The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 17

by Robert Louis Stevenson

  THE BEACH OF FALESA

  CHAPTER I

  A SOUTH SEA BRIDAL

  I saw that island first when it was neither night nor morning. The moonwas to the west, setting, but still broad and bright. To the east, andright amidships of the dawn, which was all pink, the day-star sparkledlike a diamond. The land breeze blew in our faces, and smelt strong ofwild lime and vanilla: other things besides, but these were the mostplain; and the chill of it set me sneezing. I should say I had been foryears on a low island near the line, living for the most part solitaryamong natives. Here was a fresh experience: even the tongue would bequite strange to me; and the look of these woods and mountains, and therare smell of them, renewed my blood.

  The captain blew out the binnacle lamp.

  "There!" said he, "there goes a bit of smoke, Mr. Wiltshire, behind thebreak of the reef. That's Falesa, where your station is, the lastvillage to the east; nobody lives to windward--I don't know why. Take myglass, and you can make the houses out."

  I took the glass; and the shores leaped nearer, and I saw the tangle ofthe woods and the breach of the surf, and the brown roofs and the blackinsides of houses peeped among the trees.

  "Do you catch a bit of white there to the east'ard?" the captaincontinued. "That's your house. Coral built, stands high, verandah youcould walk on three abreast; best station in the South Pacific. When oldAdams saw it, he took and shook me by the hand. 'I've dropped into asoft thing here,' says he. 'So you have,' says I, 'and time too!' PoorJohnny! I never saw him again but the once, and then he had changed histune--couldn't get on with the natives, or the whites, or something; andthe next time we came round there he was dead and buried. I took and putup a bit of stick to him: 'John Adams, _obiit_ eighteen and sixty-eight.Go thou and do likewise.' I missed that man. I never could see much harmin Johnny."

  "What did he die of?" I inquired.

  "Some kind of sickness," says the captain. "It appears it took himsudden. Seems he got up in the night, and filled up on Pain-Killer andKennedy's Discovery. No go: he was booked beyond Kennedy. Then he hadtried to open a case of gin. No go again: not strong enough. Then hemust have turned to and run out on the verandah, and capsized over therail. When they found him, the next day, he was clean crazy--carried onall the time about somebody watering his copra. Poor John!"

  "Was it thought to be the island?" I asked.

  "Well, it was thought to be the island, or the trouble, or something,"he replied. "I never could hear but what it was a healthy place. Ourlast man, Vigours, never turned a hair. He left because of thebeach--said he was afraid of Black Jack and Case and Whistling Jimmie,who was still alive at the time, but got drowned soon afterward whendrunk. As for old Captain Randall, he's been here any time sinceeighteen-forty, forty-five. I never could see much harm in Billy, normuch change. Seems as if he might live to be Old Kafoozleum. No, I guessit's healthy."

  "There's a boat coming now," said I. "She's right in the pass; looks tobe a sixteen-foot whale; two white men in the stern-sheets."

  "That's the boat that drowned Whistling Jimmie!" cried the captain;"let's see the glass. Yes, that's Case, sure enough, and the darkie.They've got a gallows bad reputation, but you know what a place thebeach is for talking. My belief, that Whistling Jimmie was the worst ofthe trouble; and he's gone to glory, you see. What'll you bet they ain'tafter gin? Lay you five to two they take six cases."

