"Quite happy, Jean?" asked Blair"Quite happy, Jean?" asked Blair
"Quite happy, Jean?" asked Blair"Quite happy, Jean?" asked Blair
"Happy, dear? Could any one possibly be happier? Look at that!"—Master Kenni-Kenni rolling gleefully on a white spread at her feet in a state of nudity, and gurgling paroxysms of happiness.
"He's a fine little fellow"—and he poked his son playfully in his fat little stomach, provoking fat-creased laughter and dimples and more gurgles.
"He's the finest little fellow in the whole world, and he's yours and mine, Ken. God has been very good to us, dear. I sometimes feel as if we had no right to be quite so happy while——"
"While?"
"One can't help thinking of the poor little souls in the slums and alleys at home. It really doesn't seem right, somehow. If we could only bring them all out here——"
"I wish it were possible, but it isn't. Meanwhile, this is our chosen work, and by God's grace it seems like to prosper. I am very grateful that you are content here, dear. After London——"
"London! I'd give the whole of London for one curl of Kenni-Kenni's hair. Isn't it beautiful? There never was any silk like it in this world."
"Never!" said Blair with conviction.
Then Alison Evans and Mary Stuart came across to them, Mary carrying Alivani.
"We have come to worship too," said Alison. "I wish you'd order Mary to give me my baby, Mr. Blair. I can hardly get touching her when she's about."
"Well, Jean won't let me have hers," laughed Mary in self-defence.
"Jean was just valuing the whole of London Town against one curl of that young man's hair. So you see what the whole of him's worth, Mary. Oh yes, you may touch him, if you'll promise not to spoil a hair of his head."
Mary laid Alivani down on the white spread by Kenni-Kenni, and the two gurgled and kicked in company, while she knelt over them with absorbed face and happy lights in her eyes.
"Jean was wishing she could bring all the poor children in London to kick on the beach here," said Blair.
"Yes. I often think how very much better off the children here are," said Alison Evans.
"In some respects."
"In all respects, I'm inclined to think. Their fathers and mothers almost worship them. Cruelty to children is unheard of. Bodily they are miles ahead——"
"And morally and spiritually?" he said, to draw her on.
"I have seen children at home, in Glasgow and Edinburgh, almost as benighted as these, and not half so pleasant to deal with. Now, with the chances we are giving them, I think these are infinitely the better off."
"Under the new order of things, perhaps. But hitherto you must remember that death dodged life round every corner here, and life broke off very short at times. However, we cannot clean up all the world; but, please God, we'll do our best with this little bit of it. And now," jumping up, "I must get back to work, or your masters will be calling me names. Don't kill those two infants with kindness, Mary."
He stood looking down upon them all for a moment, while the women all bent over the wrigglers on the white cloth.
"Is it possible that not one of you ever feels a longing for the fleshpots of Egypt?" he asked, with a smile.
"Do we ever show any symptoms?" asked Jean.
"You certainly do at the moment. You all three look as if you would like to devour those children on the spot," and he went away to grind out dialects with Matti and Ha'o.
CHAPTER XXVII
PEACE WITH A SPEAR
The work progressed favourably but not without occasional set-backs. On Kapaa'a, where its supervision was most constant, the advance was naturally greatest. On the outer islands the brown men and women were effusive in their promises—in expectation of largesse. Like the prodigals of all time, they were always ready to discount future benefits—which they did not very fully understand and considered somewhat problematic—for a trifle on account, which they understood extremely well. But the moment their preceptors' backs were turned, the promises were forgotten in immediate enjoyment of the reward.
All this was only what was to be expected, and in no way disconcerted the labourers in the field. Blair would rate the delinquents good-humouredly for their shortcomings, and they would acknowledge them like schoolboys, promise amendment, and break the promise before theTorchhad rounded the Head. He felt himself in closer touch with them, however, on each visit, and was satisfied. His plans and hopes were very wide-reaching, and God's temples, natural, physical, or spiritual, do not rise in a day.
Occasionally there were more serious lapses, and these had to be dealt with firmly but delicately, so thin were the cords by which he held them.
Aia, the smallest island of the group, lay a short five miles beyond Kanele, sacred to the memory of Aunt Jannet Harvey. Aia had a population of about fifty. Kanele three times as many.
Blair and Jean and Kenni-Kenni landed on the latter one day, on one of the regular rounds of visitation, and received the usual expectant welcome from old Maru and Kahili and the rest. The women crowded enthusiastically round Jean and her boy, while Blair talked to the men and divided among them the things he had brought. They stopped on shore several hours and were regaled with fruits and coco-nuts. When they got into the boat the whole population lined the beach and waved them farewells.
"We really seem to be getting hold of them at last," said Blair, as they rolled along towards theTorch.
"They are very friendly and seem very glad to see us," said Jean, and they went on to Aia.
"Something wrong," said Captain Cathie, as theTorchdrew in.
The village was not in its usual place. There were no people about.
They landed cautiously, Blair and Cathie and half a dozen men, and found the houses in ruins. With added caution they climbed the hill, and in time came upon the villagers lurking in holes and crannies.
Their story was simple. The very day after theTorch'slast visit, the men of Kanele, headed by Maru and young Kahili, had come over in their canoes and demanded the goods they had received from the white men. These being refused, they proceeded to take them by force. The Aia men were outnumbered and beaten, their village burned, and several of them killed—and eaten. The rest had lived in the fear of death ever since.
Blair was a man of wrath that day. His first feeling was the same as Captain Cathie's, in whom the natural man always ran strong.
"Well, captain, what do you advise?" he asked.
"I'd like to give those Kanele men a right good skelping," said Cathie warmly. "Something they wouldn't forget in a hurry."
