"ALLA GOODA COMRADE."
Just before breakfast on the following morning, and when a thick tropic
mist lay low and heavy upon the waters of the lagoon, Barradas, who was
walking the poop, heard the sound of oars, and called the captain.
Rawlings came up from below just as the boat came alongside, and Barry
jumped on deck.
"Well, Mr. Barry?" he said pleasantly. "You are back sooner than I
expected. What news?"
"Bad, sir, yet not so bad as it might have been. We were attacked by
the natives, who seem to be well armed, for they kept up a constant
fire on the boat till we were out of range. She was struck in a dozen
places, but fortunately none of us were hit."
"Curse them!" said Rawlings, with a savage oath; "are they going to
stop us from diving?"
"Oh no, I don't think they will trouble us in that way. If they do we
can easily beat them off. But there's not much chance of their letting
us land on the big island and making that our headquarters."
"Then what shall we do?" asked Rawlings, chewing his cigar, and angrily
pacing the deck.
"Stay where we are and work the lagoon from this end," replied the
mate; "we have three months' work here, within as many miles of us, and
I believe we can fill the ship about here, without going near the lee
side of the lagoon. Yesterday afternoon we could see the shell lying
on the bottom anywhere in from four to six fathoms." (This part of
Barry's story was quite true.) "And," he added, "that low, sandy
island astern of us will do splendidly for a rotting-out station. Our
boys will soon put up some coconut leaf houses. It's handy too--almost
within hailing distance."
Rawlings' equanimity was at once restored. "Ah, that is good news
about the shell anyway. Ready for breakfast, Mr. Barry?"
During breakfast Barry, with a secret delight at the fiction, gave
Rawlings, Barradas, and the Greek an account of the manner in which he
and his men were attacked. The Greek, who had been examining the boat,
and who would have the job of repairing the damage done by the bullets
of the savages (fired at the boat when she was empty by Joe and Velo),
suggested to Rawlings that later on the whole crew should make a night
attack on the native village, and, as he expressed it, "wipa outa the
whole lota of the ---- niggers."
"What's the use of our doing that?" said Barradas gloomily; "as long as
they don't interfere with us again, we might as well leave them alone."
The Greek snapped his jaws together like a shark, and then grinned.
"I tella you the God's trutha. I would as soona shoota a kanaka as I
would shoota a rat."
"So would I, mister," broke in Warner; "and if the skipper gives the
word, I guess these niggers of mine can jest wipe out the whole
hell-fired lot of crawlers that beat you off. Give my crowd fifteen
Sniders and a hundred rounds each and you see and smell more dead and
stinkin' kanakas lyin' around on these here beaches in forty-eight
hours than you ever saw in your life. I'm right in for this sort of
work."
Barry looked at him, trying to veil his contempt and disgust for the
ruffian under the guise of indifference.
"There'll be no need, I think, Captain Rawlings, for you to employ Mr.
Warner's fifteen----"
"Sixteen there would be, mister, if you hadn't booted my best man and
broke his ribs when he was sitting down peaceable and filling my pipe."
Barry put the curb upon his rising temper, and ignoring Warner's remark
was again addressing himself to the captain, when the Greek again
interfered.
"By Goda! what Mr. Warn' say quita true. I agree wis him; I say that
if any dam kanaka interfera with your business the besta thing to do is
to puta the bullet into him."
"Then you had better keep that to yourself," said Barry pointedly; "if
these kanaka sailors of ours heard you say that, they would turn rusty
on us, and cause a lot of trouble."
"Quite true, Mr. Barry," said Rawlings suavely; "but Paul doesn't mean
altogether what he says."
The Greek was about to make an angry protest when he met a glance from
the captain's eye--vicious, angry, and warning.
But Barry was making his points, and was keenly observant. "I may as
well tell you all," he said with apparent bluntness, looking at each of
the four in turn, "that if I am to have these men turned over to me,
when we begin diving, that I won't have any interference. If you,
bos'un, and you, Barradas, begin to knock them about when I'm boss of
them--as you have done hitherto--they'll bolt, every man jack of them.
