The White Waterfall

by James Francis Dwyer

supposed to have been built before JuliusCaesar invaded Britain, and he's pop-eyed with joy as he thinks howhe'll yank Fame by the tail when he gets on the ground and snapshots theaffairs. Gee! I'm glad I haven't got a kink for digging up relics anddodging about places that went to smash thousands of years ago. A vicelike that is more expensive than the poker habit."

  "Well, Newmarch says we'll strike it early in the morning," I said, "andthen we'll see whether your suspicions are correct."

  "I'm infernally afraid they are," snapped the youngster. "I wouldn'tcare ten cents about the brute only that the girls are aboard. I feltsorry when I saw him climb to his feet yesterday. If you hit him againhit him with something that will crack his skull. He's a devil, Verslun,and before we are much older we will find it out."

  I laughed at his gloomy forebodings, and as Miss Barbara Herndon came ondeck at that moment he raced away and left me to my own meditations.

  My thoughts were mixed. I had pleasant and unpleasant ones. If Leithwas the scoundrel that Holman suspected, the two girls were in danger,and now as we neared the island where they would leave the yacht toaccompany their father, the clutch of fear was upon me. On _The Waif_ Ifelt that I had some little power, but on land, more especially on thelonely island toward which we were heading, that feeling ofprotectorship which the sailorman has for his passengers would be lost.If Leith knew the island, and it was evident that he had visited itbefore, any villainy that he contemplated would be held in check till hewas ashore and in command of the expedition and I would be powerless.

  I recognized that Holman's fears were without solid foundation. Theywere transmitted through Barbara Herndon, but I also recognized that theelder sister would hardly support the statements unless she had goodgrounds for her anxiety. Her woman's intuition had branded Leith'smotives in bringing the Professor into the Islands as bad, and thesallow-faced giant could not erase the impression. The actual reason fortrickery was a matter of speculation. Professor Herndon was wealthy; itwas his money that had fitted out the expedition, but how Leith expectedto benefit himself by treachery was more than I could tell. Still, tryas I would to fight off the impressions that Holman's tongue had fixedwithin my mind, I was unable to alter the opinion I had formed of theman the moment I met him. There was an atmosphere about the yacht thatwas unexplainable. Try as I could to find legitimate grounds for fears Icould not. The Professor was a scientist who wished to study certainthings the whereabouts of which were known to Leith. Apparently theProfessor was satisfied with the bargain he had made. Leith, as the twogirls had informed Holman, had called upon their father at the LanghamHotel in Wynyard Square, Sydney, and, after fascinating the old man withhis stories, had presented his credentials and made a bargain with himwhich resulted in the chartering of the yacht. His former life was amystery that he guarded jealously from the probes which the girls hadskilfully endeavoured to use. It was clear that he had spent many yearsin the Islands, but that fact is not one that is generally put forwardas a recommendation of good character. The South Sea holds a largepercentage of the nimble people who manage to be in another spot whenDame Justice throws her lariat. The Law of the Fringe has made curiositya criminal offence, and a new name covers more than charity.

  I had had little chance of speaking to Edith Herndon since the moment Icame aboard, but I determined, after I had looked at the matter fromevery side, that I would ask her point blank if I could be of anyassistance. Leith's face was the only prop he put forward as a supportto his claims of respectability, and his face betrayed him.

  My chance came early that evening. A big tropical moon rose out of Asiaand spread a silvery wash upon the ocean. Professor Herndon and hiseldest daughter were leaning over the rail, but the moment I joined themthe old man informed us that he had to see to his scientific outfit sothat everything would be in readiness for the landing on the followingmorning, and he hurried off and left us together.

  The girl did not speak for a few minutes, and I made no attempt to breakthe silence. Somehow I felt that her intuition had already told her thatI wished to speak about the happenings of the morrow, and her openingremark proved that my surmise was correct.

  "You will stay with the yacht, I suppose?" she questioned.

  "I cannot say," I replied. "Captain Newmarch hasn't spoken to me aboutthe matter. Does your father intend to go far inland?"

