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The Strange Adventure Of James Shervinton, a fiction by Louis Becke |
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Chapter 2 |
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_ CHAPTER II When I first landed on Tarawa, this man, whose name was Krause, according to the usual custom among us traders, called to see me. He was a big, broad-shouldered, good-looking fellow, and certainly was very civil and obliging to me in many ways, although I was an "opposition" trader; and a new man is never welcome from a business point of view, no matter how much he may be liked for social reasons, especially in the God-forsaken Equatorial Pacific, where whilst your fellow-trader is ready to share his last bottle of grog and his last tin of beef with you, he is anxious to cut your throat from a business point of view. Krause, however, did not seem to--and I honestly believe did not actually--entertain any ill-feeling towards me as a rival trader, although I was landed on the island with such a stock of new trade goods that he must at once have recognised the fact that my advent would do him serious injury, inasmuch as his employers (the big German trading firm in Hamburg) had not sent him any fresh stock for six months. Like most Germans of any education whom one meets in the South Seas, or anywhere else, he was a good native linguist, though, like all his countrymen, he did not _understand_ natives like Englishmen or Americans understand wild races. He had no regard nor sympathy for them, and looked upon even the highly intelligent Polynesian peoples with whom he had had much dealing as mere "niggers"--to study whose feelings, sentiments, opinions or religious belief, was beneath the consideration of an European. But although he thus despised the natives generally from one end of the Pacific to the other, he had enough sense to keep his opinions reasonably well to himself, only expressing his contempt for them to his fellow traders, or to any other white men with whom he came in contact. [Illustration: Sailing across the lagoon to his station 028] A few weeks after my arrival on the island I paid him a visit, sailing across the lagoon to his station in my whaleboat. On reaching his place I found that he was away from home on a trip to one of his minor outlying stations, and would not return till the evening. Somewhat disappointed at missing him, I got out of my boat with the intention of at least resting in one of the native huts for half an hour, so as to be out of the intense heat and glare of a torrid sun, when one of Krause's servants came down and said that the trader's wife would be glad if I would come to her husband's station and there await his return. Glad to accept the invitation, for I was weak and tired out from fever, and ready to lie down almost anywhere out of the sun, I walked wearily along the beach and entered the house. To my intense surprise, there came to meet me at the door, not the usual style of native wife one generally sees in most traders' houses--a good-looking young woman with a flaming blouse, and more flaming skirt of hideously coloured print, and fingers covered with heavy gold rings--but a slenderly-built pale-complexioned woman of apparently thirty years of age, dressed in a light yellow muslin gown, such as the Portuguese ladies of Macao and the Mariana Islands wear. The moment I saw her I knew that she had but a very slight strain of native blood in her veins, and when she spoke her voice sounded very sweet and refined. "Will you not come inside and rest, sir?" she said in English. "My husband is away, and will not be back until about sunset; he will be very disappointed to have missed you." "Thank you, Mrs. Krause," I replied; "I think I must accept your invitation, as I feel a bit shaky, and it has been so very hot crossing the lagoon." "Very, very hot, indeed, Mr. Sherry," she said, as she motioned me to enter the front room; "and I know what malarial fever is; for I once lived at Agana, in Guam, and have seen many people who have come there from the Philippine Islands to recruit. Now, lie down there on that cane lounge, beside the open window, and let me bring you something to drink--something cool. What would you like? There is lager beer, there is very cold water from a canvas water-bag, and there is some hock." I gratefully took a long drink of the cold water, and then, instead of lying down, seated myself in a wide cane chair, and began to talk to my hostess, who sat on the lounge a few feet away, and now that I had an opportunity of closer observation, I saw that she was--despite her pallor and worn appearance--a woman of the very greatest beauty and grace. It was so long since I had even talked to a white woman, even of the commonest class, that I could not but be insensibly attracted to her, and when in a few minutes she smiled at something I said about my longing to get away to Samoa, even if I had to sail there alone in my whaleboat, the faint flush that tinged her cheek seemed to so transfigure her that she looked like a girl of nineteen or twenty. She talked to me for nearly an hour, and I noticed that although we conversed principally about the Line Islands, and the natives, and of our few white neighbours scattered throughout the group, and their idiosyncrasies--humorous and otherwise--she hardly ever mentioned her husband's name, except when I asked her some direct question concerning him, such as the number of his outlying stations, was he fond of fishing or shooting, etc. In some way I came to the conclusion that she was an unhappy woman as far as her relations with her husband went; and without the slightest reason whatever to guide me to such an inference, felt that he, and not she, was to blame; and even as we talked, there was unconsciously taking possession of me a dislike to a man from whom I had experienced nothing but civility and kindness. Just as she was leaving the room to attend to her household duties, the man Tematau came to the door, carrying a string of freshly-husked young drinking coco-nuts. At a sign from his mistress, he opened one and brought it to me, and then leaving a few beside my chair, took the remainder down