew and the ship's
officers, turned them adrift in an open boat, and
carried off the ship. They were recaptured after-
wards by a man-of-war in the Indian Ocean and
brought to justice. Convict mutinies often were
only suppressed after desperate hand-to-hand

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 65

fighting ; then a day or two later the ringleaders
would be hanged from the yardarm, and a dozen
or more convicts flogged at the gratings. And
these things, be it remembered, were going on only
an old man's lifetime ago.

New Zealand is fertile in adventure stones, and
the well-known Boyd massacre is paralleled by two
or three other tragedies equally as dreadful, if less
often told. The whaling history of that colony
would make a book — not of the kind suitable for
young ladies seminaries, 'tis true, but mighty strong
in human interest, and presenting the race as well
as the sex problem for the study of the reader.

Statistics are terribly dry reading, but by way
of contrasting the condition of Australian shipping
then and now, it is worth while quoting a few
figures.

In 1835, the heyday of the colonial whaling trade,
when the smoky glare of the whaleships' try- works
lit up the darkness of the Pacific ocean night, there
were forty-one vessels, of a total tonnage of 9,257
tons, registered in New South Wales, employed in
the fishery. In the same year twenty-two vessels
arrived in Sydney from the various grounds, their
cargoes of whalebone, sealskins, and sperm and
black oil valuing altogether about £1 50,000. Now
the whaling trade in Southern Seas is represented
by two or three small and poorly equipped ships
from Hobart, though the whales — sperm, right,

6

66 THE BEGINNING OF

and humpback — are again as plentiful as they
were in the first years of the fishery. One of the
present writers, less than four years ago, counted
over three hundred humpbacks passing to the
northward in two days on the coast of New
South Wales, while there were ten times that
number of the swift and dangerous " fin-back "
whales travelling with them.

But, though the whale fishery is extinct, there is
something to be shown instead.

It has been said that twenty-two whalers entered
Sydney in 1835, which means that during that
year not twice that number of vessels of all
descriptions entered the port — for the whaling
was then the trade. But the steamer was begin-
ning to count, and the beginning of the Sydney
steam trade is not without a peculiar interest — for
Londoners at any rate.

The Sophia Jane was the first steamer in Aus-
tralasian waters. She arrived in Sydney from
London, via the Cape of Good Hope, with cargo
and passengers, on the I4th of May. This vessel
was built on the Thames by a well-known ship-
builder of the time, William Evans, who was the
builder of many other notable early steamers.
She was running for a summer or two as a
passenger steamer between Gravesend and London ;
then between different ports in the south of Eng-
land ; and then, under a Lieutenant Biddulph, of the

THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA 67

Royal Navy, she was sent to Sydney. The little
vessel was 126 feet long by 20 feet beam, drew
6 feet of water, was of 256 tons burden, and had
accommodation for fifty-four passengers ; her
engines were of 50 horse-power, and her speed
eight knots an hour. This was the first steamer
in the Southern Seas — the forerunner of a fleet of
mighty leviathans.

In the Far North

" Out on the wastes of the Never Never —

Thafs where the dead men lie !
There where the heat-waves dance for ever —
Thafs where the dead men lie ! "

(BARCROFT BOAKE,

in the Sydney Bulletin?)

I

JACK BARRINGTON, nominal owner of
Tinandra Downs cattle station on the Gil-
bert River in the far north of North Queens-
land, was riding slowly over his run, when, as the
fierce rays of a blazing sun, set in a sky of
brass, smote upon his head and shoulders and
his labouring stock-horse plodded wearily home-
wards over the spongy, sandy soil, the lines of
Barcroft Boake came to his mind, and, after he
had repeated them mentally, he cursed aloud.

" * Thafs where the dead men lie.' Poor Boake
must have thought of this God-forsaken part of
an utterly God-forsaken country, I think, when he
wrote c Out where the Dead Men Lie.' For I believe

68

IN THE FAR NORTH 69

that God Almighty has forgotten it ! Oh for rain,
rain, rain ! Rain to send the Gilbert down in a
howling yellow flood, and turn this blarsted spinifex
waste of scorching sand and desolation into green
grass — and save me and the youngsters from giving
it best, and going under altogether. . . . Boake
knew this cursed country well. ... I wonder
if he ever ( owned ' a station —one with a raging
drought, a thundering mortgage, and a worrying
and greedy bank sooling him on to commit suicide,
or else provide rain as side issues. ... I don't
suppose he had a wife and children to leave to
the mercy of the Australian Pastoralists' Bank.
D — n and curse the Australian Pastoralists' Bank,
and the drought, and this scorching sand and
hateful spinifex — and God help the poor cattle ! "

He drew rein almost under the shade of a clump
of stunted sandalwood, which had, in good seasons,
been a favourite mustering camp, and looked about
him, and then he passed his hand over his eyes
to shut out for a few moments the melancholy
spectacle before him.

I have said that he pulled up "almost" under
shelter ; further he could not advance, for the hard,
parched ground immediately under the shade of
the sandalwoods was thickly covered by the stif-
fened sun-dried carcasses of some hundreds of dead
cattle, which, having become too weak to leave
the sheltering trees in search of food and water

70 IN THE FAR NORTH

had lain down and died. Beyond, scattered singly
and about in twos and threes, were the remains of
scores of other wretched beasts, which, unable to
drag themselves either to the sandy river-bed or
to the scanty shade of the stunted timber, had
perished where they fell.

With a heavy sigh Harrington dismounted, took
off his water-bag from the saddle, and pouring a
little water into his hat, gave his horse a drink.
Then he drank a few mouthfuls himself, filled and
lit his pipe, and sat down, to rest awhile until the
sun had lost its fierce intensity — and think.

And he thought despairingly of the black pro-
spect which for the past six or seven months had
tormented him by day, and haunted him at night,
broken now and then with a gleam of hope when
the pitiless blue of the sky changed to grey, and
rain seemed near, only to be followed by renewed
and bitter disappointment.

" It cannot last much longer/' he thought ; " even
if rain came within a week the rest of the poor
brutes left alive will be too weak to recover — and
there's not hands enough on the station to cut
leaves for them. Even the blacks have cleared
out lower down the river . . . found a good water-
hole I daresay, and, like wise niggers, are camping
there. Why doesn't Providence give a poor honest
bullock as much show for his life in a drought as a
damned, filthy blackfellow ! Instead of hoofs — in

IN THE FAR NORTH 71

this part of the country at any rate — cattle ought
to have feet like a bandicoot, then the poor beasts
could worry along by digging waterholes in the
river bed."

Then, sick at heart as he was, a faint smile
flitted over his sun-bronzed face at the fancy.

An hour passed, and Harrington, with another
weary sigh, rose and saddled his horse — one of the
few now remaining to him and able to carry a rider.
Five miles away from the sandalwood camp was
another and larger patch of timber — tall, slender
brigalows, which grew on the edge of a dried-up
swamp, once the haunt and breeding place of
countless thousands of wild duck, teal, and geese.
This was another of the mustering camps on
Tinandra, and as it lay on his way home, he
decided to go there and see if any of the "Big
Swamp " cattle were still alive. As he rode slowly
over towards the fringe of timber, the westering
sun turned from a dazzling, blinding gold to a
gradually deepening red ; and his sweating horse
gave a snort of satisfaction as the soft, spongy, and
sandy spinifex country was left behind, and the
creature's hoofs struck upon the hard sun-baked
plain of yellow earth which lay between the two
camps. Looking down at the great, widely
spreading cracks in the hungry soil, the result of
a seven-months' continuous drought, Harrington
almost unconsciously bent his head and thought

72 IN THE FAR NORTH

that surely God would send rain. He was not a
religious man in the conventional sense — he had
never been inside a church in his life — but the
memory of his dead mother's belief in God's mercy
and goodness was still strong within him.

The brigalow scrub was about half a mile in
length, and stood between the swamp and the high
river bank. At the dried-up bed of the swamp
itself he did not care to look a second time ; its
once reedy margin was now a sight of horror, for
many hundreds of cattle had been bogged there
long months before, as they had striven to get
further out to the centre where there was yet left
a little water, saved from evaporation by the broad
leaves of the blue water-lilies.

Skirting the inner edge of the scrub till he
reached its centre, he looked carefully among the
timber, but not a beast was to be seen ; then dis-
mounting he led his horse through, came out
upon the river bank, and looked across the wide
expanse of almost burning sand which stretched
from bank to bank, unbroken in its desolation
except by a few ti-trees whose roots, deep down,
kept them alive.

" Bob, old fellow," he said to his horse, " we've
another ten miles to go, and there's no use in
killing ourselves. I think that we can put in half
an hour digging sand, and manage to raise a drink
down there in the river bed."

IN THE FAR NORTH 73

Still leading the animal, which seemed to know
his master's intention, Harrington walked down
the sloping bank, his long riding-boots sinking
deeply into the fine, sandy soil, and Bob pricked
up his ears and gave a true stock-horse sigh of
weariness and anticipation combined.

On the opposite side of the river bed and close
under the bank were growing two or three heavy
ti-trees, and here, just as the sun had set, he halted,
again unsaddled, and after lighting a fire, began to
scoop out a hole with his quart pot in between the
roots of the trees. For some minutes he worked
on with energy, then he stopped and listened, and
Bob, too, turned his head inquiringly, for he also
had heard the sound — it was only the cry of a
beast, but it seemed so near that Harrington ceased
his digging and stood up to look.

Not a hundred yards distant he saw, by the light
of the now brightly blazing fire, four gaunt steers
and a skeleton heifer, staggering and swaying
over the river sand towards him in their weak-
ness and agony of hunger and thirst. The poor
creatures had seen the man and the horse !
As they toiled towards the light of the fire, a
dreadful, wheezing moan came from the parched
throat of the leading steer as it laboured pantingly
over to something human — something it associated
with water, and grass, and life, and presently the
wretched animal, with one last effort, fell in its

74 IN THE FAR NORTH

tracks almost at Harrington's feet. It lay there
quiet enough for a minute or two, with lean, out-
stretched neck and one horn buried in the sand,
its fast glazing eye turned to the man, and seem-
ing to say, " Give me water or death."

Harrington, wrought up and excited to the last
pitch, flung himself upon his knees, and placed his
cheek against that of the dying steer, and a sob
burst from his bosom.

" O God, if there is a God ! have mercy upon
these Thy dumb creatures who suffer such agony."

He stepped up to his horse, took his revolver
out of the pouch, and then a merciful bullet ended
the sufferings of the thirst-stricken animal at his
feet.

" Steady, Bob, old man ! Steady there ! " he
said brokenly, " I may have to do the same to
you before long." And then, tearing off a long
piece of dried ti-tree bark from one of the trees,
he thrust it into the fire. Then, with the blazing
torch in his left hand, and his pistol in his right,
he tramped over the sand to the remaining cattle,
and shot them dead one by one.

Then back to his digging again. A drink of
thick, muddy water for his horse, and then with a
dull sense of misery in his heart he led Bob up the
bank and began the last stage of his ride home —
home to his anaemic, complaining, shallow-brained
wife and the weakly children who, instead of being

IN THE FAR NORTH 75

the consolation of his life in his misfortunes, were
an added and ever-present source of misery and
despair.

II

A few years before, Harrington had bought
Tinandra Downs, and had stocked the run with
three thousand head of store cattle ; for half of
which number he had paid, the remainder he had
bought on long terms from a neighbouring squatter
— a man who knew his sterling merits, and was
confident that he (Harrington) would make
Tinandra one of the best cattle stations in the
far north. Fortune had smiled upon him from
the first ; for within two years came the discovery
of the famous Palmer River goldfields, only a
few hundred miles distant, and cattle and station
properties doubled -in value, for in less than half
a year there were six thousand diggers on the field,
and more came pouring in from the southern
colonies by every steamer to Cooktown. New
townships sprang suddenly into existence, pro-
visions of all kinds brought an enormous price,
and Harrington cleared off his debt to his squatter
friend almost ere he could realise having done so,
and that he had several thousands of pounds to
the good as well, And his good luck stuck to

76 IN THE FAR NORTH

him, for it was attended by careful management,
and every mob of fat cattle he despatched to the
goldfield instead of sending them on a three-
hundred league journey to Brisbane, meant another
couple of thousand sovereigns.

Then he began to improve the head station —
and to think of Myra, a girl whom he had once
met in Sydney, and who sent him newspapers,
and, once or twice, at long intervals, had written
him letters. He had answered these letters with a
secret hope that, if all went well with him, he
would take another trip to Sydney, and then —
well, he could at least ask her. If she said no,
why, who was there to chaff him ? He was not
a communicative man, had very few intimate men
friends, and the few women whom he knew were
not the sort he could possibly talk to about a lady.
Both his parents had died before he was ten years
of age, leaving him utterly alone in the world.
Born in a bush town, in the interior of New South
Wales, he had turned to the bush and to the wide,
open, grassy plains, as an infant would have turned
to its mother in its distress ; and the bush and
the plains and the grey mountain ranges had taken
him to their bosoms ; and the silent, reserved boy
became the resolute, hardy bushman, stock-rider,
and then miner — a man fit and ready to meet the
emergencies of his rough life. Of the outside
world he was as ignorant as a child, as indeed

IN THE PAR NORTH 77

were most of the men with whom for many years
he had associated. But there was nothing des-
picable in his ignorance ; and when as time went
on, and his improved circumstances threw him in
contact with men and women of refinement and
culture, he was quick to take advantage of such
opportunities; but the honest, simple nature of
the man always remained the same.

Before he was thirty, Harrington was known as
one of the most experienced and fortunate over-
lander drovers in Australia, and he became as
familiar with the long and lonely stock-route
from the stations on the Gulf of Carpentaria to
Sydney and Melbourne, in his many journeys, as
if it were a main road in an English county.

At the conclusion of one of these tedious drives
of seven months' duration, the brown-faced, quiet
drover was asked by an acquaintance with whom
he had business transactions, to spend the evening
with him at his house. He went, and there met
Myra Lyndon. He was attracted by her bright
manner and smiling face, and when she questioned
him about his life in the Far North, his adventures
among the blacks, and the many perils of a drover's
existence, he thought her the fairest and sweetest
woman in the world. And Miss Myra Lyndon
encouraged him in his admiration. Not that she
cared for him in the least. She had not reached
eight-and-twenty years of age to throw herself

78 IN THE FAR NORTH

away on a man who had no other ambition
than to become a squatter and live amongst a
lot of "horrid bellowing cattle." But he was
nice to talk to, though terribly stupid about some
things, and so she did not mind writing to him
once or twice — it would reward him for the horse
he had one day sent to her father with a lamely
worded note, saying that it was one of a mob
he had just bought at the saleyards, and as he
had no use for a lady's hack, he thought that
perhaps Miss Lyndon would be so kind as to
accept it. Mr. Lyndon smiled as he read the
note, he knew that drovers did not usually buy
ladies' hacks ; but being a man harassed to
death with an expensive family, he was not dis-
posed to discourage Harrington's attentions to
Myra ; though, having a conscience, he felt that
Jack Harrington was too good a man for such a
useless, empty-brained, and selfish creature as his
eldest daughter.

So Harrington went back to his "bellowing
bullocks," and then, having saved enough money,
bought the very run he had so often wished he
could buy; and "Jack" Harrington, the overlander,
became "Mr." John Harrington, the pastoralist
and owner of Tinandra Downs, and then the vision
of Myra Lyndon's face came to him very often
— now that he was so prosperous.

One day he told his overseer that he was going

IN THE FAR NORTH 79

to Sydney for a trip, and being a man of action,
packed his valise, mounted his horse, and rode off
on his journey of five hundred miles to the nearest
seaport where he could take passage for Sydney.

For the first week or so after his arrival in the
city, he "mooned" about doing nothing, and trying
to pluck up courage enough to go to Myra Lyndon
to ask her to be his wife. He had called several
times upon her father and discussed business
matters with him ; but beyond inquiring after " Mrs.
Lyndon and the Misses Lyndon," had said nothing
further, and in a nervous, shamefaced manner had
each time accepted Mr. Lyndon's invitation to
" come and see the girls before he went back to the
North," but had not had the courage to go. Next
week, or the week after that, would do, he thought.
If she said " No," he wouldn't feel it so much — once
he was on his way North again in the old Florence
Irving ; he would put it off till just as he was
ready to start. Then if she said " Yes," he would
stay in Sydney as long as his love wished —
a month — aye, six months, so long as she came
back with him to Tinandra Downs. And Myra
Lyndon, who knew from her father that her
"bullock-driver admirer," as she had mockingly
called him to her friends, was in Sydney, waited
for him impatiently. A systematic course of
jilting and being jilted had made her feel anxious
as to her future, and gall and wormwood had come

8o IN THE FAR NORTH

to her now that her two younger sisters had
married before her, and left her, as her some-
what acidulous-tongued mother said, " the Lyndon
family wallflower." She meant to marry him,
spend a year or so among the " beastly bellowing
cattle," and then return to Sydney, where as Mrs.
Harrington, the wealthy squatter's wife, she could
enjoy herself thoroughly, snub some of the women '
she hated, and flirt with some of the men she
liked.

Late one night, Harrington, sauntering from the
theatre to his hotel, met, to his intense astonish-
ment, a man he knew — had known years before
when he (Harrington) was a drover and the other
man — Walters — was a mounted trooper in the
Queensland police.

They shook hands warmly, and then Walters
said, "Come along with me, Jack, to the Water
Police Station ; we can have a yarn there. . . .
Oh, yes, I'm a Sydney man now — a full-fledged
inspector of police . . . tell you all about it by
and by. But, push along, old man. One of my
men has just told me that a woman who jumped
off the Circular Quay and tried to drown herself,
is lying at the station, and is not expected to pull
through. Hallo ! here's a cab ! Jump in, Jack ;
there's some whisky in the sergeant's room, and
after I've seen the cadaver — if she has cadavered
— we'll have a right down good yarn."

IN THE FAR NORTH 81

The cab rattled through the now almost deserted
street, and in a few minutes Harrington and his
friend alighted at a small stone building over-
looking the waters of Sydney Harbour. A water-
policeman, who stood at the door under the big
gas-lamp, saluted the inspector and then showed
Harrington into the sergeant's room.

Ten minutes passed, and then Walters, accom-
panied by a big, stout, red-faced man, came in.

" Ha, here you are, old man. Jack, Dr. Parsons
— the man who does the resuscitating and such
silly business of this institution ; Parsons, my old
friend, Jack Harrington. Sergeant, where is that
whisky ? "

" Is the woman dead, doctor ? " asked Harring-
ton presently, as the sergeant's wife brought in a
bottle of whisky and some glasses.

"No," replied the police doctor slowly, as he
poured some whisky into his glass, "she is not
dead ; but she may not live much longer — a day
or so perhaps. It all depends. Shock to the
system."

" One of the usual sort, Parsons, I suppose ? "
inquired Walters — " left the baby on the wharf, with
a written request for some ' kind Christian to love
it/ eh ? "

The fat doctor grunted. "You're a beast,
Walters. There's no baby in the case. Here,
give me ten shillings — you'll spend more than

7

82 IN THE FAR NORTH

that in drinks before you go to bed to-night.
This girl isn't one of the usual sort. She's a
lady — and she's been starving. So ante-up, you
ex-nigger-shooting Queensland policeman ; and
I'll add another half-sov. Then perhaps your
friend will give me something for her. And
I'm not going to send her off to the hospital.
I'm going to take her to some people I know,
and ask them to keep her for a few days until
she gets round."

Harrington put his hand in his pocket, and then
in a nervous, diffident way, looking first at Walters
and then at the doctor, put five sovereigns on the
table.

" I'm pretty flush now, you know. . . . I'm not
a plunger, but I shall be glad, doctor, if you will
take that and give it to her. ... I was almost
starving myself once — -you know, Walters, when I
got the sack from the " Morning Star " Mine for
plugging the English manager when he called me
a ' damned colonial lout.' "

The fat-faced doctor looked steadily at him for
a moment or two. Then he reached out his hand.

" You're a good fellow, Mr. Harrington. I'll take
a sovereign or two. Come in here with me."

Ill

Harrington followed him into an adjoining
room, where, upon a wicker-work couch was

IN THE FAR NORTH 83

reclining the figure of a young girl. Standing
beside her was the police-sergeant's wife, who, as
soon as the two men came in, quietly drew aside.

" Now, here I am back again, my dear child,"
said the doctor good-humouredly, " and here is a
very old friend of mine, Mr. Jack Harrington ;
and we have come to cheer you up and tell you
that you have two or three good friends. And
we won't let any women or parsons come to you
and worry you, and tell you that you have been a
wicked girl, and ought to have thrown yourself
upon God's mercy and all that sort of thing. So
just drink that coffee, and then by and by we
will take you to some people I know well, and you
shall come and tell us in a day or two how sorry
you are for being so foolish."

The girl's dark hazel eyes looked steadily at
them both ; then she put out a thin white hand.

"You are very kind to me. I know it was
very wicked to try and kill myself, but I was
so lonely, and . . . and I had not eaten anything
since Wednesday . . . and I wanted to die."
Then she covered her face and sobbed softly,
whilst the doctor patted her on the shoulder
and said —

" Don't worry, little girl ; you are in good hands
now. Never mind Mrs. Thornton and her un-
kindness. You are better away from her — isn't
she, Mr. Harrington?"

84 IN THE FAR

NORTH

Mr. Harrington, knowing nothing about Mrs.
Thornton, promptly said "Oh, most certainly,'
and the girl's eyes met his for a second, and a
faint smile flushed upon her pale lips. The tall,
bearded, and brown-faced man's face seemed so
full of pity.

" Now you must go to sleep for an hour or two,"
said the doctor imperatively ; " so now then, little
girl, ' seepy-by, beddy-bo.' That's what my mother
used to say to me."

Harrington followed the doctor out into the
sergeant's room, where Inspector Walters, with
his heels upon the table, was falling asleep.

" Sit down a moment, Mr. Harrington," said
Dr. Parsons, taking up a book which the sergeant
had left upon the table ; " this is a sad case.
Here is a girl, Nellie Alleyne, age 19, nursery
governess to Mrs. Lavery-Thornton, of Waverly,
jumped into the water off the Quay ; rescued by
Water-police Constables Casey and Boyce."

Harrington nodded.

" This girl has told me her story. She is alone
and friendless in Sydney. She came out to
Australia when she was seventeen, got a billet
with this Mrs. Lavery-Thornton — who seems to
be a perfect brute of a woman — suffered a two
years' martyrdom, and then was dismissed from
her situation with the large sum of twenty-two
shillings in her pocket. Tried to get another

IN THE FAR NORTH 85

such position, but people wouldn't take her with-
out a recommendation from her last place. The
Thornton woman wouldn't give her one ; said she
was too independent. High-spirited girl with
twenty-two shillings between her and starvation,
wanders about from one registry office to another
for a couple of weeks, living in a room in a
Miller's Point slum ; money all gone ; pestered
by brutes in the usual way, jumps into the water
to end her miseries. Rough, isn't it ? "

Harrington nodded. " Poor thing ! I should
like you, Dr. Parsons, to — to let her know that
she has friends. Will you let me help. Fifty
pounds or a hundred pounds won't hurt me . . .
and I've been stone-broke myself. But a man
can always peg along in the bush ; and it's an
awful thing for a child like that to be adrift in a
big city."

The kind-hearted police doctor looked steadily
into Harrington's face for a moment, then he said
quietly —

"An awful thing indeed. But there are some
good men in the world, Mr. Harrington, who are
able and willing to save pure souls from de-
struction. You are one of them. Tom Walters
and myself are both hard-up devils — we see a
lot of misery, but can do nothing to alleviate
it ; a few shillings is all we can give."

Harrington rose, and his sun-tanned face flushed

86 IN THE FAR NORTH

as he drew out his cheque-book. " I never try
to shove myself in, in such matters as these, doctor,
but I should feel pleased if you will let me help."

Then he wrote out a cheque for fifty pounds,
pushed it over to the doctor, said he thought it
was getting late, and that he had better get back
to his hotel.

Dr. Parsons gave the sleeping inspector a shake,
and in a few words told him what Harrington had
done.

" You're a dashed fool, old man," said Walters
sleepily to Harrington ; " most likely she'll blue
your fifty quid, and then blackmail "

The doctor's hand descended upon the inspector's
shoulder. " Shut up, you beastly old wretch — do
you think all women are alike. Come, now, let us
have another nip and get away. Mr. Harrington
is tired. Sergeant ! "

The sergeant came to the door.

" Thompson, take good care of that young lady.
We happen to know her. If she awakes before
eight o'clock in the morning, tell her that she is to
stay with your wife till I come to see her at nine
o'clock. Any effects, sergeant ? "

" Yes, sir," and the sergeant took out his note-
book, " seven pawn tickets, five pennies, and a New
Testament with ' Nellie Alleyne ' written inside."

" Here, give me those tickets, I'll take care of
them ; and Thompson, if the newspaper fellows

IN THE FAR NORTH 87

come here to-night, say that the young lady fell
over the wharf accidentally, and has gone home to
her friends. See ? "

" I see, sir," said Thompson, as the good-hearted
doctor slipped half a sovereign into his hand.

Then the three men stepped out into the street
and strolled up to the Royal Hotel, and sat down
in the smoking-room, which was filled with a noisy
crowd, some of whom soon saw Walters and called
him away, leaving the doctor and Harrington by
themselves.

"Better take this back, Mr. Harrington," and
Dr. Parsons handed him his cheque. " Two or
three pounds will be quite enough for the poor
girl."

" Not I," said Harrington with a smile, " fifty
pounds won't ruin me, as I said — and it may mean
a lot to her, poor child. And I feel glad that I can
help some one . . . some one who is all right, you
know. Now I must be off. Good night, doctor."

Parsons looked at the tall manly figure as he
pushed his way through the noisy crowd in the
smoking-room, and then at the cheque in his hand.
" Well, there's a good fellow. Single man, I'll
bet ; else he wouldn't be so good to a poor little
devil of a stranded girl. Didn't even ask her name.
May the Lord send him a good wife."

The Lord did not send Harrington a good wife ;
for the very next day he called upon Mrs. Lyndon,

88 IN THE FAR NORTH

and Mrs. Lyndon took good care that he should
be left alone with Myra ; and Myra smiled so
sweetly at him, when with outstretched hands she
came into the drawing-room, that he fatuously
believed she loved him. And she of course, when
he asked her to be his wife, hid her face on his
shoulder, and said she could not understand why
he could love her. Why, she was quite an old maid !
Amy and Gwen were ever so much prettier than
she, and she was sure that both Gwen and Amy,
even though they were now both married, would
feel jealous when they knew that big, handsome
Jack Harrington had asked her to be his wife ; and
so on and so forth, as only the skilled woman of
thirty, whose hopes of marriage are slipping by,
knows how to talk and lie to an "eligible" man
unused to women's ways. And Harrington kissed
Myra's somewhat thin lips, and said — and believed
— that he was the happiest man in Australia.
Then Mrs. Lyndon came in, and, in the manner
of mothers who are bursting with joy at getting rid
of a daughter whose matrimonial prospects are
looking gloomy, metaphorically fell upon Harring-
ton's neck and wept down his back, and said
he was robbing her of her dearest treasure, &c., &c.
Harrington, knowing nothing of conventional
women's ways, believed her, and married, for him,
the most unsuitable woman in the world.

A week or so after his marriage he received a

IN THE FAR NORTH 89

letter from Dr. Parsons enclosing the cheque he
had given him for Nellie Alleyne : —

"DEAR HARRINGTON,— Girl won't take the
cheque. Has a billet — cashier in a restaurant.
Says she is writing to you. She's true gold.
You ought to marry her and take her away with
you to your outlandish parts. Would ask her to
marry me — if I could keep her ; but she wouldn't
have me whilst you are about. Always glad to
see you at my diggings ; whisky and soda and
such, and a hearty welcome."

And by the same post came a letter from the
girl herself — a letter that, simply worded as it was,
sent an honest glow through his heart : —

" DEAR MR. HARRINGTON,— I shall never, never
forget your kindness to me ; as long as I live I
shall never forget. Dr. Parsons tells me that you
live in Queensland — more than a thousand miles
from Sydney, and that you are going away soon.
Please will you let me call on you before you go
away ? I shall be so unhappy if I do not see you
again, because in a letter I cannot tell you how I
thank you, how deeply grateful I am to you for
your goodness and generosity to me.
"Yours very sincerely,

" HELEN ALLEYNE."

go IN THE FAR NORTH

Harrington showed the letter to Myra, who
bubbled over with pretty expressions of sympathy,
and wrote and asked her to call. Nellie did call,
and the result of her visit was that when Harrington
took his newly married wife to Tinandra Downs, she
went with her as companion. And from the day
that she entered the door of his house, Helen
Alleyne had proved herself to be, as Dr. Parsons
had said, " true gold." As the first bright years of
prosperity vanished, and the drought and financial
worries all but crushed Harrington under the
weight of his misfortunes, and his complaining,
irritable wife rendered his existence at home almost
unbearable, her brave spirit kept his from sinking
under the incessant strain of his anxieties. Mrs.
Harrington, after her third child was born, had
given up even the semblance of attending to the
children, and left them to Nellie and the servants.
She was doing quite enough, she once told her
husband bitterly, in staying with him at such a
horrible place in such a horrible country. But she
nevertheless always went away to the sea-coast
during the hottest months, and succeeded in having
a considerable amount of enjoyment, leaving the
children and Jack and Miss Alleyne to swelter
through the summer at Tinandra Downs as best
they could.

IN THE FAR NORTH 91

IV

It was nearly midnight as Harrington took
down the slip-rails and led his horse through the
paddock up to the house, which, except for a dimly
burning lamp in the dining-room, was in darkness.
The atmosphere was close and sultry, and the
perspiration ran down his skin in streams as he
gave his horse to the head-stockman, who was
sitting on the verandah awaiting him.

"Terrible night, sir, but I'm thinking if it keeps
on like this for another hour or two we'll get a big
thunderstorm. 'Sugar-bag'" (one of the black boys)
"was here just now and says that the ant-heaps
about are covered with ants — that's a sure sign, sir."

"God send it so, Banks! If no rain comes
within two days, you'll have to start away for
Cleveland Bay with Mrs. Harrington and Miss
Alleyne and the children. We must find horses
somehow to take them there."

Before Banks led the horse away for a drink, he
stopped.

" Miss Alleyne went to Canton Reef, sir, this
morning with little Sandy. She ought to have
been here before dark, but I expect the horses
knocked up. There's a couple of cows with young
calves there, so Sandy says, and Miss Alleyne said
she would try and bring them in if I would let her

92 IN THE FAR NORTH

take Sandy. We've had no milk, sir, for the
children since Tuesday, and Miss Alleyne said
that you would be vexed. I would have gone
myself, sir, but I couldn't well leave, and I know
Miss Alleyne will manage — it's only fifteen miles,
and Sandy says that the two cows and calves are
pretty fat and can travel ; there's a bit of feed
at those waterholes about the Canton. Most likely
she and the little black boy have yarded the cows
at the Seven-mile Hut and are camping there for
the night. But I'll start off now, sir. I've got
Peter the Pig already saddled."

" Yes, yes, Banks, certainly. Why didn't you
start long ago?"

" Mrs. Harrington said I must wait for you, sir,"
the man answered somewhat sullenly.

Harrington nodded. " Hurry up, Banks ; but
here, take a glass of grog first."

He watched the stockman disappear down the
dusty track to the slip-rails, then he went inside,
and sitting down at the table buried his face in his
hands. Then, booted and dusty, and tired in mind
and body, he slept.

An hour had passed, and no sound disturbed the
hot oppressive silence of the night but the heavy
breathing of the wearied man. Then through his
dreamless slumber came the murmur of voices, and
presently three figures walked quickly up from the
milking-yard towards the house.

IN THE FAR NORTH 93

" He's asleep, miss," whispered Banks, " he's dog
tired. But the news you have got for him will put
fresh life into him. Now just you go to him,
miss, and tell him, and then as soon as I have
given them cows a drink, I'll bring you in some
tea. Sandy, you little black devil, light a fire in
the kitchen and don't make a noise, or I'll tan your
hide, honest."

For a minute or so the girl stood in the doorway
of the dining-room, holding a heavy saddle-pouch,
in her hand, her frame trembling with emotion and
physical exhaustion ; and trying to speak. As
soon as she could speak, she walked over to the
sleeping man and touched him on the shoulder.
He awoke with a start just as she sank on her
knees, and leaning her elbows on a chair beside
him, burst into a fit of hysterical weeping. He
waited for her to recover herself.

" Oh, I am so glad, so glad, Mr. Harrington !
Now you need not give up Tinandra . . . and the
drought doesn't matter . . . and oh, I thank God
for His goodness that He has let me help you at
last ! " She broke off with a choking sob, and
then, with streaming eyes, placed her hand in
his.

Harrington lifted her up and placed her on a
couch. " Lie there, Miss Alleyne. I will call Mrs.
Harrington "

She put out her hand beseechingly. " Please

94 IN THE FAR NORTH

don't, Mr. Harrington. She is not at all strong,
and I think I made her very angry this morning
by going away to look for the milkers. . . . But
look, Mr. Harrington, look inside the saddle
pouch." Then she sat up, and her eyes burnt
with feverish expectation, " Quick, quick, please,"
and then she began to laugh wildly, but clenching
her hands tightly together she overcame her
hysteria, and attempted to speak calmly.

" I shall be better in a minute . . . empty it out
on the table, please . . . Banks says it is another
outcrop of the old Canton Reef."

Harrington picked up the saddle - pouch, and
putting it on the table, turned up the lamp, and
unfastened the straps ; it was filled with pieces of
rough weather-worn quartz thickly impregnated
with gold. The largest piece contained more gold
than quartz, and an involuntary cry of astonish-
ment and admiration burst from his lips as he held
it to the light.

Nellie's eyes sparkled with joy. " Isn't it lovely !
I can't talk, my lips are so dry."

Harrington dashed outside to the verandah
filled a glass from the canvas water-bag hanging
from a beam overhead, and gave it to the
exhausted girl.

" Now don't you attempt to speak for five
minutes."

" No, I won't," she said, with a faint smile, as she

IN THE FAR NORTH 95

drank off the cold water — and then at once began
to tell him of her discovery.