  When these two traders came aboard I was pleased with the looks of themat once, or, rather, with the looks of both, and the speech of one. Iwas sick for white neighbours after my four years at the line, which Ialways counted years of prison; getting tabooed, and going down to theSpeak House to see and get it taken off; buying gin and going on abreak, and then repenting; sitting in the house at night with the lampfor company; or walking on the beach and wondering what kind of a foolto call myself for being where I was. There were no other whites upon myisland, and when I sailed to the next, rough customers made the most ofthe society. Now to see these two when they came aboard was a pleasure.One was a negro, to be sure; but they were both rigged out smart instriped pyjamas and straw hats, and Case would have passed muster in acity. He was yellow and smallish, had a hawk's nose to his face, paleeyes, and his beard trimmed with scissors. No man knew his country,beyond he was of English speech; and it was clear he came of a goodfamily and was splendidly educated. He was accomplished too; played theaccordion first-rate; and give him a piece of string or a cork or a packof cards, and he could show you tricks equal to any professional. Hecould speak, when he chose, fit for a drawing-room; and when he chose hecould blaspheme worse than a Yankee boatswain, and talk smart to sickena Kanaka. The way he thought would pay best at the moment, that wasCase's way, and it always seemed to come natural, and like as if he wasborn to it. He had the courage of a lion and the cunning of a rat; andif he's not in hell to-day, there's no such place. I know but one goodpoint to the man: that he was fond of his wife, and kind to her. She wasa Samoa woman, and dyed her hair red, Samoa style; and when he came todie (as I have to tell of) they found one strange thing--that he hadmade a will, like a Christian, and the widow got the lot: all his, theysaid, and all Black Jack's, and the most of Billy Randall's in thebargain, for it was Case that kept the books. So she went off home inthe schooner _Manu'a_, and does the lady to this day in her own place.

  But of all this on that first morning I knew no more than a fly. Caseused me like a gentleman and like a friend, made me welcome to Falesa,and put his services at my disposal, which was the more helpful from myignorance of the native. All the better part of the day we sat drinkingbetter acquaintance in the cabin, and I never heard a man talk more tothe point. There was no smarter trader, and none dodgier, in theislands. I thought Falesa seemed to be the right kind of a place; andthe more I drank the lighter my heart. Our last trader had fled theplace at half an hour's notice, taking a chance passage in a labour shipfrom up west. The captain, when he came, had found the station closed,the keys left with the native pastor, and a letter from the runaway,confessing he was fairly frightened of his life. Since then the firm hadnot been represented, and of course there was no cargo. The wind,besides, was fair, the captain hoped he could make his next island bydawn, with a good tide, and the business of landing my trade was goneabout lively. There was no call for me to fool with it, Case said;nobody would touch my things, every one was honest in Falesa, only aboutchickens or an odd knife or an odd stick of tobacco; and the best Icould do was to sit quiet till the vessel left, then come straight tohis house, see old Captain Randall, the father of the beach, takepot-luck, and go home to sleep when it got dark. So it was high noon,and the schooner was under way, before I set my foot on shore atFalesa.

  I had a glass or two on board; I was just off a long cruise, and theground heaved under me like a ship's deck. The world was like all newpainted; my foot went along to music; Falesa might have been Fiddler'sGreen, if there is such a place, and more's the pity if there isn't! Itwas good to foot the grass, to look aloft at the green mountains, to seethe men with their green wreaths and the women in their bright dresses,red and blue. On we went, in the strong sun and the cool shadow, likingboth; and all the children in the town came trotting after with theirshaven heads and their brown bodies, and raising a thin kind of a cheerin our wake, like crowing poultry.

  "By the by," says Case, "we must get you a wife."

  "That's so," said I; "I had forgotten."

  There was a crowd of girls about us, and I pulled myself up and lookedamong them like a Bashaw. They were all dressed out for the sake of theship being in; and the women of Falesa are a handsome lot to see. Ifthey have a fault, they are a trifle broad in the beam; and I was justthinking so when Case touched me.

  "That's pretty," says he.

  I saw one coming on the other side alone. She had been fishing; all shewore was a chemise, and it was wetted through. She was young and veryslender for an island maid, with a long face, a high forehead, and ashy, strange, blindish look, between a cat's and a baby's.<
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  "Who's she?" said I. "She'll do."

  "That's Uma," said Case, and he called her up and spoke to her in thenative. I didn't know what he said; but when he was in the midst shelooked up at me quick and timid, like a child dodging a blow, then downagain, and presently smiled. She had a wide mouth, the lips and the chincut like any statue's; and the smile came out for a moment and was gone.Then she stood with her head bent, and heard Case to an end, spoke backin the pretty Polynesian voice, looking him full in the face, heard himagain in answer, and then with an obeisance started off. I had just ashare of the bow, but never another shot of her eye, and there was nomore word of smiling.

