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flying over what they claimed about british and american passengers on the way up and down pointed out from the decks of the war ships with generous the boundaries of estates ten days later the beach of bay fluttered as i have told in the last chapter with the flag of germany the americans with a claim to s camp some small part of which says did really belong to an american the disease spread the eight years of trouble in flags were multiplied the operations of war became an egg dance among miniature and though all men took a hand in these proceedings all men in turn were struck with their absurdity s successor warned in an emphatic despatch not to and the solemnity of that emblem which was all he had to be a defence to his own and himself in his despatch of march st the practice with much sense but this was after the comic had been reached and the burnt rags of one of these gone on a progress to washington like caesar s body indignation where it came to such results are nations conducted by the patent of a the discussion of the morning the silent menace and defiance of the voyage to might have set the best natured by the ears but and de took their difference in excellent part on the morrow november i th they sat down together with in conference the english affairs of and introduced his who shook hands if were dead with the inheritance of was by reminiscences of it is the more to the credit of this inexperienced man that he should have maintained in the future so excellent an attitude of firmness and moderation and that when the crash came and de not and were found to be the of the drama the conference was futile the english and american admitted but one cure of the evils of the time that the farce of the should cease it was one which the german refused to consider and the agents separated without reaching any result save that relations had been restored between the states and germany and that all three were convinced of their differences and de were still friends they had disputed and differed and come within a finger s breadth of war and they were still friends but an event was at hand which was to separate them forever on december th eight years of trouble in came the captain hand to relieve the of course had to take his canvas from the hospital but he had in charge certain belonging to the and with these they made shift to cover the wounded at that time after the fight at more than usually numerous a lieutenant came to the and delivered as i have received it the following message captain hand s compliments and he says you must get rid of these at once and he will help you to do it doubtless the reply was no more civil than the message the promised help at least followed promptly a boat s crew landed and the were stripped from the wounded hand himself standing on the colonel s to direct operations it were fruitless to discuss this passage from the point of view or from that of formal courtesy the mind of the new captain was plainly not directed to these objects but it is understood that he considered the existence of the hospital a source of irritation to and a fault in policy his own rude act proved in the result far more affairs of and the hospital had now been open some two months and de was still on friendly terms with and he and his wife were engaged to dine with him that day by the morrow that was practically ended for the of the had two results one which was the fault of de not at all of hand who could not have foreseen it the other which it was his duty to have seen and prevented the first was this the de found themselves left with their wounded exposed to the of the season they must all be transported to the house and in the distress and pressure of this task the dinner engagement was too long forgotten and a note of excuse did not reach the german before the table was set and dressed to receive his visitors the second consequence was inevitable captain hand was scarce landed ere it became public was writes that he and the were in opposition all that had been gained by the demonstration at was thus immediately cast away de s was lessened and it must be said plainly eight years of trouble in that hand did less than nothing to restore it twice indeed he interfered both times with success and once when his own person had been with vehemence but during all the strange doings i have to he remained in close intimacy with the german and on one occasion may be said to have acted as its after the worst is over after has told that the of his english were that his own conduct has not been good and that in any dispute which may arise he will find himself in the wrong can still plead in his defence that captain hand has always maintained friendly intercourse with the german authorities singular for an english sailor in this on the part of hand we may find the reason and i had almost said the excuse of much that was excessive in the bearing of the unfortunate on the december received twenty eight thousand brought into the country in salt beef by the british ship this not only sharpened the affairs of and between following so closely on the german at it raised a in the camp of on the th addressed to his famous and fatal letter i may not describe it as a letter of burning	38
words but it is plainly dictated by a burning heart and his chiefs he are now sick of the business and ready to make peace with they began the war upon german help they now see and say that e i ma america that germany is to england and the states it is grimly given to be understood that the despatch is an and a last chance is being offered for the ally to fulfil her pledge to make it the more plain the document goes on with a kind of irony the two german war ships now in are here for the protection of german property alone and when the shall have arrived she arrived on the morrow the german war ships will continue to do against the precisely as little as they have done heretofore plant flags in fact eight years of trouble in here was s opportunity could he have stooped to seize it i find it difficult to blame him that he could not far from so as the treachery once contemplated by the acceptance of this would have been still in the nature of a disgrace s letter written by a german was hard to swallow it would have been hard to accept that solution which had so recently and so refused to his brother and he was tempted on the other hand by recent changes there was no to support de who might now be disregarded s successor even if he were not precisely a hand was at least no and even if should show fight had now three ships and could defy or sink him without danger many small circumstances moved him in the same direction the of german continued the whole force of was to a large extent from the crops of and armed men were to be seen openly and under the walls of the plantation building on the night of the th affairs of and the stable had been broken into and a horse removed on the i th there was a riot in between half and sailors from the new ship each side claiming that the other was the worse of drink both for a justly the of flags and little had besides begun to the the of german had been received on the i th the had again sought to land in bay with the manifest intention to attack the or in other words to on german lands covered as your knows with flags i quote from his to december th upon all these considerations he goes on it is necessary to bring the fighting to an end both parties are to be and returned to their villages first and in case of any attempt upon the road thither are to be held by a strong landing party was to be first perhaps rightly enough in his character of the last then was to have come the turn of but it does not appear the would have had the same import or have been eight years of trouble in gone about in the same way germany was bound to no honest man would dream of because he sought to redeem his country s word the path he chose was doubtless that of honour so far as honour was still left but it proved to be the road to ruin german officer is understood to have opposed the measure his attitude earned him at the time among his country people on the spot and should now to his credit it is to be hoped he extended his opposition to some of the details if it were possible to at all it must be done rather by than force a party of blue landed in bush and expected to hold against a of forest paths had their work cut out for them and it was plain they should be landed in the light of day with a and even with parade to ashore by night was to increase the danger of resistance and to the authority of the attack the thing was a bluff and it is impossible to bluff with yet this was what affairs of and was tried a landing party was to leave the in bay at two in the morning the landing was to be at on two parts of the of at eight they were to be joined by a second landing party from the by nine the were to be on the crest of mountain and the to be moving round the by the paths with measures of precaution all whom they encountered there was to be no firing unless fired upon at the appointed hour or perhaps later on the morning of the th this business was put in hand and there moved off from the two boats with some fifty blue between them and a or containing ninety the boats and the whole expedition under the command of captain lieutenant the under lieutenant the men had each forty rounds one day s provisions and their filled in the meanwhile about were on the alert had informed the that the ships were to put to sea next day for the protection of german o eight years of trouble in property but the had been less discreet to morrow at the hour of seven they had cried to their you will know of a difficulty and our guns shall be made good in broken bones and accident had pointed expectation towards the wife of le washed for the german ships a i suppose for her husband s unwilling fidelity she sent a man with linen on board the where he was surprised to see le in person and to be himself ordered instantly on shore the news spread if were brought down from others might have come at the same time himself and half his army might perhaps lie concealed on board the german ships and a watch was accordingly set	38
and warriors collected along the line of the shore one lay in some rifle by the mouth of the they were commanded by and with this party probably as the most to was the war correspondent john of english birth but american this gentleman had been for some time representing the new york affairs of and world in a very effective manner always in the front living in the field with the and in all of weather toiling to and fro with his his wisdom was per not equal to his energy he made himself conspicuous going about armed to the teeth in a boat under the stars and and on one occasion when he supposed himself fired upon by the had the to empty his revolver in the direction of their camp by the light of the moon which was then nearly down this party observed the two boats and the which they describe as almost sinking with men the boats keeping well out towards the the at the moment apparently heading for the shore an extreme agitation seems to have reigned in the rifle what were the what was their errand were they or had they a mind to attack the was hailed in and did not answer it was proposed to fire upon her ere she draw near and at last whether on his own suggestion or that of hailed her in english and in terms of l o eight years of trouble in unnecessary do not try to land here he cried if you do your blood will be upon your head who had never the least intention to touch at the put up the head of the to her true course and continued to move up the with an of some seventy or eighty yards along all the and of the beach across the mouth of the and through the startled village of and seven or eight others to keep up spreading the alarm and rousing re as they went presently a man on horseback made his appearance on the opposite beach of and the natives distinctly saw him signal with a lantern which is the more strange as the captain plantation manager of had never a lantern to signal with the kept in many men in white were seen to stand up step overboard and to shore at the same time the eye of panic a of foreign stones brick upon the beach are prepared to day to swear to its existence i believe affairs of and although no such thing was ever made or ever intended in that place the hour is doubtful it was the hour when the streak of dawn is seen the hour known in the warfare of heathen times as the hour of the night attack says the official account a native whom i met on the field declared it was at captain on the other hand is sure it was long before the day it was dark at least and the moon down darkness made the bold uncertainty as to the composition and purpose of the landing party made them desperate fire was opened on the one of whom was here killed the returned it and effected a on the beach and the died again to silence it was at this time if not earlier that returned to here then were and the ninety men of the landed on the beach in no very posture the woods in front filled with enemies but for the time successful meanwhile and the boats had gone outside the and were to land on the other side of the at io eight years of trouble in by the buildings of the plantation it was part to go and meet them his way led straight into the woods and through the midst of the who had but now ceased firing he went in the saddle and at a foot s pace feeling speed and concealment to be equally helpless and that if he were to fall at all he had best fall with dignity not a shot was fired at him no effort made to arrest him on his errand as he went he spoke and even with the and they answered in good part one fellow was leaping yelling and tossing his axe in the air after the way of an excited f go it said and the fellow laughed and his exertions as soon as the boats entered the fire was again opened from the woods the fifty blue jumped overboard down the boats to be a shield and dragged them towards the landing place in this way their and what was more unfortunate some of their miserable provision of forty rounds got but the men came to shore and the plantation house without a meanwhile the sound of affairs of and the firing from immediately renewed the at the on shore decided that must be at once guided to the house and the accepted the dangerous errand like he was suffered to pass without question through the midst of these enemies he found some way inland on a engaged the woods around him filled with who were re enforced in three successive charges cheering as they ran the blue burst through their scattered and made good their with four men only remained upon the field the other wounded being helped by their comrades or dragging themselves painfully along the force was now concentrated in the house and its immediate patch of garden their rear to the was but on three sides they were on the left the occupied and fired from some of the plantation offices in front a long rising crest of land in the commanded the house and was lined with the and eight years of trouble in on the right the hedge of the same afforded them a dangerous cover it was in this place that a sharp was knocked over by with his own hand the	38
fire was maintained by the in the usual style the roof was made a the balls passed clean through the house lieutenant as he lay already dying on bed was despatched with a fresh wound the showed themselves extremely pushed their lines forward ventured beyond cover and continually threatened to the garden thrice at least it was necessary to them by a sally the men were brought into the house from the rear the front doors were thrown suddenly open and the gallant issued cheering necessary successful but extremely costly neither could these be pushed far the foes were so soon as the sailors advanced at all deep in the the began to close in upon both and the sally had to be recalled to add to the dangers of the german situation began to run low affairs of and and the boxes of the wounded and the dead had been already brought in use before at about eight o clock the into the bay her commander threw some shells into one of which killed five men about their cooking pot the began immediately to withdraw their movements were hastened by a and the remains of the landing party brought on board this was an unfortunate movement it gave an air of defeat to what might have been else claimed for a moderate success the numbered a hundred and forty all told they were engaged separately and fought under the worst conditions in the dark and among woods their position in the house was scarce they lost in killed and wounded forty per cent and their spirit to the end was above question whether we think of the poor sailor lads always so pleasantly behaved in times of peace or whether we call to mind the behaviour of the two and we can only regret that brave men should stand to be exposed upon so poor a quarrel or lives cast away upon an enterprise so hopeless eight years of trouble in news of the affair reached early and always curious of these spectacles of war was immediately in the saddle near he met a chief whom he asked if there were any german dead i think there are about thirty of them knocked over said he have you taken their heads asked yes said the chief some foolish people did it but i have stopped them we ought not to cut oflf their heads when they do not cut off ours he was asked what had been done with the heads two have gone to he replied and one is buried right under where your horse is standing in a basket wrapped in this was afterwards dug up and i am told on native authority that besides the three heads two ears were taken next asked the man how he came to be going away the man of war is throwing shells said he when they stopped firing out of the house we stopped firing also so it was as well to scatter when the shells began we could have killed all the white men i wish they had been this is an ex statement and i give it for such but affairs of and the course of the affair and in particular the adventures of and testify to a surprising lack of against the about the same time or but a little earlier than this conversation the same spirit was displayed with a party of labour had gone out to bring in the german dead when he was surprised to be suddenly fired on from the wood the boys he had with him were not but from the islands and he suddenly remembered that these might be easily mistaken for a of bidding his boys conceal themselves in a thicket this brave man walked into the open so soon as he was recognised the firing ceased and the followed him in safety this is war but there was a side to it less as drew nearer to he began to meet with hats guns and even shirts taken from the german sailors with one of these who had a hat and a gun he stopped and spoke the hat was handed up for him to look at it had the late owner s name on the inside where is he asked i eight years of trouble in he is dead i cut his head you shot him no somebody else shot him in the hip when i came he put up his hands and cried don t kill me i am a man i did not believe him and i cut his head off have you any to fit that gun i do not know what has become of the belt another fellow that and the and he won t give them to me a dreadful and silly picture of war the words of the german sailor must be regarded as imaginary how was the poor lad to speak native or the to understand german when came as far as the was yet in the bay the smoke of battle still lingered among the trees which were themselves marked with a thousand bullet wounds but the affair was over the german and were all gone and only a couple of labour boys on the scene the village of beyond was equally silent part of it was wrecked by the shells of the and still smoked the inhabitants had fled on the beach were the native boats perhaps five thou affairs of and sand dollars worth deserted by the and overlooked by the in their common hurry to escape still held eastward by the sea paths it was his hope to get a view from the other side of the towards in the way he found a house hidden in the wood and among rocks where an aged and sick woman was being tended by her elderly daughter last	38
in that deserted piece of coast they seemed indifferent to the events which had thus left them solitary and as the daughter said did not know where was nor where it is the official that the fired first at in view of all german and some native testimony the text of s orders and the of the case no honest mind will believe it for a moment certainly the fired first as certainly they were betrayed into the engagement in the agitation of the moment and it was not till afterwards that they understood what they had done then indeed all drew a breath of wonder and delight the invincible had fallen the men of the war i eight years of trouble in ships had been met in the field by the of a a superstition was no more conceive this people steadily as and conceive the in any school if the head boy should suddenly arise and drive the from the i have received one instance of the feeling instantly aroused there lay at the time in the hospital an old chief who was a pet of the colonel s news reached him of the glorious event he was sick he thought himself sinking sent for the colonel and gave him his gun don t let the get it said the old gentleman and having received a promise was at peace chapter ix december to march in the with a flag of at the fore was entering bay when the brought him the news of the night s reverse his heart was doubtless wrung for his young countrymen who had been and in the dark woods or now lay suffering and some of them dying on the ship and he must have been startled as he recognised his own position he had gone too far he had stumbled into war and what was worse into defeat he had thrown away german lives for less than nothing and now saw himself condemned either to accept defeat or to kick and his failure into something like success either to accept defeat or take frenzy for a yesterday in cold blood he had judged it necessary to have the woods to eight years of trouble in the westward guarded lest the of should prove only the peril of to day in the irritation and alarm of failure he forgot or despised his previous reasoning and though his was beat back to the ships proceeded with the remainder of his design the only change he made was to hand down the flag of he had now no wish to meet with words were out of season shells must speak at this moment an incident him which must have been trying to his self command the new american ship entered bay her commander the to protest succeeded in from a period of delay in order that the women might be spared and sent a lieutenant to with a warning the camp was already excited by the news and the of already and seemed secondary to the and s message set an end to hesitation was the troops streamed westward by the mountain side and took up the same day a strong position about and some two miles behind which they threatened with the one hand while with the other they continued to draw their supplies from the devoted of the german firm when it was was empty the british flags were of course fired upon and i hear that one of them was struck down but i think every one must be privately of the mind that it was fired upon and fell in a place where it had little business to be shown such was the military to the adventure of it was difficult for failure to be more complete but the other consequences were of a darker colour and brought the immediately face to face in a spirit of ill favoured was mourning the defeat and death of his he was standing aghast over the ruin of his own career when him the successor of served himself in that bitter moment heir to s part and in saw more even than the successor of he saw in him the representative of had hailed the eight years of trouble in from the rifle he had there uttered ill chosen words unhappily prophetic it is even likely that he was present at the time of the first to accuse him of the design and conduct of the whole attack was but a step forward his own served to the accusation and it was not long before the german was in possession of sworn native testimony in support the worth of native testimony is small the worth of white testimony not overwhelming and i am in the painful position of not being able to either to s own account of the affair or to that of his was extremely his interest as a must have tempted him at first to make the most of his share in the the immediate peril in which he soon found himself to stand must have at least suggested to him the idea of it one way and another he is not a good witness as for the natives they were no doubt cross examined in that hall of terror the german where they might be trusted to lie like or if the reader prefer it like by outside white tes it remain established for me that returned to either before or immediately after the first shots that he ever sought or was ever allowed a share in the command may be denied but it is more than likely that he expressed himself in an excited manner and with a highly effect upon his hearers he was at least severely punished the enraged by his behaviour and what they thought to be his german birth demanded him to be tried before court martial he had to inside the of	38
the american to be on board a war ship and to be carried almost by out of the island and what with the of his mind and the results of a marsh fever contracted in the lines of reached a very proper object of nor was the only accused de was himself involved as the boats passed declares a signal was made from the british perhaps we should rather read from its neighbourhood since in the general of the coast the point of could scarce have eight years of trouble in been neglected on the other hand there is no doubt that the in the anxiety of that night of watching and fighting crowded to the friendly for advice late in the night the wounded lying on the colonel s one comer of which had been blinded down that he might sleep heard the coming and going of bare feet and the voices of eager consultation and long after a man who had been discharged from the colonel s employment took upon himself to swear an as to the nature of the advice then given and to carry the document to the german it was an act of private revenge it fell long out of date in the good days of dr and had no result but to the gentleman who volunteered it colonel de had his faults but they did not touch his honour his bare word would always a of such and he declares his behaviour on that night to have been the question was besides inquired into on the spot by sir john and the colonel but during the weeks that were now to follow believed the contrary he believed not only that and others had supplied the and commanded in the field but that de had made the signal of attack that though his blue had and fallen against the arms of these were supplied inspired and by americans and english the legend was the more easily believed because it embraced and was founded upon so much truth lay dead the german wounded groaned in their and the by which they fell had been sold by an american and brought into the country in a british bottom had the transaction been entirely it would already have been hard to swallow but it was not so british and americans were the of they rejoiced in the result of and so far from seeking to conceal their rejoicing and displayed it ran high before the dead were buried while the wounded yet lay in pain and fever cowardly of cowardice were at the german blue it was eight years of trouble in said they had broken and run before and that they had huddled helpless like sheep in the plantation house small wonder if they had small wonder had they been utterly destroyed but the fact was otherwise and these cut to the blood they are not forgotten perhaps they will never be forgiven in the meanwhile events were pressing towards a still more opposition on the th the three met and parted without agreement announcing that he had lost men and must take the matter in his own hands to their death on the ist the came before ordered the delivery of all arms within the hour and at the end of that period none being brought and burned the village the shells fell for the most part an saw children at play beside the flaming houses not a soul was injured and the one event was the of captain s american flag in one sense an incident too small to be in another this was of historic interest and import these rags of tattered occasioned the display of a new sentiment in the united states and the republic of the west hitherto so and but already stung by german leaped to its feet for the first time at the news of this fresh insult as though to make the of the war ships more apparent three shells were thrown inland at they flew high over the a camp where the natives could hear them singing as they flew and fell behind in the deep romantic valley of the had been already summoned on board the his life promised if he came declared in danger if he came not and he had declined in silence the invitation these fresh hostile acts showed him that the worst had come he was in strength his force posted along the whole front of the mountain behind occupied the road lined up to the houses of the town with warriors passionate for war the occasion was unique and there is no doubt that he designed to seize it the same day of this he sent word bidding all english and eight years of trouble in americans wear a black band upon their arm so that his men should recognise and spare them the hint was taken and the band worn for a continuance of days to have refused would have been insane but to consent was to feed the resentment of the by a fresh sign of intelligence with their enemies and to the breach between the races by a fresh and a scarce mark of their division the same day again the repeated one of their earlier by firing on a boat within the harbour times were changed they were now at war and in peril the of military advantage might well be seized by them and by others but it so chanced that the bullets flew about the ears of captain hand and that commander is said to have been of apologies the affair besides had a deplorable effect on the inhabitants a black band they saw might protect them from the not from shots panic ensued the war ships were open to receive the and the gentlemen who had made merry over were seen to thrust each other from the in their eagerness to flee i willingly drop	38
the curtain on the shameful picture meanwhile on the german side of the bay a more manly spirit was exhibited in circumstances of alarming weakness the plantation and had all retreated to only one i understand remaining at his post the whole german colony was thus collected in one spot and could count and wonder at its scanty numbers declares to my surprise that the war ships could not spare him more than fifty men a day the great extension of the german quarter he goes on did not allow a full occupation of the outer line hence they had shrunk into the western end by the firm buildings and the inhabitants were warned to fall back on this position in the case of an alert so that he who had set forth a day or so before to the in the open field now found his resources scarce adequate to garrison the buildings of the firm but seemed by fate it is probable he thought he had eight years of trouble in already in so deep returning were as tedious as go o er it is certain that he continued on the scene of his defeat and in the midst of his weakness to and menace like a conqueror active war which he lacked the means of attempting was continually threatened on the d he sought the aid of his brother to maintain the territory against a and at the same time as though meditating instant deeds of refused to be bound by it himself this singular proposition was of course refused remarking that he had no fear of the natives if these were let alone de refusing in the circumstances to recognise any territory at all in vain and his proposal with the offer of forty eight or ninety six hours notice according as his should be near or within the boundary of the sa it was rejected and he learned that he must accept war with all its consequences and not that which he desired war with the of peace this monstrous the man s frame of mind it has been still further illuminated in the german white book by alongside of his those of the on january th the was destroyed by fire says it was the work of without doubt admits that everything seems to show it was an accident s people fit to bear arms writes are certainly for the moment equal to s though restrained from battle by the lack of as for says of the same date he is now but a phantom er his party for practical purposes is no longer large they pretend to be lacking but what they lack most is good will captain whose influence is now small declares they can no longer sustain a serious engagement and is himself in the intention of leaving by the of the th february and in the same despatch himself and the testimony of his naval by the admission that the re establishment of s government is under present ch not eight years of trouble in to be thought of plainly then he was not so much to deceive others as he was himself possessed and we must regard the whole series of his acts and as the of a fever the british steamer returned to january th on the last voyage she had brought the already so frequently referred to as a matter of fact she was again bringing of war it is necessary to be explicit upon this which served as spark to so great a flame of scandal was justified in interfering he would have been worthy of all condemnation if he had neglected in his posture of semi a precaution so and the manner in which he set about attempting it was and almost timid he applied to captain hand and begged him to accept himself the duty of the discharge of the s cargo hand was unable to move without his and at night an armed boat from the searched and kept possession of the suspected ship the next day as by an war and martial law were proclaimed for the islands the introduction of of war forbidden and ships and boats declared liable to search all support of the will be punished by martial law continued the no matter to what the person may belong hand it has been seen declined to act in the matter of the without the of his but i have found no evidence that either hand or communicated with de with whom they were both at drawn first the and next the seem to have burst on the english from a clear sky and he wrote on the same day throwing doubt on s authority to declare war replied on the th that the imperial german government had been at war as a matter of fact since december th and that it was only for the convenience of the subjects of other states that he had been to make a formal declaration from that moment he added martial law in de instantly retorted declining mar eight years of trouble in law for british subjects and announcing a in that sense instantly again came that astonishing document s without pause without reflection the pens on the paper the messengers you would think running from to i have had the honour to receive your s agreeable communication of to day since on the ground of received instructions martial law has been declared in british subjects as well as others fall under its application i warn you therefore to from such a as you announce in your letter it will be such a piece of business as shall make yourself under martial law besides your will be disregarded de of course issued his at once retorted with another and night closed on the first stage of this insane collision i hear the german was on this day with fever	38
