In due course Edgar Foster arrived in Sydney again. He thought it
better to take Wal Jessop into his confidence, and related to him the
real reason of his return to Australia.
Wal Jessop remembered the circumstances, and said he did not think
Edgar would easily find the man.
‘He spoke of sailing for America,’ said Wal; ‘and as I have seen
nothing of him for some time, I think he must have gone away.’
‘I mean to have a cruise in the South Seas, at any rate,’ said Edgar.
‘I have never been there, and it will be interesting. I am sure to
hear something about this man from the natives and traders.’
Wal Jessop thought for a few moments, and then said:
‘I have a schooner that would suit your purpose, and I should not mind
making a voyage with you. It would be better than going alone, and I
have been in the South Seas several times.’
‘That would be splendid!’ said Edgar, overjoyed at the prospect of
having Wal Jessop with him.
Wal Jessop communicated his intention of accompanying Edgar to his
wife, and although she did not care for him to leave her again to go on
a cruise, she raised no objections when she heard what object they had
in view.
‘How strange it will be if you find Captain Manton there!’ she said.
‘Even if such a thing happened I am afraid he would not return with
you.’
‘We shall persuade him to do so,’ said Wal, ‘if we find him; but
that is more than we hope for. Still, more extraordinary things than
this have happened over shipwrecks, and truth is often stranger than
fiction.’
Wal Jessop’s schooner did not take much fitting out for the voyage, for
both he and Edgar were used to roughing it. A couple of good men were
engaged to go with them, upon whom Wal Jessop knew he could rely.
They set sail early one morning, and were soon outside the heads,
going along at a fair rate of speed in their small craft.
‘She sails well,’ said Edgar.
‘Many a craft twice her size does not skim over the sea so fast,’ said
Wal.
Edgar thoroughly enjoyed being on board the schooner. It was vastly
different from the life on an ocean liner. They had on board a stock of
goods to trade with the natives, and hoped to make the trip profitable.
The wind and weather being in their favour, they sailed merrily along,
and there was every prospect of their making a fast trip.
Wal Jessop suggested going to Fiji first of all.
‘It’s a jolly place,’ he said, ‘and will not be out of our way, and we
are not tied for time.’
‘It is a good thing your wife cannot hear you,’ said Edgar, laughing.
‘I fancy I heard you say we should return as quickly as possible.’
‘So we shall,’ said Wal; ‘but we made no stipulation as to the course
we should take.’
They made sail for Levuka, the former capital of Fiji, Suva being the
present capital. Levuka is situated on a narrow strip of beach, from
which the backbone of Ovalau rises precipitately to a height of 2,500
feet, and falls in a similar manner on the other side.
Levuka, Edgar found, consisted of one main street about a mile in
length, which runs along the beach from old Government House to the
native village at the other end. The ground ascends rapidly on leaving
the beach, and the hills around are dotted with pretty villas. The
stores and hotels face the water, and here Edgar and Wal took in a
fresh stock of provisions for the schooner.
After leaving Levuka, they sailed along the coast and saw a number of
small native towns dotted about at varying intervals, usually among a
little grove of cocoa-nuts or bananas.
They landed near one of these native villages and obtained a supply
of yams and sweet potatoes, also bananas in any quantity. The village
was surrounded by filth and garbage of all sorts, and among this
highly-scented mess a number of scraggy pigs, thin hens, and young
children were rummaging. The stagnant water lying about attracted
swarms of mosquitoes and flies.
Edgar entered one of the houses and was almost choked with the smoke,
and was glad to get a breath of fresh air. The earthen floor of the
house he could just discern was covered with dry grass over which were
spread a few mats. The men seemed a lazy lot of fellows, passing the
bulk of their time in smoking. They went inland for several miles, but
found the country hilly and uninteresting.
They saw numerous inland villages nestling in the valley or perched on
the top of a hill. After leaving Fiji they sailed for the New Hebrides,
rather an inhospitable country, so Edgar understood. Wal Jessop had,
however, been to Tana before, and meant to steer for that place.
‘What sort of a place is Tana?’ asked Edgar as they sat idly in the
schooner with the blue sky shining brilliantly overhead, and the blue
water of the ocean all around them.
‘It is a volcanic island,’ said Wal. ‘There are several of them in the
group, and on many of them the natives speak different languages. It is
a circular island, with a high mountain in the centre which we ought to
see before long. The mountain is constantly in eruption, and answers
the purpose of a lighthouse. It is covered with vegetation almost to
the top.’
‘I hope we shall not have an earthquake during our stay on the island.
I have experienced one already, during our exploration in the cave of
Enooma, and I should not care for the experience to be repeated,’ said
Edgar.
Next morning the island of Tana came in sight, and Edgar marvelled
at its beauty as seen from the schooner. In the centre of the island
rose the high mountain, as Wal Jessop had described it, and smoke
and fire were issuing from the top. They were not long in reaching a
landing-place, and on the beach they saw a number of native canoes,
some about fifteen feet long, and others from twenty-five to nearly
fifty feet in length.
When the natives saw the schooner let go her anchor, two canoes put off
and were quickly paddled alongside. The natives in them were rather
under the middle stature and the colour of old copper. Their faces
were painted a reddish colour, and looked oily and sticky. Their hair
was frizzy and of a light-brown colour, and was twisted and curled into
numerous tails, which were thrown back from the forehead and hung down
the back. It looked for all the world like a wig made of whipcord,
Edgar thought.