" Sandy and I found the two cows and calves a
mile this side of the Canton Reef in a gully, but
before we could head them off they had got away
into the ironbark ridges. Sandy told me to wait,
and galloped after them. I followed him to the
top of the first ridge, and then pulled up, and
there, right under my horse's feet I saw a small
'blow' of quartz sticking up out of the baked
ground, and I saw the gold in it quite plainly. Of
course I was wildly excited, and jumped off. The
stone was quite loose and crumbly, and I actually
pulled some pieces away with my hands, and when
I saw the thick yellow gold running all through it
I sat down and cried. Then I became so frightened
that Sandy might not find me again, for it would
be dark in another hour, and so I ran up and down
along the ridge, listening for the sound of his
stockwhip. And then I went back towards the
outcrop of the reef again, and half-way down I
picked up that big lump — it was half buried in the
ground. . . . And oh, Mr. Harrington, all that
ridge is covered with it ... I could have brought
away as much again, but Sandy had no saddle-
pouch . . . and I was dying to come home and
tell you."

She breathed pantingly for a few minutes.

"It was nearly dark when Sandy came back.

96 IN THE FAR NORTH

He had run the cattle on to a camp about three
miles away. ... I don't know which pleased me
most, to get the cows so that poor Mable and
Harry can have some milk in the morning, or the
gold. . . . Banks met us half-way from the Seven-
mile Hut, and took me off my horse and put me in
front of him."

Banks came to the door, carrying a tray with a
cup of tea and some food. " Here ye are, Miss
Alleyne ; ye're a born stockman, an' a prospector,
an' — God bless you, miss, you've brought the rain as
weir

For as the rough, hairy-faced stockman began to
speak, a low rumbling sound of thunder smote the
silence of the night, followed by a loud appalling
clap, and then another, and another, and presently
a cooling blast of wind came through the open
door, and stirred and shook the Venetian blinds
hanging outside. Banks almost dropped the tea-
tray, and then darting outside, dashed his cabbage-
tree hat on the ground, and began to dance as
the first heavy drops of the coming deluge fell
upon his head.

In less than ten minutes, Harrington, with silent
joy in his heart, was standing at the doorway,
watching the descending torrents of rain — that
rain which to his bushman's heart meant more
than all the gold which lay beneath the earth. He
had, as it first began to fall, rushed into his

IN THE FAR NORTH 97

wife's bedroom, and kissed her and the terrified
children.

" The rain has come, Myra, thank God," he said,
and then he added quietly, " I have more good
news for you in the morning."

Mrs. Harrington said she was quite aware of the
rain having come — the disgusting noise of the
thunder had made the children scream. Had Miss
Alleyne come back ? And brought the cows ? His
other good news could keep till the morning.

Harrington turned away from her with a feeling
of dulled resentment. He knew what the girl had
suffered, and his wife's heartlessness cut him to the
quick.

As he stood watching Banks and the black boys
filling every available tank and cask on the station
from the downpour off the roof, Nellie rose from
the couch on which she had been lying, and
touched his arm timidly.

" Don't you believe in God's goodness now, Mr.
Harrington? See, He has sent the rain, and He
has granted my daily prayer to Him that I, too,
might help you. And Banks says that this is not
a passing thunderstorm, but that the drought has
broken up altogether — for see, the wind is from the
south."

Harrington raised her hand to his lips. " I have
always tried to believe in God and in His mercy,
Miss Alleyne."

8

98 IN THE FAR NORTH

" Not always, Mr. Harrington," she said softly.
" Don't you remember when all the Big Swamp
mob were bogged and dying, that you said that if
He would not hear the moans and see the agonies
of the beasts He had created, that He would not
listen to the prayers of human beings who were
not suffering as they suffered? And to-day, as
Sandy and I rode along to the Canton Reef, I
prayed again and again, and always when I passed
a dying beast I said, ' O God I have mercy upon
these Thy dumb creatures who suffer much agony! "

Harrington's chest heaved. " And I prayed as
you prayed, Miss Alleyne ; but I said, ' O God! if
there is a God! "

She put out her hand to him and her dark eyes
filled with tears. " He has answered our prayers.
. . . And now, good night. ... I wish I could go
out into the rain; I feel I could dance for joy. . . .
Mr. Harrington, do let me go to the Canton Reef
with you to-morrow. Everything will be all right
to-morrow, won't it? But there, how thoughtless
I am. ... I am going to milk those two cunning
cows till they are dry ; poor little Harry does so
want some fresh milk. Good night, Mr. Harring-
ton ; I shall sleep happily to-night— everything will
be all right to-morrow."

At breakfast-time next morning the rain was
still falling steadily, and Mrs. Harrington decided
to join her husband at the morning meal.

IN THE FAR NORTH 99

Harrington rode up to the door and smiled
brightly at his wife. " Waiting for me, dear ? I
won't be long. The river is running now, Myra —
running after two years ! I'm off to Miss Alleyne's
reef as soon as I've had a bit of tucker. Where is
she?"

" In bed, I presume," said Mrs. Harrington
acidulously. " She might have remembered that
I was very much upset last night by that horrible
thunder, and have risen earlier and attended to the
children."

A look of intense disgust came over her hus-
band's face.

" Myra, the girl was done-up, dead beat ! Won't
you go and see if she is able to get up ? "

Mrs. Harrington rose stiffly. " Oh, certainly, if
you wish it. But I think it is a great mistake.
She really ought to have considered the children,
and "

The head stockman's wife met her at the door,
and looking past her mistress, spoke to Harrington
in terrified tones —

" Miss Alleyne is dead, sir ! "

Harrington sprang from his chair. " Dead, Mrs.
Banks ! "

" Yes, sir. I was only just in time. She on'y
sez, * Tell Mr. Harrington that I am so glad that
everythink will be all right now.' An' then she
smiled, sir, and sez as I was to kiss Master Harry

ioo IN THE FAR NORTH

and Miss Mabel for her, as she was agoin'. And
then she sez, * Isn't God good to send the rain,
Mrs. Banks? Everything will be all right now for
poor Mr. Harrington — rain and gold.' Then she
just laid quiet for a minute, an' when I looked at

her face again, I saw she was dead."

*****

A year later, Jack Harrington, again one of the
wealthiest cattle men in North Queensland, and
the owner of one of the richest gold mines in the
colony, was riding home to his station. Behind
him he heard the clatter and clash of the twenty-
stamper battery that on the " Canton Ridge " was
pounding him in so many thousands of pounds a
month ; before him lay the sweeping grassy downs
and thickly timbered creeks of a now smiling
country. His wife and children had long before
returned to the cooler South, and in his heart was
a great loneliness. Not, perhaps, for them, but
because of the memory of the girl whose prayer
to the Almighty had been answered, and who was
resting on the bank of the Gilbert under the shade
of a big Leichhardt tree.

jfack Renton

SOME yarns of an exceedingly tough and Mun-
chausen-like character have been spun and
printed by men of their adventures in Australian
waters or the South Seas, but an examination of
such stories by any one with personal knowledge
of the Pacific and Australasia has soon, and very
deservedly so, knocked the bottom out of a con-
siderable number of them. Yet there are stories
of South Sea adventure well authenticated, which
are not a whit less wonderful than the most mar-
vellous falsehoods that any man has yet told, and
the story of what befell John Renton is one of
these. A file of the Queenslander (the leading
Queensland weekly newspaper) for 1875 will
corroborate his story ; for that paper gave the
best account of his adventures in one of their
November (1875) numbers, and the story was
copied into nearly every paper in Australasia.

102 JACK RENTON

Like Harry Bluff, John Renton " when a boy left
his friends and his home, o'er the wild ocean waves
all his life for to roam." Renton's home was. in
Stromness, in the Orkneys, and he shipped on
board a vessel bound to Sydney, in 1867, as an
ordinary seaman, he then being a lad of eighteen.
When in Sydney he got about among the boarding-
houses, in sailor-town, and one morning woke up
on the forecastle of the Reyna'rd of Boston, bound
on a cruise for guano among the South Pacific
Islands.

Renton had been crimped, and finding himself
where he was, bothered no more about it, but went
cheerfully to work, not altogether displeased at the
prospect of new adventures, which would enable
him to by and by go back to the old folks with
plenty of dollars, and a stock of startling yarns to
reel off. He was a steady, straightforward lad,
though somewhat thoughtless at times, and re-
solved to be a steady, straightforward man. The
vessel first called into the Sandwich Islands, and
there shipped a gang of Hawaiian natives to help
load the guano, then she sailed away to the south-
ward for McKean's Island, one of the Phoenix
Group, situated about lat. 3° 35' S. and long. 174°
20' W.

On board the Reynard was an old salt known to
all hands as " Boston Ned." He had been a whaler
in his time, had deserted, and spent some years

JACK RENTON 103

beachcombing among the islands of the South Seas,
and very soon, through his specious tongue, he had
all hands wishing themselves clear of the "old
hooker " and enjoying life in the islands instead of
cruising about, hazed here and there and everywhere
by the mates of the Reynard^ whose main purpose
in life was to knock a man down in order to make
him " sit up." Presently three or four of the hands
became infatuated with the idea of settling on an
island, and old Ned, nothing loth, undertook to
take charge of the party if they would make an
attempt to clear from the ship. The old man had
taken a fancy to young Renton, and the youngster,
when the idea was imparted to him, fell in with it
enthusiastically ; for he was exasperated with the
treatment he had received on board the guanoman
— the afterguard of an American guano ship are
usually a rough lot. The ship was lying on and
off the land, there being no anchorage, and before
the plan had been discussed more than a few
hours, the men, five in all, determined to put it
into execution.

A small whaleboat was towing astern of the
vessel in case the wind should fall light and the
ship drift in too close to the shore. It was a fine
night, with a light breeze, and there was, they
thought, a good chance of getting to the south-
ward, to one of the Samoan group, where they
could settle, or by shipping on board a trading

io4 JACK RENTON

schooner they might later on strike some other
island to their fancy.

By stealth they managed to stow in the boat a
couple of small breakers of water, holding together
sixteen gallons, and the forecastle bread barge with
biscuits enough for three meals a day per man for
ten days. They managed also to steal four hams,
and each man brought pipes, tobacco, and matches.
A harpoon with some line, an old galley frying-
pan, mast, sail and oars, and some blankets com-
pleted the equipment. For they took no compass,
though they made several attempts to get at one
slung in the cabin, and tried at first to take one
out of the poop binnacle ; but the officer of the
watch on deck was too wide awake for them to
risk that, and the cabin compass was screwed to
the roof close to the skipper's berth ; and so the old
man who was their leader, old sailor and whaler as
he was, actually gave up the idea of taking a com-
pass, and these people without more ado, one night
slipped over the side into the whaleboat, cut the
painter, and by daylight the boat was out of sight
of land and of the ship. They were afloat upon
the Pacific, running six or seven miles before a
north-east breeze and expecting to sight land in
less than a week, and were already anticipating
the freedom and luxury of island life in store for
them.

Three days later it fell calm, and they had to

JACK RENTON 105

take to the oars. The sun was intensely hot, the
water a sheet of glass reflecting back upon them
the ball of fire overhead. Now and again a cats-
paw would ripple across the plain of water, but
there were no clouds, there was no sight of land.
They kept on pulling. For three, for four days —
a week — for ten days — they tugged at the oars,
except when a favouring breeze came. The water
was reduced to a few pints, the food to a few days'
half-rations. Their limbs were cramped so that
they could not move from their places in the boat,
their bodies were becoming covered with sores ; and
the wind had now died away entirely, the sea was
without a ripple, and for ever shone above them
the fierce, relentless sun.

Gradually it had dawned upon them that they
were lost — that perhaps they had run past Samoa.
The first eagerness of their adventure gave place
to despair, and by degrees their despair grew to
madness of a more awful kind.

On the fifteenth day there appeared to the south
and east a low, dark-grey cloud. " Land at last ! "
was the unspoken thought in each man's heart as
he looked at his comrade, but feared to voice his
hope. And presently the cloud grew darker and
more clearly defined, and one of the men — the
next oldest to the author of all their miseries — fell
upon his weak and trembling knees, and raised his
hands in thankfulness and prayer to the Almighty

io6 JACK RENTON

Alas ! it was not land, but the ominous forerunner
of the fierce and sweeping mid-equatorial gale
which lay veiled behind. In less than half an
hour it came upon and smote them with savage
fury, and the little boat was running before a
howling gale and a maddened, foam-whipped
sea.

And then it happened that, ill and suffering as
he was from the agonies of hunger and thirst, the
heroic nature of old " Boston Ned " came out, and
his bold sailor's heart cheered and encouraged his
wretched, despairing companions. All that night,
and for the greater part of the following day, he
stood in the stern-sheets, grasping the bending
steer-oar as the boat swayed and surged along
before the gale, and constantly watching lest she
should broach to and smother in the roaring seas ;
the others lay in the bottom, feebly baling out the
water, encouraged, urged, and driven to that exer-
tion by the gallant old American seaman.

Towards noon the wind moderated, in the after-
noon it died away altogether, and again the boat
lay rising and falling to the long Pacific swell, and
" Boston Ned " flung his exhausted frame down in
the stern-sheets and slept.

Again the blood-red sun leapt from a sea of
glassy smoothness — for the swell had subsided
during the night — and again the wretched men
looked into each other's dreadful faces and mutely

JACK RENTON 107

asked what was to be done. How should they
head the boat? Without a compass they might as
well steer one way as another, for none of them
knew even approximately the course for the
nearest land ; search the cloudless vault of blue
above, or scan the shimmering sea-rim till their
aching eyes dropped from out their hollowing
sockets, there was no clue.

Twenty days out the last particle of food and
water had been consumed, and though the boat
was now steering as near westward as old Ned
could judge, before a gentle south-east trade, mad-
ness and despair were coming quickly upon them,
and on the twenty-third day two of the five miser-
able creatures began to drink copiously of salt
water — the drink of Death.

Ren ton, though he had suffered to the bitter full
-from the agonies of body and mind endured by his
shipmates, did not yield to this temptation ; and
by a merciful providence remained sane enough to
turn his face away from the water. But as he lay
crouched in a heap in the bottom of the boat, with
a silent prayer in his heart to his Creator to quickly
end his sufferings, he heard "Boston Ned" and the
only remaining sane man except himself muttering
hoarsely together and looking sometimes at him
and sometimes at the two almost dying men who
lay moaning beside him. Presently the man who
was talking to Ned pulled out of his blanket —

io8 JACK RENTON

which lay in the stern-sheets — a razor, and turning
his back to Renton began stropping it upon the
sole of his boot, and even " Boston Ned " himself
looked with awful eyes and blood-baked twitching
lips upon the youngster.

The lad saw what was coming, and as quickly
as possible made his way forward and sat there,
with his eyes fixed upon the two men aft, waiting
for the struggle which he thought must soon begin.
All that day and the night he sat and watched,
determined to make a fight for the little life which
remained in him, and Ned and the other man at
times still muttered and eyed him wolfishly.

And so, on and on, these seeming outcasts of
God's mercy sailed before the warm breath of the
south-east trade wind, above them the blazing
tropic sun, around them the wide, sailless expanse
of the blue Pacific unbroken in its dreadful
loneliness except for a wandering grey-winged
booby or flocks of whale-birds floating upon its
gentle swell, and within their all but deadened
hearts naught but grim despair and a dulled sense
of coming dissolution.

As he sat thus, supporting his swollen head
upon his skeleton hands, Renton saw something
astern, moving slowly after the boat — something
that he knew was waiting and following for the
awful deed to be done, so that it too might share
in the dreadful feast.

JACK RENTON 109

Raising his bony arm, he pointed towards the
moving fin. To him a shark meant no added
horror or danger to their position, but possibly
deliverance. "Boston Ned" and the other man
first looked at the coming shark, and then with
sunken eyes again turned to Renton. Voices
none of them had, and the lad's parched tongue
could not articulate, but with signs and lip move-
ments he tried to make the other two men
understand.

No shark hook had they ; nor, if they had had
one, had they anything with which to bait it. But
Renton, crawling aft, picked up the harpoon,
placed it in " Boston Ned's " hands, and motioned
to him to stand by. Then with eager, trembling
hands he stripped from his legs the shreds of
trousers which remained on them, and, sitting
upon the gunwale of the boat, hung one limb over
and let it trail in the water.

Three times the shark came up, and thrice Ned
prepared to strike, but each time the grim ranger
of the seas turned aside as it caught sight of the
waiting figure with weapon poised above. But at
last hunger prevailed, and, swimming slowly up
till within a few yards of the boat, it made a
sudden rush for the human bait, missed it, and
the harpoon, deftly darted by the old ex-whaler,
clove through its tough skin and buried itself deep
into its body between the shoulders.

no JACK RENTON

It took the worn-out, exhausted men a long time
to haul alongside and despatch the struggling
monster, which, says Renton, was ten feet in
length.

Then followed shark's flesh and shark's blood,
some of the former, after the first raw meal, being
cooked on a fire made of the biscuit barge upon a
wet blanket spread in the bottom of the boat.
The hot weather, however, soon turned the re-
maining portion putrid, but two or three days later
came God's blessed rain, and gave them hope and
life again. They managed to save a considerable
quantity of water, and, though the shark's flesh
was in a horrible condition, they continued to feed
upon it until the thirty-fifth day.

On this day they saw land, high and well
wooded ; but now the trade-wind failed them, and
for the following two days the unfortunate men
contended with baffling light airs, calms, and
strong currents. At last they got within a short
distance of the shore, and sought for a landing-
place through the surrounding surf.

Suddenly four or five canoes darted out from the
shore. They were filled with armed savages, whose
aspect and demeanour warned old Ned that he and
his comrades were among cannibals. Sweeping
alongside the boat, the savages seized the white
men, who were all too feeble to resist, or even
move, put them into their canoes, and conveyed

JACK RENTON in

them on shore, fed them, and treated them with
much apparent kindness. Crowds of natives from
that part of the island — which was Malayta,
one of the Solomon Group — came to look at
them, and one man, a chief, took a fancy to
Renton, and claimed him as his own especial
property.

Renton never saw the rest of his companions
again, for they were removed to the interior of the
island — probably sold to some of the bush tribes,
the " man-a-bush," as the coastal natives called
them. Their fate is not difficult to guess, for the
people of Malayta were then, as they are now,
cannibals.

On August 7, 1875, the Queensland labour
recruiting schooner Bobtail Nag was cruising off
the island, trading for yams, and her captain heard
from some natives who came alongside that there
was a white man living ashore in a village about
ten miles distant. The skipper of the Bobtail
Nag at once offered to pay a handsome price if
the man was brought on board, and at the
cost of several dozen Birmingham steel axes
and some tobacco poor Renton's release was
effected. He told his rescuers that the people
among whom he had lived had taken a great
fancy to him, and had treated him with great
kindness.

If the reader will look at a chart of the South

U2 JACK RENTON

Pacific, he will see, among the Phoenix Group, the
position of McKean's Island ; two thousand miles
distant, westward and southward, is the island of
Malayta, upon which Renton and his companions
in misery drifted.

Sarreo

"\\ 7 ELL, there's niggers an' niggers, some just
V V as good as any white man," said Mr.
Thomas Potter as he, the second mate of the
island-trading barque Reconnaisance, and Denison
the supercargo, walked her short, stumpy poop one
night, "though when I was before the mast I
couldn't stand one of 'em bunking too close to
me — not for a long time. But after a while I found
out that a Kanaka or a Maori is better than the
usual run of the paint-scrubbing Jack Dog who
calls himself a sailorman nowadays. Why, I've
never seen a native sailor yet as was dirty in his
habits — they're too fond o' the water. Look at
these Rotumah chaps aboard here — if there's a
calm they'll jump overboard and take a swim
instead of turning in when it's their watch below.
Bah, white sailors ain't worth feeding in this Island
trade — lazy, dirty, useless brutes ; a Kanaka is
worth three of any one of 'em. Did you notice

9 U3

114 SARREO

that photograph in my cabin — that one showing
a ship's company standing on deck?"

" Yes, I did," replied Denison.

" Well, that's the crew of the Fanny Long, and
amongst 'em is a fellow I'm goin' to tell you about
— a chap named Sarr6o. We had that picture
taken in Hobart after we had come back from a
sperm whaling cruise. We had been very lucky,
and the skipper and owners had all our photo-
graphs taken in a group. I was second mate, and
this Sarreo was one of the boatsteerers. Him and
me had been shipmates before, once in the old
Meteor barque, nigger - catching for the Fiji
planters, and once in a New Bedford sperm
whaler, and he had taken a bit of a liking to
me, so whenever I got a new ship he generally
shipped too.

" Well, I was tired of whaling ; I had two ribs
broke on that cruise in the Fanny Long, by a boat
being stove in by a whale. So after I had got my
money I walked out of the office, thinking of going
to Sydney by the steamboat, when up comes
Sarreo.

" * Got your dollars, Sarreo ? ' I says.

" ' Yes,' he answers. ' What you goin' to do
now, Mr. Potter?'

" * Going to Sydney to look for another ship.'

" ' All right,' he says quietly. c I come too. I
don' want to go whalin' no more.'

SARREO 115

" Sure enough, when I went on board the steamer
there he was for'ard sitting on his chest, smoking
his pipe, an' waiting for me.

" In Sydney there was a fine big lump of a
schooner just fitting out for a trading cruise to
the Solomon Islands, and I happened to know the
skipper, who worked it for me with the owners
and I got the berth of chief mate ; and Sarre"o (who
used to come every day to the place I was staying
at to ask me not to forget him) was shipped as
an A.B.

" What sort of a looking man ? Well, he was a
short, square-built chap, with a chest like a working
bullock. He was rather darker than a Samoan or
a Tahiti man, owing to a seafaring life, and had
straight, black hair. He only spoke as a rule when
he was spoken to, and kept himself pretty much
aloof from the rest of the hands, though he wasn't
by any means sulky."

" Where did he hail from ? " Denison inquired.

" Ah, now you're asking, sir. There was a beast
of a supercargo — I beg pardon, sir, for forgetting
myself — a reg'lar flash, bullying pig of a fellow,
with us that trip. He put on as many airs as if
he owned the whole blooming Pacific. Well, one
day he was straightening up his trade-room, and
calls for a couple of hands to help, and the skipper
sent Sarreo and another native sailor to him. We
were then lying at anchor in Marau Sound, in the

n6 SARREO

Solomons, and the sun was hot enough to blister
the gates o' hell, and presently the supercargo
comes on deck and slings his fat, ugly carcase into
a deck chair under the awning and says —

"' That's a smart fellow, that Sarr£o, Potter.
Where does he come from ? '

" Now I didn't know, and said so ; so Mr.
Supercargo grunts and says that he'd ask him
himself. Presently up comes Sarreo and the other
native — they were going for'ard for their dinner.

" ' Here, I say you,' said the supercargo to Sarreo,
touching him on the calf of the leg with his
foot as he was passing, 'what island you belong
to, eh?'

"Sarreo turned like lightning, and I caught a
sight of his face. He had dark, deep-set eyes, and
they seemed to spit fire at the fat brute in the
chair, and his two brown hands shut tight ; but he
said nothing, not a blessed word, only looked as if
all the rest of his body was turned to stone. He
stood like that for about ten seconds or so, then he
bent his head close to the other man's face and put
his two clenched fists out behind him.

" ' Here, Sarreo,' I says, collaring him by one
arm, 'what's all these gymnastics? What's the
matter?'

" He pushed me aside as if I was a feather, then
he straightens himself up sudden, and, lookin' at
the supercargo, spits on the deck at his feet.

SARREO 117

" ' You dog,' he says, ' when we get ashore I will
fight you ! '

" * Warby,' that was the supercargo's name, was
no cur, whatever else he was, but though he
seemed mighty sick when he heard Sarr£o call
him a dog, he jumped up at once.

" ' You damned Kanaka swine ! You're drunk !
You've been sneaking a bottle of gin in the trade-
room, an' I'll give you a pounding,' he says.

" Then before any one could interfere they were
at it, and in less than a couple of minutes Sarreo
had the supercargo by the throat, lifted him off his
feet, and dashes him down on the poop. He lay
there stunned, an' I tell you, mister, I was mighty
pleased, for we all hated him for his beastly
bullyin' ways, and his foul talk. So none of us
rushed at him too violently to pick him up. Pre-
sently up comes the skipper and orders me to put
Sarreo in irons, though I could see he didn't half
like doing it. But it had to be done, and I had to
do it. However, Sarreo held out his hands to me
as quiet as a lamb, and I led him for'ard and told
him to keep a stiff upper lip ; the captain, I knew,
would let him loose again the next morning. He
nodded his head quietly and said, ' All right, Mr
Potter. But when we get ashore / mus' kill that
man'

"'Why, Sarreo,' I said, 'you mustn't talk like
that, you've nearly cracked his skull as it is.

n8 SARREO

Don't you go on that tack, or it'll be worse for
you.'

" He nods again. * I know. But I have been
look for that man for more'n five year.'

" * Why, do you know him ? '

" ' Yes, I know him now. When I see him roll
up his shirt-sleeve in the trade-room, an' I see
some tattoo mark on his arm, I know him.'

"Of course I asked him what the supercargo
had done to him, but he wouldn't tell me any
more. So, telling one of the hands to give him
his pipe and tobacco, I went aft again and told
the skipper that there seemed to be an old grudge
between the two men.

" ' Like enough,' says the skipper. ' That fellow
Warby is the two ends and bight of a howling
blackguard. He was only appointed to this ship
at the last moment, or else I would have bucked
against his coming aboard. He's got a bad
name.'

" Warby lay in his bunk for the rest of the day,
but in the evening he came on deck and said to
the skipper roughly —

" ' What are you going to do with that damned
nigger ? '

"' Keep him in irons for a day or two, I suppose.
What more can I do ? '

" Warby looked at him for a moment, then he
says, with a sneer, that in some ships the captain

SARREO 119

would have tied such a fellow up and given him
six dozen.

" ' No doubt/ says the skipper, looking him full
in his ugly face, ' no doubt, especially in the sort
of ships you've sailed in. But nothing like that is
going to happen aboard this hooker.'

" The supercargo muttered something under his
breath and turned away. Next morning, how-
ever, when we were at breakfast, he asked the
captain how long he meant to keep Sarreo in
irons.

"'Till after breakfast.'

" Warby jumped up in a rage and said that he
protested against such a man being given his
liberty. ' Why, he'll murder me/ he says at last
with a white look in his face.

" The skipper laughed. * You make too much
of the business, Mr. Warby. Why, he is one of
the best and quietest men aboard. If you hadn't
kicked him and then swore at him, he wouldn't
have tackled you. And I'm not going to keep
him in irons — that's flat.'

" After breakfast I went up for'ard to take the
irons off Sarreo. He was sitting against the
windlass and smoking.

" ' Here, Sarreo/ I said, * I've come to take off
your bracelets ; but you must promise not to have
any more rows with the supercargo ; if you won't
promise, then the captain says he'll have to keep

120 SARREO

you in irons until we get to Fiji, and then send
you to jail.'

" He promised, and from the quiet, soft manner
in which he spoke, I felt sure he was over his burst
of passion, and was feeling a bit funky over it.
However, he turned-to very quietly, and was soon
sent ashore with a watering party, he being in
charge of the boat which was manned by native
sailors. When he came back with the first lot of
casks he told me that the bush around the water-
ing-place was full of pigeons. As soon as the
captain heard this he said he would go ashore and
shoot some, and Mr. Warby said he would like to
join him.

" So off they went — skipper, supercargo, and
Sarr£o and his boat's crew. We on board soon
heard the two guns firing, and were smacking our
chops at the thought of pigeon stew for supper. I
did not expect to see them back until about supper-
time, knowing that the boat had to tow the casks
off to the ship, which lay about half a mile from the
beach. But about four o'clock I saw the boat
pushing off in a deuce of a hurry, and then pull
like mad for the ship. Knowing that there was
no danger from natives at that part of the island,
I couldn't make it out, but in a few minutes the
boat dashes up alongside, and looking over the
side I saw that Sarreo was sitting beside the
captain, in between him and Mr, Warby ; his

SARREO 121

eyes were closed, and I thought he was dead at
first.

" We had him lifted up on deck and then carried
into the cabin in a brace of shakes, and I saw that
he had a bullet wound in his shoulder ; the ball
had gone clean through. Then the skipper, who
was never much of a talker, told me that Mr.
Warby had shot the man accidentally. Of course
I looked at Warby. His face was very pale, but
his eyes met mine without flinching.

" It didn't take the captain long to dress the
wound, and half an hour later, when I came below
again, Sarreo was sitting up on some cushions in
the transoms smoking one of the captain's Manilas,
arid looking as if nothing had happened. He
smiled when he saw me and put out his hand.

" ' I'm all right, Mr. Potter,' he said ; ' not going
to die this time.'

" I was just about to ask him how the thing
happened, when Robertson — that was our skipper's
name — called me into his room. He was as solemn
as a judge. Closing his cabin door, he said,
' Sarreo will get over it all right, but the business
is an ugly one ; to cut it short, I believe that it was
no accident, but that Warby tried to murder the
poor fellow.'

" Then he told me what had occurred. Leaving
the rest of the boat's crew to fill the water casks,
they set out to shoot pigeons ; Sarreo went with

122 SARREO

them to pick up and carry the birds. About an
hour later they saw a wild boar rush by them.
Robertson fired both barrels at it and wounded it,
but it didn't stop. Warby had one barrel empty.
He at once loaded with ball, and the three men
gave chase, Sarreo leading, Warby following him
close. On reaching some high grass at the river
bank Sarreo plunged into it ; then, a few seconds
later, Robertson heard Warby call out that he saw
the animal lying down, and fired. The captain
was a short distance behind, but he and Warby
reached the spot together, and there, sure enough,
lying in the long grass, was the wounded boar,
and Sarreo beside it, with the blood pouring from
his shoulder. He was sitting up, supporting him-
self on his left hand. The skipper assisted him to
his feet, and Warby tried to help, but Sarreo
turned on him and cursed him, and said that he
(Warby) had tried to murder him. The super-
cargo swore that he had not seen him when he
fired, but further talk was cut short by Sarreo
going faint through loss of blood, so they carried
him to the boat.

" That was the story so far, and Robertson asked
me what I thought of it.

" Now I had been shipmates with Sarrdo off
and on for a matter of five or six years, and I
never knew him to tell a lie ; but at the same time
I couldn't think Warby would be such a brute as

SARREO 123

to try and murder the man in cold blood. The
skipper, however, took a very black view of the
matter, and told me that if we met a man-of-war
he would put Warby in irons, signal for a boat,
and hand him over on a charge of attempted
murder. Then we went out into the main cabin
and sat down, and Robertson told the steward to
call the supercargo.

" Warby came below at once. He gave a quick
glance at Sarre"o, then at the skipper and myself,
and sat down quietly. In less than a minute the
captain told him of his suspicions and what he
intended doing if we met a man-of-war.

" I thought Warby would bluster and blaspheme
in his usual way ; but he didn't. He listened in
silence. Then he rose and put his hands on the
cabin table, and said —

" ' Before God, I swear to you both that I am
innocent. I did not fire at that man ; I did not
even see him again after he disappeared into the
grass — as the Almighty is my judge, I did not.
... I did mean to take it out of Sarrdo for nearly
breaking my skull the other day; but then I
remembered afterwards that he had cause to hate
me, and I was only waiting for a chance to ask
him to make it up. And I say again that I am
no cowardly murderer ; when I fired, I fired at
the boar or what I honestly thought was the boar,
struggling in the grass. You can put me in irons

124 SARREO

now if you like ; or shut me up in my cabin. I'm
not going to sit down at the same table with men
who suspect me of attempted murder.'

" There was something in his voice which made
us believe him, and then he took a couple of
turns up and down the cabin deck, and stepped
up to the wounded man.

" ' Sarre*o, I did you a bad turn a long time ago ;
but I'm sorry for it now — I have been sorry for
it ever since. But I did not know where to find
you, and I would not have known you yesterday
if you hadn't looked into my face and spoken.
It's ten years since that day, Sarreo.'

"The wounded man looked up, searching-like,
into Warby's face all the time he was speaking ;
then his big black eyes drooped again, but he
made no answer. So then Warby went on again,
talking to the lot of us.

" * I was supercargo on the Manola brig, and
Sarrdo here was one of the hands. One day, in
Apia harbour, a bag of dollars was stolen out of
my cabin. The steward next morning said he
had seen Sarreo ashore at one of the dance houses
spending money very freely. The captain and I
burst open his chest, and we found about twenty
Mexican dollars among his clothes. Now, in the
bag which had been stolen there were nearly five
hundred Mexican dollars. Sarreo swore he had
not stolen the money and that all the money he

SARREO 125

had spent on shore was five dollars, which he had
brought with him from San Francisco. But the
skipper and I believed he was the thief, and to
make him own up and tell us where the rest of
the dollars were, we flogged him. Then we put
him in irons and kept him in irons for a week.
He still swore he had not taken the money, and
I, believing he was lying, gave him another
thrashing on my own account. That night he
got overboard and swam ashore, and we gave the
money up for lost. Well, about a week after this,
when the steward was ashore, the mate and I
decided to make a thorough search of his cabin.
We found nothing there, but we did in the pantry
— we found the missing bag of dollars, all but the
twenty which he had put into Sarreo's chest —
stowed away in the bottom of half a barrel of flour."

" As soon as Sarreo heard this, the poor fellow
almost began to cry, and said, * I told you, Mr.
Warby, I no steal that money.'

"'No, Sarreo, I know you didn't — that is, I knew
it when the steward owned up to stealing it ; and
told us afterward that he took twenty dollars out
of the bag, and, seeing your chest lying open in
the deck-house, he slipped in when no one was
about and put the money among the clothes at
the bottom.'

" Sarreo sighed, pleased-like, and then his brown
face lit up.

126 SARREO

"The big supercargo came a bit nearer to him,
and then held out his hand.

" ' Look here, Sarreo ! The day before yester-
day I was wrong, but you got my blood up ; and
I am sorry, very sorry, for the wrong I did you
on board the Manola ; but so help me God,
Sarreo, I did not fire at you.'

" Sarreo's eyes seemed to look right through
the white man ; then they turned towards the
skipper and me.

" * / believe you, Mr. Warby,' said the skipper,
coming up and shaking hands with the supercargo.

" And I believed him too, for he looked terribly
distressed and cut up, so I shook hands with him
too.

"Then Sarreo put out his big brown tattooed
hand.