"So would I, but I'm not sure of the wisdom of it."
"Truckling beggars! Sweet as milk when we're there, and playing the devil the minute our back's turned. They need a lesson."
"We'll take the night over it. It's a serious matter."
They walked the deck far into the night, with the big stars swimming in the smooth black rollers, and the distant roar of the Aia surges, now to port and now to starboard, as they beat gently to and fro in default of anchorage.
"In the first place," said Blair, summing up their ideas, "these people are not safe here. Whatever we do or don't do, the Kanele men will take it out of them as soon as we're gone. We must do our best to persuade them to migrate to Kapaa'a. That will be a good thing for them and a good thing for us. As to the Kanele men, the difficulty is that we want to retain our hold on them. This affair only shows how great the need is. And if we take measures against them—any measures almost—we are like to weaken the small hold we have now."
"All the same," said Cathie bluntly, "it won't do to let 'em think they can carry on like this and nothing said about it. That'd be fair provoking them to do the same again."
"It's difficult to know just what to do," said Blair; and Jean down below, with Kenni-Kenni nestling close in her arms, heard the four feet tramping, tramping, slowly and heavily, to and fro, till she fell asleep. They seemed to be still tramping whenever theTorchgave a sudden kick and woke her. But there was a sense of guardianship in the very sound, and Kenni-Kenni's soft head against her heart was very comforting.
In the morning they set to work on the plans they had arrived at overnight.
Blair went ashore early, while Cathie prepared for his passengers.
It did not need five minutes' talk to show the Aia men how unsafe their position was. It was self-evident. But it took much talk and persuasion to induce them to migrate to Kapaa'a.
They saw the advantages. Some of them had been there already and seen for themselves; but the brown men cling to their own bits of coral or volcanic rock as strenuously as Highland crofter to his dripping heather, or Irish peasant to his patch of bog.
The women, however, had listened to those marvellous accounts of the unheard-of security of life and property on Kapaa'a, and now they joined forces with Blair and carried the day. By sunset they were all aboard theTorchwith such belongings as the Kanele men had left them. TheTorchbeat to and fro again throughout the night, and not a native closed an eye for the strangeness of it all, and in the early morning Blair was ashore again on Kanele. He had assured Jean there was no danger; but he left Captain Cathie behind—to look after the crowd of brown men and women.
He walked boldly up to old Maru's house, and found it still asleep.
The old man started up wide awake at his call, and the look on his face was a matrix of Blair's—detected wrong quailing before righteous wrath.
"You know what I have come about, Maru," said Blair. "You have done ill by Aia. Why?"
"It was the young men. They desired more goods."
"Call the young men. I will speak to them."
But there was no need to call them. They had seen theTorchand were coming, and coming in expectation of possible trouble, for they all came armed.
"Yes, I see you know why I have come back," said Blair, as they thronged about the house. "You have done wrong, and you have got to answer for it. We came here to make life brighter by bringing peace——"
"We don't want peace. Fighting is very much better," growled one.
"Oh, you are brave men! How many men were there on Aia? Twenty-five at most. And how many of you went over? More than sixty. Oh yes, you like fighting when the others are weak. How will you like it when you are beaten and running for your lives into the hills? You have done ill, and you must answer for it. Maru and Kahili will come with me to Kapaa'a, and we will decide what shall be done."
"Not me!" said old Maru, or words to that effect, and drew from its hiding-place one of the axes Blair had given him, and began to swing it gently in his hand.
"If you do not come, we shall fetch you. It is for you to say. If we have to fetch you, it will make trouble."
Old Maru's axe swung gently to and fro, to and fro, as though hungering to bite, but doubtful.
"That would not serve you, Maru," said Blair quietly. "Though you cut me in pieces, the rest would come and you would suffer the more. The old times are past. We have come to give you better times. Peace you shall have, though we have to bring it with club and spear."
And just then Long Tom on the yacht bellowed his tremendous note, and the brown men looked round apprehensively.
"That is my big canoe speaking," said Blair. "But it is only a warning. It can strike as hard as it talks. Will you save trouble by coming, Maru?"
"I will not go."
"Then we shall come for you. I am sorry; but the wrong-doing is yours.... Let no man lift his hand, or worse will follow," he said, as a restless movement rustled among them. Then eyeing them steadily, he passed through, not sure at what moment axe or club might fall on his head. But so high was his look that no man, even of those he had passed, found courage for the blow, and he walked down to the beach alone.
"I'm mighty glad to see you back whole," said Cathie, as Blair swung up on deck. "I saw their clubs through the glass, and I misdoubted them. They wouldn't come?"
"No, they wouldn't come, so I promised to fetch them. Now we'll get on, captain. First to land our passengers on Kapaa'a, and then as we decided last night."
Ha'o and the rest were mightily surprised at the size of theTorch'scompany. But the chief jumped to Blair's views at once.
"You will soon become a nation at this rate, Ha'o."
"I will deal well with them," said Ha'o.
"And now as to the men of Kanele?"
"We will make an end of them."
"I want them as part of your nation, and dead men are no use. If we go in force enough, I do not think they will fight. But they have broken the peace, and they must have a lesson."
"We will teach them with the spear. It will be a lesson for the others also. When shall we start?"
"The sooner the better; but first we must see the newcomers housed."
That took two days, and then theTorchand theJean Arnotsailed with larger crews than they were in the habit of carrying. First round the other islands, at each of which Blair and Ha'o landed and had a talk with the headmen and explained their ideas to them.
And much hard talking it took, in some cases, to carry their views. But they were set on it, and they prevailed.
