"If the wind before the rain,Sheet your topsails home again;If the rain before the wind,Then your topsail halyards mind.
"If the wind before the rain,Sheet your topsails home again;If the rain before the wind,Then your topsail halyards mind.
"If the wind before the rain,
Sheet your topsails home again;
If the rain before the wind,
Then your topsail halyards mind.
"It was a disagreeable moment. Even the pig felt it, for when the sailors moved him to a place in the bow of the dory he refrained from the usual shrill protest. One detail sticks in my memory—when the skipper had taken his place at the wheel he gave a sudden order; the man with the swollen legs shuffled hastily to where the boat was lashed down and pulled out the plug from its bottom. Then came the wind.
"It swept down on us from the north-northeast, from the quarter in which hurricanes begin—and the first furious gust was a mild sample of what was to come. When Miti got her laid to, heading at a slight angle into the seas, I realized the splendid qualities of the littlePotii Ravarava. No small vessel could have kept her decks dry in the sea that made up within an hour. The captain never left the wheel, and I doubt if there's a finer helmsman in the South Seas, but before noon the galley—with our entire supply of food—was swept clean overboard, and time after time the lashed-down boat was filled. The pig had worked himself free except for one hind leg, tied to a bottom board with a rough strip of hibiscus bark, and as the water drained out slowly through the unplugged hole astern the agitated surface would be broken by hissnout, emitting sputtering screams. He lived through it, by the way.
"All of us, I believe, thought that we were in for a hurricane. Every hour the violence of the wind increased; it was a gale from the north-northeast—the wind called by the ancient Polynesians the Terrible Maoake. It seemed to rush at us in paroxysms of fury, tearing off the entire crests of waves and hurling solid water about as though it were spray. The forward hatch leaked badly; when I think of that storm my memory is filled with a nightmare of endless pumping.
"A day and a night passed, and dawn found us riding a mountainous sea, but the wind was abating and our decks were dry. The victim of elephantiasis had been taking spells with me at the pump. He is a man, that fellow, in spite of his loathsome infirmity. The pump began to suck up bubbles and froth. Miti's eyes are sharp.
"'Enough pumping,' he shouted. 'Go and sleep, you two!'
"We obeyed the order with alacrity. Sleeping on deck was out of the question; without an instant of hesitation I crawled in among the copra sacks beside my repulsive companion. When I awoke it was evening and we were running, with a heavy following wind. Miti was still at the helm; red eyed from want of sleep, but whirling the spokes dexterously as each big sea passed beneath us and gazing ahead for the first glimpse of Tahiti. The clouds broke just before dark, and we had a glimpse of the high ridges of Taiarapu, dead ahead. We got sail on her at that, and stood off to the northwest, past the Bay of Taravaoand the sunken reefs of Hitiaa. Toward morning we raised Point Venus Light, but the wind failed in the lee of the island, and it took us all day to reach Papeete harbor."
Hall finished his story in the dark. The last of the diners had gone long since, and, save for ourselves, the broad veranda was empty.
"What are your plans?" I asked. "Our year in the South Seas is up. Where are you going now?"
"I have no plans," he said, "except that I doubt if I shall ever go north again. I may be wrong, but I believe I've had enough of civilization to last me the rest of my life. We are happy here. Why should we leave the islands?"
I fancy the South Seas have claimed the pair of us.
THE END