Part 26 (2/2)
”Only Nellie and little Kitty and Toby stayed behind. Nellie had a Winchester rifle and pointed it at Jansen, who was afraid to come into the house. Then she, Kitty, and the little boy collected as many of the Captain's things as they could carry, and taking a canoe, put out to sea, intending to paddle round to Mout, where they thought they would find you, who would tell them all about the Captain, and whether he was killed or not.
”But, after they had gone four or five miles, the outrigger came off and the canoe capsized. They swam ash.o.r.e and then walked back to Utw, where they were told by some natives that you were also a prisoner on board the man-of-war. And the last that had been seen of Nellie, Kitty, and the boy, was that they started to walk to Chabral harbour to try and see the captain of the man-of-war, as they were afraid that Jansen would kill them.
”Well,” continued Black Johnny, ”when I heard that you were also a prisoner I thought I would run away into the bush again, as I knew Jansen would put a bullet into me whenever he saw me if I did not get first shot. Just as I was thinking very hard what I should do, I heard some one walking on the broken coral outside the house. I knew the footstep; it was the Captain! I crept outside, and saw him standing up leaning against a stone wall. He had two pistols in his sash and a Winchester rifle in his hand. He seemed to be considering. I whistled softly, and then spoke. He shook hands with me, and then raised his rifle and pointed it at the head of the Strong's islander, who, with his wife Nadup, had followed me. They ran outside and threw themselves on the ground, and grovelled in the way they do to old Tokusar, and swore they would not tell that the Captain had come back.
”We then had a hasty talk, and I told him about you being a prisoner.
But he said you would soon be set free again and would return to Utw, and I must stick to you and help to keep order; that after the man-of-war had gone he would come back again. When I told him that the station was broken up, and that Jansen was in charge of thirty Strong's islanders, and that the girls had run away, he said it was a bad case, and, picking up his rifle, he asked me where Jansen was sleeping. I saw what he meant to do, and begged him to let things be as they were, and not kill Jansen while the man-of-war was here.
”So he thought awhile, and then said if he could find a boat he would get away, as he didn't think the man-of-war would follow him. By and by he would come back again, when he hoped to find you and me here all safe.
”The Strong's Island women then told us that the dingey had been brought down from Chabral harbour by Jansen, and was then lying outside the coral at anchor. 'She'll do,' said the Captain; 'lend me a hand, and we'll bring her ash.o.r.e.' But I made him lie quiet while I went for her; and I can tell you I was in a terrible funk all the time about sharks as soon as I began to swim out. Anyway I brought her in all right; and then the man and his wife brought a lot of cocoa-nuts and cooked food, and put it into the boat. I gave the Captain all the cartridges I had. He told me that he got the pistols from the place in the bush that you know of, and the rifle from young Harry, and that everything else there was all right.”
By this I knew that Hayston had visited a place in the bush where he had secreted his bags of money, besides firearms and ammunition.
Going on with his talk the young negro said, ”When everything was ready the Captain told me he meant to sail round the lee side of the island, and hide the boat in the mangroves till the man-of-war had gone, and then he would return and wipe out Jansen and the traders.
”He told me, though (for he felt sure of your being set free again), that if it so happened that he did not return in ten days you would know that he had cleared out towards the north-west, and would try to reach the Pelew Islands. He said if he reached there he would soon get a vessel, as there were always plenty of small Spanish schooners about those islands, and he could easily put his hand on one or two people in the Pelews who would help him to take one. I asked him what we should do if, when we came back to Utw, you found that Jansen was too strong for us? He said we should make no attempt to take forcible possession, but go and live with your people at Mout. That as soon as the girls knew where we were they would be certain to come to us with little Kitty and Toby. That we must wait till he returned, as he would never desert us.
”Then,” said Johnny, whose glistening eyes showed how deeply attached he was to his Captain, ”the poor fellow! he shook hands with me, and said I was made of the right stuff, and that the Almighty made a mistake when he gave me a black skin. Then, telling me to keep a stout heart, he got in and hoisted the sail. It was very dark, but there was a good land-breeze, and he sailed the dingey right along the edge of the reef till he came to the pa.s.sage, and disappeared in the darkness. I ran across the strip of land on the sea-side of the lagoon and waited till I saw him pa.s.s.
