Yates Stirling

“ They sailed around the men-of-war in turn, serenading; then shaped their course for Kulinuu Point on the western side of Ukula.
“What do you know new?” Phil asked Alice during a lull in the music.
“That the guns are to be landed from the ‘Talofa’ at Saluafata to-morrow, and that Kataafa leaves Kulinuu with all his people to-night,” she replied.
“Where did you hear this?” he asked wonderingly.
“Avao told me, but every one in Ukula knows it,” she answered. “There’s no difficulty learning secrets. No secrets are kept. The difficulty is to recognize a secret from a trick.” ”

“ Phil said gently, after a short silence.
“Yes, do,” Sydney urged eagerly.
“Tell you of Kapua Uma,” [9] Alice said wistfully. “I have lived here now three years, and I feel as if the people were my people. They are gentle, generous and lovable, except when they are excited by the papalangi. [40] The white men have brought only trouble and sorrow to the islands. No Kapuan has ever broken his word, except when the white men have betrayed him. In all their wars they have been generous to their foes. They never harm women and children. ”

“ One day the whole town of Ukula was ringing with the news of a murder. A black boy, a Solomon Islander, on the Kapuan firm’s plantation at Vaileli had been deliberately shot and killed by a Kataafa warrior. The latter after committing the crime strolled proudly into the town, boasting that he had shot a “black pig.”
Phil and Sydney were in the consulate when Avao brought this sensational news.
Killing during a war was looked upon by the foreigners as in the order of things, but during peace times such crimes could not be tolerated. ”

“ Avao, after being dismissed by her father, at once took Phil and Sydney by the hand, as is the Kapuan custom, and led the lads to the side of the pool.
In a few minutes the deep pool was a lively scene; men and women were jumping one after another from the top of the rock, full thirty feet, into the deep pool below.
After one or two jumps the lads decided that to watch the sport was more interesting than engaging in it. The icy cold water was deliciously refreshing but soon chilled them to the marrow. ”

“ Count Rosen was deeply thoughtful. The wanton pillage of the Kataafa warriors and their barbarous killing and beheading of the native supporters of the chief justice’s choice for king had greatly shocked him. He had failed to appreciate the natural cruelty of even the gentlest savages when their primitive [246] passion for bloodshed is aroused. Now to accept this petition and hoist the flag could not be considered. If there had been no bloodshed, then his countrymen at home might have upheld him if he hoisted the flag and even formally annexed the islands. ”

“ The launch turned between two bold headlands and steered for the dark land. They were running into a long narrow arm of the sea—the Bay of Fangaloa, a mile wide and three miles deep.
Every eye was strained ahead, gazing for [317] the schooner. There were but few lights on the distant beach. Most of the natives were long ago in bed.
Quietly the sailors had taken their stations. Each carried only a revolver; for night use rifles are less effective. Phil and Sydney stood side by side ready to lead their men on board the “Talofa.” The darkness was intense. ”

“ Carl Klinger paced the porch of the count’s home in visible annoyance. Count Rosen surveyed the angry overseer complacently from his easy chair under the shade of the thatched roof porch.
“Don’t be an idiot, Klinger,” he said. “You can’t afford to indulge in personal vengeance. The American officer has gotten ahead of you and put you to shame before the natives, and I think you deserved it. Your work was childish. Putting that cartoon on your wall was bad enough, but to attempt to thrash a native relative of Tuamana under the eyes of his own friends and supporters was infantile. ”

“ Commander Tazewell laughed in high amusement. “Yes,” he replied, “it is remarkable how men isolated as we are focus our minds upon local affairs that should not really influence us. Here am I, out of cable communication with Washington. I see this nation through private individuals plot to take over a group of islands in which the country I represent has one-third share. If I precipitate a fight with a foreign power in order to retain that one-third right given us by treaty, I may find upon receipt of mail that the government has decided to relinquish its claim. ”

“ Count Rosen smiled triumphantly as he rode his pony along the main road of Ukula.
“Carlson has been here too long,” he said to himself. “He thinks there’s nothing beyond his narrow horizon. His lonesome life [49] has made him timid; he needed stirring to life. Herzovinia’s aims must be kept always before us. Our statesmen decided years ago to own these islands. Our money is invested here and they are a link in our colonial chain. A war! a little bloodshed! What does it matter?”
At the Kapuan firm’s store the count dismounted, giving his pony in care of a native. ”