charity at least must suppose him hardly for his language early on the st mr a passing traveller was seized in his berth on board the y and carried half dressed on board a german war ship his offence was in the circumstances and after the substantial he had gone the day before in the spirit of a to s camp had spoken with the king and had even recommended him an appeal to sir george grey i gather had been long uneasy this arrest on board a british ship filled the measure doubtless as he had written long before the alone was responsible on the legal side but the captain began to ask himself what next direct home for instructions is arrest of foreigners on foreign vessels legal and was ready at a word from captain hand to discharge his dangerous prisoner the word in question so the story goes was not without a kind of wit i wish you would set that man ashore hand is reported to have said indicating i wish you would set that man ashore to save me the trouble the same day de published a captains to submit to search for of war on the d the times and south sea eight years of trouble in was suppressed by order of i have hitherto refrained from mentioning the single paper of our islands that i might deal with it once for all it is of course a tiny sheet but i have often had occasion to wonder at the ability of its articles and almost always at the decency of its tone officials may at times be a little roughly and at times a little private persons are habitually respected and there are many papers in england and still more in the states even of leading organs in chief cities that might envy and would do well to imitate the courtesy and discretion of the times yet the editor is only an amateur in and a carpenter by trade his chief fault is one perhaps inevitable in so small a place that he seems a little in the leading of a but his interest in the public is genuine and generous one man s meat is another man s poison and have been differently brought up to our experience the paper appears moderate to their sensations it seems violent we think a public man fair game we think it a part of his duty and i am told he finds it a part of his reward to be continually by the press for the on the other hand an official wears a certain when he is called over the coals they are shocked and if the official be a german feel that germany itself has been insulted the times had been long a mountain of offence had imported from the colonies another of the name of jones to deprive of the government german sailors had come ashore one day wild with offended patriotism to punish the editor with and the result was delightfully amusing the asked for the english they were shown the wrong man and the blows intended for had hailed on the shoulders of his rival jones on the th had an article from a san paper the had complained and de in a moment of weakness had the editor twenty pounds the judgment was afterwards reversed in but even at the time it had not satisfied the and so now on the third day of eight years of trouble in martial law the paper was suppressed here we have another of these to the step seemed natural and obvious for it was a hand laid upon the altar and the month was scarce out before the voice of announced to his that free speech had been suppressed in perhaps we must seek some similar explanation for s short lived code published and withdrawn the next day the d himself was in no humour for he was much in the position of a lieutenant who should perceive his captain urging the ship upon the rocks it is plain he had lost all confidence in his commanding officer upon the legal side and we find him writing home with anxious he had understood that martial law implied military possession he was in military possession of nothing but his ship and suspected that his martial should be confined within the same limits as a matter of fact he writes we do not occupy the territory and cannot give foreigners the necessary protection because and his f people can at any moment forcibly interrupt me in my yet in the eyes of the severity of his code appeared i give but three of its provisions the crime of german troops by any means as for instance informing them of by the enemy was with death that of or secretly anything whether printed or written bearing on the war with prison or and that of calling or attending a public meeting unless permitted with the same such were the tender of lurking in the western end of the german quarter where could at any moment interrupt his on the d day of the of the times de wrote to inquire if were intended against great britain which on the same day denied on th d de sent a complaint of hostile acts such as the armed and forcible entry of the before the declaration and the arrest of in his reply dated the th took occasion to repeat n ow with r t r eight years of trouble in more self command his former threat against de i am still of the opinion he writes that even foreign are liable to the application of martial law if they are guilty of against the state the same day th de complained that manager for messrs had been summoned by in answer had the honour to inform your that since the declaration of the	38
state of war british subjects are liable to martial law and mr will be arrested if he does not appear here then was the thrown down and de was burning to accept it s offence was this upon the d a steamer had come in from specially to bring german to the rumour came along with her from new that in these would find himself and was accused of having interested himself in the spreading of this rumour his arrest was actually ordered when hand succeeded in persuading him to surrender at the german court the case was dismissed and the acute stage of these may be said to have ended blessed are the hand had perhaps averted a collision what is more certain he had offered to the world a perfectly original reading of the part of british seaman hand may have averted a collision i say but i am tempted to believe otherwise i am tempted to believe the threat to arrest was the last of the declining tempest and a mere to s self respect i am tempted to believe the rumour in question was correct and the steamer from had really brought the german grounds for hesitation if not orders to retreat i believe the unhappy man to have awakened from a dream and to have read writing on the wall an enthusiastic popularity surrounded him among the it was natural and colony had passed through an hour of serious peril and the had set the example of courage he was entertained at dinner who was known to have secretly opposed him was scorned and avoided but the clerks of the german firm were one thing prince was another eight years of trouble in and on a cold review of these events it is not improbable that may have envied the position of his naval it is certain at least that he set himself to and and when the blow fell he was able to reply that the martial law business had in the meanwhile come right that the english and american courts stood open for ordinary cases and that in different conversations with captain hand who has always maintained friendly intercourse with the german authorities it had been repeatedly explained that only the supply of weapons and or similar aid and support was to come under german martial law was it weapons or that had supplied but it is unfair to these of an unfortunate in a false position in a despatch of the d which has not been printed had told his story how he had declared war subjected foreigners to martial law and been received with a by the english and how in an interview with chiefs at the plantation house of of which i cannot find the date he had demanded the of arms and of for punishment and proposed to assume the government of the islands on february th he received s answer you had no right to take foreigners from the of their the protest of your english is in which may arise from this cause you will find yourself in the wrong the demand by you as to the assumption of the government of by germany lay outside of your instructions and of our design take it immediately back if your is here rightly understood i cannot call your conduct good it must be a hard heart that does not with in the hour when he received this document yet it may be said that his troubles were still in the beginning men had against him and he had not prevailed he was now to be at war with the elements and find his name identified with an immense disaster one more date however must be given first it was on february th that formally announced martial law to be suspended and himself to have the control of the police eight years of trouble in chapter x the march the so called harbour of is formed in part by a recess of the coast line at in part by the slim of and in part by the fresh waters of the and the barrier that singular that makes so much of the circuit of pacific islands is carried far to sea at and inside of these two horns it runs sharply and between them it is burst or dissolved by the fresh water the shape of the may be compared to a high shouldered jar or bottle with a mouth its sides are almost everywhere of coral for the not only bounds it to and forms the neck and mouth but about the beach it forms the bottom also as in the bottle of commerce the the bottom is re and the shore runs forth the and makes a dangerous cape opposite the of the entrance danger is therefore on all hands the entrance three wide at the and the formidable surf of the pacific both outside and in there are days when speech is difficult in the chambers of houses days when no boat can land and when men are broken by stroke of sea against the as i write these words three miles in the mountains and with the land breeze still blowing from the island summit the sound of that vexed harbour in my ears such a creek in my native coast of scotland would scarce be dignified with the mark of an anchor in the but in the favoured climate of and with the mechanical regularity of the winds in the pacific it forms for ten or eleven months out of the twelve a safe if hardly a port the ill found island ride there with their insufficient the year through and discharge and are loaded without apprehension of danger when it comes the glass gives warning eight years of trouble in and that any modem war ship furnished with the power of steam should have been lost in belongs not so much	38
instrument of destruction but a place of the cliff is profoundly and presents the mouth of a huge in which the bodies of men and the of ships are alike hurled down and buried the had dragged with eight years of trouble in the rest her injured screw her from steaming vigorously up and a little before day she had struck the front of the coral come oflf struck again and gone down stem foremost as she went into the gaping hollow of the of her whole of nearly eighty four souls were cast alive on the beach and the bodies of the remainder were by the of the streams at last from the harbour and naked on the of the island five ships were immediately with the same destruction the vanished the four poor on shore read a dreadful on their danger which was swelled out of all proportion by the violence of their own movements as they leaped and fell among the by seven the was so fortunate as to avoid the and beach upon a space of sand where she was immediately deserted by her crew with the assistance of not without loss of life by about eight it was the turn of the she was close down upon the doomed herself it might yet be possible to save a the tion of her crew and for this end captain placed his reliance on the very of the seas that threatened him the moment was watched for with the anxiety of despair but the coolness of courage as she rose on the fatal wave her were simultaneously slipped she to in rising and the sea heaved her bodily upward and cast her down with a on the summit of the where she lay on her beam ends her back broken buried in seas but safe conceive a table the in the darkness had been smashed against the rim and flung below the cast free in the nick of opportunity had been thrown upon the top many were injured in the many tossed into the water twenty perished the crept again on board their ship as it now lay and as it still remains to the waves a monument of the sea s tn still weather under a sky in those seasons when that ill named ocean the pacific suffers its vexed shores to rest she lies high and dry the spray scarce touching her the structure of man s hands within a circuit eight years of trouble in of a thousand miles tossed up there like a s cap upon a shelf broken like an ge a thing to dream of the of germany and britain were both that morning in and both displayed their nobler qualities de the grim old soldier collected his family and with them in an agony of prayer for those exposed more fortunate in that he was called to a more active service must upon the striking of the pass to his own from this he was divided by the now a raging torrent the trunks of trees a might have dreaded to attempt the passage we may conceive this brave but unfortunate and now ruined man to have found a natural joy in the exposure of his life and twice that day coming and going he the fury of the river it was possible in spite of the darkness of the and the continual of the seas to remark human movements on the and by the help of always nobly forward in the work whether for friend or enemy sought the long to get a line conveyed from shore and was for long defeated the shore guard of fifty men stood to their arms the while upon the beach useless themselves and a great of usefulness it was perhaps impossible that this mistake should be avoided what more natural to the mind of a european than that the should fall upon the in this hour of their disadvantage but they had no other thought than to assist and those who now rallied beside as they supposed in doing so a double danger from the fury of the sea and the weapons of their enemies about nine a swam ashore and reported all the officers and some sixty men alive but in pitiable case some with broken limbs others insensible from the of the later in the certain succeeded in reaching the wreck and returning with a line but it was speedily broken and all subsequent attempts proved the strongest being cast back again by the bursting seas all through that day and night the must continue to eight years of trouble in endure their and one officer died it was supposed from agony of mind in his cabin three ships still hung on the next margin of destruction steaming desperately to their dashed helplessly together the was the nearest in she had the close on her port side and a little ahead the close a the under her heel and steaming and on her the unhappy ship with her three dangers about a quarter to nine she carried away the quarter gallery with her boom a moment later the had near her from the other side by nine the dropped down on her too fast to be avoided and clapped her stern under the of the english ship the of which were burst asunder as she rose ta avoid cutting her down it was necessary for the to stop and even to reverse her engines and her was at the moment or it seemed so to the eyes of those on board within ten feet of the between the and the writes in his excellent report it the was destruction to repeat s with the was impossible the was too heavy the one possibility of escape was to go out if the engines should stand if they should have power to drive the ship against	38
the and the partly piled on the and herself sunk to the gun deck no sail afloat and the beach heaped high with the of ships and the wreck of mountain forests already before the day the chief of had gallantly ventured forth by boat through the fury of the seas and had sue the in communicating with the admiral already or as soon after as the dawn permitted rescue lines were and the sur were with difficulty and danger begun to be brought to shore and soon the cheerful spirit of the admiral added a new feature to the scene surrounded as he was by the of two wrecked ships he the band of the and the bay was suddenly with the strains of hail during a great part of the day the work of rescue was continued with many instances of courage and devotion and for a long time succeeding the almost inexhaustible harvest of the beach was to be in the first employment the earned the gratitude of friend and foe in the second they surprises all by an unexpected virtue that of honesty the greatness of the disaster and the magnitude of the treasure now rolling at their feet may perhaps have roused in their an emotion too serious for the rule of or perhaps that was for the moment sails that twelve strong could scarce drag from the water great guns one of eight years of trouble in which was rolled by the sea on the body of a man the only native slain in all the an infinite wealth of rope and wood of tools and weapons tossed upon the beach yet i have never heard that much was stolen and beyond question much was very honestly returned on both accounts for the life and the restoration of property the government of the united states showed themselves generous in reward a fine boat was presented to and rings watches and money were on all who had assisted the also gave money at the rate as i receive the tale of three dollars a head for every german saved the obligation was in this instance deep those with whom they were at war had saved the german blue at the venture of their lives was besides far from and i can only explain the figure by supposing it was paid from his own pocket in one case at least it was refused i have saved three said the i will make you a present of the three the of the american and german the were now cast still in a temper together on the beach the discipline of the americans was loose the crew of the had earned a character for in other ports and recourse was had to and indeed extraordinary measures the town was divided in two to which the different were confined had his quarter and any seaman a challenge was to be shot dead any tavern keeper who sold spirits to an american sailor was to have his tavern broken and his stock destroyed many of the were german and having these but necessary dispositions wonders grinning to himself over his despatch how far these americans will go in their assumption of over such as they were the measures were successful the mass of was kept in peace and at last in peace out of the islands returned to on the th to find the the sole of thirteen sail he thanked his men and in particular the en eight years of trouble in in a speech of unusual feeling and a beauty of which one who was present remarked to another as they left the ship this has been a means of grace nor did he forget to thank and compliment the admiral and i cannot deny myself the pleasure of from s reply some generous and engaging words my dear captain he wrote your kind note received you went out splendidly and we all felt from our hearts for you and our cheers came with sincerity and admiration for the able manner in which you handled your ship we could not have been if it had been one of our ships for in a time like that i can say truly with old that blood is thicker than water one more trait will serve to build up the image of this typical sea officer a tiny the captain dear to myself from the memories of a six months lived out upon the high seas the fury of that tempest which had piled with the harbour of found a refuge in and arrived at last in the port with a welcome and cargo n the of pigs the admiral was glad to have the pigs but what most delighted the man s noble and childish soul was to see once more afloat the colours of his country thus in what seemed the very article of war and within the duration of a single day the sword arm of each of the two angry powers was broken their formidable ships reduced to i their hundreds to a of ways fed with difficulty and the fear of whose the sleep of their both paused aghast both had time to recognise that not the whole sam an was worth the loss in and costly ships already suffered the so called of march i th made thus a marking epoch world history directly and at once it brought v about the and treaty of indirectly and by a process still continuing it founded the modern navy of the states coming years and other will declare the influence of that eight years of trouble in chapter xi and with the the broken war ships and the sailors i am at an end of violence and my tale flows henceforth among carpet incidents the blue on beach were j still held apart by when the powers at home were already seeking a solution it was agreed	38
could have done but what he did he was loyal as in duty bound to the treaty and to and when the of the important and of demanded to his face a change of kings he had no choice but to refuse them and his reproof being to the meeting whether by any neglect of his own or the mere force of circumstance he failed however to secure the o eight years of trouble in sympathy failed even to gain the confidence of the latter is not without a sense of his own abilities or of the great service he has rendered to his native land he felt himself neglected at the very moment when the cry for his elevation rang throughout the group he thought himself made little of on and he began to weary of his part in this humour he was exposed to a temptation which i must try to explain as best i may be able to the of the great name is in the power of the district of some seven miles to the westward of the most noisy and conspicuous of that party are the inhabitants of hence in the elaborate of is always referred to by the name of authority as having the power of the name and by that of or household as forming the immediate family of the chief but these though so important are only small and perhaps the chief force of the the island of has no royal name to bestow and all the five being in the gift of different districts of but she has the weight of numbers and in these latter days has acquired a certain force by the in her of a single man the orator the reader will now understand the peculiar significance of a which should embrace and the of both and how it would represent all that is most effective on the side and all that is most considerable in politics except the opposite party of the and in the temptation brought to bear on even the was was dead his followers had conceived a not unnatural aversion to all from which only the loyal is and a not unnatural admiration for their late successful adversary men of his own blood and men whom he had fought in the field whom he had driven from who had smitten him back time and again from before the rustic of they approached him hand in hand with their enemies and in the same prayer the treaty t y eight years of trouble in argued was not carried out the right to elect their king had been granted them or if that were denied or suspended then the right to elect his successor they were dissatisfied with and claimed according to the laws and customs of duly to another the of declared with irritation that their second appointment was alone and the sole the whole body of named him as their choice for king and they requested him in consequence to leave and take up his dwelling in the name place of a step which may be described to european ears as placing before the country his for the crown i do not know when the proposal was first made doubtless the grew slowly every trifle adding to its force doubtless there lingered for long a to give the new government a trial the chief justice at least had been nearly five months in the country and the president baron von rather more than a month before the mine was sprung on may the house of was and found empty he and his chiefs had vanished from and what was worse three prisoners from the had accompanied them in their two being political and the third accused of murder having been perhaps set free by accident although the step had been discussed in certain quarters it took all men by surprise the inhabitants at large expected instant war the officials awakened from a dream to recognise the value of that which they had lost at where he was the pledge of peace had perhaps not always been deemed worthy of particular attention at was seen twelve hours too late to be an altogether different quantity with excess of zeal on the other side the officials to their boats and proceeded almost in a body to where they seem to have employed every of flattery and every resource of eloquence upon the fugitive high chief these perhaps excessive in themselves had the fault of being offered when too late showed himself on small issues on the main he restored the prison eight years of trouble in ers he returned with the to on a flying visit he gave his word that peace should be preserved a pledge in which perhaps no one believed at the moment but which he has since nobly on the rest he was immovable he had cast the die he had declared his he had gone to thither after his visit to he returned again there he has practically since resided thus was created in the islands a situation strange in the beginning and which as its inner significance is developed becomes daily stranger to observe on the one hand sits in a state receives heads his letters government of treats the king as a co and yet declares himself and in many ways himself as a law abiding citizen on the other the white officials in stand contemplating the phenomenon with eyes of growing now with symptoms of now with of violence for long even those well in island manners and the island character daily expected war and heard imaginary drums beat in the forest but for now and close upon a year and against every stress of persuasion and temptation has been the of our peace lay open to be seized he had the power in his hand his followers cried to be led on his enemies him the	38
same way by impotent examples and he has never faltered early in the day a white man was sent from the government of to examine and report upon his actions i saw the spy on his return it was only our rebel that saved us he said with a laugh there is now no honest man in the islands but is well aware of it none but knows that if we have enjoyed during the past eleven months the of peace it is due to the forbearance of our rebel nor does this part of his conduct stand alone he calls his party at the government our government but he pays his taxes to the government at he takes ground like a king he has steadily and refused to obey all orders as to his own movements or behaviour but upon he sends to be tried under the chief justice we have here a problem of conduct and eight years of trouble in what seems an image of very hard at the first sight to be solved by any european plainly does not act at random plainly in the depths of his mind he regards his attitude as regular and constitutional it may be unexpected it may be it may be but he thinks it and perhaps it is in full accordance with those laws and customs of by the of the act the point is worth an effort of comprehension a man s life may yet depend upon it let us conceive in the first place that there are five separate in though not always five different kings and that though one man by holding the five royal names might become king in all parts of there is perhaps no such matter as a of all he who holds one royal name would be upon this view as much a sovereign person as he who should chance to hold the other four he would have less territory and fewer subjects but the like independence and an equal now even if all points were decided against him is and still and as such on this a sovereign prince in the second place the of the act exceeding bold employed the word election and justified all steps towards the according with the customs of i am not asking what was intended by the gentlemen who sat and very and on the whole wisely in i am asking what will be understood by a studying their literary work the act i am asking what is the result of taking a word out of one state of society and it to another of which the writers know less than nothing and no european knows much several and several days were employed last september in the fruitless attempt to convey to the mind of the sense of the word resignation what can a gather from the words election f election of a king election of a king according to the laws and customs of f what are the measures what is the method of likely to be employed by two three four or five more or less absolute eager to each other and eight years of trouble in who is to distinguish such a process from the state of war in such or i should say differences the nearest we can come towards understanding is to appreciate the cloud of in which au parties treading the crude half on foot half flying now in one part of s behaviour his purpose is beyond mistake towards the provisions of the act his desire to be formally obedient is manifest the act imposed the tax he has paid his taxes although he thus to the ways and means of his immediate rival the act the supreme court and he sends his to be tried at although he thus places them as i shall have occasion to show in a position far from wholly safe from this literal in matters regulated to the terms of the we may infer in regard to the rest a no less exact of the famous and obscure laws and customs of and but though it may be possible to obtain in the study to some such of an understanding it were plainly unfair to expect it of officials in the hurry of events our two white officers have accordingly been no more than was to be looked for and i think they have sometimes been less wise it was not wise in the president to proclaim and his followers and their estates such words are not respectable till they repose on force on the lips of an angry white man standing alone on a small they were both dangerous and absurd they might have provoked ruin thanks to the character of they only raised a smile and the authority of government and again it is not wise in the government of to have twice attempted to once in once here in the the fate of the attempt i never heard it seems to have been still born the other passed under my eyes a war party was armed in and despatched across the island against villages where it was to seize the women and children it was eight years of trouble in absent for some days engaged in with those whom it went out to fight and returned at last and in this fortunate though ending we may read the fact that the natives on s side are sometimes more wise than their indeed for our last twelve months of miraculous peace under what seem to be two rival kings the credit is due first of all to and second to the half or the forbearance or both of the natives in the other camp the voice of the two has ever been for war they have published at least one they have armed and sent into the field at least one war party	38
they have continually captains of to attack and the captains of the war ships have refused thus in the last twelve months our european rulers have drawn a picture of themselves as bearded like the full of strange oaths and like while over against them obstinate and their own surround them into the question of motive i refuse to enter and but if we come to war in these islands and with no fresh occasion it will be a war and one that has been against the grain of opinion by two foreigners for the last and worst of the mistakes on the side it would be unfair to blame any but the king himself capable both of virtuous resolutions and of fits of obstinacy his majesty is usually the whip top of and his conduct is so as to wear at times an appearance of treachery which would surprise himself if he could see it take for example the experience of lieutenant late chief of police and so to speak commander of the forces his men were under orders for a certain hour he found himself almost alone at the place of muster and learned the king had sent the on errands he sought an audience explained that he was here to discipline that with this purpose in view his men could only receive orders through himself and if that condition were riot agreed to and faithfully observed he must send in his papers the king was as usual easily persuaded the interview passed eight years of trouble in and ended to the satisfaction of all parties engaged and the bargain was kept for one day on the day after the troops were again dispersed as post and their commander resigned with such a sovereign i repeat it would be unfair to blame any individual minister for any specific fault and yet the policy of our two against a has appeared uniformly so excessive and that the blame of the last scandal is laid generally at their doors it is yet fresh towards the end of last year became deeply concerned about the situation and by great personal exertions and the charms of brought and into agreement upon certain terms of compromise still to be king to accept a high office to that of our own prime minister and the two to was a party was said to view the proposal with resignation if not relief peace was thought secure the night before the king was to receive i met one of his company the family chief and we shook hands over the unexpected issue of our and troubles what no one dreamed was that would refuse and he did he refused for himself and peace for these unhappy islands and the two on rightly or got the blame of it but their policy has another and a more awkward side about the time of the to many ugly things were said i will not repeat that which i hope and believe the did not wholly mean let it suffice that if rumour carried to the language i have heard used in my own house and before my own native servants he would be highly justified in keeping clear of and the one gentleman whose opinion i respect and am so bold as to hope i may in some points will understand the allusion and appreciate my reserve about the same time there occurred an incident upon which i must be more particular a was a gentleman who had long been an intimate of s and had recently upon account indeed of the to more or less wholly broken relations to him came one whom i shall call b with a eight years of trouble in proposition it may have been e s own in which case he were the more but from the of his intercourse with the chief justice as well as from the terms used in the interview men judged otherwise it was proposed that a should a renewal of the friendship to a suitable place and have him there arrested what should follow in those days of violent speech was at the least and the proposal was of course refused you do not understand was the base you will have no the are to take the blame of the arrest of course upon the testimony of a gentleman so it were unfair to hang a dog and both the and the chief justice must be held innocent but the chief justice has shown that he can himself be led by his against into questionable acts certain natives of were accused of stealing pigs the chief justice summoned them through several were sent and along with them a written promise that if others were required these also should be upon such as came were duly tried and and and s offer was to the chief justice who made a formal answer and the same day in of his constant design to have attacked by reported to one of the that his warrant would not run in the country and that certain of the accused had been withheld at least this is not fair dealing and the next instance i have to give is possibly worse for one blunder the chief justice is only so far responsible in that he was not present where it seems he should have been when it was made he had nothing to do with the silly of the he has always disliked the measure and it occurred to him at last that he might get rid of this dangerous absurdity and at the same time reap a farther advantage let leave for any other district in it should be as an act of submission and the and instantly recalled this was certainly well devised the government escaped from their own false position and by the same stroke lowered the of their but unhappily the chief justice did not	38