"'And me too, Mr. Warby.'

" The supercargo pressed it gently, so as not to
hurt SarreVs shoulder, then he almost ran past us
on deck.

"Well, from that time out, that man Warby
changed, and he looked after Sarreo all the time
he was laid up, as if he had been his own brother
instead of a Kanaka chap before the mast.

"After leaving Marau Sound we stood to the
northward, being bound to Bougainville Island. It
took us more than a month to get there, and by
that time Sarreo was as well and strong as ever

SARREO 127

he was, and me and the skipper had got quite
chummy with the supercargo, for we found out
that he had a lot of good points about him. You
see, mister, ten or twelve years ago the Solomon
Group was the place to show what a man was
made of — as far as that goes it's not much altered
since. If you don't die of fever you're pretty sure
to get knocked on the head and go down the
nigger's gullets — and this chap Warby had rare
pluck. He never ran a boat's crew into danger,
but would take any risks himself, and somehow
we had cruised right up from Marau Sound to
the north end of Bougainville without losing a
man, or having more than a few arrows or shots
fired at the boats.

"Just when we were about to brace up to round
Bouka Island, and being about three miles off the
land, we sighted the hull of a vessel ashore on the
beach of a small bay. We stood in for a mile
or so and saw that there was a native village
at the head of the bay, and that the vessel was
a schooner of about a hundred tons. There were
no signs of any boats and she seemed to be
stripped of both running and standing gear.

"We manned and armed two boats — one, with
Mr. Warby in charge, being the landing-party;
and the other as a covering boat in case the
natives attacked. I had charge of the second
boat and had four white sailors ; Warby had

128 SARREO

Sarreo and four other natives. The skipper told
us to have a good look at the vessel, then try and
learn what the natives on shore had to say about
her, and then come off and report.

" We pulled right in to the wreck as close as
we could get, for it was low tide. Then Warby
and I got out and walked over to it. We found
that she was stripped of everything of value, even
the chain-plates having been cut out, the decks
were torn up and partly burnt, and the anchors
and cables were gone ; in fact, she was nothing
but a shell.

" * Been looted by the niggers,' I said to Warby.
1 Hope the poor chaps that manned her got away
in the boat ; better for 'em to have been drowned
than be eaten by these beggars about here.'

"'We'll soon see,' said he. 'It's my opinion
they did get away safely. Look over there,
Potter, at those niggers waiting for us on the
beach ; now if they had cut off this vessel they
would have bolted into the bush, or begun firing
at us. Come on/

" We walked back to the boats and then pulled
over to the village, which was about eight hundred
yards away, Warby's boat, of course, going first.
About thirty or forty natives came down to
the water's edge and waited. They were all
armed with bows, spears, and clubs, but seemed
friendly.

SARREO 129

" However, Warby jumped boldly out on to the
beach, and telling his crew to keep her afloat in
case he had to run for it, he went up to the crowd
of niggers and shook hands with some of them ;
I and my chaps in the covering boat keeping our
rifles out of view, but quite ready.

" In about five minutes Warby sang out to me
that it was all right. The vessel, the natives told
him, had parted her cables, gone ashore and bilged
on the reef in the night ; and the hands being too
frightened to come ashore, had gone away next
morning in two boats. Then he told me to wait
a few minutes, as he was going to the chiefs house
to look at the copper and other gear that the
natives had taken from the schooner, and very
likely he would buy it. First of all, though, he
told Sarre"o to pass him out a 12 Ib. case of
tobacco as a present for the chief.

" He took the case from Sarre"o and handed it to
the chief, and then off they went — he in the middle
of thirty or forty murderous-looking savages ; but
he had done the same thing so often before that we
did not feel any particular alarm.

" We lay there, backed stern on to the beach, for
about five minutes, looking at the house into which
he had gone with the natives. Suddenly we saw
him burst out of the house and fall on his knees,
trying to draw his revolver ; but in another moment
he was being tomahawked and clubbed by a mob

10

130 SARREO

of yelling devils ! Poor chap, he must have died
very quickly.

" We opened fire at once and they disappeared
like magic, and then from every bush, tree, and
rock they began firing at us in the boats with both
muskets and arrows. One of my men was hit,
and then, before I could stop him, Sarreo had
jumped out of his boat and was running up the
beach, rifle in hand, to where Mr. Warby's body
was lying.

" He got there, I think, without being hit, just as
a big native ran at him with a tomahawk. He
hadn't time to put his Snider to his shoulder ; but
that nigger gave his last jump anyway, for I saw
the rifle go off and the nigger topple over. In
another five seconds he had lifted the supercargo
up, thrown him over his left shoulder, and was
running down to the boats.

"By this time, me and two of my crew had
jumped out of the boat and ran to meet him,
firing as we went. We had just reached him
when down he went on to his face in the sand — a
bullet had smashed his hip.

" Dropping our rifles, we picked him and Mr.
Warby's body up, and by God's mercy managed
to tumble into the boat together and push off,
covered by the fire from the ship, which carried
two six-pounders.

Sarreo lived two days — he died the same

SARREO 131

morning that we were getting ready to take
Warby's body ashore to bury on a little island
between Bouka and Bougainville. So we made
only one trip ashore. Poor chap ! He had a
good, simple heart, and almost his last words
were that he ' was glad Mr. Warby wasn't eaten.'
*****

" Ah, as you say, Mr. Denison, the rotten South
Seas ain't no place for a white man. Good-night."

Officer and Man

THE anchor of her Majesty's ship Hannibal
was underfoot and the captain on the
bridge, and Rear-Admiral Garnet had shaken
hands with the last of the " leading " Fijian
white residents, who always did the welcoming
and farewelling when distinguished persons visited
Levuka, when Lieutenant Bollard approached him
and intimated that " a person " from the shore had
just come alongside in a boat and desired to see
"his Excellency on private and important busi-
ness."

"What the devil does the fellow want?" said
the Admiral irascibly, not a whit softened by the
" his Excellency " style of address ; " I'm going
on the bridge, and can't see any one now ; we
can't delay the ship and get into a mess going
through the passage."

" Told him so, sir ; but he says he wants to see
you upon an important — a most pressing matter."

132

OFFICER AND MAN 133

" Oh, well ! Confound him ! Let the sentry
show him to my cabin, and tell Captain Bracely I
shall be up in five minutes."

The "person," conducted by the sentry, was
shown into the cabin, where the Admiral, without
taking a seat or offering one to his visitor, inquired
with a cold, cautious politeness born of much
experience of island visitors with " important and
private Service matters of great urgency," what
he might be pleased to want ?

The stranger was a short, fat, coarse-looking
man with little pig-like eyes and scanty tufts of
black beard and whiskers growing in irregular
patches on his cheeks and chin, like clumps of
gorse on clayey banks. He was dressed — in a
manner — in an ill-fitting black cloth suit imported
from Sydney. His hair was very black and shiny,
plastered down over his temples and beautifully
parted at the back of his bullet head. Altogether
he was an unpleasantly sleek, oleaginous creature,
and as he stood bowing and smirking with a cat-
like grin, the Admiral felt an almost irresistible
impulse to kick him out of the cabin. Notwith-
standing his haste, however, he began to recollect
the man as an individual who had been introduced
to him a few days previously at some municipal
function.

" Can't recollect the fellow's name," he muttered
to himself. " I wonder what the devil the creature

134 OFFICER AND MAN

wants ! Got a complaint against the Consul very
likely — every one has a complaint against a Consul
— it's a disease in the South Seas. Confound their
twopenny-halfpenny squabbles ! " Then the little
fat man, with another servile grin, spoke.

" I wish, your Excellency, to see you upon a
matter which I think, as a loyal subject, it is my
duty — my painful duty — to bring under your
notice."

" Thought as much," said the Admiral to himself.
" Some row about a trader insulting a native
teacher, or vice-versa" Then smothering an
exclamation of impatience, he said —

" What is it, sir ? I have no time to lose. By
the way, who are you, sir ? "

" My name, your Excellency, is Obadiah Howl-
man. I had the distinguished honour, your
Excellency, of showing your Excellency over the
grounds of the new Mission College. I was the
contractor for the erection of that ornament to
our little town." And again the oily creature
smirked and bowed and did the invisible soap
business.

" Surely you are not a missionary, sir ? " asked
the Admiral, with undisguised contempt.

" I am not, your Excellency. That is, I am not
yet an ordained labourer in the Vineyard, your
Excellency ; but I hope soon to be one. Mean-
while, all the time that is left to me from my

OFFICER AND MAN 135

business (I am a storekeeper and contractor) is
given to the cause of spreading the Light. I was
once a lost soul, your "

" I see, I see," interrupted the Admiral, with ill-
disguised disgust and open impatience, "but do, for
Heaven's sake, tell me what is your complaint. I
am due in Sydney on the tenth of this month, and
the ship is already under way. As it is, we shall
have to stop outside the reef to let you get into
your boat."

" I am aware of it, your Excellency, and I should
not have ventured to detain you, but this is a very
serious matter — I may say, a criminal matter.
When I had the honour of meeting your
Excellency, on the occasion of your Excel-
lency's visit to the College, I would have spoken
of this matter then ; but my poor, weak nature
was so torn by conflicting emotions that I could
not. And for the past two nights have I
struggled and wrestled in spirit, and sought Divine
guidance. 'Tis indeed hard for one man to reveal
the sins and wickedness of a fellow-sinner — knowing
that we are all but weak vessels. But yet in this
case it is my bounden duty as a loyal "

" Go on — go on, for Heaven's sake ! What on
earth is the matter ? And what the deuce do you
want ? "

"Your Excellency, I wish, in all sorrow and
tribulation of spirit, to give you information as to

136 OFFICER AND MAN

the whereabouts of a deserter from her Majesty's
Navy."

" What do you mean, sir ? None of my men are
missing, and if any were, I'd tell the Fijian police
about it, and not delay the Hannibal" and with a
curt nod the Admiral turned on his heel and was
about to leave the cabin, when the man stepped
forward and interrupted him, saying —

" One word more, your Excellency. There is in
connection with this case "

" The reward. Yes, of course. I forgot all about
that. If there is a deserter from any of her
Majesty's ships living ashore here, you will get
the usual reward, I have no doubt. But really, sir,
this is a matter that you must arrange with the
police when the next man-of-war comes here, or
go to the Consul " — and then, sotto voce — " or the
devil, confound you ! " and the Admiral more than
ever felt inclined to kick his visitor out.

"You quite mistake me, Admiral Garnet. I
have no wish to claim an earthly reward for doing
my duty to my Queen and country. Since I have
lived in these islands the Lord has prospered me
in my worldly affairs, and I am in a position far
above taking payment in money for doing my duty.
I. am, I trust, walking in the Light, and do not want
to obtain wealth — which is but of this world — for
performing such duty."

" Well, well, I am sure I beg your pardon, Mr.

OFFICER AND MAN 137

Howlman. But now I really cannot talk any
longer here, so please do not keep me. At the
same time if there is a deserter here I don't see
what business it is of yours to interest yourself in
his capture. Don't you think you have enough to
do to look after your store, and contracting, and
your alleged missionary business, without running
after deserters?" And inwardly the Admiral
cursed his visitor for a meddlesome ass. He was
in a hurry to get to sea, and yet this fellow might
make it necessary for the ship to be delayed till
the deserter was apprehended.

" My humble connection with missionaries,
Admiral, has taught me that, at whatever cost
to my own feelings, my duty as a loyal subject
must, next to my duty as a Christian, be per-
formed honestly."

"Oh, yes, yes. That's all right, I meant no
disrespect to the missionaries. Many of the
gentlemen engaged in missionary work in these
islands have rendered very valuable services to
her Majesty's ships on many occasions," and then
to himself, " and given us a devil of a lot of trouble
as well."

" Now, sir," the Admiral resumed, " having ex-
plained that the Consul or police will attend to
this deserter, you will allow me to say ' Good-
day.' "

" One moment more, sir," and a spiteful green

138 OFFICER AND MAN

lit up the little piggish eyes. " I desire, as a
British subject, to speak to you privately on this
matter, and to you alone. There are reasons —
very particular reasons — why her Majesty's Consul
or the Fiji police here cannot deal with this case."

" Oh, well," sighed the Admiral resignedly ; " sit
down, Mr. Howlman. I see I am in for it, and so
I'll send for my secretary and "

" Cannot this matter be arranged without a third
party ? "

" No, sir ; it CANNOT ! "

The Admiral said this with so much emphasis,
and rang the bell with so much force at the same
moment, that the sentry almost jumped into the
cabin to see what was the matter.

" Pass the word for Mr. Hayling to come to my
cabin, and to the captain that I shall not be with
him for ten minutes yet. Ten minutes will do
your business, Mr. Howlman, eh ? "

" Certainly, your Excellency," and an evil smile
crossed the man's repulsive features.

The marine saluted, the secretary appeared, and
the Admiral, nodding towards Mr. Howlman in
anything but a friendly manner, growled : " My
secretary, Mr. Hayling. This is Mr. Howlman,
Mr. Hayling; he has a communication to make
about a deserter. Now, sir, proceed."

" This," said the man, producing a photograph
and laying it on the table, "is a portrait of a person

OFFICER AND MAN 139

named George Barcom, who, I have every reason
to believe, was a sergeant of marines on the Fly-
catcher when she was on this station five years
ago."

" Take charge of that photograph, Mr. Hayling.
Go ahead, Mr. Howlman."

" This man, after deserting from the Flycatcher
at a place in this group called Yasawa, managed
to make his way to the island of Niuafou, where at
that time I was in temporary charge of the
Christian Cultivation Association's trading station.
He came to the island in an open boat from the
Yasawa Group, and was not suspected until quite
recently."

"Deuced long time finding him out. But
proceed, sir."

" Guilty as the man was of the crime of deser-
tion, I must yet, perforce, say that he behaved
himself very well. He was kindly received by
the King Tepuaka (a very earnest seeker after
the Light), and all went well for the space of
four years."

" Well, what happened then ? Five minutes
left," and the Admiral looked at his watch.

" My story will soon be told, your Excellency.
The man, who calls himself George Barcom, gained
the affections of Tuilagi,1 the youngest daughter

1 Tuilagi — "Queen of the Sky"; a name common in
Polynesia.

140 OFFICER AND MAN

of the King. She, although not a seeker after the
truth, was yet beginning to display some in-
terest in the teachings of Christianity, and was an
exceedingly comely young woman." Here Mr.
Howlman clasped his fat hands together and cast
up his eyes. " But her father, at my suggestion,
objected to their union. One night Barcom and
the poor, misguided girl were missing. They
had fled in an open boat to another island
called Anuda — one of those dark places of the
earth where the good seed has not yet been
sown."

" And what was the nature and reason of
your objection to their marriage ? " said the
Admiral quietly.

" I had every reason by this time to believe
that the man was a deserter, and in my capacity
as a preacher of the Gospel — though not ordained
as such — I "

" Confine yourself to the subject, if you please,"
interrupted the Admiral, with a mingled look of
impatience and disgust. " You are not a missionary,
you tell me, and I'm hanged if I'm going to listen
to a sermon in my own cabin just now. Yet I have
already given you as much of my time as if you
were one. But don't trespass on my good nature
too much."

" I thought it my duty to interfere and prevent
such a wicked and improper marriage. And, your

OFFICER AND MAN 141

Excellency, this carrying away the young woman
against her father's wishes was very detrimental to
the progress of the Mission work. As I have said,
she was beginning to evince a certain concern for
her soul "

" Confound it, man ! why will you so persistently
harp upon irrevelant matters that do not, as far as
I can see, possibly concern what you really want
to tell me? Have you a brief to speak for the
missionaries ? I am acquainted with the principal
gentlemen (again he emphasised the word) who con-
duct mission work in the South Seas, but I'll be
hanged if I ever heard your name before — not even
as a house-builder, or whatever your vocation is."
And then, with a quick glance at the cunning
visage of Howlman, he added, " I suppose you
knew this young woman very well — perhaps were
a particular friend of hers ? "

Mr. Obadiah Howlman coughed. " Hm — er.
Well, your Excellency, my dear wife, who has
now departed to her rest — an indeed well-earned
rest — when alive, took much interest in this young
girl, and, before she was called away, besought me
to cherish and protect her. And, as time went on,
there was formed, I may say, an attachment
between this young creature and myself — that is,
of course, such an attachment as could exist
between a young woman of this kind, yearning
for instruction, and her spiritual adviser and guide."

142 OFFICER AND MAN

" Yes, yes ; I quite understand, Mr. Howlman.
Mr. Hayling has notes of your statement, and the
photograph. Now, if you will kindly keep your
own counsel on the matter, you will hear in due
course that we have arrested this man, and then, I
think, you will be satisfied."

Then turning to his secretary, the Admiral said,
" The Spitfire is due at Levuka about the 8th.
Write a letter to Commander Arness, and tell him
to call at Anuda and arrest a deserter from the
marines, calling himself George Barcom, and who
can be identified by this photograph. He is the
only white man on the island, so this Mr. Howlman
says, and there should be no difficulty in finding
him. That will satisfy you, I presume, Mr. Howl-
man ? "

" Quite, sir, I assure you. I have done my duty
and "

" Good-day, sir. You will just have time to get
into your boat and get ashore while we are in
smooth water, and before we start the engines."

The Admiral did not seem to notice the little fat
man's outstretched hand. The secretary bowed
him out of the cabin, holding the photograph in
one hand and his notebook in the other. Neither
of them liked his look well enough to shake hands
with him.

The Admiral, however, did not give the order to
start the engines immediately, for the sentry, in

OFFICER AND MAN 143

accordance with orders received from the secretary,
waited till Mr. Obadiah Howlman was at the foot
of the accommodation-ladder, and then called out,
" Hold on that boat a minute or two ; the Admiral
wants to send a letter ashore."

For twenty minutes Mr. Howlman waited im-
patiently in the boat, and then a big, official-
looking letter was handed down the ladder to the
boatman, addressed : " O.H.M.S. — Commander
Arness, H.M.S. Spitfire, care of H.B.M. Consul,
Levuka, Fiji."

Mr. Howlman smiled to himself with the satisfied
air of a man who has done his duty. He knew the
contents of the letter, and recognised through its
envelope the hard cardboard of the photograph of
George Barcom enclosed therein. There was also
a smaller note, addressed to Commander Arness
by name, and marked, " Private letter."

Five minutes later the Hannibal steamed
through the passage, and shaped a course for

Sydney.

* * * * #

The Spitfire was steaming full speed E.S.E. from
Levuka. On the bridge was Commander Arness
talking to the navigating lieutenant, a young and
almost effeminate-looking officer.

The land had just been sighted, and lay right
ahead.

* Will there be daylight enough left for us to get

144 OFFICER AND MAN

there and have this wretched thing over, Carteret?"
asked Commander Arness.

" Plenty, sir, if this weather keeps up and you
don't want to stay there more than a couple of
hours."

" No. Two hours should be ample time. This
letter from Hayling explains the whole business,"
and he handed the lieutenant the despatch from
the Admiral's secretary, which duly set forth that
the Spitfire was to take on board a certain white
trader living on Anuda — otherwise, Cherry Island
— and bring him prisoner to Syndey. His wife
was to be returned to her father at Niuafou. The
last paragraph in the letter was to this effect —

" Be careful to identify beyond doubt this
alleged deserter. The Rear- Admiral has received
this information at the instant of sailing, and he is
by no means certain that the statements of his
informant can be depended upon. A photograph
of the reputed deserter is enclosed herewith. The
Admiral thinks that Mr. Carteret may know the
man, as he was serving in the Flycatcher five years
ago."

"This rascal Howlman has informed upon the
poor devil for spite," said the Commander ; " here's
a private note from Hayling to myself about the
fellow."

OFFICER AND MAN 145

The lieutenant took the note and read —

" MY DEAR ARNESS, — Just a line on my own
account. Be careful what you are doing in this
business. The fellow who informed is a sort of
hanger-on to the missionaries here. They don't
think much of him, but seem to put up with the
swab as a necessary evil. He confessed that
jealousy had something to do with the matter,
and I could see the Admiral wanted to kick him
out of the cabin. Make sure that this man
Barcom is a deserter, or there will be the devil
to pay if he should prove to be an American
citizen, or anything of that kind. — Yours, CHARLES
HAYLING."

"You see why they have left the matter to us,
Carteret. You were on the Flycatcher five years
ago, and the Admiral thinks you may be able
to identify this fellow. Of course Barcom is not
his name."

Mr. Carteret at this moment was very busy with
the chart, over which he bent his head a moment,
and then turned sharply to the man at the wheel,
who was not out of earshot.

"Keep your course," he said sharply; "why don't
you attend to your steering ! " Then he turned to
the commander : " I beg your pardon, sir ; you

were saying ? "

II

146 OFFICER AND MAN

" I was saying that you ought to remember such
an incident as a sergeant of marines deserting from
the Flycatcher when she was down here five years
ago."

" I do remember it. The man's name was
Charles Parker."

"Is that the man ? " And Arness handed him a
photograph of a man dressed in white ducks and a
straw hat, evidently taken by an amateur.

Carteret looked at the photograph for fully a
couple of minutes before he answered slowly —

" No, I don't think that this is the man."

A few hours later the Spitfire had steamed in
close to the land, and a boat was lowered. In this
boat were Lieutenant Carteret, a sergeant of
marines, with three privates and half a dozen blue-
jackets.

" I have force enough to take a boat-load of
deserters," remarked the lieutenant to his com-
mander, as he descended the poop ladder on his
way to the boat.

Commander Arness laughed. " Oh, well, you
know the natives might take it into their heads to
resist his arrest. But be careful what you are
doing : make perfectly sure that he is the man.
You don't know what complications might arise if
we carried off the wrong person."

* # # * *

The moment the boat touched the shore, she

OFFICER AND MAN 147

was surrounded by a crowd of friendly, brown-
skinned islanders, who seemed delighted to see the
strangers.

" Any one of you fellows speak English ? " asked
Mr. Carteret.

" Yes, sir," and a big, burly fellow with a fine
open countenance advanced to the officer. " Me
speak English, and plenty more men here speak
it, too. What you want, sir ? "

" Any white men living here ? " asked Carteret
quietly.

" Oh, yes — one, a very good man ; his name is
Joajai " [George].

" Take me to his house," said the officer. " I
want to see him."

In a few minutes Mr. Carteret and his marines
were being conducted up a steep and rugged path
towards the white trader's house, which was situated
quite apart from the native village, while the blue-
jackets were left in the boat, remarking to each
other that this white man was a most cursed
unfriendly sort of a chap not to come down to the
beach when he saw a man-of-war's boat ashore.

" Don't you be such a fool, Tom," said the
coxswain to one of the men. " You're always
a-jumpin' at conclusions too rapid. Just you wait
a bit and see. It's my belief that this chap has
been up to something, and the marines have gone
with Carteret to scruff him and bring him aboard.

148 OFFICER AND MAN

I saw the sergeant had a pair of darbies, and what
do you suppose that Carteret's come ashore with a
regular escort for ? "

A ten minutes' walk and Lieutenant Carteret
and his men, guided by a number of natives,
reached the white man's thatched dwelling, which
stood amid a grove of banana and bread-fruit trees.
When within a few yards, the lieutenant saw a tall,
graceful young native girl, clad in semi-European
style, advance to the open door, and then with a
terrified exclamation withdraw again.

" That is Tui,1 Joajai's wife," said one of the
natives, pointing to the girl, who now again ap-
peared, and, with her full dark eyes dilated with
alarm, timidly held out her hand to the officer
and murmured something in the native tongue.

" She speaks English, but she is afraid of the
men with the guns," explained the native guide.

" Where is your husband ? " said Lieutenant
Carteret, motioning to the girl to seat herself, and
the marines to stand back.

She only shook her head, and turned inquiringly
to the natives who accompanied the officer.

" The white man is away on the other side of
the island, sir. He be here in 'bout one half-hour,"
said the English-speaking native. " Suppose you
like, sir, I send some one go tell him come quick ? "

Carteret hesitated a moment, then answered
1 The diminutive of Tuilagi.

OFFICER AND MAN 149

" No." Then turning to the sergeant of marines,
he said, " Let your men fall still further back,
sergeant. This is a delicate matter, and I don't
want this confounded crowd of natives, many of
whom understand English, to hear what I have to
say to this woman. Send a man down to the
boat, and tell the coxswain that I shall have to
wait for some time. If the ship makes a signal,
the boat can go off and tell the captain that I shall
have to wait ; then she can come back for me."

All this time the trader's young wife sat
trembling upon a rude couch that stretched across
one side of the room ; and her eyes never left the
officer's face for an instant, save when for a
moment she gave a terrified glance at the rifles
and bayonets of the marine escort.

The moment that the marines had fallen back
the lieutenant stepped forward and took the young
woman by the hand.

" Tui," he said hurriedly, drawing her to the
further end of the room with firm but gentle hand,
and speaking so low and without motion of his
lips that none but she knew that he spoke at
all, " for God's sake and for mine and your hus-
band's, do not be frightened, but listen to me and
do exactly as I tell you."

Still trembling like a startled fawn, the girl
raised her lustrous eyes to the young officer's face.
His earnest, sincere manner and expression of

ISO OFFICER AND MAN

deep concern seemed to reassure her, and though
her bosom heaved and her breath came in quick,
short gasps, she turned her face to him in the
confidence of dawning hope.

" Who are you, sir, and what do you wan' my
husban' for ? "

" Tell these natives to go," said the lieutenant.
" Have no fear. I am your husband's friend ; but,
be quick ! "

Still, with a wondering look upon her beautiful
face, the girl advanced to the door, said something
in the island tongue to the crowd of curious natives,
and then gently closed the door.

" This is a rum go!" said the sergeant of marines
to himself, as he saw the door shut to. " What the
devil has the girl been doing ? Are the bracelets
for her, I wonder ? "

" Tui," said Lieutenant Carteret, the moment
they were alone, " time presses. You speak Eng-
lish so well as to thoroughly understand that which
I am now about to tell you ? "

"Yes, sir," she answered,' standing before him
with clasped hands, " I think so. A white woman
who is dead now taught me to read and write
English, and my husban' always talk English to
me."

" Good. Then listen to me, my girl. I am
Lieutenant Carteret, of H.M.S. Spitfire — that ship
out there — sent here with the ship's police to arrest

OFFICER AND MAN 151

a deserter from the Flycatcher on this station five
years ago. This is the man;s photograph. He is
said to be your husband, and calls himself George
Barcom. Now, when I was an officer of the Fly-
catcher^ I knew a man named Charles Parker " —
her face went a deadly pallor — " who deserted the
ship at the Yasawa Group in Fiji. I can, without
doubt, identify this man. But, Tui, I have looked
at this photograph when it was held in the hand of
my captain, and said that this is not the man whom
I knew as Charles Parker. But look at it yourself
and tell me — is this the photograph of your hus-
band, and is this man on this island ? "

With shaking fingers she took it from him,
looked at it, and then raised her face to the officer.

" Is this the doin' of a man called Obadiah
Howlman ? "

" Yes," answered the lieutenant, " it is the work
of Obadiah Howlman. He brought this photo-
graph to the Admiral only a few days ago."

A savage gleam came into her eyes. " The
brute ! I kill him for this some day ! "

" That will not save your husband, my girl," said
Carteret; then he waited a moment and added,
" whatever it might do later on."

Suddenly the girl's dark eyes filled with tears,
and she laid her hand on the officer's sleeve.

"What is to be done, sir? For God's sake
don' you take my husband from me, sir."

152 OFFICER AND MAN

" This can be done. You have seen this photo-
graph. You say that it is not that of your husband,
don't you ? But, Tui, I must do my duty, do you
understand ? I must see your husband."

" And you are the man whose life he saved — for
now I 'member your name and the story he told
me long ago — you who say you are his friend, you
would do this thing, you who in the ship gave him
money so that he might "

" Wait, my girl, till I have finished ; then you
will understand. Listen now. I will remain here,
and you will yourself find your husband and bring
him here to this house so that I may see him.
Bring him here quickly, and by some way that my
men cannot see his face. And then, Tui, when I
have spoken to him, then for your sake and for his
sake I will lie, and swear he is not the man I have
been sent to take. Then, when my ship has gone,
you — you and he — you must promise me this, Tui
— must leave this island as quickly as possible ; so
that when Obadiah Howlman sends another war-
ship here — as he will do — they may not discover
that I am a liar and have been false to my duty."

" Oh, sir, is this true ? Surely you would not
tell a lie to a poor native girl like me ? "

" Go, my girl " — and Carteret placed a kindly
hand on her shoulder — "go quickly to Parker —
I know very well that he is not far off. He will
believe what I say."

OFFICER AND MAN 153

For a moment she gazed intently into his face,
as if she would read his soul ; and then seizing his
hand pressed it to her lips, and went out by the
door that opened at the rear of the house.

Then the lieutenant opened the front door and
walked slowly across to where the marines were
standing.

" Take your men out of sight, sergeant. I don't
want this fellow frightened until I know who he is.
If he's the man we want, we'll have no trouble in
getting him. I've induced his wife to go and bring
him."

Whistling softly in an unconcerned manner, he
turned back and stood at the door of the house
and waited there for perhaps ten minutes, until he
saw the girl returning with a white man, who
appeared to be ill and weak, for he had on a heavy
top-coat, and a shawl wrapped round his neck in
such a way that his features were almost entirely

hidden.

*****

Lieutenant Carteret allowed the man and woman
to enter, and then followed, closing the door after
him.

As soon as he was inside, the white man threw
off his muffler and turned towards the officer.

" You must take me, sir," he said, speaking
calmly. " I cannot let you do this for me. I
know, sir, that you cannot help yourself."

154 OFFICER AND MAN

" No, by Heavens ! Parker, I cannot take you.
You jumped overboard and saved my life. I tell
you, man, that I can't do it. Do you think I can
ever forget that awful thirty minutes, nearly six
years ago, when you kept me afloat off the Bamp-
ton Shoal? Now, Parker, just listen. I have a
plan ; the whole thing is arranged as soon as we
leave here. But you and your wife must get away
from this island soon after the Spitfire leaves.
That infernal sweep, Howlman, will be sure to
send another man-of-war after you "

" Listen to me, sir. I, too, have a plan. You
shall not ruin yourself for me. You are only a
very young man, sir, and have the world before
you. I dread nothing but the temporary separa-
tion from Tui here. To me my arrest means
only dismissal from the service and a couple of
years in gaol ; and likely enough, I shall get back
here again without much trouble."

" No, I "

" Don't waste time, sir. Call the escort, but for
God's sake, sir, do the thing quickly ; look at my
girl, sir, and let me get away before I break down
too, and act the coward. If you don't call the
escort at once, I will."

"You madman, Parker," began Carteret, and
then Tui threw her arms round her husband.

" Are you tired of me ? " she sobbed. " Is
this how you would leave the woman who loves

OFFICER AND MAN 155

you, and who will be the mother of your
child ? "

The deserter caught her in his arms, and looking
over his shoulder at the lieutenant, said, " For
God's sake, sir, don't wait. Call in your men
and get it over."

" Parker, for Heaven's sake take this chance. I
tell you, man, that I have no fear for myself. I
don't care a straw about the Service if this is
discovered."

" Stand aside, sir. I'm not the man to let you

sacrifice yourself for me " And unloosing his

wife's arms from his neck, he advanced to the door.

" Very well ; it is your own fault."

The next instant the lieutenant threw open the
door.

" Sergeant, bring your men here."

*****

Half an hour later Lieutenant Carteret reported
to Commander Arness.

" I have brought the prisoner on board, sir. He
is a man named Charles Parker, and was sergeant
of marines on the Flycatcher"

" Very good, Mr. Carteret. What have you
done with his wife ? "

" She refused to leave, sir, and when we brought
the man away, went off to the other side of the

island."

*****

156 OFFICER AND MAN

When the Spitfire reached Sydney, Charles
Parker was duly tried by court-martial, and in
consequence of the friendly exertions of the
principal witness against him, Lieutenant Neil
Carteret, was let off lightly. He was dismissed
from the service, and sentenced to imprisonment
in a Sydney jail for eighteen months.

When his time had expired, he managed, after a
few months of waiting about in Sydney, to work
his way back to Anuda Island. And scarce had
the boat touched the beach when he was seized by
the welcoming arms of his native friends and
carried ashore.

" Is it well with my wife, O friends ? " he asked.

" It is well with her," they answered ; " in a little
while we will take you to her, but first let us tell
thee of that which has befallen her on this island."

Then they told him.

*****

" One day after the warship had gone," they
said, "there came here a trading schooner from
Niuafou. On the ship were Tepuaka, the King of
Niuafou — the father of thy wife — and many of his
men. And with him there came also the little fat
white man named Opataia [Obadiah]. All those
men that came with Tepuaka, the King, were lotu
[Christians]. No sooner did they land, than
Tepuaka and his friend, the fat little white man,
Opataia, walked to the house of his daughter, thy

OFFICER AND MAN 157

wife, Tiii, but all of his men he bade remain here
in the village.

" * See/ said one of these men of Niuafou to us
vauntingly, ' see what has come to pass ! Tuilagi
refused to take for her husband the good and
pious man Opataia, but fled with this common
white man, who is no better than a heathen. And
then what comes ? This bad white man is caught
by his countrymen and put in a prison with chains
upon his body. So now the King comes for his
daughter, for even now is Opataia willing to take
her, though she is but of little worth, to my mind.'

" While they spoke thus to us, Tepuaka and his
white friend had gone to thy house, and there did
Tui, thy wife, meet them with smiles to hide what
lay in her heart.

" ' Get thee ready, thou wicked woman/ said her
father roughly to her ; ' get thee ready quickly to
leave this heathen land and return to thy own
country, where thou shalt be wife to this good
man, Opataia, who desires thee still.'

" * It is well, my father/ said Tui ; ' but yet leave
us now for a little. Surely if this man desires me
for his house he can speak to me with his own
mouth, and not through thine.'

" So her father went without the house, and
Opataia, the white man, remained with Tui.

" Then said the evil-faced white man to Tui :
' For the wrong that thou did'st me by running

158 OFFICER AND MAN

away with that evil white man do I forgive thee,
for I love thee well.' And then he put his arms
about her, and sought to embrace her after the
manner of a lover.