From each village they enlisted the headman and certain of his followers, from six to ten, according to the population, and in due course came down on Kanele one hundred and fifty brown men and eighteen whites, with Long Tom in reserve, and great hopes that so large a display would suffice without any fighting.
All the boats on Kapaa'a had been requisitioned for the debarkation, and it was an imposing flotilla that drew in to Kanele beach that day to bring peace at the point of the spear. And, composed, as the gathering was, of the most discordant elements, it was yet all moulded to one purpose by the strong will of one man, and by the very differences that separated its units one from another. For each component felt itself but a part of the whole, and in a minority which left it no option but to work with the rest.
Not a soul was to be seen on shore, but they knew that black eyes watched stealthily from every cover.
"Maru! Kahili! We have come for you," shouted Blair. "Here are Ha'o of Kapaa'a, and Ruel of Anape——" and he recited all the names of the head-men. "We will give you till the shadows are smallest to come in. Then be it on your own heads!" and the great company sat down on the beach to pass the time.
"Will they come?" asked Blair of Ha'o.
"They will come," said Ha'o. "They would have no chance against us, and they are not fools."
Blair seized the opportunity for more talk with the leading men from the other islands. He showed them that none were safe if raiding were permitted, not even the strongest, for against the strongest combination might prevail. The only security was in union against illdoers; and he rubbed that lesson into them till they were not likely to forget it.
Before the wheeling shadows had shortened the slim black lines of the palms into their spreading crowns, a tumult broke out inland, and as they all stood expectant, a mob, in which were many women, came hurrying along, with old Maru and Kahili on its front like corks on a swelling tide.
"It is well," said Blair, as he went to meet them. "You have given us much trouble, but you have saved yourselves more. Do you understand, Maru, and you, Kahili, and all you men and women of Kanele, what this great company means? It means that the old times are gone for ever, and that the better times are come. If there is to be any fighting in future, we of Kapaa'a and the islands round about will have our say in the matter. Take those two to the boats," and at a sign from him a file of Torches led the prisoners away. "There are others among you who prefer war to peace," he said. "I want them also."
This caused a hubbub amongst them, and much hot discussion, but at last certain ones were evolved from the crowd, and pushed to the front protesting, and to the number of ten he had them marched down to the boats, amid the wailing of their women.
"Now, listen!" cried Blair, waving down their cries with a peremptory hand. "Is it to be peace or war henceforth?"
"Peace," wailed the women, and the men stood silent. "Then let the women bring here all the spears and clubs, for you will not need them."
This was touching them on the raw, for the brown man's weapons are his dearest possessions.
But this was to be a lesson once and for all, and not for the men of Kanele only.
"I must have them," said Blair. "If you will not bring them, we must get them ourselves. Which shall it be?"
The men stood, stubborn and sulky. Some of the women on the outskirts of the crowd began to trickle away.
Then old Maru's wife crept up downcastly from the side of the throng, carrying two long spears and a club, and cast them on the sand at Blair's feet.
"It is good, Maruaine," he said gently.
"You will not kill our men, Missi?" she asked piteously.
"I have come to make your lives happier, Maruaine. I will not hurt a hair of their heads. But they must learn, and this is the first lesson."
Kahili's wife followed, and one by one the other women came, with more spears and clubs, till the pile was a goodly one.
Then he had a fire kindled beneath them, and the brown men watched its easy lighting with a match with wonder, but twisted uneasily as the weapons were consumed.
Peace with a spear.Peace with a spear.
Peace with a spear.Peace with a spear.
"Now, listen!" said Blair, when the crackling died down. "Maru and Kahili, and the others we have taken will go with us to Kapaa'a for a time, and will live with us there. We intend them no harm. They will, I hope, learn many things amongst us, and then they will come back and tell you of them. We wish your good, only your good, always your good. But those who do ill, who break the peace, and rob their weaker neighbours, will have to answer to us for it. Ha'o of Kapaa'a has known us now a long time. He will tell you that we mean you well."
And Ha'o stood out before them, tall and brown, and said, in a voice that rang above the wash of the surf and the pattering of the palm fronds—
"Kenni is my brother. He has done great things for Kapaa'a. Twice he saved my life, and the lives of my people. Three times he risked his own life, and the lives of his people. His blood has run for us. What Kenni says and does is good. Any man who thinks otherwise I am ready to talk to him," and it was evident to all that Ha'o's talk would be strong, and to the point.
Blair said a word or two to him, and he added—
"While Maru and Kahili are living with us, Maru's wife will be your chief. She is a wise woman, and loves peace more than war. Has any one anything to say against it?"
No one at the moment desired to say anything against it, whatever they might think or feel.
"It is well," said Ha'o. "Let no man speak against it when we are not here. Now you will bring us food, and then we will go home."
Two very sober and thoughtful men were Maru and Kahili as Kanele sank into the sea astern. They were treated, however, with every consideration, and Blair was at much pains to explain his ideas to them so far as concerned themselves. For the rest, it was curious to notice how the men of each island kept themselves to themselves. There were differences of dialect, of course, which interfered somewhat with freedom of intercourse, but there were also lifelong memories of bloody feuds which kept them apart. It was a mighty step towards better times to see them there in peaceful toleration of one another's presence. The dividing lines were at once the mark of the past and the sign of the future. A year before they would have been at one another's throats.
On Kapaa'a the hostages received the same equal treatment with the rest. They were given houses and tools, and shown how to use them. They joined in the chase, and developed discriminating tastes in the matter of fresh-killed pig and goat cooked in paw-paw leaves. They were neither talked at nor preached at. They were simply allowed to absorb the new atmosphere of law and order, and found it good. And in due time they were returned to their own island new men, with the seeds of still larger knowledge within them.
