The Strange Adventure Of James Shervinton

by Louis Becke

  CHAPTER IV

  I slept well on towards four o'clock in the afternoon, and when Iawakened I found the house deserted by all but my man Tepi, who wasseated cross-legged near me with a cup containing my fever mixturebeside him. He held it up to me silently.

  Even before I raised myself to drink I felt that I was a stronger man,physically and mentally, than I had been six hours previously, and myveins no longer seemed as if they were filled with liquid fire. I drankthe mixture and then looked about me, and saw that every ensanguinedtrace of the tragedy which had occurred a few hours before had beenremoved. The coarse and somewhat worn matting which had covered thefloor had been taken away and replaced by new squares, and the roompresented the usual neat and orderly appearance in which it was alwayskept by Tepi and my other servant.

  "Master," said Tepi, "art hungry?"

  "Aye," I replied, "I would eat; but first tell me of the dead man. Whohath taken him away?"

  The man, instead of answering me in a straightforward manner, bent hishead and muttered something I could not hear.

  I jumped off my couch and went outside, and the first person I ranagainst was my cook, an old grizzled fellow of about sixty years of agenamed Pai. He was carrying a freshly-killed fowl in his hand, lookedat me in an unconcerned manner as if nothing had occurred, and asked mewould I have it broiled or boiled.

  "As you will," I said impatiently. "Tell me, Pai, whither have theytaken the dead white man?"

  He made a peculiar and significant gesture--one that is not often used,but when it is it implies that certain matters or things must not befurther alluded to, but must be for ever buried in oblivion. I put myhand on his tough, naked, and wrinkled shoulder, and again repeated myquestion.

  "I know of no dead white man," he replied, looking me steadily in theface, and yet answering me in his usual respectful manner. Then he satdown beside the low stone wall surrounding the house, and began to pluckthe fowl, casually remarking that it was fat for its age.

  Somewhat puzzled at the reticence of my servants, I walked across mycompound towards the native village, which, as I have before mentioned,was some distance from my house, and as I walked I felt at everyfootstep a renewed bodily vigour, and almost unconsciously I took out mypipe, filled it, and began to smoke with an enjoyment denied to me formany months.

  The day was gloriously bright and cool, and the westering sun on myright hand shone on a sea of the deepest blue, whose placid bosom wasdotted by a fleet of canoes with their mat sails spread to the nowgentle trade wind, cruising to and fro catching flying fish. This seemedstrange to me, bearing in mind the events of the past few hours. Thedeath of a white man, even from natural causes, was of itself generallya matter of such importance to the natives of any of the mid-Pacificisles, that their daily avocations were suspended, and the house of thedeceased man would not only be surrounded on the outside by a circleof people sitting on their mats and awaiting their turn to enter andexpress their condolences with his wife or children, but filled insideas well.

  The first houses I passed on the outskirts of the village were occupiedonly by women and children, who all gave me their usual cheerfulgreeting of _Tiakapo, Simi!_ ("Good-day, Jim") and one or two of themadded a few words of congratulation upon my improved appearance, andthen calmly went on with their work, such as mat-making, mending fishingnets, cooking, etc., but no one of them gave the slightest indication ofeven having heard that anything unusual had occurred.

  Directed my steps towards the great open-sided moniep062]

  Crossing the village square--if it could be so called--I directed mysteps towards the great open-sided _moniep_, or council house, fromwhich came the sound of many voices, talking in the vociferous mannercommon to all natives of the Gilbert and Kingsmill groups. As I drewnear I saw that there were about twenty men seated inside, smoking, cardplaying, or making cinnet for fishing lines by twisting up the strandsof coco-nut fibre on their naked thighs. As they heard my footsteps onthe gravel, their conversation dropped a little, but they all gave me_Tiakapo!_ as usual, invited me to enter and sit down and smoke, andthen went on with either their work or their pastime.

  "Now," I thought, as I sat down on the mat brought to me, "I shallget these fellows to tell me the meaning of all this reticence about thedisposal of Krause's body."