put all his eggs in one eight years of trouble in basket with these he began again to move the captain of one of the war ships to shell the rebel village the captain the extremity wholly not only refused these instances but more or less publicly complained of their being made the matter came to the knowledge of the white resident who was at that time playing the part of with and he in natural anger and disgust withdrew from the these always deplorable when discovered are never more fatal than with men imperfectly almost incapable of truth themselves they cherish a particular scorn of the same fault in and is besides an exceptional native i would scarce dare say of any that he is truthful though i seem to have encountered the phenomenon but i must say of that he seems distinctly and averse to lying for the of the prisoners the chief justice is only again in so far as he was at the moment absent from the seat of his duties and the blame falls on baron von president of the and council there were in certain loyal to being people i they were very to their neighbours the majority as they belonged to the same island were the more impatient and one fine day fell upon and destroyed the houses and of the according to the laws and customs of the president went down to the island in a war ship and was landed alone upon the beach to one so much a stranger to the of this must have seemed an act of desperation and the baron s gallantry met with a deserved success the six acting in s interest had been guilty of a with s approval they delivered themselves over to be tried on friday september they were convicted before a native magistrate and to six months imprisonment or i should rather say for it was expressly directed that they were to be used as gentlemen and not as prisoners that the door was to stand open and that all their wishes should be gratified this extraordinary sentence fell upon the accused like eight years of trouble in a there is no need to suppose where a careless to explain all but the six chiefs claim to have understood their coming to as an act of submission merely formal that they came in fact under an and that the president stood pledged to see them already on their way from the they were surrounded by friends and who pressed and cried upon them to escape lieutenant must order his men to load and with that the momentary died away next day saturday the chief justice took his departure from the islands a step never yet explained and in view of the doings of the day before and the of other officials hard to justify the president an amiable and brave young man of singular was thus left to face the growing difficulty by himself the of the prisoners to the number of near upon a hundred lay in a village half way between and there they talked big thence sent menacing messages the should be broken in the night they said and and the six rescued allowance is to be made for the character of the people of turbulent fellows of tongue but of late days not thought to be bold in person yet the moment was anxious the government of had gained an important moral victory by the surrender and condemnation of the chiefs and it was needful the victory should be maintained the guard upon the was accordingly strengthened a was sent to watch the road under and the chiefs of the were to arm and their men it must be supposed the president was doubtful of the loyalty of these he turned at least to the war ships where it seems he was thence he fled into the arms of the gang where he was unhappily more successful the government of washington had presented to the king the of the and the an american had been formed to break them up an experienced gang was in consequence settled in and the report of had long grown familiar in the ears of from eight years of trouble in these the president obtained a supply of the needful and the loan of a the was and the people in were advertised of the fact in a letter signed by partly by the of the who had sought to himself like lady with liquor for his somewhat dreadful task the story immediately out and raised a very general or i might say almost universal some blamed the proposed deed because it was barbarous and a foul example to set before a race half barbarous itself others because it was others again because in the face of so weak an enemy it appeared almost all because it tended to and war in the midst of the turmoil he had raised and under the immediate pressure of certain indignant white the baron fell back upon a new expedient certainly less barbarous perhaps no more legal and on monday afternoon september th packed his six prisoners on board the and them to the neighbouring low island group of the and we watched her put to sea with mingled feelings anything were better than but this was not good the men had been summoned in the name of law they had surrendered the law had uttered its voice they were under one sentence duly delivered and now the president by no right with which we were acquainted had exchanged it for another it was perhaps no less fortunate though it was more in a stranger that he had increased the punishment to that which in the eyes of ranks next to death exile from their native land and friends and the appeared to carry away with her into the parts of the sea the	38
honour of the administration and the of the supreme court the policy of the government towards has thus been of a piece throughout always would be violent it has been almost always with some appearance of or the policy of though extremely bewildering to any white appears everywhere consistent with itself and the man s bearing has always been calm but to eight years of trouble in sent the fulness of the contrast it is necessary that i should give some description of the two or the two and the ways and means of the regular and irregular government the reader may remember is a narrow finger of land planted in which runs forth into the perhaps three quarters of a mile to the east is the bay of to the west there is first of all a swamp the green the mud ink black and its face crawled upon by countless insects and black and scarlet beyond the swamp is a wide and shallow bay of the bounded to the west by point is the next village to so that from the top of some tall in it should be possible to against the eastern heavens the palms of the trade wind sweeps over the low and it from the of the swamp have a quaint phrase in their language when out of health they seek exposed places on the shore to eat the wind say they and there can be few better places for such a diet than the point of and two european houses stand conspicuous on the harbour side in europe they would seem poor enough but they are fine houses for one is new it was built the other day under the title of a government house to be the residence of baron the other is historical it was built by on a and is now occupied by the chief justice on conditions never understood the rumour going that he sits rent free i do not say it is true i say it goes and there is one peculiarity of our officials in a their remarkable indifference to their own character from the one house to the other extends a scattering village for the or native parliament men in the days of this was a brave place both his own house and those of the good and the whole ordered and approached by a way it is now like a neglected and speaks of in all concerned but the chief scandal of is elsewhere the house of the president stands just to of the where the watch is set nightly and armed men guard the uneasy of eight years of trouble in the government on the side there stands a monument to the poor german lads who fell at just beyond which the by may chance to observe a little house standing backward from the road it is such a house as a might use in a bush village none could dream that it gave shelter even to a family chief yet this is the palace of king of as you sit in his company under this humble shelter you shall see between the posts the new house of the president his majesty himself it daily and the tenor of his thoughts may be divined the fine house of a chief is his appropriate attribute yet after seventeen months the government well themselves have not yet found have not yet sought a roof tree for their sovereign and the lodging is typical i take up the president s financial statement of september i find the king s allowance to figure at dollars a month and i find that he is farther though somewhat with the of either two or three clerks take the outside figure and the sum expended and on or for his majesty to ninety five dollars in the month lieutenant and dr the chief justice s friends drew in the same period one hundred and forty and one hundred dollars on account of salary alone and it should be observed that dr was employed or at least paid from government funds in the face of his majesty s express and protest in another column of the statement one hundred and seventy five dollars and seventy five cents are for the chief justice s travelling expenses i am of the opinion that if his majesty desired or dared to take an he would be asked to bear the charge from his allowance but although i think the chief justice had done more nobly to pay for himself i am far from denying that his excursions were well meant he should indeed be praised for having made them and i leave the charge out of consideration in the following statement on the one hand salary of chief justice salary of president baron von about o eight years of trouble in salary of lieutenant chief of police salary of dr private secretary to the chief justice total monthly salary to four one of them paid against his majesty s protest on the other hand total monthly to and for his majesty the king including allowance and hire of three clerks one of these placed under the of extraordinary expenses i this looks strange enough and mean enough already but we have ground of comparison in the practice of white prime minister about white chief of police under in other words the king received the second highest allowance on the sheet and it was a good second and the third was a bad third and it must be bom in mind that himself was pointed and laughed at among natives judge then what is muttered of in his before the president s doors like before the and doors of receiving not so much of his own taxes as the private secretary of the law officer and in actual salary little more than half as much as his own chief of police it is	38
known besides that he has protested in vain against the charge for dr it is known that he has himself applied for an advance and been refused money is certainly a grave subject on but respect costs nothing and officials might have judged it wise to make up in extra politeness for what they of pomp or comfort one instance may suffice appeared last summer on a public occasion the president was there and not even the president rose to greet the entrance of the sovereign since about the same period besides the monarch must be described as in a state of a white man an the true type of all that is most gallant humorous and reckless in his country chose to visit his majesty and give him some excellent advice to make up his difference with unhappily in vivid and language the adviser now sleeps in the pacific but the evil that he o eight years of trouble in chanced to do lives after him his majesty was greatly and i must say justly offended by the freedom of the expressions used he appealed to his white and these whether from want of thought or by design issued an intending visitors to the palace must appear before their and justify their business the majesty of buried was henceforth only to be viewed like a private collection under special permit and was thus at once cut off from the company and opinions of the self respecting to retain any dignity in such an abject state would require a man of very different virtues from those claimed by the not he is not designed to ride the or direct the storm rather to be the ornament of private life he is kind gentle patient as job well of charming manners and when he pleases he has one accomplishment in which he now begins to be alone i mean that he can pronounce correctly his own beautiful language the government of accomplished a good deal and was continually and i and attempting more the government of our two has confined itself almost wholly to paying and receiving they have built indeed a house for the president they are believed if that be a merit to have bought the local newspaper with government funds and their rule has been by a number of into which i feel with relief it is unnecessary i should enter even if the three powers do not remove these gentlemen their absurd and disastrous government must perish by itself of native taxes except perhaps from true to his own private policy have long been beyond hope and only the other day may th on the expressed ground that there was no as to how the funds would be expended and that the president refused to allow the of his cash the council has the proposal to call up farther taxes from the all is well that ends even ill so that it end and we believe that with the last dollar we shall see the last of the last now when it is so nearly over we can afford to smile at this io eight years of trouble in passage though we must still sigh over the occasion lost the way to lies round the shores of bay and through a succession of pleasant groves and villages the road one of the works of is now cut up by pig fences eight times you must leap a barrier of posts the take off and the landing both in a patch of mire planted with big stones and the stones sometimes with the blood of horses that have gone before to make these obstacles more you have sometimes to wait while a black over the so called pig fence nothing can more thoroughly the worst side of the character than these useless which their only road it was one of the first orders issued by the government of after the coming of the chief justice to have the passage cleared it is the disgrace of that the thing is not yet done the village of is a scene of prosperity and peace in a very good account of a visit there published in the the writer f a and describes it to be fortified she must have been deceived by the appearance of some pig walls on the shore there is no no parade of war i understand that from one to five hundred fighting men are always within reach but i have never seen more than five together under arms and these were the king s guard of honour a sabbath quiet over the well green the horses the troops of pigs the round or oval native dwellings of these there are a surprising number very fine of their sort yet more are in the building and in the midst a tall house of assembly by far the greatest structure now in these islands stands about half finished and already makes a figure in the landscape no bustle is to be observed but the work accomplished to a still activity the centre piece of all is the high chief himself king or not king or king of all goes to him all comes from him native bring him gifts and are in return white travellers to their indescribable irritation are on his approach waved from his eight years of trouble in path by his armed guards he summons his dancers by the note of a he sits nightly at home before a semi circle of talking men from many quarters of the islands delivering and hearing those and elegant in which the heart delights about himself and all his surroundings there breathes a striking sense of order tranquillity and native plenty he is of a tall and powerful person sixty years of age white haired and with a white moustache his eyes bright and quiet his jaw which gives him something of	38
the expression of a benevolent his manners dignified and a thought with an air of a catholic he was never married and a natural daughter upon his guests long since he made a vow of to live as our lord lived on this earth and report with breath that he has kept it on all such points true to his catholic training he is inclined to be even rigid the of has recently his wife and taken a fairer and when i was last in with a strange superiority to his own interests had but and just despatched a in his immediate circle in spite of the of his ways he is said to be more respected than beloved and his influence is the child rather of authority than popularity no now living need have attempted that which he has accomplished during the last twelve months with not only to withhold his followers from war but to send them to be judged in the camp of their enemies on and it is a matter of debate whether such a triumph of authority were ever possible before speaking for myself i have visited and dwelt in almost every seat of the race and have met but one man who gave me a stronger impression of character and parts about the situation expresses himself with peace to the chief justice he with some bitterness to with a smile as my poor brother for himself he stands upon the treaty and expects sooner or later an election in which he shall be raised to the chief power in the meanwhile or for an alternative he would willingly embrace a compromise with to which he would eight years of trouble in probably add one condition that the joint government should remain seated at a sensible but not inconvenient distance from white and white officials one circumstance in my last interview particularly pleased me the king s chief is an old employ under and the talk ran some while upon the character of loyalty in this world is after all not thrown away was guilty in eyes of many errors but he stood true to in the course of time a sense of this virtue and of his general has the memory of his mistakes and it would have done his heart good if he could have heard his old and his old adversary join in him yes concluded i wish we had back again a chose est bon so strong is the impression produced by the defects of and baron that i believe far from singular in this opinion and that the return of the upright might be even welcome to many i must add a last touch to the picture of and the s life about four in and the morning the visitor in his house will be awakened by the note of a pipe blown without very softly and to a soothing melody this is s private luxury to lead on pleasant we have a bird here in that about the same hour of darkness sings in the bush the father of while he lived was a great friend and protector to all living creatures and passed under the by name of the king of birds it may be it was among the of the that the son acquired his fancy for this morning music i have now sought to render without the impressions received of dignity plenty and peace at of and distraction at and i wish i might here bring to an end ungrateful labours but i am sensible that there remain two points on which it would be improper to be silent i should be blamed if i did not indicate a and i should blame myself if i did not do a little justice to that tried company of the land the land commission has been in many eight years of trouble in senses unfortunate the original german member a gentleman of the name of fell early into precarious health his work was from the first interrupted he was at last to the regret of all that knew him home and his successor has but just arrived in like manner the first american henry c a man of character and intelligence was recalled i believe by private when he was but just settling into the spirit of the work and though his place was promptly filled by ex governor a worthy successor distinguished by strong and common sense the break was again sensible the english my friend michael haggard is thus the only one who has continued at his post since the beginning and yet in spite of these unusual changes the commission has a record perhaps among it has been unanimous practically from the first until the last and out of some four hundred cases disposed of there is but one on which the members were divided it was the more unfortunate they should have early fallen in a and difficulty with the chief justice the original ground of this is supposed to be a difference of opinion as to the import of the act on which as a it would be if i were to offer an opinion but it must always seem as if the chief justice had suffered himself to be irritated beyond the bounds of discretion it must always seem as if his original attempt to deprive the of the services of a secretary and the use of a safe were even senseless and his step in and a denying their were equally and the dispute had a secondary result worse than itself the gentleman appointed to be natives advocate shared the chief justice s opinion was his close intimate advised with him almost daily and drifted at last into an attitude of opposition to his he suffered himself besides being a in law to embrace the interest of his with something of the warmth of a disagreeable scenes occurred in	38
song as with all pacific goes hand in hand with the dance and both shade into the drama some of the performances are and ugly some only dull others are pretty funny and attractive games are popular matches where a hundred played upon a side endured at times for weeks and ate up the country like the presence of an army fishing the daily bath courtship which is gone upon by conversation which is eight years of trouble in largely political and the delights of public fill in the long hours but the special delight of the is the when people form a party and go from village to village and they are said to go on a their songs have announced their approach ere they arrive the guest house is prepared for their reception the of the village attend to prepare the bowl and entertain them with the dance time flies in the enjoyment of every pleasure which an and when the sets forth the same welcome and the same joys expect them beyond the next cape where the nearest village in its grove of palms to the visitors it is all golden for the hosts it has another side in one or two words of the language the fact out the same word expresses a long call and to come as a calamity the same word to have no of pain and to have no as in the arrival of visitors and used of bears the sense of being overcome as with fire flood or visitors but elements of discord native the of the dictionary is the which its pages like a humorous it is used in the sense of to avoid visitors but it means literally hide in the wood so by the sure hand of popular speech we have the picture of the house deserted the disappointed and the host that should have been in the bush we are thus brought to the beginning of a series of traits of manners highly curious in themselves and essential to an understanding of the war in authority sits on the one hand on the other property stands bound in the midst of what property exists is in the family not in the individual and of the loose in which a family dwells the dictionary may yet again help us to some idea i find a string of with the following senses to deal with as in helping from a family plantation to give away without consulting other members of the family to go to strangers for help instead of to relatives to take from relatives without permission to steal from relatives to have f eight years of trouble in robbed by relatives the ideal of conduct in the family and some of its appear here very plainly the man who in a native word of praise is a race has his hand always open to his kindred the man who is not in a native term of contempt knows always where to turn in any pinch of want or extremity of within the family and by the less self respecting without it has thus grown into a custom and a and the dictionary with evidence of its abuse special words signify the begging of food of food of fish of pigs of pigs for travellers of pigs for stock of of tops of tops for planting of tools of of implements for and of it is true the beggar was supposed in time to make a return somewhat as by the roman contract of but the obligation was only moral it could not be or was not enforced as a matter of fact it was disregarded the language had recently to borrow from the a word for debt while by a significant it possessed a native elements of discord native expression for the failure to pay to omit to make a return for property begged conceive now the position of the by and all defence denied him by the laws of honour the gesture of refusal his last and single resource was supposed to signify my house is destitute until that point was reached in other words the conduct prescribed for a was to give and to continue giving but it does not appear he was at all expected to give with a good grace the dictionary is well with expressions standing ready like to be discharged upon the troop of shame faced ones you draw in your head like a you make your voice small like a whistle pipe you beg like one and the to look cross is equipped with the rider as at the sight of beggars this insolence of beggars and the weakness of can only be illustrated by examples we have a girl in our service to whom we had given some finery that she might wait at table and at her own request some warm t eight years of trouble in clothing against the cold mornings of the bush she went on a visit to her family and returned in an old her whole wardrobe having been divided out among relatives in the course of twenty four hours a in the province of being a handy busy man bought a boat for a hundred dollars fifty of which he paid down presently after relatives came to him upon a visit and took a fancy to his new possession we have long been wanting a boat said they give us this one so when the visit was done they departed in the boat the meanwhile travelled into the best way he could sold a parcel of land and begged among his other relatives to pay the remainder of the price of the boat which was no longer his you might think this was enough but some months later the having broken a brought back the boat to be repaired and by the original owner such customs it might be	38
argued being double edged will ultimately right themselves but it is otherwise in practice such folk as the s relatives will generally have elements of discord native a boat and will never have paid for it such men as the may have sometimes paid for a boat but they will never have one it is there as it is with us at home the measure of the abuse of either system is the blackness of the individual heart the same man who would drive his poor relatives from his own door in england would in the doors of the rich and the essence of the in either case is to pursue one s own advantage and to be indifferent to the losses of one s neighbour but the particular of the system is to and industry to work more is there only to be more to save is impossible the family has then made a good day of it when all are filled and nothing remains over for the crew of and the injustice of the system begins to be recognised even in one native is said to have a certain fortune two clever lads have expressed to us their discontent with a system which taxes industry to idleness and i hear that in one village of a law has been passed forbidding gifts under the penalty of a sharp fine eight years of trouble in under this the of taxes which strike all at the same time which expose the industrious to a perfect siege of and the lazy to be actually condemned to a day s labour may be imagined without words it is more important to note the of all sense of property from applying for help to who are scarce permitted to refuse it is but a step to taking from them in the dictionary phrase without permission from that to at large is but a hair s breadth elements of discord foreign chapter ii the elements op discord foreign the huge majority of like other god fearing folk in other countries are perfectly content with their own manners and upon one condition it is plain they might enjoy themselves far beyond the average of man seated in islands very rich in food the idleness of the many idle would scarce matter and the provinces might continue to bestow their names among rival and fall into war and enjoy that awhile and drop into peace and enjoy that in a manner highly to be envied but the condition that they should be let alone is now no longer possible more than a hundred years ago and following closely on the heels of cook an irregular invasion of a began to swarm about the of the pacific the seven of stand still but half aroused in the midst of the eight years of trouble in of competition and the island races to a of launched upon the stream of time now fall to make their desperate voyage among pots of brass and the port and is the seat of the political sickness of at the foot of a mountain the coast makes a deep roughly in front the barrier is broken by the fresh water of the streams if the swell be from the north it enters almost without and the roll at their and along the f coral which follows the of the beach the surf breaks with a continuous uproar in wild weather as the world knows the roads are along the whole shore which is everywhere green and level and overlooked by inland mountain tops the town lies drawn out in strings and clusters the western horn is the and from one to the other of these extremes i ask the reader to walk he will find more of the history of spread before his eyes in that excursion than has yet elements of discord foreign been collected in the blue books or the of the world where the walk is to begin is a flat wind swept planted with palms backed against a swamp of and occupied by a rather miserable village the reader is informed that this is the proper residence of the kings he will be the more surprised to observe a board set up and to read that this historic village is the property of the german firm but these boards which are among the commonest features of the landscape may be rather taken to imply that the claim has been disputed a little further east he skirts the stores offices and of the firm itself thence he will pass through the one really town like portion of this long string of villages by german bars and stores and the german and reach the catholic mission and cathedral standing by the mouth of a small river the bridge which crosses here bridge of is a frontier behind is beyond proper behind are supreme beyond with but few exceptions all is saxon here the reader will go f eight years of in forward past the stores of mr american and messrs english past the english mission the office of the english newspaper the english church and the old american till he reaches the mouth of a larger river the beyond in his way takes him in the shade of many trees and by scattered dwellings and presently brings him beside a great range of offices the place and the monument of a german who fought the german firm during his life his house now he is dead remains pointed like a discharged cannon at the of his old enemies enough it is at present and occupied by englishmen a little further and the reader gains the eastern angle of the bay where stands the pilot house and signal post and whence he can see on the line of the main coast of the island the british and the new american the course of his walk will have been by	38
a considerable to and fro of pleasure and business he will have encountered many varieties of sailors merchants clerks priests in their elements of discord foreign and the on of any island beach and the sailors are sometimes in considerable force but not the he will think at times there are more than men to own them it may chance it is a full day in the harbour he will then have seen all manner of ships from men of war and deep sea to the labour vessels of the german firm and the island and if he be of an turn he may calculate that there are more afloat in bay than ashore in the whole on the other hand he will have encountered all ranks of natives chiefs and in their scrupulous white clothes perhaps the king himself attended by guards in uniform smiling with their stars girls women crowds of cheerful children and he will have asked himself with some surprise where these reside here and there in the back yards of european he may have had a glimpse of a native house in a comer but since he left none on the beach where prefer to live scarce one on the line of street eight years of trouble in the handful of have everything the natives walk in a foreign town a year ago on a behind a he might have observed a native house guarded by and flown over by the standard of he would then have been told it was the seat of government driven as i have to relate over the and from beyond the german town into the saxon to day he will learn it has been back again to its old quarters and he will think it significant that the king of the islands should be thus to and fro in his chief city at the nod of and then he will observe a feature more significant still a house with some of affairs and hanging by a man at a perhaps a trial proceeding in the front or perhaps the council breaking up in knots after a stormy sitting and he will remember that he is in the sa the forbidden soil or territory of the that the magistrate whom he has just seen trying native is no officer of the native king s and that this the only port and place of business in the king elements of discord foreign and its own for its own by the hands of white and under the of white let him go farther he will find the roads almost ever to cease or to be made by native pig fences bridges to be quite unknown and houses of the to become at once a rare exception set aside the german and the frontier is sharp at the boundary of the sa europe ends begins here then is a singular state of affairs all the money luxury and business of the kingdom in one place that place from the native government and administered by for and the themselves holding it not m common but in hostile so that it lies between them like a bone between two dogs each growling each clutching his own end should ever choose a coat of arms i have a motto ready enter rumour painted ml of tongues the majority of the natives do extremely little the majority of the e merchants with some four in the eight years of trouble in month with some ten or twenty customers a day and gossip is the common resource of all the town to the day s news and the bars are crowded with amateur some are office and king and and compass the fall of officials with an eye to salary some are delighted with the pleasure of for itself i never saw so good a place as this said one of these you can be in a new conspiracy every day many on the other hand are sincerely concerned for the future of the country the quarters are so close and the scale is so small that perhaps not any one can be trusted always to preserve his temper every one tells everything he knows that is our country sickness nearly every one has been betrayed at times and told a trifle more the way our sickness takes the and the news flies and the tongues wag and fists are shaken pot boil and within the memory of man the white people of lay in the worst of degradation they are now improved elements of discord foreign both men and women to day they must be called a more than fairly respectable population and a much more than fairly intelligent the whole would probably not fill the ranks of even an english half yet there are a surprising number above the average in sense knowledge and manners the trouble for is that they are all here after a some are sharp some are famous justly or not for foul play in business tales fly one merchant you against his neighbour the neighbour on the first occasion is found to return the compliment each with a good story to the proof there is so much in the islands and no more a man s share of it is his share of bread and commerce like politics is here to a shows its ugly side and becomes as personal as close at their elbows in all this stands the native looking on like a child his true he and is usually silent as in a child a considerable of speech is accompanied by some power of secrecy news he his eight years of trouble in thoughts have often to be dug for he looks on at the rude career of the dollar hunt and wonders he sees these men rolling in a luxury beyond the ambition of native kings he hears them accused by each other of the meanest	38
he knows some of them to be guilty and what is he to think he is strongly conscious of his own position as the common milk cow and what is he to do surely these white men on the beach are not great chiefs is a common question perhaps asked with some design of flattering the person questioned and one by the last incident into an unusual flow of english remarked to me i begin to be weary of white men on the beach but the true centre of trouble the head of the boil of which is the german firm from the conditions of business a great island house must ever be an inheritance of care and it chances that the greatest still has its chief seat in bay and has sunk the main part of its capital in the island of when its founder john caesar went over russian paper and iron his most considerable was found to elements of discord foreign be the south sea business this passed i understand through the hands of brothers in london and is now run by a company rejoicing in the name of the und else fur see this piece of literature is in practice to the d h and p g the old firm the german firm the firm and among the long handle firm even from the deck of an approaching ship the island is seen to bear its signature of cultivation showing in a more vivid tint of green on the dark of forest the total area in use is near ten thousand acres hedges of fragrant lime broad avenues them you shall walk for hours in of palm tree regular like soldiers on parade in the recesses of the hills you may on a mill house toiling and trembling there deep in forest on the carpet of clean troops of horses and herds of handsome cattle may be seen to and to one accustomed to the rough of the the appearance is of the many of them eight years of trouble in man sea captains are enthusiastic in their new employment experiment is continually and both of excellent quality are among the more recent and from one plantation quantities of are sent at a particular season to the a hundred and fifty thousand pounds of english money perhaps two hundred thousand lie sunk in these magnificent estates in the expense of maintenance quite a fleet of ships must be remembered and a strong staff of captains and these last mess together at a liberal board the wages are high and the staff is with a strong and pleasing sentiment of loyalty to their seven or eight hundred imported men and women toil for the company on of three or of five years and at a of a few dollars in the month i am now on a burning question the labour traffic and i shall ask permission in this place only to touch it with the suffice it to say that in new and it has been either suppressed or placed under elements of discord foreign close public in where it still there is no of which the public receives any evidence and the dirty linen of the firm if there be any dirty and if it be ever washed at all is washed in private this is unfortunate if would believe it but they have no idea of keep their business to themselves rather affect to move in a mysterious way and are naturally by which they consider from men who would import labour for themselves if they could afford it and would probably them if they dared it is said the whip is very busy on some of the it is said that extra labour by which the s term of service is extended has grown to be an abuse and it is complained that even where that term is out much occurs in the of the discharged to all this i can say nothing good or bad a certain number of the many of them wild from the west have taken to the bush harbour there in a state partly or creep into the back quarters of the town to do a day s eight years of trouble in stealthy labour under the nose of their twelve were arrested one morning in my own boys kitchen further in the bush huts small patches of cultivation and smoking have been found by hunters there are still three in the woods of whither they escaped upon a and the regard these dark with extreme alarm the fourth in was shot down as i was told in that island while carrying off the virgin of a village and tales of run round the country and the natives shudder about the evening fire for the are not do not seem to remember any period when they were and regard the practice with a equal to our own the firm is among the and it must not be forgotten that while the small independent are fighting for their own hand and with the usual jealousy against the are inspired with a sense of the greatness of their affairs and interests the thought of the money sunk the sight of these costly and beautiful elements of discord foreign tions yearly by the returning forest and the responsibility of with one hand so many fortunes might well nerve the manager of such a company for desperate and questionable deeds upon this scale commercial has an air of patriotism and i can imagine the man so far from over the for a few solomon prepared to rival overthrow inconvenient and let loose the dogs of war whatever he may decide he will not want for every clerk will be eager to be up and strike a blow and most in the group whatever they may of the firm over the and the wine will rally round the national concern at the	38