‘These fellows are Tanese,’ said Wal. ‘I must try and make them
understand a few questions.’
He spoke to one of the natives, who was taller than his companions, and
asked him to come on board the schooner. Without the least hesitation
the man did so. As he stood on deck, Edgar saw that he was a well-made,
athletic young fellow. The septum of his nose was pierced, and through
it was inserted a reed horizontally, but not so as to project beyond
either nostril. He had tortoiseshell earrings in his ears, about half
a dozen hanging down on each side, and the weight had enlarged the
aperture until a child’s hand might have been passed through. He was
not tattooed, but on his breast a rude device of a fish had been either
cut or burnt in, and on the upper part of his arms was a leaf done in a
similar way. He had no clothes on except a matting bag round the loins.
He had armlets on, and also three large whale’s teeth on three strings
hanging horizontally on his breast.
‘He’s a chief,’ said Wal. ‘I can tell that by those teeth he has on his
breast.’
‘He is a formidable-looking savage,’ said Edgar. ‘I should not care to
have a hit with that club he carries.’
Wal Jessop motioned the chief to sit down, which he did, and was
presented with a necklace of bright-coloured beads which delighted him
immensely.
The other natives in the canoes were looking at the schooner with eager
eyes, evidently with the expectation of getting a few presents.
The chief, whose name was Meri, spoke a few words of English, and
as Wal Jessop knew a little of the Tana language, they managed to
understand each other.
Although Edgar could not make out what they were talking about, he knew
Wal Jessop was questioning him as to the white men who visited the
island.
‘Psan Aremama,’ said Meri.
‘There is a white man on the island,’ said Wal to Edgar. ‘We must go
ashore and try and meet him. Meri knows where he is to be found, but he
avoids the coast.’
‘Strange a white man should be here,’ said Edgar. ‘It may be the very
man we are in search of.’
‘If it turns out to be Manton, it will be stranger still,’ said Wal.
Meri agreed to take them ashore in his canoe, and to make room for them
ordered two of the men to jump out and swim back to land.
Wal Jessop asked if there were sharks about, for he saw the natives
were frightened, but dared not disobey the chief.
Meri laughed, showing his even teeth, and hinted that it would be good
sport to see a shark or two hunt the natives.
‘Pleasant sort of man to work for,’ said Edgar, when Wal had explained.
The canoe shot away from the side of the schooner. Wal and Edgar had
their rifles with them and also a number of beads, trinkets, and pieces
of bright-coloured cloths, with which to propitiate the natives.
As they neared the shore one of the natives who was swimming dived, and
before he came to the surface the water was dyed with blood.
‘Laumasan! [good],’ chuckled Meri.
The native came to the surface, and they saw he had dived and stabbed a
shark that had been in pursuit.
‘That was cleverly done,’ said Wal.
‘They must have some pluck,’ said Edgar.
‘Good fighters, many of them,’ said Wal. ‘We must try and get them to
give us an exhibition of spear-throwing and stone-slinging. It will
interest you.’
They got out of the canoes and waded through the surf to the beach.
Here a number of natives, men and women, were gathered. The women were
fairly well covered with long girdles reaching below the knee. These
girdles were made of rolled dried fibre of the banana stalk, which was
soft to touch and very like hemp. They also wore a few ornaments, and
their hair was shorter than the men’s, standing erect in a forest of
little curls about an inch long.
The chief conducted them to his hut, which was rudely constructed, but
large enough to hold half a dozen persons comfortably. This hut was
built amongst the trees, and there were huts of a smaller size for
about eight or ten families.
The chief gave them to understand that they must join them at the
marum, or place of public meeting.
This meeting was held under a banyan tree in a large clear space. All
the men assembled here at sundown for their evening meal.
A bowl of kava was prepared by chewing the root and ejecting the
contents of the mouth into a bowl, which was filled up with water,
then mixed and strained. In addition to the kava, there were raw yams
served, and cooked food consisting of figs and fowls. The women had
their meal apart from the men.
Meri repeated a short prayer before the meal, wishing them success in
their crops and in the battles in which they were often engaged.
Edgar, having seen the kava prepared, did not relish tasting it, but at
a sign from Wal Jessop, he took the bowl and sipped a little.
‘They would have been greatly offended had you refused it,’ Wal
explained.
After the meal, which, with the exception of the kava, Edgar relished,
the men made speeches and danced, flourishing their clubs. It amused
Edgar to watch the children, of whom the men seemed very fond. The
copper-skinned little ones imitated their elders with precocious
dexterity.
It was a curious sight to see these natives holding a marum under the
huge banyan tree, and as the shades of night quickly fell their figures
loomed in the light with a peculiarly weird effect as they danced and
chanted their monotonous song.
Meri sat between Wal Jessop and Edgar, and as the dance proceeded, he
caught them one by each arm and nodded across the opening. Edgar and
Wal looked in the direction Meri indicated, and saw a strange figure
standing looking at the scene.
Edgar sprang to his feet and shouted:
‘The captain or his ghost!’
‘The very image of him,’ said Wal.
The stranger had, however, noted their movements, and, suddenly
turning, darted back into the shadow of the trees.