  "Father has just told me that the actual distance is not great, but thetravelling is very hard. It seems that it is only a few miles to thespot where Mr. Leith says that father can see all the sights and obtainall the specimens he desires, but those few miles will take us four daysto travel. There are all kinds of obstacles in the way."

  "And you are not afraid?" I stammered. "You do not dislike the idea ofgoing?"

  She lifted her head and looked me in the face, the big amber eyesshining softly in the moonlight.

  "I dread it," she said quietly. "It is foolish to say so, but--"

  She stopped speaking and turned her face away from me. In the littlesilence that followed I heard the _plop plop_ of the waves against theside of the yacht. A native chanted a Samoan love song in the fo'c'stle,but that and the soft whine of the pulleys were the only sounds thatdisturbed the night. We seemed such a long way from civilization at thatminute, and a great pity for the girl's plight gave me sufficientcourage to make a proffer of my services.

  "Miss Herndon," I spluttered, "if I could do anything to help you,please tell me. I might help you if you wish. Tell me what you think isbest."

  "If you stay with the yacht you can do nothing," she murmured.

  "Then you want me to go?" I cried. "You would like me to go with----"

  "Father and Barbara and me," she said softly. "Mr. Holman is coming,and if you could come too--"

  "I can!" I cried. "I will go with the party if you say so."

  "But if Captain Newmarch orders you to stay with the yacht?"

  "He can order away," I spluttered. "I am going where Leith is going,that is as long as Leith accompanies you and your father."

  Something moved on the top of the galley as I put my resolution intowords, and I sprang up quickly. The moon made every inch of the yacht asbright as day, yet I was not quick enough in my rush. A tin pan, knockeddown by the eavesdropper, rolled across the deck, but the spy had fled.

  "Some one was listening to us," I explained as I returned to the girl'sside.

  "I am sorry then that I asked you to accompany us," she murmured. "I amdragging you into our troubles, Mr. Verslun, and it is not right."

  "Hush!" I cried. "Your troubles are mine just because you are a womanout on the very fringe of the earth where you can get no one else tohelp you bear them. You see I can claim a right in this spot. This isthe jumping off place of the world down here, and an offer of assistancemust not be refused."

  She stood in front of me, a tall, splendid figure, the moonlightsilvering the piled masses of hair and giving one the impression thather head was surrounded by a shining halo. Suddenly she put out her handand took mine.

  "I accept your offer gladly," she said softly. "You are very, very kind,Mr. Verslun. It may be, as you say, the jumping off place of the worlddown here at the very outposts of civilization, but the power thatprotects one in the crowded cities is surely here as well. Good-night,friend."

  It was an hour after the time when Miss Herndon went below that I askedthe captain's permission to go along with the expedition. He plucked hisscrawny beard with a nervous hand as he stood staring at me.

  "What the devil do you want to go for?" he asked.

  "For the fun of the thing."

  "I don't know," he muttered. "I'll see Leith."

  He turned away and I walked for'ard. The beauty of the night wasextraordinary. The yacht seemed to be veneered with a soft luminouspaint that gave us the appearance of a ghostly ship skimming over aghostly ocean.

  At the top of the fo'c'stle ladder I found a native stretched fulllength and sobbing mightily. He walloped his head against the plankswhen I endeavoured
to get him upon his feet, and the sobs shook hisframe.

  "What's the matter?" I asked.

  "Toni! Toni! Toni!" he wailed. "Toni he gone. Toni, my brother, all samecome from Suva, now him dead."

  "I'm sorry, but it can't be helped," I said. "He should have been morecareful."

  The native lifted himself from the deck and glanced around fearfully.Satisfied that there were no listeners he dried his eyes and crawledupon his knees to the spot where I was standing. "He not washedoverboard," he whispered. "Soma stick one knife in him, then he tip himover. Me see him, very much afraid."

  "When?" I asked.

  "Night afore last," he gasped. "Captain see him do it. Very bad thing.Toni, my brother, all same work one time Suva."

