REMINISCENCES
'A most fortunate coincidence, Grinson, that you happened to be tattooed
with the totem mark of these strange people,' said Trentham. 'But for
that we might all have gone into the pot in turn.'
The four men were seated in a hut placed at their disposal by the chief,
appeasing their famishment with a variety of more or less unfamiliar
foods.
'Ay, ay, sir!' returned the boatswain; 'though I never heard it called a
totem mark afore. True, my head was spinning like a teetotum when 'twas
done, and if I 'd been a teetotaller--upon my word, sir, 'tis the
remarkablest thing I ever heard on. Ephraim, me lad, you can bear me
out: wasn't that the only time you ever saw me squiffed?'
'Which time was that, Mr. Grinson?' asked Meek.
'Why, the time I had this 'ere teetotum mark pricked into my biceps.'
'I 'm bound to say as how that was one of the times you was a trifle
overcome, though nothing to what you might have been.'
'True, if I 'd been overripe they couldn't 'a done it, nor if I 'd had
nothing at all, which it shows the good o' moderation, gentlemen. I was
just comfortable; you know--when you 're pleased with everything and
everybody. 'Twas like this. I was never like most sailormen, as gets
tattooed their first voyage, and ever after has the sins o' their youth
staring 'em in the face--like Ephraim, poor lad.'
Meek looked guiltily at his long bony wrists and tried to draw his
sleeves down over the blue anchors tattooed on them.
'No,' Grinson went on, 'I was never a man for show. Well, some
messmates of mine didn't understand my modest spirit, and laid their
heads together for to give me the hall-mark as proves a seaman sterling,
you may say. Ben Trouncer was at the bottom of it: the slyest sea-dog
of a fellow you ever set eyes on. He come to me one night when I
happened to be alone, all but Ephraim, in the bar-parlour of the "Jolly
Sailors," and says, "Going to the meeting on Wednesday, Josy?" says he.
"What meeting?" says I. "You don't mean to tell me you don't know!"
says he. "I 'd never have believed it. All the others are going;
meeting to form a sailors' goose club," says he. "Fust I heard of it,"
says I. "What's a goose club?" "Why," says he, "you pay so much a
week, and at Christmas every sailor-man gets a goose, wherever he
is--Melbourne, Shanghai, Buenos Ayres, anywhere you like. Fancy you not
knowing of it! Why, they all expect you to be made treasurer of the
club. Let's have another pot, and I 'll tell you all I knows."
'Well, Ben went on talking like a gramophone as won't run down--about
subscriptions and foreign agents, and what a heap of money there 'd be
to take charge of, and he hoped I 'd be made treasurer, because some of
'em wanted a scag called Joe Pettigrew, a fellow you wouldn't trust with
the price of a pot of four-half, which I agreed with, and said if Joe
was made treasurer he 'd get no subscriptions out of me. "Well," says
Ben, "Joe 's the only man I 'm afraid of, and I 'll tell you why. Them
as wants him are going to propose that no one as ain't tattooed is to be
edible for membership--see? Just to keep you out, 'cos they know there
ain't a speck of blue about you." "Ho!" says I. "That 's their game.
Well, they can make Joe treasurer, and he 'll pinch all your money, but
not mine, 'cos I can't join, not if I want to."
'Well, he calls for another pot and goes on talking, and by long and
short he worked me up to believe as how the whole thing would bust up if
I wasn't treasurer, and the picture he drored of the sailorman going
without his Christmas goose was worse than onions for tickling your
eyeballs. Then he told me how I 'd take the wind out o' Joe's sails if
I had a nice fat goose tattooed on my shoulder out of sight, and spring
it on 'em when they was cocksure I wasn't edible for membership. Having
had three or four pots, the notion tickled my fancy, and I had it done
by a Jap as was the cleverest hand at tattooing you ever set eyes on.
Ben had left him in the bar till he talked me over.
'Well, I went to the meeting, and Joe and his mates sniggered when they
saw me. Ben proposed the club; carried unanimous. Some one else
proposed about the tattooing; carried unanimous. Then Ben proposed me
for treasurer. Up jumps one of Joe's friends and said I couldn't be
treasurer, 'cos I couldn't even be a member, not being tattooed. "Ho!"
says I, "who says I ain't tattooed?" They laughed. "Who don't know
that?" says they. "Ho!" says I, "you knows a lot," and I stripped and
showed 'em the finest goose as ever hung in Leadenhall Market.
[Illustration: 'WHO SAYS I AIN'T TATTOOED?']
'Well, after that they made me treasurer, unanimous, even Joe voting for
me, which it surprised me at the time. Then Ben said that, me being
treasurer, 'twas for me to propose what the subscription should be.
"Right," says I. "Then I propose three-pence a week." I was fair
flabbergasted when Ben got up and spun a long yarn which I couldn't make
head or tail on, and ended by proposing they didn't have no subscription
at all. Carried unanimous. It was a plant, you see, gentlemen. I was
fair done. There never was no goose club, and only one goose, and that
was me, my mother said when I told her all about it.'
'And your goose is a bird of paradise,' said Trentham.
'A bird of---- Ho, here 's ugly mug! What might he want now?'
In the open doorway stood the interpreter.
'Chief he say white man fella come alonga him,' said the man, looking at
Trentham.
'A royal command,' remarked Trentham, rising. 'I 'll try to get him to
provide us with guides to Wilhelmshafen.'