to my boat's crew. [Illustration: The man Tematau came to the door 032] "That is Tematau, my husband's head boatman," said my hostess in her soft tones, as she watched him walking down to the beach; "he is so different from these noisy, quarrelsome Tarawa people, that I am always glad to have him about the house when he is not wanted in the boats. He is so quick, and yet so quiet." "I thought he did not look like a Tarawa native," I said, "and I saw that he is tattooed like a Samoan." "He has lived in Samoa for a great many years, and is very proud of that tattooing, I am sure. He is a native of Danger Island, a long way to the south-east of this group, and came here about a year ago with a girl named Niabon." She hesitated a little. "I suppose you have not heard of her?" "No, I have not. Who is she?" "They--that is, the natives generally, and some of the whites as well--call her 'the Danger Island witch woman.'" "Oh, yes," I exclaimed, "I _have_ heard of the 'witch woman,' but that was when I was trading at Gallic Harbour on Admiralty Island. There was a poor fellow there, Hairy Willard, who was dying of poison given him by some chief, and I remember quite well his wife, who was a Tahitian, telling me that if the witch woman of Danger Island was near she would quickly render the poison innocuous." Mrs. Krause's dark eyes lit up with undoubted pleasure--"I must tell her that--" "Is she living on Tarawa, then?" "Yes, in this village, and she is in the house at this moment. She would like to speak to you. Do you mind her coming in?" "Indeed, I shall be very pleased." My hostess stood at the table for a few moments, with her face averted from me. Then she turned and spoke to me, and to my astonishment I saw that she was struggling hard to suppress her tears. I rose and led her to a seat. "You are not well, Mrs. Krause," I said. "Sit down, and let me call one of your servants." "No, please do not do that, Mr. Sherry. But I will sit down, and--and I should like to ask you a question." She was trembling as she spoke, but suddenly whipped out her handkerchief, dried her tears, and sat up erect. "Mr. Sherry, you are an Englishman, or an American--I do not know which--but I am sure that you are a gentleman and will truthfully answer the question I ask. Will you not?" "I will, indeed, if it is in my power to do so," I replied earnestly. She placed her hand on mine and looked at me steadily. "Mr. Sherry, you and I have been talking on various matters for more than an hour. Have I, in your opinion, given you the impression that I am mentally deranged? Look at me. Tell me--for I am an unhappy, heartbroken woman, whose life for two years has been a daily torture and misery--what you _do_ think. Sometimes I imagine that what my husband says _may_ be true--and then I collapse and wish I were dead." "What does he say, Mrs. Krause?" "He says that I am mad, and he says it so persistently that--oh, Mr. Sherry, I feel that before long I _shall_ go mad in reality. It is only this woman Niabon who sustains me. But for her I should have run out along the reef and drowned myself a year ago. Now, tell me, Mr. Sherry, do you think it possible that owing to the continuous strain upon me mentally and physically--for I am really very weak, and had a long illness two years ago when my baby was born--that my mind has become unhinged in any way?" "I think, Mrs. Krause," I said slowly and very emphatically, "that your husband himself must be mad." She wept silently, and then, again averting her face, looked away from me towards the wide expanse of the lagoon, gleaming hot and silvery under a blazing sun. "I wish that what you say were true, Mr. Sherry," she said presently, trying bravely to suppress her tears, "and that my husband were indeed mad." She rose, extended her hand to me, and tried to smile. "You will think that I am a very silly woman, Mr. Sherry. But I am not at all strong, and you must forgive me. Now I must leave you." "But am I not to see the famous witch woman, Mrs. Krause?" I said half jestingly. "Oh, yes. She shall come to you presently. And you will like her, Mr. Sherry, I am sure. To me she been been the kindest, kindest friend." Then she paused awhile, but resumed in a nervous, hesitating manner, "Niaban is sometimes a little strange in her manner, so--so you most not mind all that she may say or do." I assured her that I should be most careful to avoid giving any offence to the woman. She thanked me earnestly, and then said she would find Niabon and bring or send her to me. Just as she went out I heard some one tapping at the latticed window near which I was sitting. Looking out, I saw the face of the man Tematau, who was standing outside. "May I come in and speak with thee, gentleman?" he said in Samoan. "Enter, and welcome." He stepped round to the front door, and as he entered I saw that he had stripped to the waist; his hair was dressed in the Samoan fashion, and in his hand he carried a small, finely-plaited mat. In an instant I recognised that he was paying me a visit of ceremony, according to Samoan custom, so instead of rising and shaking hands with him, I kept my seat and waited for him to approach. Stepping slowly across the matted floor, with head and shoulders bent, he placed the mat (his offering) at my feet, and then withdrew to the other side of the room, and, seating himself cross-legged, he inquired after my health, etc., and paid me the usual compliments. As he spoke in Samoan, I, of course, replied in the same language, thanked him for his call, and requested him to honour me at my own place by a visit. Then, to my surprise, instead of retiring with the usual Samoan compliments, he bent forward, and, fixing his deep-set, gloomy eyes on mine, he said slowly-- "Master, I shall be a true man to thee when we are together upon the deep sea in thy boat." "Why dost thou call me 'master'?" I said quickly, "and when and whither do thee and I travel together?" "I call thee 'master' because I am thy servant, but when and whither we go upon the far sea I know not." Then he rose, saluted me as if I were King Malietoa of Samoa himself, and retired without uttering another word. "This is a curious sort of a household," I thought. "The mistress, who