FAREWELL TO ARRECIFOS.
Barradas and Mrs. Tracey met him as soon as he stepped on the deck,
which was covered with loose sticks of tobacco, ship biscuit, bags of
rice, etc.--the present intended for the relatives of the dead
men--which were being passed over the side into the other boat, where
the eager, excited Tebuan people received every article with shouts of
approval.
"Why, you have got along splendidly," he said, with a smile to Mrs.
Tracey, whose dainty little hands were stained and discoloured with
counting out tobacco, and whose perfect oval face was flushed with her
exertions, as, sitting down on deck and leaning against Paní, she held
her hands up before him with a laugh.
"Indeed we have! Mr. Barradas opened the tierce of tobacco, and Paní
and Toea and I dug out the nasty sticky layers with sheath knives. I
_think_ we counted out three thousand sticks; but we got a little bit
confused, so perhaps there are rather more."
A smile--the first that they had ever seen on his face--lit up the
swarthy features of the Spanish mate. "I think there's nearer four
thousand than three, madam."
"Oh well, never mind, Mr. Barradas. We mustn't be _too_ particular,"
she said merrily, "but I _should_ like some hot water to clean my
hands. Please tell the steward. When is the wedding to be, Mr. Barry?
The bride that is to be is very nervous, and, in fact, says she'd
rather Velo married her in native fashion. But I'm not going to let
her disappoint me. Big Joe is to be _her_ best man, and the bridegroom
is to be 'supported' by Mosé the steward."
"I'll be ready in half an hour, Mrs. Tracey," replied Barry; "the
Church Service is in my pocket, as it is."
"Ah!" and her eyes filled. "How wrong and childish of me to forget!
You must forgive me; . . . but I am not myself. You have just come
from the presence of death, and my first words to you are a jest. Do
not be angry with me. I am not so heartless . . ."
A quick glance at her face showed Barry that she was on the verge of
hysteria. "Come, Mrs. Tracey, come below."
"Yes, take me below--quickly, please," and she rose tremblingly to her
feet. "I am very silly, am I not? I----"
The mate swept her up in his arms as if she were a baby and carried her
below.
"Poor little woman," he said pityingly to himself, as he laid her down
in her own berth; and then he added aloud, "You are overwrought and
done up, Mrs. Tracey. Rest awhile, and you will soon feel better."
"Yes," she answered, trying hard to control herself from giving way
altogether; "I shall be all right presently."
Motioning to the two native girls to attend her, he closed the cabin
door and went on deck and joined Barradas.
"Manuel," he said, addressing his subordinate for the first time by his
Christian name, whereat the Spaniard's cheeks flushed with pleasure,
"we shall have to hustle along and get things done if we are to get to
sea to-morrow. Poor Mrs. Tracey is not quite herself, as you can see,
and until she is a bit recovered I don't want to worry her about some
matters which must be attended to before we heave up. But meanwhile we
can get to work at other things. Rawlings and the Greek will have to
be confined in the sail-locker--there is nowhere else where we can put
them with any degree of comfort. So turn to some of the hands and get
it made as clean as possible. I am in hopes that we may meet a
man-of-war somewhere in the Solomons; if so I can get rid of them, for
a time at least."
Barradas made a gesture of assent, and at once set to work to fit up
the sail-locker for the reception of the two prisoners. In half an
hour his task was completed, and then Mrs. Tracey came on deck, dressed
in a flowing gown of white muslin, and accompanied by Toea and Paní.
"Here we are, Mr. Barradas," she said with a smile; "where is big Joe?
I must tell him what to do. And where is Mosé; and where is the
bridegroom himself?--ah! there he is, and quite nicely dressed, too.
Tell Mr. Barry we are quite ready, please.--Come here, Velo, and
promise me you will be good to my little Paní."
"I promise," said Velo gravely, taking the white woman's hand and
pressing it to his forehead.
