A Modern Buccaneer Part 22

I quietly pulled up the anchor, and let the canoe drift towards the mainland. I did not care about visiting the scene of the fight as I had no arms with me, and learnt by experience the folly of meddling with the Pleasant islanders when they were sober. When they were drunk I knew that they would as soon cut my throat as not.

I mentioned this matter to the Captain on my next visit. He told me with a grim smile that he knew there had been a fight up the lagoon; so much the better, as he found the Pleasant islanders harder to manage every day, and the sooner their number was reduced the better.

One day, when Kusis and I were coming across the lagoon with some pigeons I had shot, we met the Pingelap girl, Peloa, paddling a canoe furiously, her plump face showing great excitement. "She had been sent for us," she said, "by the Captain. There was a sail in sight. I was to hasten back to Mout, where I would find a boat outside the reef which he had sent down for me. I was to try and board the s.h.i.+p, in case he could not do so from Utw, and tell the master that a s.h.i.+pwrecked crew were on the island."

Peloa hauled her canoe up on a little beach, and got in with us. We three then paddled along till we got abreast of the two islets near Mout. We then saw a whaleboat coming round the point with a lug sail.

She soon ran in for me, and I found she was manned by Pleasant islanders, who told me that the s.h.i.+p was coming round the point, about three miles off the land.

There was a strong breeze, and we slipped through the water at a great rate so as to meet the s.h.i.+p. As soon as we cleared the point I saw her coming down before the wind about two miles distant.

She was a large s.h.i.+p, and was running straight for us with her yards squared. At first I thought she had seen us, but she kept steadily on her course. Then I saw her take in her light sails and heave to.

Standing up in the boat, I could distinguish a whaleboat under a fore and aft sail close to her. Behind this boat were two others, which, from their black paint and peculiarly-cut sails, I knew to be those the Captain had at Utw.

The s.h.i.+p lay to till the first whaleboat boarded her, and then, to my great surprise, the yards were swung round, the light sails again set, and she stood on her course, but kept the wind more on her quarter so as to make the most of the breeze.

By this time I had got almost within hailing distance of the s.h.i.+p. She was deep in the water, and was, I supposed, some coal-laden s.h.i.+p bound from New South Wales to China, which had taken the outside or easier route to her destination. When the whaleboat lowered her sail and ran alongside, I saw that she was the king's new boat, and contained but two men. These, my crew said, looked like the two deserters from the _St.

George_. As soon as they got on board the boat was hoisted in without delay, and, as I have said, the s.h.i.+p kept on her course.

It was of no use attempting to overtake her, as she was travelling now about twelve knots, so I signalled for the other two boats, and they ran down after us till we got under the lee of the land again in smooth water.

The men in these boats told me the following tale:--About daylight that morning the king's whaleboat, which was anch.o.r.ed in Utw harbour, was found to be missing. The two deserters from the _St. George_ were also gone. Captain Hayston instantly offered to send his boat in pursuit of the runaways, and curiously, just as they were being launched, there came a cry of "Sail ho." The Captain then saw the s.h.i.+p a long way off, and told the crews to try and board her, and get her to run in close to the land, and that he would then come off himself. In the mean time he manned one of the trader's whaleboats with a native crew, and sent her round to Coquille to pick me up, as he fancied the s.h.i.+p would be easier boarded from there than from Utw. The three boats left together, two standing right out to sea, and the other running down the coast to pick me up.

When the two boats were within three miles of the s.h.i.+p, they noticed the fore and aft sail of the king's whaleboat showing up now and then as she rose and sunk again in the heavy swell, and noticed that she was also heading to meet the s.h.i.+p. The rest I had observed myself.

I suspected something from the manner of the c.o.xswain in charge of the king's two boats, but did not question him, and telling him to give the Captain full particulars of our endeavour to board the s.h.i.+p, I got ash.o.r.e in a smooth part of the reef, and walked back to Mout, where I found the villagers in a great state of excitement, under the impression that I had gone away in the s.h.i.+p.

Hayston afterwards admitted that he had supplied the deserters with s.e.xtant, compa.s.s, and chart, had also given them provisions, and fifty dollars in money. They promised him to make straight for Ponap, and wait there till some Californian s.h.i.+p called, which they would endeavour to charter, on the part of Hayston, to beat up to Strong's Island, and take us all away to Providence Island. Barney was a good navigator, and could he only have kept fairly sober would have long since had a s.h.i.+p of his own. He eagerly accepted the Captain's offer, and the next morning the crew of the king's whaleboat found she had disappeared; then followed the strange series of events by which Barney and his mate got on board the s.h.i.+p and evaded pursuit.

