Kataafa

“ Once more on the road Commander Tazewell became again serious.
“That affair yesterday is taking on a darker aspect,” he confided. “Tuamana says that every one knows among the natives that if [32] Judge Lindsay decides for Panu-Mafili then Kataafa has been persuaded by the Herzovinians to make war.
“Tuamana, of course,” he added, “is a loyal man. He is on Panu’s side, but will be loyal to whom Judge Lindsay decides is really the king.” ”

“ As the judge finished he raised his hand and the song to their king floated out upon the balmy air: “Panu o Tupu-e-Kapua.” O’Neil and Marley hauled away on the halliards, and as the great white, red and blue flag appeared above the tops of the cocoanut trees, the three war-ships boomed forth a national salute in its honor. The Herzovinian war-ship alone remained sullenly silent.
Panu-Mafili was now the rightful king. Five miles away at Vaileli, Kataafa and his five thousand warriors were camped. Panu could muster barely a thousand men, and hardly a hundred guns. ”

“ He’s now loose in Ukula, and may spoil everything unless we can stop his tongue.”
Klinger, however, did not seem greatly alarmed.
“It’s odd that Scott didn’t speak of it, but I’m sure he can do no harm,” he replied quietly. “Stump is a peaceful, simple soul. Hasn’t sense enough to know how to harm anybody except himself. We are sure to get the arms to Kataafa, and the ‘black’ boys are now at Vaileli plantation.” ”

“ The Herzovinian sailors that had been landed to guard Klinger’s store were now reënforced and camped near their own consulate in the Matafeli district of the town. A flagpole had been erected, and the Herzovinian flag floated alongside the Kapuan standard not far away at Kulinuu.
“One’s afraid and the other dare not,” Sydney [217] exclaimed as he and Phil lounged luxuriously in the capacious wicker chairs in their big bedroom. “Herzovinia thinks she isn’t strong enough to back Kataafa openly and we know we are not numerous enough to resist him.” ”

“ Phil commanded, as they suddenly made a turn, in following the street which now ran at a sharper angle toward the beach, and saw before them Klinger and the count surrounded by natives in chief dress. “I can see the British launch. She’s just at the reef near the entrance to the harbor.”
“There’s Kataafa himself,” O’Neil exclaimed excitedly in a low voice. “The old man with white hair and moustache.”
The midshipmen gazed upon him in awe mixed with admiration. They had not seen him at such close range before. They saw a man straight and sturdy, despite his sixty odd years of age. ”

“ Ah, the spirit of prophecy had not been denied to her those long years ago when, urging Uta Matu to destroy the child, she saw in her the agent of revenge for the murdered papalagi. Katafa, who had brought Taiofa to his death and Sru, Laminai, and all the men of Karolin. Katafa, who had destroyed half a nation to re-create it. Katafa, who had vanished to return, a woman beautiful like a star risen from the sea. ”

“ She who touched nothing but the food she ate, the ground she trod on and the water she swam in, who had never grasped a living thing since the tragedy of the Spanish ship so long ago, had seemingly failed to find the hold upon life given to the least of the Kanaka girls amongst whom she had grown up—creatures almost animal, yet human in affection and tied together by the common bonds of joy and hope and fear. One of the strangest effects of the terrible law under which Katafa lived was her insensibility to fear. ”

“ The natural law of compensation gave to the isolated one fearlessness and the power to stand alone, and to the one who had no use for a soul the lightness of spirit and waywardness of a bird, the irresponsibility of the flower moved by the wind. Katafa—well was she named as she stood there, her mind roving with the frigate birds across the sunset-tinged waters of the lagoon. ”

“ Take her and do what you will with her, put spells upon her or what you like, but if you injure one hair of her head I will have you choked with a wedge of raw puraka and I will cast your body to the sharks, Le Juan.”
“As you please,” said the old woman; “I will do what I can.”
She did.
She christened Chita, Katafa, or the “Frigate Bird,” a creature associated with wanderings and great distances, and then gradually and year by year she isolated Katafa from the tribe, absolutely and in all but speech. ”

