ON ALOFI ISLAND
A little before dawn broke, Tom was awakened from a heavy slumber by
Maori Bill, and, sitting up, he saw that the boat was within a cable
length of densely verdured Alofi, which, unlike its sister island of
Fotuna, has no protecting barrier reef along its shore.
'There's a little bit of creek just here, where we can fill our water
breakers,' said the Maori, 'but I can't see it just yet. It will be a
fine place for us to lie by in until to-night, and then slip out again.'
Taking down the sail, they waited until the light became stronger, and
then a little further to the southward they saw a break in the thick
foliage which grew to the water's edge.
Charlie, whose arm was not yet strong enough to use an oar in pulling,
now came aft and steered, and Tom and Bill went to the oars. It was
fortunately high water, and they were enabled to bring the boat not only
into the mouth of the creek, but some fifty yards higher up, where she
lay completely hidden from view under the thick and drooping foliage of
the trees, and in pure fresh water.
Just as the boat was made fast rain began to fall heavily, and Tom and
his friends found excellent shelter between the buttresses of an
enormous fallen _maso'i_ tree, where they ate their breakfast in comfort
and watched the descending torrents with complacency.
Maori Bill, as he filled his pipe, seemed well pleased. The place to
which he had brought them was well known to him, though many years had
passed since he had last seen it. The island of Alofi, he told his
companions, had but one small village of half a dozen houses, situated
on the northern point, where there were extensive plantations of yams,
taro, sugar-cane, and bananas owned by the people of Fotuna. The rest
of the island, though of extraordinary fertility, was left to solitude,
except when a party of young men would visit it on a pig-hunting or
pigeon-snaring expedition.
'Then there's no fear of any natives being about now,' said Tom.
'No; but we must not make a fire. The smoke might be seen by some one.
We can lie by here nice and comfortable all day, whether it rains or
clears up,' answered the Maori.
As he spoke a grunt sounded near him, and in an instant he lay flat upon
the leaves, motioning to Tom and Charlie to do likewise.
'It's a pig,' he whispered, taking his knife out of its sheath.
The grunt was followed by squeaks, and presently a sow, followed by a
litter of seven pretty black and yellow striped piglets, came down the
side of the leaf-strewn hill, tossing up the leaves with their little
snouts in search of _maso'i_ berries.
'Let 'em get between us and the boat,' said Bill to Tom. 'I'll tackle
the old sow; perhaps you can knock over one or two of the young ones.'
Quite unsuspicious of danger, mother and children rooted their innocent
way along till they were well between the water and the fallen tree.
Then Bill leapt up and flung himself upon the sow, seized her by a hind
leg, and thrice quickly drove his knife into her ribs; the progeny, with
squeals of terror, scattered in all directions, some going up the
hill-side and others taking to the water like otters. Tom managed to
secure one, which promptly bit him savagely on the hand; and Maori Bill
jumped into the creek, and caught another, as it was swimming across.
'Don't kill them!' he cried; 'fresh pork for the boat.'
Tearing off some bark from a sapling, Bill lashed the animals' feet
securely together and carried them to the boat. They were both very
plump, and yelled and squealed and bit vigorously. The sow was at once
cut up by Tom, who was no novice at such work, for he had often lent a
hand in the killing yard on his father's station, and soon the quarters
were hung up to a branch.
After nine o'clock the rain ceased, the sun came out bright and warm,
and the trade wind blew fresh and clear, and brought with it the sweet
earthy smell from the rain-soaked forest around and above them. Flock
after flock of small but noisy green and gold and scarlet plumaged
parrakeets came screaming down from the mountain sides, and settled on
the bushes which overhung the creek, and every now and then, with heavy
flapping of wings and deep booming note, pigeons, singly and in pairs,
lit in the branches of the loftier trees, to feed on the scarlet berries
of the _maso'i_ and _se'ase'a_.
Satisfied from the absence of any paths along the mountain side that
they were not likely to be disturbed by native visitors, and that the
boat could not possibly be discerned from the sea, the three adventurers
hauled her alongside of a smooth, flat rock on the bank of the creek,
and unloaded her. Everything was spread out to dry, and Tom was
astonished at the number and variety of articles his companions had
managed to smuggle away from the Leonie.
Bill smiled grimly. 'That's the first time I've ever robbed any one--if
it is robbery. The steward helped me to get most of the provisions.'
'Robbery!' said Charlie, 'not a bit of it. There's a matter of about
three hundred dollars due me by Bully Hayes for wages, which I shall
never see.'
'And I was to get a hundred from him with my discharge from Samoa,' said
Bill, 'so that's four hundred dollars he'll be to windward.'
