Ah, the ship, the great ship! they replied. She had run up on the reef one night four moons ago, when the sky was bright and clear, and the wind blew strongly; and when in the morning they discerned her from the village, the white man had two boats manned to go to her a.s.sistance, but as the boats approached, two cannons fired heavy b.a.l.l.s at them from the deck of the ship; and although the white man (Hayes"s trader) tied his handkerchief to an oar and held it upright, the people on the ship continued to fire on the boats with the big cannons, and with muskets, and then, when one man was. .h.i.t by a bullet and died quickly, the white man cursed those on the ship for fools, and turned the boats sh.o.r.eward again, saying that those on board could perish before he would try to help them again. By sunset three boats, filled with men, had left the ship and sailed to the south. In the morning the white man (whom I knew from their description of him to be a well-known and decent South Sea trader named Harry Gardiner) boarded the ship and began to remove all that was of value on sh.o.r.e. Her hold was filled with all sorts of goods in barrels and cases, and when "Puli Ese" came, three months later, he was well pleased, not only for the seven hundred barrels of oil, but with the many things that had been gotten from the wrecked ship.
We promised our new friends to come up to their village--where they and about twenty of their fellow islanders lived with the remainder of Bully Hayes"s Line Island contingent--on the following day, and sent them away with a few trifling presents. As they said they could walk back, and I wanted to have a look at the wreck, they cheerfully agreed to let their canoe remain with us.
About four in the afternoon, as the heat of the sun began to relax, I determined to set out in the canoe. Tematau and Tepi had gone across to the weather side of the island with my gun to shoot plover and frigate birds, of which latter, so the natives had told us, there were great numbers to be found on the high trees to windward. Lucia and Niabon were resting in the shade, but the latter, when she saw me pushing the canoe into the water, asked me to let her come also.
"Yes, of course; and you too, Lucia. Won"t you come as well?" I said.
"No, Jim. I feel very lazy, and I"m always so afraid of canoes," she said with a smile, "and do be careful and not be capsized; look at all those horrid sharks swimming about--I can see nearly twenty of them from where I am sitting."
Both Niabon and I laughed at her fears--the sharks were not man-eaters, as we knew by their black-tipped fins, though the species were dangerous when bad weather made the fish on which they preyed scarce; then they became vicious and daring enough, and would at times actually tear the oars out of the hands of a boat"s crew. However, Lucia would not come, saying she would await the return of the men and pluck the plover which they were sure to bring back with them.
"Very well, Lucia," I said, "we"ll leave you to yourself. I _must_ have a look at the barque, and find out her name. Wrecks have always had an attraction for me; and, besides that, I want to get a sheet or two of copper to nail over our stem, which was badly hurt when we ran ash.o.r.e in Apamama Lagoon."
In another minute or two Niabon and I started, she sitting for"ard and I aft. The wind had died away, and the surface of the lagoon was as smooth as gla.s.s, and, through the crystal-clear water, we could discern the glories of the gorgeously-hued coral forest below. Is there such another sight in all the world as is revealed when you look down upon the bottom of a South Sea atoll.
Ah, no, there cannot be! And here as I write, there is before me the cold German Ocean, heaving and tumbling; grey, grim, and sullen under a dulled and leaden sky, and snowflakes beat and beat incessantly upon the opened windows of my room. Out upon the moor there is a flock of snow-white seagulls, driven to land by the wild weather, and as I gaze at them, fluttering to and fro, their presence seems to creep into my heart, and their wild, piping notes to say, "You will go back, you will go back, and see some of us again; not here, under cold skies, but where the bright sun for ever shines upon a sea of deepest blue."
For half an hour or more we paddled in silence over the smooth waters of that sweet lagoon, the bow of the canoe kept steadily on towards the wrecked barque; and as I looked at the graceful figure of my companion, with her dark, glossy hair flowing over her back and swaying to and fro with every stroke, and saw the graceful poise of her head, and the backward sweep of her two little hands as she plunged her paddle into the water, and withdrew it swiftly and noiselessly, I felt that I could not, I must not delay in asking her to be my wife. Not that her physical beauty had so wrought upon my feelings--I was above that, I thank G.o.d, and a level brain--but because I felt that I loved her, ay, honestly _loved_ her, and that she was a good and true woman, and our union would be a happy one.
