Part 2 (1/2)
”Can I help it, Peter,” he said tothe charts I had drawn under his directions, ”that the natives of this country are poor? Gold, ivory, precious stones, spices even, seem not to exist in the South as they do in the East Did I make this country, that I should be held responsible for what it contains?”
But, although he spoke thus, I could see he was bitterly disappointed at finding the land we had come so far to seek little better than a wilderness, and the people upon it so poor that they went entirely naked, and devoured each other in order to satisfy their hunger I tried to cheer hiht yet find chances to enrich ourselves before returning hoht that the voyage he had accoht prove resultless in the accumulation of wealth
In order to hearten the creith fresh adventure, the course of the ”Endraght” was now directed toward the islands of the Pacific These islands were reported to abound in pearl shell, and whilst cruising a a supply of pearls which ht compensate the e, and send us all home rich men
CHAPTER VI
THE FIGHT ON THE SANDS
I ly have left unrecorded, but as I have undertaken to set down here, in the order of its sequence, each event which took place uponon southern seas, I must not, as a faithful chronicler, o in its order
Now it so fell out that our first supercargo, Gilles Miebas Van Luck, bore h I could recall no act on ained the favour of the captain, of which I could see Van Luck was jealous From the first Van Luck made no secret of his dislike ofthat by reason ofbut nineteen years old, it would be more seemly if I took my meals with thehad overruled his objections As his secretary he maintained I was entitled to berth with the officers, and after my rescue from the inhospitable shores of Terra Australis I continued to occupy h I would as lief have messed with the men sooner than have been the cause of a quarrel
At length matters came to a climax, when Van Luck ordered me to set about some menial hich I did not consider compatible with my position as the captain's secretary, and which, therefore, I declined to perfore atpin in his hand, but I had fought many a battle with the fisher lads upon the sands at Urk, and ell able to take my own part, so that when Van Luck was almost upon ht by an old sler at Urk, I tripped him as he passed so that he fell into the scuppers, when, with aa pistol fro at this moment appeared on deck, and commanded hi, ”am I captain of this shi+p or not? What means this mutiny? Come both of you to my cabin that I may hear the case and see justice done”
Without sothen descended to his state room, whither we followed him in shamefaced silence, for when the captain spoke we knew hehad heard e had to say, and the argu ter,” said he ”Peter should not have refused to obey an order without referring the ht not to have taken the law into your own hands when I, your captain, a to overlook your dereliction of duty (though by every rule of the sea you are both deserving of death at the yard arm) provided that at the first suitable place, and tiht out your quarrel as man to man, and pass me your words that, whatever the result, the survivor, or victor, shall bear the other no ill will”
This was a favouritedisputes that were occasionally bound to arise ae Order upon the shi+p, he idly observed, but if bad blood arose between h spirit and hot temper, the malcontents were landed at some convenient place where, in the presence of the shi+p's coht theon board with their ardour cooled, and their anger properly chastened This plan, on the whole, was found to ell Sometimes one and sometimes both of the combatants were killed, but, as a rule, the matter was settled without the sacrifice of life, and the parties returned fro Hartog's decision we both bowed and retired, and, in the terms of our proh nothing out of the coht spread ahout the shi+p
I was now near twenty-one and Van Luck was three years ht”; but I had led a hardy life, and my spell ashore had taken off superfluous flesh, and left e not given to onist, who had, perforce, lived a monotonous existence for months past on shi+pboard So I looked forward to the coree of confidence, notwithstanding that Van Luck and his supporters promised me I would lose both my ears as forfeit, if not ht at length becaht lead to further disputes, deteret it over as soon as possible, and for this purpose he altered the shi+p's course to an island he sighted on the horizon which wethe same afternoon, e came to anchor in a natural harbour formed by a coral reef and opposite to a hard sandy beach well suited to thewe landed two boats' crews on the beach, only the watch being left on board, ould nevertheless be able to see the fight fro, with little wind and no sea The waves broke in crisp diamond sparkles upon the sand, and the feathery palms and coconut trees, hich the island abounded, imparted to the place a fairy-like aspect such as the hand of n The island appeared to be uninhabited and it seeh ourhad taken up a position upon a spot he had selected as suitable for the contest, he explained the conditions under which the dispute was to be settled The fight won to be to the death, or until either party confessed himself vanquished or was unable to continue, and in no case was ht be the result Having then proclaiin Both lets being used as bandages for the right arer knives hich ere ar allowed no other weapon My adversary was stouter than I, but ere both of a height, and what I lacked in strength I an to circle each other, waiting an opportunity to strike, which presently caht when his blade ithin an inch of th I strove to force his hand so that with his own blade he le he broke away Not a as spoken by the onlookers, and no sound was heard save only the tread of our feet as we circled and waited for a chance to strike again
It now occurred to er when I had tried to force his hand,the offensive again, and to this end I led hi the strokes he ai to oppose them, and this method proved so successful that I presently had the satisfaction of observing inhis ier, Van Luck suddenly rushed upona trick I had learnt, I tripped hi his knife, which, before he could recover it, I secured By all the rules of the game he was now at my mercy, and I called upon hiive in The advantage I had gained now entitled me to stab him to death where he stood, or to cut off his ears if I had themyself to kill, or maim, an unar's feet, and returned once an to tell in my favour, and I found I was the better boxer and wrestler of the two, so that I rained blows upon my opponent, some of which drew blood He then tried to clinch with me, but I had waited for this, and when he seized ht to do by ler, so that when he tried to throw ave hi the sand, where he fell upon the broad of his back the breath being knocked clean out of his body For so evident he would not be able to continue the fight, Hartog awarded ained consciousness, he ordered hirace, though of a surety I bore hi to ht, ”henceforth I look upon you as my comrade as well as my secretary; but do not, on that account, believe I shall be less strict to enforce discipline upon you equally with all under reat distance we are from home it behoves some one to be in authority, if we are ever to see the Netherlands again Promise me then to set a curb upon your temper, and when Van Luck is able to resuiven hiave ly, and I can honestly say that, on, ainst any h I could see that Van Luck would never forgive uise fro the creho sided with him
CHAPTER VII
THE SPIRIT OF DISCORD