to the reader whether this trait of discord foreign or not the wretched story and the end of it the credit alike of england and the states when this man the of a friendly sovereign was and on the of an american by the captain of an english war ship i shall have to tell as i proceed of villages on very trifling grounds by the like has been done of late years though in a better quarrel by ourselves of england i shall have to tell how the landed and shed blood at it was only in that we british had our own little at i shall have to tell how the with a sudden call for money it was something of the that sir arthur himself under a sensible public made and enforced a somewhat similar demand i eight years of trouble in chapter iii sorrows of to you ride in a german plantation and see no bush no soul stirring only acres of empty miles of alley a desert of food in the eyes of the the place has the attraction of a park for the of a for we must add the yet more lively of a haunted house for over these empty and silent miles there the fear of the for the besides there is something and absurd in the idea of thus growing food only to send it from the land and sell it a man at home who should turn all into one and bum his harvest on the altar of might impress ourselves not much otherwise and the firm which does these things is quite a that sorrows of might be to morrow without loss but to itself few natives drawing so much as day s wages and the rest beholding in it only the of their acres the nearest villages have suffered most they see over the hedge the lands of their ancestors waving with useless palms and the were often questionable and must still more often appear so to natives spinning and improving bout the evening lamp at the worst then to help from the plantation will seem to very like orchard breaking to the british at the best it will be thought a gallant robin of a public wrong and there is more behind not only is from the regarded rather as a lark and the idea of in itself is not very clearly present to these and as to the punishment of crime in general a great of opinion the natives from ourselves were short and sharp death by the primitive method of setting the criminal to sea in a and in itself the pen eight years of trouble in of publicly biting a hot ill smelling root to a rough in a children s game these are approved the is killed or punished and forgiven we on the other hand harbour malice for a period of years continuous shame to the criminal even when he is doing his best even when he is to the worst form of torture regular work he is to stand aside from life and from his family in dreadful these ideas most have accepted in appearance as they accept other ideas of the in practice they reduce it to a farce i have heard the french resident in the in talk with the french of je ou je man part visited and the ladies would be welcome this is to take the most savage of take some of the most in labour on the in clothing and ridiculous and it is a common sight to see the family of such an one troop out about the dinner hour with flowers and in sorrows of holiday best to with their on the public the application of these in fact the sympathy to the remember besides that the system and that imperfect idea of justice which is its worst feature are still lively m that it is held the duty of a judge to favour of a king to protect his and the difficulty of getting a plantation thief first caught then convicted and last of all punished will appear during the early the looked upon this system with growing irritation they might see their thrust in jail by the front door they could never tell how soon he was by the back and they need not be the least surprised if they met him a few days after enjoying the delights of a it was a conspiracy from the king and the vice king downward to the law and deprive the of their profits in accordingly the dr a on the subject in terms of which convicted of against german eight years of trouble in subjects were to be confined in a private jail belonging to the german firm to dr it seemed simple enough the were to be effectually punished the partially to the the thing appeared no less simple but quite different was selling to what else could be expected here was a private engaged in making money to it was upon a question of profit and loss one of the functions of the crown and those who make must look for comments public feeling ran unanimous and high prisoners who escaped from the private jail were not or not returned and hastened to build a new prison of his own whither he conveyed or pretended to convey the in october a state paper issued from the german twenty prisoners the wrote had now been at large for eight months from s prison it was pretended they had since then completed their term of punishment elsewhere dr did not seek to conceal his incredulity but he took sorrows of ground beyond he declared the point the law was to be enforced the men were condemned to a certain period in s prison they had run away they must now be brought back and whatever had become of	38
them in the interval work out the sentence doubtless dr demands were just but doubtless also they bore from the outside a great appearance of and when the king submitted the murmurs of the people increased but was not yet content the law had to be enforced property or at least the property of the firm must be respected and during an absence of the s he seems to have drawn up with his own hand and certainly first showed to the king in his own house a new here and there as an able man he was perhaps in the right to prepare and propose as the head of a trading company he seems far out of his part to be communicating state papers to a sovereign the administration of justice was the colour and i am willing to believe the purpose of the new eight years of trouble in paper but its effect was to the existing government a council of two and two were to be invested with the right to make laws and impose taxes as might be desirable for the common interest of the government and the german the provisions of this council the king and vice king were to sign and by a last hardship the who received all the benefit reserved a right to from the agreement on six months notice the who suffered all the loss were bound by it in i can never believe that my friend dr had a hand in these proposals i am only surprised he should have been a party to them perhaps the chief error in these islands of a man who has made few and they were enforced with a that seems the according to their own account were denied a copy of the document they were certainly and threatened their deliberation was treated as two german war ships lay in port and it was hinted that these would shortly sorrows of succeed in a child and he takes refuge in one of the chiefs had written we know well we are in bondage to the great it was now thought one tyrant might be better than three and any one to germany on the th november accordingly and forty eight high chiefs met in secret and the of was secretly offered to great britain for the second time in history and still figured as king and vice king in the eyes of dr in their own they had secretly were become private persons and might do what they pleased without binding or their country on the morrow accordingly they did public humiliation in the dust before the and five days later signed the the last was done it is claimed upon an impulse the humiliation which it appeared to the so great a thing to offer to the practical mind of dr seemed a trifle to receive and the pressure was continued and increased and were both heavy eight years of trouble in meaning men educated for the still bears some marks of it in character and appearance was in private of an and sentimental turn but no one would have guessed it from his solemn and dull countenance impossible to conceive two less dashing for a threatened race and there is no doubt they were reduced to the extremity of and childish fear it was drawing towards night on the loth when this pair and a chief of the name of set out for the german still minded to as they went they discussed their case with agitation they could see the lights of the german as they walked an eloquent and it was then that proposed to sign the it will give us peace for the day said and afterwards great britain must decide better fight germany than that cried speaking words of wisdom and departed in anger but the two others proceeded on their fatal errand signed the writing themselves king and vice king as they now believed themselves sorrows of to be no longer and with childish took part in a scene of reconciliation at the german supposed himself betrayed by states with precision that the document was sold by a for thirty six dollars twelve days later at least november d the text of the address to great britain came into the hands of dr the may have been wrong before they were now in the right to be angry they had been publicly solemnly and the treaty and the reconciliation were both with the broad f of children and this history is much from the outside it is the report of eye witnesses it can be rarely corrected from state papers and as to what felt and thought or what instructions they acted under i must still be silent or proceed by guess it is my guess that now decided to be a man impossible to trust and unworthy to be dealt with and it is certain that the business of his was put in hand at once the position of with eight years of trouble in his knowledge of things native his and his intellect must have always made him influential with the at this juncture he was indispensable here was the deed to be done here the man of action mr rested not says it was like the old days of his own writes his messengers filled the isle his house was thronged with chiefs and he sat close over his loom weaving the e there was one thing requisite to the a native and the very man you would have said stood waiting of descended from both the royal lines late joint king with off with nothing in the time of the treaty probably by the circumstance a chief with a strong following and in character and capacity high above the native average yet when s was done and the curtain rose on the set scene of the was absent and	38
stood in his place was to be for a piece of solemn and offensive and the man selected to replace him sorrows of was his sole partner and in the act for so strange a choice good ground must have existed but it remains some supposing scratched as too independent others that had indeed betrayed and his new advancement was the price of his treachery so these two chiefs began to change places like the scales of a balance one down the other up raised his flag th in chief place of his own province of the style of king and began to collect and arm a force by the admission of was in the market supplying him with weapons so were the americans so but for our british law so would have been the british for wherever there is a sound of battle there will the be gathered together selling arms a little longer and we find visited and addressed as king and majesty by a german meanwhile for the unhappy the road led downward he was refused a he was turned out of the seat of his on a land eight years of trouble in claim of s fled across the and had the coolness german expression to his flag in he was asked in the most polite manner says the same account in the most delicate manner in the world a reader of might be tempted to the phrase to strike his flag in his own capital and on his refusal to to this request dr appeared himself with ten men and an officer from the a sailor climbed into the tree and brought down the flag of which was carefully folded and sent in the most polite manner to its owner the of england and the states were there the excellent gentlemen to protest last and yet more explicit the german who visited and be addressed the king we may surely say the late king as the high chief had he no party then at that time it is probable he might have called some of to his standard and yet he sat there helpless monarch like a fowl for the blame lies with himself because he was a helpless creature it sorrows of lies also with england and the states their agents on the spot preached peace where there was no peace and no pretence of it with eloquence and secretary seems to have felt a call to join personally in the solemn farce and was at the expense of a in which he assured the sinking monarch it was for the higher interests of he should do nothing there was no man better at doing that the advice came straight home and was devoutly followed and to be just to the great powers something was done in europe a conference was called it was agreed to send to and the decks had to be hastily cleared against their visit dr had attached the of and hoisted the german war flag over the american in a sudden access of good service had flown the stars and over colours on either side these steps were solemnly the expressly and the islands fell into a period of suspense of some twelve months duration during which the seat of the history was transferred to other countries i eight years of trouble in and escapes my here on the spot i select three incidents the arrival on the scene of a new actor the visit of the and the riot on the emperor s birthday the rest shall be silence only it must be borne in view that all the while continued to strengthen himself in and sat listening to the song of captain the new actor was a captain of of a romantic and adventurous character he had served with credit in war but soon wearied of garrison life resigned his battery came to the states found employment as a civil engineer visited took a sub contract on the canal caught the fever and came for the sake of the sea voyage to he had that natural love for the which lies so often latent in persons of a northern birth difficulty and danger attracted him and when he was picked out for secret duty to be the hand of germany in there is no doubt but he accepted the post with it is doubtful if a sorrows of better choice could have been made he had courage integrity ideas of his own and loved the employment the people and the place yet there was a fly in the the double error of unnecessary and of the of a trading company in political affairs has and in the end defeated much german policy and was introduced to the islands as a clerk and sent down to where he was soon the troops and the position of the rebel king as an agent of the german firm what this cost in the end i shall tell in another place and even in the beginning it deceived no one is a man of notable personal appearance he looks the part allotted him and the clerk was soon the centre of observation and rumour wrote and complained of his presence to who had succeeded dr in the replied i have nothing to do with the gentleman be it well known that the gentleman has no appointment in a military character but assisting the government of in eight years of trouble in their work for is a quiet sensible gentleman and then he promised to send the vice to get information of the captain s doings surely of deceit the the prime minister of the kingdom was at this period an adventurer of the name of he claimed on the strength of a romantic story to be the heir of a great english house he had played a part in a revolt in had in dutch and had	38
risen to be a trusted agent of young the president it was in this character of a that he first came to the islands of where he collected a large sum of money for the church of the latter day saints at a given moment he dropped his and appeared as a christian and the owner of a part of the island of the steps of the are obscure they seem at least to have been ill received at salt lake and there is evidence to the effect that he was followed to the islands by his first attempt on politics was made under the of what sorrows of is called the missionary party and the conducted largely it is said with tears on the platform at prayer meetings it resulted in defeat without any decency of delay he changed his colours the errors of reform and with the support of the rose to the chief power in a very brief interval he had thus run through the of in the south seas it does not appear that he was any more particular in politics but he was careful to consult the character and prejudices of the late king that amiable far from but too sovereign had a continued use for money was observant to keep him well supplied one of the most of men was filled with visionary schemes for the protection and development of the race fell in step with him it is even thought he may have shared in his illusions the king and minister at least conceived between them a scheme of island the most obvious fault of which was that it came too late and armed and fitted out the nest egg of the future navy of the most eight years of trouble in important group still independent and one immediately threatened with was chosen for the scene of action the hon john e a half caste sailed december for as minister accompanied by a secretary of henry f poor and as soon as she was ready for sea the war ship followed in support the expedition was futile in its course almost tragic in result the was from the first a scene of disaster and the stores were sold the crew for a great part of a night she was in the hands of and the secretary lay bound upon the deck the mission itself at first with extravagance in was helped at last out of the island by the advances of a private citizen and they returned from dreams of independence to find their own city in the hands of a of white and the great once again in jail yet the farce had not been quite without effect it had encouraged the natives for the moment and it seems to have ruffled permanently the temper of the so might a fly caesar sorrows of the arrival of a mission from would scarce affect the composure of the courts of europe but in the eyes of the little kingdom a place apart it is there alone that men of their race enjoy most of the advantages and all the pomp of independence news of and descriptions of are grateful topics in all parts of the south seas and there is no better introduction than a photograph in which the bearer shall be represented in company with was besides sunk to the point at which an unfortunate begins to clutch at and he received the mission with delight letters were exchanged between him and a deed of was signed th february and the signature celebrated in the new house of the with some original ceremonies came attended by his several hundred chiefs two guards and six always decent withdrew at an early hour by those that remained all decency appears to have been forgotten high chiefs were seen to dance and day found the house with o eight years of trouble in who must be roused with coffee and sent home as a first chapter in the history of it was hardly cheering and remarked to one of the with equal dignity and sense if you have come here to teach my people to drink i wish you had stayed away the looked on from the first with natural irritation that a power of the of should thus profit by its footing in the family of nations and send and make believe to have a navy and bark and snap at the heels of the great german empire but could not prevent the hunted from taking refuge in any hole that offered and he could afford to smile at the fantastic in the it was another matter when the approached the sitting still in his government like in his tent helping neither side and as the suspected keeping the eggs warm for himself when the out of on this visit the german war ship sorrows of followed at her heels and was no sooner set down with the than he was summoned and ordered on board by two german the step is one of those triumphs of temper which can only be admired is entertaining the of a sovereign power in treaty with his own king and the captain of a german orders him to quit his guests but there was worse to come i gather that was at the time in the he had doubtless been promised prompt aid and a prompt success he had seen himself helped privately ordered about and publicly and he was still the king of nothing more than his own province and already the second in command of captain with the of some part of his native cabinet and behind the back of his white minister he found means to communicate with the a passage on the a and a home in were the proposed and he seems to have been tempted a day was set for a secret poor the secretary and i eight years	38
of trouble in j d strong an american painter attached to the in the surprising quality of government artist landed with a boat screw in and while the secretary hid himself according to agreement in the home of an english the artist bent on entered the of the rebel king it was a great day in three hundred had come in a feast was cooking and the in view of the native love of being was made entirely welcome but beneath the friendly surface all were on the alert the secret had out beheld his plans threatened in the root trembled for the possession of his slave and sovereign and the german vice mr had been sent or summoned to the scene of danger it was after dark prayers had been said and the hymns sung through all the village and strong and the sat together on the in the house of when the events began strong speaks german freely a fact which he had not disclosed and he was scarce sorrows of more amused than embarrassed to be able to follow all the the and the changing counsels of his neighbours first the king himself was missing and there was a false alarm that he had escaped and was already with poor next came certain intelligence that some of the had run the and were on their way to the house of the english thereupon in spite of some from who tried to defend the independence of his cabinet gathered a of warriors marched out of the village brought back the and clapped them in the iron which served as jail along with these he seems to have seized to the and poor seeing his conspiracy public burst with his boat s crew into the town made his way to the house of the native prime minister and demanded s release hastened to the spot with strong at his heels and the two being both and strong seriously alarmed for his friend s safety there began among them a scene of great at one point when eight years of trouble in strong suddenly disclosed his acquaintance with german it attained a high style of comedy at another when a pistol was most foolishly drawn it bordered on drama and it may be said to have ended in a mixed when poor was finally packed into the iron jail along with the ministers meanwhile the captain of his boat of whom i shall have to tell again had cleverly withdrawn the boat s crew at an early stage of the quarrel among the population beyond s he collected a body of armed men returned before dawn to the iron jail and the secretary and the of the rebel cabinet no opposition was shown and doubtless the rescue was at by who had gained his point poor had the face to complain the next day to but to with in was labour lost you have been repeatedly warned mr poor not to expose yourself among these savages said he not long after the presence of the was made a by the and sorrows of the rough and tumble withdrew on borrowed money to find their own government in hot water to the neck the emperor s birthday it is possible and it is alleged that the entered into the conference with hope but it is certain they were resolved to remain prepared for either fate and i take the liberty of believing that was not forgiven his that during this interval he stood marked like a tree for and that his conduct was daily for further of offence on the evening of the emperor s birthday march d certain were in a public bar the season and the place considered it is scarce cynical to assume they had been drinking nor so much being granted can it be thought to suppose them possibly in fault for the that took place a i say but i am willing to call it a riot and this was the new fault of this it is that was described by a german as the upon by of the german emperor eight years of trouble in i pass the by to examine the point of four natives were brought to trial for this horrid fact not before a native judge but the german magistrate of the of one was one condemned for and two for assault on appeal not to but the three the case was by a majority of two to one returned to the magistrate and as far as i can learn was then allowed to drop himself laid the chief blame on one of the of the a half white of the name of him he sought to have discharged but was again baffled by his brother where in all this are we to find a comer of responsibility for the king of the alleged author of the outrage was a half white as was to learn to his cost he claimed to be an american subject and he was not even in the s employment the scene of the outrage was outside the king s by treaty by the choice of germany he was not so much as allowed to fly his flag there and the denial of justice if justice were denied rested with the of britain and the states sorrows of but when a dog is to be beaten any stick will serve in the meanwhile on the proposition of mr the washington conference on affairs was till autumn so that the ministers of germany and great britain might submit the to their respective you propose that the conference is to and not be broken up asked sir west to for the reasons stated replied this was on july th and twenty nine days later by wednesday the th of august germany had practically seized for this breach of faith one excuse is openly alleged another whispered	38
it is openly alleged that had shown himself it is whispered that the was an expression of american and that the only did as they were done by the of these excuses may be left to the discretion of the reader but however excused the breach of faith was public and express it must have been deliberately and it was resented in the states as a deliberate insult eight years of trouble in by the middle of august there were five sail of german war ships in bay the of tons the the and the all considerable ships and the beautiful which lies there to this day on her beam scarlet with the day showing through her ribs they waited as a waits till the goes by and on the d when the mail had left for when the eyes of the world were withdrawn and plunged again for a period of weeks into her original island obscurity opened his guns the policy was too cunning to seem dignified it gave to conduct which would otherwise have seemed bold and even straightforward the appearance of a timid and helped to shake men s reliance on the word of germany on the day named an reached at whither he had retired months before to avoid a fine of one thousand dollars and an or public were demanded for the affair of the emperor s birthday twelve thousand dollars were to be paid quickly for from sorrows of man in the course of the last four years it is my opinion that there is nothing just or correct in while you are at the head of the government concluded i shall be at af in the morning of tomorrow wednesday at a m the blow fell on in his own expression out of the bush the fellow had seen things hang over so long he had perhaps begun to suppose they might hang over forever and here was ruin at the door he rode at once to and summoned his chiefs the council lasted all night long many voices were for defiance but had grown to a policy of and the answer ultimately drawn only begged for delay till saturday the th so soon as it was signed the king took horse and fled in the early morning to af the council hastily dispersed and only three chiefs and le remained by the government building expectant of the result by seven the letter was received by arrived in person for was answered and declared war on eight years of trouble in the spot before eight the seven hundred men and six guns came ashore and seized and hoisted german colours on the government building the three chiefs had made good haste to escape but a considerable was made of government papers and some seventeen thousand then followed a scene which long in the minds of the white inhabitants when the german the town m search of burst into private houses and were accused i am willing to believe on slender grounds of violence to private persons on the morrow the th one of the german war ships which had been despatched to over night re entered the bay flying the colours at the fore the new king was given a royal salute of twenty one guns marched through the town by the and a german guard of honour and established on with two or three hundred warriors announced his recognition to the other these replied by and in the usual manner advised to do sorrows of ing on the th martial law was declared and on the ist september the german dispersed about the group bearing along with them the of the new king was now a great man to have five iron war ships for his post but the moment was critical the revolution had to be explained the chiefs persuaded to at a summoned for the th and the ships carried not only a store of printed documents but a of upon their round such was the german d they had declared war with a of five ships upon a single man that man late king of the group was in hiding on the mountains and their own backed by german and sat in his stead in one of the first acts of on to the bush was to send for twice i am alone in the bush if you do not come quickly you will find me bound it is to be understood the men were near and had if they had nothing else a common jealousy at the urgent cry set forth r eight years of trouble in from and came to to what is this that you and the german have decided on doing he inquired i am going to obey the german replied whose wish it is that i should be the king and that all should here do not pursue in wrath against said but try to bring about a compromise and form a united government very well said leave it to me and i will try from went on board the and was graciously received probably said the we shall bring about a reconciliation of all through you and then asked his visitor if he bore any affection to yes said and to to him also and if you desire the of you will allow either him or me to bring about a reconciliation if it were my will said the i would do as you say but i have no will in the matter i have instructions from the and i cannot go back again from what i have been sent to do i thought you would be sorrows of commended said if you brought about the of i will tell you said the all shall go quietly but there is one thing that must be done must be i will do nothing to him	38
beyond he will only be kept on board for a couple of months and be well treated just as we did to the french chief napoleon iii some time ago whom we kept awhile and cared for well was no less explicit war he told should not cease till the had of and should be recognised meantime in the provinces a profound impression was received people to their fugitive sovereign in the bush many natives in brought their treasures and stored them in the houses of white friends the were sometimes ill received over in they found the village of deserted save for a few lads at these they and were rewarded with applause and the as soon as they had departed was torn down for this offence the village was eight years of trouble in burned by german sailors in a very decent and orderly style on the d september this was the dinner bell of the on the th the threat conveyed in the terms of the summons if any government district does not quickly obey this direction i will make war on that government district was thus commented on and and the meeting was in consequence well attended by chiefs of all parties they found themselves among the armed warriors of and the of the german and under the g s of five strong ships rose it was his first open appearance the german firm its work his words were few and great are my thanks that the chiefs and heads of families of the whole of are assembled here this day it is strictly forbidden that any discussion should take place as to whether it is good or not that is king of whether at this or at any future i place for your signature the following we inform all the people of of what follows i the government of has been assumed by king sorrows of by order of the king it was directed that a should take place to day composed of the chiefs heads of families and we have obeyed the summons we have sighted our names under this i th september needs must under all these guns and the paper was signed but not without open the bearing of in particular was long remembered against him by the do you not see the king said the his father was no king was the bold answer a bolder still has been printed but this is s own recollection of the passage on the next day the chiefs were all ordered back to shake hands with again they obeyed but again their attitude was menacing and some it is said audibly murmured as they gave their hands it is time to follow the poor sheet of paper literal meaning of who was now to be blown so over the face of earth as soon as news reached him of the declaration of war he fled from to a hamlet in the bush about a mile and a half eight years of trouble in behind where he some days on the th his secretary despatched to the american an anxious appeal his majesty s cry and prayer in behalf of this weak people by august th the had word of his lurking place surrounded the hamlet under cloud of night and in the early morning burst with a force of sailors on the houses the people fled on all sides and were fired upon one boy was shot in the hand the first blood of the war but the king was nowhere to be found he had wandered further over the mountains the of the land towards and here in a safe place he built himself a town in the forest where he received a continual stream of visitors and messengers day after day the german blue were employed in the hopeless enterprise of beating the forests for the fugitive day after day they were suffered to pass under the guns of day after day they returned exhausted and disappointed to high chief of was known to be in the forest with the king his wife was seized sorrows of imprisoned in the german hospital and when it was thought her spirit was sufficiently reduced brought up for cross examination the wise lady confined herself in answer to a single word is your husband near yes is he far from yes is he with the king yes are he and the king in different places yes whereupon the witness was discharged about the loth of september was secretly in at the american with two companions the german were close set and visited by a strong and on his return his party was observed and hailed and fired on by a they ran away on all in the dark and so doing upon another whom and flung in a ditch for the sheet of paper although of character is like most of an able body the second like the first fired after his at random in the dark and the two shots awoke the curiosity of on the afternoon of the i th the day of the hand a high chief despatched two boys across the eight years of trouble in island with a letter they were most of the night upon the road it was near three in the morning before the in the camp of beheld their lantern drawing near out of the wood but the king was at once awakened the news was decisive and the letter if did not give himself up before ten on the morrow he was told that great sorrows must befall his country i have not been able to draw as a hero but he is a man of certain virtues which the had now given him an occasion to display without hesitation he sacrificed himself his touching farewell to and making more expedition than the messengers passed early	38