'Let us reckon up the value of all this gear, and see how we stand with
Bully,' said Charlie, with a grin. 'Mr. Wallis, you do the figgerin',
an' me an' Mr. Chester will do the valooin'. Now here goes; but as we
hasn't any pens an' paper these will do.'
He went down to the water's edge and returned with his cap full of small
smooth pebbles, which he handed to Tom. Then, seizing a flour-sack,
which was full of various articles, he turned them out on the rock.
Thirty-four tins of canned dog, called American meat. How much, Mr.
Chester?'
'Half a dollar a tin.'
'Half a dollar it is. Got that down, Mr. Wallis?'
'Yes,' said Tom, 'seventeen dollars;' and he counted out seventeen
pebbles.
'Six bottles of pickles, two bottles of chutney, and two bottles of
green things like plums, one bag of oatmeal, and a tin box of raisins.
How much for that lot?'
Bill was not sure. 'Say ten dollars.'
'Fourteen-pound box of "Two Seas" tobacco--Mr. Chester, you has a right
noble mind to think of it,--three hanks twine, palm and sail-needles,
one box fish-hooks, four pair dungaree pants, six dozen packets Swedish
stinker matches, lot o' clay pipes all broken, three clasp-knives, and
one tin o' mustard. How much?'
After a little discussion the lot was valued at forty dollars; and then
the contents of the next bag were turned out. They consisted of about
fifty pounds of biscuit, some tins of German sausage, a rug belonging to
Mr. Kelly, a bag of bullets, a fan-tail hatchet, a bundle of
fishing-lines, a burning-glass, a Dutch cheese in a tin, ten boxes of
percussion-caps, and one bottle of Edinburgh ale.
'Put them down at twenty dollars, Mr. Wallis.'
The next 'lot' was rolled up in the steward's own blankets, and
carefully seized round with spun yarn--three Snider carbines with three
hundred or four hundred cartridges, the steward's own razor, glass, and
comb, Tom's gun (that given him by the captain of the Virago at Noumea),
some more tins of powder, caps, a bag of No. 3 shot, a bottle of one
'Kennedy's Medical Discovery for the Cure of all Diseases,' a bag of
salt, a piece of New Zealand bacon, Mr. Harvey's revolver with case and
fittings, a roasted fowl, and a sextant-case without the sextant.
'About a hundred and fifty dollars will square that lot,' said Maori
Bill, thoughtfully.
In addition to these items, the steward and Bill had casually picked up
some unconsidered trifles in the trade-room, such as bottles of brandy,
a dozen tins of sardines and salmon, a bundle of tomahawks, some loose
tobacco, and a German concertina, which were appraised at twenty dollars
by Bill, who seemed anxious to give every article its full value.
'Two hundred and fifty-seven dollars,' said Tom, counting his pebbles.
'Then there's the boat and all her gear complete--sails, oars, and
compass,' said Bill, virtuously. 'That's worth another hundred and
fifty.'
Charlie grinned and shook his head. 'Don't count that in--the Leonie
herself wasn't bought by Hayes; he _found_ her. Found her in the Bonin
Islands, when her captain and most of the afterguard was ashore drunk at
a Portugee dance; and so, as he hadn't a ship himself, and was shocked
at seeing such a fine brig being left in charge of a few Manila men
sailors, he went aboard with a few of his friends--I was one of 'em--and
lifted the anchor and went to sea to look for the owners. But he
couldn't find the owners, though I've heard him say that he's just
wearing out his life trying to find 'em, and has to go into
nigger-catching to pay his expenses. No, you needn't set the boat down.
Now, there we are; two hundred and fifty-seven dollars from four
hundred.'
'Leaves a hundred and forty-three,' said Tom.
'That Bully Hayes owes us. Well, he owes a lot more to other people, so
we'll forgive him our little bill,' said Charlie, as he began laying the
various articles out separately on the rock, so as to dry in the
sunshine.
Tom looked at the man in silence. He was tall and thin, with red hair,
deep-set eyes, a square, determined chin, and a set mouth scarcely
veiled by a straggling moustache and ragged beard of the same hue as his
hair. His face, on the whole, Tom thought, was not a taking one; but
his voice was pleasant, though a cynical and reckless humour was ever
noticeable in his speech. Suddenly he turned and caught Tom's eye, and
his cheeks flushed. He stood up stiffly and put his hand in his trouser
pocket.