Barney was a highly intelligent individual, as the sequel will show, and was capable of making a rapid calculation of probabilities. He afterwards visited Samoa, and gave this account of his escape.

He said that when the Captain provided him with "a jewel of a whaleboat," he honestly intended to fulfil his promises. He lost some time in trying to persuade a native girl named Luta to share his fortunes, but she was afraid of a long voyage in a small boat. His pleadings, moreover, were cut short by the Captain, who told him to hurry up, and get out of the harbour before daylight.

As soon, then, as Barney sighted the s.h.i.+p a plan suggested itself to him. Once on deck he introduced himself to the Captain as "Captain Casey," and said, "For heaven's sake, sir, don't delay another moment.

There are two boat-loads of b.l.o.o.d.y, cut-throat pirates coming after me, and they mane to take the s.h.i.+p! Have you never heard of 'Bully Hayston'?"

The skipper _had_ heard of him,--things true, and untrue likewise. Then Barney told him a tale of how the _Leonora_ had been wrecked on the island, and that ever since the fierce Captain and crew had planned to cut off the first s.h.i.+p that touched at the island--that he (Barney) and his mate had owned a small trading cutter, which Hayston had seized two days ago--but that he had managed to escape with one of his men, and thanked G.o.d that he was able to reach the s.h.i.+p in time, and save every one's throat from being cut.

The s.h.i.+p's captain took all this in; Barney's boat was hoisted in, and the s.h.i.+p kept away. The two boats, with their crews of excited natives yelling and shouting, gave colour to Barney's narrative, and when he pointed to my boat, and said, "Holy saints! there's another of the villains coming out under the lee side with a boat-load of pirates too,"

the captain's funk was complete. He landed Barney and his companion at Ponap, and, purely out of compa.s.sion, bought the king's whaleboat and her contents for a hundred dollars, so that Mr. Barney landed there with a hundred and fifty dollars in his pocket, and got a free pa.s.sage later on to Manila as a distressed American seaman.

The Captain took matters philosophically when the boats returned, saying that he never had expected to see Barney again. After which he resumed his oil-making and the government of his "kingdom by the sea" as usual.

As for me, my life was a quiet, deeply enjoyable one. I began at times to doubt whether I should ever wish to change it. But against this phase of lotus-eating contentment arose from time to time a haunting dread, lest by evil chance I should ever sink down into the position of those renegades from civilisation, whom I had known, in the strange world of "The Islands," and as often pitied or despised. In this Robinson Crusoe existence I even felt a mild interest in the three cattle that we had landed at Utw.

They had found their way over to the lee side of the island, and made their way along the beach to Mout.

One day little Kinie met them, and, with hair flying loose and eyes dilated in an agony of terror, fled wildly home. She explained to me incoherently "that she had met three huge pigs, with, long teeth growing out of their heads and eyes as big as cocoa-nuts."

Kusis and I, with some natives, went out and found them walking slowly along the beach. At the sound of my voice they stopped and let me come up to them, smelling me all over. I had only a mat round my waist, for my European clothes were only worn on great occasions; but they evidently knew me for a different being to those around them. We drove them to a rich piece of meadow land, where they remained during the rest of my stay on the island--fat, quiet, and contented.

Early one morning I made ready for a start back to Coquille harbour, and found Kusis awaiting me in the king's courtyard.

Shortly after the queen came out and told me that I must wait for breakfast, or the king would be offended. Old Tokusar then appeared, none the worse for the night's potations, and we sat down to a very good breakfast.

He told me that he had intended to go and see the Captain's village at Utw, but that Likiak S, had dissuaded him by telling him that Hayston would seize and imprison him.

I a.s.sured the king that this was a pure invention, upon which both he and the queen said they would take my word before that of Likiak S, and from the kindness of the king and his subjects at Chabral harbour, I felt certain that my intercession with Hayston on behalf of the villages at Coquille had placed me high in their regard.

The queen pointed to a pile of beautiful mats, quant.i.ties of cooked fowls, pigeons, pork, fish, and fruit, which were being carried in and deposited in the courtyard, telling me that they were presents from the king and herself, and would be taken down to Mout for me by native carriers.