  "I guess it's all right," said Case. "I guess you can have her. I'llmake it square with the old lady. You can have your pick of the lot fora plug of tobacco," he added, sneering.

  I suppose it was the smile stuck in my memory, for I spoke back sharp."She doesn't look that sort," I cried.

  "I don't know that she is," said Case. "I believe she's as right as themail. Keeps to herself, don't go round with the gang, and that. O no,don't you misunderstand me--Uma's on the square." He spoke eager, Ithought, and that surprised and pleased me. "Indeed," he went on, "Ishouldn't make so sure of getting her, only she cottoned to the cut ofyour jib. All you have to do is to keep dark and let me work the mothermy own way; and I'll bring the girl round to the captain's for themarriage."

  I didn't care for the word marriage, and I said so.

  "O, there's nothing to hurt in the marriage," says he. "Black Jack's thechaplain."

  By this time we had come in view of the house of these three white men;for a negro is counted a white man, and so is a Chinese! a strange idea,but common in the islands. It was a board house with a strip of ricketyverandah. The store was to the front, with a counter, scales, and thepoorest possible display of trade: a case or two of tinned meats, abarrel of hard bread, a few bolts of cotton stuff, not to be comparedwith mine; the only thing well represented being the contraband,firearms and liquor. "If these are my only rivals," thinks I, "I shoulddo well in Falesa." Indeed, there was only the one way they could touchme, and that was with the guns and drink.

  In the back room was old Captain Randall, squatting on the floor nativefashion, fat and pale, naked to the waist, grey as a badger, and hiseyes set with drink. His body was covered with grey hair and crawledover by flies; one was in the corner of his eye--he never heeded; andthe mosquitoes hummed about the man like bees. Any clean-minded manwould have had the creature out at once and buried him; and to see him,and think he was seventy, and remember he had once commanded a ship, andcome ashore in his smart togs, and talked big in bars and consulates,and sat in club verandahs, turned me sick and sober.

  He tried to get up when I came in, but that was hopeless; so he reachedme a hand instead, and stumbled out some salutation.

  "Papa's[2] pretty full this morning," observed Case. "We've had anepidemic here; and Captain Randall takes gin for a prophylactic--don'tyou, Papa?"

  "Never took such a thing in my life!" cried the captain indignantly."Take gin for my health's sake, Mr. Wha's-ever-your-name--'s aprecautionary measure."

  "That's all right, Papa," said Case. "But you'll have to brace up.There's going to be a marriage--Mr. Wiltshire here is going to getspliced."

  The old man asked to whom.

  "To Uma," said Case.

  "Uma!" cried the captain. "Wha's he want Uma for? 's he come here forhis health, anyway? Wha' 'n hell 's he want Uma for?"

  "Dry up, Papa," said Case. "'Tain't you that's to marry her. I guessyou're not her godfather and godmother. I guess Mr. Wiltshire's going toplease himself."

  With that he made an excuse to me that he must move about the marriage,and left me alone with the poor wretch that was his partner and (tospeak truth) his gull. Trade and station belonged both to Randall; Caseand the negro were parasites; they crawled and fed upon him like theflies, he none the wiser. Indeed, I have no harm to say of BillyRandall beyond the fact that my gorge rose at him, and the time I nowpassed in his company was like a nightmare.

  The room was stifling hot and full of flies; for the house was dirty andlow and small, and stood in a bad place, behind the village, in theborders of the bush, and sheltered from the trade. The three men's bedswere on the floor, and a litter of pans and dishes. There was nostanding furniture; Randall, when he was violent, tearing it to laths.There I sat and had a meal which was served us by Case's wife; and thereI was entertained all day by that remains of man, his tongue stumblingamong low old jokes and long old stories, and his own wheezy laughteralways ready, so that he had no sense of my depression. He was nippinggin all the while. Sometimes he fell asleep, and awoke again, whimperingand shivering, and every now and again he would ask me why I wanted tomarry Uma. "My friend," I was telling myself all day, "you must not cometo be an old gentleman like this."