'Look here, Mr. Wallis! Don't you think I run away from Bully Hayes and
the Leonie for the sake of these'--he held out the ten sovereigns which
Tom had given him the previous night, and then let them fall carelessly
upon the rock. 'I came with you and this man here because I was sick of
the life I've led with Hayes for the past four years. Mind you, I'm not
saying anything against the man; I like him. He did me a good turn when
I was lying in gaol in Cape Town, and was as good as booked for ten
years for smashing a man's----'
Bill strode forward and placed his brown hand over the sailor's mouth.
'Shut up, Charlie, shut up, I tell you!' he said in a savage whisper;
'what does this boy want to hear 'bout the doings of men like you an'
me? It won't do him no good, I tell you; an' I won't have it. I'm no
better than you, Charlie. I've been in goal for killing a man I didn't
mean to kill, and I've suffered for it too. Don't let us talk 'bout
such things--for the boy's sake.'
The white sailor immediately collapsed. 'Of course I won't. I'm not
the man to shove my opinions on nobody, but Bully Hayes is not a bad
sort.'
'He's not--with his mauleys. But he's not a better man with them than I
am with mine, Charlie. If you don't believe me, wait till we get to
Fiji, and I'll thump you and any other three men, one after another, in
the yard at Manton's Hotel--for nothing.'
'Thank you, mister; you have a noble mind for trifles, as I said just
now. But I take it for granted, and I'm sorry I spoke as I did before
the boy. Now what about filling these water-breakers?'
The Maori put both his huge hands on the sailor's shoulders, and with a
good-humoured smile forced him down upon the rock in a sitting posture.
'You sit down there and let me do that. You mus' look out that you
don't hurt your arm. We may have to pull a lot between here and Fiji.
And while I am filling the water-breakers you can fix up some
fishing-lines. We can catch some fish here before we leave, and after
we have stowed the boat again I'll get a hundred or so of young drinking
coco-nuts.'
The remainder of the morning passed away pleasantly enough. Tom and
Charlie, baiting their hooks with large fresh-water prawns, which were
very plentiful in the creek, threw their lines out in the shallow water
at its mouth, and soon caught some purple-scaled fish called by the
natives _afulu_, and resembling English barbel in shape and size.
Meanwhile Maori Bill, after placing everything back in the boat, and
filling the water-breakers, had walked along a narrow beach to where a
grove of coco-nuts displayed their tempting fruit in great clusters. He
ascended two or three trees, threw down a score or so of the young nuts
from each, tied them together by tearing out a piece of each husk with
his sharp teeth, and returned to the camp just as Tom and Charlie
appeared with a string of fish and a huge soft-shell crab, which they
had found lying in a weedy pool.
Bill's eyes glistened at the sight of the crab. 'That's a beauty! Let
me feel him. He weighs ten pound. What a pity we can't light a fire
and cook him! But, never mind, we'll cut him athwart-ships and rub some
salt into him when we do the pig. The fish we can dry in the boat. Now
what about some dinner?'
With a tin of what Charlie termed 'canned dog,' but what was really
excellent American beef, half a dozen biscuits, and some deliciously
sweet young coco-nuts, the three made a hearty meal. Then the two men
filled their pipes and discussed their coming voyage while roughly
salting the pig.
'I couldn't get a chart of Fiji,' said Bill, 'as Bully had locked his
door when he went ashore. But it doesn't matter a bit. We have only to
steer a course between S. and S.S.W. to hit the north end of Fiji. If
we can strike the Nanuku Passage, I'll know my way right down to Levuka.
They're a bad lot of natives in the northern part; but even if we have
to land there, we'll get along all right without fighting, as I talk
Fiji well. I had a Fiji girl for wife once; she came from just that
part--from a little island called Thikombia.'
Just as they had finished salting the pork, and were about to stow the
boat again, Charlie, looking up at the tree tops, remarked that the wind
seemed to have fallen very light 'all of a sudden.'
Bill was on the alert at once. 'I'll have a look outside;' and he
walked down to the mouth of the creek, from where he could have a good
view of the sky and the sea horizon as well. He came back at a run.
'There's going to be a blow--a big blow from the eastward. Like as not
it'll last for five days; three days for certain, anyway. We'll have to
snug down here until it's over. Let's get the boat up as far as we can;
there'll be a thundering big sea rolling right into the creek before
night. Heavy rain is coming too, and we'll have to house in and weather
it out.'
