The Strange Adventure Of James Shervinton Read online

  CHAPTER VIII

  As soon as I arrived at Utiroa village with my new boat, I had herhauled up above high-water mark, close to the boat-shed, and then turnedher over so as to get a good look at the bottom in the morning. Thenwithout telling either Tematau or Niabon the reason for my purchase, Ibade them open my trade-room door, and in a few minutes we were engagedin paying the late owners their tobacco, guns, ammunition, and boltsof turkey twill. They were well satisfied with the price I paid them,especially when I supplemented it with the gift of a case of biscuit anda case of tinned Australian meats, of which I had an ample stock. Theywere very much disposed to remain in the house and give my servantstheir view of the cause of Krause's strange disappearance, which was--asthey had previously told me--that he had been seized and devoured byan enormous reptile, half eel and half turtle, which had been known toswallow not only human beings, but such trifles as double canoes, grovesof coco-nut trees, etcetera; but on my telling them that I was verytired and wanted a quiet house, they retired to the native village tospend the night.

  Calling Niabon and Tematau to me, I told them why I had bought the boat.They both seemed very pleased, but somewhat to my astonishment showedno surprise at the change in my plans; and for a moment or two a swiftsuspicion crossed my mind.

  Did they--or Niabon at least--_know_ that it was Mrs. Krause who hadbrought this boat to my notice? Had Mrs. Krause said anything on thematter to Niabon herself? I determined to ask.

  "Niabon," I said in English, which Tematau also understood fairly well,though he never spoke it, "tell me truly--did you or Tematau ever speakto Lucia of this boat which I have just bought?"

  "No, never, Mr. Sherry," she replied calmly, and the quiet dark eyesmet mine with such an expression of truthfulness that I was instantlyashamed of my transitory suspicion. "I have never spoken to her aboutthis boat, and never has Tematau, I am sure."

  "Oh, well, it was a very lucky thought of hers," I said; "we have nowa boat that will be much better than my own, which I must try andsell, for we shall want money, Niabon, we shall want money badly in thestrange country to which we are going, and I have but little."

  "Kaibuka and the head men will buy the other boat, I think."

  "How do you know?" I said in surprise, for I had never even beenapproached on the subject of selling my boat.

  "I will ask them to buy it," she replied, with a smile. "I will go tothem now, if you wish. How much money do you want?"

  "The boat is worth two hundred dollars, but I will take one hundred. Ifthey cannot give me one hundred dollars I will take no less--but becausethey and I are good friends, I will give it to them freely, for it willbe of no further use to me."

  "They will buy the boat," she said confidently, and lighting hercigarette, she went out.

  A quarter of an hour later she returned, accompanied by old Kaibuka andanother head man. Each of them carried a small bag of money, which theyhanded to me, and simply observing that it was the price of the boat,sat down and waited for me to count the coins. I found there were twohundred dollars.

  "There are one hundred dollars more than the price I asked," I said,pushing one-half of the money apart. "The boat is well worth the twohundred; for she is but new, and cost me more than that. But one hundredis all I asked for."

  Hawk-eyed Kaibuka--one of the most avaricious old fellows I had ever metwith in the South Seas--shook his head and said I was trying to wrongmyself. The people would be glad to get such a fine boat for two hundreddollars, and that if he and the other head men announced that I hadparted with her for a hundred dollars, the entire population of Utiroawould arise as one man and curse them as mean creatures; also they (thepeople) would refuse to use the boat, and he, Kaibuka, would be regardedas a hog--a man devoid of gratitude to the white man who had been kindto and had not cheated them.

  "Take the money, Mr. Sherry," said Niabon in English; "they are glad toget the boat; and if I had said you wanted five, instead of one hundreddollars, they would give it. I would _make_ them give it."

  "Very well, Niabon. I'll take it. But as it is more than I ought toexpect under the circumstances, I will give them half a tierce oftobacco as a _mea alofa_ (a gift of friendship).

  "That means that you give them a hundred and twenty-five dollars' worthof tobacco as a present," she said, with an amused smile, "and so yousell your beautiful boat for seventy-five dollars."

  "Never mind my extravagance, Niabon," I said, in the same spirit; "theone hundred and twenty-five pounds of tobacco in the half-tierce, whichonly cost me a quarter of a dollar a pound, is better given away tothese people than left here to rot."

  "Indeed it is," she replied, as she watched Tepi and Pai roll out thehalf-tierce of the beloved tobacco from my trade-room into that in whichwe were sitting; "these people here will never forget you."