“ The fight with the Spanish ship people and the people of the Paumotus. Katafa’s name was mentioned—the child whom he had saved from Laminai and who had been drowned and devoured by the sharks. And as they whispered and talked, the lagoon water whispering on the beach seemed telling also of the deeds of the departing one, and in the far rumble of the reef the voice of the outer sea seemed joining in.
If Uta had never loved a human being, he had loved the sea, as the gulls love it, and the fish. ”

“ For a moment neither of them spoke, their eyes following the spray clouds of the breakers and the flighting gulls wheeling above the flooding sea. Then as they turned one to the other, and as he seized her by the shoulders, to Katafa for the first time fully came the knowledge of the splendour of man crowned with power—man triumphant, mighty, kingly and dominant. For in the past few hours Taori had changed from the passionate boy to a man fit to be the ruler of men. ”

“ That was why he had sent a canoe that morning across to the southern beach to fetch Aioma, Palia and Tafata, three old men, too old for war, but expert canoe-builders, that was why when gazing at the tribe in full congregation, his eyes had brightened to the fact that nearly a hundred of the youths were ripening to war age, but under all, lighting and animating his mind, raising daring to eagle heights, lay his passion for Katafa, his other self more dear to him than self, threatened, ever so vaguely, yet still threatened. ”

“ Katipah was laughing when she picked up her kite and ran home. And Bimsha thought, “Is it witchcraft, or did the child fall into the sea?”
In the night the West Wind came and tapped at Katipah’s window; and rising from her bed, she heard Gamma-gata’s voice calling tenderly to her. When she opened the window to the blindness of the black night, he kissed her, and putting the little one in her arms, said, “Wait only a little while longer, Katipah, and I will come again to you. Already you are learning to be brave.” ”

“ I will serve thee with my feet, and thou shalt serve me with thy eyes.”
He took the footless and carried him. Katoma sat, looked on both sides, and cried out: “To the right; to the left; straight ahead.” They lived in this way some time in the forest and caught food,—hares, foxes, and bears.
Once the footless asked: “Is it possible that we shall live all our lives without company? I have heard that in a certain town there is a rich merchant with his daughter, and the daughter is very charitable to poor people and cripples, and gives alms herself to all. ”

“ Katipah, with her babe in her arms, swung softly through the air, out of reach of the hands stretched up to catch her, and addressed the populace in these words:
“Oh, cruel people, who will not believe innocence when it speaks, you must believe me now! I am the wife of the West Wind—of Gamma-gata, the beautiful, the bearer of fine weather, who also brings back the wings that fly till the winter is over. Is it well, do you think, to be at war with the West Wind? ”

“ I will sacrifice the wine; there are jars of wine there that were old in my father's time—but it must be so! You are right! Many things have occurred which the king will not forgive! You are right, you are right—do what seems good to you. I will retire after the feast to the Ethiopian camp."
"They will hail you as king as soon as the usurpers have fallen in the flames," cried Katuti. "If only a few set the example, the others will take up the cry, and even though you have offended Ameni he will attach himself to you rather than to Rameses. ”

“ Katuti took the roll from his hand, read it through, and then returned it.
"The troops you equipped have conquered the allied armies of the Ethiopians," she said gravely, "and are bringing their prince in fetters to Thebes, with endless treasure, and ten thousand prisoners! The Gods be praised!"
"And above all things I thank the Gods that my general Scheschenk—my foster-brother and friend—is returning well and unwounded from the war. I think, Katuti, that the figures in our dreams are this day taking forms of flesh and blood!"
"They are growing to the stature of heroes!" cried the widow. ”

“ Kittakara replied: "Is not Kabba Rega your son? Do you begrudge him a few good guns and ammunition taken from your late enemies, the slave-hunters?"
It was in vain that I endeavoured to explain that these people were subjects of the Khedive, and had now received forgiveness: therefore, as they were engaged as irregulars they must receive their arms. Kittakara simply replied: "Do you believe in these people? Do you think that, because they have now enlisted through fear, they will ever change their natures?" ”