behind to the banks of the as he passed he detached a messenger to at the catholic mission followed by the same road and the pair met at the and went and sat together in a house all present were in tears do not let us weep said the talking man we have no cause for shame we do not yield to but to the invincible strangers the departing king sorrows of the care of his country to a and when the latter sought to console him with the s promises he shook his head and declared his assurance that he was going to a life of exile and perhaps to death about two o clock the meeting broke up a returned to the catholic mission by the back of the town and proceeded by the beach road to the german naval hospital where he was received as he owns with perfect civility by about three brought him forth again as they went to the wharf the people wept and clung to their departing monarch a boat carried him on board the and he vanished from his countrymen yet it was long that he still lay in the harbour and so late as october th a boy who had been round the professed to have seen and spoken with him here again the needless mystery affected by the bitterly them the uncertainty which thus hung over s fate kept his name continually in men s mouths the words of his farewell rang in their ears to all on account of my great love i o eight years of trouble in to my country and my great affection to all this is the reason that i deliver up my body to the german government that may do as they wish to me the reason of this is because i do not desire that the blood of shall be for me again but i do not know what is my which has caused their anger to me and to my country and then the provinces farewell and family farewell so also ai and farewell if we do not again see one another in this world pray that we may be again together above so the sheep departed with the of a saint and men thought of him as of some king arthur snatched into on board the the shook hands with him told him he was to be taken away from all the chiefs with whom he had been accustomed and had him taken to the under guard the next day he was sent to sea in the there went with him his brother one and one half caste german to interpret he was re sorrows of used he dined in the stem with the officers but the boys dined near where the fire was they came to a newly formed place in where the was lying and a british ship which he knew to be a man because the officers were nicely dressed and wore here he was in a boat with a screen which he supposed was to conceal him from the british ship and on board the was sent below and told he must stay there till they had sailed later however he was allowed to come on deck where he found they had a screen perhaps an under which he walked looking at the newly formed settlement and admiring a big house where he was sure the governor lived from they sailed some time and reached an where a general came on board and where was only allowed on deck at night he could then see the lights of a town with he cape town off the they or lay to far at sea and sent a boat ashore to see he that there was no british eight years of trouble in man of war it was the next morning before the boat returned when the stood in and came to anchor near another german ship here came to him on deck and told him this was the place that is an astonishing thing said he i thought i was to go to germany i do not know what this means i do not know what will be the end of it my heart is troubled whereupon burst into tears a little after was called below to the captain and the governor the last addressed him this is my own place a good place a warm place my house is not yet finished but when it is you shall live in one of my rooms until i can make a house for you then he was taken ashore and brought to a tall iron house this house is regulated said the governor there is no fire allowed to bum in it in one part of this house weapons of the government were hung up there was a passage and on the other side of the passage fifty were chained together two and two by the ankles the windows were out of reach and there was only one door which was opened at six in the morning and shut again at six at sorrows of night all day he had his liberty went to the mission and walked about the who were like the sand on the for number at six they were called into the house and shut in for the night without beds or lights although they gave me no light said he with a smile i could see i was in a prison good food was given him tea made with warm water beef etc all excellent once in their walks they a tree bearing in the garden of an english merchant ran back to the prison to get a and came and offered to purchase i am not going to sell to you people said the merchant come and take what you like here interrupted himself to say it was the only tree bearing in	38
this far from brilliant or dignified monarch writing in the forest in of spirit and under pressure for time should have left behind him not only one but two remarkable and most effective documents the farewell to his people was t eight years of trouble in touching the farewell to the for a man of the character of must have cut like a whip when the chief and others first moved the present troubles he wrote it was my wish to punish them and put an end to the rebellion but i yielded to the advice of the british and american assistance and protection was repeatedly promised to me and my government if i from bringing war upon my country upon these promises i did not put down the rebellion now i find that war has been made upon me by the emperor of germany and has been proclaimed king of i desire to remind you of the promises so frequently made by your government and trust that you will so far redeem them as to cause the lives and liberties of my chiefs and people to be respected immediate adversary was of course i have formed an opinion of this gentleman largely from his printed which i am at a loss to put in words ingenious capable at moments almost witty with a kind of wit in action he dis played in the course of this affair every description of capacity but that which is alone useful and which springs from a knowledge of men s natures it chanced that one of s early moves played into his hands and he was swift to seize and to improve the advantage the territory and the of were to the german and by landing s two or three hundred warriors at as himself owns they had the and entered protest twice there were two ways of escaping this one was to withdraw the warriors the other by some to the and the second had advantages it would restore the taxes of the richest district in the islands to the king and it would enable them to substitute over the royal seat the flag of germany for the new flag of it is true and it was the subject of much remark that these two could hardly be distinguished by the naked eye but their effects were different to seat the king on german land and under german colours so eight years of trouble in that any rebellion was war on germany was a trick apparently invented by and which we shall find was repeated and in till the end martin was at this time magistrate in the the post was held in turn by the three martin had served far beyond his term and should have been succeeded months before by an american to make the change it was necessary to hold a meeting of the board consisting of the three each backed by an and for some time these meetings had been or refused by the german as long as it was agreed to continue martin had attended regularly as soon as indicated a wish for his removal suspended the by refusing to appear this policy was now the more necessary for if the whole existence of the were a check on the freedom of the new government it was plainly less so when the power to enforce and punish lay in german hands for some while back the flag had been flown on the building this i am sorry my information me to suppose he is in error with post loyalty to the past insisted that this flag should be continued and immediately made his point he declared justly enough that the proposal was hostile and argued it was impossible he should attend a meeting under a flag with which his sovereign was at war upon one occasion of he was invited to meet the two other at the british even this he refused and for four months the martin still in office in the month of october in consequence the british and american rate announced they would refuse to pay doubtless rubbed his hands on saturday the loth the chief a man of substance and good character was arrested on a charge of believed to be and cast by martin into the prison he sent to who was his tenant and owed him money at the time for applied to after some search martin was found and refused to consider eight years of trouble in before the monday morning whereupon demanded the keys from the accepted s verbal and set free things were now at a and astonished every one by agreeing to a meeting on the th it seems he knew what to expect writing on the th at least he that the meeting will be held in vain that the must lapse and the government of step in on the th left his in time and walked some part of the way to the place of meeting in company with the english pro but he had forgotten a paper and in an evil hour returned for it alone arrived without him and broke up the meeting for want of a there was some as to whether he had waited ten or twenty minutes whether he had been or informed by that was on the way whether the statement had been made to himself or to in answer to a question and whether he had brother and successor of heard s answer or only s question all if he heard the question he was bound to have waited for the answer if he heard it not he should have put it himself and it was the manifest truth that he rejoiced in his occasion sir he wrote to i have the honour to inform you that to my regret i am obliged to consider the government to be in since you have withdrawn your consent to the	38
of mr martin in his position as magistrate and since you have refused to take part in the meeting of the board agreed to for the purpose of a magistrate the government of the town and district of the rests as long as the is in with the government the government has taken over the administration and has applied to the commander of the imperial german for assistance in the preservation of good order this letter was not delivered until p m by three sailors had been landed already german colours flew over s at and eight years of trouble in german guards had occupied the hospital the german and the jail and where they stood to arms under the flag of the same day wrote to protest receiving no reply he issued on the morrow a bidding all americans look to himself alone on the th he wrote again to and on the th received this genial reply sir your high favour of the th of this month i give myself the honour of acknowledging at the same time i acknowledge the receipt of your high favour of the th october in reply to my communication of the same date which contained the information of the of the arrangements for the government there the correspondence ceased and on the i th january came the last step of this when appointed a judge and the judge proved to be martin thus was the adventure of the castle achieved by sir the the taxes of the jail the police all passed into the hands of a german was secured upon the bench and the german flag might wave over her but there is a law of human nature which should be taught at school and it seems they are not that men can bare injustice but not the combination of injustice and hence the career of the had the been seized by open force there might have been complaint it would not have aroused the same lasting grudge this grudge was an ill gift to bring to who had trouble enough in front of him without he was an alien he was supported by the guns of alien war ships and he had come to do an alien s work highly needful for but essentially with all the law to be enforced causes of dispute between white and brown to be taxes to be raised a central power created the country opened up the native race taught industry all these were detestable to the natives and to all of these he must set his hand the more i learn of his brief term of rule the more i learn to admire him and to wish we had his like eight years of trouble in in the face of bitter native opposition he got some roads accomplished he set up the taxes he enforced with necessary vigour by the th of january and districts in having made a difficulty is down at the island in a with the at his heels the chief the districts in three hundred dollars for expenses and orders all to be in by april th which if it is not not one thing will be done he proclaimed but war declared against you and the principal chiefs taken to a distant island he forbade of a frequent source of and quarrel and to clear those already contracted passed a severe but law each individual or family was first to pay off its own obligation that settled the free man was to pay for the indebted village the free village for the indebted province and one island for another he declared should be free of debt within a year had he g ven it three years and gone more gently i believe it might have been accomplished to make it the more possible he sought to the natives from buying cotton and to oblige them to dress at least for the time in their own he laid the of a royal army the first was in his hands but it was not so much on that he depended it was his hope to in these men an de corps which should the old local and bonds and found a central or national party in the islands looking far before and with a wisdom beyond that of many merchants he had condemned the single dependence placed on for the national his even as they were taught to plant each his term of active service finished should return to his own land and plant and cultivate a area thus as the young men continued to pass through the army habits of discipline and industry a central sentiment the principles of the new culture and actual gardens of should be spread over the face of the islands received including his household expenses i dollars a year eight years of trouble in all such are but this is not extreme we have seen horses of a colour since then and the with true to increase the salary of their white an he had the wisdom and good feeling to refuse a european chief of police received twelve hundred there were eight head judges one to each province and appeal lay from the district judge to the provincial thence to from all i gather a small monthly was withheld the army was to cost from three to four thousand many refusing to pay taxes since the of the might cost three thousand more sir s high feat of arms coming expensive it will be noticed even in money the whole was estimated at twenty seven thousand and the forty thousand a sum is well able to pay such were the arrangements and some of the ideas of this strong ardent and sanguine man of upon his conduct beyond the general consent that he was rather harsh and in too loi great a hurry few are articulate the native paper of complaints	38
was particularly childish out of twenty three counts the first two refer to the private character of and three complain that officials were kept in the dark as to the one of the law one of the direct appointment of chiefs by the sort of mistake into which in the south seas fall so readily one of the enforced labour of chiefs one of the taxes and one of the roads this i may give in full from the very lame translation in the american white book the roads that were made were called the government roads they were six wide their making caused much damage to s lands and what was planted on it the cried on account of their lands which were taken high and abused they again cried on account of the loss of what they had planted which was now thrown away in a way without any regard being shown or question asked of the owner of the land or any compensation offered for the damage done this was different with foreigners land in t i eight years of trouble in their case permission was first asked to make the roads the foreigners were paid for any destruction made the sting of this count was i fancy in the last no less than six articles complain of the administration of the law and i believe that was never satisfactory told me himself he was never yet satisfied with any native judge and men say and it seems to fit in well with his hasty and eager character that he would by word of mouth sometimes forget what he had said and on the same question arising in another province decide it perhaps otherwise i gather on the whole our captain was not great in law two articles refer to a matter i must deal with more at length and rather from the point of view of the white the common charge against was that of the german firm coming as he did this was inevitable had bought with hard cash that was matter of history the present government he did not even require to buy having founded it by his and introduced the to through the doors of his own office and the effect of the blunder was kept alive by the chatter of the clerks in themselves of the new government and to all rivals the time of raising a tax is the harvest of the merchant it is the time when will be made and must be sold and the intention of the german firm first in the time of and again in april and may with was to seize and handle the whole operation their chief rivals were the messrs and it seems beyond question that provincial more than once issued orders forbidding to take money from the new firm these when they were brought to his notice and he is entitled to be heard no man can live long in and not have his honesty but the against s are both few and obscure i believe he was as straight as his sword the doubtless issued these orders but there were plenty besides to suggest them every wandering clerk from the firm s office every plantation manager would be the same story i i eight years of trouble in in the native ear and here again the blunder hung about the neck of a ton s weight the natives as well as the had seen their on a stool in the office in the eyes of the natives as well as in those of the he must always have retained the mark of from that ill judged passage and they would be inclined to look behind and above him to the great house of the government was like a vista of people did not trouble with if they got speech with in the same way they might not always trouble to ask if they had a hint direct from in only one case though it seems to have had many do i find the personally committed the claimed the of on a district of three hundred dollars the german firm accepted a of the whole province of claimed the of as that of a part of and were supported by the government here was false to his own principle that personal and village debts should come before provincial but the case occurred before the of the law and was as a matter of fact the cause of it so the most we can say is that he changed his mind and changed it for the better if the history of his government be considered how it originated in an between the firm and the and was for the firm s sake alone supported by the with foreign the existence of the least doubt on the man s action must seem marvellous we should have looked to find him playing openly and wholly into their hands that he did not great independence and much secret and i believe if the truth were known the firm would be found to have been disgusted with the of its intended tool and often impatient of the demands of his but i may seem to the degree of white opposition and it is true that before fate overtook the government it appeared to enjoy the fruits of victory in and one the stood out alone to refuse his taxes but the i io eight years of trouble in victory was in appearance only the opposition was latent it found vent in talk and thus on the natives upon the least excuse it was ready to flame forth again and this is the more singular because some were far from out of sympathy with the native policy pursued when i met captain he was amazed at my attitude whom did you find in to tell you so much good of me he asked i named one	38
of my he he cried if he thought all that why did he not help me i told him as well as i was able the man was a merchant he beheld in the government of a government created by and for the firm who were his rivals if were minded to deal fairly where was the probability that he would be allowed if insisted and were strong enough to prevail what that as soon as the government were fairly accepted might not be removed here was the attitude of the hour and i am glad to find it clearly set forth in a despatch of s june i th when he the law against and goes on whether the author of this law will carry out the good intentions which he whether he will be allowed to do so if he desires against the opposition of those who placed him in power and protect him in the possession of it may well be doubted had come to in the firm s livery even while he promised in commerce the clerks were a different story in the and the late high feat of the knight had killed all confidence in at the root by these three the german adventure in was defeated i imply that the handful of were the true obstacle not the thousands of for had the frankly accepted the path of germany was clear and the end of their policy however troublesome might be its course was obvious but this is not to say that the natives were content in a sense indeed their opposition was continuous there will always be opposition in when taxes are imposed and the of stuck in men s throats refused to act under the new government from i io eight years of trouble in the beginning and his place and title as early as february i find him himself the first step on a dangerous path like his and declared himself a private person but he was more rudely dealt with german sailors surrounded his house in the night burst in and dragged the women out of the an offence against manners no was to be found but at last they were shown his fishing lights on the rowed out took him as he was and carried him on board a man where he was detained some while between decks at last january i th after a farewell interview over the ship s side with his wife he was discharged into a and along with two other chiefs and to the the blow struck fear upon all sides le a very able chief was secretly among the his family and followers murmured at his weakness but he continued throughout the duration of the government to serve with trembling a coming to he seized at the pretext for escape and asked leave to accept an engagement in the company i will not allow you to make a monkey of yourself said and the phrase had a success throughout the islands expressions being so much admired by the natives that they cannot refrain from repeating them even when they have been at themselves the assumption of the name spread discontent in that province many chiefs from thence were convicted of and condemned to labour with their hands upon the roads a great shock to the sense of the becoming which was rendered the more sensible by the death of one of the number at his task was involved in the same trouble his speech at a meeting of chiefs was betrayed by the girls that made the and the man of the future was called to on safe conduct but after an interview suffered to return to his the peculiarly tender treatment of must be explained by his relationship to was of blood the hereditary of the would see no eight years of trouble in him even with some complacency but was himself and men would probably have murmured and would perhaps have had he been harshly dealt with the native opposition i say was in a sense continuous and it kept growing the sphere of was limited to and the north central quarters of practically what is shown upon the map in this volume there the taxes were expanded in the out districts men paid their money and saw no return here the eye and hand of the were ready to correct the scales of justice in the out districts all things lay at the mercy of the native and their increased with the course of time and the experience of in the spring of the year a very intelligent observer had occasion to visit many places in the island of our lives are not worth living was the of the popular complaint we are groaning under the oppression of these men we would rather die than continue to endure it on his return to he made haste to communicate his im to replied in an where there has been in a country there must be oppression for a time but unfortunately the terms of the may be reversed and personal would have been more in season than wit the same observer who conveyed to him this warning thinks that if had himself visited the districts and inquired into complaints the blow might yet have been averted and the government saved at last upon a certain act of the discontent took life and fire the act was of his own conception the dull dog was ambitious declares he would not be perhaps his adviser did not seriously try perhaps did not dream that in that of the constitution any one point would be considered sacred i have told how assumed the title of in august a year after his he took a more formidable step and assumed that of this name as i have said is of peculiar honour it had been given to it had never	38
been taken from the eight years of trouble in those in whose grant it lay stood upon their rights and as the representative of their natural the line was the last who should have had it and there was yet more though i almost despair to make it by certain old are handed down and set huge store by they may be compared to coats of arms or among ourselves and to the horror of more than one half of the head of the began collecting it was felt that the cup was full and men began to prepare secretly for rebellion the history of the month of august is unknown to it passed altogether in the covert of the woods or in the stealthy of one ominous sign was to be noted arms and began to be purchased or inquired about and the more wary ordered fresh of material of war but the rest was silence the government slept in security and was summoned at last from a public dinner to find rebellion the woods behind full of and a plan prepared and in the very article of tion to surprise and seize the discovery averted all and the leaders hastily withdrew towards the south side of the island leaving in the bush a rear guard under a young man of the name of according to some accounts it scarce numbered forty the leader was no great chief but a handsome industrious lad who seems to have been much beloved and upon this obstacle fell it is the man s fault to be too impatient of results his public intention to free of all debt within the year him and instead of continuing to and let his enemies weary and he judged it to strike a blow he struck it with what seemed to be success and the sound of it roused to rebellion about two in the morning of august st was by men marching day came and and his war party were already long disappeared in the woods all morning were still to be seen running with their guns all morning shots were listened for in vain but over the top of the forest far up the mountain smoke was for eight years of trouble in some time observed to hang about ten a dead man was carried in lashed under a pole like a dead pig his for he was a catholic hanging nearly to the ground next came a yoimg fellow wounded sitting in a rope swung from a pole two fellows bearing him two running behind for a relief at last about eleven three or four heavy and a great shouting were heard from the bush town the affair was over the victorious force on the march back was there its victory by the way presently after it marched through five or six hundred strong in tolerable order and with the ludicrous assumption of the triumphant women who had been buying bread ran and gave them at the tail end came himself smoking a cigar deadly pale and with perhaps an increase of his usual nervous manner one spoke to him by the way he expressed his sorrow the action had been forced on him poor people it s all the worse for them he said it ll have to be done another way now and it was supposed by his that he referred to from the german war ships he meant he said to put a stop to head hunting his men had taken two that day he added but he had not suffered them to bring them in and they had been left in thither my rode was attracted by the sound of wailing and saw in a house the two heads washed and and the sister of one of the dead in the island fashion and kissing the cold face soon after a small grave was dug the heads were buried in a beef box and the read the service the body of himself was recovered brought down from the forest and buried behind the same afternoon the men of were ordered to report in where s flag was half for the death of a chief in the is that district of which the bay and the behind and both province and district are strong not one man it is said obeyed the summons night came and the town lay in unusual silence no one abroad the blinds down around the native houses the men within sleeping on their arms eight years of trouble in the old women keeping watch in pairs and in the course of the two following days all was gone into the bush the very setting free his prisoners and joining them in their escape hear the words of the chiefs in the d article of their complaint some of the chiefs fled to the bush from fear of being reported fear of german men of war constantly being accused etc and commanded that they were to be shot on sight this act was carried out by on the st day of august after this we these laws we could not stand them our patience was worn out with the constant wickedness of and we were tired out and could stand no longer the acts of these two men so through an ill timed two severed heads and a dead body the rule of came to a sudden end we shall see him a while longer fighting for existence in a losing battle but his government take it for all in all the most promising that has ever been in these unlucky islands was from that hour a piece of history battle of chapter v the battle of september the revolution had all the character of a popular movement many of the high chiefs were detained in the to the bush under inferior leaders a camp was chosen near threatening well placed for the arrival of and	38
close to a german plantation from which the force could be came all much of and part of s own government and seat both sides were it was a brave day for the though not so brave as some that followed when a single is said to have been sold for twelve cents between nine and ten cents gold yet even among the a strong party feeling reigned and it was the common practice to ask a upon which side he meant to fight s eight years of trouble in on september th published a letter to the chiefs of and in the bush chiefs by authority of his majesty the king of i make known to you all that the german man of war is about to go together with a fleet for the purpose of burning after this island is all burnt tis good if the people return to and live quiet to the people of i say return to your houses and stop there the same to those belonging to if you obey this instruction then you will all be forgiven if you do not obey then all your villages will be burnt like these instructions are made in truth in the sight of god in the heaven the same morning accordingly the out of the bay with a force of warriors and some native boats in tow the fleet in question was the warriors under the conduct of a traitor who paid before many days the of his blood landed and did some damage but were driven away by the sight of a force returning battle of from the no one was hurt for the women and children who alone remained on the island found a refuge in the bush and the and her returned the same evening the letter had been energetic the performance fell below the programme the demonstration annoyed and yet re assured the and it fully disclosed to the a new enemy captain von had been relieved his successor captain was an officer of a different stamp i have nothing to say of him but good he seems to have obeyed the s with secret his were of admirable but his habits were retired he spoke little english and was far indeed from von s close relations with commander it is believed by that the american officer resented what he took to be neglect i mention this not because i believe it to commander but because it is typical of a prevailing infirmity among in themselves they read all history in the light of personal eight years of trouble in and and i find this weakness indicated by the big thumb of when he places to small an respect among the causes of the wild career of whatever the cause at least the natives had no sooner taken arms than appeared with violence upon that side as early as the d he had sent an obscure but menacing despatch to on the th he fell on in the matter of the the he wrote had an armed force in the field within a few miles of this harbour when the vessels under your command transported the troops to a neighbouring island with the intention of making war on the isolated homes of the women and children of the enemy being the only other representative of a naval power now present in this harbour for the sake of humanity i respectfully and solemnly protest in the name of the united states of america and of the world in general against the use of a national war vessel for such services as were yesterday rendered by the battle of man s reply to the effect that he is under the orders of the and has no right of choice reads even humble perhaps he was not himself vain of the perhaps not prepared to see it thus described in words from that moment was in the front of the row his name is but it was not required on every step of his subsequent action in is writ large over all his doings a of humour presided no malice was too small for him if it were only funny when night were made from he would sit on his own and confound them with he was at the pains to write a letter and address it to the high chief a device as old at least as the wars of robert in order to bother the officials of the german in whose hands he persisted m leaving it although the address was death to them and the distribution of letters in formed no part of their profession his great of the affair must be in its place and he was no less bold than t eight years of trouble in the was not supposed to be a match for the there was no glory to be gained in beating her and yet i have heard naval officers maintain she might have proved a dangerous in narrow waters and at short range doubtless thought so he was continually daring to come on and already in a despatch of the th i find complaining of his language in the hearing of german officials and how he had declared that on the again interfering he would interfere himself if he went to the bottom for it und here is a style of opposition which has the merit of being frank not that of being agreeable was there is no doubt that the in the german were highly and if war between the two countries did not follow we must set down the praise to the forbearance of the german navy this is not the last time that i shall have to salute the merits of that service the defeat and death of and the burning of had thus passed off battle of without the least advantage to but he still held the	38
