Gordon Young

“ If Taulemeito would accept a German consul as adviser and give German planters lands and German traders certain monopolies, and turn Williams over to the few German soldiers that would be left to seize him on his return, then the monstrous offense would be ignored.
Taulemeito was furious, but he had the judgment not to show it. He was too proud to yield, too sensible to fight.
So he implored the pagan gods of his fathers to send a terrible storm and wreck the German on the outer reefs—for though there was the entrance into the harbor, the German had been timid about using it. ”

“ The only place to learn a new language is in the moonlight; that is in the shadows of a moonlit night. It was there Adam was trained to say, “I love you,” as some years later in another and serpentless Eden I, in less than one lesson, learned aloha ai—and much else. ”

“ Senva, dreadfully frightened, began. But he was cut short by the irate Taulemeito.
“Who art thou, born of a pig, to speak to my face in the presenec of chiefs and friends? Tell him who carries his long knife across his belly lest it trip his feet, that Taulemeito will cut thy head from thy shoulders and in his presence, here!”
Two seconds of startled silence followed. Then Williams sprang to his feet, shouting at Captain Lumholtz.
“There,” he cried, an arm like an outthrust sword leveled at Shaylor, “is the man you want!” ”

“ Taulemeito prohibited any boats going beyond the outer reefs. But Williams had to wait after he was ready to leave.
That sums up the general situation.
Raikes knew how to catch the palm-sap, and the little patience and no labor needed for its fermentation appealed to him; so he got drunk. He was harmless enough, but more lamentatious than ever. When I am sober, drunken men are disagreeable in my sight. Even after—to be done with him—I promised never to doubt in the least that he had been a true friend to Hawkins and myself, he persisted in wanting to prove it. ”

“ In cold climates a fellow may find it convenient to do a little work to get his blood circulating. But not at Lelela. Williams must have got his brother the chief to take an interest, for everybody from babies to doddering ancients turned to and made so much clatter and bustle that my absence was not noticed. Yet the crew had a rich, glorious time. Work was like play; play like what it always was in those unchristianized days. Everything that a generous Creator, who must have loved the old Samoans well, had bestowed in the way of food was laid at the feet of the men ”

“ Captain Lumholtz jerked his head nervously, eagerly, toward Shaylor, who had opened his mouth and half-lifted his hands stupidly. I heard Hawkins's low-voiced rumbling threat to the men beside him, commanding silence—with the club.
I suppose a hubbub would have broken out at the next instant if Williams had not begun to speak. He said probably fifty words and he said them rapidly, in Samoan and to Senva.
I never knew a man who had such convincing, commanding force to his words. ”

“ For one thing, Taulemeito would poke a spear into a native that showed any such symptom of being civilized—
“Aw, it isn't for any love of Davenant or Shaylor or the hungry Yankees that Williams's doin' it. He knows if Taulemeito killed them all the gunboats under heaven would come in here and hang Taulemeito, shell the village, blow to pieces the girls that put those flowers in your hair and the babies that Father Rinieri's christened, those larking boys yelling at play down there on the grass now, and the old, old hags that sit and mumble of their girlhood.
“That's what you white people do. ”

“ It was as if he had suddenly become obsessed by a grim sense of humor. It was incredible. I felt my bones turn to jelly, and a shiver of amazement went through me. For seconds every one was jarred speechless ”

“ I simply closed my eyes and flung my answer to him.
“Skipper, women go to priests to tell 'em the names of the men they hate, and why. They can't tell 'em why they love. Nobody knows that. But the other reason they go is to tell 'em who!”
Two hours later Williams was still in the house of the priest, across from him at the little table, with the yellow flame of the lamp burning between them. ”

“ Would not the keen-eyed Malua notice there was something on the fellow's mind? Malua was too young to trifle with discretions; if he hated a man he killed him.
I frequently lurked near the meeting-place that Davenant and Shaylor used, and though much of what they said was mumbled too low for me to catch it, I had heard Shaylor say the crew would turn on Williams, that the schooner could be stolen out; and Davenant had spoken of the rifles in the cabin, and they were confident of putting together some acceptable plan if relief did not come from Apia. ”

“ His present hate was Davenant and Shaylor. Davenant had money. He said Shaylor was getting it. Did I know they met frequently after dark? I did. Did I know Shaylor and the Yankee missionaries were “chummy”? I did—so did Williams. It is ghastly to see a one-eyed man cry. I walked off. I went down to watch Hawkins eat. That had very nearly become Lelela's favorite amusement.
Hawkins was an adored monstrosity to those simple natives. They never grew weary of wondering at his size. His heartiness and untiring fun made them love him. ”