CHAPTER XXVIII
NO THOROUGHFARE
It would be difficult to tell in words the exaltation of spirit which possessed Kenneth Blair at the brave show the new order of things was making in these Dark Islands of his choice. It was a beginning after his own heart, and he rejoiced in it greatly.
I can imagine what he must have looked like as he went about his Master's business—clad always in white from head to foot, and carrying always that high look of his, blazing with enthusiasm and the mighty joy of life, which caught the eye and held it. Kekera—White Fire—the brown men often called him, and he looked it to the life.
He felt things growing under his hand, and his heart was full. A beginning of beginnings and visible growth—what more could the soul of man desire?
Domestic concerns were prospering also. Mary Stuart had the satisfaction of her heart in a little son, and Kenni-Kenni and Alivani crawled neck and neck races on the white beach together. The schools were full, for the teaching was so sheer a delight that the wriggling brown bodies and glancing black eyes felt a day missed a day lost. If ever learning came without tears it did to these. They were actually beginning to use English words now and again in their talk and play—by way of showing off at first, indeed, but presently as a matter of course. And the larger children, their fathers and mothers, were imbibing new ideas of all kinds at a revolutionary rate. They were even beginning to put theirs into "Kown im!" and to show some knowledge of what the words meant.
And so far there had been no further disturbance from the outside; but they were always on the look-out for it, and it came, and in the expected shape.
The Dark Islands lie far out of the ordinary track of commerce. For that very reason, when once discovered, they offered unusual inducements to such as found the usual fields too small, and too hot, for their peculiar forms of immorality. The outposts of civilisation, such as it is, have not infrequently been pushed forward by individuals whom civilisation could no longer tolerate in its midst. It was such a one who came out of his way—and incidentally out of the way of some who ardently desired to lay hands on him—to bring the amenities of commerce and civilisation to the Dark Islands.
Old Maru, and his son Kahili, and the other hostages to law and order, had returned to their homes full to the brim of new ideas and great intentions, and Blair reposed great hopes in them.
He and Cathie, on one of their usual rounds of the islands in theTorch, came sailing round Kanele Head one day and were surprised to find a ship at anchor in the bay.
"Ah!" broke from them both at the sight.
"So that's come," said Cathie. "Bound to sooner or later. Nip it tight, sir, is my advice."
He gave some orders to the mate, and they went ashore.
A burly individual in sailorly garb came down the beach from Maru's house to meet them. He was stout and evil-faced, with small blue eyes and tangled hay-coloured beard and moustache, and the roll in his walk seemed too pronounced to come entirely from much walking of slippery decks.
A burly individual in sailorly garb came down the beach.A burly individual in sailorly garb came down the beach.
A burly individual in sailorly garb came down the beach.A burly individual in sailorly garb came down the beach.
"Morning," he said curtly. "Traders?"
"No, sir. Missionaries in charge."
"Gee-whilikins!"
"Yes, very much so," and Blair pulled out his watch. The man needed no investigation. His character was written all over him. "It is now nine o'clock. I will give you till half-past ten to clear out of here. If your anchor is not up by that time you will take the consequences. Understand?"
"Say, have you bought this island, mister?" gaped the other.
"Yes, from the devil and all his works, so you clear out. It is now two minutes past nine, and you've got eighty-eight minutes left."
"Well, I'm——"
"You will be if you don't stir your stumps."
"And suppos'n I say I'll be hanged if I go."
"I should consider it not unlikely. You certainly will if you stay."
"Well, Iam——! Was itmissionariesyou said?"
"That's what I said."
"Very well, then," said the invader, pulling himself together, "I'll see you eternally annihilated first." That was not his exact expression, but it is printable and will suffice.
"Eighty-six minutes left," said Blair quietly.
Captain Cathie waved his hat three times to theTorch, and Long Tom's angry bellow rolled up into the hills and lined the side of the trader with curious faces.
"Missionaries! Well, Iam——" and he looked at them, and then at theTorchwith the cloud of blue-white smoke drifting slowly away from her deck, and then turned and humped his shoulders and went back the way he had come, and Blair and Cathie followed him.
They were all fast asleep at Maru's house, and not likely to waken in a hurry, if the empty rum bottles scattered about were anything to go by. There were some opened cases of trade lying about, and the scraps and remnants of a feast—in addition to the inert forms of old Maru and his wife, and Kahili and his wife, and some of their people.
"Eighty minutes!" said Blair grimly, as he looked round on this undoing of his work.
"Say, mister, couldn't we come to some arrangement?" began the trader.
"Certainly! The arrangement is that you up anchor and away inside—seventy-nine minutes," with a glance at his watch.
"I guess you'll pay for this 'fore you're done, mister. I'm an American citizen."
"Sorry to hear it."
"And an American citizen don't stand bein' fired out like this and no reasons given—not by a long sight!"
"There are our reasons," said Blair, pointing to the heavy sleepers, "and there are yours," and he pointed to the half-emptied case of rum. "Seventy-eight minutes more!"
The American citizen looked him over for a moment but found no hope of amelioration in his face.
"Well, I'm——" and he turned to the door and whistled shrilly to his ship, and presently a boat came slouchily across to the shore.
"Carry them things aboard," he ordered, and saw it done, and then followed his men into the boat.
Then he stood up in the stern and delivered himself luridly on missionaries in general, and on this new kind, as represented by Blair and Cathie, in particular.
"You'll hear of me again, my sons, sure as my name's Hartford Crawley. Yes, by thunder, you will, and don't you forget it!" was his valediction with threatening fist, and they could hear him cursing all the way to the ship.