" And then from beneath her gown did Tui take
out a little gun that fires six bullets ; and as the
fat man, Opataia, pressed her to his bosom and
heeded not what she did, she placed the mouth of
the little gun to the side of his fat head. Then
she said —

" ' This do I, dog, for the husband of whom thou
hast robbed me/ and then there came a flash and
a cry, and the white man sprang to his feet and fell
forward on his face — dead.

" Then Tui ran from the house. She fled from
her father and came towards the village, and
Tepuaka the King followed her with death in his
face.

" ' Kill her ! ' he called to the men of Niuafou.

" But then we men of Anuda sprang to her aid
with our clubs in our hands, and she ran into our
midst and called to us to save her from her father.

" So there was much talk, and then her father's
wrath began to subside, for we made him many
presents of food for his journey back, and he went
away in peace.

" That is all. And see, Jaojai, hither comes
thy wife with her son in her arms to welcome
thee home."

" The Gallant, Good Riou '

THIS is a true story of one of Nelson's
captains, he of whom Nelson wrote as " the
gallant and good Riou " — high meed of praise
gloriously won at Copenhagen — but Riou, eleven
years before that day, performed a deed, now
almost forgotten, which, for unselfish heroism,
ranks among the brightest in our brilliant naval
annals, and in the sea story of Australia in par-
ticular.

In September, 1789, the Guardian, a forty-gun
ship, under the command of Riou, then a lieu-
tenant, left England for the one-year-old penal
settlement in New South Wales. The little
colony was in sore need of food — almost starving,
in fact — and Riou's. orders were to make all haste
toJiis destination, calling at the Cape on the way
to embark live stock and other supplies. All the
ship's guns had been removed to make room for
the stores, which included a " plant cabin " — a

159

160 "THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU"

temporary compartment built on deck for the
purpose of conveying to Sydney, in pots of earth,
trees and plants selected by Sir Joseph Banks as
likely to be useful to the young colony — making
her deck " a complete garden," says a newspaper
of the time. Friends of the officers stationed in
New South Wales sent on board the Guardian
great quantities of private goods, and these were
stored in the gun-room, which it was thought
would be a safer place than the hold, but, as the
event proved, it was the most insecure.

The ship arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in
November, and there filled her decks with cattle
and provisions, then sailed again, her cargo being
equal in value to about £70,000. On December
23rd — twelve days after leaving the Cape — what
is described as " an island of ice " was seen.
Riou gave orders to stand towards it in order to
renew, by collecting lumps of ice, the supply of
water, the stock of fresh water having run very
low in consequence of the quantity consumed by
the cattle.

The Public Advertiser of April 30, 1790,
describes what now happened. As the ship
approached the island, the boats were hoisted
out and manned, and several lumps collected.
During this time the ship lay to, and on the ice
being brought on board she attempted to stand
away. Very little apprehension was at this time

"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU " 161

entertained of her safety, although the enormous
bulk of the island occasioned an unfavourable
current, and in some measure gave a partial
direction to the wind. On a sudden, the base
of the island, which projected under water con-
siderably beyond the limits of the visible parts,
" struck the bow of the ship ; she instantly swung
round, and her head cleared, but her stern, coming
on the shoal, struck repeatedly, and the sea being
very heavy, her rudder broke away, and all her
works abaft were shivered. The ship in this
situation became, in a degree, embayed under the
terrific bulk of ice, for its height was twice that of
the mainmast of a ship of the line, and the promi-
nent head of the berg was every moment expected
to break away and overwhelm the ship. At
length, after every practicable exertion, she was
got off the shoal, and the ice floated past her. "It
was soon perceived that the Guardian had six feet
of water in her hold, and it was increasing very fast.
The hands were set to the pumps, others to find
out the leaks, and they occasionally relieved each
other. Thus they continued labouring unceasingly
on the 24th, although on the 23rd not one of them
had had the least rest. The ship was at one period
so much relieved that she had only two feet of water
in the hold ; but at this time, when their distress
wore the best aspect, the water "increased in a
moment to ten feet." Then the ship was discovered

12

162 "THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU "

to be strained in all her works, and the sea run-
ning high, every endeavour to check the progress
of a particular leak proved ineffectual. To
lighten the ship, the cows, horses, sheep, and all
the other live stock for the colony were, with their
fodder, committed to the deep to perish.

John Williams, boatswain of the Guardian,
wrote to his parents in London, and told them
about the disaster, and although we have no
doubt he was handier with the marline-spike than
with his pen, some of his badly spelled letter reads
well : —

"This axident happened on the 23rd of
December, and on the 25th the boats left us
with moast of the officers and a great part of the
seamen. The master-gunner, purser, one master's
mate, one midshipman, and a parson, with nine
seamen, was got into the longboat and cleared the
ship. The doctor and four or five men got into a
cutter and was upset close to the ship, and all of
them was drowned. As for the rest of the boats,
I believe they must be lost and all in them
perished, for wee was about six hundred leagues
from any land. There was about fifty-six men
missing; a number drowned jumping into the
boats ; the sea ran so high that the boats could
scarce live. The commander had a strong resulu-
tion, for he said he would soner go down in the

"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU " 163

ship than he wold quid her. All the officers left
in the ship was the commander, the carpenter, one
midshipman, and myself. After the boats left us
we had two chances — either to jump or sink. We
cold just get into the sailroom and got up a new
forecourse and stuck itt full of oakum and rags,
and put itt under the ship's bottom ; this is called
fothering the ship. We found some benefit by itt
for pumping and bailing we gained on hur; that
gave us a little hope of saving our lives. We was
in this terable situation for nine weeks before we
got to the Cape of Good Hope. Sometimes our
upper-deck scuppers was under water outside, and
the ship leying like a log on the water, and the sea
breaking over her as if she was a rock. Sixteen
foot of water was the common run for the nine
weeks in the hold. I am not certain what we are
to doo with the ship as yet. We have got moast
of our cargo out ; it is all dammaged but the beef
and pork, which is in good order. I have lost a
great dele of my cloaths, and I am thinking of
drawing of about six pound, wich I think I can
make shift with. If this axident had not hapned
I shold not have had aney call for aney. As for
my stores, there is a great part of them thrown
overboard ; likewise all the officers stores in the
ship is gone the same way, for evry thing that
came to hand was thrown ovarboard to lighten the
ship. I think that we must wait till ordars comes

164 "THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU "

from England to know what we are to do with the
ship."

The chronicles of the time also relate how at
daylight on Christmas morning, when the water
was reported as being up to the orlop deck and
gaining two feet an hour, many of the people
desponded and gave themselves up for lost. A
part of those who had any strength left, seeing
that their utmost efforts to save the ship were
likely to be in vain, applied to the officers for the
boats, which were promised to be in readiness for
them, and the boatswain was directly ordered to
put the masts, sails, and compasses in each. The
cooper was also set to work to fill a few quarter-
casks of water out of some of the butts on deck,
and provisions and other necessaries were got up
from the hold.

Many hours previous to this, Lieutenant Riou
had privately declared to his officers that he saw
the final loss of the ship was inevitable, and he
could not help regretting the loss of so many
brave fellows. " As for me," said he, " I have
determined to remain in the ship, and shall
endeavour to make my presence useful as long
as there is any occasion for it." He was entreated,
and even supplicated, to give up this fatal reso-
lution, and try for safety in the boats. It was
even hinted to him how highly criminal it was to

"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU " 165

persevere in such a determination ; but he was not
to be moved by any entreaties. He was, notwith-
standing, as active in providing for the safety of
the boats as if he intended to take the opportunity
of securing his own escape. He was throughout
as calm and collected as in the happier moments
of his life.

At seven o'clock the Guardian had settled con-
siderably abaft, and the water was coming in at the
rudder-case in great quantities. At half-past seven
the water in the hold obliged the people below to
come upon deck ; the ship appeared to be in a
sinking state, and settling bodily down ; it was,
therefore, almost immediately agreed to have
recourse to the boats. While engaged in con-
sultation on this melancholy business, Riou wrote
a letter to the Admiralty, which he delivered to
Mr. Clements, the master. It was as follows : —

" H.M.S. Guardian, Dec. 25, 1789.
"If any part of the officers or crew of the
Guardian should ever survive to get home, I have
only to say their conduct, after the fatal stroke
against an island of ice, was admirable and
wonderful in everything that relates to their duty,
considered either as private men, or in His
Majesty's service. As there seems to be no
possibility of my remaining many hours in this
world, I beg leave to recommend to the considera-

166 "THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU"

tion of the Admiralty a sister, who, if my conduct
or service should be found deserving any memory,
their favour might be shown to, together with a
widowed mother.

" I am, &c.,
" Phil. Stephens, Esq." " E. RlOU.

With the utmost difficulty the boats were
launched. After they were got afloat and had
cleared the ship, with the exception of the launch
they were never afterwards heard of; the launch
with nine survivors was picked up by a passing
vessel ten days after she left the wreck, her people
reduced to the last extremity for want of food and
water.

Among the survivors was the parson mentioned
by the boatswain. This was the Rev. Mr. Crowther,
who was on his way as a missionary to the penal
settlement. The Rev. John Newton, of Olney
(poet Cowper's Newton), had got Crowther the
appointment, at "eight shillings per diem, of
assistant chaplain of the settlement," and Newton,
writing to the Rev. R. Johnson, chaplain of
Sydney, tells how he heard of the loss of the
Guardian^ " and the very next morning Mr.
Crowther knocked at my door himself." Then
Mr. Newton writes a letter which shows that Mr.
Crowther had had enough of the sea. " It is not a
service for mere flesh and blood to undertake. A

"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU" 167

man without that apostolic spirit and peculiar call
which the Lord alone can give would hardly be
able to maintain his ground. Mr. Crowther,
though a sincere, humble, good man, seems not
to have had those qualifications, and therefore he
has been partly intimidated by what he met with
abroad, and partly influenced by nearer personal
considerations at home, to stay with us and sleep
in a whole skin." But after his experience it was
not to be wondered at that he preferred to stay at
home and sleep in a whole skin.

Meanwhile Riou, in spite of a ship without a
rudder, and with the water in her up to the orlop
deck, succeeded, as the boatswain's letter shows,
after a voyage of nine weeks, in bringing his com-
mand to the Cape. A letter from Capetown,
written on March i, 1790, tells us she arrived there
" eight days ago in a situation not to be credited
without ocular proofs. She had, I think, nine feet
of water in her when she anchored. The lower
gun-deck served as a second bottom ; it was stowed
with a very great weight equally fore and aft. To
this, and to the uncommon strength of it, Captain
Riou ascribes his safety. Seeing an English ship
with a signal of distress, four of us went on board,
scarcely hoping but with busy fancy still pointing
her out to be the Guardian, and, to our inex-
pressible joy, we found it was her. We stood in
silent admiration of her heroic commander (whose

168 "THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU "

supposed fate had drawn tears from us before),
shining through the rags of the meanest sailor.
The fortitude of this man is a glorious example
for British officers to emulate. Since that time we
have gone on board again to see him. He is
affable in his manners, and of most commanding
presence. . . . Perhaps we, under the influence of
that attraction which great sufferings always pro-
duce, may, in the enthusiasm of our commendation,
be too lavish in his praise ; were it not for this fear
I would at once pronounce him the most God-like
mortal I ever viewed. They were two months from
the time the accident happened until they reached
this place. Every man shared alike in the labour ;
and not having at all attended to their persons
during the whole of that dismal period they looked
like men of another world — long beards, dirt, and
rags covered them. Mr. Riou got one of his
hands crushed and one of his legs hurt, but all are
getting well. None of his people died during their
fatigues. He says his principal attention was to
keep up their spirits and to watch over their
health. He never allowed himself to hope until
the day before he got in here, when he made the
land. Destitute of that support, how superior
must his fortitude be ! He has this morning, for
the first time, come on shore, having been em-
ployed getting stores, &c., out to lighten the ship.
He wavers what to do with her — whether to put

"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU " 169

Government to the expense of repairing her here
(which would almost equal her first cost, perhaps
exceed it) or burn her. Most likely the last will
be resolved on."

The ship was in such a state that she was
condemned by the experts at the Cape, but Riou,
bearing in mind the distressed state of the colony
of New South Wales, did not rest until he had sent
on in other vessels all the stores he could collect.

Neither did he forget the behaviour of certain
convicts. In a letter to the Admiralty he wrote :
" Permit me, sir, to address you on a subject
which I hope their Lordships will not consider to
be unworthy their notice. It is to recommend as
much as is in my power to their Lordships' favour
and interest the case of the twenty convicts which
my duty compelled me to send to Port Jackson.
But the recollection of past sufferings reminds me
of that time when I found it necessary to make
use of every possible method to encourage the
minds of the people under my command, and at
such time, considering how great the difference
might be between a free man struggling for life
and him who perhaps might consider death as not
much superior to a life of ignominy and disgrace
I publicly declared that not one of them, so far as
depended on myself, should ever be convicts.
And I may with undeniable truth say that, had
it not been for their assistance and support, the

170 "THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU"

Guardian would never have arrived to where she
is. Their conduct prior to the melancholy accident
that happened on December 23rd last was always
such as may be commended, and from their first
entrance into the ship at Spithead they ever
assisted and did their duty in like manner as the
crew. I have taken the liberty to recommend
them to the notice of Governor Phillip; but I
humbly hope, sir, their Lordships will consider the
service done by these men as meriting their Lord-
ships' favour and protection, and I make no doubt
that should I have been so fortunate as to repre-
sent this in proper colours, that they will experi-
ence the benefit of their Lordships' interest."

The prisoners were pardoned, and the Secretary
of the Admiralty wrote to Riou —

" I have their Lordships' commands to acquaint
you that their concern on the receipt of the melan-
choly contents of the first-mentioned letter could
only be exceeded by the satisfaction they received
from the account of your miraculous escape, which
they attribute to your skilful and judicious exer-
tions under the favour of Divine Providence. . . *
Their Lordships have communicated to Mr. Secre-
tary Grenville, for his Majesty's information, your
recommendation of the surviving convicts whose
conduct, as it has so deservedly met with your
approbation, will, there is every reason to hope,
entitle them to his Majesty's clemency."

"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU" 171

[This story of the gallant behaviour of these
twenty prisoners does not stand alone in the
convict annals of Australia. There were many
other instances in which convicts behaved with the
greatest heroism. Many of the earlier explorers,
such as Sturt, received most valuable aid from
prisoners who were members of their expeditions ;
and in the first days of the colony both Phillip and
Hunter were quick to recognise and personally
reward or recommend for pardon to the Home
Government convicts who had distinguished them-
selves by acts of bravery.]

When Riou returned to England he was pro-
moted to post-captain's rank, and at Copenhagen,
in 1801, he commanded the Amazon. Perhaps we
may be forgiven for reprinting from Southey's
" Nelson " an account of what he did there. " The
signal " (that famous one which Nelson looked at
with his blind eye), " the signal, however, saved
Riou's little squadron, but did not save its heroic
leader. The squadron, which was nearest the
commander-in-chief, obeyed and hauled off. It
had suffered severely in its most unequal contest.
For a long time the Amazon had been firing
enveloped in smoke, when Riou desired his men
to stand fast, and let the smoke clear off, that they
might see what they were about. A fatal order,
for the Danes then got clear sight of her from the
batteries, and pointed their guns with such tre-

172 "THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU "

mendous effect that nothing but the signal for
retreat saved this frigate from destruction. ' What
will Nelson think of us ! ' was Riou's mournful
exclamation when he unwillingly drew off. He
had been wounded in the head by a splinter, and
was sitting on a gun, encouraging his men, when,
just as the Amazon showed her stern to the
Trekroner Battery, his clerk was killed by his side,
and another shot swept away several marines who
were hauling in the main-brace. ' Come, then, my
boys ! ' cried Riou, ' let us die all together ! ' The
words had scarcely been uttered before a raking
shot cut him in two. Except it had been Nelson
himself, the British Navy could not have suffered
a severer loss."

The South Seaman :

AN INCIDENT IN THE SEA STORY OF AUSTRALIA

ON the 22nd of July, 1828, the Sydney South
Seaman, Indefatigable^ eleven days out from
the Port of Conception in Chili, was in lat. 17° S.
and about 127° E. long., six hundred miles distant
from the nearest land — the then almost unknown
Paumotu Group, which Cook had well named the
Dangerous Archipelago.

Five years before, the brig was named the Calder,
and was then commanded by Captain Peter Dillon,
a famous officer in the East India Company's
service ; his name is interwoven with the sea story
of Australia as the commander of the Company's
ship Research, and the discoverer of the relics of
the gallant and ill-fated La Perouse, whose ships
were wrecked on Vanikoro Island, in the New
Hebrides group, in 1788.

When the Calder was under the command of
Captain Dillon she was a crack Indian trader to
173

174 THE SOUTH SEAMAN

Port Jackson, but newer and smarter vessels drove
her out of the trade ; and in 1828 she was owned
by Mr. John Duncan, an English merchant of
Valparaiso, who for this present voyage had loaded
her with wheat for Sydney, and sent her to sea
under the command of Mr. Joseph Hunter, after
changing her name to Indefatigable.

The first and second mates of the brig were
Europeans, as also were two or three of the crew —
the rest were Chilenos, picked up at the last
moment of sailing. The steward was a Bengali,
a man devoted to his captain, with whom he had
long sailed in other seas. The Chilenos were not
alone lazy and incompetent seamen, not fit to keep
a look-out, nor take the wheel in rough weather,
but what was worse, they were treacherous scoun-
drels, as ready for murder with their long, ugly
sheath-knives, as British merchant sailors are with
their fists for honest fighting.

Naturally enough, with such men as these the
mates frequently quarrelled, and on one or two
occasions the officers were driven to resort to blows
to maintain proper discipline. And a Chileno, or
any other Spanish South American, never forgives
a blow, though a knife-thrust or a pistol-shot in the
dark would not be considered anything else than
proper to vindicate wounded honour. But the
mates of the Indefatigable were simple-minded,
rough British seamen. They wanted the Chilenos

THE SOUTH SEAMAN 175

to work the ship like sailormen should work a
ship — the Chilenos hated work of any kind, and
especially hated the steady discipline of this
English merchant ship — the officers of which,
when necessity demanded it, would rout out the
watch below and send them aloft to shorten sail.
And so, in less than a week from the day the brig
sailed from Conception, mutiny and murder was
plotted in the foc's'cle by the Chilenos. But none
of the Englishmen on board had any thought of

danger.

*****

Mr. Loftgreen, the chief mate, had the middle
watch. It was a marvellously clear and starlight
night, with just enough wind astern to keep the
brig's light canvas full and give her steerage way.
As the officer slowly paced the short poop, he
with difficulty resisted the soothing lullaby of the
murmur of the water as it rippled past the ship's
side.

On the foc's'cle, one of the Chileno sailors, named
Antonio Mancillo, kept the watch, and just as
Loftgreen, overcome by the stillness of his sur-
roundings, had stopped his walk and was leaning
on the rail at the break of the poop, almost dozing
— good seaman as he was — he heard the Chileno
cry out sharply —

" There is an island close ahead ! — Come for'ard,
Senor Loftgreen."

176 THE SOUTH SEAMAN

The mate ran hastily for'ard, but as he reached
the short ladder which led to the topgallant
foc's'cle, two Chilenos, each carrying a cutlass,
sprang upon and seized him by the arms, while
Mancillo held the point of a knife to his throat.

" Ha, you Ingleese dog ! If you speak, you die
now ; we shall kill you," said one of the mutineers
in a fierce whisper.

Loftgreen, a tough, wiry young fellow, struggled
desperately, and freeing his right arm struck one
of the Chilenos a blow that sent him down as if he
had been shot, and cried out loudly, " Murder !"
" Mutiny ! ", Mancillo meanwhile making savage
thrusts at him with his knife, and the other man
trying to run him through with his cutlass ; but the
mate, unarmed as he was, was able to cope with
them both, for tripping up Mancillo he struck
him on the chest so violently that he fell against
the man with the cutlass.

Then the mate took to his heels and ran aft,
calling loudly for assistance. The disturbance, so
far, had scarcely lasted two minutes, and those of
the ship's company who were not on deck knew
nothing of what had happened.

Loftgreen, notwithstanding that he was wounded
and bleeding in the right arm, and half-dazed from
a somewhat severe cut on the head, succeeded in
reaching his cabin, where he seized a pair of
pistols, and still crying loudly to his sleeping fellow-

THE SOUTH SEAMAN 177

officers, prepared to defend himself to the last.
Unfortunately his pistols were not loaded, and in
his hurry and confusion he could not find his
bullet bag.

Just then the Bengali steward, awakened by the
noise, came running up the companion way, and
was met by one of the mutineers — the helmsman —
who struck him to the deck by a blow on the
shoulder from a cutlass.

Captain Hunter, awakened from his slumber by
the stamping of feet and the outcry, guessed what
had happened. Quickly seizing his pistols, and
buckling on his sword (in those days merchant
captains always possessed swords, for they had use
for them sometimes) he ran out of his cabin, just
as the mutineers reached the door. He discharged
both pistols together, but unfortunately was too
excited to take aim, and neither shot had any
effect, but for a little while he kept the Chilians at
bay with his sword, until covered with wounds he
staggered ; in an instant one of them darted in upon
him, and a cutlass was thrust through his heart.

Then the mutineers again turned their attention
to the gallant mate, who was unable to get out of
his cabin, one of the attacking party having turned
the key from the outside. The cabin lamp had
been knocked over in the struggle, and the dark-
ness made the murderers careful of their movements,
for they were afraid that Loftgreen might force his

13

178 THE SOUTH SEAMAN

door and burst out upon them, and after a hurried
discussion they ran on deck.

Meanwhile Mr. Todd, the second mate, aroused
by the cries and shots in the main cabin, jumped
out of his bunk, and trying to open his cabin door,
found it was fastened from the outside. Throwing
himself against it, he burst it open at the same
moment as the wounded steward crawled past
upon his hands and knees. Unable to speak, the
Bengali placed a cutlass in the officer's hands,
and pointed to the hacked and bleeding body of
the dead captain, just discernible in the darkness.
Todd at once secured Hunter's pistols, and Loft-
green at the same moment burst the door of his
cabin and came out, and the two men, who had no
time for words, prepared to sell their lives dearly,
believing that those of the crew who might have
been loyal had been slaughtered. For some
minutes they stood waiting in the darkness, and
heard no sound but the moans of the steward, who
was fast weakening from loss of blood.

Then came a sudden rush down the companion-
way, and the Chilenos, with savage cries, were
upon them ! Poor Loftgreen's pistols were in bad
order, and missed fire, and although the two men
fought desperately with their empty weapons they
were soon overpowered, and with the steward were
taken on deck and lashed to the poop stanchions.
Exhausted and bleeding profusely, they presently

THE SOUTH SEAMAN 179

saw some of the mutineers emerge from the cabin,
dragging with them Captain Hunter's body, which
they at once threw overboard.

Before these events had taken place the
Chilians had quietly secured the fore -scuttle,
battening down the carpenter, cook, and three
other European seamen, so that even before
Loftgreen was attacked the ship was practically
in the hands of the six mutineers, for the man at
the wheel was one of their number.

Leaving the two officers and the steward guarded
by two men, the remaining four mutineers, after
heaving-to the brig, went below to the bloodstained
cabin, and breaking open the spirit-locker began a
carousal which lasted some hours, to the accom-
paniment of music on Mancillo's guitar. They
took care, however, to relieve the two sentinels,
and kept themselves sober enough to shorten sail
if it became necessary.

At daylight, after giving all their prisoners food,
the mutineers held a consultation as to their future
proceedings, and at noon, in pursuance of their
design, they hoisted out the longboat, and placed
in her a couple of breakers of water, a bag of
biscuit, and a few pieces of salt meat.

Then Loftgreen and the second mate were
liberated, and the former taken below. Seated
at the cabin table were Mancillo and three of his
fellow-ruffians.

i8o THE SOUTH SEAMAN

As soon as the chief officer entered Mancillo
rose, and drawing a loaded pistol from his belt he
pointed to a large sheet of paper lying on the table,
and ordered Loftgreen to make a rough chart
showing the course and distance to the nearest
land, adding, " You see that we have now got this
brig. You are the only man on board who can
navigate her. You must stay with us, for we want
you to sail the ship to Manila. The other men we
shall put in the longboat, and this chart you will
draw will be good enough for them to reach the
nearest land."

" The nearest land ! Good God ! it is inhabited
by ferocious cannibals who will eat them! You
cannot be so inhuman ! " said the mate.

Mancillo laughed cruelly — " Let them be eaten !
so much the better for us. When they are dead
they cannot talk."

" Then let me share their fate, I "

The leader of the mutineers placed the muzzle of
his pistol against Loftgreen's chest.

" Be silent, you damned Ingleese dog ! Be silent,
and do what I tell you, or by the Holy Virgin, I
kill you."

Thereupon the mate, notwithstanding his
wounded arm, and with his thoughts distracted
by the fate before him, not only made a good
chart, but he did more; for it suddenly flashed upon
him that in all probability neither Mancillo nor

THE SOUTH SEAMAN 181

any of his fellow-ruffians could read English, so
after finishing the drawing he turned to Mancillo
and said —

" Mr. Todd is an ignorant man, and this chart
will be of no use to him unless I can give him
directions how to steer. Will you let me do so ? "

" No ! " answered the mutineer, quickly, " you
must not speak to him again, nor to any of the
others."

" As you will. Poor fellows ; I can do no more,
but at least I can write on the back of the chart
and tell Mr. Todd the prevailing directions of the
winds, the courses to be steered, and the name of
the least savage of the islands he can make for."

Then coolly turning the chart over, he scribbled
a few lines upon it.

" There," he said, " read that ; you will see that
that can do no harm."

Mancillo looked critically at the writing for a
few minutes, and Loftgreen's heart thumped
against his ribs as he watched. Then a sigh of
relief burst from him as the mutineer spoke.

" We are not murderers, and do not mind for
you to give the second mate the good directions.
But if you are lying to us we shall have your life
for it."

These were the words he had written : " Not
allowed to speak or write. Coast the islands, all
are dangerous till you reach Otaheite. Am forced

1 82 THE SOUTH SEAMAN

to navigate the mutineers to Manila. I will try to
retake the ship, as I think I can gain over Jose and
the cook, and then make for Otaheite. Have
patience, and trust in God always."

Loftgreen was then again placed in irons, and
one of the mutineers stood sentry in the cabin over
him, while Mancillo and the rest went on deck and
set about disposing of the remaining prisoners.
Mr. Todd was the first man ordered into the boat,
which had now been lowered and brought along-
side. Then Mancillo handed him the chart and a
compass.

" Here," said the mutineer, " we give you fine
chart, just made for you by the mate. You see he
has write out for you your course, so you will soon
make the land." Then he added with a grin — " Is
not Antonio Mancillo damn good fellow, eh ? "

Poor Todd looked at the chart, and then at the
writing at the back of it, and miserably anxious
and dejected as he was, he found it hard to resist
smiling at the clever way in which his fellow-officer
had got to windward of the Chileno. However, he
pulled a long face, and said there was " mighty
little chance of reaching anywhere but a savage
island, with such a poor chart as that. " What,"
he added angrily, " is the good of this writing ?
We could find a cannibal island without this," and
he contemptuously flung the chart into the stern
sheets of the boat.

THE SOUTH SEAMAN 183

Then, one by one, the wounded steward, the
carpenter, and a Swedish seaman whose name is
not recorded, were brought on deck and forced, at
the point of cutlasses, to enter the boat, which was
then cast adrift.

As the boat dropped astern, Mancillo ran up a
flag of some description, and the remaining
mutineers gathered on the poop and jeered at
Todd and his companions ; their insulting cries
and mocking words reaching the ears of the half-
maddened Loftgreen in the cabin, and reminding
him that he was alone and at the mercy of utter
scoundrels, with any one of whom his life was not
worth a moment's purchase.

But although they were not manacled, the second
mate and his companions in the boat were in little
better plight, for their distance from the nearest
land they could hope to make was nearly six
hundred miles. But Todd was no faint-heart.

" Better the open sea, my lads," he said, " than
the brig and those damned Spanish cut-throats.
We are at least free men. Poor Mr. Loftgreen,
I fear, will be murdered."

Then after dressing the steward's wound — a
cutlass slash which had severed the collar-bone —
he ordered the sail to be hoisted and took the
tiller. This done he steered a due west course,
which according to the mate's chart would bring
them to the easternmost of the Paumotus -— a

184 THE SOUTH SEAMAN

group of low-lying islands almost unknown in
those days except to American whale-ships.

In the boat were sufficient biscuits, salt beef,
and water to last them, with great economy, for
a fortnight. The boat itself was a good one,
and they were provided with a compass and a
course to be steered. The men were on good
terms with each other and loyal and submis-
sive to their officer ; so they had much to be
thankful for, and their chief sorrow in leaving
the brig was their fears for the safety of Loft-
green, who had always been a kind and con-
siderate officer.

For fifteen days the boat sailed before light
breezes, till on August /th they made Tawere
Island in the Paumotus Archipelago (named by
Cook " Resolution Island " after his ship) almost in
the centre of the vast group, having passed with-
out sighting them many other low-lying atolls
which lay in their course on the starboard hand.
To their joy the brown-skinned natives of Tawere
behaved very kindly to them, for several whale-
ships, and, later on, the missionaries of the London
Missionary Society's ship, had visited their island,
and the people were well-disposed to white men.
The island afforded but little in the way of food —
only fish, pigs, cocoanuts, and a coarse species of
taro, but of these the people were profuse in their
presents to the white men.

THE SOUTH SEAMAN 185

Only remaining a day and a night at Tawere,
Todd bade farewell to the amiable natives, and
continued on his course, sighting many other
islands of the group, but calling at none. Then
came a heavy gale from the south, and he had to
let the boat run right before it to the north. The
sea was short and lumpy, and only continuous
bailing kept her from filling.

Early on the morning of the I5th further mis-
fortunes overtook them ; a sudden squall sprung
the mast, although the sail was close reefed. Then
the rudder gudgeons carried away, and the boat
broached to and shipped a heavy sea, which with
other damage tore the compass from the after-
thwart, where it had been placed, and completely
smashed and rendered it useless. A few hours
later, however, the weather cleared, the gale died
away, and the gentle south-east trade again
breathed upon them. That evening they made
Anaa (Chain Island), the natives of which, owing
to previous association with South Seamen — as
whaling and trading ships were then called — were
very good to them. At Anaa, Todd and his com-
rades remained for two days, and on the morning
of the 2Oth day they sighted the noble outlines of
Tahiti, the Garden of the South Pacific.

Here they thought their troubles were ended,
for the natives of Tahiti were known to not only
be friendly to white men, but Christianised as well.

i86 THE SOUTH SEAMAN

But as soon as the sea-worn men approached the
beach, numbers of canoes, filled with natives
armed with muskets, put off, and surrounding the
boat, made the white men prisoners.

Greatly alarmed at this proceeding — which was
such a contrary reception to what they had ex-
pected from the Tahitians — Todd at first imagined
he had lost his reckoning and arrived at some
strange island. But some of the natives spoke
a little English, and very soon their conduct was
explained to the white men.

Some months previously a party of escaped
convicts had arrived at the island in a small
schooner, which they had seized at Van Dieman's
Land (Tasmania). In bringing the vessel to
an anchor the convicts lost her on the reef, and
their lives had been saved by the Tahitians. The
strangers were hospitably received, but their
degraded natures were soon made evident. They
broke into a chiefs house, stole food, arms, and
ammunition, placed them in a boat belonging to
the local white missionaries, and ran away with
her. A party of Tahitians gave chase, and were
fired upon by the convicts, who killed four of their
number and badly injured their canoe, so that the
remainder had the greatest difficulty in reaching
the land again.

Todd and his companions were thought to be
another party of convicts, and the queen and

THE SOUTH SEAMAN 187

chiefs of the island gave orders that they should
be kept close prisoners.

But this additional misfortune was soon over,
for as the boat, escorted by the canoes, entered
Papeite Harbour Mr. Todd saw lying at anchor
the London South Seaman Tiger, Captain Richards.
This vessel had been at Conception at the same
time as the Indefatigable, and the officers of each
ship had met. In the course of an hour or so
Todd saw Captain Richards and told his story,
and then the misunderstanding with the Tahitians
was cleared up and the second mate and his com-
panions supplied with every comfort. A week
later the Tiger sailed for Sydney, taking the four
men with her.

Meanwhile what had become of the Indefatigable,
and how fared poor Loftgreen with the mutineers ?
# * * * *

As soon as the longboat was clear of the brig
the mutineers released the mate.

" We now want the brig navigated to Guam "
(one of the Ladrone Islands), said Mancillo to
Loftgreen ; " I am captain now, and you must
do as I bid you. Beware of a mistake. If you
take the ship out of her course we will serve you
as we served Captain Hunter."

So the voyage, which lasted until the 1 2th of
December, began. The life led by the men in
the longboat was easy enough compared with the

188 THE SOUTH SEAMAN

terrible months of mental torture endured by the
unfortunate mate. Only that fine weather pre-
vailed the whole time, the brig would most assuredly
have been lost, for the mutineers were utterly
without discipline, and would only furl, or set,
or trim the sails just as the humour took them.
Every night Loftgreen was put in irons and left
to himself till daylight.

There was a considerable supply of wine and
spirits on board, and four out of the six Chilians
were continuously drunk. Then these four vowed
that it was essential to the success of their
enterprise that Loftgreen should be murdered.
The two men who did not drink were more
prudent ruffians, and knew that without their
navigator they were helpless, and so they pro-
tected him.

Very often Loftgreen, who had a fair knowledge
of Spanish, had to stand in the midst of the
Chilenos whilst he was taking observations, and
listen to them debating as to whether they should
take his life at once or spare him until they
reached Guam. And it was only the heroic
resolve to save the ship for his owners that pre-
vented him from trying to escape in a small
quarter-boat, or attempting to kill the mutineers
in their sleep, and let the brig drift about the
Pacific till he was sighted by another ship.

He soon found out that the mutineers had no idea

THE SOUTH SEAMAN 189

that Guam was actually settled by the Spaniards.
It is probable that they knew that Guam was
owned by Spain, but no doubt thought that the
island was inhabited only by natives, like Saipan
and Rota in the same group. One of the two
mutineers, who entertained friendly feelings to-
wards him, told him that Mancillo's idea was to
sell the brig to the islanders in return for liberty
to lead his ideal of life — eating, drinking, sleeping,
and keeping an extensive harem on one of the
many islands in the North Pacific.