It took us much longer than we antic.i.p.ated in coming up to the stranded ship, or rather to the inside edge of the reef on which she lay, high and dry, half a mile further to seaward. Taking my hammer and a blunt chisel--to prize off a sheet of copper--we made the canoe fast to a coral boulder, and set off across the reef, which gave forth a strong but sickly odour caused by the heat of the sun acting on the many-coloured and many-shaped marine organisms and living coral.
Niabon, whose feet were protected by strong _takka_ (sandals woven of coco-nut fibre), stepped lightly and swiftly on before me; I with my heavy boots crushing into the brittle, delicate, and sponge-like coral, startling from their sunbaths hundreds of black and orange-banded sea-snakes--reptiles whose bite is as deadly as that of a rattlesnake, but which hastened out of our way almost as soon as they heard our footsteps. Here and there we had to turn aside to avoid deep pools, some of which, though not more than ten fathoms in width, were as blue as the ocean beyond, their rocky walls starting sheer up from their bases to the crust of the reef.
[Ill.u.s.tration: At last we reached the ship 194]
At last we reached the ship, and stood under her bowsprit. She was standing almost upright, wedged in tightly between three huge boulders, one on her port, and two on her starboard side, and I saw that she had struck with great violence, for just abreast of her foremast there was a jagged hole through which we could see into her lower hold. The natives had told us that there had been an unusually high tide when she ran ash.o.r.e, and had it not been for her bringing up against the boulders, she might have torn her way over the reef into the lagoon, as she was under a strong press of sail, and the sea was smooth, and the stars shining brightly. Most of her copper had been stripped off by Hayes, but later on I found all I wanted by crawling under the bilge, and prizing off a few undamaged sheets.
"Let us find out her name before we go on board," I said to my companion. "She"s a foreigner, I"m sure."
Walking round to her stern we looked up and saw her name, _Agostino Rombo, Livorno_, painted in white letters.
"Ah, I thought she was a foreigner, Niabon. I fancy we shall find a strong smell of garlic as soon as we get on deck."
Turning up along the port side, we soon found an easy way of getting on board, for just abreast of the mainmast Hayes"s Chinese carpenters had cut down the main deck from the water-ways to the bilge, so as to give free access to the upper and lower holds.
We first examined the lower hold, which contained about two hundred tons of New Caledonian nickel ore, and which, valuable as it was, Hayes had not troubled about removing. In the "tween deck there was nothing to show of what the main portion of her cargo had consisted--everything had been removed, and only great piles of dunnage remained, and I came to the conclusion that the _Agostino Rombo_ of Leghorn had been bound from some Australian port to China with a general cargo, when her incapable skipper ran her ash.o.r.e--to Bully Hayes"s satisfaction and benefit.
Ascending from the dark and silent "tween decks, where our footsteps and voices echoed and re-echoed as though we were walking and speaking in some mountain cavern, we ascended to the main deck into the fresh, sweet daylight, though the sun was now low down on the western sky, and the first thing that attracted our attention was a lengthy notice on the mainmast, carefully and neatly painted on a sheet of copper. And as I read it, I could but laugh at Captain Hayes"s natural American business instincts, combined with his usual humorous mendacity--
"Notice to Wrecking Parties.
"I, William Henry Hayes, master and owner of the brig _Leonora_, of Shanghai, hereby notify all and sundry that the barque _Agostino Rombo_, of Leghorn, as she now lies on this reef, has been purchased by me from Captain Pasquale Lucchesi, and any person attempting to remove any of her deck-houses, spars, anchors, or cables, or certain nickel ore in the lower hold, are liable to be indicted for piracy. But all anchors, cables, and ground tackle generally may be removed on payment of 250 dols. to my native agent on this island."
From the main deck we ascended to the p.o.o.p, and went below into the now darkening cabin, which we found was gutted of everything of value, except the captain"s and officers" bedding, which had been tossed aside by Hayes and his crew, and which even the natives of Ujilon had regarded as too worthless to take away, though many a poor sailor man, shivering in northern seas, would have clutched at them as eagerly as a Jew p.a.w.nbroker would clutch at a necklace of pearls or a diamond-set tiara.
The panelling of the main cabin was painted in white and gold, and presented a very handsome appearance, and on the door of every stateroom was an exceedingly well-painted picture of some saint renowned in history--evidently the owners of the _Agostino Rombo_ were of pious minds. Underneath one of these pictures, that of St. Margaret of Hungary, was scribbled in pencil, "Maggie is my fancy. Frank Hussey, mate brig _Leonora_."