Blair and Cathie returned to theTorch. At half-past ten Long Tom thundered a reminder to Mr. Crawley that his time was up, and before the echoes died away, the trader's anchor was apeak and his sails were dropping sulkily to the breeze.
He headed slowly out to sea, and was surprised to find theTorchdo the same.
He took a notion towards the south. Long Tom barked angrily at him.
He tried a move towards the north. Long Tom barked again. Due west was his course, and they would permit him no other.
All day long theTorchfollowed him like a sheep dog, and at night drew in so close that they could hear Mr. Crawley still swearing at large. Fortunately, the moon was almost at the full, and he had no chance of slipping away in the dark. For three days they dogged him and kept him to his course. Then they ranged up within speaking distance and delivered their final word, "These islands are not open to traders. If you ever return you do so at your peril." Then they turned and laid their course for Kanele.
Arbitrary action, undoubtedly, but Kenneth Blair was the last man in the world to shirk what he deemed his duty from any fear of possible after consequences.
Maru and the rest were in their right minds when they got back to the island. They were full of excuses and explanations, but Blair said little to them beyond emphasising the fact that these were the men he had warned them against, and that their coming would make for evil times among them. And old Maru, in the keen recollection of the very bad head he had had the day after the trader's supper party was disposed to think he was right.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE ACT OF GOD
A full year of quiet progress left no monumental happenings to record.
The islands were rising rapidly out of their original darkness, and the hearts of the workers were as full as their hands.
Growth in the homes had necessitated ampler accommodation for scholars and worshippers outside. A church and two school-houses had been built to supply the absolute want, and were in full use.
The r and the capital H had got into "Crown Him!" and in some quarters a visible understanding of the meaning of the invocation.
Matters all round were progressing favourably. The bodily health of the islands was good, morally and spiritually it was improving. Law and order were striking slow roots into the shaky quagmire of custom and superstition, and Ha'o was in fair way to become a nation. For the headmen of the smaller islands came regularly to Kapaa'a for consultation—and gifts—and his influence over them grew steadily.
In all matters economic and politic Blair put Ha'o forward as head and front. For himself, he desired nothing but the good of the people, and he judged it best that the executive power should remain in native hands so long as they continued capable and trustworthy. In these matters Ha'o had justified him to the fullest, and had shown himself an apt, not to say an ambitious, pupil. Feuds were of rarer occurrence, and had even been brought to Kapaa'a for adjustment. Cannibalism was no longer openly indulged in, even in the outer islands, and they were hopeful that its day was past.
Evans and his wife had been resident for some months past on Kanele, Charles and Mary Stuart were on Anape, and theJean Arnothad had a busy time going to and fro between the settlements. TheTorch, with Captain Cathie on board, had made a voyage to Sydney, carrying letters home, and bringing back supplies and news. That was nearly twelve months ago, and was the only communication they had had with civilisation since they turned their backs on it.
Kenneth Blair and Jean and Aunt Jannet Harvey and Captain Cathie were sitting one evening on the platform of the mission house, enjoying the well-earned rest of busy workers. Master Kenni-Kenni was crawling about at their feet in light attire, with a strong band of knitted wool round his sturdy body, to which a thin rope and Aunt Jannet were attached, to keep him from falling overboard.
The sun was sinking, red and misty, into a bank of cloud which lay heavily across the western sky, though it still wanted an hour of sunset. The lagoon was sombre red, the spouts of foam on the reef gleamed dusty rose white, the hills behind were dull red bronze and the mouth of the valley was filling with purple shadows.
Cathie had been giving them the latest news of the Evanses and Stuarts, whom he had just been visiting in theTorch, which, with theJean Arnot, now lay rolling sleepily over their own black shadows in the lagoon.
"Well," said Aunt Jannet, as she hauled Kenni-Kenni back from destruction and the edge of the platform, which for the moment was the limit of his ambition, "I've been hot in my life before, but to-day beats everything. It was like an oven."
"I had to start the engines to get home," said Cathie. "I came in by the lower entrance and there wasn't a breath of air. But we'll have a change soon, and a big one too if the barometer's anything to go by. I've been getting out double cables and kedges to the rocks for both the ships."
"We wondered what you were busy at," said Blair. "You expect a heavy blow?"
"You never can tell, and it's best to be on the safe side. We've been uncommonly lucky so far. But when the weather does get its back up here it sometimes gets it pretty high——Hel—lo!"
The arm of the hill which ran down into the water hid the seaward view on that side. As Cathie spoke, a trim black vessel, with a thin trail of smoke at its cream-coloured funnel, came silently round the point.
They all jumped up at so unusual a sight and stood watching eagerly.
"Service ship," said Cathie. "What on earth is she doing here?"
At sight of the two ships in the lagoon the stranger slowed down, and then her syren pealed shrilly across the water.
"We'd better go and see," said Blair, and the two sprang down off the platform and ran to the whale-boat drawn up on the beach. TheTorchmen and a crowd of curious natives were already there.
"Now, lads, show the navy men how you can row," was the captain's order, and in two minutes the white boat was bounding towards the opening in the reef. It leaped the rollers and presently drew in to the rows of bronzed faces which lined the side of the ship and looked on approvingly.
"This is Kapaa'a, I presume?" asked a tall man in a heavily-braided cap.
"This is Kapaa'a," said Blair.
"And is this Mr. Blair?"
"I am Kenneth Blair. This is Captain Cathie."
"Come on board, gentlemen." A ladder dropped over the side, and they swung up to the deck.
"Can we get inside there, captain?" asked the tall man. "And is there anchorage? I don't much like the look of the weather and the barometer is unusually low."
"Yes, sir, it's going to blow, or I'm much mistaken. You can get in all right. There's no bottom to that hole in the reef. But whether you'll be better inside or outside, if it blows hard, I wouldn't like to say. I've kedged both the schooners there, and I think they'll ride it out."