significant position of and was to make it good the whole was surrounded with a across the it was six feet high and strengthened with a ditch and the beach was against landing s land claim the same that now over the village in the form of a then appeared in a more military guise the german flag was hoisted and german sailors the at the to protect german property and its trifling the king of much vigilance reigned and in the island fashion much wild firing and in spite of all desertion was for a long time daily the detained high chiefs would go to the beach on the pretext of a natural occasion plunge in the sea and swimming across a broad shallow bay of the join the on the side whole bodies of warriors sometimes hundreds strong departed with their arms and on the th of september for instance the day after s letter too and left with f eight years of trouble in their and the whole people returned home in a body to hold a parliament ten days later it is true a part of them returned to their duty but another part off by the way and carried their services and s dear bought guns to on the th there was a of a different kind but yet sensible the high chief had been still detained in under anxious observation his people murmured at his absence threatened to take away his name and had already attempted a rescue the adventure was now taken in hand by his wife a woman of much sense ai d spirit and a strong and by her contrivance gave his the slip and rejoined his at this process of was of course by another of but the of european and military rule had made detested and with many and the force on is thought to have done little more than hold its own set it down at about two or three thousand i have no estimate from the other battle of side but admits they were not strong enough to keep the field in the open the political significance of was great but in a military sense the position had defects if it was difficult to carry it was easy to and to be hemmed in on that narrow finger of land were an posture for the monarch of the besides was scant of food and destitute of water pressed by these considerations extended his lines till he had occupied the whole of bay and the opposite point his men were thus drawn out along some three miles of irregular beach everywhere with their backs to the sea and without means of communication or mutual support except by water the extension led to fresh sorrows the men themselves in the houses of the absent men of the arose with english and americans interposed in a loud voice of menace it was said the firm by the confusion to up imperfect land claims i am sure the other would not be far behind the firm properties were f eight years of trouble in in fences and houses were torn down ensued the german example at was followed with wherever an englishman or an american conceived himself to have a claim he set up the emblem of his country and the beach with the flags of nations all this it will be observed was going forward in that territory by treaty against the presence of armed the themselves looked on in wonder on the th trembling to against the great powers they had written for a of the sa and in conversation with the british replied that he recognised none so long as held the ground this was expedient but suppose it might prove awkward for the stores mills and offices of a great german firm thus of shelter by the act of their own on the morning of the th september just ten days after the death of under the name of to oa was crowned king at on battle of the i ith he wrote to the british and american gentlemen i write this letter to you two very humbly and on account of this that has come before me i desire to know from you two gentlemen the truth where the boundaries of the territory are you will observe that i am now at a step nearer the enemy and i have stopped here until i knew what you say regarding the territory i wish to know where i can go and where the forbidden ground is for i do not wish to go on any territory or on any foreigner s property i do not want to offend any of the great powers another thing i would like would it be possible for you three to make remove from german property for i am in awe of going on german land he must have received a reply s of the principle at once for he broke camp the same day and marched eastward through the bush behind expecting attack sought to improve his position he refused his centre by the simple expedient of it e eight years of trouble in was the two and were still held and fortified as i have said to the on a line from the to the little river the centre was represented by the of a boat across the bay from one flank to another and was held we may say by the german war ship decided am assured to make a on induce to in support and then fall upon and carry that and there is no doubt in my mind that such a plan was abroad for nothing but a belief in it could explain the behaviour of on the th that it was seriously entertained by i stoutly the german flag and sailors forbidding the enterprise in so that we may call this false intelligence	38
the beginning and the end of s the who with the revolt were uneasy and impatient they will still tell you though the dates are there to show them wrong that even after his delayed extremely a proof of how long battle of two days may seem to last when men anticipate events on the evening of the while the new king was already on the march one of these walked into the moon was bright by the way he observed the native houses dark and silent the men had been about a fortnight in the bush but now the women and children were gone also at which he wondered on the sea beach in the camp of the the solitude was near as great he saw three or four men smoking before the british perhaps a dozen in all the rest were behind in the bush upon their line of about the midst he sat down and here a woman drew near to him the moon shone in her face and he knew her for a near by and a of s she looked about her as she came and asked him trembling what he did in the camp of he was there after news he told her she took him by the hand you must not stay here you will get killed she said the bush is full of our people the others are watching them fighting may begin at any moment and we are both here too eight years of trouble in long so they set oflf together and she told him by the way that she had come to the hostile camp with a present of so that the men might spare her house by the they met an old man a woman and a child and these also she warned and turned back such is the strange part played by women among the scenes of warfare such were the liberties then permitted to the that these two could pass the lines talk together in s camp on the eve of an engagement and pass forth again bearing intelligence like privileged and before a few hours the white man was in direct communication with the opposing general the next morning he was about breakfast time by two natives who stood leaning against the of a public house where the road strikes in at right angles to the main street of they told him battle was imminent and begged him to pass a little way inland and speak with the road is at this point broad and fairly good running between thick groves of palm and a few hundred yards along this the battle of white man passed a of four armed warriors with red handkerchiefs and their faces in the form of a full beard the signs for the day a little further on some fifty further still a hundred and at last a quarter of a mile of them sitting by the armed and near by in the of a house on a he found seated in white clothes a across his knees his men he said were still arriving from behind and there was a turning movement in operation beyond the so that the should be assailed at the same moment from the south and east and this is another indication that the attack on was the true attack had any design on been in the wind not even a general would have detached these troops upon the other side while they still spoke five women were brought in with their hands bound they had been stealing our all morning the town was strangely deserted the very children gone a sense of expectation reigned and sympathy for the attack was ex eight years of trouble in pressed publicly some men with faces came to s store for a native woman who was there inquired after the news and hearing that the battle was now near at hand give them two more said she and don t put them down to my husband he would growl put them down to me between twelve and one two white men walked toward finding as they went no sign of war until they had passed the and come to the comer of a by path leading to the bush here were four blackened warriors on guard the extreme left wing of the force where it touched the waters of the bay thence the line which the white men followed stretched inland among bush and marsh facing the of the the warriors lay as yet behind trees but all the young boys and of toiled in the front upon a digging with knives and shells and a continuous stream of children brought them water the young worked crouching from the outside only an occasional head or a hand a shell of battle of earth was visible and their enemies looked on from the line of the opposing the lists were not yet prepared the not yet open and the attacking force was suffered to throw up works under the silent guns of the defence but there is an end even to the delay of as the white men stood and looked the line thundered into a it was answered the crowd of silent workers broke forth in laughter and cheers and the battle had begun all day and most of the next night followed and pounds of lead and pounds sterling of money continued to be blown into the air without and almost without result colonel de an old soldier described the noise as the harbour was all struck with shots a man was knocked over on the german war ship half was under fire and a house was pierced beyond the all along the two lines of the enemies exchanged this hail of balls and away on the east of the battle the was maintained with equal spirit across the narrow r eight years of	38
been a white handkerchief with the dawn the de from the english beheld the ground strewn with these discarded and close by the house a was still changing white for red was lost was confined to and by nine o clock two villages the streets of taking possession the cost of this respectable success in must have been enormous in life it was but small some forty killed on either side others forty on both three or four being women and one a white man master of a from nor was the number even of the wounded at all to the din and fury of the affair while it lasted i eight years of trouble in chapter vi last exploits of september november had held all day by expecting the reported real attack he woke on the th to find himself cut on that and the villagers the same day received a letter from him to withdraw his party from the and as if in answer drew in his ship into the small harbour close to and trained his port battery to assist in the defence from a step so decisive it might be thought the german plans were unaffected by the disastrous issue of the battle i conceive nothing would be farther from the truth here was on with his troops from which alone these could be in the last exploits of hands of the enemy a battle imminent in which the german vessel must apparently take part with men and battery and the buildings of the german firm were apparently destined to be the first of fire unless re established that which he had so lately and so thrown down the territory the firm would have to suffer if he re established it must retire from if saved his goose he lost his nothing so well the man s as that he should have conceived the design of saving both of re establishing only so much of the territory as should and leaving in all that could by drawing the boundary where he now proposed across the he protected the firm drove back the out of almost all that they had conquered and so far from disturbing actually fortified him in his old position the real story of the that followed we shall perhaps never learn but so much is plain that while was thus outwardly straining decency in the interest of eight years of trouble in he was privately or pretending to with in his despatch of the he had given an extended criticism ot that whom he as very dark and artful and while admitting that his assumption of the name of might raise him up followers predicted that he could not make an orderly government or support himself long m the sole power without very energetic foreign help of what help was the thinking there was no in the field but germany on the i he had an interview with the victor told him that s was the only government recognised by germany and that he must continue to recognise it till he received other instructions from his government whom he was now of the late events refused accordingly to withdraw the guard from the and desired until the arrival of these fresh instructions to refrain from an attack on one thing of two either this language is or was preparing to change sides the same appears in his despatch of october th he the losses of the last exploits of german firm with an easy cheerfulness if get up again die st e hung der s will have to pay if not then this is not the language of a the tone of indifference the easy that the case of was already desperate the hopes held secretly forth to and secretly reported to his government at home contrast with his external conduct at this very time he was feeding he had german sailors mounting guard on s the german war ship lay close in whether to help or to destroy if he meant to drop the cause of he had him in a comer helpless and could him without a sob if he meant to rat it was to be with every condition of safety and every circumstance of was it conceivable then that he meant it speaking with a gentleman who was in the confidence of dr was it not a pity i asked that did not stick to s policy of supporting you are quite wrong there that was not s eight years of trouble in doing was the reply had changed his mind before came why then had he changed it this excellent if idea once entertained why was it let drop it is to be remembered there was another german in the field who had a respect or rather perhaps an affection for and who thought his own honour and that of his country engaged in the support of that government which they had provoked and founded described the captain to as a quiet sensible gentleman if any word came to his ears of the intended would certainly show himself very sensible of the but might have been tempted to withdraw his former epithet of quiet some such passage some such threatened change of front at the opposed with would explain what seems otherwise inexplicable the bitter indignant almost hostile tone of a subsequent letter from to s letter calls it the cause of the german landing and reverse at but whether the advances of were last exploits of sincere or not whether he meditated treachery against the old king or was treachery upon the new and the choice is between one or other no doubt but he contrived to gain his points with prevailing on him to change his camp for the better protection of the german and persuading him long before he could persuade his brother to accept that miraculous	38
new territory of his with a piece cut out for the immediate needs of during the rest of september continued to decline on the th one village and half of another deserted him on the d two more on the st the burned his town of his own splendid house flaming with the rest and there are few things of which a native thinks more or has more reason to think well than of a fine house women and children were marched up the same day from and handed over with their sleeping to a most unwelcome addition to a party already suffering from want by the th they were being watered from the eight years of in on the th the fleet of sixteen large boats fortified and rendered with tons of passed to to supplies from by the th the hungry garrison in great numbers to draw at the german firm on the th the same business was repeated with a different issue s crowded to look on words were exchanged blows followed sticks stones and bottles were caught up the detested at great risk threw himself between the lines and with the his only personal appearance in the wars if this could be called war the same afternoon the boats got in with provisions having passed to of the fleet and from that day on whether from a high degree of enterprise on the one side or a great lack of capacity on the other supplies were maintained from the sea with regularity thus the spectacle of battle or at least of riot i t the doors of the german firm was not repeated but the memory must have hung heavy on the hearts not of the only but of all the are a gentle last exploits of race than any in europe we are often enough of the circumstance not always by their friends but a mob is a mob and a drunken mob is a drunken mob and a drunken mob with weapons in its hands is a drunken mob with weapons in its hands all the world over which some of us upon these islands might do worse than get by but which must have been evident enough to and i am amazed by the man s constancy that even while blows were going at the door of that german firm which he was in to protect he should have stuck to his demands ten days before had offered to recognise the old territory including and had refused and still in the midst of these and excursions he continued to refuse it on october d in bay h b m s captain carrying the flag of rear admiral and the lieutenant commander it was the admiral had come to recognise the government of i believe in error and at least the day for that was quite gone eight years of trouble in by and he arrived not to salute the king s accession but to on his remains a conference of the and met on board the october th alone being absent although twice invited the touched politics his was to be there and even if he came to the meeting so he explained to he would have no voice in its the parties were plainly marked out and maintaining their offer of the old territory and probably willing to or to contract it to any conceivable extent so long as was still included offering if the others liked to include the whole eastern end of the island but quite fixed upon the one point that should be left out the english willing to meet either view and singly desirous that should be the conclusion was held a card in the consent of and stood alone spoke with an ill grace and could not long hold out had his way and the boundary was chosen just where he desired across the the firm within last exploits of without he did not long enjoy the fruits of victory on the th three days after the meeting one of the well known and intelligent half came to with a complaint the house stood on the hither side of the just inside the newly accepted territory and within easy range of the firm armed men to the number of a hundred had issued from had taken charge of the house had pointed a gun at s head and had twice threatened to kill his pigs i hear elsewhere of some effects removed at the best a very pale though we shall find the word employed declare besides that was no american subject they declare the point had been decided by court martial in that had the decision in the and that this was his reason for handing the affair to it is not necessary to suppose so it is plain he thought little of the business thought indeed nothing of it except in so far as armed men had entered the territory from and it was on eight years of trouble in this ground alone and the implied breach of s engagement at the conference that he invited s attention to the tale the ingenuity of the commander perceived in it huge possibilities of mischief he took up the outrage the of the threatened pigs and with that poor i am sure to his own wonder drove out of it was an to be sure it was but who was to be complaining of on the th laid before the following as the natives at appear to be under the protection of the imperial german naval guard belonging to the vessel under your command i have the honour to request you to inform me whether or not they are under such protection relations pursued the relations exist between the government of the united states and his imperial german majesty s government but we do recognise s government and i am desirous of the responsibility for	38
of american rights and lost no time in explanation last exploits of or denial but went straight to the root of the matter and sought to buy off declares that every was offered takes a pride to the and the situations he refused and the long in which he was tempted and plied with drink by or of the firm no doubt in short that he was offered in reason and out of reason and being thoroughly refused it all meantime some answer must be made to and repeated on the th his oft repeated assurances that he was not to deal with politics the same day retorted the question is not one of nor of politics it is strictly one of military and responsibility under the shadow of the german fort at continued the commander have been committed and i again have the honour respectfully to request to be informed whether or not the armed natives at are under the protection of the imperial german naval guard belonging to the vessel under your command to this no answer was vouchsafed eight years of trouble in till the and then in the old terms and meanwhile on the loth got into his the sure sign as was both said and sung aboard his vessel of some desperate or some amusing service and was set ashore at the house of this he took possession at the head of an old woman and a and was seen from the directing operations and plainly preparing to himself there in a military posture so much he meant to be understood so much he meant to carry out and an armed party from the was to have on the morrow the scene of the but there is no doubt he managed to convey more no doubt he was a master in the art of loose speaking and could always manage to be overheard when he wanted and by this or some other equally means he spread the rumour that on the morrow he was to the proposed post from its position and from s well established character as an artist in mischief must have been regarded by the with uneasiness in the we can scarce suppose them to have be last exploits of but must have both believed and trembled the of the european powers was still unbroken no native would then have dreamed of these colossal ships worked by mysterious powers and laden with instruments of death none would have dreamed of resisting those strange but quite great powers understood with difficulty to be larger than and put together and known to be of prints knives hard picture books and other luxuries as well as of men and inconsistent orders had fallen in ill blood with one of them his only idea of defence had been to throw himself in the arms of another his name his rank and his great following had not been able to preserve him and he had vanished from the eyes of men as the thinks of it beyond the sky had followed him in that new path of doom we have seen how carefully still walked how he dared not set foot on the territory till assured it was no longer sacred how he withdrew from it again as soon as its had been eight years of trouble in restored and at the bare word of a however gilded with promises paused in his course of victory and left his rival in and now it was the rival s turn hitherto happy in the continued support of one of the white powers he now foimd himself or thought himself threatened with war by no less than two others boats as they passed were in the habit of firing on the shore as like as not without particular and more in high spirits than hostility one of these shots pierced the house of a british subject near the the reported to admiral and on the morning of the loth the admiral despatched captain of the to met the messenger with excuses and engagements for the future he was told his explanations were satisfactory so far as they went but that the admiral s message was to the de king not very well assured of his s courage attempted in vain to excuse him from appearing no de king no message he was told produce your de king and had at last last exploits of to be produced to him delivered his errand that the was to remain for the protection of british subjects that a was to be stationed at the that on any farther firing from boats the was to the and she to fire one gun on which all boats must lower sail and come alongside for examination and the detection of the guilty and that in the event of the boats not obeying the gun the admiral would not be responsible for the consequences it was listened to by and with the greatest attention when it was done desired his thanks to the admiral for the moderate terms of his message and as went to his boat repeated the expression of his gratitude as though he meant it declaring his own hands would be thus strengthened for the maintenance of discipline but i have yet to learn of any gratitude on the part of consider the case of the poor man hearing for the first time our the admiral would not be for the consequences think of it a devil of a position for a de king and eight years of trouble in here the same afternoon was m the house it out for unknown designs by the hands of an old woman and strange threats of and his pigs the admiral and his gun and his what a kettle of fish i dwell on the effect on whatever the faults of he was not timid he had already so	38
much for that i cannot but think he might have continued to hold up his head even after the outrage of the pigs and that the weakness now shown originated with the king late in the night was to receive a despatch addressed to you have asked that i and my government go away from because you pretend a man who lives near and who is under your protection has been threatened by my soldiers as your has forbidden the man to accept any satisfaction and as i do not wish to make war against the united states i shall remove my government from to another place it was signed by but i think more heads than his had over the direct and able letter on the morning of lust exploits of the accordingly the much defended lay desert and had slipped to sea in a their troops had followed them in boats the german sailors and their war flag had returned on board the and only the german merchant flag blew there for s land claim for which had so long and so often for which he had the for which he had and refused and invented successive schemes of territory was now no more to the than a very barren and a very much disputed land claim of mr s it will scarcely be believed that the tale of the was not yet finished had gained his point but had lost his compensation and it was months later and this time in the shape of a threat of in black and white that heard the last of the absurd affair had both his fun and his money and s practical joke was brought to an artistic end sought and missed an instant revenge a a devout catholic was in the habit of eight years of trouble in walking every morning to mass from his camp at beyond to the mission at the he was sometimes escorted by as many as six guards in uniform who displayed their in by shifting arms as they marched himself meanwhile paced in front and a staff in his hand in the customary chief s dress of white shirt and jacket and with a conspicuous about his neck tall but not heavy with eager eyes and a marked appearance of courage and capacity makes an admirable figure in the eyes of to those of his countrymen he may seem not always to preserve that of manner which is thought becoming in the great on the morning of october i th he reached the mission before day with two attendants heard mass had coffee with the fathers and left again in safety the of his following we may suppose to have been reported he was scarce gone at least before had armed men at the mission gate and came in person seeking him the failure of this attempt doubtless still last exploits of further exasperated the and he began to deal as in an enemy s country he had from the to stand over the and parade the streets by and the bridge of the which cuts in half the english and american quarters he closed by and advertised for to it on the th and landed and repaired it in his teeth besides had under arms ready to land them if it should be to protect the work but looked on without interference perhaps glad enough to have the bridge repaired for even may not always have offended such was now the distracted posture of the little town all government extinct the german it with armed men and issuing like a ruler the two other powers his commands and at least one of them prepared to use force in the defiance close on its skirts sat the warriors of perhaps four thousand strong highly against the having all to gain in the of the town and firm and like an army in a i o eight years of trouble in fairy tale restrained by the air drawn boundary of the ground i have had occasion to refer to the strange appearance in these islands of an american adventurer with a battery of cannon the adventurer was long since gone but his guns remained and one of them was now to make fresh history it had been cast overboard by on the outer in the course of this retreat and word of it coming to the ears of the they thought it natural that they should serve themselves the of on the d a boat of the kind called dropped down the coast from s camp called in broad day at the german quarter of the town for guides and proceeded to the here with a rope they got the gun aboard and the night being then come returned by the same route in the shallow water along shore singing a boat song it will be seen with what reliance they had accepted the of bay they came for the gun without concealment laboriously for it in broad day under the eyes of the town and shipping and last exploits of returned with it singing as they went on wharf a light showed them a crowd of german clustered and a hail was heard stop the singing so that we may hear what is said said one of the chiefs in the the song ceased the hail was heard again au mai le bring the gun and the natives report themselves to have replied in the affirmative and declare they had begun to back the boat it is perhaps not needful to believe them a at least was fired from the wharf at about fifty yards range and with a very ill direction one bullet whistling over s head on board the the natives jumped overboard and swimming under the lee of the where they escaped a second dragged her towards the east as soon as they were out of range and past	38
the first fire the boat was off wharf at the time of the second and that is the one complained of she was off s wharf in was she still proceeding on i not the danger to german property was no longer imminent the shots had been fired upon a very trifling provocation the spirit implied was that of designed disregard to the such was the impression here on the spot such in plain terms the statement of count to lord at home that the of was only to prevent the natives from fighting not the and that whatever might have promised at the conference he could not german war vessels in their freedom of action there was nothing to surprise in this discovery and had events been guided at the same time with a steady and discreet hand it might have passed with less observation but the policy of was felt to be not only i eight years of trouble in reckless it was felt to be absurd also sudden upon native boats could lead it was felt to no good end whether of peace or war they could but they might prove in a moment and when least expected to those who knew how nearly it had come to fighting and who considered the probable result the future looked ominous and fear was mingled with annoyance in the minds of the saxon colony on the th a public meeting appealed to the british and american at half past seven in the evening guards were landed at the on the morrow they were each fortified with sand bags and the subjects informed by that these stood open to them on any alarm and at any hour of the day or night the social bond in was dissolved the like of old dwelt each in his armed the rank and file of the white dared each other and sometimes fell to on the street like rival and the little town not by any fault of the inhabitants rather by the act of had fallen back in about a thousand years last exploits of there falls one more incident to be and then i can close with this chapter i have mentioned the name of the new english it is already familiar to english readers for the gentleman who was fated to undergo some strange experiences in was the same de who covered s flank at the time of the disaster in the desert and bade farewell to in before the the colonel was abrupt and mrs de was too exclusive for a society like that of but whatever their superficial it is strange they should have left in such an of a place where they set so shining an example of the sterling virtues the colonel was perhaps no he was certainly no lawyer but he discharged the duties of his office with the constancy and courage of an old soldier and these were found sufficient he and his wife had no ambition to be the leaders of society the was in their time no house of but they made of it that house of mourning to which the preacher tells us it is better we should go at an early date i eight years of trouble in after the battle of it was opened as a hospital for the wounded the english and americans what was required for its support of the strained every nerve to help and set up tents on the lawn to be a shelter for the the doctors of the english and american ships and in particular dr of the showed themselves but it was on the de that the distress fell for nearly half a year their lawn their sometimes their rooms were with the sick and dying their ears were filled with the complaints of suffering humanity their time was too short for the of pitiful duties in mrs de and her miss the merit of this endurance was perhaps to be looked for in a man of the colonel s temper himself painfully suffering it was viewed with more surprise if with no more admiration doubtless all had their reward in a sense of duty done doubtless also as the days passed in the spectacle of many traits of gratitude and patience and in the success that waited on their efforts out of a hundred cases treated only last exploits of five died they were all well behaved though full of childish one old gentleman a high chief was seized with alarming symptoms of whenever mrs de went her rounds at night he was after brandy others were for or a chief woman had her foot under let me see my foot why does it not hurt she cried it hurt so badly before i went to sleep whose name has been already mentioned had his lay the longest of any perhaps behaved the worst and was on all these grounds the favourite at times he was furiously irritable and would rail upon his family and rise in bed until he with pain once on the balcony he was thought to be dying his family round his mat his father him to be prepared when mrs de brought him round again with brandy and smelling after discharge he returned upon a visit of gratitude and it was observed that instead of coming straight to the door he went and stood long under his umbrella on that spot of ground where his mat had been stretched eight years of trouble in and he had endured pain so many months similar visits were the rule i believe without exception and the grateful loaded mrs de with gifts which had that been possible in she would willingly have declined for they were often of value to the the of my story is one of and the triumphs of temper the hospital at the stands out almost alone as an episode of human beauty and i	38