Then Barry, calling all hands aft, made Paní and Velo stand side by
side on the after-deck as he read the marriage service, and the simple
ceremony was soon over.
"Ring the bell like blazes!" shouted Barradas as soon as the last words
of the service were uttered, and big Joe and a native sailor raced
together to ring the ship's for'ard bell; then the two six-pounders on
the main-deck were fired by Mosé, and the marriage ceremonies of Velo
and his pretty Paní were over.
"Now then, get ashore with your wife, Velo," said Barry laughingly to
the faithful Samoan; "perhaps Mrs. Tracey may come and see you and Paní
this evening."
"Of course I shall, Velo," said Mrs. Tracey, whose dark eyes were
dancing with pleasure; "Toea and I mean to sleep ashore to-night with
the Tebuan people, and come on board early in the morning. And I have
some presents for little Paní."
An hour before sunset the two boats and a fleet of canoes returned from
Tebuan with the pearl shell collected by Mrs. Tracey. It was hoisted
aboard in baskets of coconut leaf and stowed in the main hold, and then
the day's work, as far as the crew were concerned, was over.
Before supper, Barradas, Mrs. Tracey, and Barry sat together in the
main cabin and examined the pearls--those which she had herself brought
on board and those taken from Rawlings' cabin. Then it was that Barry
showed Mrs. Tracey the seven largest pearls yet obtained.
"I kept these, Mrs. Tracey, to give to you personally," he said simply;
"I did not want Rawlings or the Greek to touch them. I wanted to give
them to you unsullied by the touch of their hands."
"How kind you are!" she murmured softly as, bending her head, she moved
the beautiful gems to and fro under her hands upon the scarlet
tablecloth, then raising her dark hazel eyes to Barry she dropped them
suddenly with a blush, for both men were regarding her with undisguised
admiration.
After supper she and Toea were taken on shore, and at once went to
Velo's house (which was that formerly occupied by Barry). The Samoan
and his wife received them with delight, and in a few minutes the house
was filled with native women and girls who came to see the box of
presents brought for Paní. Then, surrounded by the women, Mrs. Tracey
went away to sleep for the last time in the house occupied by old Roku
and Gurden's connections--the people who had been so kind to her during
those first long, weary months on Tebuan.
At six o'clock in the morning Barry came ashore in the whaleboat,
followed by the dinghy, which was to convey the prisoners on board.
They were at once handed over by their native guards to Joe and his
boat's crew, who assisted them down to the dinghy, and then pulled off
to the ship.
Barradas received them at the gangway, and, taking no heed of the
murderous looks and savage curses of the Greek, saw that they were
placed in the deck-house and a sentry put over them. Their leg-irons,
he told them, Barry intended to remove once the brig was clear of the
land. Rawlings made no reply, but the Greek broke out afresh with a
torrent of curses, and suddenly raising his manacled hands he brought
them down upon the Spaniard's cheek and cut it to the bone. In another
moment Joe would have felled the brute, ironed as he was, to the deck,
but Barradas sternly struck aside his arm, and without a word of anger
calmly went below and got the steward to stitch together the gaping
wound.
On shore the people of Tebuan were clustering around the white woman
and Barry as they stood together beside the flag-pole from which the
red ensign of England streamed out to the lusty trade wind.
Velo, ever faithful Velo, wrung Barry's hand again and again, for proud
as he was of being placed in charge of the island, his distress at
parting from him was very great.
"There, good-bye once more, Velo. Don't work too hard, and, if a
man-of-war comes, be sure you go on board and give the captain that
letter. Come, Mrs. Tracey, we must be going. See, Barradas is already
hove short, and waiting for us."
Helping Mrs. Tracey into the whaleboat, Barry followed, and grasped the
long steer-oar.
"Give it to her, men, there's the brig breaking her heart to get away."
The light boat shot out like an arrow, and was soon alongside, and Mrs.
Tracey was met at the gangway by Joe and another white seaman, both
dressed in new duck suits given them by Barradas.