And besides that _I_ won't have it."
"I'll see that you have no interference, Mr. Barry," said Rawlings
quickly; "and I'm sure that Mr. Barradas and Paul will bear in mind
what you say."
"I won't meddle with the men under your charge, Mr. Barry," said
Barradas. "I know my duty, and don't want to be told about it." He
spoke sullenly, but more at the captain than to Barry.
"Of coursa nota," broke in the Greek with an amiable smile--"of coursa
we will nota meddle with the men; we are alla gooda comrade, thanka the
gooda Goda."
For a moment or two a wild desire to seize the treacherous scoundrel by
the throat possessed Barry, but fearful of betraying himself he rose
and went on deck.
In the afternoon the brig was brought in close under the islet, sails
unbent, and some of the deserted houses occupied by the native divers.
At Barry's request Joe was appointed overseer, and was to live on shore
with them. The islet itself was not more than two miles in length, and
was connected with the next one by a reef which was dry at low water;
and in fact the whole chain of the thirteen islands were joined to each
other except where the deep-water passage into the lagoon broke the
continuity. It was therefore possible, at low water, to walk from the
south-east islet, which the natives called Ujilong, to the big island
visited the previous day by Barry, and which, so Mrs. Tracey told him,
was named Tebuan. The intervening islands were, like Ujilong,
uninhabited, though on all of them houses were standing--they had all
been deserted after the raid made on Ujilong village, and the
inhabitants had fled to the security afforded them by the dense jungle
on Tebuan.
Warner and his savage followers, much to the satisfaction of the chief
mate and the rest of the crew, were not to take part in the work. In
the first place none of them were able to dive; in the second there was
still a smouldering animosity between them and the native crew, and
only Barry's strong influence prevented them from settling old scores
by a sudden attack upon the _kai-tagata_, (man-eaters), as they termed
the Solomon Islanders.
Within an hour's distance from the north end of the south-east islet
was another of larger dimensions, upon which Warner's natives took up
their quarters, their amiable master remaining on board the _Mahina_,
ostensibly to assist Rawlings but really to keep himself comfortably
drunk and enjoy the society of the Greek, who was a man after his own
heart, and, like himself, capable of any unheard-of atrocity.
Work was begun on the following morning by Barry with the two boats,
each carrying a crew of six men, all eager for the enterprise, and
rejoicing in being under the command of the one white man on board for
whom they felt a respectful attachment and admiration.
Before sunset, so plentiful was the pearl shell, and so easily
obtainable--for the depth of water ran but from four to six
fathoms--that more than half a ton was brought on board and placed on
the main deck ready for Rawlings and Barradas in the morning.
Day after day the work continued, the native divers exerting themselves
to the utmost to obtain as much shell as possible, while Rawlings, the
second mate, and the boatswain, opened it, searched every bivalve for
pearls, and then after it was "rotted out" packed the shell into boxes
and stowed it into the hold.
At the end of the first week six tons were in the hold of the _Mahina_;
and although no pearls of any great size had been found, many
thousands, ranging in value from 10 pounds downwards, and a vast number
of "seed" pearls as well, were shown to Barry by Rawlings as the result
of the week's work.
"Of course, Barry," said Rawlings genially, "I intend, as I said
before, to let you stand in with me. I quite recognise that you are
something more to me than a mere chief officer at 15 pounds a month.
You are doing all the hard work and are entitled to share in my good
luck."
"And I, as I have told you, Captain Rawlings, do not want anything more
than that to which I am entitled," replied Barry quietly; "I am
anxious--most anxious--to see the _Mahina_ with a full cargo under her
hatches."
"And that will be accomplished within four months, at the rate we are
going on at now," said Rawlings, with his usual sweet smile; "the men
seem to be working uncommonly well under your supervision."
"They _are_ working very hard indeed. And I think I can get them to
continue at it until the brig is filled. But now and then we must give
them a few days' liberty."
"Certainly, Mr. Barry," replied the captain affably. And then
motioning his chief officer to a seat, and calling the steward to bring
the spirit stand, he offered his cigar case to his officer.
