Ralph Stock

“ Neither was she to know that there came a time when Weslie and Tommie found themselves in an awkward predicament. Despite his gentle, lethargic ways, the Samoan is at heart a born fighter even to this day. He has never forgotten his warlike past and the part his grandfather played in the history of the South Pacific; there are too many bards and song-makers in the islands for that. And, like warriors the world over, they are impatient of delay. ”

“ Then came an evening when Tommie called Weslie into consultation, and they sat long over the candle-nut. Akanesi, squatting in the dark shadows, listened and watched, for that is all women are expected to do in Samoa.
"You wonder what I have been doing," said Tommie, in glib Polynesian. "The time has come for me to tell you. I have been making myself fit to fight for my country. Have I succeeded?" He thumped his hollow chest with his fist, and Weslie nodded approvingly. "England is at war, and I am English." Again the chest was thumped and the head nodded. "England must win." ”

“ He was vaguely conscious that the sun shone, that it was pleasant to receive homage—and incidentally food and lodging—that he had in no way earned, that he enjoyed the easy-going society of those about him, their days of fishing and philandering, their evenings of sing-songs and revelry, even their faint odour of cocoa-nut oil, and, after all, what else mattered—except yaquona? Yaquona was distinctly worth while; it numbed, deadened, rendered life a thing less arduous. ”

“ There are many like him south of the Line, men who have suddenly appeared on the beaches and as suddenly vanished, to live in seclusive idleness as the pet, the mascot of some native tribe,. defying the curse of Adam. Life without work, without responsibility, almost without thought—these are their maxims, and Tommie had followed them to such purpose that at fifty he was practically helpless. ”

“ It was at this very moment that a strange procession filed into the open—a hundred stalwart Samoans, bearing arms of varied and antiquated pattern, but marching with a precision that attracted the professional eye of many a trooper, and led by a shrivelled old man whose efforts at deportment would have been laughable on any other occasion. ”

“ Tommie always hated to find himself alone. Where were Weslie, and Akanesi, and—and—— But it was really too much trouble to recall the name of each member of the household that shared the honour of supporting him. ”