  Holman joined me when I relieved the captain late in the night; I toldthe youngster what I knew about the disappearance of Toni.

  "Who knifed him?" he asked.

  "The big Kanaka who pulled Leith out of the scuppers when he fellyesterday."

  "Holy smoke!" cried the boy. "I'd like to get the strength of things onboard this boat. Why, that big nigger is going to be the guide of theexpedition on shore."

  "Who says so?"

  "Leith pointed him out to the Professor this afternoon," answeredHolman. "I was talking to the old scientist at the time."

  I whistled softly. If Soma was a henchman of Leith's it was clear to mewhy the captain had shielded him the night he jerked the knife at mewhen I dropped the pin upon his woolly head, but why Toni had been putaway was a mystery.

  "Is it any good of attempting to convince the Professor?" I asked.

  "Not a bit," snapped Holman. "The girls have been imploring him to turnback this last three days while we were stuck in the cabin, but he won'tlisten to them. He's a maniac, that's what he is. He doesn't know whatthose two women are suffering through his darned foolishness, and if hedid know it wouldn't trouble him. If you want the real extract ofselfishness you must make a puncture in a scientific guy with a hobby,and you can get as much as you want."

  "Well, I'm going along to see what happens," I said. "If Leith refusesto accept me I'm going just the same."

  Holman gripped my hand--gripped it fiercely, then he left me hurriedly.

  I tramped backward and forward as _The Waif_ sailed steadily through thewaves of glittering mercury. A few days before, when I was an occupantof "The Rathole" in Levuka, life seemed to be empty and cold, but awonderful change had come in those few days. Although I had not spokento Edith Herndon more than half a dozen times, it appeared to me that itwas those few short conversations that had chased the loneliness andmorbid thoughts from my mind. Her very presence stimulated me in amanner that I could not express, and as I stared out across themoon-whitened ocean I started nervously at the thought which had sprungsuddenly into my brain. It was an insane thought, and I tried to laughit away. Edith Herndon was as far above me as the moon was above thewaves that were silvered by her beams. I pictured myself lying like abeachcomber upon the pile of pearl shell when the strange chant of theMaori and the dead Toni concerning "the way to heaven out of BlackFernando's hell" had come to my ears, and I blessed the new influencewhich had come into my life.

  "My way to heaven lies in this direction," I soliloquized, and thequivering yacht went bounding on as I allowed wild dreams to raceunchecked through my brain.

  CHAPTER VI

  THE ISLE OF TEARS

  A sleepy Samoan in the main cross-trees screamed a message to the deckwhile the pink flush of the tropical dawn was still in the sky, and _TheWaif_ plunged through the water toward the island. One after the otherthe members of the expedition came on deck. Leith stumbled up whenNewmarch shouted down the information, and the big brute watched thetiny spot that came gradually nearer; the Professor danced up like anadventurous boy, and he gurgled ecstatically as he peeped over the rail;while the two girls came up arm in arm and looked in silence across thedawn-reddened waters. Holman's gaze travelled from the island to Leithand back again to the island as if he was trying to trace a criminalconnection between the two.

  As the yacht drew closer a strange silence seemed to fall upon thevessel. The Professor's gurgles of joy died away slowly, and none of theothers seemed inclined to break the stillness. The crew and the halfdozen islanders that Leith had brought to carry provisions and specimenswere also silent. They were grouped for'ard, but not a murmur came fromthem as _The Waif_ crept slowly ahead, feeling her way cautiously intothe little bay on the north side of the island which Leith had suggestedto Newmarch as a good anchorage.

  The peculiar stories that had gone abroad concerning the Isle of Tearswere responsible for most of the wide-eyed looks of wonder which theimaginative Polynesians directed upon the shore; the strange predicamentin which they were placed tied the tongues of the two girls; theProfessor was thinking of the archaeological treasures, while thoughtsthat one could only guess at prevented Leith and Holman from speaking.