"Let us take a quiet little drink and a smoke, Mr. Barry. Now, tell
me; what do you think the past week's work amounts to? You are an
experienced man in the pearling business; I know nothing about the
matter practically."
"I think that the shell we have obtained so far will bring over a
thousand to fifteen hundred pounds in Singapore or Hongkong. And the
pearls you have shown me will certainly bring another thousand--in
London you would get fifteen hundred for them."
Rawlings' eyes sparkled. "Then in fact, as we are going on now, we are
getting shell and pearls to the value of, say, 2,000 pounds a week at
least?"
"Yes, about that," answered Barry carelessly; "but I daresay that when
we get on to the big six fathom bed in the middle of the lagoon--which
I am leaving until we have worked out those near by--that we can count
on getting about three thousand pounds' worth of shell and pearls every
week for three or four or five months at the very least. I have never
seen such rich patches in all my experience; and I shall not be
surprised if we get some very fine pearls. For instance, I can point
you out two or three shells now in the boats, all of which, I think by
their appearance, will contain big pearls." Stepping to the rail, he
called out to Velo--
"Pass up those three big shells, Velo."
Barradas, Warner, and the Greek joined them, and watched the shells
being opened. The first contained two very large pearls, but their
value was greatly discounted by their irregular shape, but even these
were worth 30 pounds or 35 pounds each; the remaining two were then
opened, and an eager "Ah--ah!" of delight burst from Rawlings when
there was revealed in each a pearl of exquisite beauty and shape, and
of great size.
"In Tahiti a local buyer would offer you a hundred pounds each for
pearls such as these," said Barry, as after wiping them with his
handkerchief he handed them over to the captain; "in Auckland or
Singapore you would be offered more." Then, apparently no further
interested in the subject, he went to his cabin to change his clothes
for supper.
On the following Saturday--ten days after diving operations had
commenced--the men, at Barry's request, were given three full days'
liberty. Some of them wanted to make a fishing excursion, others to
hunt for robber crabs at night-time on the adjoining islets, others to
attend to the _puraka_[1] plantations of the deserted village. And as
Barry himself thought, he said, that he might shoot a wild pig or two,
he decided to remain on shore until the following Monday with the men.
Rawlings, whose whole soul was in the work of searching for the pearls,
did not offer to accompany him, much to Barry's satisfaction, for he
had a certain object in view. He had himself taken possession of the
best of the native houses in the deserted village, and Joe and Velo had
put it in good order, and were to share it with him at night.
At sunset Barry and his men left the brig and rowed ashore, and as soon
as they landed, the natives, at a word from Velo, lopped off the
lateral branches of a tall pandanus palm, and collecting numbers of
fallen and dried coco-palm branches built them into a pyramidal shape
from the foot of the tree to its top.
"Light it," said Barry.
Velo struck a match, and applied it to the base of the pyramid. In an
instant it flared up, and in a few minutes a great pillar of fire was
roaring and crackling, sending showers of sparks high in air, and
lighting up the shore and lagoon for a mile around.
Rawlings and the others, who were examining pearls under cover of the
poop awning, by the aid of half a dozen lanterns, took but little
notice.
"They mean to enjoy themselves to-night," said Rawlings. "Well, they
deserve to, they are working well."
"Yes, sir," said the native steward respectfully, as he placed a bottle
of brandy and glasses on the skylight; "those men they tell me to-day
that they would make a big fire to-night, because they have liberty.
That is native fashion, sir."
"Ah, I see," said Rawlings carelessly, dropping another pearl into a
cigar-box which was placed between himself and the others.
* * * * * *
As soon as the fire had burnt out, and only the faintly glowing bole of
the pandanus palm remained, Barry, accompanied by Velo and Joe, set out
along the beach towards the chain of islets trending north and
westward. Both Velo and Joe carried bundles on their shoulders, in
addition to their rifles and ammunition, and as they walked they talked
freely with their officer.
"You are sure that Mrs. Tracey would see that ere fire, sir?" inquired
Joe.