I scratched out the ribald words with my knife, and then we went up through the companion to the p.o.o.p, and looked along the deserted deck, whose once white planking was now cracking and discolouring under the fierce rays of the torrid sun, to which it had been exposed for four months.
We sat down together on a seat, which was placed for-ard of the skylight, and gazed at the lofty masts and spars, which, denuded of all their running gear, stood out stark, grim, and mournful against the rays of a declining sun. On the fore-topgallant yard a frigate bird and his mate stood, oblivious of our presence, and looking sh.o.r.eward at the long, long line of verdure clothing the islets four miles away.
"Simi," said Niabon, clasping her little brown hands together at the back of her head, and leaning against the skylight, "we must return to the canoe ere the tide riseth, for, see, the sun is low down, and Lucia will think that some harm hath befallen us if we delay."
She spoke in Samoan, the language she generally used when we were alone, for she could express herself better in it even than in English, so she said, though both Lucia and myself had often told her, not banteringly, that her English was sweet to hear.
"Heed not the sinking sun, Niabon," I replied, in the same language, "the tide will not yet cover the reef for an hour or more, and the night will be bright and clear.... Niabon, turn thy face to me."
I took her hand and drew her closer to me.
"Niabon, I love thee. I have loved thee since the time when thou first saidst to me, "Shall I give thee sleep?" And for ever since hast thou been in my mind. See, I have loved no other woman as I love thee, and it is my heart"s desire to make thee my wife."
She drew herself away from me with blazing eyes.
"Thy wife, thy wife! Simi, what madness is this? Hast thou no eyes to see? Is thy mind so dull that thou dost not know that Lucia hath loved thee, and that even at this moment her heart acheth for thy return. Dost thou not _know?_"
"I care not for her but as a friend," I said hotly; ""tis thee alone I desire. Thou art always in my mind, and I will be good and true to thee, Niabon; for I love thee well. Be my wife. Together thee and I----"
The angry light in her eyes died out, and she placed her cheek to mine.
"Simi, I care more for thee than for any one in the world, save Lucia, and Lucia hath all my heart and all my love. And she so loves thee, Simi--she so loves thee that it is her heart"s desire to be thy wife....
Come, dear friend, let us return and forget all but that Lucia awaits."
She pa.s.sed her hand softly over my face, pressed her lips to my forehead, and then I followed her down from the silent deck on to the reef, and thence onwards to the canoe.
CHAPTER XV
All that she said to me that night as we returned over the stilly waters of the lagoon to our companions, I cannot now remember; I only know that as she sat facing me, and I paddled slowly and dreamily along, I promised her, dully and mechanically, to tell Lucia that night that I loved her.
"And she and thee will be happy, very happy, Simi. Her heart went out to thee from the very first. And children will come to thee, and I shall see them grow--the boys strong and brave as thou art, and the girls fair and sweet as Lucia--and yet shalt thou have thy heart"s desire, and be spoken of as a man who did a great deed... a great voyage... and all that hath been done by the three men of whom thou hast so often thought will be but as little compared with this voyage of thine. And she so loves thee, Simi; ah, she so loves thee."
The soft murmur of her voice enthralled, took such possession of me mentally and physically, that I know not what I answered except that I said again and again, "Ay, I love her, I love her, and I shall tell her of my love, and that she, and she alone, is my heart"s desire."
How long we were in getting back to the island I cannot tell, but I do remember that it was quite dark, and both Niabon and myself were paddling vigorously when we heard Tepi"s load hail of welcome, and a canoe shot up on the beach, and Lucia came towards me with outstretched hands.
"Jim, oh Jim! I thought you were never coming back," she said.
I folded her in my arms and kissed her. "Lucia, dear, dear Lucia! Will you be my wife? For I love you," and then, scarcely knowing what I was doing, I strained her almost savagely to my bosom, and kissed her upturned face again and again.
"Jim, dear, dear Jim," and her soft arms were around my neck, "and I love you too! I have loved you almost from the day you first came to Taritai, and Niabon has told me that one day you would tell me that you loved me... that some day you would speak... Jim dearest, bend down; you are so tall, and I am so little; ah, Jim, I am so little, but my heart, dear, is so big with love for you, that I feel that I could take _you_ in my arms, and kiss you as you now kiss me. Jim, dear, I never, never knew what love meant till now."
A bright burst of flame illumined the beach, and Niabon with a torch in her hand was standing at the water"s edge.
"The night is fair and good, and the wind is from the east. Let us away, dear friends."