  The island had a strange, wild beauty that seemed to throttle speech.The underlying coral reefs were of colours that ran from pure white togorgeous crimson, and the effect upon the water above them was wonderfulto behold. _The Waif_ seemed to make her way over a floor of beautifulparquetry which Mother Nature had been constructing for centuries.Chameleon-tinted seaweeds stretched upward, waving backward and forwardlike the hair of sea nymphs hidden in the crevices of the multi-colouredrocks.

  The vegetation on the shore was weird and wondrous. The treesimmediately near the edge of the bay were covered with riotous lianasthat looped themselves like pythons from limb to limb, and from whosegreen masses blazing red flowers appeared at intervals like watchfuleyes. Scarlet hibiscus and perfumed frangipanni were everywhere, whileclimbing jasmine tried to cover up the black basalt rocks in theforeground as if to hide everything that was ugly from the eyes of thevisitor. The sweet, intoxicating odours came out to us in greeting, yetthe place seemed to inspire us with a feeling of awe and mystery thatbecame more oppressive as the yacht moved lazily across the bay.

  I glanced at Edith Herndon at the moment the anchor plunged down intothe bed of coral, and the look of perplexed wonder upon her facestartled me.

  "It looks a nice place, yet it feels an awful spot," she murmured. "Allthose snaky creepers with their coloured flowers seem to be hidingsomething."

  I understood her feelings regarding the place. That look of weirdexpectancy, common to places that are cloaked with a tremendous silence,had gripped the two girls, and the yacht seemed homelike when theycompared it to the shore.

  "Oh, Edith," cried the younger sister, "I wish father wouldn't go!"

  "So do I, dear," murmured the elder girl, "but it is useless to attemptto persuade him to give up the quest."

  "But I hate the place!" cried Miss Barbara. "Don't you?"

  "Oh, no," stammered Edith, bravely attempting to cheer the spirits ofthe younger girl. "You will not be lonely, Barbara. Mr. Holman andfather and I will be with you, and perhaps Mr. Verslun will be in ourcompany."

  Newmarch approached at the instant and squeaked out an answer to therequest I had made the previous evening.

  "I asked Mr. Leith if you could go with him," he said, "but he doesn'tthink you would be of any use. He has all the help he requires, so youhad better stay on the yacht."

  There was a slight grin on his thin face as he imparted the information,and his merriment tickled me. I had made up my mind without waiting forLeith's decision, and I was more pleased than annoyed at knowing that mypresence was not desired with the party that went inland.

  The anchor had hardly touched the bottom before Leith started totransship the provisions that were required for the trip across theisland. The sight of land seemed to stir the sallow-faced giant out ofthe lethargy that had gripped him on the way down from Levuka. Hesuddenly discovered that the mantle of authority was upon his shoulders,and he bullied the island boys as they lowered the stores.

  Holman was right when he stated that Soma was the man that Leith hadpicked as first assista
nt. The big Kanaka was placed in charge of theother five carriers, and he immediately imitated Leith by shrieking outorders and strutting about in a manner that was ludicrous. ProfessorHerndon was bubbling over with excitement. The stories which Leith hadfed to him continuously concerning the remains of an extinctcivilization had worked him up to a pitch that bordered on insanity, andit was pitiful to watch him as he made endless notes in the bulkynotebook.

  "I shall be known throughout the world inside three months," hewhispered to Leith.

  "In less than that," drawled the giant.

  "Yes, you're right!" snapped the dream-fed scientist. "If everything isas you say our task will be an easy one. Are you ready Edith? Barbara,come along!"

  He climbed down the ladder with a haste that was nearly his undoing, ashe let go his grip before the boat was directly beneath him. Holmansaved him from a ducking, but his solar topee, which had a distinctlyscientific look, was soaked in salt water before it could be rescued.

  Captain Newmarch stood by with a look of unconcern upon his thin face asthe two girls went over the side, and he gave an unintelligible grunt asLeith followed. Within two hours after _The Waif_ had cast anchor thetwo boats containing the stores and the ill-assorted explorers weremaking for a small promontory that stretched out like a green