"And there's plenty of water and good holding?"
"Plenty water to within a couple of hundred yards of the shore. The shelf breaks there. Holding's fair. You'd better kedge same as we've done."
"Perhaps you'll con her in for us to what you consider a good position. We shall be here for some time, and it'll be pleasanter inside. You'll excuse me, Mr. Blair, for the moment. We'll have plenty of time to talk when we get ashore," and he went up on to the bridge with Cathie, and the big ship headed for the reef. She went weltering through the passage with the big rollers roaring at her stern, and crept up under lee of the southern ridge. Then the anchor went down with a plunge, and the boats dropped lightly into the water to carry the kedges and cables to the rocks.
Blair stood watching observantly. The ship he saw was H.M.S.Bonita. He casually asked one of the men, who happened to stand by him for a moment, where they were from, and was told "Australia," and the captain's name was Plantagenet Pym. Captain Pym had seemed a bit stiff in his manner, Blair thought, but that style, he knew, often went with a heavily-braided cap, and he thought no more of it.
Presently the two captains came down from the bridge and approached him.
"You will permit me to offer you such hospitality as the island affords, captain?" said Blair.
The other seemed to hesitate for a moment, then he replied, "Thank you, Mr. Blair, I shall have to be ashore part of the time so I will avail myself of your offer. I will accompany you in five minutes. Can I offer you any refreshment—a glass of wine?" and on their declining this he disappeared below.
He was up again inside the five minutes, and with a word or two to his senior lieutenant, descended the ladder into the whale-boat.
"Your crew does you credit, captain," he said to Cathie, as the proximity of the uniform braced every man of them to his best.
"Picked men, every one of them, sir, and good men all," said Cathie proudly, and every man felt himself a good inch taller.
The dull red glow had faded off the hills and out of the sky. The water of the lagoon was the colour of lead, with a sullen heave in it. The jets of foam on the reef looked like the fangs of wolves against the dark sky beyond. There were cold whispers in the air, and the palm-trees on shore shivered audibly. The white mission-houses and buildings gleamed chill white against the dark hill, but yet gave a touch of comfort and civilisation to the scene.
The crowding natives were greatly impressed by the sight of Captain Pym. Ha'o underwent the process of presentation with extreme dignity, and then Blair led the captain to his house.
"Why—Mr. Pym!" cried Aunt Jannet, who was nearest the steps and so met him first. "It is good of you just to drop in on us in this way," and she shook his hand with a warmth that almost succeeded in infusing the like into his response.
"Yes, I've come over six thousand miles to call on you, Mrs. Harvey. And how are you, Mrs. Blair? Still suffering exile with equanimity?"
"No exile, no suffering, Captain Pym," said Jean brightly. "We are all enjoying ourselves extremely, I assure you."
"Well, I suppose one can bring one's mind to anything."
"If it's the right kind of mind, you can," said Aunt Jannet heartily.
There was just a touch of implication in her tone and manner that some folks were not the happy possessors of that kind of mind. Captain Pym stiffened back into officiality somewhat.
"And you really experience no longings for London again, Mrs. Blair?" he asked, metaphorically turning his back on Aunt Jannet, who magnanimously went inside to see after supper.
"Not the very slightest."
"Marvellous!"
"You see I have here what I had not in London You shall see my boy in the morning. He's the finest little fellow in the world."
"Ah! ... I suppose that fills many a want."
"He fills our hearts so that there is no room for wants. Are you making a long stay?"
"That depends. A few days, at all events."
"We shall have heaps of things to show you. All our work here, and there's a wonderful valley down there with great stone gods that date back to about the time of the flood. Some ancient race that used to live here, they say. We will have a picnic there."
"If I have time I shall enjoy it."
In due course the time came, but Captain Pym enjoyed it less than he had anticipated.
"Now, good people, supper's ready, and you'll all catch your deaths if you sit out there any longer," called Aunt Jannet from the doorway. "We have been stewing with the heat all day," she added to Captain Pym, "and now it's gone to the other extreme. I think you must have brought a cold wind with you, captain."
"We haven't had a breath all day. It looks like a spell of dirty weather," said the captain.
The wind was coming off the sea in cold gusts. A weary half moon was bucketting through a rout of ragged clouds, which sped on over the mountains as if in haste to hide themselves from some unseen pursuer. In the gaps of the hurrying clouds the moon and a few stars shone wanly, and in their dim, ineffective light, the water of the lagoon tossed brokenly like a pan of boiling lead. The flying rags of cloud came from the dark bank in the west into which the sun had dropped. It was spreading upwards. The roar of the reef sounded harsher than usual and full of threatening. There was a strange uncanny look and feeling abroad.
"We're certainly in for something," said Captain Cathie, as he stood looking out to sea. "I've never seen it quite like this before. I shall go and sleep aboard theTorch"—which did not add to their cheerfulness.
"You'll have some supper first, captain?" said Aunt Jannet.
"Oh, yes, I'll make sure of some supper. If it's to be a fight I can fight better on a full stomach than an empty one."
So they went inside, and found it pleasant to close the door, which was a very unusual thing with them.
Captain Pym's manner during supper was still somewhat stiff and formal; but he unbent enough to give them the latest astonishing news of the outside world, the lack of which was the one thing they felt somewhat at times. But it was only when the pipes were alight afterwards that he disclosed himself.
"You are wondering, no doubt, what brings me here, Mr. Blair," he said.
"Well—yes, somewhat. You are the first visitor we have had."
"Not quite. And it is because of those others that I am here."