is certain he did nothing of the sort equally certain that in circles he was firmly with having done so and this the extraordinary character of what i have now to tell prudence and delicacy alike ought to have forbid the camp of to the feet of either or was the original there was a time when he had been the only opponent of the king had driven him from the the seat of government it was but a week or two since he had threatened to him in his present refuge both were in close and daily council with his adversary and it was no secret that was supplying the latter with food they were it lacked but a hair that they should be called it were idle to try to deny they were the most dangerous of and yet these two now sailed across the bay and landed inside the lines at on the very beach they had another glimpse of the of war hitherto the fleet being hardy and had made a fool of the huge floating upon the other side and here they were toiling not to produce another boat on their own pattern in which they had always enjoyed the advantage but to make a new one the type of their enemies of which they had now proved the for months it came on to rain as the americans landed and though none offered to oppose their coming ashore none invited them to take shelter they were abashed entered a house and were made welcome with obvious reserve y eight years of trouble in the rain clearing off they set forth westward deeper into the heart of the enemies position three or four young men ran some way before them doubtless to give warning and with his taste for mischief kept inquiring as he went after the high chief the line of the beach was one continuous some thirty odd iron cannon of all sizes and patterns stood mounted in plenty and lay ready and at every hundred yards or so the german flag was flying the numbers of the guns and flags i give as i received them though they test my faith at the house of a little house crammed at the time with natives men women and children and again asked for the high chief and were again assured that he was further on a little beyond the road ran in one place somewhat inland the two americans had gone down to the line of the beach to continue their inspection of the when himself in his shirt sleeves and accompanied by several german officers passed them by the line of the road the the two parties saluted in silence beyond point there was an change for the worse in the reception of the americans some whom they met began to at and the with but prudence from their search after the high chief and began to their steps on the return and some chiefs were drinking in a big house and called them in to join their only invitation but the night was closing the rain had begun again they stayed but for civility and returned on board the wet and hungry and i believe delighted with their expedition it was perhaps the last as it was certainly one of the most extreme examples of that divinity which once the white in the feeling was already different in the camp of where the safety of a german had been a matter of extreme concern ten days later three an englishman an american and a german approached a post of were by an old man with a gun and mentioned in answer what they were which is the german cried i eight years of trouble in the old gentleman dancing and with his finger on the and the stood in a very anxious posture till they were released by the arrival of a chief it was november the th when and completed their absurd excursion in about three weeks an event was to befall which changed at once and probably forever the relation of the natives and the by the th had collected seventeen hundred men in the before thinking to attack next day but the the place in the night at half past five on the morning of the th a signal was fired in the at and the was and defended with a fury new among when the battle ended on the following day one or more remained in the possession of another had been taken and lost as many as four times carried originally by a mixed force from and the instead of fresh or pursuing their advantage fell to eat and smoke and their victory with songs in this humour the a rally of the smote them drove them out and tumbled them into the where many broke their heads and legs again the work was taken again lost failed the and they fought hand to hand in the fort with clubs and the sustained of the engagement surprised even those who were engaged and the butcher s bill was counted extraordinary by on december st the women of either side collected the bodies of the dead each easily identified by the name on his is thought to have lost sixty killed and the de hospital received three women and forty men the on the side cannot be accepted but they were much less i go eight years of trouble in chapter viii affairs of and december for i have not been able to conceal my for he seems to me both false and foolish but of his successor the unfortunately famous dr we may think as of a good enough fellow driven fond of and the he thought to bring peace and enjoy popularity among the of a genial amiable and sanguine temper he made no doubt but he could repair the	38
breach with the english hope told a flattering tale he awoke to find himself exchanging with de beaten in the field by surrounded on the spot by general and from home by his own government the history of his administration leaves on the mind of the student a sentiment of pity scarcely mingled affairs of and on he did not call and in view of s attitude may be excused but the english was in a different england weary of the name of and desirous only to see peace established was prepared to wink hard during the process and to welcome the result of any german settlement it was an fault in to have kicked and his ready made into a state of jealousy anger and suspicion set himself at once to these impressions and the english officials rejoiced for the moment in the change between and de there seems to have been mutual sympathy and in considering the steps by which they were led at last into an attitude of mutual defiance it must be remembered that both the men were sick from time to time with that formidable complaint new guinea fever and de throughout his whole stay in the islands continually was still to be recognised and if possible supported such was the german policy two days after his arrival accordingly j eight years of trouble in addressed to a threatening despatch the german plantation was suffering from the of his war party he must withdraw from at once and he went he must approach no german property nor so much as any village where there was a german by five o clock on the morrow if he were not gone would turn upon him the attention of the man and inflict a fine the same evening november th went on board the which began to get up steam three months before such direct on the part of germany would have passed almost without protest but the hour was now gone by s conduct equally timid and rash equally and offensive had forced the other nations into a strong feeling of common interest with even had the german demands been moderate de could not have forgotten the night of the nor how had at his request the attack upon the german quarter with his driver of a captain at his elbow was not likely to behind and affairs of and having communicated s letter the example of the was on all hands exactly followed the hastened on board their respective war ships and these began to get up steam about midnight in a pouring rain communicated to his intention to follow him and protect british interests and replied that he would come on board the and see de personally it was deep in the small hours and de had been long asleep when he was to receive his but he started up with an old soldier s readiness the conference was long de protested as he did afterwards in writing against s claim the were in a state of war they had rights it was monstrous to prevent them from entering one of their own villages because a german kept the store and in case property suffered a claim for compensation was the proper remedy argued that this was a question between and in which de had nothing to see and that he must protect german property according to his instructions to which de i eight years of trouble in replied that he was himself in the same attitude to the property of the british that he understood to be intending against that was to the that its crops were accordingly british property and that while he was ever willing to recognise the rights of the he must prevent that property from being by any other nation but if a german man of war does it asked we shall prevent it to the best of our ability replied the colonel it is to the credit of both men that this trying interview should have been conducted and concluded without heat but must have returned to the with darker at sunrise on the morning of the the three ships each loaded with its put to sea it is hard to the peril of the that followed as they lay oflf nobody desired a collision save perhaps the reckless but peace and war trembled in the balance and when the at one period lowered her gun ports war appeared to it proved however to be a last affairs of and and therefore surely an unwise extremity contented himself with visiting the rival kings and the three ships returned to before noon beyond a doubt coming after s decisive letter of the day before this impotent conclusion shook the credit of germany among the natives of both sides the fearing they were deserted the with secret delight hoping they were feared and it gave an to that ridiculous business which might have earned for the whole episode the name of the war of flags british and american flags had been planted the night before and were seen that morning flying over what they claimed about british and american passengers on the way up and down pointed out from the decks of the war ships with generous the boundaries of estates ten days later the beach of bay fluttered as i have told in the last chapter with the flag of germany the americans with a claim to s camp some small part of which says did really belong to an american the disease spread the a eight years of trouble in flags were multiplied the operations of war became an egg dance among miniature and though all men took a hand in these proceedings all men in turn were struck with their absurdity s successor warned in an emphatic despatch not to and the solemnity of that emblem which was all he had to be a	38
defence to his own and himself in his despatch of march st the practice with much sense but this was after the comic had been reached and the burnt rags of one of these gone on a progress to washington like caesar s body indignation where it came to such results are nations conducted by the patent of a the discussion of the morning the silent menace and defiance of the voyage to might have set the best natured by the ears but and de took their difference in excellent part on the morrow november i th they sat down together with in conference the english affairs of and introduced his who shook hands if were dead with the inheritance of was by reminiscences of it is the more to the credit of this inexperienced man that he should have maintained in the future so excellent an attitude of firmness and moderation and that when the crash came and de not and were found to be the of the drama the conference was futile the english and american admitted but one cure of the evils of the time that the farce of the should cease it was one which the german refused to consider and the agents separated without reaching any result save that relations had been restored between the states and germany and that all three were convinced of their differences and de were still friends they had disputed and differed and come within a finger s breadth of war and they were still friends but an event was at hand which was to separate them forever on december th i eight years of trouble in came the captain hand to relieve the of course had to take his canvas from the hospital but he had in charge certain belonging to the and with these they made shift to cover the wounded at that time after the fight at more than usually numerous a lieutenant came to the and delivered as i have received it the following message captain hand s compliments and he says you must get rid of these at once and he will help you to do it doubtless the reply was no more civil than the message the promised help at least followed promptly a boat s crew landed and the were stripped from the wounded hand himself standing on the colonel s to direct operations it were fruitless to discuss this passage from the point of view or from that of formal courtesy the mind of the new captain was plainly not directed to these objects but it is understood that he considered the existence of the hospital a source of irritation to and a fault in policy his own rude act proved in the result far more affairs of and the hospital had now been open some two months and de was still on friendly terms with and he and his wife were engaged to dine with him that day by the morrow that was practically ended for the of the had two results one which was the fault of de not at all of hand who could not have foreseen it the other which it was his duty to have seen and prevented the first was this the de found themselves left with their wounded exposed to the of the season they must all be transported to the house and in the distress and pressure of this task the dinner engagement was too long forgotten and a note of excuse did not reach the german before the table was set and dressed to receive his visitors the second consequence was inevitable captain hand was scarce landed ere it became public was writes that he and the were in opposition all that had been gained by the demonstration at was thus immediately cast away de s was lessened and it must be said plainly i eight years of trouble in that hand did less than nothing to restore it twice indeed he interfered both times with success and once when his own person had been with vehemence but during all the strange doings i have to he remained in close intimacy with the german and on one occasion may be said to have acted as its after the worst is over after has told that the of his english were that his own conduct has not been good and that in any dispute which may arise he will find himself in the wrong can still plead in his defence that captain hand has always maintained friendly intercourse with the german authorities singular for an english sailor in this on the part of hand we may find the reason and i had almost said the excuse of much that was excessive in the bearing of the unfortunate on the december received twenty eight thousand brought into the country in salt beef by the british ship this not only sharpened the affairs of and between following so closely on the german at it raised a in the camp of on the th addressed to his famous and fatal letter i may not describe it as a letter of burning words but it is plainly dictated by a burning heart and his chiefs he are now sick of the business and ready to make peace with they began the war upon german help they now see and say that e i ma america that germany is to england and the states it is grimly given to be understood that the despatch is an and a last chance is being offered for the ally to fulfil her pledge to make it the more plain the document goes on with a kind of irony the two german war ships now in are here for the protection of german property alone and when the shall have arrived she arrived on the morrow the german war ships will continue to do against the precisely as little as they	38
have done heretofore plant flags in fact eight years of trouble in here was s opportunity could he have stooped to seize it i find it difficult to blame him that he could not far from so as the treachery once contemplated by the acceptance of this would have been still in the nature of a disgrace s letter written by a german was hard to swallow it would have been hard to accept that solution which had so recently and so refused to his brother and he was tempted on the other hand by recent changes there was no to support de who might now be disregarded s successor even if he were not precisely a hand was at least no and even if should show fight had now three ships and could defy or sink him without danger many small circumstances moved him in the same direction the of german continued the whole force of was to a large extent from the crops of and armed men were to be seen openly and under the walls of the plantation building on the night of the th affairs of and the stable had been broken into and a horse removed on the i th there was a riot in between half and sailors from the new ship each side claiming that the other was the worse of drink both for a justly the of flags and little had besides begun to the the of german had been received on the i th the had again sought to land in bay with the manifest intention to attack the or in other words to on german lands covered as your knows with flags i quote from his to december th upon all these considerations he goes on it is necessary to bring the fighting to an end both parties are to be and returned to their villages a first and in case of any attempt upon the roads thither are to be held by a strong landing party was to be first perhaps rightly enough in his character of the last then was to have come the turn of but it does not appear the would have had the same import or have been a eight years of trouble in gone about in the same way germany was bound to no honest man would dream of because he sought to redeem his country s word the path he chose was doubtless that of honour so far as honour was still left but it proved to be the road to ruin german officer is understood to have opposed the measure his attitude earned him at the time among his country people on the spot and should now to his credit it is to be hoped he extended his opposition to some of the details if it were possible to at all it must be done rather by than force a party of blue landed in bush and expected to hold against a of forest paths had their work cut out for them and it was plain they should be landed in the light of day with a and even with parade to ashore by night was to increase the danger of resistance and to the authority of the attack the thing was a and it is impossible to bluff with yet this was what affairs of and was tried a landing party was to leave the in bay at two in the morning the landing was to be at four on two parts of the of at eight they were to be joined by a second landing party from the by nine the were to be on the crest of mountain and the to be moving round the by the paths with measures of precaution all whom they encountered there was to be no firing unless fired upon at the appointed hour or perhaps later on the morning of the th this business was put in hand and there moved from the two boats with some fifty blue between them and a or containing ninety the boats and the whole expedition under the command of captain lieutenant the under lieutenant the men had each forty rounds one day s provisions and their filled in the meanwhile about were on the alert had informed the that the ships were to put to sea next day for the protection of german o eight years of trouble in property but the had been less discreet to morrow at the hour of seven they had cried to their you will know of a difficulty and our guns shall be made good in broken bones and accident had pointed expectation towards the wife of le washed for the german ships a i suppose for her husband s unwilling fidelity she sent a man with linen on board the where he was surprised to see le in person and to be himself ordered instantly on shore the news spread if were brought down from others might have come at the same time himself and half his army might perhaps lie concealed on board the german ships and a watch was accordingly set and warriors collected along the line of the shore one lay in some rifle by the mouth of the they were commanded by and with this party probably as the most to was the war correspondent john of english birth but american this gentleman had been for some time representing the new york affairs of and world in a very effective manner always in the front living in the field with the and in all of weather toiling to and fro with his his wisdom was perhaps not equal to his energy he made himself conspicuous going about armed to the teeth in a boat under the stars and and on one occasion when he supposed himself fired upon by the had the to empty his revolver in the direction of their camp	38
by the light of the moon which was then nearly down this party observed the two boats and the which they describe as almost sinking with men the boats keeping well out towards the the at the moment apparently heading for the shore an extreme agitation seems to have reigned in the rifle what were the what was their errand were they or had they a mind to attack the was hailed in and did not answer it was proposed to fire upon her ere she draw near and at last whether on his own suggestion or that of hailed her in english and in terms of o eight years of trouble in unnecessary do not try to land here he cried if you do your blood will be upon your head who had never the least intention to touch at the put up the head of the to her true course and continued to move up the with an of some seventy or eighty yards along all the and of the beach across the mouth of the and through the startled village of and seven or eight others to keep up spreading the alarm and rousing re as they went presently a man on horseback made his appearance on the opposite beach of and the natives distinctly saw him signal with a lantern which is the more strange as the captain plantation manager of had never a lantern to signal with the kept in many men in white were seen to stand up step overboard and to shore at the same time the eye of panic a of foreign stones brick upon the beach are prepared to day to swear to its existence i believe affairs of and although no such was ever made or ever intended in that place the hour is doubtful it was the hour when the streak of dawn is seen the hour known in the warfare of heathen times as the hour of the night attack says the official account a native whom i met on the field declared it was at captain on the other hand is sure it was long before the day it was dark at least and the moon down darkness made the bold uncertainty as to the composition and purpose of the landing party made them desperate fire was opened on the one of whom was here killed the returned it and effected a on the beach and the died again to silence it was at this time if not earlier that returned to here then were and the ninety men of the landed on the beach in no very posture the woods in front filled with enemies but for the time successful meanwhile and the boats had gone outside the and were to land on the other side of the at io eight years of trouble in by the buildings of the plantation it was s part to go and meet them his way led straight into the woods and through the midst of the who had but now ceased firing he went in the saddle and at a foot s pace feeling speed and concealment to be equally helpless and that if he were to fall at all he had best fall with dignity not a shot was fired at him no effort made to arrest him on his errand as he went he spoke and even with the and they answered in good part one fellow was leaping yelling and tossing his axe in the air after the way of an excited go it said and the fellow laughed and his exertions as soon as the boats entered the fire was again opened from the woods the fifty blue jumped overboard down the boats to be a shield and dragged them towards the landing place in this way their and what was more unfortunate some of their miserable provision of forty rounds got but the men came to shore and the plantation house without a meanwhile the sound of affairs of and the firing from immediately renewed the at the on shore decided that must be at once guided to the house and the accepted the dangerous errand like he was to pass without question through the midst of these enemies he found some way inland on a engaged the woods around him filled with who were re enforced in three successive charges cheering as they ran the blue burst through their scattered and made good their with four men only remained upon the field the other wounded being helped by their comrades or dragging themselves painfully along the force was now concentrated in the house and its immediate patch of garden their rear to the was but on three sides they were on the left the occupied and fired from some of the plantation offices in front a long rising crest of land in the commanded the house and was lined with the and eight years of trouble in on the right the hedge of the same afforded them a dangerous cover it was in this place that a sharp was knocked over by with his own hand the fire was maintained by the in the usual style the roof was made a the balls passed clean through the house lieutenant as he lay already dying on s bed was despatched with a fresh wound the showed themselves extremely pushed their lines forward ventured beyond cover and continually threatened to the garden thrice at least it was necessary to them by a sally the men were brought into the house from the rear the front doors were thrown suddenly open and the gallant issued cheering necessary successful but extremely costly neither could these be pushed far the foes were so soon as the sailors advanced at all deep in the the began to close in upon both and the sally had to be recalled to add to the dangers of the german situation began to	38
was no more conceive this people steadily as and conceive the in any school if the head boy should suddenly arise and drive the from the i have received one instance of the feeling instantly aroused there lay at the time in the hospital an old chief who was a pet of the colonel s news reached him of the glorious event he was sick he thought himself sinking sent for the colonel and gave him his gun don t let the get it said the old gentleman and ing received a promise was at peace chapter ix december to march in the with a flag of at the fore was entering bay when the brought him the news of the night s reverse his heart was doubtless wrung for his young countrymen who had been and in the dark woods or now lay suffering and some of them dying on the ship and he must have been startled as he recognised his own position he had gone too far he had stumbled into war and what was worse into defeat he had thrown away german lives for less than nothing and now saw himself condemned either to accept defeat or to kick and his failure into something like success either to accept defeat or take frenzy for a yesterday in cold blood he had judged it necessary to have the woods to eight years of trouble in the westward g lest the of should prove only the peril of to day in the irritation and alarm of failure he forgot or despised his previous reasoning and though his was beat back to the ships proceeded with the remainder of his design the only change he made was to hand down the flag of he had now no wish to meet with words were out of season shells must speak at this moment an incident him which must have been trying to his self command the new american ship entered bay her commander the to protest succeeded in from a period of delay in order that the women might be spared and sent a lieutenant to with a warning the camp was already excited by the news and the of already and seemed secondary to the and s message set an end to hesitation was the troops streamed westward by the mountain side and took up the same day a strong position about and some two miles behind which they threatened with the one hand while with the other they continued to draw their supplies from the devoted of the german firm when it was was empty the british flags were of course fired upon and i hear that one of them was struck down but i think every one must be privately of the mind that it was fired upon and fell in a place where it had little business to be shown such was the military to the adventure of it was difficult for failure to be more complete but the other consequences were of a darker colour and brought the immediately face to face in a spirit of ill favoured was the defeat and death of his he was standing aghast over the ruin of his own career when him the successor of served himself in that bitter moment heir to s part and in saw more even than the successor of he saw in him the representative of had hailed the eight years of trouble in from the rifle he had there uttered ill chosen words prophetic it is even likely that he was present at the time of the first fire to accuse him of the design and conduct of the whole attack was but a step forward his own served to the accusation and it was not long before the german was in possession of sworn native testimony in support the worth of native testimony is small the worth of white testimony not overwhelming and i am in the painful position of not being able to either to s own of the affair or to that of his was extremely his interest as a must have tempted him at first to make the most of his share in the the immediate peril in which he soon found himself to stand must have at least suggested to him the idea of it one way and another he is not a good witness as for the natives they were no doubt cross examined in that hall of terror the german where they might be trusted to lie like or if the reader prefer it like by outside white tes it remains established for me that returned to either before or immediately after the first shots that he ever sought or was ever allowed a share in the command may be denied but it is more than likely that he expressed himself in an excited manner and with a highly effect upon his hearers he was at least severely punished the enraged by his behaviour and what they thought to be his german birth demanded him to be tried before court martial he had to inside the of the american to be on board a war ship and to be carried almost by out of the island and what with the of his mind and the results of a marsh fever contracted in the lines of reached a very proper object of nor was the only accused de was himself involved as the boats passed declares a signal was made from the british perhaps we should rather read from its neighbourhood since in the general of the coast the point of could scarce have eight years of trouble in been neglected on the other hand there is no doubt that the in the anxiety of that night of watching and fighting crowded to the friendly for advice late in the night the wounded lying on the colonel s one comer of which had been blinded down	38
so before to the in the open field now found his resources scarce adequate to garrison the buildings of the firm but seemed by fate it is probable he thought he had eight years of trouble in already in so deep returning were as tedious as go o er it is certain that he continued on the scene of his defeat and in the midst of his weakness to and menace like a conqueror active war which he lacked the means of attempting was continually threatened on the d he sought the aid of his brother to maintain the territory against a and at the same time as though meditating instant deeds of refused to be bound by it himself this singular proposition was of course refused remarking that he had no fear of the natives if these were let alone de refusing in the circumstances to recognise any territory at all in vain and his proposal with the offer of forty eight or ninety six hours notice according as his should be near or within the boundary of the sa it was rejected and he learned that he must accept war with all its consequences and not that which he desired war with the of peace this monstrous the man s fur frame of mind it has been still further illuminated in the german white book by alongside of his those of the on january th the was destroyed by fire says it was the work of without doubt admits that everything seems to show it was an accident s people fit to bear arms writes are certainly for the moment equal to s though restrained from battle by the lack of as for says of the same date he is now but a phantom er nut his party for practical purposes is no longer large they pretend to be lacking but what they lack most is good will captain whose influence is now small declares they can no longer sustain a serious engagement and is himself in the intention of leaving by the of the th february and in the same despatch himself and the testimony of his naval by the admission that the re establishment of s government is under present circumstances not eight years of trouble in to be thought of plainly then he was not so much seeking to deceive others as he was himself possessed and we must regard the whole series of his acts and as the of a fever the british steamer returned to january th on the last voyage she had brought the already so frequently referred to as a matter of fact she was again bringing of war it is necessary to be explicit upon this which served as spark to so great a flame of scandal was justified in interfering he would have been worthy of all condemnation if he had neglected in his posture of semi a precaution so and the manner in which he set about attempting it was and almost timid he applied to captain hand and begged him to accept himself the duty of the discharge of the s cargo hand was unable to move without his and at night an armed boat from the searched and kept po of the suspected ship the next day as by an war and martial law were proclaimed for the islands the introduction of of war forbidden and ships and boats declared liable to search all support of the will be punished by martial law continued the no matter to what the person may belong hand it has been seen declined to act in the matter of the without the of his but i have found no evidence that either hand or communicated with de with whom they were both at drawn first the and next the seem to have burst on the english from a clear sky and he wrote on the same day throwing doubt on s authority to declare war replied on the th that the imperial german government had been at war as a matter of fact since december th and that it was only for the convenience of the subjects of other states that he had been to make a formal declaration from that moment he added martial law in de instantly retorted declining mar t years of trouble in law for british subjects and announcing a in that sense instantly again came that astonishing document s without pause without reflection the pens on the paper the messengers you would think running from to i have had the honour to receive your s agreeable communication of to day since on the ground of received instructions martial law has been declared in british subjects as well as others fall under its application i warn you therefore to from such a as you announce in your letter it will be such a piece of business as shall make yourself under martial law besides your will be disregarded de of course issued his at once retorted with another and night closed on the first stage of this insane collision i hear the german was on this day with fever charity at least must suppose him hardly for his language early on the ist mr a passing traveller was seized in his berth on board the and carried half dressed on board a german war ship his o fence was in the circumstances and after the substantial he had gone the day before in the spirit of a to s camp had spoken with the king and had even recommended an appeal to sir george grey i gather had been long uneasy this arrest on board a british ship filled the measure doubtless as he had written long before the alone was responsible on the legal side but the captain began to ask himself what next direct home for instructions is arrest of foreigners on foreign vessels legal and was	38
