TEN years had passed, and fortune had proved kind to Martin Flemming and
his family, who were now, with the exception of the eldest son, settled
on the island of Barotonga, one of the Cook's Group.
For some years after the abduction of the four unfortunate natives,
Flemming had tried every possible means of ascertaining their fate, and
at first thought that he would succeed, for within a few weeks after
the visit of the barque to Anaa, there came news of similar outrages
perpetrated by three vessels, through the Ellice, Line Islands and
Paumotu Group. One of these vessels was a barque, the others were brigs,
and all sailed under Peruvian colours, though many of the officers were
Englishmen.
In one instance they had descended upon the unsuspecting inhabitants of
the island of Nukulaelae in the Ellice Group, and carried off almost the
entire population, and at Easter Island--far to the eastward, over
three hundred unfortunate natives were seized under circumstances of the
grossest treachery and violence, and manacled together, taken away to
end their days as slaves in working the guano deposits on the Chincha
Islands, off the coast of South America.
Though not then a rich man, Flemming at his own expense made a long and
tedious voyage to the Ghinchas. By the time he arrived there nearly a
year had elapsed since the four men had been stolen, and he found that
both the British and French Governments had compelled the Peruvian
Government to restore all of the wretched survivors--there were but
few, alas!--to their homes. Over one hundred of the wretched beings had
perished of disease in the hot and stifling holds of the slavers; scores
of them, attempting to regain their liberty, had been shot down, and the
fearful toil in the guano pits of the Ghincha Islands carried off many
more.
At the Chincha Islands he was unable to gain any definite information
about the four men, but was told that the British Consul at Gallao might
be able to tell him what had become of them--whether they had died or
had been among those restored to their homes. So to Gallao be went, for
he was ever bearing in mind the grief of his children at the loss of
their dear “Tommy Topsail-tie” and “Jacky Waterwitch,” and his promise
to them that if they and their Anaa companions were alive he would bring
them back.
But a bitter disappointment awaited him at Gallao--for the Consul, who
had been largely instrumental in forcing the Peruvian Government to
liberate the captured people, gave him absolute proof that none of the
four men had reached the Ghinchas, for he had obtained a great deal of
information from the survivors, all of which he had carefully recorded.
“Here is what Vili, a native of Nukulaelae, told me, Mr. Flemming. He
was one of those who were captured by the barque, and was rather well
treated by the captain on account of his speaking English, being put
into the mate's watch as he had been to sea for many years in whale
ships. He says:--
'After we of Nukulaelae had been on board the barque for about twenty
days, we came to an island in the Paumotus, where the captain tried to
capture two canoes full of natives but failed, though quite soon after
he seized four from a boat, and they were carried down into the hold
and ironed, for they had fought very hard and all were much hurt and
bleeding. I spoke to them and they told me that they had been out
fishing with the two sons of a white man, who was a trader on the
island. The captain did not hurt the two boys, but let them go. Then a
lot of canoes and boats came off and the ship fired her cannons at them,
and drove them away.
'Next day we met another ship, a small schooner, flying the German flag,
and her captain came on board our ship and had a long talk with our
captain, and presently an officer and six men came down into the hold,
and took the irons off nine men and drove them on deck. Among these men
were the four who were taken from the boat. The captain of the schooner
paid our captain money for them, and took them on board his vessel,
which then sailed away.'
“Now, Mr. Flemming,” resumed the Consul, “that is all I can tell you.
I have written to the British Consul at Apia in Samoa, and at Levuka in
Fiji, asking them to endeavour to find out the schooner's name and trace
the nine men. I have no doubt but that she was some Fijian or Samoan
'blackbirder,' and that the poor devils are working on some of the
plantations in either Fiji, Samoa or Tonga. There is, therefore, good
reason for you to hope that you will succeed in your search. I shall
gladly give you all the assistance in my power to facilitate your
enquiries.”
Returning to Anaa, Flemming, through the aid of the French authorities
in Tahiti, placed himself in communication with the British Consuls in
Fiji and Samoa, telling them the details of the capture of the four
men and of their transference with five others to another vessel, and
enclosing a sum of money--all he could spare--to be given to Tommy
Topsail-tie so that he and his three companions might be enabled to find
their way back to Anaa.
At the end of another long weary year of hopeful expectation, he
received replies from the Consuls, returning the money he had sent, and
saying that after most careful inquiries, they could learn nothing of
the nine men; but that they (the Consuls) had strong reason to believe
that the schooner to which they had been transferred was a notorious
German “blackbirder” named the _Samoa_, though the captain and the crew
swore they knew nothing of the matter.
“It is quite possible,” they said in their joint report, “that some or
all of the men are on one of the German plantations in Samoa or Tonga,
and that you will yet discover them. But the German Consuls will give
us no assistance, and absolutely decline to permit us to send any one to
visit the plantations, unless the managers or owners are agreeable. And,
as you can imagine, the owners and managers are _not_ agreeable, and
have declined in terms of great rudeness to even supply us with the
names of any of their labourers, or the names of the various islands
from which they come.”
But even in face of this Flemming did not despair, and told his wife and
children, who could not restrain their tears when they read the Consuls'
report, that he would not let the matter rest. He had several friends
in Samoa and Fiji--merchants, traders and ship captains, and to them he
wrote asking them to institute enquiries quietly, and let him know the
result.
After spending another five years on Anaa, during which time he had
heard nothing of the missing men, he determined to settle on Rarotonga,
where there was an excellent opportunity of making money. His eldest
boy by this time was almost a grown man, and was earning his living as a
supercargo of a trading vessel, running between Auckland in New Zealand
and the various groups of islands in the South Pacific.