“ Once the Kapuan warriors [228] are aroused, they will kill until no enemy is left to resist them. The fate of the Herzovinian sailors told him by O’Neil flashed into his mind, and the thought was far from comforting.
Lieutenant Morrison, scarcely a hundred yards away, realized Phil’s danger, and quickly deployed his men to attack the enemy on the flank. No other solution but fight occurred to any one. A single gun shot must have been the signal for the battle to begin.
Tuatele had seen the pantomime from a distance, and heard the excited harangue of the native woman Mary. ”

“ Phil cried determinedly. “I shan’t stand idly by and see you maltreat that poor fellow. He was gathering his own fruit for us to eat. You are the one who is stealing other people’s fruit, and what’s more,” and Phil’s voice rose high in indignation, “if you don’t get off of this place and take your slaves with you, I’ll whip you with your own rawhide.”
[281]
“YOU ARE SIMPLY A BULLY”
Klinger’s hand dropped to his side in sheer dumbfounded amazement. He gazed in bewilderment at this young man, not able to realize that such words had been addressed to him. ”

“ Fanua, the native woman, darted back to her house, upon the steps of which the count was left alone.
Upon reaching the top of the hill, Kataafa and his chiefs stopped while the high chief waved a dignified salutation. “Talofa, Alii,” he said. Klinger went on a short distance farther. He had by this time regained his self-control. The danger had passed.
“Tell your captain,” he said earnestly to Phil, “that Kataafa has nearly every native in Kapua on his side. Tell him I say don’t let the English throw sand in his eyes. He has the one chance in his career to do something for his country. ”

“ What business could this cultured Herzovinian have with Klinger? He decided to endeavor to find out.
“Most of the disturbances among the natives,” Commander Tazewell said quietly, “are brought about by the merchants. Arms, you know, Count Rosen, are merchandise upon which an enormous profit is realized. A war, though, is required to create a market. I believe that Mr. Klinger could allay your uneasiness over the possibility of a war more certainly than can either of the consuls.” ”

“ Kataafa had to run and get his men into a fort before the Herzovinian sailors attacked him. He was just about snugly fixed when a war-ship came trailing along close to the reef to bombard this fort and the native town all around it. Just behind this ship came O’Malley’s ship, the ‘Wyoming,’ and the game old Irishman was on the bridge. He wore riding leggins, a sign that he was going to surprise somebody, and an angelic smile was spread all over his face. When the Herzovinian ship stopped and began to lower her gun ports and run out her guns for business, we followed suit. ”

“ Turning upon the enemy, who had now hesitated in their advance in face of such unexpected resistance, Phil fired his revolver until empty. Then a crash and a mighty explosion almost threw him to the ground.
“Quick, sir, run; those are our shells,” O’Neil exclaimed, and together the two raced for the beach, guided in their flight by the discharges from the guns of the “Sitka,” while behind them the rebel natives were left to exult over their victory. Again the invincible white man—papalangi—had been found to be only mortal. ”

“ Their property had been destroyed by his warriors. The life of the chief justice, an American, had even been endangered, and [241] his valuable house unlawfully burned. To Kataafa, the papalangi were terrible people. Those in Kapua he did not fear; he had seen that they could be killed and beheaded as easily as men of his own race; but the intangible nations that protected them, sending war-ships “bursting through the clouds,” as the Kapuans express the slow approach of a ship coming up over the sea horizon—of these Kataafa stood in mortal fear. ”

“ No single person seemed to lag or get out of time, while all the while a weird chant rose and fell and finally as the movements, at first slow and deliberate, took on a galloping pace, the high treble of the women and the harsh bass of the men mounted to a pitch of delirious and savage ecstasy and then suddenly stopped. ”

“ Lee said, on his porch after the trial was over and before the verdict had been given, “that there haven’t been more of these terrible affairs. Nearly five thousand natives now have guns hidden in their homes and there’s no telling when the lust to kill will come to some of them. As I watched this murderer’s face during his trial, I could see no signs of penitence. He seemed to be proud of his exploit. If they would hang this fiery young warrior publicly it would make me think more kindly of the count and his government.” ”

