Part 4 (1/2)
”This is an evil day for me,” I said to the three head men, ”and I fear it will prove an evil day to the people of this village, for the wife of the man who lies there told me that a shi+p of war of his country was soon to be here at this island And how shall we account for his death?”
Niabon bent forward and spoke--
”Have no fear, Sie, nor I, shall co-shi+p
For when it comes thou and I, and Tematau, and Tepi, who know of the blood let out this day upon the floor of thy house, will be far away
And when the captain of the fighting-shi+p questioneth, and sayeth to the people, 'Where is my countryman?' the people will shake their heads and say, 'We know not He and his wife, and the Englishone They have sailed away to beyond the rim of the sea and the sky--we know not whither”
I listened with all e sense of helplessness overpowering esture to the head e body of Krause, carried it away
She came to me and pressed her hand on lish ”Lie down”
She took my hand and led me to my couch beside theand then bent overFor now the tith”
CHAPTER IV
I slept well on towards four o'clock in the afternoon, and when I awakened I found the house deserted by all but ed nearmy fever mixture beside him He held it up to me silently
Even before I raised er man, physically and mentally, than I had been six hours previously, and er seemed as if they were filled with liquid fire I drank the uined trace of the tragedy which had occurred a few hours before had been re which had covered the floor had been taken away and replaced by new squares, and the room presented the usual neat and orderly appearance in which it was always kept by Tepi and ry?”
”Aye,” I replied, ”I would eat; but first tell me of the dead man Who hath taken hihtforwardI could not hear
I jumped off ainst was e na a freshly-killed fowl in his hand, looked athad occurred, and asked me would I have it broiled or boiled
”As you will,” I said impatiently ”Tell me, Pai, whither have they taken the dead white esture--one that is not often used, but when it is it is must not be further alluded to, but h, naked, and wrinkled shoulder, and again repeated my question
”I know of no dead whiteme in his usual respectfulthe house, and began to pluck the fowl, casually ree
Somewhat puzzled at the reticence of my servants, I walked across e, which, as I have before mentioned, was some distance from my house, and as I walked I felt at every footstep a renewed bodily vigour, and alan to smoke with an enjoyloriously bright and cool, and the westering sun on ht hand shone on a sea of the deepest blue, whose placid bosom was dotted by a fleet of canoes with theirto and fro catching flying fish This see in mind the events of the past few hours The death of a white enerally a matter of such importance to the natives of any of the mid-Pacific isles, that their daily avocations were suspended, and the house of the deceased man would not only be surrounded on the outside by a circle of people sitting on theirtheir turn to enter and express their condolences with his wife or children, but filled inside as well
The first houses I passed on the outskirts of the village were occupied only by woreeting of _Tiakapo, Simi!_ (”Good-day, Jiratulation upon my improved appearance, and then cal fishi+ng nets, cooking, etc, but no one of the heard that anything unusual had occurred
[Illustration: Directed reat open-sided e square--if it could be so called--I directed reat open-sided _moniep_, or council house, fro in the vociferous roups As I drew near I saw that there were about twentycinnet for fishi+ng lines by twisting up the strands of coco-nut fibre on their naked thighs As they heard ravel, their conversation dropped a little, but they all gave me _Tiakapo!_ as usual, invited me to enter and sit down and smoke, and then went on with either their work or their pastiht toof all this reticence about the disposal of Krause's body”