“‘Ka ihi uiga—te ki ati,—Auwe te poki, e—’
“‘Ka ihi uiga—te ki ati,—Auwe te poki, e—’
“‘Ka ihi uiga—te ki ati,—Auwe te poki, e—’
“‘Ka ihi uiga—te ki ati,—
Auwe te poki, e—’
“The sail of my daughter,Never before broken by the force of foreign clans!Ever victorious in all her fights,She would not drink the poison waters in the cup of obsidian glass.
“The sail of my daughter,Never before broken by the force of foreign clans!Ever victorious in all her fights,She would not drink the poison waters in the cup of obsidian glass.
“The sail of my daughter,Never before broken by the force of foreign clans!Ever victorious in all her fights,She would not drink the poison waters in the cup of obsidian glass.
“The sail of my daughter,
Never before broken by the force of foreign clans!
Ever victorious in all her fights,
She would not drink the poison waters in the cup of obsidian glass.
“We all felt depressingly the sudden reversal of sentiment, and, when Taaroa had finished, Miss Dorey said she would like to leave. She shivered. The air was a little cold, but the Rapa Nuiis built up their fires and prepared to dance through the night. We whites, with Timi Linder, went home with a promise to meet at noon to-morrow for the egg ceremony. As Timi and I rode to Vaihu, seven or eight miles it was, he remarked that Taaroa had gotten much handsomer while he was away. He asked if she was still friendly with Willis, and I explained things. Timi didn’t make much of those troubles, but ‘Anyhow,’ he said, ‘they’ll all sailaway to-morrow, and her husband can lease her to me.’”
Llewellyn hesitated. His story had been long. The lamps were out.
“There isn’t much more,” he said, apologetically though pleadingly. “When the race started at Orongo, we four, the English people, Willis, and I, went to the sea where we could watch the swimming. Timi Linder stayed with Ure Vaeiko and Pakomeo to award the prize. The runners came swarming down the cliff, some taking paths around and others trying to climb straight down. They wore loin-cloths only, and were mad as fighters with the excitement. Some fell but got up, and away they went, and some leaped into the sea from the bluff at forty or fifty feet high. The rocks were about a hundred fathom off shore, and that is a short swim for Kanakas. But it was the carrying the egg whole and getting up the bluff again that tested skill and luck. Well, it was over in a little while, and when we returned to Orongo, Matatoa, the husband of Taaroa, had been made the choice of the god Meke Meke for the year.
“As the passengers had their goods already stowed, but intended to go aboard the schooner before nightfall to wait for a favoring wind, Willis proposed that we all go back to the beach and have a last bath together. Most of the Rapa Nuiis went with us, and the victor and Taaroa among them. We all worepareusand I tell you those two young people made a magnificent pair. That year and a half on Rapa Nui had done wonders for Willis. He was like a wrestler, and Miss Dorey in herpareuwas a picture.
“Some one spoke of the spring under the sea, andproposed that we all drink from it. It was like that one at Nâgone. The fresh water runs into the ocean about ten feet under the ocean at the bottom of the cliff. Willis shouted out that he had never had a drink under the sea, and would try it first. Nobody, they said, had been down there for years, but in war time it had been a prized spot. Willis was a good diver, and down he went while we watched from the rocks twenty feet above on which we climbed. Now, to stay down there long enough to drink, some one else had to stand on your shoulders, and some one else on theirs. Willis plunged in, and, of those sporting in the water, Taaroa was first to follow him down. Her husband, the winner, was the second, and we, laughing and joking about the American’s heavy burden, waited for him to come up spluttering.
“You know how long it seems. We had no watches, but after about a minute, Matatoa suddenly tottered and then dived. The water was not very clear there because of the issuance of the spring, and mud stirred up, and we could not see beneath the surface. But we knew something unexpected had happened, and Miss Dorey seized my arm.
“‘For God’s sake, go down and help him,’ she shrieked.
Old cocoanut trees
Old cocoanut trees
Old cocoanut trees
From the painting by Oscar F. SchmidtThe dark valley of Taaoa
From the painting by Oscar F. SchmidtThe dark valley of Taaoa
From the painting by Oscar F. SchmidtThe dark valley of Taaoa
“I hesitated. I didn’t think anything was wrong, but even then I had a feeling of not risking anything to save him if it was. He had too much already. Rotten! I know it. But that’s my nature. I couldn’t have done any good. Matatoa came up and went down again and then a half dozen dived to the place where Willis and Taaroa were out of sight. One came up and yelledthat he could not find them, and then we knew the worst. They were gone by this time more than three minutes. Then I leaped in, too, but there were so many of us we got tangled up with one another under the water, and as Matatoa came near me I told every one else to move aside, and that we two would make the search.
“Well, we found that at the spring a frightful sponge of seaweed and kelp had grown, and that Willis and Taaroa had become fastened in it. We had to take down knives to cut them out, and we brought them up together. She had him clasped in her arms so tightly we had to tear them apart. They were like dead. His heart was not beating, but we carried them up the rocky path and with as much speed as possible to the fires which the natives still had for cooking. There Pakomeo and Ure Vaeiko directed the holding of them in the smoke which, as you know, does sometimes bring them back, but they were dead as Queen Korato. We put the body of the American on a horse and took it to the palace. Taaroa remained at Orongo, and her tribe began at once preparations to bury her in one of the burrows. Miss Dorey was quiet. Except that one shriek I did not hear her cry. I went to Vaihu that night and left Timi Linder with them. I got drunk, and Timi said in the morning that the English girl stayed alone all night with Willis in the living room.”
I had sat so long listening to Llewellyn that when, with the tension off, I tried to stand up, I reeled. He sat with his head bowed. Captain Nimau grasped my arm to help himself up, and said, “Mais, mon Dieu!that was terrible. You buried the American there, and the Doreys left soon.”
“The next day, after the burial. I remained two years more, and, by the great Atua of Rano Roraku, I wasn’t sober a week at a time.”
Kopcke lit a cigarette, and, as we prepared to separate, said sententiously: “Mon vieux, I know women and I know the Kanaka, and I do not think Taaroa drowned the American for love. She didn’t know about the sea-grass being there.”
Llewellyn did not answer. He only said, vexedly, “Well, for heaven’s sake, let’s get a few drinks before we go to sleep!”
I left them to go to Nohea’s shack. On my mat I pitied Llewellyn. He had a real or fancied contrition for his small part in the tragedy of Rapa Nui. But my last thought was of the violet eyes of Miss Dorey. Those months to England must have been over-long.