At last the brig arrived at Port San Luis d'Apra,
in Guam, and a native pilot brought her to an
anchor. One of the mutineers remarked to
Mancillo that he supposed they were safe, " But,"
said he, pointing to some houses ashore, " those
are not native houses ; there are Europeans living
here."

A boat was lowered, and Mancillo, after dress-
ing himself in Captain Hunter's best clothes, was
rowed ashore by two of his fellow-mutineers to
see what the place was like. To their intense
surprise they found awaiting them the Alcalde of
San Luis, and a lieutenant and guard of Spanish
soldiers.

The Alcalde questioned them closely as to who
they were, and what had brought them to Guam.
Their replies did not satisfy the official, who,
placing Mancillo in custody and taking half a

190 THE SOUTH SEAMAN

dozen soldiers with him, made the two Chilenos
row him off to the ship.

On seeing the soldiers approach, the remaining
mutineers, cowards as they were, concluded that
their shipmates had betrayed them, and ran below
to hide themselves, leaving Mr. Loftgreen on deck
to receive the Alcalde, who was soon in possession
of the whole story. Unlike most Spanish officials,
he did not want a bribe to ensure his performance
of his duty. He promptly seized the Indefatigable ',
and the Chilenos were taken ashore and marched
to the fort under guard. Then the Alcalde and
Governor, with much formality, held a court, and
took the mate's evidence ; the result of which was
the mutineers were placed in heavy irons, and the
almost heart-broken Loftgreen was received in
the Governor's house as an honoured guest and
supplied with every comfort.

Soon afterwards the Rainbow^ a British frigate
commanded by Captain Rous, put into San Luis
d'Apra. The Rainbow had made many important
discoveries in Australian waters, more particularly
on the northern coast, but the name of her gallant
commander will probably be longer remembered
as Admiral Rous, the famous turf patron, than as
Captain Rous the explorer and navigator.

Mr. Loftgreen was received on board the Rainbow
as English naval officers always receive a brave and
distressed merchant seaman. The mutineers were

THE SOUTH SEAMAN 191

handed over to the British captain for conveyance
to Manila for trial. The frigate arrived at Manila
on January iQth, and there the Chilenos had short
shrift, for within three days they were brought to
trial and duly garrotted.

Mr. Loftgreen, who made many friends in
Manila, was afforded a passage to Sydney, and
the Indefatigable was condemned as a prize to the
Spanish Government. She was afterwards lost
in a typhoon in the China Sea.

Such is one of the many incidents of the sea
story of Australia.

Foster s Letter of ZMarque

A TALE OF OLD SYDNEY
I

ONE by one the riding-lights of the few store-
ships and whalers lying in Sydney Harbour
on an evening in January, 1802, were lit, and as
the clear notes of a bugle from the barracks pealed
over the bay, followed by the hoarse calls and shrill
whistles of the boatswains' mates on a frigate that
lay in Sydney Cove, the mate of the Policy whaler
jumped up from the skylight where he had been
lying smoking, and began to pace the deck.

The Policy was anchored between the Cove and
Pinchgut, ready for sea. The north-easter, which
for three days had blown strongly, had now died
away, and the placid waters of the harbour shim-
mered under the starlight of an almost cloudless
sky. As the old mate tramped to and fro on the

deserted poop, his keen seaman's eye caught sight

192

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 193

of some faint grey clouds rising low down in the
westward — signs of a south-easterly coming before
the morning.

Stepping to the break of the poop, the officer
hailed the look-out forward, and asked if he could
see the captain's boat coming.

" No, sir," the man replied. " I did see a boat a
while ago, and thought it was ours, but it turned
out to be one from that Batavian Dutchman
anchored below Pinchgut. Her captain always
goes ashore about this time."

Swinging round on his heel with an angry
exclamation, the mate resumed his walk, mutter-
ing and growling to himself as elderly mates do
mutter and growl when a captain promises to be
on board at five in the afternoon and is not in
evidence at half-past seven. Perhaps, too, the
knowledge of the particular cause of the captain's
delay somewhat added to his chief officer's ill-
temper — that cause being a pretty girl ; for the
mate was a crusty old bachelor, and had but little
sympathy with such " tomfoolery."

" Why the devil couldn't he say goodbye to
her and be done with it and come aboard," he
grumbled, " instead of wasting half a day over
it?"

But Mr. Stevenson did not consider that in those
days pretty women were not plentiful in Sydney,
and virtue was even scarcer than good looks, and

14

194 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

Dorothy Gilbert, only daughter of the Deputy
Acting Assistant Commissary-General of the
penal settlement, possessed all the qualifications
of a lovable woman, and therefore it was not
wonderful that Captain Charles Foster had fallen
very much in love with her.

Dorothy, of course, had her faults, and her chief
one was the rather too great store she set upon
being the daughter of an official. Pretty nearly
every one in those days of the settlement was
either an official or a prisoner or an ex-convict,
and the D.A.A.C.G. was of no small importance
among the other officials in Sydney. The girl's
acquaintance with the young master of the Policy
began in a very ordinary manner. His ship had
been chartered by the Government to take out a
cargo of stores to the settlement, and the owners,
who were personally acquainted with her father,
had given Foster a letter of introduction. This he
had used somewhat sooner than he had at first
intended, for on presenting himself at the Com-
missary's office he had caught sight of Dolly's
charming face as she stood talking to a young
man in the uniform of a sergeant of the New
South Wales Regiment who had brought a letter
to her father.

" Thank you, Sergeant," the young lady said
with a gracious smile. "Will you present my
father's compliments to the Major and say we

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 195

shall be sure to come. He is not here at present,
but cannot delay long, as he will have much busi-
ness to transact with the master of the ship just
come in, and who will doubtless be here very
soon."

Just at that moment Foster appeared at the
open door, and the young lady, divining at once
that he was the person of whom she had just
spoken, bowed very prettily, and begging him to
be seated whilst she had search made for her
father, left the office and disappeared in the living
portion of the house, followed by a look of very
great interest from Captain Foster. A minute
later the Commissary entered the room, and Foster
was soon deep in business with Dolly's father, to
whom he made himself very agreeable — having a
certain object in view.

Their business concluded, the young man rose
to go, and not till then — being wise in his genera-
tion— did he allude to the fact of his having a
private letter of introduction from his owners —
Messrs. Hurry Brothers, of London — to Mr. Scars-
brook. The stiff, official manner of the D.A.A.C.G.
at once thawed, and being at heart a genial old
fellow, he expressed his pleasure, shook hands
again with the young man, and inquired why he
had not presented the letter or made allusion to it
before.

Foster, who had pretty well gauged Mr. Scars-

196 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

brook mentally, modestly replied that he did not
care to obtrude private affairs at an inopportune
time. He knew that weighty affairs doubtless
occupied Mr. Scarsbrook's mind during his busi-
ness hours, but had intended to do himself the
honour of presenting his letter later on, &c.

This at once impressed the D.A.A.C.G., who
asked him to dinner that evening.

" A most intelligent young man, my dear," he
told Dolly shortly after. " His attention to busi-
ness before all else has given me a very favourable
impression of him."

Dolly tossed her head. " I hope I shall not be
disappointed in him. Is he young ? " she asked
indifferently.

" Quite ; and in manners and appearance much
above his position."

Dolly did like him very much — much more than
she cared to confess to herself— and their first
meeting at dinner led to many of a less formal
character, and ere a week had passed Captain
Charles Foster was very much in love with his
host's daughter, and not being a man who wasted
time, was only awaiting an opportunity to tell her
so.

Now Dolly, who had first flirted with and then
flouted every one of the bachelor officials in Sydney,
military or civilian, who visited the Commissary's
abode, was, to do her justice, a girl of sense at

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 197

heart, and she felt that Captain Foster meant to
ask her an all-important question — to every woman
— and that her answer would be " Yes." For not
only was he young, handsome, and highly thought
of by his owners, but he came of a good family,
and had such prospects for his future as seldom
came in the way of men in the merchant service
even in those days of lucky South-Seamen and
East India traders, who made fortunes rapidly.
And then 'twas evident he was very much in
love with her, and this latter fact considerably and
naturally influenced her.

The first week passed pleasantly enough, then,
to his anger and disgust, Foster found he had a
rival ; and before the end of the second week he
realised, or imagined so, that he was beaten in the
field of love — by a Dutchman !

Sergeant Harry Burt was the first to give him
warning, for he was often on duty at or near the
Commissary's quarters, and, indeed, had often
taken notes from Foster to the fair Dolly. He
showed a warm interest in the matter, for Foster
was always polite to the sergeant, and did not turn
up his nose at " soldier men," as other masters of
ships were but too ready to do.

It had so happened that the work of discharging
his ship had kept Foster very busy during the
second week of his stay, and he had paid but one
evening visit to Dolly and her father, and was

198 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

hurrying the cargo ashore with feverish eagerness.
Once that was accomplished, he meant to devote
himself (i) to proposing to the young lady, (2)
gaining her father's consent, and (3) getting to sea
again as soon as possible, making a good cruise at
the whale fishery, and returning to Sydney within
two years as master and owner of a ship of his own.
Consequently, Burt's news gave him considerable
disquietude.

" Who did you say he was, Sergeant ? " he asked
gloomily ; " a Dutchman ? "

" Yes, sir ; he's the master of that Dutch Batavian
ship that has brought stores from Batavia. Mr.
Scarsbrook seems to make a lot of him of late,
and he's always coming up to the Commissary's
place. And if he sees Miss Scarsbrook out in the
garden he swaggers in after her as if he were an
admiral of the fleet. Portveldt's his name, and —
and "

" And what, Sergeant ? "

" Well, I think Miss Scarsbrook rather likes
him, that's all. You see, sir, you haven't been
there for a week, and this young Dutchman is by
no means bad-looking, and even our Major says
he's a jolly fine fellow — and all that goes a long
way with women, you know. Then you only visit
the house once in a week ; the Dutchman goes
there every day, and every time he comes he
brings his boatswain with him — a big, greasy-faced

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 199

chap. Last night he followed his master, carrying
a cheese — a present for the Commissary, I sup-
pose."

"Well, I shall soon see how the land lies,
Sergeant. I'm going ashore presently, and I
can promise you it won't be my fault if I let this
fellow get to windward of me."

But Miss Dolly was not to be seen that day, nor
yet on the following one. She was vexed at
Foster having thought of his work before herself,
and she had determined to punish him by not
meeting him for some little time, and amuse her-
self with the handsome young Dutch sailor mean-
while. So, in no very amiable mood, Foster went
back to his ship, finished discharging, and delighted
his old mate by telling him to get ready for sea as
quickly as possible. And on this particular evening
when our story opens the Policy only waited for
her captain — who had gone ashore — so he told
Stevenson — to say goodbye to the Commissary,
with parting instructions to the mate to begin to
heave up as soon as he saw his (Foster's) boat
leave the Cove.

After spending half an hour with the Commis-
sary, Foster asked to see Miss Dorothy, and was
soon ushered into the sitting-room, where the
young lady welcomed him effusively, and her
manner soon drove all suspicious thoughts of his
rival out of his mind. Her mother, a placid lady,

200 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE "

who was absolutely ruled by Dolly and her father,
smiled approval when Foster asked her daughter
to accompany him to the garden and take a look
at the harbour. She liked him, and had previously
given him much assistance by getting out of the
way whenever she suspected he wanted to see
Dolly alone.

As soon as they had gained the screen of the
shaded path leading to the water's edge, Foster
came to the point at once.

" Dolly," he said, " you know why I have
asked you to come with me here. My ship is
ready for sea, and it may be quite two years
before I shall have the happiness of seeing you
again."

" Tis very kind of you to pay me so pretty a
compliment, Captain Foster — or I should say Mr.
Foster," said Dolly, concealing a smile ; " but
surely you need not have brought me out to the
garden to tell me this."

Her pretended forgetfulness of some past pas-
sages in their brief acquaintance, as her speech
implied, ruffled him.

" You are very particular with your Mr. Foster,
Miss Dolly ; and why not * Captain ' ? "
Dolly raised her eyebrows in surprise.
" Captains hold the King's commission and fight
for their country," she said demurely. " The master
of a horrid ship that goes catching whales has no

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 201

right to the title." Then she laughed and shook
her long, fair curls.

" Upon my word, young lady, you are very com-
plimentary ; but, Dolly, no more of this banter.
My boat is waiting, and I have but a few minutes
to ask you to give me your answer. In all serious-
ness remember that my future depends upon it.
Will you marry me ? Will you try to love me ?
May I go away with the hope that you will look

forward to my return, and "

" In all seriousness, Mr. Foster, I will not."

" Why, what have I done to offend you ? I

thought you — I thought that I " and then,

getting somewhat confused and angry at the same
time at Dolly's nonchalant manner, he wound up
with, " I believe that damned Dutchman has come
between us ! "

" How dare you swear at me, sir ? I suppose,
though, it is the custom for captains in the mer-
chant service to swear at ladies. And what right
have you to assume that I should marry you ?
Because I rather liked to talk to you when I felt
dull, is that any reason why you should be so very
rude to me ? And once for all, sir, I shall never
marry a mere merchant sailor — a common whaling
master. I shall marry, when I do marry, an officer
and a gentleman in the King's service."

" Ah ! " Foster snapped, " and what about the
Dutchman ? "

202 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

Now up to this point Dolly had been making
mere pretence. She honestly loved the young
seaman, and meant to tell him so plainly before
he left the garden, but at this last question the
merriment he had failed to see in her eyes gave
place to an angry sparkle, and she quickly re-
torted—

" Mr. Portveldt, sir, is, a Dutch gentleman, and
he would never talk to me in such a way as you
have done. How dare you, sir ! "

Foster was really angry now, and smiled sarcas-
tically. " He's but the master of a merchantman,
and an infernal Dutchman at that."

" He is a gentleman, which you are not ! "
snapped Dolly fiercely ; " and if he is but a
merchant skipper, he commands his own ship.
He is a shipowner, and a well-known Batavian
merchant as well, sir ; so there ! "

"So I believe," said Foster wrathfully; "sells
Dutch cheeses and brings them ashore with him."

" You're a spy," said Dolly contemptuously.

" Very well, Miss Scarsbrook, call me what you
please. I can see your cheese merchant waddling
this way now, attended by his ugly pirate of a
boatswain. Doubtless he has some stock-fish on
this occasion, and as stock-fish are very much like
Dutchmen in one respect and I like neither, I wish
you joy of him. Goodbye ! " And Captain Foster
swung on his heel and walked quickly out of the

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 203

garden gate. As he strode down the narrow path
he brushed past the Batavian merchant, who was
on his way to the Commissary's office.

" Goot tay to you, Captain Foster," said Port-
veldt, grinning amiably.

" Go to the devil ! " replied the Englishman
promptly, turning round and facing the Dutchman
to give due emphasis to his remark.

Portveldt, a tall, well-made fellow, and hand-
somely dressed, stared at Foster's retreating figure
in angry astonishment, then changing his mind
about first visiting the Commissary, he opened the
garden gate, and came suddenly upon Dorothy
Scarsbrook seated upon a rustic bench, weeping
bitterly.

" My tear yong lady, vat is de matter ? I beg
you to led me gomfort you."

" There is nothing the matter, Mr. Portveldt. I
thank you, but you cannot be of any service to
me," and Dolly buried her face in her handkerchief
again.

" I am sorry ferry mooch to hear you say dat,
Mees Dorotee, vor it vas mein hop dot you would
dake kindtly to me."

Dolly made no answer, and then Captain Port-
veldt sat down beside her, his huge figure quite
filling up all the remaining space.

" Mees Dorotee," he began ponderously, " de
trood is dot I vas goming to see you to dell you I

204 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

vas ferry mooch in loaf mid you, und to ask you to
be mein vifes ; but now dot you do veep so mooch,

I "

• " Say no more if you please, Mr. Portveldt," said
Dolly, hastily drying her eyes. Then, rising with
great dignity, she bowed and went on : " Of course
I am deeply sensible of the great honour that you
do me, but I can never be your wife." And then
to herself: " I fancy that I have replied in a very
proper manner."

" Vy, vat vas der wrong aboud me, Mees
Dorotee ? " pleaded Portveldt. " I vas feery yoyful
in mein mind tinking dot you did loaf me some
liddle bid. I have mooch money ; mein haus in
Batavia is mosd peautiful, und you shall have
plendy servands to do all dot you vish. Oh, Mees
Dorotee ! vat can be wrong mid me ? "

" There is nothing that I object to in you, sir,
except that I do not love you. Really you cannot
expect me to marry you because I have seen you
half a dozen times and have treated you with
politeness."

" I do hobe, Mees Dorotee, dot id is not because
of dot yong mans who vas so oncivil to me yoost
now dot you vill not haf me. He vas dell me to
go to der tuyvel ven I did say * goot morning *
yoost now."

" It is no young man, sir. Mr. Foster is a
person for whom I have a great regard, but I do

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 205

not intend to marry him. I will only marry a
gentleman."

"Oh, bud, Mees Dorotee, am I not a yentle-
mans ? "

" I do not consider masters of merchantmen
gentlemen," replied Dolly with a slight sniff. " My
father is an officer in the King's service, and I have
been taught to "

" Ha, ha ! Mees Dorotee," laughed Portveldt
good-humouredly, " dot is nod so. Your baba is
but a gommissary who puys de goots vich I bring
me from Batavia to sell."

" How dare you talk like that, sir ? My father
is a King's officer, and before he came here he
fought for his country."

"Veil, Mees Dorotee, I do beg your pardon
mooch, and I vill vight vor mein country if you vil
learn to loaf me on dot account."

But Miss Dolly would listen no more, and, with
a ceremonious bow, walked away. Then the Dutch
merchant went to the Commissary's office to talk
the matter over with her father, who told him that
he would not interfere in his daughter's choice ; if
he could not make himself agreeable to her, neither
her father nor mother could help him.

Just after sunrise next morning, Dolly, who had
spent the night in tears and repentance, woke, feel-
ing very miserable. From her opened window she
could see the morning mists hanging over the

206 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

placid waters of the harbour disappearing before
the first breaths of the coming south-easter. The
Policy -, she thought, could not have sailed yet, and
she meant to send her lover a note, asking him to
come and see her again before he left. Then she
gave a little cry and sob, and her eyes filled with
tears. Far down the harbour she could see the
sails of the Policy just disappearing round a wooded
headland.

An hour or so after breakfast, as Dolly was at
work among her flowers, the tall figure of Sergeant
Burt stood before her, and saluted —

" The Policy has sailed, Miss Scarsbrook," said
the Sergeant, " and I have brought you a letter."

" Indeed ! " said Dolly, with an air of icy indif-
ference, turning her back upon the soldier, and
digging her trowel into a little heap of soil. " I do
not take any interest in merchant ships, and do not
want the letter." When she glanced round again
she was just in time to see Sergeant Burt standing
in the roadway with a lot of tiny pieces of paper
fluttering about his feet.

Something impelled her to ask : " What are you
doing, Burt ? "

"Mr. Foster's orders, Miss. Told me if you
would not take the letter I was to destroy it."

Dolly laid her trowel down and slowly went to
her room " with a bad headache," as she told her
mother.

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 207

II

Nearly two years went by, and then one morning
the look-out at the South Head of Sydney Har-
bour signalled a vessel to the north-east, and a few
hours later the Policy was again at anchor in
Sydney Cove, and Captain Foster was being
warmly welcomed by the residents generally and
Dolly's father in particular, who pressed him to
come ashore that evening to dinner.

Among the first to board the Policy was Sergeant
Burt, who, as soon as the others had left, was in
deep converse with Captain Foster. " I'm sure she
meant to take your letter, Mr. Foster," he said
finally, " and that I was too quick in tearing it up."

" I'll soon know, Burt ; I'll try again this even-
ing."

At the Commissary's dinner that evening Dolly
met him with a charming smile and cheeks suf-
fused ; and then, after Captain Foster had narrated
the incidents of his successful whaling voyage, her
parents discreetly left them to themselves in the
garden.

" Dolly ! I am a rough, uncultured sailor. Will
you therefore forgive me my rudeness when we
last parted?"

"Of course. I have forgotten it long ago, and I
am very sorry we parted bad friends."

" You make me very happy, Dolly. I have been

208 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

speaking to your mother, and she has told me that
she thinks you do care for me. Is it so ? May I
again "

" Now, Captain Foster, why cannot we be friends
without — without anything else. I will not pre-
tend that I do not understand your meaning, but
I tell you, once and for all, I don't want to be
married. Really," and she smiled brightly, " you
are as bad as Mr. Portveldt."

"Very well, Miss Dorothy," said Foster with
annoying equanimity, " I won't allude to the sub-
ject again. But what has the Dutchman been
doing ? Where is he now ? "

Dolly laughed merrily. " Oh, Captain Foster, I
really have no right to show you this letter, but it
is so very amusing that I cannot help doing so,"
and she took a letter from her pocket.

" Oh, he has been writing to you, has he ? "

" Now don't speak in that bullying manner, sir,
or I shall not let you hear its contents."

" Very well, Dolly ; but how came you to
get the letter? We are at war with the Dutch
Settlements now, you know."

" That is the amusing part of it. Now listen,
and I will read it to you ; " and Dolly spread out a
large sheet of paper, and read aloud in mimicking
tones —

" Mein dear Mees Dolly, — You did vant ein

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 209

loafer who could vight vor his coundry, and vould
haf no man who vas yoost ein merchant. Very
goot. I mineself now command the privateer
Swift, vich vas used to be sailing in gompany mit
La Brave und La Mouche in der service of der
French Republic, und did den vight und beat all
der Anglische ships in der Anglische Channel. Id
is drue dot your La Minerve did by shance von tay
capture der Swift, and sold her to the American
beoples, but our Batavian merchants did buy her
from them, und now I haf god de command. Und
now dot your goundrymens do annoys der Deutsche
Settlements in our Easd Indies, ve do mean to
beat dem every dimes ve cadgh dem in dese zees.
Und I do send mein ledder to you, mein tear Mees
Dorotee, by der greasy old vale-ship Mary Ann,
yoost to led you know dot I haf not vorgotten
you mid your bride eye. Und ven I haf gaptured
all der Anglische ships in der East Indies I vill
sail mein Swift to Sydney and claim you vor mein
vrau, und do you nod be vrightened. I vill dake
care dot you und your beople shall not be hurt,
because I do loaf you ferry mooch. Der master
of der Mary Ann vill dell you I vas ferry goot to
him for your sake. I did but take his gargo, and
did give him und his grew liberdy to go to Sydney
und dake this letter to you, mein vrau, in der dime
to gom, as I did dell him. — I remain your loafing
RICHARD PORTVELDT."

15

210 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

Foster jumped to his feet. " The rascally Dutch
swab, to dare to "

" To dare to write to me," said Dolly laughingly.

" To dare to write to you ! To suppose for one

moment that you — oh, d the fellow! If I

come across him, I'll "

" But all the same, he's very brave," said Dolly
demurely ; " he is fighting for his country, you
know."

" The boasting fool ! " ejaculated Foster con-
temptuously.

" But he is captain of the Swift, and the Swift
did beat some of the English ships. I have heard
my father say that."

" Oh, yes. Three privateers did manage to cut
off some of our little despatch vessels in the
Channel ; but this fat Dutchman, Portveldt, had
no hand in it."

" But this ' fat Duchman, Portveldt/ did capture
the Mary Ann, and her master did give me this
letter, and — and I was so angry."

"The master of the Mary Ann must have been
a fool."

" Why so — for merely executing a commission ?
But wait, there is a postscript that will interest you
particularly. Now listen while I read it," and
Dolly, again mimicking Portveldt's English, read —

"Dell dot oncivil yong mans Voster who vas dell

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 211

me to go to ter tuyvel, dot I vill sendt der Policy
und her master mit der grew to der tuyvel if he
gomes mein vay mit his zeep."

"Now, Captain Foster, what do you think of
that, pray ? "

" Very pretty talk ; what do you think of it ? "

" Well, I'm only a poor little woman ; but if I
were a man I would "

" Exactly so, Dolly. Well, I am a man,
and the Policy has brought a letter of marque
with her from England this time, and so I may
meet "

" Oh, Captain Foster ! " and Dolly's eyes
brightened, " I am glad ; but — but — please, for my
sake, don't get killed."

A fortnight later, when Foster bade Dolly good-
bye for another six months, she told him softly
that she would be glad — oh, so very glad ! — to hear
news of him. A whaling voyage was so very
dangerous, and he might get hurt or killed.

And this time, as the Policy sailed and Foster saw
Dolly waving to him from the steps of the Com-
missary's office, he felt pretty sure that the letter
of marque had advanced his suit considerably.

Fourteen days out from Sydney the Policy took
her first whale, greatly to the delight of old Steven-
son and the crew, who looked upon such early luck

212 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

as a certain indication of a good cruise. After " try-
ing-out " Foster kept on to the northward to the
sperm-whaling grounds in the Moluccas. Three
days later they spoke the Endicott, of Nantucket,
whose captain gave Foster a kindly warning not
to go cruising further north, for there were several
Batavian privateers looking out for the English
whalers that were then due on the cruising ground.
Then the American wished him luck and goodbye.

Old Stevenson's face fell ; then he swore. " I
suppose we have to turn tail, sir, and try what we
can do to the southward and I believe we'd be a full
ship in three months or less up in the Moluccas."

" So do I, and I'm going there."

" But it's dangerous waters, sir ; we don't want
to lose the ship and rot in prison in Batavia."

" Mr. Stevenson, I am an Englishman, and Hurry
Brothers did not get a letter of marque for this ship
for nothing. You ought to know that to turn back
means an empty ship. It is our duty to go to our
proper cruising ground and cruise till we are a full
ship ; and all the infernal Dutchmen in the world
mustn't frighten us."

" Very good, sir," said the old mate cheerfully,
" but, all the same, 7 don't want us to get served
like that fellow Portveldt served the old Mary
Ann."

Another five weeks passed. So far, " greasy "
luck had attended the Policyy for she had taken

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 213

sixteen more sperm whales, the last of which
was killed in about 8° S. and 120° E., in the
Flores Sea. But misfortune had come upon the
ship in other respects, and Foster was in no small
anxiety about his crew, nearly all of whom were ill
from lead-poisoning. This had been brought about
by drinking water from leaden tanks in which oil
had once been stored.

A bright look-out was kept, for the ship was now
right in the spot where it was likely she might
meet with the Dutch privateers.

It was Stevenson's watch, and as he walked the
poop he stopped suddenly, for the look-out re-
ported a sail to the W.S.W. Foster came on deck
at once and went aloft. In a quarter of an hour
it was evident that the stranger bore towards them.
The wind was south-east, and very little of it.

" What are you going to do ? " asked the mate.
" I fancy this is one of the Dutchmen who are on
the look-out for us."

" So do I," answered Foster, " I'll tell you
what I am going to do : brace sharp up on the
larboard tack and run down to her. I am not
going to run away from one infernal Dutchman,
and I can only see one of 'em."

"You're captain of the ship, and you can do
as you please ; but I am hanged if I think you'll
pull it off this time. Half the crew are sick, and
this fellow looks as if he meant fighting."

214 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

" All hands on deck ; starboard forebrace ! "
was all the answer Foster made. Then he went
to the signal locker, and getting out the American
ensign, with his own hands ran it up to the
peak, hoping by this means to get close enough to
the other ship to prevent her from running away
from a fight, if the captain should turn out not
one of the fighting sort.

As soon as the sails were trimmed the skipper
walked to the break of the poop, and, with the air
of a captain of a seventy-four, gave the order,
" Clear ship for action ! "

Then the mate ventured to remark that half of
the guns were down below on the 'tween decks,
where they had been put out of the way for the
generally peaceful occupation of whaling.

"Well, get 'm up. What the devil do you
think I mean by clearing for action ? "

Accordingly, the six-pounders were hoisted
upon deck and quickly mounted, what little
powder and shot the Policy carried was brought
into a handy place, and the mate, with some-
thing of a smile, reported, " Ship cleared for
action, sir."

"Very good, Mr. Stevenson. Now, my lads,
I reckon this ship is one of the Dutch fleet
sent to clear us whalers out of these seas. Well,
as he seems to be alone, I think we have a fair
chance of turning the tables upon him. Anyhow,

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 215

I am going to try. I know some of you are
pretty sick, but I am sure that a crew of English
sailors, even when they are sick, can lick twice
their number of muddle-headed Dutchmen any
day."

In those days, British ships were manned by
British seaman, and Captain Foster could talk
like this without saying anything offensive to
the British merchant service. Nowadays such an
observation about "Dutchmen" would be a personal
insult to four-fifths of the crew of a British merchant
ship.

The men, including the mate, received the speech
with a cheer, and one of them sang out " Haul
down the Stars and Stripes. We don't want to
fight under that."

To which Captain Foster, who knew what he
was about, merely replied, " I am not a fool ! "

Towards the close of the afternoon the ships
were within gunshot of each other, and the Dutch-
man ran up his colours. As they drew closer, the
foreign skipper's glass showed him the nationality
of the Policy, and he at once opened fire upon
her with one of his six eighteen-pounders.

As the shot hummed overhead between the
Policy's fore and main masts, down came the
American colours and up went the British ensign,
and at the same moment Foster fired such of
his guns as bore upon the enemy.

216 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

As soon as the report of the guns had died
away, Foster sprang into one of his quarter-boats
and hailed the other ship.

" Ship ahoy ! " he roared " why do you fire
at me ? "

" Ha, ha ! I know you," came back in mocking
tones. " Now vill I sendt you to der tuyvel, you
greasy valer mans. I am Captain Portveldt, und
dis is der Swift. Vill you surrunder, or vill I
smash you to beices ? "

For answer, Foster, who had now come very
close to his enemy, fired his tiny broadside, his
men, sick as they were running cheerfully from
the guns to the braces to manoeuvre the Policy
clear of the privateer's fire, and then back again
to the guns.

The sun had now set, but far into the darkness
of the tropical night the running fight continued,
Foster always out-manoeuvring the Dutchman,
and the crews of both vessels, when they closed
near enough to be heard, cursing and mocking
at each other. Owing to the darkness and the
extremely bad gunnery on both sides, little blood
was spilt, and the damage done was mostly
confined to the sails and rigging. Now and then
a eighteen- pound shot hulled the Policy, and one
went clean through her amidships. Suddenly, for
some cause or other, about midnight, a light
was shown in the privateer's stern, and Foster's

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 217

second mate at once sent a lucky shot at it, with
the result that the six-pound ball so damaged the
Swift's rudder that she became unmanageable.
And then, a few minutes later, another shot dis-
mounted one of her guns by striking it on the
muzzle, and ere the Dutchman's crew knew what
was happening, a final broadside from the whaler
brought down her two topsails and did other
damage aloft. That practically ended the battle.

So thought Captain Portveldt, who now hailed
the Policy in not quite so boastful a voice as when
the vessels met earlier in the day.

" Captain Voster, I haf hauled down mein flag.
Mein grew will vight no more, and I must
surrender."

A cheer broke from the whaler's crew.

" Very well, Captain Portveldt," called out Foster;
" lower a boat, and come on board with half your
crew. But don't try on any boarding tricks, or
you will be the worse for it."

The meeting between the two skippers, notwith-
standing the cause, was good-humoured enough,
for Portveldt, apart from his boastfulness, was not
a bad fellow.

" Veil, Captain Voster," he said as he stepped
on board the Policy's deck, followed by his big
boatswain (who was wounded in the face by a
splinter) and half his crew, " you haf broved der
besd mans ; und now I suppose you vill lead me

2i8 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

like a liddle dog mit a sdring, und dake me to
Sydney und make vun mit der young lady about
me."

" No, no," answered Foster, " I am not so bad as
all that. Come below and have a glass of grog."

At daylight one morning some weeks later
two ships appeared in sight off Sydney Heads.
Those who were on the look-out were alarmed,
for it was seen that both vessels were armed,
and it was conjectured that the ships must be
part of an enemy's squadron which had determined
to make an attack upon the settlement of Port
Jackson.

In a very short time an excited crowd gathered
together along the line of cliffs of the outer South
Head, each one asking his fellow what was to
be done. Horsemen carried the news into Sydney,
and every moment fresh numbers arrived to
swell the crowd of spectators on the cliffs. A
strange sight they must have presentedj compris-
ing, as they did, all sorts and conditions of men —
settlers, naval and military officers, soldiers of the
New South Wales Regiment, and a number of the
better class of convicts.

Of course the Deputy Acting Assistant Com-
missary-General was among the officers anxiously
watching the ships from the heights that over-

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 219

looked the harbour, and with him were Dolly
and her mother.

Presently Dolly, catching sight of her father's
anxious face, began to cry, and turned to her
mother. " Ah ! " she said " it has all come true,
and he has come to destroy the settlement ! "

" What has come true, and who is going to
destroy the settlement ? " said her father sharply.
And then Dolly, feeling very frightened and
miserable, told him of Portveldt's letter, the receipt
of which she had concealed from every one but
Foster. The D.A.A.C.G. laughed at first, but then
added, " but all the same, though 'twas but empty
bluster, I had better tell his Excellency about it ;
it is just possible that the Dutch have planned
an expedition against us."

At half-past ten, in response to a signal made
from the look-out at South Head by the officer
in charge there, his Excellency Governor King
sent Lieutenant Houston, of his Majesty's ship
Investigator, then anchored in Sydney Cove, to
the naval officer in command at South Head.

The Investigator was Flinders' ship, the gallant
old tub of 334 tons which surveyed a great part
of the northern coast, and was at the time of which
we write lying rotting in Sydney, condemned after
completing her second voyage of discovery in
June, 1803.

Then the Governor was told of Dolly's letter,

220 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

but he was not the man to take fright at the
approach of the enemy, although he had no
defence force as it is now understood in New
South Wales, nor had he a gold-laced staff of
officers with elaborate " defence schemes " against
possible raids of Japanese or Russians by way of
Exmouth Gulf or Port Darwin.

In that year Governer King's force did not take
long to be marshalled. The drums beat to arms,
and the New South Wales Corps and the Loyal
Association immediately formed into line on the
shores of the Cove.