”In about half-an-hour I saw the little boat sailing along close into the sh.o.r.e, just outside of the breakers, rising and falling like a sea-gull on the top of the heavy seas. I could see the Captain's figure in the stern, and every moment expected to see her lifted high up on a roller and dashed on the reef. But though I shouted to him to keep farther out, the white figure in the stern never moved, and my voice was lost in the roaring of the surf.
”Then, as I saw him still keeping steady to the southward, just clear of the last sweep of the seas before they curled and broke on the reef, I remembered that only a few cables' lengths from the breakers there was always a strong current setting to the north, and that with a light breeze the boat would never stem it. That was why he hugged the sh.o.r.e so closely. At last, as I kept running through the undergrowth following the boat, I came to that place where there is a thick cane scrub. When I got through it he was nearly out of sight, and I sat on a boulder and watched the sail gradually covered up by the night.”
Such, in effect, was the young negro's story. I could not help being affected by his evident sorrow, and told him that I feared there was no chance of me at least ever seeing the Captain again. Then, when the time came to part, I shook his hand warmly, and advised him to sever his connection with the _Leonora's_ crew; also to go and see the king, who would not, at any rate, object to his remaining on the island to follow out the Captain's wishes as far as lay in his power.
Soon after Black Johnny had bid me good-bye young Harry came to say farewell, and with him Kusis and his family, and Lalia.
Harry told me that he saw the Captain after his escape, and urged him not to think of returning to Utw just then, as Jansen had a strong force of natives with him, and would certainly try to take or shoot him.
But he was determined to find out how matters stood, and bidding Harry good-bye, set out across the mangrove swamp that lined the sh.o.r.e from Harry's station to the village at Utw. He gave him the Winchester and cartridges, and the Captain a.s.sured him that he would not fire a shot except in self-defence.
I told Harry what I had learned from the young negro about the Captain's final movements, and that I was being taken away as a prisoner. He seemed very bitter against the other traders, whom he spoke of as trembling like whipped hounds before the Captain's frown when he was free, and who now, when he was a ruined and broken man, were loud in their threats and vapourings.
He also told me that he had received a letter from the king and Mr.
Morland, commanding him to deliver up to Jansen all oil, casks, boats, and other property in his possession belonging to Captain Hayston, and threatening him with deportation from the island if he refused. To this he sent a written reply to the effect, that unless the king and Mr.
Morland could back up their demand by a boat's crew from the man-of-war, he would shoot the first man who stepped inside his fence.
They then appealed to Commander Dupont, who told them that as young Harry was an American citizen, he could not force him to give up the property, but advised the king and Mr. Morland to take the law into their own hands.
Young Harry then armed his wives and native servants with rifles, and telling them to make short work of any one attempting to seize Captain Hayston's property, set out for Chabral harbour to interview the king.
He told me that when he reached the king's house he found there the other traders, Mr. Morland, and the commander of the man-of-war. On the latter gentleman inquiring who he was, and what he wanted, Harry answered him very concisely by furnis.h.i.+ng his name and nationality. He then stated that he had not come to see him (Commander Dupont), but the king, of whom he wished to ask by what right he dared to send him a letter threatening him with deportation from the island unless he consented to give up Captain Hayston's property. He warned him to be careful how he interfered with an American citizen, as there was an American cruiser now in the Caroline Islands. He (the king) would find he had made a serious mistake if he committed any outrage upon a citizen of the United States.
”You should have seen the look in the British officer's face,” said Harry, ”when I stepped up to the old king, and nearly touching his face with my hand, said, 'and I warn you, king, that the captain of an American cruiser will listen to the tale and redress the wrongs of the honest American citizen. He would think little of knocking your town about your ears.'”
The old king never spoke, but glanced first towards the British officer and then to the missionary, but as neither of them offered suggestions, the poor old fellow could only mutter something to the effect that he was like a little fish in a pool, afraid of the sea because of the bigger fish, and afraid to stay lest the frigate birds should seize him.
Young Harry quite enjoyed relating the scene to me, and said that as he was going away the king held out his hand and inquired in a shaky voice, ”I say, Harry, what you tink, what you do? Suppose Captain Hayston come back, what become of King Tokusar? Oh! by G.o.d! now I be 'fraid every day; think I hear Captain Hayston speak me; make noise like bullock; I think better be poor native, no more king.”
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