As I was bidding my royal friends good-bye, promising to come and see them whenever I got tired of Mout, Kitty of Ebon came in, and quite bore out the description Hayston had given me of her remarkable beauty. She seemed a very intelligent girl, and was much admired by the king, who kept nudging me, and saying in his wheezy, croaking voice, "Um, ah! What you tink girl like that?"

He then fell into moody silence, upon which Queen S gave him a scornful glance, exclaiming, "For shame! old man like you, sick all the time, look so much at young girl like Kitty Ebon! Captain Hayston teach you all that."

I learnt from Kitty that Lalia was then at her house on a visit, and, telling the king and queen of her kindness to me when I was ill at Utw, said I should like to go and see her, as Kitty's house lay in the direction Kusis and I were taking. The queen generously gave me a small work-box, with the necessary fittings, which she said I could give to Lalia. It was quite a handsome affair, and had been given to the queen by a s.h.i.+p captain; but she had never used it. Shaking hands with Tokusar and Queen S, we set out on our journey, Kusis leading the way, Kitty of Ebon and I following, and the carriers in the rear.

Kitty was very lively, and startlingly simple in manner. She made me laugh at her description of the flirtations of Captain Hayston and the queen when he had visited Strong's Island three years before in company with Captain Ben Peese. For a missionary's housekeeper Kitty of Ebon was something unique, and her lively sallies kept me amused in her excellent English all the way. I was pleased to see Lalia, who was looking as beautiful as ever. Indeed, it was hard to say which was the handsomer, she or the hostess.

I gave her the work-box, which seemed to please her very much. Then Kitty proposed a game of cards, saying it was all right, as we need not play for money, and no one would tell Mr. Morland. But I had to decline, and, saying good-bye to them with some regrets, I rejoined Kusis, much wondering inwardly whether Lalia, with her sad, bright eyes, soft voice, and gentle manner, could really have been the perpetrator of the cruel deed in the mountain forest of Utw.

CHAPTER XII

"MY LORDS OF THE ADMIRALTY"

In October I received another letter from the Captain, asking me to meet him in Chabral harbour. He had become so tired of waiting for a s.h.i.+p that he had decided to start in a boat for Mill. He had effected a reconciliation with the king, and was paying him a friendly visit. He meant to arrange with him regarding the people and the management of the station at Utw during his absence.

I left Mout at daylight, and, as I said good-bye to Tulp and the little daughter, how little I thought that I should never cross their hospitable threshold again!

Kusis came with me, and we took the route by the weather side of the island, reaching Ll in the afternoon. On my way to the king's house we came across a number of women catching shrimps in the rivulet that runs into Chabral harbour, and among them were Kitty of Ebon and Lalia.

These two called to us to stop, as they had news for me. Coming out of the water, they threw off their wet clothes and put on dry ones. Then the four of us sat down on a low coral wall under the shade of some trees.

Kitty of Ebon began the conversation by saying that the Captain had arrived the night before, and had a long talk with the king, whom he told that he was going to try and reach Mill in the largest of the s.h.i.+p's boats, though he would have to contend against the north-east trades the whole way. He wished the king to become responsible for the management and safety of the station of Utw.

This the king didn't see his way to do, as he could never control the Pleasant islanders. The remaining white men at Chabral harbour would regain their control over them as soon as Hayston had left; that it was not wise of the Captain to attempt to reach Mill.

He also showed great fear of being punished if the Captain came back and found his station pillaged.

Kitty of Ebon, who was present at the interview, further narrated that the king, finding that Hayston was bent on setting out for Mill, made another proposal to the Captain, who had accepted it on the condition that I would concur. This was that all the oil, boats, and stores, with the women, should be conveyed to Chabral harbour and put under the king's protection, who professed then to be anxious that I should come and live with him in case the traders made an attack on him, and tried to seize the property or carry off the women.

Both Kitty and Lalia urged me not to do this, for, they said, "as soon as the Captain goes away there will be fighting here; the king is weak, and the traders do not fear him. Besides, they are plotting with Likiak S, the missionary, who has promised them to win the king over. They say that you and Black Johnny are the only two men that will stand by the Captain's property when guns and knives are out, as young Harry is to stay at Utw till the Captain returns."