At eleven o'clock a trooper arrived at Govern-
ment House with intelligence that one of the
vessels appeared under British colours, and the
other was flying a Union Jack triumphant over
a Dutch Jack. Following this message there soon
came another, bringing the certain intelligence that
one of the ships was an English whaler bringing
into port her Batavian prize. So on receipt of this
news, and just as the word to march was about
to be given, the officer in command ordered his
force to return to barracks.

At two in the afternoon, with the whole of the
settlement agog with excitement, the two vessels
sailed slowly up the harbour before a light north-
east breeze, and came to anchor in Sydney Cove,
close to the Investigator^ on board of which ship
the Governor and a number of naval officers

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 221

awaited their arrival. For once discipline was
relaxed, and Captain King had good-naturedly
permitted the townspeople to throng on board to
learn all the news about the Policy's prize. As
Captain Foster made his way to the quarter-deck,
he saw that behind the Governor and his staff
were Dolly and her parents and several ladies.

In a very few minutes he made his report, and
the Governor again shook his hand warmly ; but
the look in Dolly's eyes and the pressure of her
hand were the young seaman's sweetest reward,
for it told him that she had surrendered.

Then, returning to his own ship, he was warmly
greeted by Sergeant Burt, and for a few moments
the two remained talking in the whaler's cabin.
Then, just as Foster was ready to go ashore, Mr.
Scarsbrook, who had been inspecting the captured
privateer, came on board, bringing Dolly with him.

Whilst they were all chatting merrily together
Captain Portveldt made his appearance, and with
the most perfect sang-froid saluted Dolly and her
father.

"Veil, Mees Dorotee, you see I have gome back,
at der bressing invidadion of mein goot friendt,
Captain Voster here, und I do vish him mit you
blendy of habbiness."

And Dolly, who at first meant to meet him with
a sarcastic little speech, felt her eyes fill with tears
at the manly way in which he bore his misfortune,

222 FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE

and could only falter out some few words of con-
solation.

Then there was a Prize Court, and —

"Mr. Charles Sparrow Foster, commander of
the whaler and letter of marque called the Policy,
presented to the Court a memorial stating his
capture of the Swift on the I2th day of Sep-
tember, off the island of Flores, she being under
Dutch colours . . . and the property of subjects
of a Power at war with his Britannic Majesty,
and praying also that the Court would be pleased
to grant an award of condemnation in his favour
in order that the said prize should be for the
advantage of himself, his owners, and his ship's
company."

and the Court having heard confirmatory evidence
from Richard Portveldt, a subject of the Batavian
Republic, to the effect —

"That he commanded the Swift ; that every-
thing on board of her was Dutch property, and
she belonged to Messrs. Wirry and Talman, of
Batavia, and himself, all of whom were residents
of Batavia, who purchased her for the sum of
1 8,000 dols. : that she was taken up by the
Dutch East India Company at Batavia ; and
was on her way thither when she was captured
by the Policy, &c."~

FOSTER'S LETTER OF MARQUE 223

accordingly condemned the prize, which was
advertised in the Sydney Gazette for sale by
auction, Mr. Lord, the auctioneer, setting forth
that he would sell —

" At his warehouse, Sydney, at noon precisely,
the 3rd of November, the good ship Swift ', prize
to Policy, Charles Foster, commander. French
built in the year 1800. Was condemned a prize
to his Majesty's ship La Minerva, and sold in
1 80 1 to the Americans, as appears by the bill of
sale, and by them sold to the Dutch at Batavia,
where she was examined, copper-bolted, and new
coppered in August, 1802. It is unnecessary to
say anything respecting the properties of the
Swift further than that she was the companion
of La Brave and La Mouche, which so very much
harassed the British in Europe, and set all our
cruisers at defiance until her capture, prior to
which she was justly celebrated as the fastest
sailing-vessel the French Republic had."

The prize was knocked down for .£3,000, and
Captain Foster's share was spent in a handsome
wedding present for Dolly, which, at her particular
request, took the form of a passage to Batavia
and a hundred guineas delivered to Captain
Portveldt immediately after the marriage cere-
mony.

The Adventure of Elizabeth
Morey^ of New York

IN the sea story of Australia, from the days of
Captain Phillip in 1788, to the end of the
'• fifties " in the present century, American ships
and seamen have no little part. First they came
into the harbour of Sydney Cove as traders
carrying provisions for sale to the half-starved
settlers, then as whalers, and before another thirty
years had passed, the starry banner might be met
with anywhere in the Pacific, from the sterile
shores of the Aleutian Islands to the coasts of
New Zealand and Tasmania.

Early one morning in October, 1804, tne
American ship Union sailed in through Sydney
Heads, and dropped anchor in the Cove. She
was last from Tongatabu, the principal island of
the Friendly Group. As soon as she had been
boarded by the naval officer in charge of the
port, and her papers examined, the master stated

that he had had a very exciting adventure with

224

THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY 225

the Tongatabu natives, who had attempted to cut
off the ship, and that there was then on board a
young woman named Elizabeth Morey, whom he
had rescued from captivity among the savages.

In a few minutes the young woman made her
appearance in the main cabin, and was introduced
to the officer. Her age was about six-and-twenty,
and her manners " extremely engaging ; " yet
whilst she expressed her willingness to tell the
story of her adventures among the islanders, she
declined to say anything of her birth or parentage
beyond the fact that she was a native of New
York, and some years previously had made her
way to the Cape of Good Hope.

Her extraordinary narrative was borne out in
all details as far as her rescue was concerned by
the master of the Union, who, she said, had treated
her with undeviating kindness and respect.

This is her story : —

In February of the year 1802, when she was
living at the Cape of Good Hope, she made the
acquaintance of a Captain Melton, the master
of the American ship Portland. His dashing
appearance, his command of apparently unlimited
money, and his protestations of affection for the
unfortunate girl soon led her to respond to his
advances, and ultimately to consent to accompany
him on a voyage to the islands of the South
Pacific.

16

226 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY,

After a prosperous voyage the Portland arrived
at what is now known as Nukualofa Harbour, on
the Island of Tongatabu. Within a few hours
after anchoring, Captain Melton received a note
from a white man named Doyle, who was the
only European living on the island, asking him to
come on shore and visit the chief, who particularly
wished to see him and secure his aid in repelling
an invasion from the neighbouring group of islands
known as Haabai. Had Melton known that this
man Doyle was an escaped convict from Van
Dieman's Land, he would at least have been
careful ; had he known that the man was, in
addition, a treacherous and bloodthirsty villain, he
would have hove-up anchor, and, sailing away,
escaped his fate. But Doyle, in his note, enume-
rated the advantages that would accrue to him
(Melton) by assisting the chief, and the seaman
fell into the trap. " You must try," said the writer
of the letter, " to send at least one boat's crew
well armed."

Melton was a man with an elastic conscience.
Without troubling his head as to the right or
wrong side of this quarrel among savages, he
promptly complied with the request of the beach-
comber, and called for volunteers ; the whole of
the ship's company responded. The chief mate,
Gibson, picked four men; Anderson, the second
officer, eight men, and these were at once despatched
on shore by the captain.

OF NEW YORK 227

The engagement came off on the following day,
and the American allies of the chief (whom Miss
Morey calls Ducara) inflicted fearful slaughter
upon the enemy, and returned to the ship highly
satisfied with themselves, and their native friends,
who promised them every indulgence likely to
gratify their tastes.

In the evening Ducara himself came on board,
and politely thanked the captain for his assistance.
He slept all night in the cuddy, attended by
Doyle, his minister of destruction, and took his
leave early in the morning, promising to send
ample refreshments on board in part return for
favours received, and requesting that boats should
be sent that evening to convey his gifts to the ship.
Within a few hours after the chief had returned to
the shore, many hundreds of stalwart natives were
seen carrying baskets of provisions down to the
beach, and piling them in heaps in readiness for
the boats. Melton, at this stage, seemed to have
some sort of suspicion in his mind about sending
the boats ashore after dark, for he gave the mate
instructions not to despatch them until he gave
orders. The mate, however, who had been smitten
by the beauty of a Tongan girl who had expressed
her unqualified approval of his fighting capabilities
in a very unconventional manner, had the utmost
confidence in the good will of the natives, and
took it upon himself to disobey his captain's

228 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY,

commands ; consequently two boats were sent off
just as daylight was breaking, and whilst the
skipper lay asleep in his cabin.

Within a couple of hours the smaller of the two
boats returned, loaded with yams, " gnatu " (tappa
cloth), baked pigs, and fish. She was steered
by the beachcomber, Doyle, and was rowed by
two of the ship's boys, instead of the four men
who had taken her ashore ; these boys, it must be
mentioned, had formed part of the crew of the
larger boat, and had remained on the beach whilst
the men had gone into the village at the invitation
of Doyle and his fellow - conspirators. They,
therefore, knew nothing of what had kept their
shipmates from returning to the boats, when Doyle
appeared and said he wished to go off to the ship,
and that the others would follow later on.

Accompanying the boat was a flotilla of canoes,
filled with hundreds of savages, who were allowed
to come alongside, though the girl Morey was so
terrified by their savage aspect that she begged
her lover to instantly recall the rest of his men
and heave up anchor. Melton, however, although
he was now in a state of suspense owing to the
non-appearance of his boats' crews, answered her
calmly enough.

" The two boys and Doyle say that the hands
went up to the chiefs house to see a native dance,"
he said. " I'll punish them for it when they return."

OF NEW YORK 229

Meanwhile the boat was unloaded, and again
sent on shore with the two boys, and Doyle's
native friends clambered up on board from any
accessible part of the ship. The beachcomber
himself, a wild-looking, dark-skinned ruffian, who
had clothed himself in a shirt and trousers, now
came aft and again assured the captain that he
need feel no alarm at the great number of naked
savages who now thronged the deck, from the
windlass right aft to the wheel. Perhaps, how-
ever, the villain had some feeling of humanity in
his vile heart, for seeing the terrified face of the
girl Morey, he suggested that she should go below
until the natives had returned to the shore.

But so impressed was she with a sense of immi-
nent peril that she refused to leave the poop, and
begged Melton earnestly, " for God's sake to take
heed, and not thrust himself among the savages on
the main deck."

The beachcomber gave her a glance — half rage,
half pity; then with his left hand he suddenly
dashed her aside, and with a ferocious yell sprang
at Melton and thrust a dagger into the throat of
the unfortunate man. In an instant his savage
followers began their work of slaughter, and Mr.
Gibson, the chief mate, the boatswain, and four
seamen were soon lying dead upon the blood-
stained decks, their heads battered out of all
human semblance by the clubs of the islanders.

230 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY,

Two lads, Miss Morey, and her negro servant-
woman, were spared, but hurried down below.

The bodies of the murdered men were at once
thrown overboard to the sharks by Doyle's orders,
and he then directed the natives to clear the decks.

Elizabeth Morey, terrified out of her senses at
the dreadful scenes she had witnessed, attempted
to spring overboard, but the beachcomber caught
her as she came on deck, urged her not to be
frightened, and promised her " in the name of the
Virgin" that no harm should come to her. As
soon as the decks had been ridden of all traces of
the bloody work just completed, the half-uncon-
scious girl was lifted over the side, placed in a
canoe, taken on shore, and handed over to the care
of a chiefs wife.

When she came to her senses she learnt from
Doyle that all who were left alive of the ship's
company were herself and servant, a Malay sea-
man, five boys, and an old sailor, who was a dwarf ;
the latter had evidently been spared, either on
account of the natives ranking him as a boy, or
from their aversion to inflict injuries upon any one
physically or mentally afflicted.

The following three days were spent by the
natives in unloading the ship, the work being
carried on in the most systematic manner under
the command of Doyle, the survivors of the crew
being compelled to assist in the task. The cargo,

OF NEW YORK 231

which consisted mainly of bales of cotton, was got
on shore in something less than a week ; then the
islanders began to dismantle the ill-fated ship.
By the eighth day all the sails except the fore and
main topsails were unbent and taken ashore.

On the afternoon of this day but half a dozen
natives were on board ; they, with the five " boys "
(probably lads under eighteen years of age), and
the dwarf sailor before mentioned, were " spelling "
for an hour or so before beginning to unbend the
topsails, when, noticing that their captors were off
their guard, the brave little man determined to
retake the ship. In a few minutes he gained over
his youthful shipmates to the attempt ; they pro-
mised to stand by him to the last. Quietly arming
themselves with axes, with iron belaying pins, with
handspikes, with anything heavy and deadly they
could lay their hands upon, they waited for the
signal to begin the attack. Doyle, the blood-
stained murderer, lay upon the skylight under the
awning, half asleep and unsuspecting of danger ;
his native associates either slept or lounged about
the main deck.

A few hurried, whispered words passed between
the six whites ; then the dwarf, carrying an axe
negligently in his hand, ascended to the poop and
laid it down on the deck. Then he turned, and
his quick seaman's eye took in the surroundings.
The trade wind was blowing freshly, the ship (she

232 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY,

was a full-rigged ship, though under five hundred
tons), was straining at her hempen cable, and the
low, palm -clad shore was nearly two miles away.
He picked up the axe and running towards Doyle,
buried the weapon to the head in his bosom !

In less than five minutes the dreadful work was
done, and Doyle and the six Tongans were welter-
ing in their gore upon the very deck which was still
stained by the traces of their own crimes. Before
the natives on shore could realise what had hap-
pened, the cable was cut, the topsails loosed and
sheeted home, and the Portland standing out to
sea through the dangerous network of reefs which
surrounded the harbour. Her recapture was a
bloody deed, but the law of self-preservation is
inexorable under such circumstances.

Elizabeth Morey, aroused from a troubled
slumber by the cries of her captors, came to the
doorway of the chiefs house, and stood watching
the ship, which, though only under her fore and
main topsails, was fast slipping through the water.
In two hours the Portland was safe, and the
broken-hearted girl sank upon her knees and
wept. She was now utterly alone, for her negro
servant woman had gone on board the ship with
Doyle to get some of her clothing, and had been
carried off. The only remaining member of the
Portland's crew was a Malay — a man of whom she
had an instinctive dread ; for, since the massacre of

OF NEW YORK 233

the ship's company he had one day asked her
with a mocking grin if she could not " clean his
coat." His coat was Melton's white duck jacket,
and the ensanguined garment brought all the
horror of her lover's death before her again.

Then followed fifteen long, long months of
horror, misery, and agony. She was a woman,
and her terrible fate evokes the warmest pity.
Whatever may have been her past before she
met Captain Melton and accompanied him on his
fateful voyage, her sufferings during those fifteen
dreadful months may be imagined but not written
of nor suggested, except by the neurotic "new
woman" writer, who loves to dwell upon things
vile, degrading, terrifying, and abhorrent to the
clean and healthy mind.

* * * * *

In August, 1804, the American whaler Union, of
Nantucket, after having refreshed at Sydney Cove,
as Port Jackson was then called, sailed on a sperm-
whaling cruise among the South Sea Islands.
She arrived at Tongatabu on the last day of
September. As soon as the anchor was let go a
fleet of canoes appeared, and the occupants made
the most friendly demonstrations towards Captain
Pendleton and his officers. In the leading canoe
was a man whom the captain took to be a Malay,
and upon being questioned this surmise proved
to be correct. In broken English he informed

234 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY,

Pendleton that the ship would be provided with
plenty of fresh food, water, and wood, if the ship's
boats were sent ashore. The captain's boat was
thereupon swung out and lowered, and manned by
six men, the captain and Mr. John Boston, the
supercargo, going with them. These people were
armed with six muskets and two cutlasses.

As soon as the boat was well clear of the ship
the natives became very troublesome, clambering
up the chain plates, and forcing themselves on
board in great numbers. The chief mate, Daniel
Wright, seems to have shown more sense than
most of the poor fools who, by their own negli-
gence, brought about — and still bring about even
to the present day — these South Sea tragedies.
He got his men together and tried to drive off
the intruders, but despite his endeavours thirty or
forty of them kept to the deck, and their country-
men in the canoes alongside rapidly passed them
up a number of war-clubs.

Wright, with the greatest tact, and with appa-
rently good-humoured force, at last succeeded in
clearing the decks and bustling all the natives
except the chief, over the side into their canoes.
He (Wright) was a big, brawny, New Englander,
had served in the American Navy before he had
taken to whaling, and knew the value of coolness
and discipline in an emergency, though he felt
much inclined to pistol the chief, who all this time

OF NEW YORK 235

had been pretending to support his authority,
though actually telling his people to be " more
patient, as the time had not yet come."

This chief, whose name is not given in the
Sydney Gazette of 1804, but who may have been
the same "Ducara" of the Portland massacre, or
one of Ducara's matabulis, at last took his leave
with the usual protestations of regard so natural
to even the present Christianised Tongan native
of this year of grace 1900, when he means mischief,
even in the minor matter of cheating or defrauding
his white creditor. Descending into his canoe, he
led the whole flotilla to the beach. Then the mate
hoisted the ensign, and fired a gun as a warning
to those of the ship's company on shore to return.

No notice was taken of the signal, and pre-
sently through his glass Mr. Wright saw that the
captain's boat was lying broadside on to the beach,
surrounded by a crowd of islanders, and without a
boat-keeper. This was sufficiently alarming. It
was now late in the afternoon, and Captain Pen-
dleton had been absent five hours. He at once
came to the conclusion that the people who had
gone ashore in the boat were either prisoners or
had been murdered. To send another boat after
them, he felt sure, would only lead to the destruc-
tion of the whole ship's company in detail, and
the ultimate loss of the ship without there being
the least chance of effecting any good. So he

236 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY,

called the hands aft, explained the situation, and
began to prepare to resist capture. All the avail-
able firearms were loaded, heavy stones which
formed the ship's ballast, were placed along the
waterways fore and aft in readiness to smash the
canoes which he anticipated would come alongside,
the trying-out works fires were lighted, and the
huge try-pots filled with water, which when boiling
would add to their means of defence, by pouring
it down in bucketsful upon the savages ; the cable
was prepared for slipping, sails loosened, and every
other precaution which suggested itself to him
made.

The sun dropped into the western sea-rim, and
there was still no sign of the captain's boat. On
the shore an ominous silence prevailed, though
now and then it would be broken by the weird,
resonant boom of a conch-shell. The night was
passed in the greatest anxiety by all on board,
every man, musket in hand, keeping a keen look-
out.

Almost as the dawn broke, two canoes were
seen to put off from Nukualofa beach, and come
towards the ship. They were manned by young
Tongan "bucks" who, in reply to the mate's
questions as to the whereabouts of the captain and
his crew, answered him with gestures which the
ship's company rightly enough construed as mean-
ing that their comrades had all been killed, and

OF NEW YORK 237

that their turn would come shortly. This so
enraged the seamen that they tried to induce Mr.
Wright to open fire on the canoes, destroy them,
and get the ship away before worse happened.
But the mate, hoping that his people on shore
were still alive, and that he could yet rescue them,
refused to comply, and the whole of that day and
night passed without further happening.

On the following morning several canoes came
within hail and then lay-to. In one of them was
the Malay, who asked the mate to come ashore, as
the captain and the supercargo wished to see him.
The mate temporised and requested the Malay to
come on board and explain matters, but he refused
and returned to the shore.

In a few hours he reappeared at the head of a
fleet of canoes, and then, to Mr. Wright's intense
astonishment, he saw that the Malay was accom-
panied by a young white woman, who was sitting
on the for'ard outrigger of the canoe of which the
Malay was steersman. The flotilla brought to
within pistol-shot of the ship, and the woman
stood up and called to him in English —

" Come on shore and see the captain. He wants
to speak to you."

The mate made no answer, but beckoned to the
fleet of canoes to come nearer. And then, mer-
cifully, as he took another look at the white
woman, he saw her, when the surrounding savages

238 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY,

were not watching, shake her head vehemently to
him not to comply with the request she had
made.

The flotilla came still nearer, and again Eliza-
beth Morey was made to repeat the request for
him to " come on shore and see the captain."
Wright, surmising that she was acting under
coercion, appeared to give little heed to her
request, but told the Malay, who seemed to direct
the natives, that he would wait for the captain.
Then the fleet of canoes turned, and headed for
the shore, and the captive white woman gave the
mate a despairing, agonised look that not only
rilled him with the deepest commiseration for her,
but almost convinced him that poor Pendleton and
the others were dead.

Another night of wearing anxiety passed, and
again with the dawn a single canoe came off,
manned by half a dozen armed natives steered by
the Malay and carrying Miss Morey. This canoe
was followed by many others, but the leading one
alone came close enough to the whaleship to com-
municate. Little by little her savage crew drew
nearer, watching every movement of those on
board with the utmost suspicion ; the mate, who
was standing at the break of the poop on the
starboard side, desired them to come closer, holding
in his hand a loaf of bread, which he said he
wanted to give to the white woman. The loaf was

OF NEW YORK 239

enclosed in a piece of white paper, on which he
had written these words —

" I fear that all on shore are murdered. I will
wait here a few days in the hope that you may be
able to escape to us."

For some minutes the savages watched the
white man, who, apparently disgusted with his
attempts to induce them to come closer and take
the loaf of bread, placed it on the rail and lit his
pipe. The Malay again urged him to come ashore
and " see the captain " but Wright made an impa-
tient gesture and told him he must come closer if
he wanted to talk. The scoundrel did bring the
canoe a few fathoms nearer, and then stopped her
way.

Then the girl, unable to restrain herself any
longer, stood up and cried out —

"All your friends on shore have been killed,"
then she leapt into the water and swam towards
the ship.

A yell of rage burst from the natives in the
canoes, but it was answered by the fire of mus-
ketry from the ship and the thunder of two car-
ronades, which, loaded with iron nuts and bolts,
had been in readiness, one on the poop, the other
on the topgallant forecastle — and the girl suc-
ceeded in reaching the ship's side in time to take
hold of a life-buoy secured to a line which was
thrown to her, and Wright, jumping overboard,

240 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY,

helped the poor creature up over the side into
safety.

Then began a desperate and furious assault to
capture the ship. The savages, led by the rene-
gade Malay, made three successive attempts to
board, but were each time beaten back by Wright
and his gallant seamen, and the crystal water
around the Union was soon reddened to a deep
hue. Meanwhile the cable had been slipped, and,
like the Portland, the Union's company were saved
from death by the freshness of the trade- wind
alone. In half an hour after the last attack had
been repelled, the ship was out of danger from
pursuit. As soon as the vessel had cleared the
passage Wright hove her to, and went down below
to Miss Morey, who, exhausted and almost hyste-
rical as she was, yet answered his questions
readily.

" You must forgive me, madam, but it is my
duty to at once ask you an important question.
Are you sure that Captain Pendleton and the
supercargo are dead ? I cannot take the ship
away if there is any uncertainty about their fate."

" I beseech you, sir, to have no doubts. I saw
the two gentlemen beaten to death by clubs before
my eyes. . » . They were sitting down to eat when
they were murdered. One was killed by the Malay
man, the other by an old matabuli* . . . Oh, for
1 Counsellor.

OF NEW YORK 241

God's sake, sir, do not delay ! The natives have
been planning to capture this ship and murder her
people for the past three days."

Then as she became more collected she satisfied
him that all of Captain Pendleton's party had
been cruelly and treacherously murdered, and also
told him her own terrible story previous to the
arrival of the Union.

The destruction of poor Pendleton and Mr.
Boston had been planned, she said, by the Malay ;
and when he and his native friends found that
they could not induce Mr. Wright to further
weaken his ship's company by sending another
boat's crew on shore, so that the Union might the
more easily be captured, she was ordered under
the most awful threats to act as decoy. Resolved
to upset their diabolical plan, or die in the attempt,
she gave an apparently cheerful assent to the medi-
tated scheme of murder, and hence her appearance
in the canoe with the treacherous Malay.

Under the kindly care of Mr. (now Captain)
Wright, the young woman soon regained her
health and strength in a great measure and her
delight knew no bounds when he announced to
her his intention of returning to Sydney Cove to
refit before proceeding home to America. The
Union^ as we have before stated, entered Sydney
harbour in October, 1804, and before that time the
simple gratitude of the rescued girl to her rescuer

17

242 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY,

had changed into a deeper and tenderer feeling.
But we must not anticipate.

As soon as Captain Wright had made his report
to the New South Wales authorities, Miss Morey
went on shore, where she was treated most hos-
pitably by the wives of some of the military
officers, whilst Wright was refitting his ship.

A few days afterwards there arrived in Sydney
Harbour an East India ship, the captain of which
gave Wright some interesting particulars concern-
ing the Portland and Captain Melton. The latter
had had a peculiar history. At the end of the
year 1800 he appeared in Manila, where he was
entrusted with the command of a brig belonging
to a Mr. John Stewart Kerr, the American Consul
of that city. His orders were to proceed to
Batavia, and there dispose of his cargo, bringing
in return saleable goods for the Manila market.
He was given also a letter of credit for $20,000
the better to load the vessel. On arrival at
Batavia he sold the cargo and the brig into the
bargain, and purchased in her place the Portland,
a ship of about 400 tons. From Batavia he wrote
to Kerr — he seemed to have been the Captain
" Bully " Hayes of his time — informed him of
what he had done and mentioned that as he
intended to make " a long pleasure cruise " among
the islands of the South Pacific, he did not expect
to return to Manila for some considerable time!

OF NEW YORK 243

He also, it is needless to say, duly cashed his
letter of credit for $20,000, which six months
afterwards was duly presented and taken up by
Mr. Kerr.

The Portland was then chartered by a firm of
Dutch merchants at Batavia to proceed to Serra
Bay to load rice and return to Batavia. Melton
sailed to Serra Bay, loaded his cargo of rice, and
instead of returning to Batavia, went to the Isle of
France and there cheerfully sold it. The next
account of him received at Manila was that he
was having a " real good time " at the Cape of
Good Hope, where his fascinating manners and
command of money (Kerr's money) made him
many friends. Suddenly, however, he and the
Portland disappeared, and Elizabeth Morey, as we
have mentioned, accompanied him. He had given
out that he was bound for the North-west coast of
America, to enter into the fur trade, but, beyond
that rumour, nothing more was heard of him until
the Union arrived at Port Jackson, and Elizabeth
Morey told the tale of his dreadful end.

*****

No further mention of the names of Captain
Daniel Wright, Elizabeth Morey, or the good ship
Union appear in the early Sydney records after
1806; but that the girl's rescue by the gallant mate
of the whaleship led to her ultimate happiness
we can safely assume, for in the year 1836 there

244 THE ADVENTURE OF ELIZABETH MOREY

were married in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, one
" Marie Kaiulani Shepherd, daughter of John
Shepherd, to Daniel Morey Wright, master of the
ship Patience ', of New Bedford, and son of Daniel
and Elizabeth Wright, of Salem, U.S.A."

The Americans in the South Seas

PERHAPS the proper title of this article should
be " The Influence of American Enterprise
upon the Maritime Development of the first Colony
in Australia," but as such a long-winded phrase
would convey, at the outset, no clearer conception
of the subject-matter than that of "The Americans
in the South Seas," we trust our readers will be
satisfied with the simpler title.

It is curious, when delving into some of the
dry-as-dust early Australian and South Sea official
records, or reading the more interesting old news-
papers and books of " Voyages," to note how soon
the Americans " took a hand " in the South Sea
trade, and how quickly they practically monopo-
lised the whaling industry in the Pacific, from
the Antipodes to Behring Straits.

The English Government which had despatched
the famous " First Fleet " of convict transports
to the then unknown shores of Botany Bay, had

2-45

246 THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS

not counted upon an American intrusion into the
Australian Seas, and when it came, Cousin
Jonathan did not receive a warm welcome from
the English officials stationed in the newly founded
settlement on the shore of Sydney Cove, as the
first settlement in Australia was then called. This
was scarcely to be wondered at, for many of those
officers who formed part of the " First Fleet "
expedition had fought in the war of the rebellion,
and most of them knew, what was a fact, that
the English Government only a few years earlier
had seriously considered proposals for colonising
New South Wales with American loyalists, who
would have, in their opinion, made better settlers
than convicts. And it is probable that if the
crowded state of the English gaols and prison
hulks had not forced the Government into quickly
finding penal settlements for their prisoners, the
plan would have been carried out.

When his Majesty's ship Guardian, under the
command of Nelson's " brave captain, Riou," was
wrecked off the Cape of Good Hope, and her
cargo of stores, badly needed by the starving
colonists of New South Wales, were lying at Cape
Town without means of transport, an American
merchant skipper saw his chance and offered
to convey them to Sydney Cove. But the
English officers, although they knew that the
colony was starving, were afraid to take the

THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS 247

responsibility of chartering a " foreign " ship.
Lieutenant King — afterwards to become famous
in Australian history — wrote to the almost heart-
broken and expectant Governor Phillip from the
Cape as follows: "There is here a Whitehaven
man who, on his own head, intends going
immediately to America and carrying out two
vessels, one of 100 or 120 tons — a Marble Head
schooner — and the other a brig of 1 50 tons, both
of which he means to load with salt beaf and pork
which he can afford to sell in the colony at /d. a
pound. He wished encouragement from me, but
anything of that kind being out of my power
to give him, he has taken a decided part and
means to run the risque. I mention this so that
you may know what is meant."

This " risque," undertaken by the adventurous
" Whitehaven man " was the genesis of the
American trading and whaling industry in the
Southern Seas, and American enterprise had much
to do with the development of the infant colony
of New South Wales, inasmuch as American ships
not only brought cargoes of food to the starving
colonists, but American whalemen showed the
unskilled British seamen (in this respect) how to
kill the sperm whale and make a profit of the
pursuit of the leviathan of the Southern Seas.

In 1791 some returning convict transports,
whose captains had provided themselves with

2^ THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS

whaling gear, engaged in the whale fishing in the
South Pacific on their way home to England.
Whales in plenty were seen, but the men who
manned the boats were not the right sort of men to
kill them — they knew nothing of sperm-whaling,
although some of them had had experience of
right whaling in the Arctic Seas — a very different
and tame business indeed to the capture of the
mighty cachalot. Consequently, they were not
very successful, but the Enderby Brothers, a firm
of London shipowners, were not to be easily
discouraged, and they sent out vessel after vessel,
taking care to engage some skilled American
whalemen for each ship. Sealing parties were
formed and landed upon islands in Bass's Straits,
and regular whaling and sealing stations were
formed at several points on the Australian coast,
and by 1797 the whale fishing had become of such
importance that a minute was issued by the Board
of Trade, dated December 26th, setting forth that
the merchant adventurers of the southern whale
fishery had memoralised the Board to the effect
that the restrictions of the East India company
and the war with Spain prevented the said whalers
from successfully carrying on their business,
and that the Board had requested the East India
Company, while protecting its own trading rights,
to do something towards admitting other people
to trade. The effect of the Board's minute —

THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS 249

worded of course in much more " high falutin "
language as should be the case when a mere Board
of Trade addressed such a high and mighty
corporation as the Honourable East India Com-
pany— was that directors permitted whaling to be
carried on at Kerguelen's Land (in the Indian
Ocean), off the coasts of New Holland, the
New Hebrides, New Caledonia, New Zealand, the
Philippines and Formosa, but they restrained
trading further north than the Equator and further
east than 51° of east longitude, and that restraint
remained for a long time to come.

For the Spanish war trouble the whalers took
another remedy : they obtained letters of marque
and pretty soon added successful privateering
to their whaling ventures, and the Spaniards
on the coast of Peru and on the Spanish Pacific
Islands before a year had passed found that
an English whaler was a vessel armed with other
weapons besides harpoons and lances, and was
a good ship to keep clear of.

By this time the Americans were taking a share
in the whaling and sealing industries — rather
more than their share the Englishmen thought,
for in 1804 Governor King issued a proclamation
which sets forth that : " Whereas it has been
represented to me that the commanders of some
American vessels have, without any permission or
authority whatever, not only greatly incommoded

250 THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS

his Majesty's subjects in resorting to and continu-
ing among the different islands in Bass's Straits
for skins and oil, but have also in violation of the
law of nations and in contempt of the local
regulations of this Territory and its dependencies,
proceeded to build vessels on these islands and in
other places ... to the prejudice and infringe-
ments of his Majesty's rights and properties
thereon," he (King) had, while waiting for in-
structions from England, decided to prevent any
foreigner whatever from building vessels whose
length of keel exceeded 14 feet, except, of course,
such vessel was built in consequence of shipwreck
by distressed seamen. There was nothing un-
reasonable in this prohibition, as the whole territory
being a penal settlement, one of the Royal instruc-
tions for its government was that no person
should be allowed to build vessels without the
express permission of the Governor, so the
Americans were only asked to obey the existing
law. The proclamation ended with a clause
ordering that all vessels coming from the State of
New York should do fourteen days quarantine in
consequence of the plague having broken out there.
Just about this time news reached Sydney that
the crew of an American sealer lying in Kent's
Bay among Cape Barren Islands (Bass's Straits)
were building a schooner from the wreck of an
East Indiaman named the Sydney Cove — a ship

THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS 251

famous in Australian sea story. King despatched
an officer to the spot with orders to "command
the master to desist from building any vessel what-
ever, and should he refuse to comply, you will
immediately cause the King's mark to be put on
some of the timbers, and forbid him and his people
from prosecuting the work, and also forbid the
erection of any habitation on any part of the coast
. . . taking care not to suffer any or the least act
of hostility, or losing sight of the attention due to
the subjects of the United States," &c.

Writing to England on this matter, King says :
" This is the third American vessel that has within
the last twelve months been in the Straits and
among the islands, procuring seal skins and oils
for the China market." In the same letter he tells
how the loss of the ships Cato and Porpoise on
Wreck Reef had led to the discovery of beche-de-
mer, which could then be sold in Canton for £50 a
ton ; this find was another reason for keeping
foreigners out of Australian waters.

As no more is heard of the schooner building in
Bass's Straits, we may assume that the Americans
quietly obeyed the laws and desisted ; but there
were soon more causes of trouble.

In March, 1805, a general order set forth that
American ships, after receiving assistance and relief
at Sydney Cove, were continually returning this
hospitality by secreting on board and carrying off

252 THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS

runaway convicts, and so it was ordered that every
English or foreign vessel entering the ports of the
settlement should give security for themselves in
^500, and two freeholders in the sum of ^50 each,
not to carry off any person without the Governor's
certificate that such person was free to go. This
order had some effect in putting a stop to the
practice, but not a few persons managed to leave
the colony and reach American shores without
there being evidence enough to show how they got
away. Muir, one of the "Scotch Martyrs," escaped
in the American Ship Otter as far back as 1795 ;
and although his story has been told before in
detail, we may here briefly mention that the Otter
was hired expressly to affect his escape. Muir got
on board safely enough, and the ship sailed, but
was wrecked off the west coast of America. After
sufferings and privations enough to satisfy even
the sternest justice, Muir managed to reach Mexico,
and embarked in a Spanish frigate for Europe.
The vessel was taken by an English man-of-war
after a sharp engagement, in which Muir was
severely wounded. His identity was concealed
from the English commander, and he managed
to reach Paris, only to die of his wound.