  As soon as old Kaibuka and the other head man had left--each aftertaking a stiff glass of grog--and the house was again quiet, Niabon,Tepi, and I set to work to take stock, they calling out the variousarticles of my trade goods whilst I made out the list. We worked at thisthroughout the night, had an early breakfast, and then went at it again,and by nine o'clock the work was over, and I knew how I stood with myemployers financially.

  It was pretty satisfactory, considering the short time I had been on theisland; for with my salary of ten pounds a month, and the five per cent,commission I was allowed on all the goods I sold, there were over threehundred pounds due to me. Then, in addition to my cash takings, whichcame to over three thousand dollars, I had bought over a hundred tonsof copra (dried coco-nut) at a very low price, paying for it with tradegoods--muskets, rifles, ammunition, tobacco, and liquor--on which latterarticle my esteemed employers made something like a thousand per cent,profit. Of course I had had a big pull over Krause, whose stock of tradewas almost exhausted when I landed, whilst I had come ashore with halfa schooner-load. But apart from this, it was a fillip to my vanity tothink that even if Krause had had his store packed from floor to roofwith trade, the natives would rather have come to me than to him, foras I have said, they all--even those in his own village ofTaritai--disliked him for his domineering German-like manner, and hiscontemptuous disregard of their feelings, whilst I was _persona grata_with them from the day I landed. But I had never yet, in all my tenyears' experience of the South Seas, either seen, or heard, of any"Dutchman"--as we English and American traders call all Teutons--who wasliked by the natives.

  I closed up my account-books, and, lighting my pipe, considered thesituation. Firstly, I was certainly breaking my engagement with myemployers by leaving the island without giving them "due notice of onemonth"; but as I could only communicate with them once in eight months,when they sent a ship round the group, that particular item in myagreement did not disturb my mind to any great extent. Secondly,there was a nice little sum of money due to me--oyer three hundredpounds--which in all probability I should never get if I awaited myfirm's good pleasure to pay me, unless I went to Sydney and broughtlegal pressure to bear on them. Would not I be perfectly justifiedin paying myself my salary and commission out of the money in mypossession? They would certainly look on me as an ass of the first waterif I did not--of that I was sure. But again, I must not leave it intheir power to say that "Jim Sherry had bolted from Tarawa," and had notacted squarely with them.

  Niabon, I knew, could both read and write English fairly, so of coursecould Mrs. Krause. The latter would be at Utiroa in a few hours, andinstead of starting them at sewing sails I would get them to make anexact copy of every entry in the station books from the day I tookcharge to the day we left the island. This copy I would leave behind,and take the books themselves with me. The idea was a good one, andlater on I was glad it occurred to me.

  The whaleboat was my own, and as I thought of her, I felt pleased thatmy employers, who were as mean as Polish Jews, would not get to windwardof me as far as she was concerned. I had bought her from the captain ofan American whaler, intending her for my own personal use and pleasureas a fishing
boat, naturally expecting that the firm would provide mewith a boat for trading purposes, _i.e._, to send around the lagoonand collect copra. The boss supercargo, however, who had drawn up theagreement, refused to do so, on the grounds that I had a boat already,and I was too weak and too racked with the damnable pains of fever tomake more than a brief protest against what was certainly a very meantrick. But I had now sold her to the natives, and old Kaibuka was nota man to be trifled with. If any supercargo or captain of the firmendeavoured to claim her as property belonging to Utiroa Station, therewould be such a blazing row that the firm would not forget it--theycould never again land a trader on the island.

  I decided to at least take a hundred pounds out of the stationcash--less than a third of the amount due to me. This, with the twohundred dollars I had received from old Kaibuka, would make sevenhundred dollars--something better than poor little Mrs. Krause'stwenty, I thought with a smile. And I meant that she--if we succeeded inreaching Guam--should land there with five hundred American dollars, notChili or Bolivian half-iron rubbish, but good honest silver.

  At noon Mrs. Krause arrived in my old whaleboat, which I had borrowedfrom the new owners, and sent away at daylight, and whilst she andNiabon set to work at copying the books, I, with Tepi, began cuttingout the new suit of sails from a bolt of light but very strong Americantwill---just the very stuff for boat sails, as strong as No. 1 canvasand four times lighter.

