John Corwell, Sailor And Miner; and, Poisonous Fish

by Louis Becke

  III

  A blazing, tropic sun shone in mid-heaven upon the motionless waters ofthe deep, land-locked bay in which the Ceres lay, with top-mast struckand awnings spread fore and aft. A quarter of a mile away was the beach,girdled with its thick belt of coco-palms whose fronds hung limp and hotin the windless air as if gasping for breath. Here and there, amongthe long line of white, lime-washed canoes, drawn up on the sand,snowy white and blue cranes stalked to and fro seeking for the smallthin-shelled soldier crabs burrowing under the loose _debris_ of leavesand fallen palm-branches to escape the heat.

  A few yards back from the level of high-water mark clustered the housesof the native village, built on both sides of the bright, fast-flowingstream which here, as it debouched into the sea, was wide and shallow,showing a bottom composed of rounded black stones alternating with rockybars. Along the grassless banks, worn smooth by the constant tread ofnaked feet, grew tall many-hued crotons, planted and carefully tendedby their native owners, and shielded from the rays of the sun by theever-present coco-palms. From either side of the bank, looking westwardtowards the forest, there was a clear stretch of water half a mile inlength, then the river was hidden from view, for in its course from themountains through the heavily-jungled littoral it took many bends andtwists, sometimes running swiftly over rocky, gravelly beds, sometimesflowing noiselessly through deep, muddy-bottomed pools and dank, steamyswamps, the haunt of the silent, dreaded alligator.

  At the head of the straight stretch of water of which I have spokenthere was on the left-hand bank of the river an open grassy sward,surrounded by clumps of areca and coco-palms, and in the centre stooda large house, built by native hands, but showing by various externalsigns that it was tenanted by people other than the wild inhabitants ofthe island. Just in front of the house, and surrounded by a number ofcanoes, the boat belonging to the _Ceres_ was moored to the bank,and under a long open-sided, palm-thatched shed, were a number ofbrown-skinned naked savages, some lying sleeping, others squatting ontheir hams, energetically chewing betel nut.

  As they talked and chewed and spat out the scarlet juice through theirhideous red lips and coaly black teeth, a canoe, paddled by two nativesand steered by Mallet, the mate of the _Ceres_, came up the river. Theinstant it was seen a chorus of yells arose from the natives in the longhut, and Mary Corwell came to the open doorway of the house and lookedout.

  "Wake up, wake up, Jack!" she cried, turning her face inwards over hergraceful shoulder, "here is Mallet."

  Her voice awoke her husband, who in an instant sprang from his couch andjoined her, just as Mallet--a short, square-built man of fifty--steppedout of the canoe and walked briskly towards them, wiping his broad,honest face with a blue cotton handkerchief.

  "Come inside, Mallet. 'Tis a bit cooler in here. I'm sorry I sent youdown to the ship on such a day as this."

  Mallet laughed good-naturedly. "I didn't mind it, sir, though 'tis apowerful hot day, and the natives are all lying asleep in their huts;they can't understand why us works as we do in the sun. Lord, sir! HowI should like to see old Kingsdown and Walmer Castle to-day, all a-whitewith snow. I was born at Deal."

  Mary Cornell brought the old seaman a young coconut to drink, and herhusband added a little rum; Mallet tossed it off and then sat down.

  "Well, sir, the ship is all right, and those chaps aboard seem contentenough. But I'm afeared that the worms are a-getting into her althoughshe is moored right abreast of the river. So I took it on me to tellTotten and Harris to stay aboard whilst I came back to ask you if itwouldn't be best for us to bring her right in to the fresh water, andmoor her here, right abreast o' the house. That'll kill any worms ashas got into her timbers. And we can tow her in the day after to-morrow,when there will be a big tide."

  "You did quite right, Mallet. Very likely the worms have got into hertimbers in spite of her being abreast of the river's mouth. I shouldhave thought of this before."

  "Ah, Jack," said his wife, with a smile, "we have thought too much ofour gold-getting and too little of the poor old _Ceres_."

  "Well, I shall think more of her now, Mary. And as the rains will beon us in a few days--so the natives say--and we can do no more work forthree months, I think it will be as well for us to sail the _Ceres_ overto that chain of lagoon islands about thirty miles from here. I fear toremain here during the wet season, on account of the fever."

  After further discussion it was decided that Jack and Mallet, with somenatives, should make an early start in the morning for their miningcamp, six miles away, at the foot of the range, and do a long, lastday's work, returning to the house on the following day. Meanwhile amessage was to be sent to Harris and Totten to bring the vessel into thecreek as soon as the tide served, which would be in forty-eight hours.Then, whilst she lay for a week in the fresh water, so as to kill thesuspected _teredo navalis_ worms, which Mallet feared had attacked her,she was to be made ready for the short voyage of thirty miles over to acluster of islands enclosing a spacious lagoon, where Corwell intendedto beach her till the rainy season was over, when he would return towork a very promising stream in another locality. Already he and hismen, aided by the natives, had, in the four months that had passed sincethey arrived, won nearly five hundred ounces of gold, crude as weretheir appliances.

  "Jack," said his wife, "I think that, as you will be away all day andnight, to-morrow I shall go on board and see what I can do. I'll makethe men turn to and give the cabin a thorough overhauling. Marawa, thechiefs wife, has given me a lot of sleeping-mats, and I shall throwthose old horrible flock mattresses overboard, and we shall have niceclean mats instead to lie on."

  * * * * *

  At daylight Mallet aroused the natives who were to accompany him and thecaptain, and then told off two of them to make the boat ready for Mrs.Corwell. Then he returned to the house and called out--

  "The boat is ready, sir."

  "So am I, Mallet," replied Mary, tying on her old-fashioned sun-hood.Then she turned to her husband. "Jack, darling, this will be the veryfirst time in our married life that I have ever slept away from you, andit shall be the last, too. But I _do_ want to surprise you when you seeour cabin again."

  She put her lips up to him and kissed him half a dozen times. "There,that's a good-night and good morning three times over. Now I'm ready."

  Corwell and Mallet walked down to the boat with her and saw her get in.She kissed her hand to them and in a few minutes was out of sight.