In October, 1804, there was serious trouble in
Bass's Straits between English and American
sealers. Messrs. Kable and Underwood, Sydney
shipowners, had a sealing establishment in Kent's

THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS 253

Bay, and among the men employed were some
" assigned " convicts. One Joseph Murrell, master
of the sealing schooner Endeavour, wrote to his
owners a letter in which he stated he was too ill to
write coherently, in consequence of the usage he
had received from one Delano, master of the
American schooner Pilgrim. Delano's name was
familiar to Governor King, inasmuch as he had
taken a part in the 1803 attempt to colonise Port
Philip, as follows : One of the officers, Lieutenant
Bowen, on his way across Bass's Straits in a small
boat, had the misfortune to carry away his rudder,
and when in danger was rescued by Delano.
Bowen, anxious to deliver some despatches, hired
the Pilgrim's tender from Delano to carry them,
omitting to make a bargain beforehand ; and for
this paltry service the American charged £400!
The British Government growled, but paid.

But let Captain Murrell tell his story: "At
four in the morning on the i/th I was suddenly
seized by the chief mate [of the Pilgrim~\ and
three other American ruffians " (they were really
Chilenos), " two of whom caught me by the hair,
the other two by the arms. They dragged
me out of bed and trailed me in this fashion
along the ground till they came to the sea beach.
Here they beat me with clubs, then kept me
three-quarters of an hour naked whilst they were
searching for the rest of my people." Murrell

254 THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS

goes on to detail as to how he threatened them
with the wrath of the Governor, to which they
replied that the Governor was not there to protect
him. He was then taken to a tree and lashed to
it, stripped, and all the Americans took a hand in
flogging him into insensibility. When he recovered,
he says, he asked for death rather than torture,
and was answered savagely that he and his men
were the means of depriving the Americans of
3,000 dollars' worth of skins by their operations,
and that Englishmen had better keep away
from Cape Barren and leave the field open to
Americans.

"Then," he wrote, "they began to sport away
with their bloody cruelties, until some few English-
men belonging to other [sealing] gangs out of Port
Jackson, stung to the quick to see the cruelties
exercised upon me without humanity, law, or
justice, determined not to suffer it, and began to
assemble. This occasioned the Americans to face
about, at which instant I got my hands loose and
ran into the sea, determined to be drowned rather
than be tortured to death. I was followed by a
number of Americans to the seaside, who stoned
me, and sent into the water after me a Sandwich
Island savage, who gave me desperate blows with
a club. I put up my arm to save my head and he
broke my arm in three places. I was then dragged
on shore and left lying on the beach, the men

THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS 255

remarking that they supposed I had had enough,
but that there were more of their country's ships
expected, who would not let me off so lightly.
Then they took away some of my people, rescuing
from my custody a King's prisoner."

In all a dozen men — convicts and others — were
taken away by Delano and his ruffianly crowd
of Chilenos and Portuguese, and this particular
sealing station was practically destroyed.

Captain Moody, of the colonial schooner
Governor King, had recorded a similar instance
a few months earlier, and there is no doubt that
the colonials had just cause for complaint ; as
there is equally no doubt that they themselves
were not altogether innocent of provocation.
Nothing, however, came of these quarrels, for
although the Governor wrote to England on the
matter, the authorities "remembered to forget"
to answer, and the rival sealing parties continued
to fight without bringing about a serious battle,
and the whaling and sealing industry continued
to grow in such fashion as is here indicated.
What it had become little more than a generation
later is shown in the remainder of this article,
mentioning incidentally that an American whaler,
the Topaz, Captain Folger, was the first discoverer
of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers on
Pitcairn Island in 1808; and that Wilkes' United
States Exploring Expedition of 1836-42 was in a

256 THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS

large measure suggested to America by the great
increase in that half of the century of American
South Sea trade. What this increase was can
best be told in the words of the man — Mr. Charles
Enderby — who was unquestionably the highest
authority and whose house founded this very
industry in the Southern Ocean. In April, 1849,
Charles Enderby received a charter of incorporation
for a proposed southern whale fishery, together
with a grant of the Auckland Islands (but that is
another story), and to celebrate the occasion a
banquet was held at the London Tavern, Bishops-
gate Street, London, presided over by the senior
naval Lord of the Admiralty, who proposed the
health of the guest of the evening, Charles Enderby.
In replying to that toast Mr. Enderby quoted the
whalemen's shipping list, in which it was shown
that in March, 1849, "the United States, whose
flag was to be found on every sea, had 596 whale-
ships of 190,000 tons, and manned by 18,000
seamen, while the number of English ships
engaged in the whale trade was only fourteen ! "

During the next decade the English did some-
thing to improve this state of affairs, but their
endeavour was made too late, and by the time
they woke up to the situation the heyday of South
Sea whaling was gone.

We are so accustomed to take it for granted
that the English (the original brand thereof, not

THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS 257

the American pattern) were fifty years ago in
command of all sea commerce, that the old-
fashioned English sailor was superior to all others,
and that his ships beat every one else's in every-
thing appertaining to the sea, that this fact of how
thoroughly the Americans beat us in the great
whaling industry is never remembered. And
whaling was and is now a branch of sea service
that needs men to successfully work in it, for it
cannot be profitably pursued with the human
paint-scrubbers who to-day make up such a large
section of our mercantile marine ; and the success
of the American whaling seamen may supply a
clue to the Nelson-like fashion in which American
men-of-warsmen tackle the serious business of the
American Navy.

18

The Brass Gun of the Buccaneers

/^HALLONER was a trader at Jakoits Harbour
V-x' in Ponape, one of the loveliest of the great
Caroline Archipelago in the North Pacific. He
was a quiet but determined-looking man of fifty,
and at the time of this story had been living on
Ponap£ for over five years. Unlike the generality
of the white men who were settled on the island,
he never carried arms and never entered into any
of the disputes that too often occurred among them
and ended in bloodshed.

Many of his neighbours were scoundrels and
ruffians of the deepest dye — deserters from whale-
ships and men-of-war, or escaped criminals from
California and the Australian colonies. Some of
these earned a living by trading with the natives
for turtle-shell and cocoanut oil, others were simply
beachcombers, who attached themselves to the
leading chiefs and gave their services to them in

war time, receiving in return houses and land, and

258

THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS 259

spending their lives in time of peace in the wildest
dissipation and excesses.

In those days the American whaling fleet made
Jakoits and the other three harbours on the beau-
tiful island their rendezvous before sailing northward
to the coasts of Japan and Siberia. Sometimes
there would be as many as thirty ships arrive
within a week of each other, carrying from thirty
to forty hands each ; and these, when given liberty
by their captains, at once associated with the
beachcombing element, and turned an island
paradise into a hell during their stay on shore.

There was among these beachcombers a man
named Larmer. He was of Herculean stature and
strength, and was, in a manner, their leader. It was
his habit in his drunken moments to vaunt of the
bloody deeds which he had perpetrated during his
crime-stained career in the Pacific Islands. For
the lives of natives he had absolutely no regard,
and had committed so many murders in the Gilbert
Islands that he had been forcibly taken on board a
whaler by the few white men living there, and
threatened with instant death if he returned.

The whaleship landed him on Ponape, and his
presence soon became a curse. Being possessed of
plenty of arms and ammunition, he soon gained the
friendship of a native chief ruling over the western
district of the island, and his savage nature at once
showed itself by his offering to destroy the inhabi-

260 THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS

tants of a little island named Pakin, who had in
some way offended this chief. His offer was
accepted, and, accompanied by five ruffianly whites
and some hundreds of natives, the unfortunate
people were surprised and butchered. Elated with
this achievement, Larmer returned to Ponape, and,
during the orgy which took place to celebrate the
massacre, he shot dead one of his white companions
who had displeased him over some trifling matter.

The news was brought by a native to Challoner,
who with a fellow-trader and several local chiefs
was sitting outside his house smoking and enjoy-
ing the cool of the evening, and watching the
flashing torches of a number of canoes catching
flying fish beyond the barrier reef. Neither of
them felt surprised, and Challoner remarked to
the native that it was good to know that one bad
and useless man was dead, but that it would be
better still to hear that the man who slaughtered
a whole community in cold blood was dead also.

" I wouldn't have said that if I were you," said
Dawson, the other trader, nervously ; " that fellow
Larmer is bound to hear of it."

" I am quite prepared," Challoner replied quietly,
" as you know, Dawson. Things cannot go on like
this. I have never killed a man in my life, but to
kill such a brute as Larmer would be a good
action."

The distance between Challoner's place and Kiti,

THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS 261

where Larmer dwelt with his villainous associates,
was but ten miles. Yet, although Larmer had now
been living on the island for a year, Challoner had
only once met and spoken to him.

*****

During a visit which he (Challoner) had made
to a little harbour called Metalanim, he had
explored some very ancient ruins there, which
were generally believed by the white uneducated
traders to have been constructed by the old
buccaneers, though the most learned antiquarians
confess themselves puzzled to solve the mystery
of their existence. But that these ruins had been
used as a depot or refuge of some sort by those
who sailed the North Pacific more than two
hundred years ago was evident, for many traces
of their occupancy by Europeans had been found
by the few white men who had visited them.

It was Challoner's fortune to discover amid the
mass of tangled vines and creepers that grew all
over the walls, and even down in the curious
chambers, an old brass cannon. With the aid of
some of his native friends he succeeded in dragging
it forth and conveying it in his boat to his house,
where, upon cleaning it, he found it bore the
Spanish arms over the date of its casting in
Manila, in the year 1716. Much interested in this,
he refused to sell the gun to several whaleship
captains, who each wanted to buy it. He would

262 THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS

sell it, he thought, to better advantage by sending
it to Australia or Europe.

Soon after its discovery he had set his people to
work to clean and polish it. One day he saw
coming towards him a man, who from his huge
figure he knew must be Larmer, the beachcomber.

" I say, boss," said the man roughly, " let's have
a look at that cannon you've found, will yar ? "

" There it is," said Challoner quietly, pointing to
his boat-house, but not deigning to accompany the
beachcomber and show him the weapon.

Larmer made a brief but keen inspection, and
then walked into the trader's room and, unasked,
sat down.

" It's as good as new," he said. " What do you
want for it ? "

" I will not sell it," replied the trader coldly,
eyeing the beachcomber steadily, "at least to no
one in Ponape. There is too free a display of and
use of arms here as it is," and he looked pointedly
at the brace of heavy Colt's revolvers in his visitor's
belt.

A scowl darkened Larmer's face. " I'll give you
a hundred dollars for the thing," he said. " I want
it, and I mean to have it." And he rose and dashed
his huge hand down upon the table.

Challoner was unarmed, but his face betrayed
neither fear nor any other emotion. He was
standing with his back to the doorway of his

THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS 263

bedroom. A thick curtain of navy blue calico
concealed the interior of this room from the view
of any one in the living room, and Larmer had
seen no one but the trader about.

For some few seconds there was silence ; the
beachcomber, with his clenched fist still on the
table, was trying to discover whether the man
before him was intimidated. Challoner stood
unmoved.

" Yes," began Larmer again, " I want that
cannon. Sru, the chief of Kiti, an' me is going
on a little war-party again. But I'll pay you for it"

" And I tell you that I won't sell it. Least of all
to a man like you, who would use it for murder."

The beachcomber's hand went to his belt — and
stayed there, as the trader stepped aside from the
doorway and he saw a rifle pointed at his heart. It
was held by the trader's wife.

"Put up your hands," said Challoner, with a
contemptuous laugh. " And now listen to me. I
want no quarrel with you — don't force one on me.
Now clear out."

Without a word the baffled man turned away.
But the look of savage hatred that gleamed in his
fierce eyes told Challoner that he had made a
dangerous enemy. And only a few days passed
before he heard from the natives that Larmer said
he would have his revenge — and the brass gun
as well — before many months were over.

264 THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS

But the trader, though apparently taking no
heed, was yet watchful. His influence with the
natives of the Jakoits district was great, for they
both liked and trusted him as a just and honour-
able man, and he knew that they would rally round
him if Larmer attempted either to carry off the
gun or do harm to him.

For some months matters went on at Jakoits
very quietly, and the last of the whaling fleet
having sailed, Challoner and Dawson went about
their usual work again, such as trading along the
coast in their whaleboats and storing their cocoanut
oil in readiness for the Mocassin, the trading ship
which visited them once a year, and was now due.

Although living only a few miles apart from
each other, the two did not very often meet, but
Challoner was one day surprised to see Dawson's
boat pulling into the beach, for he had had a visit
from his friend only the previous evening. The
moment the boat touched the sand Dawson jumped
out, and Challoner at once saw by the anxious
expression on his face that something was wrong.

He soon learnt Dawson's news, which was bad
enough. The Mocassin had run ashore in the night
at a place five miles away from Dawson's village,
and it was feared she would become a total wreck
unless she could be lightened and floated over the
reef into smooth water. The captain had sent an
urgent message for aid, and in less than half ah

THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS 265

hour the two men were on their way to the wreck,
accompanied by nearly every male native in
Challoner's village.

Towards sunset on the following day, just as the
boats were in sight, returning from the wreck, Tiaru,
the trader's wife, with her one child and some of
her female relatives, were coming from their bathe in
the sea, when they heard screams from the village,
and presently some terrified women fled past them,
calling out that Larmer and another white man
and a number of their native allies were carrying
away the brass gun. In an instant the young wife
gave the babe to a woman near her, and darted
towards her husband's house. A number of women
and children, encouraged by her presence, ran to
alarm the approaching boats.

In front of the trader's house Larmer and another
beachcomber were directing a score of Kiti natives
how to sling the heavy gun between two stout
poles. A sentry stood on guard at the gate of
Challoner's fence, but Tiaru dashed his crossed
musket aside, and then sprang into the midst of
her husband's enemies.

"Set down the gun," she panted indignantly,
" ye coward men of Roan Kiti, and ye white men
thieves, who only dare to come and steal when
there are but women to meet and fight with thee."

Larmer laughed.

" Get out o' this, you meddling fool," he said in

266 THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS

English, and then, calling to the natives to hasten
ere it grew dark, he took no further notice of the
woman before him. Then, as they prepared to
raise their burden by a united effort upon their
naked shoulders, Tiaru sprang into the house and
quickly reappeared with a heavy knife in her hand.
Twisting her lithe body from the grasp of one of
the beachcombers, with flaming eyes she burst in
amongst the gun carriers and began slashing at the
strips of green bark with which the cannon was
lashed to the poles.

" Curse you ! " said Larmer fiercely, striding
forward and seizing her by her long hair. " Take
away her knife, Watty, quick ! " And he dragged
her head back with brutal strength — to release his
hold with a cry of savage fury as the woman turned
upon him and with a swift stroke severed the
ringers of his left hand. Again she raised her
hand as Larmer drew a pistol and shot her
through the body. She fell without a cry upon
the gun beneath.

" By , you've done it now ! " said the man

Watty. " Look there ! There's all our natives
running away. We're as good as dead men if we
stay here five minutes longer. I'm off, anyway " ;
and then, hurriedly binding up his companion's
bleeding hand, he disappeared into the surround-
ing forest after his native allies.

For a few moments Larmer stood irresolute,

THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS 267

looking first at the body of the woman lying across
the gun, then at his wounded hand. Already the
shouts of Challoner's natives sounded near; and he
knew that the boats had reached the beach. The
gun, which had cost him so dear, must be aban-
doned, but he would take a further revenge upon
its owner. He ran quickly to a fire which burned
dimly in Challoner's cooking-house, lit a bunch of
dried palm leaves, and thrust it into the thatch
of the dwelling-house. Then he struck into the
jungle.

As Challoner, followed by Dawson and the men
of Jakoits village, rushed along the narrow path
that led to his house, they heard the roar and
crackle of the flames ; when they gained the open
they saw the bright light shining on the old cannon,
whose polished brass was stained and streaked with
red. Tiaru lay across the breech, dead.

*****

For nearly two days Challoner and his natives
followed the tracks of the murderer into the heart
of the mountain forest of Ponape. Dawson and
another party had left early the same night for the
Roan Kiti coast, where they landed and formed a
cordon, which it would be impossible for Larmer
to pass.

Watty, his fellow-scoundrel, was captured early
next morning. He had lost his way and was lying
asleep beside a fire on the banks of a small stream.

268 THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS

He was promptly shot by Dawson. Larmer was to
be taken alive.

Meanwhile Challoner and his men pressed
steadily on, driving their prey before them. At
noon on the second day they caught sight of his
huge figure ascending a rocky spur, and a party of
natives ran swiftly to its base and hid at the margin
of a small, deep pool. Challoner knew that his man
wanted a drink, and would soon descend the spur
to get it.

For some hours not a sound broke the silence,
then a stone rolled down, and presently Larmer's
head appeared above a boulder. He looked care-
fully round, and then, finding all quiet, began the
descent. On the very edge of the pool he again
stopped and listened, holding his pistol at full
cock. His left hand was slung to his chest by a
piece of green hibiscus bark, which was passed
round his neck and roughly tied.

The silence all around him was reassuring, but
he still held out the pistol as he bent his knees to
drink. Ere his lips could touch the water two
half-naked figures sprang upon him and bore him
down. He was too weak to resist.

" Do not bind him," said Challoner, " but tie his
right hand behind his back."

Larmer turned his bloodshot eyes upon the
trader, but said nothing.

" Give him a drink."

THE BRASS GUN OF THE BUCCANEERS 269

A native placed a gourd of water to his lips. He
drank greedily. Then, in silence, Challoner and his
men began their march back.

*****

At sunset the people of Jakoits gathered together
in front of the blackened space whereon the trader's
house had stood. Raised on four heavy blocks of
stone was the still blood-stained cannon, and bound
with his back to its muzzle was Larmer.

Challoner made a sign, the brown-skinned men
and women moved quickly apart in two parties,
one on each side of the gun. Then Rul, the chief
of the Jakoits' village, advanced with a lighted stick,
touched the priming, and sprang aside. A sheet of
flame leaped out, a bursting roar pealed through the
leafy forest aisles, and Challoner had avenged his
murdered wife.

Susani

A FEW weeks ago I was reading a charmingly
written book by a lady (the wife of a dis-
tinguished savant) who had spent three months on
Funafuti, one of the lagoon islands of the Ellice
Group. Now the place and the brown people of
whom she wrote were once very familiar to me,
and her warm and generous sympathy for a dying
race stirred me greatly, and when I came across
the name " Funafala," old, forgotten memories
awoke once more, and I heard the sough of the
trade wind through the palms and the lapping of
the lagoon waters upon the lonely beaches of
Funafala, as Senior, the mate of the Venus, and
myself watched the last sleep of Susani.

Funafala is one of the many islands which
encircle Funafuti lagoon with a belt of living
green, and to Funafala — "the island of the pandanus
palm " — Senior and I had come with a party of

natives from the village on the main island to

270

SUSANI 271

spend a week's idleness. Fifty years ago, long
before the first missionary ship sailed into the
lagoon, five or six hundred people dwelt on
Funafala in peace and plenty — now it holds but
their bones, for they were doomed to fade and
vanish before the breath of the white man and his
civilisation and "benefits," which to the brown
people mean death, and as the years went by, the
remnant of the people on Funafala and the other
islets betook themselves to the main island — after
which the lagoon is named — for there the whale-
ships and trading schooners came to anchor, and
there they live to this day, smitten with disease
and fated to disappear altogether within another
thirty years, and be no more known to man except
in the dry pages of a book written by some learned
ethnologist.

But twice every year the people of Funafuti
betake themselves to Funafala to gather the cocoa-
nuts, which in the silent groves ripen and fall and
lie undisturbed from month to month ; then for
a week or ten days, as the men husk the nuts, the
women and children fish in the daytime among
the pools and runnels of the inner reef, and at
night with flaring torches of palm-leaf they stand
amid the sweeping surf on the outer side of the
narrow islet, and with net and spear fill their
baskets with blue and yellow crayfish. Then
when all the work is done, the canoes are filled with

272 SUSANI

the husked cocoanuts, and with laughter and song
— for they are yet a merry-hearted though vanish-
ing people — they return to the village, and for
another six months Funafala is left to the ceaseless
call of the restless sea upon the outer reef, and the
hoarse cry of the soaring frigate birds.

One afternoon Senior and myself, accompanied
by a young, powerfully-built native named Suka,
were returning to the temporary village on
Funafala — a collection of rude huts thatched with
palm leaves — from a fishing excursion on the outer
reef, when we were overtaken by a series of sudden
squalls and downpours of rain. We were then
walking along the weather shore of the island,
which was strewn with loose slabs of coral stone,
pure white in colour and giving forth a clear,
resonant sound to the slightest disturbing move-
ment. On our right hand was a scrub of puka
trees, which afforded no shelter from the torrential
rain ; on our left the ocean, whose huge, leaping
billows crashed and thundered upon the black,
shelving reef, and sent swirling waves of whitened
foam up to our feet.

For some minutes we continued to force our
way against the storm, when Suka, who was
leading, called out to us that a little distance on
along the beach there was a cluster of papa (coral
rocks), in the recesses of which we could obtain

SUSANI 273

shelter. Even as he spoke the rain ceased for a
space, and we saw, some hundreds of yards before
us, the spot of which he had spoken — a number of
Jagged, tumbled-together coral boulders which
some violent convulsion of the sea had torn away
from the barrier reef and hurled upon the shore,
where, in the course of years, kindly Nature had
sent out a tender hand and covered them with a
thick growth of a creeper peculiar to the low-lying
atolls of the mid-Pacific, and hidden their rugged
outlines under a mantle of vivid green.

As we drew near, the bright, tropic sun shone
out for a while, and the furious wind died away,
seeming to gather fresh strength for another
sweeping onslaught from the darkened weather
horizon.

" Quick," said Suka, pointing to the rocks, " 'tis
bad to be smitten with such rain as this. Let us
rest in the papa till the storm be over."

Following our all but naked guide, who sprang
from stone to stone with the surefootedness of a
mountain goat, we soon reached the cluster of
rocks, the bases of which were embedded in the
now hard and stiffened sand, and almost at the
same moment another heavy rain squall swept
down and blurred sea and sky and land alike.

Bidding us to follow, Suka began to clamber up
the side of the highest of the boulders, on the sea-
ward face of which, he said, was a small cave, used

19

274 SUSANI

in the olden days as a sleeping place by fishermen
and sea-bird catchers. Suddenly, when half-way
up, he stopped and turned to' us, and with a smile
on his face, held up his hand and bade us listen.
Some one was singing.

" It is Susani," he whispered, " she did not sleep
in the village last night. She comes to this place
sometimes to sing to the sea. Come, she is not
afraid of white men."

Grasping the thick masses of green vine called
AfAt which hung from the summit of the rock,
we at last reached the foot of the cave, and looking
up we saw seated at the entrance a young native
girl of about twelve years of age. Even though we
were so near to her she seemed utterly unconscious
of our presence, and still sang in a low, soft voice
some island chant, the words of which were strange
to both my companion and myself although we
were well acquainted with nearly all the Toke-
lauan dialects.

Very quietly we stood awaiting till she turned
her face towards us, but her eyes were bent sea-
ward upon the driving sheets of rain, and the
tumbling surf which thrashed upon the shore.

" Wait," said Suka in a low voice ; " she will see
us soon. Tis best not to disturb her. She is
afflicted of God and seeth many things."

Her song ceased, and then Suka, stepping for-
ward, touched her gently upon the arm. She looked.

SUSANI 275

up and smiled into his face, and then she let her
full, dark eyes rest upon the strangers who stood
behind, then again she turned to Suka in mute,
inquiring wonder.

He bent down and placed his cheek against
hers, " Be not afraid, Susani ; they be good friends.
And see, little one, sit thee further back within the
cave, for the driving rain beats in here at the
mouth and thy feet are wet and cold."

She rose without a word and stood whilst the
kindly-hearted native unrolled an old mat which
lay at the end of the cave and spread it out in the
centre.

" Come, Susani, dear one," he said gravely, and
his usually harsh and guttural voice sounded soft
and tender. " Come, sit thee here, and then in a
little while shall I get wood and make a fire
so that we may eat. Hast eaten to-day, little
one?"

She shook her head ; a faint smile parted her
lips, and then her strange, mournful eyes for a
moment again sought ours as she seated herself
on the mat. Suka beckoned us to approach and
sit near her, himself sitting a little apart and to
one side.

" Susani," he said, bending forward and speaking
slowly and carefully, "fealofani tau lima i taka
soa " (" give your hand to my friends ").

The girl held out her left hand, and Senior and

276 SUSANI

I each took it in turn gently within our own, and
uttered the native greeting of " Fakaalofa"

"She can talk," said Suka, "but not much.
Sometimes for many days no word will come from
her lips. It is then she leave th the village and
walks about in the forest or along the beaches
when others sleep. But no harm can come to her,
for she is tausi mau te Atua* And be not vexed
in that she gave thee her left hand, for, see "

He touched the girl's right arm, and we now
saw that it hung limp and helpless upon her
smooth, bared thigh.

" Was she born thus?" asked Senior, as he placed
his strong, rough hand upon her head and stroked
her thick, wavy hair, which fell like a mantle over
her shoulders and back.

" Nay, she was born a strong child, and her
mother and father were without blemish, and good
to look upon — the man was as thick as me" (he
touched his own brawny chest), " but as she grew
and began to talk, the bone in her right arm began
to perish. And then the hand of God fell upon
her mother and father, and they died. But let me
go get wood and broil some fish, for she hath not
eaten." Then he bent forward and said —

" Dost fear to stay here, Susani, with the white
men?"

She looked at us in turn, and then said slowly —
1 In God's special keeping.

SUSANI 277

" Nay, I have no fear, Suka."

" Poor little beggar ! " said Senior pityingly.

Ten minutes later Suka had returned with an
armful of dry wood and some young drinking
cocoanuts. Fish we had in plenty, and in our
bags were some biscuits, brought from the
schooner. As Senior and I tended the fire, Suka
wrapped four silvery sea mullet in leaves, and then
when it had burnt down to a heap of glowing coals
he laid them in the centre and watched them care-
fully, speaking every now and then to the child,
who seemed scarcely to heed, as she gazed at
Senior's long, yellow beard, and his bright, blue
eyes set in his honest, sun-tanned face. Then,
when the fish were cooked, Suka turned them out
of their coverings and placed them on broad,
freshly plucked puka leaves, and Senior brought
the hard ship biscuits, and, putting one beside a
fish, brought it to the child and bade her eat.

She put out her left hand timidly, and took it
from him, her strange eyes still fixed wonderingly
upon his face. Then she looked at Suka, and
Suka, with an apologetic cough, placed one hand
over his eyes and bent his head — for he was a
deacon, and to eat food without giving thanks
would be a terrible thing to do, at least in the
presence of white men, who, of course, never
neglected to do so.

The child, hungry as she must have been, ate

278 SUSANI

her food with a dainty grace, though she had but
one hand to use, and our little attentions to her
every now and then seemed at first to increase her
natural shyness and timidity. But when the rude
meal was finished, and my companion and myself
filled our pipes and sat in the front of the cave,
she came with Suka and nestled up against his
burly figure as he rolled a cigarette of strong,
black tobacco in dried banana leaf. The rain
had ceased, but the fronds of the coco-palms
along the lonely shore swayed and beat together
with the wind, which still blew strongly, though
the sun was now shining brightly upon the white
horses of the heaving sea.

For nearly half an hour we sat thus, watching
the roll and curl of the tumbling seas upon the
reef and the swift flight of a flock of savage-eyed
frigate birds which swept to and fro, now high in
air, now low down, with wing touching wave, in
search of their prey, and listening to the song of
the wind among the trees. Then Suka, without
speaking, smiled, and pointed to the girl. She had
pillowed her head upon his naked bosom and
closed her long-lashed eyes in slumber.

" She will sleep long," he said. " Will it vex
thee if I stay here with her till she awakens ? See,
the sky is clear and the rain hath ceased, and ye
need but walk along the beach till "

" We will wait, Suka," I answered ; " we will

SUSAN I 279

wait till she awakens, and then return to the
village together. How comes it that one so young
and tender is left to wander about alone ? "

Suka pressed his lips to the forehead of the
sleeping girl. " No harm can come to her. God
hath afflicted, but yet doth He protect her. And
she walketh with Him and His Son Christ, else
had she perished long ago, for sometimes she will
leave us and wander for many days in the forest
or along the shore, eating but little and drinking
nothing, for she cannot open a cocoanut with her
one hand, and there are no streams of fresh, sweet
water here as there be in the fair land of Samoa.
And yet God is with her always, always, and she
feeleth hunger and thirst but little."

Senior placed his hand on mine and gripped it
so firmly that I looked at him with astonishment.
He was a cold, self-contained man, making no
friends, never talking about himself, doing his duty
as mate of the Venus as a seaman should do it,
and never giving any one — even myself, with
whom he was more open than any other man —
any encouragement to ask him why he, a highly
educated and intelligent man, had left civilisa-
tion to waste his years as a wanderer in the South
Seas. Still grasping my hand, he turned to me
and spoke with quivering lips —

" ' She walketh with God ! ' Did you hear that ?
Did you look into her eyes and not see in them

280 SUSAN I

what fools would call insanity, and what I know is
a knowledge of God above and Christ and the
world beyond. 'God has afflicted her/ so this
simple-minded native, whom many men in their
unthinking moments would call a canting, naked
kanaka, says ; but God has not afflicted her. He
has blessed her, for in her eyes there is that
which tells me better than all the deadly-dull
sermons of the highly cultured and fashionable
cleric, who patters about the Higher Life, or the
ranting Salvationist who bawls in the streets of
Melbourne or Sydney about the Blood of the
Lamb, that there is peace beyond for all. . . . ' God
has afflicted this poor child!' Would that He
might so afflict me physically as He has afflicted
her — if He but gave me that inner knowledge of
Himself which so shines out and is glorified in her
face."

His voice, rising in his excitement, nearly
awakened her ; so Suka, with outstretched hand,
enjoined silence.

" She sleeps, dear friends."

A year had come and gone, and the Venus again
lay at anchor in the broad lagoon of Funafuti.
Suka had come aboard whilst the schooner was
beating up to the anchorage, and said that there
had been much sickness on the island, that many
people had died, and that Susani with other

SUSANI 281

children was tali mate (nearly dead). Could we
give them some medicine ? for it was a strong
sickness this, and even the " thick " * man or
woman withered and died from it. Soon they
would all be dead.

Alas ! we could not help them much, for our
medicine chest was long since depleted of the only
drug that would have been of service. At every
island in the group from Nanomea southwards we
had found many of the people suffering and dying
from a malignant type of fever introduced by an
Hawaiian labour vessel. Then an additional mis-
fortune followed — a heavy gale, almost of hurri-
cane force, had set in from the westward and
destroyed countless thousands of cocoanut trees,
so that with the exception of fish, food was very
scarce.

We sent Suka on shore in the boat at once with
a few mats of rice and bags of biscuit — all the
provisions we could spare. Then as soon as the
vessel was anchored the captain, Senior, and my-
self followed. The resident native teacher met us
on the beach, his yellow face and gaunt frame
showing that he, too, had been attacked. Many
of the people, he told us, had gone to the tem-
porary village on Funafala, where a little more
food could be obtained than on the main island,
the groves of palms there not having suffered so
1 f.e.y strong, stout.

282 SUSANI

severely from the gale. Among those who had
gone were Susani and the family who had adopted
her, and we heard with sorrow that there was no
hope of the child living, for that morning some
natives had arrived from Funafala with the news
that nearly all the young children were dead, and
those remaining were not expected to live beyond
another day or two.

After spending an hour with the teacher, and
watching him distribute the rice and biscuit among
his sick and starving people, we returned to the
ship with the intention of sailing down to Funafala
in the boat and taking the natives there some pro-
visions. The teacher thanked us warmly, but
declined to come with us, saying that he could not
leave the many for the few, " for," he added sadly,
" who will read the service over those who die ?
As you sail down the lagoon you will meet canoes
coming up from Funafala bringing the dead. I
cannot go there to bury them."

It was nearly midnight when we put off from
the schooner's side, but with Suka as pilot we ran
quickly down to the island. A few natives met us
as we stepped on shore, and to these we gave the
provisions we had brought, telling them to divide
them equally. Then with Suka leading, and carry-
ing a lighted torch made from the spathe of the
cocoanut tree, we made our way through the
darkened forest to the house in which Susani and

SUSANI 283

her people were living. It was situated on the
verge of the shore, on the weather side of the
narrow island, so as to be exposed to the cooling
breath of the trade wind, and consisted merely of
a roof of thatch with open sides, and the ground
within covered with coarse mats, upon which we
saw were lying three figures.

Making as little noise as possible Suka called
out a name, and a man threw off his sleeping mat
and came out ; it was Susani's adopted father.

" No," he said in his simple manner, in answer
to our inquiries, " Susani is not yet dead, but she
will die at dawn when the tide is low. Tis now
her last sleep."

Stepping very softly inside the house so as not
to disturb her, we sat down to wait her awakening.
Suka crouched near us, smoking his pipe in silence,
and watching the sleeping girl to see if she moved.

Just as the weird cries of the tropic birds
heralded the approach of dawn, the woman who
lay beside Susani rose and looked into her face.
Then she bade us come nearer.

" She is awake."

The child knew us at once, even in that im-
perfect light, for the moment Senior and myself
stood up she tried to raise herself into a sitting
posture ; in an instant Suka sprang to her aid and
pillowed her head upon his knees ; weak as she
was, she put out her hand to us, and then let it lie

284 SUSAN I

in the mate's broad palm, her deep, mysterious
eyes resting upon his face with a strange look of
happiness shining in them. Presently her lips
moved, and we all bent over her to listen ; it was
but one word —

" Fakaalofa ! " '

She never spoke again, but lay breathing softly,
and as the sun shot blood red from the sea and
showed the deathly pallor of her face, poor Suka
gave way, and his stalwart bosom was shaken with
the grief he tried in vain to suppress. Once more
she raised her thin, weak hand as if she sought to
touch his face ; he took it tremblingly and placed
it against his cheek ; in another moment she had
ceased to breathe.