“ The count nodded. “Tua-Tua we should keep, but the United States government may succeed in getting the island of Kulila after all. She has had her eyes on it for many years, and doubtless thinks her claim is first. We would not fight her for it, so unless we can win out through diplomacy it will be hers.”
“Little good it will do her,” Klinger said savagely, “when the Kapuan firm owns the only water-front that is not full of quicksand.”
The count chuckled. “We statesmen can always receive a lesson from a clever merchant. ”

“ The day after the ceremony of welcome to Kataafa, Phil and Sydney again accompanied their captain on shore. Commander Tazewell took a lively interest in everything that was going on and was delighted to have such enthusiastic young supporters.
“You’ll find,” he said after they had landed and sent the boat away, “that the natives of both factions are equally friendly to us. That is a good sign and I hope it will continue.”
The highroad of Ukula was filled with half-naked muscular men and lithe, graceful, dark-eyed women. Every native exhaled the acrid odor of cocoanut oil. ”

“ If he should betray the Kapuan firm by permitting the war-ships to confiscate them as contraband, then the presence of the blacks would be known and must convict the pirate in any court of the South Seas. Nationality could not protect slave trading, although it might the importation of arms. The “Talofa” was sailing illegally under Herzovinian protection. Count Rosen, while in Fiji, had arranged for that with Scott. A word from Klinger would cause Scott to be arrested straightway and taken before the chief justice. The penalty for slave trading was at least ten years in a penal colony. ”

“ The officers had landed at Kulinuu, the traditional residence of the Malea-Toa family, from which many kings had been chosen and to which Panu-Mafili belonged. On every hand they encountered good-natured smiling natives. “Talofa, Alii” [3] was on every lip.
“Ten thousand of these fellows are encamped in the vicinity of Ukula waiting to see who the chief justice makes their king,” the commander said. “You see,” he added, “strange as it may seem to us, two chiefs may rightfully be elected. Election depends upon quality of votes rather than upon quantity. ”

“ Klinger continued. “The Americans, you know, have acquired title to land in the harbor of Tua-Tua on the island of Kulila. That must be broken up.”
The count nodded. “Go ahead, you have a free rein. And now what about the whereabouts of our friend Captain ‘Bully’ Scott?”
“I am looking for him daily,” Klinger replied. “He is bringing enough guns to arm every Kataafa warrior. All day long I have been getting receipts from the natives for gun to be delivered.”
“Always an eye for business,” the count exclaimed in half jesting disgust. “You merchants own these poor natives body and soul.” ”

“ Phil, in spite of the evident seriousness of this act to the native girl, could not suppress a smile.
“Kind of mixed up affair, isn’t it?” he said quietly. “Rebel Kataafa brands the loyal Tuamana a rebel.”
“This is Klinger’s work,” Alice declared. [278] “The land is most valuable, cocoanut and banana groves, and worth a dollar a tree every year for the copra alone. There must be over a thousand trees on the land. It’s a fortune, and it is all that Tuamana’s family possesses.”
“Can nothing be done?” Sydney asked solicitously. ”

“ THE “TALOFA” IN UKULA
After dinner all the officers of the “Sitka,” as was the custom, took chairs upon the quarter-deck. Phil and Sydney, having finished their unpacking, had joined the circle. The subject of conversation was the course of local events. All looked forward with ill concealed delight at the prospects of active service.
“These natives are great fighters,” Ensign Patterson exclaimed admiringly, “only they don’t know the rules of the game. A few hundred white men could hold their own against as many thousand.” ”

“ Remember we’re all human and living on the earth together. All three nations covet these islands. Some day one will get them, so the question is simply which?”
“Why should we be interested?” Phil inquired modestly. “We have no trade here, and but a handful of our countrymen live in the islands.”
[83] “And most of them,” Lieutenant Sargeant replied, “are people one cannot be proud to acknowledge. But our real interest is to get a coaling station here. Tua-Tua is a fine land-locked harbor, and is on the steamer route from both San Francisco and Panama to New Zealand and Australia. ”