Blair looked at him in surprise. Captain Cathie nodded understandingly, as though in confirmation of his own thoughts.
"Certain complaints have been made to the Government concerning some of your doings here, and they have sent me to look into the matter."
"I—see. You refer to the kidnappers we put a stopper on——"
"That complaint comes from Peru. There is one also from the American government——"
"Ah, yes—Mr.—What-was-his-name?—Crawley, was it? He promised we should hear from him. Well, sir, we shall be glad to put our side of the case before you. You shall see what we have done here since we came, and no doubt you will appreciate our desire to safeguard our work in every possible way. We have done no single thing we in any way regret, and we would not hesitate to do the same again if occasion should arise."
"Ah," said Captain Pym, with a knowing official nod, "you gentlemen of the cloth, when you get right away from any authority but your own, sometimes go to extremes, and are perhaps tempted to magnify your office somewhat."
"That is quite impossible," said Blair quietly. "I consider my office the very highest in the world. As far as in me lies I have worked up to my ideal of it, and shall continue to do so. As to going to extremes, we have simply defended our work from spoliation. That also we shall continue to do."
"Hear, hear!" said Aunt Jannet energetically, and Captain Pym frowned officially at the pair of them.
"Supposing, Captain Pym," broke in Cathie, by way of lightning conductor, "you had an unarmed tender attached to your ship, and an enemy stole up in the night and carried her off, crew and all, you would consider yourself justified in following and bringing her back, and taking payment out of the other side."
"That's the way to put it," said Aunt Jannet.
"The cases are not parallel, sir. That would be acasus belli, and I should of course do my duty. You have no authority——"
"Oh yes, we have," said Blair warmly. "The very highest"—and as Captain Pym did not seem to appreciate that point, he added—"but, apart from that, we have the endorsement of Mr. Annesley, the Colonial Secretary. He and the Earl of Selsea were good enough to take very great interest in our intended work here. I laid all my plans before them, and they approved them. In fact, they spoke of a protectorate."
"The Earl of Selsea is dead, and Mr. Annesley retired from office twelve months ago."
"Ah, that may account for things. I am very sorry to hear that. However, we don't need the protectorate. Kapaa'a is almost on to its own feet, and can speak for itself."
"And what position does Mr. Blair occupy in the government?" asked Pym, with a cynical touch in his voice.
"None whatever, sir, and desires none. We have consistently worked through the chief Ha'o, whom you met on the beach. Nothing has been done without his approval. It is his elevation and his people's that we desire, not our own, and I think I may say he is as keen on it as we are."
"From all accounts, however, your work has by no means been confined entirely to the spiritual department, Mr. Blair; Long Toms and Winchesters hardly come within the strict bounds of the missionary calling."
"The shepherd may use his crook to keep the wolves off his flock. Our crooks consist, as you say, of Winchesters and a Long Tom. If we had not had them we should not be here—nor would our flock. My ideas of missionary duties may strike you as somewhat advanced, Captain Pym, but then, you see, I have the advantage of knowing all the requirements of the case. The very first essential to progress is peace, and you can't procure it with words when you're dealing with elementary facts."
"If we'd settled all those elementary facts at the start, as Captain Cathie and I advised, we would have heard no more about them," said Aunt Jannet, with a regretful shake of the head. "It's possible to be too conscientious for this world."
"We work for both, you see. I admit that a clean sweep would have saved much trouble. But I couldn't bring myself to hanging them, richly as they deserved it. As to the American citizen, his end and aim was to introduce the drink traffic, and that we won't have at any price. Not even under government orders."
Their talk had been so vital that the waxing of the gale outside had passed unnoticed, though the door was jerking at its latch and the windows buzzed like bees.
When the discussion came to a pause, Captain Cathie jumped up and went to the window.
"I'm off," he said quickly.
"If Mrs. Blair will excuse me for to-night, I will go too," said Pym. "If there is risk for theTorchthere is risk for theBonita, and I would sooner be on the spot."
"I hope there is no danger," said Jean. "We have had many a big storm, but the ships have never suffered."
"Barometer's lower than it's ever been since we came here," said Cathie, with a shake of the head; "and I've no doubt Captain Pym feels as I do, that when you don't know what's in the wind it's as well to be where you can find out."
"Quite so," said Captain Pym, and Blair went down with them to the boat.
They were nearly blown off their feet before they got to it, and the waves that swept up the white beach were such as they had never seen on it before. The rush of the wind in their ears dulled all other sounds. In the spasmodic gleams of the moon through the ragged clouds they could see the rollers sweeping over the barrier reef with unbroken crests, and the usually placid lagoon was in a turmoil.
"Can we manage it?" shouted Pym, in Cathie's ear.
"Under the lee of the ledge there," shouted Cathie, and pounded on the door of the men's house for his crew.
Blair helped them down with the boat, saw them all soaked through before they could get afloat, and then watched them toil away into the lee of the protecting ridge of rocks.
"They'll have their own to-do to get there," he said, when he got back to the house. "The waves are coming right in over the reef. I never saw anything like it."
"Is this man going to make trouble for us, Ken?" asked Jean anxiously.
"Oh, I don't think so. Don't worry about him, dear. He's a bit bumptious and unsympathetic, but I think we can show him that we could have done no less than we did. He doesn't trouble me in the slightest. Whatever he does, our work stands and tells its own tale."
In the morning it seemed to the unknowing as though the storm had blown itself out. The wind had fallen, but the sky was heavy; dark grey clouds boiled along close above mud-coloured waves, and the horizon lay just back of the reef. The sun made a faint fight for a show, but looked and felt out of place, and after pushing ghostly fingers through stray holes in the clouds, and peeping at the water below, went into retirement again.
