Gordon Young

“ Once he had grabbed her, perhaps thinking that Dula was alone, when she had walked on from two or three of the girls who stopped to gossip with somebody. Dula had made the girls promise to say nothing about it, and by some miracle they seemed to have done so.
“Well,” I reflected, “Red Shaylor is gone. Probably the Fates are patching up the hole that Williams tore in their design when the Roanoke went down. Or maybe they really didn't want him to die then. There is no more telling about the Fates than about any other woman—they all get a man into trouble.” ”

“ Samoan ladies are outspoken. Did I not know that the beautiful woman had been fearful of the lima toto man—the red, the bloody-handed Shaylor? Did I not know that there had been cause? She was afraid too of the black-haired man. Why hadn't Williams settled with the one and with the other, too? Gave one to the Germans. Whipped the other with a little string. Bah! She, Laulai, had heard that he was a man.
I recalled how Dula had on the ship seemed to sense the wisdom of avoiding Red Shaylor, even though the alternative was to make a companion of me ”

“ But she wanted him to love her—and she looked just like the woman that had had him hanged. And he had loved that one.
Ought to make him hate this one? Of course it ought. But what man does as he should?
“And how many women could you hate that looked like the first one you loved? And she hasn't worn that black coat with red lining—not since Williams was shot. What has that to do with it? Lots— only I don't know in what way. She is like that; black on the surface and crimsonly passionate inside of her. She has flung herself at him, Hawkins. ”

“ There he had heard her story from the time the Sicilian countess came as a bride to England—the whole story, with its tragedies and bitterness, told with the solemn, dramatic, yet compassionate words of an old, wise man who knew the hearts of men and of women. ”

“ It was Laulai who told me with that free sense of criticism that women have—particularly native women after they have learned impudence from white husbands—that she did not think Williams was such a fine man. He had sent Red Shaylor away for Germans to hang him. Williams should have killed him outright.
Had anybody annoyed the wives of Taulemeito and lived? Could any man grab a woman in the shadows that loved Malua, and not die? Williams was a great alii, brother of the chief ”

“ Davenant looked at him, just stared in a kind of stupid daze; and then—no doubt unconsciously—he made the sign of the cross on his breast. Silently he went aft; went to his room. He had not been seen out of it since.
The Samoans that came on board with Williams remained. White men were under native eyes. They became the crew. Not those men, or not all of them; but others came to take their place.
Malua came with a half dozen eager to follow Williams over the world. Why? He would lead them into trouble. ”

“ I do not think that Dula wanted to go except with the ship. I mean that I imagined she did not particularly care whether the ship went to Dakaru or Denmark; but wherever it went she wanted to go.
I guessed that she was not eager to go to Dakaru because Father Rinieri came on board with her and the native woman, Laulai; and he would not have come on board to give his parting blessing unless he knew that her first urge for going to Dakaru had vanished. He remained with us until the ship was towed to the outer reefs; then a boat came alongside for him. ”

“ There are so many things I don't know, and for one as curious as I it's often fretful and increases sleeplessness.
One thing was clear, however: Father Rinieri would not have considered it an honor a week before to have known Williams.
Dula had Laulai, a Samoan woman, as a companion. Laulai could speak a little English. When a girl she had married an Englishman and lived with him for ten years. He had made money in trade and gone back home to spend it on white women. She never saw him again. ”

“ The same as when he wrecks blackbirders and sets natives loose—likely enough to murder the next white men that come! He does that; and yet—have you ever seen him kill? Pouf—Pouf—Pouf with knife or gun. And never a quiver—no more than if he was spearing fish! Aye, he's been hanged himself, so probably he knows how little life is worth. No, you fool, I'm not drunk! I'm sober—that's what's the matter with me!”
.... And the next morning we raised Dakaru. ”

“ Perhaps it is because men, no matter what their color, follow the intrepid ones. Perhaps it was because Williams never broke a promise to them. He never broke his promise to any man. A simple way to get rid of Williams from the high seas would have been through getting him to agree to go to Sydney and stick his head through the noose. ”

“ And again at Williams's request a party of men hurried the Yankee missionaries off to the hills. Malua swore to club them to death. They had inspired Senva to treachery.
The American engineer at Apia, undoubtedly frightened and possibly truthful also, had said it was impossible to furnish dynamite. He had heard the report Senva gave out even before Malua learned it had been given out; and he conspired to hold Malua at Apia so he could not get away and give warning before the Friedrich had started. ”