  For some minutes I smoked in silence and took the opportunity of lookingat my hosts. They were all either middle-aged or old men, and were allknown to me personally, especially one old bald-headed fellow namedKaibuka--"The Ship."

  In his younger days this Kaibuka had acquired an evil reputation forbeing the instigator and leader of cutting-off attacks on whaleships andtrading vessels, and his performances had gained him such _kudos_ andrespect from his savage associates that now in his old age he was themost influential of the three principal head men of the whole lagoon.Like all the others present, he wore but the usual _airiri_, or girdleof grass, round his loins, and his dark reddish-brown body was coveredfrom head to waist with the scars of wounds received in earlier years.Each of his ear-lobes, pierced in infancy, had from long years ofcontinuous distention by means of rolls of pandanus leaf, become sopendulous that they now hung loosely upon his shoulders in two greatbights of thin flesh as thick as a lead pencil, though one of them hadtwisted in it a long stick of tobacco and a spare pipe. He was not,however, a bad-looking old ruffian, and his shining bald head, stillperfect teeth, and extremely Jewish cast of features gave him quite adistinctive appearance from the younger men, whose long coarse hair, cutaway across the forehead and hanging loosely down on their shoulders andbacks, made their fierce, savage faces appear as if they looked at youfrom a moving frame of black. They certainly were a wild-looking lot,but their appearance somewhat belied their dispositions--at least asfar as I was personally concerned. We had always got along very welltogether both socially and in business, and I was well aware that whilstthey disliked and mistrusted Krause they placed implicit confidence inme.

  Putting down my pipe on the mat beside me, I told old Kaibnka that Idesired to talk to them.

  There was a dead silence at once.

  "_E rai rai_" ("Good"), he said.

  "Kaibuka," I said, "hath the dead white man been taken to his wife?"

  He looked stolidly at me for an instant, and then answered with an airof intense surprise.

  "Dead white man! What dead white man, Simi? _I_ know of none. We saw nodead white man!"

  "Aye, we know of none," echoed the others in unison.

  I began to feel both angry and uncomfortable, and showed it: but forthe moment I was too puzzled to do more than stare at them each in turn.They looked straight before them as if their faces were so many stonejugs--they had about as much expression.

  Again I addressed myself to Kaibnka.

  "Why do ye make this pretence? Thou thyself, Kaibnka, and thou, Berau,were, with many others, in my house when his dead body lay on the floor.Why are ye all so silent? And whither have the girl Niabon and Temataugone?"

  This time I got an answer--to my last question, at any rate.

  "Niabon and Tematau have gone across the lagoon in a canoe. They desiredto talk with the white man's wife. In a little time, as darkness falls,they will return to thee."

  "Did _they_ take the dead man with them, then?" I persisted.

  The old fellow met my inquiring glance quite calmly. "I know of no deadman, Simi."

  I glared angrily at them all round, and then for a moment wondered ifthey were all crazy or I alone was wrong in my head. I was rising tomy feet with an exclamation of anger at their obstinacy when the oldbald-head motioned me to stay. Then at a sign from him all the othersgathered up their _impedimenta_ and quietly went off in Tarionsdirections, leaving us alone.

  "Simi," he said, coming swiftly over and crouching in front of me, "bewise. Ask no one of the white man who was here yesterday; for no onewill tell thee but Niabon. There is death in store for many, manypeople, if ye heed not my words. Go back to thy house, and be patientand wait, a
nd ask naught of any one but Niabon of what is past. Wouldstthou see this land soaked in blood because of _one_ man?"

  He spoke in such curious, whispered tones, and kept his keen hawk-likeface so close to mine that I saw he was in deadly earnest.

  "Promise me, Simi. Promise me to rest in thy house and wait for Niabon."

  "As you will, I shall wait."

  I walked slowly back to my house and took a stiff glass of grog tosteady my nerves, which were beginning to feel a little upset.

  "It's time I got out of this place," I thought, as, lighting my pipe,I went down to my boat again and busied myself in taking out all herfittings, examining and replacing them again.

  When I returned to the house for my supper it was quite dark, and justas my lamp was lit Niabon entered.