"Certain, Joe. The reflection could be seen forty miles away, and
Tebuan is only twenty. The island at which we are to meet is only
fifteen miles from here along the beach and reefs, and if she started
as soon as we did, we should meet her there long before midnight."
The seaman chuckled. "The poor lady will be mighty pleased to see us
again, sir, won't she? I do 'ope, sir, as how it won't be long before
we settles up with them bloody-minded pirates."
"Not until the brig is full of pearl shell, Joe. Then we shall
act--swiftly and suddenly. You have been careful not to let your three
mates know anything, I hope."
"Not I, sir," answered the seaman earnestly; "not a word will I say
until you give me the word to do so. And they will stand to us, sir,
never fear, for they all likes you; and Sam Button and Sharkey want
very bad to be let come in the boats with us."
"We must be careful as yet, Joe," replied Barry. "I have no doubt that
Sam and Sharkey and Peter will help us when the time comes, but I don't
want to raise any suspicion. And we must keep this business dark from
them until the time does come for us to act."
"Aye, aye, sir," assented the sailor; "and even if they sided with the
skipper, we needn't have no cause to fear. The natives is with you to
a man, sir. I can see that easy enough--they just follows you with
their eyes like a dog does its master."
Barry nodded and smiled contentedly. The native crew were, he knew,
devoted to him, and could be relied on to preserve the secrecy so
essential to the fulfilment of the plans he had in view.
The tide was falling fast, and the connecting reef between the islands
was dry, so that Barry and his two companions had no trouble in
crossing from one to the other, carefully avoiding the islet on which
Warner's natives were living. For nearly three hours they marched on
in silence--sometimes along the hard, white sand of the inner lagoon
beaches, sometimes by narrow paths running parallel with the outer
iron-bound coast, where the slow, sweeping billows curled themselves,
to break with a sound like muffled thunder upon the black wall of reef
fringing the silent shore. At midnight they reached a little island of
not more than a mile in length and half a mile in width. In the clear
starlight night they saw the figures of six persons coming towards them
on the beach.
Barry struck a match, held it aloft for an instant, and then called
out--
"Are you there, Mrs. Tracey?"
"I am here, Mr. Barry," and followed by three stalwart men and the two
young women who had formerly accompanied her at their first meeting,
Mrs. Tracey, although still slightly lame, ran to him and shook his
hand warmly.
"We started immediately we saw your fire," she said, "but came across
the lagoon in canoes, instead of walking. Now come with me. There are
several empty houses here, just over the brow of the beach, and in one
of them there is a midnight supper for us all--crayfish, baked fish,
pork, and chickens, and young coconuts to drink."
The two native women leading the way, the whole party soon gained the
houses, which stood in a thick grove of giant jack-fruit trees. A
bright fire was blazing out in the open, and spread out on the matted
floor of the best of the houses was the midnight supper.
"We are quite safe here," said Mrs. Tracey as she bade Barry be seated;
"this fire cannot be seen from the ship, can it?"
"No," answered the mate; "and I took care to let Rawlings know that I
would let some of the men come down as far as the middle island to hunt
and fish, so even if he does see the fire he will conclude it has been
lit by them. Now tell me, are you well?"
"Well, indeed. And happier, far happier, than I have been for long,
long months. I was overjoyed to see your signal, and to know that all
was going well, and that I should see you to-night. Now let me bring
my native friends to shake hands with you; the two girls, Paní and
Toea, you have seen before; the men are my bodyguard."
"And a fine bodyguard they are," said Barry as he shook bands with the
three men, who then, with smiling and interested faces, sat down at the
farther end of the house with Velo, Joe, and the two women.
"I have brought you some things which will be useful. In one bundle
are provisions--all the best delicacies that the steward and I could
find, and tea, coffee, sugar, and condensed milk. And I did not even
forget a teapot."
"How kind of you!" she said. "The little provisions the captain of the
_Golden City_ gave me are quite exhausted. I am an Australian born and
can't exist without tea, so do let me make some tea now. There is a
native well here among the jack-fruit trees, with good water."