  That was the first of eight or ten very pleasant days we spent together,it taking us all that time to complete our preparations; for after thesails were finished I had to rig the boat anew, caulk her decks, andmake a proper cabin amidships for the two women. This would havetaken me more than another week had it not been for a couple of nativeboatbuilders, whom old Kaibuka had sent to me. They were good workmen,though neither had ever handled such a thing as a plane or saw inhis life--everything was done either with a hatchet or a _toki_--aplane-iron or a broad chisel lashed to a wooden handle in such a mannerthat it was used as an adze.

  Two good coatings of red lead 110]

  Then I gave her two good coatings of red lead from keel to abovewater-line, and above that painted her white. The people from whom Ihad bought her told me frankly that she was a poor sailer, and Iquite believed them, for she was altogether too heavily built for hersize--her timbers and planking being of German oak. Her mast, too, hadbeen placed too far for'ard, and so I shifted it eighteen inches or twofeet further aft. But heavy and clumsy-looking as she was, I wassure she would prove a good sea boat, for she had great beam and acorresponding floor--in fact, rather too much for her length. However,when I had finished with and launched her, we made a trial trip overto Mrs. Krause's station, and I was well satisfied with her. She sailedmuch better than she did formerly, owing to the mast being further aft,and her new mainsail and jib, though smaller than the old ones, settingbetter.

  On our reaching Taritai, Mrs. Krause sent for the head men and toldthem that she was now satisfied that her husband was dead. What did theythink? she asked. They replied that there could be not the slightestdoubt of it. Every islet of the whole chain encompassing the lagoon hadbeen searched, but not the slightest trace of the missing man had beenfound. He was dead.

  Then she told them that as I was leaving the island, and she did notcare to remain now that her husband was dead, she had decided to goaway with me and my party. The trading station itself, and all her latehusband's property, she would leave in their care, to hand over to thecaptain of the next German ship that came to take away the copra andoil that he had bought. And as it might be many months before a ship didcome, she would pay them in advance for their caretaking; and also leavea letter with them for the captain, asking him to make them a furtherpresent, as she knew they were good men and would be true to theirtrust. Let them, to-morrow, come and choose from the store goods to thevalue of two hundred dollars.

  The head men were delighted, and one of them, in his exuberance,expressed the sorrow they all felt at her leaving them; but no doubt, hesaid, she and I were going to some island where there was a missionary,so that we might be married according to the customs of white people.Perhaps, however, we would return.

  The poor little woman turned scarlet, and I shot a furious glance at theoffender, and sharply told him that he was talking like a child insteadof a grown man, and that his words had hurt the lady greatly. He put hishand over his eyes and collapsed. Then after a little further talk withthem, we sent them away, and I arranged with Mrs. Krause to send thewhaleboat for her on the following morning; for, all going well, weshould start at sunset.

  Before I left her, she asked me, with a nervous tremor in her voice, toread the letter she had written, and if I thought it would do, or neededto be altered in any way. It was a letter which I had suggested sheshould write and leave with the head men. It was addressed to "Thecaptain or supercargo of any ship belonging to Messrs. G----, ofHamburg," and contained but a few lines, stating that her husband,"Ferdinand Alexis Krause, left this station on the 27th July last forMr. James Sherry's station at Utiroa village, and has not since beenseen, and although a most careful search has been made, no trace of himhas been found, and the natives are of the opinion that he was drownedbetween here and Utiroa in crossing one of the channels between theislets. As I am not equal to the task of carrying on my late husband'strading business, and an opportunity of leaving the island presentsitself to me, through the kindness of Mr. Sherry, a trader here, I haveplaced this station in the care of the head men. I have given them twohundred dollars in trade goods, and trust you will be so satisfied withtheir integrity and their care of the property I have entrusted totheir charge, that you will make them a further present. I make no claimwhatever on the money due to my husband, and will feel glad if you willsee that it is sent to his relatives in Germany."

  "That will do very well," I said, as I took her hand; "now, goodbyetill to-morrow evening, Mrs. Krause. By this time to-morrow we shouldbe getting under way. And, do you mind?--I have called the boat the_Lucia_--in fact I've painted the name on both bows."

  "Indeed, I am very proud. And why don't you call _me_ Lucia, too, Mr.Sherry? Every one else does."

  "Very well," I said, with a laugh, "I will talk Tarawan to you:Tiakapo, Lucia."

  "Tiakapo, Simi;" and her voice was pleasant and sweet to hear, althoughthe word _tiakako_ meant nothing more than "good-night."