As I walked slowly along the beach to the boat
I looked back ; the White Man and the Brown
were kneeling together over the little mat-shrouded
figure.

1 " My love to you."

The Brothers-in-Law : A tale of
the Equatorial Islands

," said Tavita the teacher, pointing
with his paddle to a long, narrow peninsula
which stretched out into the shallow waters of the
lagoon, " there, that is the place where the battle
was fought. In those days a village of thirty
houses or more stood there ; now no one liveth
there, and only sometimes do the people come here
to gather cocoanuts."

The White Man nodded. " Tis a fair place to
look upon. Let us land and rest awhile, for the
sun is hot."

The native pastor swung the bow of the canoe
round towards the shore, and presently the little
craft glided gently upon the hard, white sand, and
the two men got out, walked up to the grove of
cocoa-palms, and sat down under their shade
to rest and smoke until the sun lost some of
its fierce intensity and they could proceed on

their journey homeward to the principal village.

285

286 THE BROTHERS-IN-LAW:

The White Man was the one trader living in
Peru,1 the native was a Samoan, and one of the
oldest and bravest missionaries in the Pacific. For
twenty years he had dwelt among the wild, intract-
able, and savage people of Peru — twenty years of
almost daily peril, for in those days the warlike
people of the Gilbert Group resented the coming
of the few native teachers scattered throughout the
archipelago, and only Tavita's undaunted courage
and genial disposition had preserved the lives of
himself and his family. Such influence as he now
possessed was due, not to his persistent attempts
to preach Christianity, but to his reputation for
integrity of conduct and his skill as a fisherman
and carpenter.

The White Man and he were firm friends, and
that day they had been down to the north end of
the lagoon to collect a canoe load of the eggs of a
small species of tern which frequented the un-
inhabited portion of the island in myriad swarms.

Presently, as they sat and smoked, and lazily
watched a swarm of the silvery mullet called kanae
disporting themselves on the glassy surface of the
lagoon, the White Man said —

" Who were these white men, Tavita, who fought
in the battle ? "

1 Francis Island, or Peru, is one of the largest atolls of the
Gilbert Group in the South Pacific, about one hundred and
twenty miles south of the Equator

A TALE OF THE EQUATORIAL ISLANDS 287

" Hast never heard the story ? " inquired the
teacher in Samoan.

The trader shook his head. " Only some of it —
a little from one, a little from another."

" Then listen," said Tavita, re-filling his pipe and
leaning his broad back against the bole of a cocoa-
palm.

*****

" It was nineteen years ago, and I had been
living on the island but a year. In those days
there were many white men in these islands.
Some were traders, some were but papalagi tafea *
who spent their days in idleness, drunkenness, and
debauchery, casting aside all pride and living like
these savage people, with but a girdle of grass
around their naked waists, their hands ever imbued
in the blood of their fellow white men or that of
the men of the land.

" Here, on this island, were two traders and many
beachcombers. One of the traders was a man
named Carter, the other was named West. Carter
the people called * Karta/ the other by his fore
name, which was ' Simi ' (Jim). They came here
together in a whaleship from the Bonin Islands
with their wives — two sisters, who were Portuguese
half-castes, and both very beautiful women.
Carter's wife had no children ; West, who was the
younger man, and who had married the younger
1 Beachcombers.

288 THE BROTHERS-IN-LAW:

sister, had two. Both brought many thousands of
dollars worth ot trade with them to buy cocoanut
oil, for in those days these natives here did not
make copra as they do now — they made oil from
the nuts.

" Karta built a house on the north end of the
island, where there is the best anchorage for ships,
West chose to remain on the lee side where he had
landed, and bought a house near to mine. In quite
a few days we became friends, and almost every
night we would meet and talk, and his children
and mine played together. He was quite a young
man, and had been, he told me, the third mate of
an English ship which was cast away on the Bonin
Islands four years before, where he had met Karta,
who was a trader there, and whose wife's sister he
married.

"One day they heard from the captain of a
whaleship that there was much money to be made
on this island of Peru, for although there were
many beachcombers living here there was no trader
to whom the people could sell their oil. So that
was why they came here.

" Now, although these two men were married
to two sisters, there was but little love between
them, and then as time went on came distrust, and
then hatred, born out of Karta's jealousy and
wicked heart ; but until they came to live here on
Peru there had been no bad blood — not even

A TALE OF THE EQUATORIAL ISLANDS 289

enough to cause a bitter word, though even then
the younger man did not like Karta, who was a
man of violent temper, unfaithful to his wife, and
rude and insulting in his manner to most men,
white or brown. And Serena, his wife, hated him,
but made no sign.

" As time went on, both men prospered, for there
was much oil to be had, and at the end of the first
year a schooner came from Sydney and bought it.
I went on board with Simi, after the oil had been
rafted off to the ship's side. Karta, too, came on
board to be paid for his oil. He had been drink-
ing much grog and his face was flushed and angry.
With him were three beachcombers whose foul
language and insolent demeanour angered both
the captain and Simi, who were quiet men. There
were six or seven of these beachcombers living on
the island, and they all disliked Simi, who would
have none of their company ; but in Karta's house
they were made welcome. Night after night they
would gather there and drink and gamble, for some
of them had bags of dollars, for dissolute and idle
as they were for the most of their time they could
make money easily by acting as interpreters for the
natives, to the captains of the whaleships, or as
pilots to the trading vessels sailing northward to
the Marshall Islands.

" The captain paid Simi partly in money and
partly in trade goods, for the two hundred casks of

20

290 THE BROTHERS-IN-LAW :

oil he bought, and then Simi and I turned to go
on shore. Karta had scarce spoken ten words to
Simi, who yet bore him no ill-will, although for
many months tales had come to us of the evil life
he led and the insults he put upon his wife Serena.

" But after he had bidden farewell to the captain,
Simi held out his hand to his brother-in-law and
said — ( My wife Luisa sendeth love and greetings
to Serena. Is she in good health ? *

" Karta would not take the hand held out to him.

" ' What is that to thee or thy wife either ? ' he
answered rudely. ' Look to thy own business and
meddle not with mine.'

" Simi's face grew red with anger, but he spoke
quietly and reproved his brother-in-law for his rude
speech. 'Why insult me needlessly before so
many strangers ? ' he said. ' What harm have I or
my wife Luisa ever done to thee ? '

"'Curse thee and Luisa, thy wife,' said Karta
again ; ' she and thee, aye, and Serena too, are well
matched, for ye be all cunning sneaks and fit
company for that fat-faced Samoan psalm-singer
who stands beside thee.'

" At these words the three beachcombers laughed,
and when they saw that Simi made no answer, but
turned aside from Karta in contempt, one of them
called him a coward.

" He turned upon him quickly. * Thou liest, thou
drunken, useless cumberer of the earth/ he said,

A TALE OF THE EQUATORIAL ISLANDS 291

looking at him scornfully ; ' no coward am I, nor a
noisy boaster like thee. This is no place for us to
quarrel. But say such a thing to me on the beach
if ye dare.'

" ' He is my friend/ said Karta, speaking with
drunken rage, and thrusting his face into Simi's,
' he is as good a man as thee any day. To strike
him or any one of us thou art afraid, thou cat-
hearted coward and miser.'

" Simi clenched his hands, but suddenly thrust
them into his pockets and looked at the captain
and the officers of the ship.

"'This is no place for me,' he again said in a low
voice ; ' come, Tavita, let us go/ and without even
raising his eyes to Karta and the three other men
he went out of the cabin.

"That night he, Luisa, and I and my wife sat
talking ; and in the fulness of her anger at the
insults heaped upon her husband, Luisa told us of
some things.

"'This man Karta hateth both my sister and
myself, as well as my husband. He hateth me
because that it was I whom he desired to 'marry,
four years ago ; but I feared him too much to
become his wife, for even in those days I knew
him to be a drunkard and a gambler, and a
licentious man. Then although she loved him not
my sister Serena became his wife, for he was a man
of good property, and promised to give over his evil

292 THE BROTHERS-IN-LAW:

ways and be a good husband to her. And he
hateth her and would gladly see her dead, for she
hath borne him no children. He is for ever fling-
ing cruel words at her, and hath said to her before
me that a childless man is a thing of scorn and
disgrace even to the savage people of this island.
And he makes no secret of his wickedness with
other women. That is why my sister Serena is
dull and heavy-minded ; for she is eaten up with
grief and shame.'

" ' That is true,' said Simi, * I have known this
for a year past, for when he is drunk he cannot
conceal his thoughts. And he is full of anger
against me because I have nought in common
with him. I am neither a drinker of grog nor
a gambler, and have suffered from him what I
would surfer from no other man. I am no brawler,
but yet 'tis hard to bear.'

*****

" Just as dawn came, and I was sunk in slumber,
I heard a footstep outside my door, and then Simi
called to me. ' Bring thy wife to my house quickly,'
he said, ' evil work hath been done in the night.'

" My wife and I followed him, and when we
entered we saw Luisa his wife kneeling beside
a couch and weeping over Serena, who lay still
and quiet as if dead.

" * Look,' he said sternly, * look what that devil
hath done ! '

A TALE OF THE EQUATORIAL ISLANDS 293

" He lifted Serena's left arm — the bone was
broken in two places, above and below the elbow.

" We set to work quickly, and fitting the broken
bones in place we bound her arm up in stiff,
smooth strips of the spathe of the cocoanut tree,
and then washed and dressed her feet, which were
cut and bleeding, for she had walked barefooted,
and clothed only in her night-dress, all the way
from the north end of the island, which is nearly
two leagues from my house.

" After she had drunk some coffee and eaten a
little food she became stronger, and told us all
that had befallen her.

" ' Karta and the three other white men came
back from the ship when it was long past mid-
night, and I knew by the noise they made that
they had all been drinking grog. I heard them
talking and laughing and saying that thou, Simi,
were a paltry coward ; and then one of them — he
who is called Joe — said that he would one day end
thee with a bullet and take Luisa to wife, as so
fine a woman deserved a better man than a cur for
a husband. And Karta — Karta my husband —
laughed and said that that could not be, for he
meant to take thee, Luisa, for himself when he
had ridden himself of me. His shameless words
stung me, and I wept silently as I lay there, and
pressed my hands to my ears to shut out their
foul talk and blasphemies.

294 THE BROTHERS-IN-LAW:

" ' Suddenly I heard my husband's voice as he
rose from the table and came towards the sleeping
room. He threw open the door and bade me
come out and put food before him and his friends.

" ' I rose at his bidding, for his face terrified me —
it was the face of a devil — and began to clothe my-
self. He tore the dress from my hands and cursed
me, and bade me go as I stood. In my fear I
sprang to the window and tried to tear down the
cane lattice-work so as to escape from the house
and the shame he sought to put upon me. He
seized me by the waist and tried to tear me away,
but I was strong — strong with the strength of a
man. Then it was that he went mad, for he took
up a heavy paua stick and struck me twice on the
arm. And had it not been that the other white
men came in and dragged him away from me,
crying shame on him, and throwing him down
upon the floor, I would now be dead.

" ' I lay quiet for a little time and then rising to
my feet looked out into the big room, where the
three men were still holding my husband down.
One of them bade me run for my life, for Karta,
he said, had gone mad with grog.

" ' I feared to seek aid from any of the natives,
for they, too, dread Karta at such times ; so I
walked and ran, sometimes along the beach, some-
times through the bush till I came here. That is all.'

A TALE OF THE EQUATORIAL ISLANDS 295

" That morning the head man in our village
caused the shell to sound,1 to call the people
together so that they might hear from Simi the
story of the shame put upon his wife's sister and
upon himself and his house. As the people
gathered around the moniep? and the head men
sat down inside, the captain of the ship came on
shore, and great was his anger when he heard the
tale.

" ' Let this poor woman come to my ship/ he
said ; ' her life here is not safe with such a man as
that. For I know his utter vileness and cruelty to
her. With me she shall be safe and well cared for,
and if she so wishes she shall come with me to
Fiji where my wife liveth, and her life will be
a life of peace.'

" So Serena was put in the ship's boat, and
Luisa went with her to remain on board till the
ship sailed, which would be in three days. Then
Simi and the head men talked together in the
council house, and they made a law and sent a
message to Karta. This was the message they
sent to him : * Because of the evil thou hast done
and of the shame thou hast put upon the sister of
the wife of our white man, come no more to this
town. If thou comest then will there be war
between thy town and ours, and we will burn the
houses and harry and slay thee and the seven
1 A conch-shell. 2 The council house.

296 THE BROTHERS-IN-LAW:

other white men, and all men of thy town who
side with thee, and make slaves of the women and
children. This is our last word.'

"A swift messenger was sent. Before the sun
was in mid-heaven he returned, crying out as he
ran, ' War is the answer of Karta and his village.
War and death to Simi and to us all are his words ;
and to Luisa, the wife of the white man, he
sendeth this message : " Prepare a feast for thy
new husband, for he cometh to take thee away
from one who cannot stand against him."'

"In those days there were seven hundred fight-
ing men in our town, and a great clamour arose.
Spears and clubs and muskets and hatchets were
seized, the armour of stout cinnet which covered a
man from head to foot was put on, women filled
baskets with smooth stones for the slings ; and
long before sundown the warriors set out, with
Simi and the head men leading them, to meet
their enemies mid-way — at this very place where
we now sit. For this narrow strip of land hath
been the fighting-ground of Peru from the old, old
times long before I was born, and my years are
three score and seven.

" The night was dark, but Simi and his people,
when they reached this place, some by land and
some in canoes, lit great fires on the beach and
dug trenches in the sand very quickly, behind
which all those who carried muskets were placed,

A TALE OF THE EQUATORIAL ISLANDS 297

to fire into the enemy's canoes as they paddled
along the narrow passage to the landing place.
Karta and his white friends and the people of their
town had more than two hundred muskets, whilst
our village had less than fifty. But they were
strong of heart and waited eagerly for the fight.

"Just before sunrise we saw them coming.
There were over one hundred canoes, each carrying
five or six men. Karta and the beachcombers were
leading in a whaleboat, which was being rowed
very swiftly. When within rifle-shot she grounded.

" As they leapt out of the boat, rifles in hand,
they were followed by their natives, but our people
fired a volley together, and two of the white men
and many of their people fell dead in the shallow
water. Then Simi and twenty of our best men
leapt out of their trenches and dashed into the
water to meet them. Karta was in advance of
them all, and when he saw Simi he raised his rifle
and fired. The bullet missed the white man but
killed a native behind him. Then Karta, throwing
away his rifle, took two pistols from his belt and
shot twice at Simi who was now quite close to
him. These bullets, too, did Simi no harm, for
taking a steady aim at his foe he shot him through
the body, and as Karta fell upon his side one of
our people leapt on him and held his head under
the water till there was no more life in his wicked
heart.

298 THE BROTHERS-IN-LAW.

" The fight was soon ended, for seeing three of
their number killed so quickly, the rest of the
white men ran back to their boat and tried to float
her again ; and then Simi, taking a shot-gun
loaded with slugs from one of his men, ran up to
them and shot dead the one named Joe. The
other white men he let escape, for all their
followers were now paddling off or swimming to
the other side of the lagoon, and Simi was no
lover of bloodshed.

" That day the people at the north end sent a
message for peace, and peace was made, for our
people had lost but one man killed, so the thing
was ended well for us.

" Serena came back from the ship, for now that
Karta was dead she had no fear. The three white
men who were spared soon left Peru in a whale-
ship, for they feared to remain.

" Simi and his wife and children and Serena did
not long stay with us, for he sold his house and
boats to a new trader who came to the island
about a month after the fight, and they went away
to live at a place in Fiji called Yasawa. They
were very good to me and mine, and I was sore in
my heart to see the ship sail away with them, and
at night I felt very lonely for a long time, knowing
that I should see them no more."

Pdkia

LATE one evening, when the native village
was wrapped in slumber, Temana and I
brought our sleeping-mats down to the boat-shed,
and spread them upon the white, clinking sand.
For here, out upon the open beach, we could feel
a breath of the cooling sea-breeze, denied to the
village houses by reason of the thick belt of palms
which encompassed them on three sides. And
then we were away from Malepa's baby, which
was a good thing in itself.

Temana, tall, smooth-limbed, and brown-skinned,
was an excellent savage, and mine own good friend.
He and his wife Malepa lived with me as a sort
of foster-father and mother, though their united
ages did not reach mine by a year or two.

When Malepa's first baby was born, she and
her youthful husband apologised sincerely for the
offence against my comfort, and with many tears

prepared to leave my service. But although I

299

300 PAKIA

was agreeable to let Malepa and her little bundle
of red-skinned wrinkles go, I could not part with
Temana, so I bade her stay. She promised not
to let the baby cry o' nights. Poor soul. She
tried her best ; but every night — or rather towards
daylight — that terrible infant would raise its fear-
some voice, and wail like a foghorn in mortal
agony.

We lit our pipes and lay back watching a moon
of silvered steel poised 'midships in a cloudless sky.
Before us, unbroken in its wide expanse, save for
two miniature islets near the eastern horn of the
encircling reef, the glassy surface of the sleeping
lagoon was beginning to quiver and throb to the
muffled call of the outer ocean ; for the tide was
about to turn, and soon the brimming waters
would sink inch by inch, and foot by foot from
the hard, white sand, and with strange swirlings
and bubblings and mighty eddyings go tearing
through the narrow passage at eight knots an
hour.

Presently we heard a footfall upon the path
which led to the boat-shed, and then an old man,
naked but for his titi, or waist-girdle of grass,
came out into the moonlight, and greeted us in
a quavering, cracked voice.

" Aue ! white man, my dear friend. So thou
and Temana sit here in the moonlight ! "

" Even so, Pakia, most excellent and good old

PAKIA 301

man. Sit ye here beside us. Nay, not there,
but here on mine own mat. So. Hast thy pipe
with thee ? "

The ancient chuckled, and his wrinkled old face
beamed as he untwisted a black and stumpy clay
from his perforated and pendulous ear-lobe, which
hung full down upon his shoulder, and, turning it
upside down, tapped the palm of his left hand
with it.

" See ! " he said, with another wheezing, half-
whispered, half-strangled laugh, " see and hear the
emptiness thereof! Nothing has been in its belly
since cockcrow. And until now have I hungered
for a smoke. Twice did I think to come to thee
to-day and ask thee for kaitalafu (credit) for five
sticks of tobacco, but I said to my pipe, * Nay, let
us wait till night time.' For see, friend of my
heart, there are ever greedy eyes which watch the
coming and going of a poor old man ; and had I
gotten the good God-given tobacco from thee by
daylight, friends would arise all around me as I
passed through the village to my house. And
then, lo, the five sticks would become but one ! "

"Pakia," I said in English, as I gave him a
piece of tobacco and my knife, " you are a philo-
sopher."

He stopped suddenly, and placing one hand on
my knee, looked wistfully into my face, as an
inquiring child looks into the eyes of its mother.

302 PAKIA

" Tell me, what is that ? "

I tried to find a synonym. " It means that you
are a tagata poto — a wise man."

The old, brown, bald head nodded, and the dark,
merry eyes danced.

" Aye, aye. Old I may be, and useless, but I
have lived — I have lived. And though when I am
dead my children and grandchildren will make a
tagi over me, I shall laugh, for I know that of one
hundred tears, ninety and nine will be for the
tobacco and the biscuit and the rice that with me
will vanish ! "

He filled and lit his pipe, and then, raising one
skinny, tattooed arm, pointed to the moon.

" Hast such a moon as that \\\ papalagi land ? "

" Sometimes."

" Aye, sometimes. But not always. No, not
always. I know, I know. See, my friend ; let us
talk. I am full of talk to-night. You are a good
man, and I, old Pakia, have seen many things.
Aye, many things and many lands. Aye, I, who
am now old and toothless, and without oil in my
knees and my elbows, can talk to you in two
tongues besides my own. . . . Temana ! "

" Oiy good father Pakia."

" Go away. The white man and I would talk."

I placed my hand on the bald head of the
ancient. "Temana shall go to the house and
bring us a bottle of grog. We will drink, and

PAKIA 303

then you shall talk. I am one who would
learn."

The old man took my hand and patted it.
" Yes, let us talk to-night. And let us drink grog.
Grog is good to drink, sometimes. Sometimes it
is bad to drink. It is bad to drink when the
swift blood of youth is in our veins and a hot
word calls to a sharp knife. Ah ! I have seen it !
Listen ! Dost hear the rush of the lagoon waters
through the passage? That is the quick, hot
blood of youth, when it is stirred by grog and
passion, and the soft touch of a woman's bosom.
I know it. I know it. But let Temana bring the
bottle. I am not afraid to drink grog with thee.
Ah, thou art not like some white men. Thou
can'st drink, and give some to a poor old man, and
if prying eyes and babbling tongues make mischief,
and the missionary sends thee a tusi (letter), and
says ' This drinking of grog by Pakia is wrong,'
thou sendest him a letter, saying, ' True, O teacher
of the Gospel. This drinking of grog is very
wrong. Wherefore do I send thee three dollars for
the school, and ask thy mercy for old Pakia, who
was my guest.' "

I slapped the ancient on his withered old back.

" To-night ye shall drink as much grog as ye
like, Pakia. The missionary is a good man, and
will not heed foolish talk."

Pakia shook his head. " Mareko is a Samoan.

304 PAKIA

He thinketh much of himself because he hath
been to Sini (Sydney) and stood before many
white gentlemen and ladies, and told them about
these islands. He is a vain fool, though a great
man here in Nukufetau, but in Livapoola1 he would
be but as a pig. Livapoola is a very beautiful
place, full of beautiful women. Ah ! you laugh. . . .
I am bent and old now, and my bones rattle under
my skin like pebbles in a gourd. Then I was
young and strong. Listen ! I was a boat-steerer
for three years on a London whaleship. I have
fought in the wars of Chile and Peru. I can tell
you many things, and you will understand. . . .
I have seen many lands."

Temana returned with a bottle of brandy, a
gourd of water, and three cups.

"Drink this, Paki'a, taka ta-ina? And talk.
Your talk is good to hear. And I can understand."

He drank the liquor neat, and then washed it
down with a cupful of water.

" Tdpa I Ah, the good, sweet grog ! And see,
above us is the round moon, and here be we three.
We three — two young and strong, one whose
blood is getting cold. Ah, I will talk, and this
boy, Temana, will learn that Paki'a is no boasting
old liar, but a true man." Then, suddenly dropping
the Nukufetau dialect in which he had hitherto
spoken, he said quietly in English —

1 Liverpool. 3 Lit., dear crony.

PAKIA 305

" I told you I could speak other languages
beside my own, It is true, for I can talk English
and Spanish." Then he went back into native :
" But I am not a vain old man. These people
here are fools. They think that because on
Sundays they dress like white men and go to
church five times in one day, and can read and
write in Samoan, that they are as clever as white
men. Bah ! they are fools, fools ! Where are the
strong men of my youth ? Where are the thousand
and two hundred people who, when my father was
a boy, lived upon the shores of this lagoon ? They
are gone, gone ! "

" True, Paki'a. They are gone."

" Aye, they are perished like the dead leaves.
And once when I said in the hearing of the
kaupule (head men) that in the days of the po-uri
(heathen times) we were a great people and better
off than we are now, I was beaten by my own
grand-daughter, and fined ten dollars for speaking
of such things, and made to work on the road for
two months. But it is true — it is true. Where
are the people now ? They are dead, perished ;
there are now but three hundred left of the
thousand and two hundred who lived in my
father's time. And of those that are left, what
are they ? They are weak and eaten up with
strange diseases. The men cannot hunt and fish
as men hunted and fished in my father's time.

21

3o6 PAKIA

Tah I they are women, and the women are men,
for now the man must work for the woman, so
that she can buy hats and boots and calicoes, and
dress like a white woman. Give me more grog,
for these things fill my belly with bitterness, and
the grog is sweet. Ah ! I shall tell you many
things to-night."

" Tell me of them, old man. See, the moon is
warm to our skins. And as we drink, we shall
eat. Temana here shall bring us food. And we
shall talk till the sun shines over the tops of the
trees on Motu Luga. I would learn of the old
times before this island became lotu (Christian-
ised)."

" Oi. I will tell you. I am now but as an old,
upturned canoe that is used for a sitting-place
for children who play on the beach at night. And
I am called a fool and a bad man, because I some-
times speak of the days that are dead. Temana,
is Malepa thy wife virtuous ? "

"Se kau Hod" ("I do not know"), replied
Temana, with a solemn face.

" Ah, you cannot tell ! Who can tell nowadays ?
But you will know when some day she is fined
five dollars. In my time if a man doubted his
wife, the club fell swiftly, or the spear was sped,
and she was dead. And, because of this custom,
wives in those days were careful. Now, they care
not, and are fined five dollars many times. And

PAKIA 307

the husband hath to pay the fine ! " He laughed
in his noiseless way, and then puffed at his pipe.
" And if he cannot pay, then he and his wife, and
the man who hath wronged him, work together on
the roads, and eat and drink together as friends,
and are not ashamed. And at night-time they
sing hymns together ! "

" People must be punished when wrong is done,
Paki'a," I said lamely.

" Bah ! what is five dollars to a woman ? Is it
a high fence set with spears over which she cannot
climb ? If a man hath fifty dollars, does not his
wife know it, and tell her lover (if she hath one)
that he may meet her ten times ! Give me more
water in this grog, good white man with the brown
skin like mine own ! "

The old fellow smoked his pipe in silence for a
few minutes ; then again he pointed to the moon,
nodded and smiled.

" Tah I What a moon ! Would that I were
young again ! See, in the days of my youth, on
such a night as this, all the young men and women
would be standing on the outer reef fishing for
malaU) which do but take a bait in the moonlight.
Now, because to-morrow is the Sabbath day, no
man must launch a canoe nor take a rod in his
hand, lest he stay out beyond the hour of midnight,
and his soul go to hell to burn in red fire for ever
and ever. Bah ! "

308 PAKIA

" Never mind these things, Pakia. Tell me
instead how came ye to serve in the wars of Chile
and Peru, or of thy voyages in the folau manu
(whaleship)."

His eyes sparkled. " Ah, those were the days !
Twice in one whaleship did I sail among the ice
mountains of the far south, where the wind cuts
like a knife and the sea is black to look at. Tdpa !
the cold, the cold, the cold which burneth the
skin like iron at white heat ! But I was strong ;
and we killed many whales. I, Pakia, in one
voyage struck thirteen ! I was in the mate's
boat. . . . Look at this now ! " He held up his
withered arm and peered at me. "It was a strong
arm then ; now it is but good to carry food to
my mouth, or to hold a stick when I walk."
The last words he uttered wistfully, and then
sighed.

" The mate of that ship was a good man. He
taught me many things. Once, when we had left
the cold seas and were among the islands of
Tonga, he struck me in his rage because I threw
the harpoon at a great sperm whale, and missed.
That night I slipped over the side, and swam five
miles to the land. Dost know the place called
Lifuka ? 'Twas there I landed. I lay in a thicket
till daylight, then I arose and went into a house
and asked for food. They gave me a yam and a
piece of bonito, and as I ate men sprang on me

PAKIA 309

from behind and tied me up hand and foot. Then
I was carried back to the ship, and the captain
gave those pigs of Tongans fifty dollars' worth of
presents for bringing me back."

" He thought well of thee, Pakia, to pay so
much."

He nodded.

" Aye, for I was a good man, and worth much
to him. And I was not flogged, for the mate was
my friend always. All the voyage I was a lucky
man, till we came to a place called Amboyna.
Here the mate became sick and died, so I ran
away. This time I was not caught, and when the
ship was gone, I was given work by an English-
man. He was a rich merchant — not a poor trader
like thee. He had a great house, many servants,
and many native wives. Thou hast but two
servants, and no wife. Why have ye no wife?
It is not proper ! "

I expressed my deep sense of the insignificance
of my domestic arrangements, and gave him
another nip of brandy.

" But, like him, thou hast a big heart. May
you live long and become a mau koloa (rich man).
Ah ! the grog, the good grog. I am young again
to-night. . . . And so for two years I lived at
Amboyna. Then my master went to Peretania —
to Livapoola — and took me with him. I was his
servant, and he trusted me and made much of me.

310 PAKIA

Ah, Livapoola is a fine place. I was six months
there, and wherever my master went I went with
him. By and by he married, and we went to
live at a place by the sea, in a fair white house of
stone, with rich lands encompassing it. It was a
foreign place, and we crossed the sea to go there.
There were many women servants there, and one
of them, named Lissi, began to smile at, and then
to talk to me. I gave her many presents, for
every week my master put a gold piece in my
hand. One day I asked him to give me this girl
for my wife. He laughed, and said I was foolish ;
that she was playing with me. I told her this.
She swore to me that when I had fifty gold pieces
she would be my wife, but that I must tell no
one. . . . Ah ! how a woman can fool a man ! I
was fooled. And every gold piece 1 got I gave to
her to keep for me.

" I have said that there were many servants.
There was one young man, named Harry, whose
work it was to take my master about in his puha
tia tia (carriage). Sometimes I would see him
talking to the girl, and then looking at me. Then
I began to watch ; but she was too cunning.
Always had she one word for me. * Be patient ;
when we have the fifty gold pieces all shall be
well. We shall go away from here, and get
married.'

" One night, as I lay upon the grass smoking

PAKIA 311

my pipe, I heard voices, the voices of the man
Harry and Lissi. They were speaking of me.
They spoke loudly, and I heard all that was said.
' He is but a simple fool/ she said, with a laugh ;
1 but in another month I shall have the last of his
money, and then thou and I shall go away quietly.
Faugh ! the tattooed beast ! ' and I heard her laugh
again, and the man laughed with her, but bade her
be careful lest I should suspect."

" She was a bad woman, Paki'a," I began, when
he interrupted me with a quick gesture.

" I crept back into the house and got a knife,
and waited. The night was dark, but I could see.
Presently they came along a narrow path which
led to the house. Then I sprang out, and drove
my knife twice into the man's chest. I had not
time to kill the woman, for at the third blow the
knife broke off at the hilt, and she fled in the
darkness. I wanted to kill her because she had
fooled me and taken my money — forty-six gold
pieces.

"There was a great wood which ran from my
master's house down to the sea. I ran hard, very
hard, till I came to the water. I could see ships
in the harbour, quite near. I swam to one, and
tried to creep on deck and hide, but heard the
sailors talking. Presently I saw a vessel — a
schooner — come sailing slowly past. There was
a boat towing astern. I swam softly over, and got

312 PAKIA

into the boat, and laid down till it was near the
dawn. There was but little wind then, and the
ship was not moving fast, so I got into the water
again, and held on to the side of the boat, and
began to cry out in a loud voice for help. As
soon as they heard me the ship was brought to
the wind, and I got back into the boat. I was
taken on board and given food and coffee, and
told the captain that I had fallen overboard from
another ship, and had been swimming for many
hours. Only the captain could speak a little
English — all the others were Italians. It was an
Italian ship.

" I was a long time on that ship. We went first
to Rio, then down to the cold seas of the south,
and then to Callao. But the captain never gave
me any money, so I ran away. Why should a
man work for naught ? By and by an American
whaleship came to Callao, and I went on board.
I was put in the captain's boat. We sailed about
a long time, but saw no whales, so when the ship
came to Juan Fernandez I and a white sailor
named Bob ran away, and hid in the woods till
the ship was gone. Then we came out and
went to the Governor, who set us to work to
cut timber for the whaleships. Hast been to this
island?"

"No," I replied; "'tis a fair land, I have
heard."

PAKIA 313

" Aye, a fair, fair land, with green woods and
sweet waters ; and the note of the blue pigeon
soundeth from dawn till dark, and the wild goats
leap from crag to crag."

" Didst stay there long, Paki'a ? "

He rubbed his scanty white beard meditatively.
"A year — two years — I cannot tell. Time goes
on and on, and the young do not count the days.
But there came a ship which wanted men. and I
sailed away to Niu Silani.1 That, too, is a fair
land, and the men of the country have brown skins
like us, and I soon learnt their tongue, which is
akin to ours. I was a long time in that ship, for
we kept about the coast, and the Maoris filled her
with logs of kauri wood, to take to Sydney. It
was a good ship, for although we were paid no
money every man had as much rum as he could
drink and as much tobacco as he could smoke,
and a young Maori girl for wife, who lived on
board. Once the Maoris tried to take the ship as
she lay at anchor, but we shot ten or more. Then
we went to Sydney, where I was put in prison for
many weeks."

" Why was that ? "

" I do not know. It was, I think, because of

something the captain had done when he was in

Sydney before ; he had taken away two men and

a woman who were prisoners of the Governor, I

1 New Zealand.

314 PAKIA

had seen them on board at Juan Fernandez ; they
went ashore there to live. But the Governor of
Sydney was good to me. I was brought before
him ; he asked me many questions about these
islands, and gave me some silver money. Then
the next day I was put on board a ship, which
took me to Tahiti. But see, dear friend, I
cannot talk more to-night, though my tongue
is loose and my belly warm with the good grog.
But it is strong, very strong, and I fear to
drink more, lest I disgust thee and lose thy
friendship."

" Nay, old man. Have no fear of that. And
see, sleep here with us till the dawn. Temana
shall bring thee a covering-mat."

" Ah-h-h ! Thou art good to old Pakia. I shall
stay till the dawn. It is good to have such a
friend. To-morrow, if I weary thee not, I shall
tell thee of how I returned to Chile and fought
with the English ship-captain in the war, and of
the woman he loved, and of the great fire which
burnt two thousand women in a church."

" Tah ! " said Temana incredulously ; " two
thousand ? "

" Aye ! " he snapped angrily, " dost think I be
drunk, boy? Go and watch thy wife. How
should an ignorant hog like thee know of such
things ? "

" JSh, 'sh, old man. Be not so quick to anger.

PAKIA 315

Temana meant no harm. Here is thy covering-
mat Lie down and sleep."

He smiled good-naturedly at us, and then,
pulling the mat over him to shield his aged frame
from the heavy morning dew, was soon asleep.

Cfje ©mfjam |)i:r$s,

UNWIN BROTHERS,
WOKING AND LONDON.

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