“ He, too, had watched the schooner disappear, rejoicing in the fact that she was gone with Taori leaving him (Kanoa) to find his love. And now Le Moan was gone—and with Taori. But he said nothing.
He turned away and lay down with his face hidden in his arms and as Katafa stood watching him, her anger turned to pity.
She came and sat beside him.
“She will return, Kanoa; they will return: he whom I love and she whom you love. They are gone but a little way. It is because they have gone from our sight that we grieve for them. ”

“ His long dark hair was full of white plum-blossoms, as though he had just pushed his head through the branches above. His hands also were loaded with the same, and they kept sifting out of his long sleeves whenever he moved his arms. Under the hem of his robe Katipah could see that he had heron’s wings bound about his ankles.
“He must be very good,” thought Katipah, “to be so beautiful! and indeed he must be very good to kiss poor me!” ”

“ There were, moreover, Tsuchi-gumo at the village of Taka-wohari, whose appearance was as follows:—They had short bodies, and long arms and legs. They were of the same class as the pigmies. The Imperial troops wove nets of dolichos, which they flung over them and then slew (III. 28.) them. Wherefore the name of that village was changed to Katsuraki. [96] It is in the land of Ihare. Its ancient name was Kataru, or Katatachi. When our Imperial forces routed the enemy, a great army assembled and filled that country. ”

“ Many may guess at our projects, but every additional person who knows them may be come a traitor. You are urging me, forcing me, forward too soon. A thousand well-prepared enemies are less dangerous than one untrustworthy ally—"
"Paaker is secured to us," replied Katuti positively. "Who will answer for him?" asked Ani.
"His life shall be in your hand," replied Katuti gravely. "My shrewd little dwarf Nemu knows that he has committed some secret crime, which the law punishes by death." ”

“ Girls are twice tattooed: first in childhood, and a second time after marriage. The proper avocations of the Katias were the spinning of cotton thread and the weaving of the finer kinds of cloth; but most of them have had to abandon their ancestral calling from want of custom, and they are now either village watchmen or cultivators and labourers. A few of them own villages. The Katias think themselves rather knowing; but this opinion is not shared by their neighbours, who say ironically of them, “A Katia is eight times as wise as an ordinary man, and a Kāyasth thirteen times. ”

“ Katipah saw a drift of white petals borne over the treetops and away to sea, and she knew that there went Gamma-gata, the beautiful windy youth who, loving her so well, had made her his wife between the showers of the plum-blossom and the sunshine, and had promised to return to her as soon as she was fit to receive him. ”

“ At this soft answer Bimsha went back into her house in a fury, and Katipah laughed to herself. Then she sighed, and said, “Oh, Gamma-gata, return to me quickly, lest my word shall seem false to Bimsha, who hates me!”
Every day after this Bimsha thrust her face over the fence to say: “Katipah, where is this fine husband of yours? He does not seem to come home often.”
Katipah answered slily; “He comes home late, when it is dark, and he goes away very early, almost before it is light. It is not necessary for his happiness that he should see you.” ”

“ Gently the West Wind took it and blew it away towards the sea. “Oh, Gamma-gata,” she whispered softly, “hear me now, for I am not afraid.”
The wind blew hard upon the kite, and pulled as though to catch it away, so Katipah twisted the cord once or twice round her waist that she might keep the safer hold over it. Then she said to the chief magistrate and to all the people that were assembled: “I am innocent of all that is charged against me; for, first, it was that wicked Bimsha herself who killed her own child.” ”

“ What the noble organ of sight, the eye, overlooked, the callous despised sole of the foot found; and perhaps the small slave, Nemu, who knows nothing of honor, may succeed in finding a mode of escape which is not revealed to the lofty soul of his mistress!"
"What are you thinking of?" asked Katuti.
"Escape," answered the dwarf. "Is it true that thy sister Setchem has visited thee, and that you are reconciled?"
"She offered me her hand, and I took it?"
"Then go to her. Men are never more helpful than after a reconciliation. ”