Some ten minutes after Trentham's departure the rest were startled by a
long-drawn howl, like the sound of hundreds of men hooting an unpopular
speaker.
'Blue murder!' exclaimed Grinson, as he hurried with the others to the
doorway. The noise came from beyond the stockade. The gate was shut,
and the natives within the enclosure were strolling about with no
appearance of concern. Trentham was not visible.
'I 'm afeard they 've took Mr. Trentham instead,' said Meek
lugubriously.
'Nonsense!' cried Hoole. 'That wasn't a cry of delight. But I 'll just
run across to the chief's house; Mr. Trentham is probably there.'
At the entrance of the house he was stopped by two natives, armed with
spears, who stood there on guard.
'You there, Trentham?' he called into the interior.
'Yes; I 'll be with you shortly,' came the answer.
Reassured, Hoole returned to the hut.
'It's all right, Meek,' he said. 'Don't get the wind up.'
'No, Ephraim, me lad,' said Grinson, 'don't strain at your anchor. 'Tis
your great fault.'
It was half an hour or so before Trentham rejoined them.
'The strangest story I 've ever heard,' he said. 'It wasn't easy to
make out that fellow's pidgin English, but I 'll tell you what I
understand of it. Long ago, soon after the beginning of the world, a
big ship came ashore after a great storm. (That's our wreck, of
course.) The ship's white chief, a great medicine-man, had come to
assist the forefathers of this tribe, then at war with many powerful
neighbours. By the power of his fire magic--blunderbusses, no
doubt--their enemies were defeated; but I suppose his ammunition gave
out, for, as the chief put it, the fire magic was lost.
'The ship's captain was evidently a Frenchman. Finding it impossible to
leave the island, he and his crew settled down and took wives among the
tribe, and became the ruling caste. The present chief is probably the
great-grandson of the Frenchman; he has no idea how old he is, or how
many generations come between him and his ancestor. From the portrait of
Louis XVI. we saw in the cabin, it's pretty clear that this happened a
hundred and twenty odd years ago. In that time, of course, the French
stock has degenerated; as you heard, they 've retained a word or two of
the French language, and they 've tried to keep themselves select by
banishing from their inner enclosure all who take after the aborigines
in feature, retaining only those who have something of the European cast
of face. That, as I understood the story, has led to trouble. It's a
case of plebs and patricians over again. The patricians are gradually
weakening, the plebs becoming stronger; and the chief seems to be
decidedly jumpy; his authority is waning. You heard that howl just now?'
'We did,' replied Hoole. 'Meek made sure you 'd been thrown to the
dogs.'
Trentham smiled.
'The fact is, the plebs were disappointed of their feast. They are
cannibals; the patricians are not. A big fellow came up as spokesman of
the plebs, and declared they must have one of us four. Grinson is
protected by his goose, and the chief wouldn't give them you, Hoole, or
me, because we know French. But he suggested that we might dispense
with Meek.'
'Me, sir!' cried Meek.
'Yes. I gathered that the chief was anxious to conciliate his rather
unruly subjects, and I had a good deal of difficulty in begging you off,
pointing out (I hope you don't mind) that you are rather lean and
scraggy----'
'Danged if that ain't too bad!' cried Meek with unwonted vehemence.
'Well, really, I thought it the best way to get you off.'
''Tis not that I mind, sir--not at all, and I 'm obliged to you. I was
always skin and bone, no matter what I eat----'
'Like the lean cattle in the Bible, Ephraim,' said Grinson, 'what ate up
the fat uns and you 'd never have knowed it.'
'True, so I was born,' Meek went on, 'and so I must be. But the idea of
eating me, just because I never had no goose pricked on my arm nor can't
parly-voo! Danged if there 's any justice in this world--not a morsel.'
'Well, you 're safe now, anyway,' said Hoole, smiling. 'Did you hear
anything about Hahn, Trentham?'
'Yes. It appears that the numbers here have recently been increased by
the influx of people from one or two small coast villages that have been
destroyed by the Germans. This place, being farther from the sea, has
escaped as yet; but the chief is rather alarmed, and has scouting
parties constantly out to give warning if the white men from the ship
approach. Apparently Hahn fell into the hands of one of those parties.
The chief told me that a white man had been taken down to the shore to
be sacrificed in the hope of averting disaster. The sacrificial party
has not returned yet, and I thought it wiser to say nothing about the
rescue of the victim; it wouldn't tend to make us popular with the
plebs. The worst of it is, the chief seems to think we 'll be useful to
him. When I talked about his helping us to get away he suddenly became
deaf, and I couldn't help judging from his manner that he wants to keep
us, either to prop him up against his troublesome people, or to protect
him from the Germans. We had better humour him for the moment. At any
rate we shall get food. By and by we can take our bearings, possibly
make or get hold of a canoe. It's no good our attempting to make our
way overland to Wilhelmshafen through a country infested by cannibals.'
'And precious little good our staying to help him against the Germans
with nothing but a revolver and our knives,' said Hoole. 'Still, there
's nothing else for it. If we can gain the people's confidence they may
help us in the end--especially if the Raider clears off, and I guess it
won't remain in these waters for ever. But it's deuced unpleasant.'
'Ay, and there 's neither justice nor mercy in this world,' sighed Meek.
'Eat me! Br-r-r!'