The two captains came ashore after breakfast, but when Jean expressed satisfaction at the passing of the storm without any damage, Cathie only shook his head.
"Now, Captain Pym," said Blair, as they walked along towards the village, "let me remind you that less than two years ago these people were eating one another, and delighting in it. There has not been a man eaten on Kapaa'a for over twelve months now. Here is the boys' school. That is the girls'. As it is Sunday, they are all in church waiting for us. Perhaps you will stop for the service. It is very short and simple. Then we will go on and show you other evidences of our work."
The church was crowded, and when the brown men and women and children sang "Crown Him!" at the full stretch of their lungs, most of their black eyes were fixed on Captain Pym—to his great discomfort—as though they applied the hymn specifically to him, which possibly some of them did.
After service Blair conducted him to the village, and on to the plantations and taro fields, and even Captain Pym's official phlegm and preconceived notions had to acknowledge that, for a country three years ago buried in barbarism, the sights he saw were very striking.
He did not say much. His feelings were at strife. He had come to condemn, and he found himself forced to admit and admire.
The plantations had by degrees crept a considerable way up the valley. The party came back along the shoulder of Ra'a's hill, and as they came towards the open a furious gust of wind carried them almost off their feet.
And then they saw the most appalling sight of their lives, and one they never forgot.
Out of the dim grey curtain of the west there appeared a monstrous sinuous shape that reached from sky to sea, and came swirling towards the island with an easy voluptuous grace that was full at once of haphazard fortuity and most malign intention.
They stood frozen. Blair suddenly gripped Pym by the arm. He could not speak.
Behind the first monster came another, and another, and another, all reeling hither and thither like drunken demons, but all making straight for the island.
"Good God!" cried Pym, and instinctively put his hands to his mouth to shout a warning to his ship, a shout that could not have carried five inches.
Then he commenced to run down the hill as he had never run in his life before. His whole thought was for his ship and his men, Blair's and Cathie's for the people below.
Captain Pym reached the beach through a crowd of fugitives making for the hillside. The monsters had been sighted, and panic was afoot.
Blair and Cathie rushed down through the village, shouting—
"To the hills!" and sped on.
Jean and Aunt Jannet Harvey, busy in the house, had seen nothing. The two men dashed up the steps. Blair seized his boy under one arm, and dragged his wife by the other. Cathie laid hold of Aunt Jannet, and with a gasping word of explanation which only filled the women with fear, and explained nothing, they ran for the southern hill, whose arm ran out into the sea.
Only when they had got half-way up it did they dare to turn and look.
They saw Pym ramping alone on the beach like a madman.
They saw the first of the hideous whirling monsters hop lightly over the swollen reef without a pause and pirouette in the lagoon. Then a blast of smoke whirled from the deck of theTorch, and the dull sound of the gun went quickly past them. The monster writhed and broke, and the pendulous head of it swept inland. The ships pitched at their moorings till the kedge cables snapped and they seemed standing on their sterns. The waves of the lagoon churned up to the platforms of the mission-houses.
"Good lad! Good lad!" shouted Cathie.
Then the other three monsters, as though in answer to the challenge, as though endued with malignant understanding and most devilish determination, bent and swung and reeled over the reef and flung themselves towards the ships.
They saw Captain Pym suddenly throw up his hands above his head in a gesture of utter impotence and despair, and then turn and make for the hill.
The watchers crouched in a crevice of the hillside and gazed narrow-eyed, and their breaths came quick and short, not from the run but because their hearts were in their throats and choked their breathing.
It was a most terrible sight. The powers of all evil—death, destruction, and malignity—against the puny works of man.
The three awful whirling shapes danced and swung in the lagoon, showing off all their evil graces. Three ineffectual flashes broke from the gunboat, but they avoided them with an easy swing, as though they understood and were on their guard. They reeled towards one another and seemed to take evil counsel together. Then, as though moved by one mind, they swooped down straight on the ships.
"Oh, cruel! cruel!" moaned Jean, clasping her boy to her and hiding her face in him.
Captain Cathie groaned as he watched, and then burst into incoherent, and unusual, and most excusable blasphemies.
Aunt Jannet and Kenneth Blair stared in dreadful fascination.
For one of the whirling monsters reached the ships, picked them up, and smashed them and itself together in one dreadful destruction. When the wild welter settled down and permitted sight, the lagoon was bare save for scattered fragments and struggling figures.
Another of the awful things made for the opposite mountain side. They saw it strike and break there. The solid earth crumbled and splashed like mud, and palms and rocks slid down to the sea, while the swollen hanging top of it swung away along the hillside belching ragged torrents as it went.
The remaining one went roaring past them like a great wounded beast, and tore up the valley, breaking itself and scattering destruction broadcast. They heard the final crash of it away up among the hills, and a foaming torrent came sweeping down the valley carrying everything before it.
All this time the wind was blowing a hurricane, Such palms as were left standing whipped and writhed in vain agonies. Some snapped like carrots and lay still. The rain beat mercilessly on the fearful watchers and bit like whips. Blair bent over his wife and boy to shield them with his body. Aunt Jannet, dishevelled and grey, and haggard, still peered out at the horrors in front.
A sound from her, between a gasp and a groan, and a sudden terrified clutch at his arm, brought Blair's face up to the crowning horror.
There came a roaring from the sea the like of which was never heard before. A mighty wall of water came rushing on the land to overwhelm it. It leaped high over the ridge of rocks that lay like a protecting arm round the nearer curve of the lagoon. The jets of it went rocketting up to heaven, and the mighty ridged crest bristled like an avalanche.
Blair sprang upright instinctively, to face the danger standing, and dug his fingers deep into the cracks of the rocks in front of him.