"The other bundle contains calicoes, prints, and all that sort of gear,
with two pairs of canvas shoes--the smallest I could get--you mustn't
cut your feet again, you know."
"How thoughtful you are!" she said, touching his hand gently; and then
she asked artlessly, "Are you married, Mr. Barry?"
"No; but I hope to be when we return to Sydney. I'll tell you the
story by and by, Mrs. Tracey, if you care to hear it."
"Of course I shall," she said brightly, "and I shall see her too,
shan't I?"
"I hope so," answered Barry, with a smile. "But we may have a long
spell here yet before we can settle up matters with Rawlings and the
others and get possession of the _Mahina_."
"I will wait patiently. Now let me see about the tea, and then we'll
have a long talk. You'll stay all night, won't you?"
"And all to-morrow as well. The men have three days' liberty, and
Rawlings thinks I am going pig-hunting to-morrow."
As they ate their supper Barry told her all that had happened since he
had seen her: of the richness of the pearl beds then being worked, and
of the suspicions of Joe and Velo that Rawlings and his fellow
conspirators intended some mischief against him. Then when he
mentioned Warner and described his appearance and Joe's recognition of
him, she started--
"Warner! His name is not Warner. He is Billy Chase, an American. I
know all about him, and that which Joe has told you is perfectly true.
He was brought to Sydney for trial in the _Alacrity_, surveying sloop,
about ten years ago, and I have often heard my husband speak of him as
one of the most blood-stained ruffians in the Pacific. We heard that
he had, through want of evidence against him, escaped hanging with a
sentence of seven years' imprisonment; and then about a year and a half
ago some one in Honolulu told us that a man supposed to be the infamous
Billy Chase had turned up in the Carolines with fifteen or twenty
'niggers'--as they call the Melanesian natives in these parts--and
settled down as a trader. It must be the same man, and no doubt he is
an old acquaintance of Rawlings'."
"No doubt whatever, Mrs. Tracey. No doubt but that the whole precious
quartette are steeped in villainies, and there is no doubt that they
have now reached the end of their tether, and that with God's help we
shall bring them to a reckoning. But we shall have to act with
caution, for this man Warner, or Chase, with his crew of bloodthirsty
savages will certainly fight for the cold-blooded villains who murdered
your husband and tried to murder you."
"I cannot say--I am not Christian enough to say--that vengeance is
God's. If the power of vengeance lay in my hand now I would use it,"
she said, excitedly.
Barry remained silent for awhile, until her emotion had subsided. Then
he said gravely--
"There is no fear of Rawlings coming to Tebuan. That idea of mine of
firing at our boat was a happy one, and although Joe here is the only
white sailor in the secret, the other three on board will stand to us
when the time arrives. As for the native crew, they have sworn to help
us, and when I am out with them in the boats they often laugh at the
way we are fooling the captain. I have promised them, on your behalf,
a hundred dollars each as a bonus, when we reach either Sydney or
Singapore."
"You think of everything, Mr. Barry," she said gratefully. "Now let me
tell you that I too have been working. Every day since I saw you the
Tebuan people have been diving for me, and I think we must have quite
two or three tons of shell. The pearls we have found I brought with me
to show you. There is a coconut-shell nearly half full--some are
simply lovely. . . . And, now I think of it, I won't show them to
you--I shall keep them for your future wife."
* * * * * *
That was indeed a happy night for Barry, Mrs. Tracey, and their native
friends. No one cared to sleep, for there was much to be talked of,
and plans arranged for future meetings. Once every week Mrs. Tracey
was to await Barry and Velo at the little island, and each were to
report progress.
Early in the morning Velo, Joe, and Barry set out on a pig hunt,
accompanied by the three male natives from Tebuan, leaving Mrs. Tracey
to "keep house," as she called it, on the little island, and look over
the treasures brought to her from the ship.
Late in the afternoon the hunters returned with their spoil--three
gaunt, fierce-looking wild pigs; and then after a meal had been cooked
and eaten, the white man and woman bade each other good-bye for another
week.
[1] A gigantic species of the tuber called "taro" by the Polynesians
(_Arum esculentum_).