is sane enough, is told by her husband that she is mad, and fears she will lose her reason; a native who tells me that I am to be his master and travel with him on the deep sea, and a witch woman, whom I have yet to see, on the premises. I wonder what sort of a crank _she_ is?" I was soon to know, for in a few moments she came in, and instead of coming up to me and shaking hands in the usual Line Island fashion, as I expected she would do, she did precisely as my first visitor had done--greeted me in Samoan, formally and politely, as if I were a great chief, and then sat silent, awaiting me to speak. Addressing her in the same stilted, highly complimentary language that she had used to me, I inquired after her health, etc., and then asked her how long she had been on the island. She answered me in a somewhat abrupt manner, "I came here with Tematau about the time that the white lady Lucia and her husband came. Tematau is of the same family as myself. And it is of the blood ties between us that we remain together, for we are the last of many." "It is good that it is so," I said, for want of something better to say, for her curious eyes never left my face for an instant. "It would be hard indeed that when but two of the same blood are left they should separate or be separated." "We shall be together always," she replied, "and death will come to us together." Then she rose, walked quickly to the open door, glanced outside to see if any one was about, and returned to me and placed her hand on mine. "This man Krause is a devil. He seeks his wife's death because of another woman in his own country. He hath tried to poison her, and the poison still rankles in her blood. That is why she is so white of face and frail of body. And now she will neither eat nor drink aught but that of which I first eat or drink myself." "How know you of this?" "I know it well," she answered impressively, "and the man would kill me if he could by poison, as he hath tried to kill his wife. But poison can do me no harm. And he hateth but yet is afraid of me, for he knoweth that I long since saw the murder in his heart." "These are strange things to say, Niabon. Beware of an unjust accusation when it comes to the too ready tongue." She laughed scornfully. "No lie hath ever fouled mine. I tell thee again, this man is a devil, and has waited for a year past to see his wife die, for he married her according to the laws of England, and cannot put her away as he could do had he married her according to the native custom." "Who hath told thee of these marriage laws of England?" I asked. "What does it matter who hath told me?" she asked sharply. "Is not what I say true?" "It is true," I said. "Ay, it is true. And it is true also that she and thee and the man Tematau and I shall together look death in the face upon the wide sea. And is not thy boat ready?" Her strange, mysterious eyes as she spoke seemed to me--a physically weak but still mentally strong man at the moment--to have in them something weird, something that one could not affect either to ignore or despise. What could this woman know of my desire to leave the island in my boat? What could the man Tematau know of it? Never had I spoken of such an intention to any person, and I knew that, even in my worst attacks of fever and ague, I had never been delirious in the slightest degree. A sudden resentment for the moment took possession of me, and I spoke angrily. "What is all this silly talk? What have I to do with thee, and for what should my boat be ready?" "Be not angry with them, Simi, for there is nought but goodwill toward thee in my heart. See, wouldst have me cure the hot fever that makes the blood in thy veins to boil even now?" "No," I said sullenly, "I want none of thy foolish charms or medicines. Dost think I am a fool?" "Nay," and she looked at me so wistfully that I at once repented of my harsh manner--"nay, indeed, Simi. Thou art a man strong in thy mind, and shall be strong in thy body if thou wouldst but let me give thee----" "No more, woman," I said roughly. "Leave me. I want none of thy medicines, I say again." "Thy wish is my law," she said gently, "but, ere I leave thee, I pray thee that in a little way thou wilt let me show thee that I _do_ mean well to thee." I laughed, and asked her what medicine or charm she desired to experiment with upon me. "No medicine, and no charm," she answered. "But I know that because of many things thy mind and thy body alike suffer pain, and that sleep would be good for thee. And I can give thee sleep--strong, dreamless sleep that, when thou awakenest, will make thee feel strong in thy body and softer in thy now angry heart to Niabon." "If you can make me sleep now, I'll give you twenty dollars," I said in my English fashion. She took no notice of my rude and clumsy remark, though she had good reason to be offended. "Simi," she said, "shall I give thee sleep?" "Ay," I replied, "give me sleep till the master of this house returns." She rose and bent over me, and then I noticed for the first time that, instead of being about thirty-five or forty years of age, as I had judged her to be by her hard, clear features and somewhat "bony" appearance externally, she could not be more than five-and-twenty, or even younger. She placed her right hand on my forehead, and held my right hand in her own. "Sleep," she said--"sleep well and dreamlessly, man with the strong will to accomplish all that is before thee. Sleep." Her hand passed caressingly oyer my face, and in a few minutes I _was_ asleep, and slept as I had not slept for many weeks past. When I awakened at sunset I felt more refreshed and vigorous than I had been for many months. [Illustration: Met me with outstretched hand 042] Krause had just returned in his boat, and met me with outstretched hand. His welcome was, I thought, unnecessarily effusive, and, declining his pressing invitation to remain for the night, I left, after remaining an hour or so longer. I noticed that immediately Krause arrived the girl Niabon disappeared, and did not return. That was my first meeting with her, and I did not see her again till the evening of the storm, when she brought Tematau to me. _ |
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