His suggestions were carried out as quickly as possible. Everything
movable was first taken out of the boat, which was hauled still further
up the little creek, and the stores were carried up to the fallen tree,
and placed under its buttress, on the dry leaves which covered the
ground. Then, leaving Charlie at the camp, Tom and Bill set off in
search of fallen coco-nut branches to make a roofing. In an hour they
had collected enough, and Bill at once set to work to make thatching,
which he did with such speed and cleverness that Tom was lost in
admiration at his resourcefulness. By four o'clock in the afternoon they
had made the buttress of the fallen _maso'i_ into a perfectly rainproof
house, open to the westward, and protected at the back from the coming
gale by the mighty trunk of the tree itself.
By this time the atmosphere had become intensely close and oppressive,
and every now and then a warm gust of wind would sway the branches
overhead. The calls of the forest birds had ceased, but vast numbers of
ocean birds came flying in from seaward, filling the air with their
hoarse, screaming notes.
'It's coming presently,' said Bill to Tom; 'don't you hear the sea
making a booming noise? It always does in these places when it is
coming on to blow from the eastward. When the natives of the Tokelau[#]
Islands hear the sea make that sound, they know it means heavy weather
from the eastward or the northward, and always haul up their canoes and
secure their houses from the _matagi afa_,[#] as they call it.'
[#] The Union, Ellice, and Gilbert Islands are now generally termed
Tokelau by the inhabitants of the eastern islands of Polynesia.
Formerly, however, only the low-lying islands of the Union Group were
meant by the term.
[#] Hurricane.
Before Tom could answer there came a droning, humming sound from the
sea, and then a wild and deafening clamour, as the first squall of the
coming hurricane smote the island, and ripped and tore its way through
the forest.
'That's the first lot,' shouted Bill in Tom's ear; 'now we'll get some
rain, and after that another squall or two and more rain, and then it'll
settle down to business properly, and blow like forty thousand cats
yowling at once. I'm glad we put in here.'
It certainly did settle down to business properly, for before another
hour had passed the wind was blowing with almost hurricane force, and
the sea was a succession of seething, foaming billows, which, dashing
furiously against the eastern shore of the island, sent their spume and
spray in a continuous misty shower, high up among the swaying and
crashing branches of the trees half a mile inland.
Sitting under the shelter of the great tree, Tom and his comrades
listened to the howling of the storm with feelings of the utmost
serenity, for they were completely protected from its force.
'Let us light a fire,' said Bill, picking up a tomahawk; 'the smoke of
fifty fires wouldn't be noticed now, and we can cook the pork and fish.'
The dead tree itself furnished plenty of firewood, and presently Bill
and Tom had cut quite a pile; then the former went to the shore with a
bag, and returned with it half filled with large, rough stones.
'I'll show you how we cook in the South Seas, Mr. Wallis,' he said, as
he turned out the stones and began to dig out a shallow hole in the soft
soil just in front of their shelter. This done, he lit a fire in the
centre of the hole, laid a lot of thick pieces of wood across, and then
piled the stones on top.
Then as the fire blazed up and began to heat the stones, he and Charlie
took the four quarters of pork, cut them up into smaller pieces, wrapped
each portion in wide green leaves and placed them aside; the fish were
simply disembowelled without being scaled, and then neatly parcelled
round with coconut leaf, the crab being treated in the same manner. In
the course of an hour the stones, at white heat, fell into the
depression, and were spread out evenly by means of a stick, the pork and
fish placed on them, and then the whole lot quickly covered up by layers
of thick heavy leaves, on top of which again was placed a covering of
loose soil.
Whilst waiting for the food to cook, Tom and the others made their way
through the forest to the nearest point overlooking the sea. The sky
was grey and sullen, and the sea, a mile or so out, presented an
appalling aspect; immediately under the lee of the island it was not so
bad, though every now and then great billows would come rolling in to
the very mouth of the creek, as Bill had foretold. Fotuna Island,
although the nearest point, and but eight miles distant, was quite
obscured from view, for, in addition to the salty spume which filled the
air, there was a sharp, driving rain.
'Bill,' said Tom, 'where should we be now if we had kept on in the
boat?'
Bill shook his head. 'We could only have done two things--either let
her run before it, and most likely broach to and capsize, or put out a
sea-anchor and tried to ride it out that way; but whatever we did we
would have been carried away to the westward, and there's no land that
way, except the New Hebrides--a matter of more than a thousand miles. I
can tell you, sir, that it's lucky for us we left the Leonie without any
water. If we had had water in the boat, I should have kept on.'
Returning to the camp before darkness set in, the oven was opened, and
the three made another hearty meal by the light of a blazing fire. The
two piglets were partially freed by being tethered with a bit of spun
yarn to a hind leg. The boat was seen to, and then, spreading out the
sail on the ground inside the hut, Tom and his comrades lay down and
slept, undisturbed by the clamour of the sea and the moaning of the
wind.