  It might be four in the afternoon, perhaps, when the back door wasthrust slowly open, and a strange old native woman crawled into thehouse almost on her belly. She was swathed in black stuff to her heels;her hair was grey in swatches; her face was tattooed, which was not thepractice in that island; her eyes big and bright and crazy. These shefixed upon me with a rapt expression that I saw to be part acting. Shesaid no plain words, but smacked and mumbled with her lips, and hummedaloud, like a child over its Christmas pudding. She came straight acrossthe house, heading for me, and, as soon as she was alongside, caught upmy hand and purred and crooned over it like a great cat. From this sheslipped into a kind of song.

  "Who the devil's this?" cried I, for the thing startled me.

  "It's Fa'avao," says Randall; and I saw he had hitched along the floorinto the farthest corner.

  "You ain't afraid of her?" I cried.

  "Me 'fraid!" cried the captain. "My dear friend, I defy her! I don't lether put her foot in here, only I suppose 's different to-day, for themarriage. 's Uma's mother."

  "Well, suppose it is; what's she carrying on about?" I asked, moreirritated, perhaps more frightened, than I cared to show; and thecaptain told me she was making up a quantity of poetry in my praisebecause I was to marry Uma. "All right, old lady," says I, with rather afailure of a laugh, "anything to oblige. But when you're done with myhand, you might let me know."

  She did as though she understood; the song rose into a cry, and stopped;the woman crouched out of the house the same way that she came in, andmust have plunged straight into the bush, for when I followed her to thedoor she had already vanished.

  "These are rum manners," said I.

  "'s a rum crowd," said the captain, and, to my surprise, he made thesign of the cross on his bare bosom.

  "Hillo!" says I, "are you a Papist?"

  He repudiated the idea with contempt. "Hard-shell Baptis'," said he."But, my dear friend, the Papists got some good ideas too; and tha' 'sone of 'em. You take my advice, and whenever you come across Uma orFa'avao or Vigours, or any of that crowd, you take a leaf out o' thepriests, and do what I do. Savvy," says he, repeated the sign, andwinked his dim eye at me. "No, _sir!_" he broke out again, "no Papistshere!" and for a long time entertained me with his religious opinions.

  I must have been taken with Uma from the first, or I should certainlyhave fled from that house, and got into the clean air, and the cleansea, or some convenient river--though, it's true, I was committed toCase; and, besides, I could never have held my head up in that island ifI had run from a girl upon my wedding-night.

  The sun was down, the sky all on fire, and the lamp had been some timelighted, when Case came back with Uma and the negro. She was dressedand scented; her kilt was of fine tapa, looking richer in the folds thanany silk; her bust, which was of the colour of dark honey, she wore bareonly for some half a dozen necklaces of seeds and flowers; and behindher ears and in her hair she had the scarlet flowers of the hibiscus.She showed the best bearing for a bride conceivable, serious and still;and I thought shame to stand up with her in that mean house and beforethat grinning negro. I thought shame, I say; for t
he mountebank wasdressed with a big paper collar, the book he made believe to read fromwas an odd volume of a novel, and the words of his service not fit to beset down. My conscience smote me when we joined hands; and when she gother certificate I was tempted to throw up the bargain and confess. Hereis the document. It was Case that wrote it, signatures and all, in aleaf out of the ledger:--

  This is to certify that Uma, daughter of Fa'avao of Falesa, Island of ----, is illegally married to Mr. John Wiltshire for one week, and Mr. John Wiltshire is at liberty to send her to hell when he pleases.

  JOHN BLACKAMOAR, Chaplain to the Hulks.

  Extracted from the Register by William T. Randall, Master Mariner.

  A nice paper to put in a girl's hand and see her hide away like gold. Aman might easily feel cheap for less. But it was the practice in theseparts, and (as I told myself) not the least the fault of us white men,but of the missionaries. If they had let the natives be, I had neverneeded this deception, but taken all the wives I wished, and left themwhen I pleased, with a clear conscience.

