________________________________________________
_ Then two years more went by, or perhaps three, for time passes
imperceptibly in Tahiti, and it is hard to keep count of it;
but at last a message was brought to Dr. Coutras that
Strickland was dying. Ata had waylaid the cart that took the
mail into Papeete, and besought the man who drove it to go at
once to the doctor. But the doctor was out when the summons
came, and it was evening when he received it. It was
impossible to start at so late an hour, and so it was not till
next day soon after dawn that he set out. He arrived at
Taravao, and for the last time tramped the seven kilometres
that led to Ata's house. The path was overgrown, and it was
clear that for years now it had remained all but untrodden.
It was not easy to find the way. Sometimes he had to stumble
along the bed of the stream, and sometimes he had to push
through shrubs, dense and thorny; often he was obliged to
climb over rocks in order to avoid the hornet-nests that hung
on the trees over his head. The silence was intense.
It was with a sigh of relief that at last he came upon the
little unpainted house, extraordinarily bedraggled now,
and unkempt; but here too was the same intolerable silence.
He walked up, and a little boy, playing unconcernedly in the
sunshine, started at his approach and fled quickly away:
to him the stranger was the enemy. Dr. Coutras had a sense that
the child was stealthily watching him from behind a tree.
The door was wide open. He called out, but no one answered.
He stepped in. He knocked at a door, but again there was no
answer. He turned the handle and entered. The stench that
assailed him turned him horribly sick. He put his
handkerchief to his nose and forced himself to go in. The
light was dim, and after the brilliant sunshine for a while he
could see nothing. Then he gave a start. He could not make
out where he was. He seemed on a sudden to have entered a
magic world. He had a vague impression of a great primeval
forest and of naked people walking beneath the trees. Then he
saw that there were paintings on the walls.
" Mon Dieu, I hope the sun hasn't affected me," he muttered.
A slight movement attracted his attention, and he saw that Ata
was lying on the floor, sobbing quietly.
"Ata," he called. "Ata."
She took no notice. Again the beastly stench almost made him
faint, and he lit a cheroot. His eyes grew accustomed to the
darkness, and now he was seized by an overwhelming sensation
as he stared at the painted walls. He knew nothing of
pictures, but there was something about these that
extraordinarily affected him. From floor to ceiling the walls
were covered with a strange and elaborate composition. It was
indescribably wonderful and mysterious. It took his breath away.
It filled him with an emotion which he could not
understand or analyse. He felt the awe and the delight which
a man might feel who watched the beginning of a world. It was
tremendous, sensual, passionate; and yet there was something
horrible there, too, something which made him afraid. It was
the work of a man who had delved into the hidden depths of
nature and had discovered secrets which were beautiful and
fearful too. It was the work of a man who knew things which
it is unholy for men to know. There was something primeval
there and terrible. It was not human. It brought to his mind
vague recollections of black magic. It was beautiful and obscene.
" Mon Dieu, this is genius."
The words were wrung from him, and he did not know he had spoken.
Then his eyes fell on the bed of mats in the corner, and he
went up, and he saw the dreadful, mutilated, ghastly object
which had been Strickland. He was dead. Dr. Coutras made an
effort of will and bent over that battered horror. Then he
started violently, and terror blazed in his heart, for he felt
that someone was behind him. It was Ata. He had not heard
her get up. She was standing at his elbow, looking at what
he looked at.
"Good Heavens, my nerves are all distraught," he said.
"You nearly frightened me out of my wits."
He looked again at the poor dead thing that had been man, and
then he started back in dismay.
"But he was blind."
"Yes; he had been blind for nearly a year." _
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