“ Strange that Lumholtz had not mentioned the reward his country offered. Perhaps it had slipped his mind. Perhaps he was grateful that no one else mentioned it, so there would not be the inconvenience of having to share, to divide it.
I went to Williams, who sat moodily alone in Taulemeito's private house.
“The devil loves his own,” I said. “But Hawkins forgot an' slipped a prayer toward Heaven. Maybe that's what pulled us through. But——”
He glanced at me; and his eyes were silencing. Perhaps he was relieved to see that I was not drunk. I do not know. ”

“ Things looked bad, and presently they looked worse. A group of warriors came running out of the village, spears in their hands, and they were yelling too. Two of the Germans made straight for the water, forgetful of their clean clothes; and the whole party would perhaps have undertaken to swim somewhere had it not soon appeared that the native men were rebuking and silencing the children.
It appeared that Taulemeito was to receive the German captain in all the dignity and pomp his savage court was able to present; and he sent word that a place awaited the traders upon his right hand. ”

“ He acts funny. Just about like a fellow does when he begins to think maybe the lady is really dyin' for love o' him.”
With a bit of spirit I told him he was a fool; that Taulemeito had offered his own sister to Williams, and a man had to have pretty strong objections to women to dare evade marrying a chief's sister. Moreover, as Hawkins could see, a fellow didn't have to be drunk to praise the beauty of Sampan damsels, as was absolutely necessary when he went courting farther west, say over in the Solomons. ”

“ They learned how greatly many white men were afraid of him. The German traders then at Lelela, three of them, bowed respectfully and kept out of his way. They even seemed to tremble under his eyes.
Didn't they have reason to tremble? Wasn't he a ferocious pirate—killed men quickly, as men killed flies?
Wasn't he sometimes called “Williams the Cannibal”? He was.
And the German traders probably believed it. One thing was certain: They believed that Williams was dangerous. ”

“ It does appear, however, that sometime later the gunboat Freidrich was disabled by a hurricane (sic) . Yet some people say the Germans haven't a sense of humor.
Hawkins and I were roused from our lethargic dialogue by an increasing air of excitement in the village. Some boys had rushed down from the hilly lookout to announce that a ship with smoke streaming and sails set was bearing toward Lelela from the south.
It was useless for Williams to try to escape to sea. He could not get out without being towed by boats. ”

“ After the affair at Dakaru, when Williams had released Samoans from Grahame's slavery and caused one man from Lelela itself to be returned home, Taulemeito himself declared Williams to be his own brother and threw the protection of his kingship—such as it was—about him. ”

“ Then Davenant and Shaylor had turned to the Yankee missionaries and rehearsed the duty they owed the law to assist in having Williams apprehended. So when Malua's boat went—ostensibly by Amoa, though everybody knew it was going to Apia—it carried as one of the crew a native who had promised to spread the report that Williams was at Lelela. A native was likely to promise anything when he received as much money as had been given him. ”

“ He was persuaded, however, to come up and address himself to the chief. Senva was thoroughly frightened, for certain remarks were made to him that he did not translate.
Now it happened that Taulemeito, who was brave and headstrong and seemed to think there was some kind of magic in Williams, had stubbornly determined to assert his rights against the whole of Germany if need be. ”

“ I had seen but little of her in the village. Now we were face to face, and I was wholly at ease.
She probably at once noticed the bottle under my arm, and for a moment seemed about to assume an attitude of chill disapproval. But I inquired for Father Rinieri.
He would be back presently. A baby was sick. A baby that had but recently been baptized, and the parents were a little fearful lest the sickness was punishment from the native gods. He had gone to reassure them.
Dula sat down. Her fingers idly closed the book. ”

“ Williams gave him a pistol, one shot, an' didn't take a thing himself. Faced the gun at fifty paces empty-handed. And the fellow didn't miss, but Williams—empty-handed—caught him and broke his neck. Only I don't believe a word of it.”
Hawkins cocked his head reflectively, then said:
“Nawp. That's the kind o' stuff these traders b'lieve. But that's a mighty good way 'o kill a man. Make you feel yerself a he-ro. Only Carp Taylor's a mighty good shot, and I can't run. Now my i-dee of a nice quiet murder is to go set down on a fellow when he's asleep. Takin' on weight, Red-Top.” ”