But instead of going into the cabin Mrs. Tracey waited at the gangway
for Barry.
"I want to welcome the new captain of my ship," she said with a smile,
as she held out her hand to him.
"Thank you, madam," and Barry raised his hat to her in such a formal
manner that she laughed again, and asked him if he was afraid of the
brig's owner, and Joe winked atrociously at Sam Button, and said in a
loud whisper--
"He's a lucky cove, e' is, Sam. W'y 'e can marry the howner for the
arskin'. I can see it in 'er eye, stickin' out a foot."
"Man the windlass again, Mr. Barradas," and Barry with a happy smile
sprang on the poop, and himself took the wheel.
"Aye, aye, _Captain_ Barry."
Up came the anchor from the coral bed in which it had lain for so many
months, and ten minutes later the _Mahina_ was slipping through the
smooth water of the lagoon towards the passage. Another hour, with
every stitch of her white cotton canvas shining bright in the glorious
noonday sun, she was dashing over the long mountain swell of the North
Pacific, and heading south before the brave north-east trade wind.
At noon the watches were picked, and then the captain ordered the
Solomon Islanders to be brought on deck. They came up one by one with
the expectation of being at once shot. Togaro, the leader, who
understood and spoke a little English, glared resentfully at Barry when
the latter ordered him to step out from the rest and listen to what he
had to say.
"Togaro," said the captain, "I don't want to keep all your fellows down
there in the hold, and no harm will be done to any of you if you obey
orders. If you do as I tell you, then I will put you all ashore at
Bouka in about two or three weeks from now. Now this is what you must
do: eight of you can stay on deck at a time to help the sailors; the
other eight must stay below. If any one of them tries to come on deck
without permission he will be shot. Do you understand?"
The savage nodded.
"And as you are the boss, you will be shot too. Do you understand
that?"
"Me savee, cap'en," replied Togaro, turning to his companions and
translating Barry's speech. They grinned approval, and each one
promised to faithfully obey the captain's orders, and as a proof of
their honesty one of them descended into the hold and reappeared with
three or four tomahawks and some knives which they had concealed among
the cases of shell.
"That's all right, Togaro," said Barry as the weapons were passed over
to Joe; "if you and your people are good fellows, you shall have these
tomahawks and knives back again when we get to Bouka. And if you work
well you'll get plenty of _kai kai_; if you don't, you'll feel hungry
all the time. Steward, serve them out pipes and tobacco and tell the
cook to give them a good square feed right away--the poor devils must
be pretty hungry by this time."
* * * * * *
"Captain Barry," said Mrs. Tracey to him as he rejoined her on the
after-deck, "you ought to be an admiral. How easily you did it all!
Look now! There are those dreadful savages sitting down as quietly as
if there had never been any trouble with them. I won't have the
slightest fear of them in the future."
"I don't think there will be any danger to be apprehended from them
now. Togaro, the leader, and myself had a little difference once----"
"I know. Velo has told me all about it----"
"And he'll be careful in the future. He's a thundering savage though,
and I've no doubt but that he murdered poor Harry. However, bygones
must be bygones now. We want no more bloodshed."
"No indeed," she said with a shudder, "but what has occurred was no
fault of yours. You are, I am sure," she added impulsively, placing
her hand on his arm, "a merciful man, as well as a brave one. Your
wife that is to be will be a happy woman, Mr. Barry."
* * * * * *
For thirteen days the little _Mahina_ ran southward under cloudless
skies and over softly swelling seas till Bouka was sighted, and Togaro
and his men prepared to be landed in a little bay fringed with
coco-palms growing around a half-circle of snowy beach. They had all
behaved well, and each man, ere he got into the boat which was to take
them ashore, insisted on shaking hands with Barry and every one else on
board. They were landed at sundown, and by dark the _Mahina_ was again
slipping over the long Pacific swell with the light of myriad stars
illumining her snowy canvas and shining upon her spotless deck.