Part 12 (1/2)

Kyte, a thin man, with deep-set grey eyes, and a skin tanned by twenty years' wanderings in the South Seas, listened quietly to the trader's vapourings, and then said, ”All right, Hans! I think, though, we can leave it till to-morrow, and if you can manage to get me twenty 'boys,'

I'll give you five dollars a head for them, cash.”

The traders remained on board for an hour or two, and in the meanwhile the captain of the schooner sent a boat ash.o.r.e to fill water casks from the creek near the trader's house. Six natives got in--four of whom were seamen from the schooner and two Solomon Island recruits; these two recruits led to all the subsequent trouble.

Kyte was a wonderfully entertaining man, and although his one arm was against him (he had lost the other one by the bursting of a sh.e.l.l), he contrived to shoot very straight, and could hold his own anywhere.

He was full of cynical humour, and the Englishman, though suffering from latent fever, could not but be amused at the disrespectful manner in which the American spoke of his employers. The German firm which in a small way was the H.E.I.C. of the Pacific; indeed, their actions in many respects, when conducting trading arrangements with the island chiefs, were very similar to those of the Great East India Company--they always had an armed force to back them up.

”I should think you have natives enough on board as it is, Captain Kyte,” the Englishman was saying, ”without taking any more.”

”Well, so I have in one way. But these d--d greedy Dutchmen (looking the captain and mate of the schooner full in the face) like to see me come into Apia harbour with about 180 or 200 on board. The schooner is only fit to carry about ninety. Of course the more I have the more dollars I get. But it's mighty risky work, I can tell you. I've got nearly sixty Solomon boys on board now, and I could have filled down there, but came up along here instead. You see, when we've got two or three different mobs on board from islands widely apart they can't concoct any general scheme of treachery, and I can always play one crowd off against the other. Now, these Solomon Island n.i.g.g.e.rs know me well, and they wouldn't try any cutting off business away up here--it's too far from home. But I wouldn't trust them when we are beating back through the Solomons on our way to Samoa--that's the time I've got a pull on them, by having New Britain n.i.g.g.e.rs on board.”

”You don't let your crew carry arms on board, I see,” said the Englishman.

”No, I don't. There's no necessity for it, I reckon. If we were anywhere about the Solomon Islands, and had a lot of recruits on board, I take d--d good care that every man is armed then. But here, in New Britain, we could safely give every rifle in the s.h.i.+p to the 'recruits'

themselves, and seeing armed men about them always irritates them. As a matter of fact, these 'boys' now on board would fight like h--l for us if the New Britain n.i.g.g.e.rs tried to take the s.h.i.+p. Some men, however,”

and his eyes rested on Pierre, Hans, and the captain, ”like to carry a small-arms factory slung around 'em. Have another drink, gentlemen?

Hallo, what the h--l is that?” and he was off up on deck, the other four white men after him.

The watering party had come back, but the two Solomon islanders (the recruits) lay in the bottom of the boat, both dead, and with broken spears sticking all over their bodies. The rest of the crew were wounded--one badly.

In two minutes Captain Kyte had the story. They were just filling the last cask when they were rushed, and the two Solomon islanders speared and clubbed to death. The rage of the attackers seemed specially directed against the two recruits, and the crew--who were natives of Likaiana (Stewart's Island)--said that after the first volley of spears no attempt was made to prevent their escape.

The face of Captain Kyte had undergone a curious change. It had turned to a dull leaden white, and his dark grey eyes had a spark of fire in them as he turned to the captain of the schooner.

”What business had you, you blundering, dunder-headed, Dutch swab, to let two of my recruits go ash.o.r.e in that boat? Haven't you got enough sense to know that it was certain death for them. Two of my best men, too. Bougainville boys. By ----! you'd better jump overboard. You're no more fit for a labour schooner than I am to teach dancing in a ladies'

school.”

The captain made no answer. He was clearly in fault. As it was, no one of the boat's crew were killed, but that was merely because their European clothing showed them to be seamen. The matter was more serious for Kyte than any one else on board. The countrymen of the murdered boys looked upon him as the man chiefly responsible. He knew only one way of placating them--by paying some of the dead boys' relations a heavy indemnity, and immediately began a consultation with five Solomon islanders who came from the same island.

In the mean time the three traders returned to the sh.o.r.e, and Hans, with his usual thick-headedness, immediately ”put his foot in it,” by demanding a heavy compensation from the chief of the village for the killing of the two men.

The chief argued, very reasonably from his point of view, that the matter didn't concern him.

”I don't care what you think,” wrathfully answered the little trader, ”I want fifty coils, of fifty fathoms each, of _dewarra_. If I don't get it”--here he touched his revolver.

Now, dewarra is the native money of New Britain; it is formed of very small white sh.e.l.ls of the cowrie species, perforated with two small holes at each end, and threaded upon thin strips of cane or the stalk of the cocoa-nut leaf. A coil of dewarras would be worth in European money, or its trade equivalent, about fifty dollars.

The chief wasn't long in giving his answer. His lips, stained a hideous red by the betel nut juice, opened in a derisive smile and revealed his blackened teeth.

”He will fight,” he answered.

”You've done it now, Hans,” said the Englishman, ”you might as well pack up and clear out in the schooner. You have no more sense than a hog. By the time I get back to my station I'll find it burnt and all my trade gone. However, I don't care much; but I hope to see you get wiped out first. You deserve it.”

All that night the native village was in a state of turmoil, and when daylight came it was deserted by the inhabitants, who had retreated to their bush-houses; the French trader, who had walked along the beach to his station, returned at daylight and reported that not a native was in his town, even his two wives had gone. Nothing, however, of his trade had been touched.