  The more ashamed I was, the more hurry I was in to be gone; and ourdesires thus jumping together, I made the less remark of a change in thetraders. Case had been all eagerness to keep me; now, as though he hadattained a purpose, he seemed all eagerness to have me go. Uma, hesaid, could show me to my house, and the three bade us farewell indoors.

  The night was nearly come; the village smelt of trees and flowers andthe sea and breadfruit-cooking; there came a fine roll of sea from thereef, and from a distance, among the woods and houses, many prettysounds of men and children. It did me good to breathe free air; it didme good to be done with the captain and see, instead, the creature at myside. I felt for all the world as though she were some girl at home inthe Old Country, and, forgetting myself for the minute, took her hand towalk with. Her fingers nestled into mine, I heard her breathe deep andquick, and all at once she caught my hand to her face and pressed itthere. "You good!" she cried, and ran ahead of me, and stopped andlooked back and smiled, and ran ahead of me again, thus guiding methrough the edge of the bush, and by a quiet way to my own house.

  The truth is, Case had done the courting for me in style--told her I wasmad to have her, and cared nothing for the consequence; and the poorsoul, knowing that which I was still ignorant of, believed it, everyword, and had her head nigh turned with vanity and gratitude. Now, ofall this I had no guess; I was one of those most opposed to any nonsenseabout native women, having seen so many whites eaten up by their wives'relatives, and made fools of in the bargain; and I told myself I mustmake a stand at once, and bring her to her bearings. But she looked soquaint and pretty as she ran away and then awaited me, and the thing wasdone so like a child or a kind dog, that the best I could do was just tofollow her whenever she went on, to listen for the fall of her barefeet, and to watch in the dusk for the shining of her body. And therewas another thought came in my head. She played kitten with me now whenwe were alone; but in the house she had carried it the way a countessmight, so proud and humble. And what with her dress--for all there wasso little of it, and that native enough--what with her fine tapa andfine scents, and her red flowers and seeds, that were quite as brightas jewels, only larger--it came over me she was a kind of countessreally, dressed to hear great singers at a concert, and no even mate fora poor trader like myself.

  She was the first in the house; and while I was still without I saw amatch flash and the lamplight kindle in the windows. The station was awonderful fine place, coral built, with quite a wide verandah, and themain room high and wide. My chests and cases had been piled in, and maderather of a mess; and there, in the thick of the confusion, stood Uma bythe table, awaiting me. Her shadow went all the way up behind her intothe hollow of the iron roof; she stood against it bright, the lamplightshining on her skin. I stopped in the door, and she looked at me, notspeaking, with eyes that were eager and yet daunted; then she touchedherself on the bosom.

  "Me--your wifie," she said. It had never taken me like that before; butthe want of her took and shook all through me, like the wind in the luffof a sail.

  I could not speak if I had wanted; and if I could, I would not. I wasashamed to be so much moved about a native, ashamed of the marriage too,and the certificate she had treasured in her kilt; and I turned asideand made believe to rummage among my cases. The first thing I lighted onwas a case of gin, the only one that I had brought; and, partly for thegirl's sake, and partly for horror of the recollections of old Randall,took a sudden resolve. I prised the lid off. One by one I drew thebottles with a pocket corkscrew, and sent Uma out to pour the stuff fromthe verandah.

  She came back after the last, and looked at me puzzled like.

  "No good," said I, for I was now a little better master of my tongue."Man he drink, he no good."

  She agreed with this, but kept considering. "Why you bring him?" sheasked presently. "Suppose you no want drink, you no bring him, I think."

  "That's all right," said I. "One time I want drink too much; now nowant. You see, I no savvy I get one little wifie. Suppose I drink gin,my little wifie he 'fraid."

  To speak to her kindly was about more than I was fit for; I had made myvow I would never let on to weakness with a native, and I had nothingfor it but to stop.

  She stood looking gravely down at me where I sat by the open case. "Ithink you good man," she said. And suddenly she had fallen before me onthe floor. "I belong you all-e-same pig!" she cried.

  FOOTNOTE:

  [2] Please pronounce _pappa_ throughout.