ready at a word from captain hand to discharge his dangerous prisoner the word in question so the story goes was not without a kind of wit i wish you would set that man ashore hand is reported to have said indicating i wish you would set that man ashore to save me the trouble the same day de published a captains to submit to search for of war on the d the times and south sea eight years of trouble in was suppressed by order of i have hitherto refrained from mentioning the single paper of our islands that i might deal with it once for all it is of course a tiny sheet but i have often had occasion to wonder at the ability of its articles and almost always at the decency of its tone officials may at times be a little roughly and at times a little private persons are habitually respected and there are many papers in england and still more in the states even of leading organs in chief cities that might envy and would do well to imitate the courtesy and discretion of the times yet the editor is only an amateur in and a carpenter by trade his chief fault is one perhaps inevitable in so small a place that he seems a little in the leading of a but his interest in the public is genuine and generous one man s meat is another man s poison and have been differently brought up to our experience the paper appears moderate to their sensations it seems violent we think a public man fair game we think it a part of his duty and i am told he finds it a part of his reward to be continually by the press for the on the other hand an official wears a certain when he is called over the coals they are shocked and if the official be a german feel hat germany itself has been insulted the times had been long a mountain of offence had imported from the colonies another of the name of jones to deprive of the government german sailors had come ashore one day wild with offended patriotism to punish the editor with and the result was delightfully amusing the asked for the they were shown the wrong man and the blows intended for had hailed on the shoulders of his rival jones on the th had an article from a san paper the had complained and de in a moment of weakness had the editor twenty pounds the judgment was afterwards reversed in but even at the time it had not satisfied the and so now on the third day of eight years of trouble in martial law the paper was suppressed here we have another of these to the step seemed natural and obvious for it was a hand laid upon the altar and the month was scarce out before the voice of announced to his that free speech had been sup pressed in perhaps we must seek some similar explanation for s short lived code published and withdrawn the next day the d himself was in no humour for he was much in the position of a lieutenant who should perceive his captain urging the ship upon the rocks it is plain he had lost all confidence in his commanding officer upon the legal side and we find him writing home with anxious he had understood that martial law implied military possession he was in military possession of nothing but his ship and suspected that his martial should be confined within the same limits as a matter of fact he writes we do not occupy the territory and cannot give foreigners the necessary protection because and his people can at any moment forcibly interrupt me in my yet in the eyes of the severity of his code appeared i give but three of its provisions the crime of german troops by any means as for instance informing them of by the enemy was with death that of or secretly anything whether printed or written bearing on the war with prison or and that of calling or attending a public meeting unless permitted with the same such were the tender of lurking in the western end of the german quarter where could at any moment interrupt his on the d day of the of the times de wrote to inquire if were intended against great britain which on the same day denied on the d de sent a complaint of hostile acts such as the armed and forcible entry of the before the declaration and the arrest of in his reply dated the th took occasion to repeat although now with eight years of trouble in more self command his former threat against de i am still of the opinion he writes that even foreign are liable to the application of martial law if they are guilty of against the state the same day th de complained that manager for messrs had been summoned by in answer had the honour to inform your that since the declaration of the state of war british subjects are liable to martial law and mr will be arrested if he does not appear here then was the thrown down and de was burning to accept it s offence was this upon the d a steamer had come in from specially to bring german to the rumour came along with her from new that in these would find himself and was accused of having interested himself in the spreading of this rumour his arrest was actually ordered when hand succeeded in persuading him to surrender at the german court the case was dismissed and the acute stage of these may be said to have ended blessed are the hand had perhaps averted a collision what is more certain he had offered to the world a perfectly original reading of the part	38
of british seaman hand may have averted a collision i say but i am tempted to believe otherwise i am tempted to believe the threat to arrest was the last of the declining tempest and a mere to s self respect i am tempted to believe the rumour in question was correct and the steamer from had really brought the german grounds for hesitation if not orders to retreat i believe the unhappy man to have awakened from a dream and to have read ominous writing on the wall an enthusiastic popularity surrounded him among the it was natural and colony had passed through an hour of serious peril and the had set the example of courage he was entertained at dinner who was known to have secretly opposed him was scorned and avoided but the clerks of the german firm were one thing prince was another eight years of trouble in and on a cold review of these events it is not improbable that may have envied the position of his naval it is certain at least that he set himself to and and when the blow fell he was able to reply that the martial law business had in the meanwhile come right that the english and american courts stood open for ordinary cases and that in different conversations with captain hand who has always maintained friendly intercourse with the german authorities it had been repeatedly explained that only the supply of weapons and or similar aid and support was to come under german martial law was it weapons or that had supplied but it is unfair to these of an unfortunate in a false position in a despatch of the d which has not been printed had told his story how he had declared war subjected foreigners to martial law and been received with a by the english and how in an interview with chiefs at the plantation house of of which i cannot find the date he had demanded the of arms and of for punishment and proposed to assume the government of the islands on february th he received s answer you had no right to take foreigners from the of their the protest of your english is in which may arise from this cause you will find yourself in the wrong the demand by you as to the assumption of the government of by germany lay outside of your instructions and of our design take it immediately back if your is here rightly understood i cannot call your conduct good it must be a hard heart that does not with in the hour when he received this document yet it may be said that his troubles were still in the beginning men had against him and he had not prevailed he was now to be at war with the elements and find his name identified with an immense disaster one more date however must be given first it was on february th that formally announced martial law to be suspended and himself to have the control of the police eight years of im chapter x s the so called harbour of is formed in part by a recess of the coast line at in part by the slim of and in part by the fresh waters of the and the barrier that singular that makes so much of the circuit of pacific islands is carried far to sea at and inside of these two horns it runs sharply and between them it is burst or dissolved by the fresh water the shape of the may be compared to a high shouldered jar or bottle with a mouth its sides are almost everywhere of coral for the not only bounds it to and forms the neck and mouth but about the beach it forms the bottom also as in the bottle of commerce the the bottom is re and the shore runs forth into the basin and makes a dangerous cape opposite the of the entrance danger is therefore on all hands the entrance three wide at the and the formidable surf of the pacific both outside and in there are days when speech is difficult in the chambers of houses days when no boat can land and when men are broken by stroke of sea against the as i write these words three miles in the mountains and with the land breeze still blowing from the island summit the sound of that vexed harbour in my ears such a creek in my native coast of scotland would scarce be dignified with the mark of an anchor in the but in the favoured climate of and with the mechanical regularity of the winds in the pacific it forms for ten or eleven months out of the twelve a safe if hardly a port the ill found island ride there with their insufficient the year through and discharge and are loaded without apprehension of danger when it comes the glass gives warning eight years of trouble in and that any modem war ship furnished with the power of steam should have been lost in belongs not so much to as to political history the weather throughout all that winter the turbulent summer of the islands was unusually fine and the circumstance had been commented on as when so many were lying on their weapons in the bush by february it began to break in occasional on february loth a german was driven ashore on the th the same misfortune an american and a on both these days and again on the th march the men of war must steam to their and it was in this last month the most dangerous of the twelve that man s crowded that of the with costly and ships i have shown perhaps at too great a length how violently passion ran upon the spot how high this series of and had heated the resentment of the against	38
all other and of all other against the but there the was one country beyond the borders of where the question had aroused a scarce less angry sentiment the breach of the washington the evidence of before a sub committee on foreign relations the proposal to try before a military court and the rags of captain s flag had combined to stir the people of the states to an unwonted germany was for the time the of nations in america publicly the country of their birth in so near the scene of action german and american young men fell to blows in the street in the same city from no source and upon no possible authority there arose a rumour of tragic news to arrive by the next occasion that the had opened fire on the and the had sunk her on the first reply on the day appointed the news came and the two nations instead of being plunged in war could only mingle tears over the loss of heroes by the second week in march three american ships were in bay the the and the carrying the flag of eight years of trouble in rear admiral three german the the and the and one british the captain six from twenty five up to five hundred tons and a number of small craft further the its capacity is estimated by captain at four large ships and the latest the and were in consequence excluded and lay without in the passage of the seven the of two were questionable the from an original defect in her construction often reported never her pipes leading in on the the s from an injury to her screw in the blow of february th in this of ships in an open entry of the even the eye of a could spy danger and captain lieutenant of the openly blamed and lamented not many hours before the catastrophe their helpless posture temper once more the army of still hung imminent behind the town the german quarter was still daily with fifty sailors from the what was the yet more influential germany and the states at least in bay were on the brink of war viewed each other with looks of hatred and scarce observed the letter of civility on the day of the admiral s arrival failed to call on him and on the morrow called on him while he was on shore the slight was remarked and resented and the two clung the more to their dangerous station on the the fell to by p m this was the moment when every sail in port should have escaped who flew the only broad should certainly have led the way he clung instead to his and the followed his example semi daring each other and the violence of heaven less immediately involved was led in error by the report of and a rise in the glass he stayed with the others a that was like to cost him dear all were as is the custom in with two practically east and west clear to the north and a eight years of trouble in were struck and the ships made snug the night closed black with sheets of rain by midnight it blew a gale and by the morning watch a tempest through what remained of darkness the captains impatiently expected day doubtful if they were dragging steaming to their and afraid to steam too much day came about six and presented to those on shore a seizing and terrific spectacle in the pressure of the the bay was obscured as if by midnight but between them a great part of it was clearly if darkly visible amid driving mist and rain the wind blew into the harbour mouth naval authorities describe it as of force it had however few or none of the effects on shore suggested by that ominous word and was successfully by trees and buildings the agitation of the sea on the other hand surpassed experience and description seas that might have awakened surprise and terror in the midst of the atlantic ranged bodily and it seemed to almost without into the belly of that shaped harbour and the the war ships were alternately buried from view in the or seen standing on end against the breast of the at daylight still maintained her position in the neck of the bottle but five of the remaining ships tossed already close to the bottom in a perilous and helpless crowd threatening ruin to each other as they tossed threatened with a common and imminent destruction on the three had been already in collision the was injured in the quarter the had lost her the had lost her and was making steam with difficulty maintaining her fire with barrels of pork and the smoke and sparks pouring along the level of the deck for the seventh the day had come too late the had finished her last she was to be seen no more save by the eyes of divers a coral is not only an instrument of destruction but a place of the cliff is profoundly and presents the mouth of a huge in which the bodies of men and the of ships are alike hurled down and buried the had dragged with eight years of trouble in the rest her injured screw her from steaming vigorously up and a little before day she had struck the front of the coral come off struck again and gone down stem foremost as she went into the gaping hollow of the of her whole of nearly eighty four souls were cast alive on the beach and the bodies of the remainder were by the of the streams at last from the and naked on the of the island five ships were immediately with the same destruction the vanished the four poor on shore read a dreadful on their danger	38
which was swelled out of all proportion by the violence of their own movements as they leaped and fell among the by seven the was so fortunate as to avoid the and beach upon a space of sand where she was immediately deserted by her crew with the assistance of not without loss of life by about eight it was the turn of the she was close down upon the doomed herself it might yet be possible to save a the tion of her crew and for this end captain placed his reliance on the very of the seas that threatened him the moment was watched for with the anxiety of despair but the coolness of courage as she rose on the fatal wave her were simultaneously slipped she to in rising and the sea heaved her bodily upward and cast her down with a on the summit of the where she lay on her beam ends her back broken buried in seas but safe conceive a table the in the darkness had been smashed against the rim and flung below the cast free in the nick of opportunity had been thrown upon the top many were injured in the many tossed into the water twenty perished the crept again on board their ship as it now lay and as it still remains to the waves a monument of the sea s in still weather under a sky in those seasons when that ill named ocean the pacific suffers its vexed shores to rest she lies high and dry the spray scarce touching her the structure of man s hands a circuit eight years of trouble in of a thousand miles tossed up there like a s cap upon a shelf broken like an egg a thing to dream of the of germany and britain were both that morning in and both displayed their nobler qualities de the grim old soldier collected his family and with them in an agony of prayer for those exposed more fortunate in that he was called to a more active service must upon the striking of the pass to his own from this he was divided by the now a raging torrent the trunks of trees a might have dreaded to attempt the passage we may conceive this brave but unfortunate and now ruined man to have found a natural joy in the exposure of his life and twice that day coming and going he the fury of the river it was possible in spite of the darkness of the and the continual of the seas to remark human movements on the and by the help of always nobly forward in the work whether for friend or enemy sought the long to get a line conveyed from shore and was for long defeated the shore guard of fifty men stood to arms the while upon the beach useless themselves and a great of usefulness it was perhaps impossible that this mistake should be avoided what more natural to the mind of a european than that the should fall upon the in this hour of their disadvantage but they had no other thought than to assist and those who now rallied beside as they supposed in doing so a double danger from the fury of the sea and the weapons of their enemies about nine a swam ashore and reported all the officers and some sixty men alive but in pitiable case some with broken limbs others insensible from the of the later in the certain succeeded in reaching the wreck and returning with a line but it was speedily broken and all subsequent attempts proved the strongest being cast back again by the bursting seas all through that day and night the must continue to eight years of trouble in endure their and one officer died it was supposed from agony of mind in his cabin three ships still hung on the next margin of destruction steaming desperately to their dashed helplessly together the was the nearest in she had the close on her port side and a little ahead the close a the under her heel and steaming and on her the unhappy ship with her three dangers about a quarter to nine she carried away the s quarter gallery with her boom a moment later the had near her from the other side by nine the dropped down on her too fast to be avoided and clapped her stern under the of the english ship the of which were burst asunder as she rose to avoid cutting her down it was necessary for the to stop and even to reverse her engines and her was at the moment or it seemed so to the eyes of those on board within ten feet of the between the and the writes in his excellent report it the was destruction to repeat s with the was impossible the was too heavy the one possibility of escape was to go out if the engines should stand if they should have power to drive the ship against wind and sea if she should answer the if the wheel and gear should hold out and if they were favoured with a clear of weather in which to see and avoid the outer there and there only were safety upon this catalogue of if s his all he to the engineer for every pound of steam and at that moment i am told much of the machinery was already red hot the ship was well to of the the last remaining cable slipped for a time and there was no on so cold blooded as to offer a guess at its duration the lay stationary then gradually drew ahead the highest speed claimed for her that day is of one sea mile an hour the question of times and seasons throughout all this roaring business is obscured by a dozen i	38
have but chosen what appeared to be the most consistent but if i am eight years of trouble in to pay any attention to the time named by admiral the in this first stage of her escape must have taken more than two hours to cover less than four as she thus crept she buried bow and stem alternately under the in the of the entrance the still held on her was broken her wheel carried away within she was with water from the pipes she had just made the signal fires extinguished and lay helpless awaiting the inevitable end between this melancholy and the external must find a path within fifty yards of the for which she was actually headed and her passing on the other hand over the s quarter as she rolled the between the rival dangers came to the wind triumphantly and was once more pointed for the sea and safety not often in naval history was there a moment of more sickening peril and it was dignified by one of those incidents that reconcile the with his otherwise task from the doomed the americans the hailed the success of the english with a cheer it was led by the old admiral in person rang out over the storm with holiday vigour and was answered by the with an emotion easily conceived this ship of their was almost the last external object seen from the for hours immediately after the mists closed about her till the morrow she was safe at sea again de with a and a loss of all the ornamental work about her bow and stem three one anchor fourteen of chain four boats the and bands and of the shortly after had slipped his cable captain despairing of the succeeded in passing of the in the hope to beach his ship beside the at a quarter to her stem took the her head swung to and she began to fill and settle many lives of brave men were sacrificed in the attempt to get a line ashore the captain exhausted by his exertions was swept from deck by a sea and the rail being soon the took refuge in the tops o eight years of trouble in out of thirteen that had lain there the day before there were now but two ships afloat in harbour and one of these was doomed to be the of the other about p m the parted one cable and shortly after a second it was sought to keep her head to wind with storm sails and by the ingenious expedient of filling the with but in the fury of the gale and in that sea alike by the gigantic and the of the rivers the ship drove down stem foremost into the inner basin plunging and striking like a frightened horse drifting on destruction for herself and bringing it to others twice the still well under command avoided her by the skilful use of and engines but about four the vigilance of the was deceived and the ships the cutting into the s quarters first from one side then from the other and losing at the same time two of her own captain von instantly slipped the remainder of his and setting fore and aft canvas and going full steam ahead the succeeded in his ship in whither recalled by this new disaster had returned the berth was perhaps the best in the harbour and von that ship and crew were in security the guided apparently by an or from the discharge of followed in the course of the and and skirted along the front of the shore which her was at times almost touching hitherto she had brought disaster to her foes now she was bringing it to friends she had already proved the ruin of the the one ship that had rid out the in safety now she beheld across her course the the tops filled with exhausted happily the approach of the was gradual and the time employed to advantage and lines were thrown into the tops of the friendly wreck the approach of danger was transformed into a means of safety and before the ships struck the men from the s main and which went immediately by the board in the collision were already on eight years of trouble in the s decks those from the were next rescued and the settled gradually into a position alongside her neighbour against which she beat all night with violence out of the crew of the forty three had perished of the four hundred and fifty on board the only one the night of the i th was still notable for a howling tempest and extraordinary floods of rain it was feared the could scarce continue to endure the of the seas among the the fate of those on board the awoke keen anxiety and on the beach of and the other officers of his on that of watched all night the morning of the th displayed a scene of rarely equalled the high and dry the and the partly piled on the and herself sunk to the gun deck no sail afloat and the beach heaped high with the of ships and the wreck of mountain forests already before the day the chief of had gallantly ventured forth by boat through the fury of the seas and had sue the in communicating with the admiral already or as soon after as the dawn permitted rescue lines were and the were with difficulty and danger begun to be brought to shore and soon the cheerful spirit of the admiral added a new feature to the scene surrounded as he was by the of two wrecked ships he the band of the and the bay was suddenly with the strains of hail during a great part of the day the work of rescue was continued with many instances of courage and devotion and	38
for a long time succeeding the almost inexhaustible harvest of the beach was to be in the first employment the earned the gratitude of friend and foe in the second they surprised all by an unexpected virtue that of honesty the greatness of the disaster and the magnitude of the treasure now rolling at their feet may perhaps have roused in their an emotion too serious for the rule of or perhaps that was for the moment that twelve strong could scarce drag from the water great guns one of eight years of trouble in which was rolled by the sea on the body of a man the only native slain in all the an infinite wealth of rope and wood of tools and weapons tossed upon the beach yet i have never heard that much was stolen and beyond question much was very honestly returned on both accounts for the saving of life and the restoration of property the government of the united states showed themselves generous in reward a fine boat was presented to and rings watches and money were on all who had assisted the also gave money at the rate as i receive the tale of three dollars a head for every german saved the obligation was in this instance deep those with whom they were at war had saved the german blue at the venture of their lives was besides far from and i can only explain the figure by supposing it was paid from his own pocket in one case at least it was refused i have saved three said the i will make you a present of the three the of the american and german the were now cast still in a temper together on the beach the discipline of the americans was loose the crew of the had earned a character for in other ports and recourse was had to and indeed extraordinary measures the town was divided in two to which the different were confined had his quarter and any seaman a challenge was to be shot dead any tavern keeper who sold spirits to an american sailor was to have his tavern broken and his stock destroyed many of the were german and having these but necessary dispositions wonders to himself over his despatch how far these americans will go in their assumption of over such as they were the measures were successful the mass of was kept in peace and at last in peace out of the islands returned to on the th to find the the sole of thirteen sail he thanked his men and in particular the en eight years of trouble in in a speech of unusual feeling and beauty of which one who was present remarked to another as they left the ship this has been a means of grace nor did he forget to thank and compliment the admiral and i cannot deny myself the pleasure of from s reply some generous and engaging words my dear captain he wrote your kind note received you went out splendidly and we all felt from our hearts for you and our cheers came with sincerity and admiration for the able manner in which you handled your ship we could not have been if it had been one of our ships for in a time like that i can say truly with old admiral that blood is thicker than water one more trait will serve to build up the image of this typical sea officer a tiny the captain dear to myself from the memories of a six months lived out upon the high seas the fury of that tempest which had piled with the harbour of found a refuge in and arrived at last in the port with a welcome and cargo the of pigs the admiral was glad to have the pigs but what most delighted the man s noble and childish soul was to see once more afloat the colours of his country thus in what seemed the very article of war and within the duration of a single day the sword arm of each of the two angry powers was broken their formidable ships reduced to their hundreds to a of fed with difficulty and the fear of whose the sleep of their both paused aghast both had time to recognise that not the whole sam an was worth the loss in men and costly ships already suffered the so called of march i th made thus a marking epoch in world history directly and at once it brought about the and treaty of indirectly and by a process still continuing it founded the modem navy of the states coming years and other will declare the influence of that eight years of trouble in chapter xi and with the the broken war ships and the sailors i am at an end of violence and my tale flows henceforth among carpet incidents the blue on beach were still held apart by when the powers at home were already seeking a solution it was agreed so far as might be to two years of and to resume in and at those which had been so unhappily broken oflf at washington in the example thus by germany is rare in history in the career of prince so far as i am instructed it should stand unique on a review of these two years of and failure in a little isle of the pacific he seems to have owned his policy was in the wrong he and left that house of cards the government to fall by its own and without remark or left the question openly and fairly to the conference and in the meanwhile to the local by and he sent to that invaluable public servant dr i should be a man if i did not here bear testimony to the loyalty since shown by in their position was painful they had talked big in	38
the old days now they had to sing small even returned to the islands under the prejudice of an unfortunate record to the minds of the his name represented the beginning of their sorrows and in his first term of office he had unquestionably driven hard the greater his merit in the surprising success of the second so long as he stayed the current of affairs moved smoothly he left behind him on his departure all men at peace and whether by fortune or for the want of that wise hand of guidance he was scarce gone before the clouds began to gather once more on our horizon before the first germany and the eight years of trouble in states hauled down their flags it was so done again before the second and germany by a still more emphatic step of returned the exile to his native shores for two years the unfortunate man had trembled and suffered in the in germany in the rainy when he left september was king served by five iron war ships his right to rule like a of the church was placed outside dispute the were still as they were called at that last tearful interview in the house by the river the invincible strangers the thought of resistance far less the hope of success had not yet dawned on the mind he returned november to a changed world the party was reduced to sue for peace was withdrawn was dying of a broken heart the german flag no longer waved over the capital and over all the islands one figure stood supreme during s absence this man had succeeded him in all his honours and titles in more than all his power and popularity he was the idol of the whole nation but the of the and and of these he was already the secret admiration in his position there was but one weak point that he had ever been excluded by the indeed once with the thought of him but the project had no and it stands alone in every other juncture of history the german attitude has been the same choose whom you will to be king when he has failed choose whom you please to succeed him when the second fails also replace the first upon the one condition that be excluded an official is said to have thus up the necessary in a king and it was perhaps feared that could do no more and might not always do so much but this original was heightened by late events to something upon was the arms of were still soiled with the blood of german sailors and though the chief was not present in the field nor could have heard of eight years of trouble in the affair till it was over he had from it credit with his countrymen and dislike from the i may not say that trouble was hoped i must say if it were not feared the practice of must teach a very hopeful view of human nature and by the sudden of the last found themselves face to face in conditions of the one returned from the dead of exile to find himself replaced and the other at the end of a long anxious and successful struggle beheld his only possible from the grave the qualities of both in this difficult moment shone out nobly i feel i seem always less than partial to the his virtues are perhaps not those which chiefly please me and are certainly not royal but he found on his return an opportunity to display the admirable sweetness of his nature the two entered into a competition of generosity for which i can recall no parallel in history each the throne for himself each pressing it upon his rival and they embraced at last a compromise and the terms of which seem to have been always obscure and are now disputed at least resumed his style of king of retained much of the conduct of affairs and continued to receive much of the attendance and respect and the two with so many causes of dwelt and met together in the same town like it was so that i first saw them so in a house set about with for there was still a haunting fear of germany that i heard them relate their various experience in the past heard tell with touching of the sorrows of his exile and with simplicity of his resources and anxieties in the war the relation was perhaps too beautiful to last it was perhaps impossible but the king should grow at last uneasily conscious of the de at his side or the king maker be at last offended by some shadow of distrust or assumption in his creature i repeat the words king maker and creature it is so that himself of their relation surely not without justice for had he not and prevailed eight years of trouble in and been helped by the folly of and the fury of the storm must have died in exile foreigners in these islands know little of the course of native partly the cannot explain partly they will not tell ask how much a master can follow of the politics in any school so much and no more we may understand of the events which surround and menace us with their results the may perhaps have been to blame are perhaps apt to outside their discipline it is a fault which should be judged with mercy the problem is sometimes so presented that even a moderate and able man is betrayed beyond his own intention and the missionary in such a land as is something else besides a minister of mere religion he represents he is condemned to be an organ of reform he could scarce even if he desired a certain influence in political affairs and it is believed besides by	38
those who fancy they know that the effective force of division between and came from the and natives rather than from before the end of at least it began to be that there was between the two and doubtless this had an influence throughout the islands but there was another of anxiety the had long closed its the text of the act had been long in our hands were announced to right the wrongs of the land question and two high officials a chief justice and a president to guide policy and administer law in their coming was expected with an impatience with a of trust that can hardly be exaggerated months passed these angel still delayed to arrive and the impatience of the natives became changed to an ominous irritation they have had much experience of being deceived and they began to think they were deceived again a sudden crop of superstitious stories about the islands rivers had come down red unknown fishes had been taken on the and found to be marked with menacing a crawled among chiefs in council the gods of eight years of trouble in and made war by night they swam the straits to battle and with dreadful wounds they had the house of a medical missionary readers will remember the in or those in when fierce fiery warriors fought upon the in ranks and and doubtless such are in simple societies a natural expression of discontent and those who and even those who spread them work towards a conscious purpose early in january this period of was brought to an end by the arrival of chief justice of the event was hailed with and there was much about the new official to increase the hopes already entertained he was seen to be a man of culture and ability in public of an excellent presence in private of a most engaging cordiality but there was one point i scarce know whether to say of his character or policy which immediately and affected public feeling in the and islands he had an aversion part part perhaps constitutional to haste and he announced that until he should have well satisfied his own mind he should do nothing that he would rather delay all than do aught amiss it was impossible to hear this without approval impossible to hear it without practical alarm the natives desired to see activity they desired to see many fair speeches take on a body of deeds and works of benefit fired by the event of the war filled with impossible hopes they might have welcomed in that hour a ruler of the stamp of breathing hurry perhaps dealing blows and the chief justice unconscious of the fleeting opportunity his opinions deliberately in and had been already the better part of half a year in the islands before he went through the form of opening his court the curtain had risen there was no play a reaction a chill sense of disappointment passed about the island and one moment suspended was resumed in the act the three powers recognise on the threshold the independence of the eight years of trouble in government and the free right of the natives to elect their chief or king and choose their form of government true the text continues that in view of the difficulties that surround an election in the present disordered condition of the government shall be recognised as king unless the three powers shall by common accord otherwise declare but perhaps few natives have followed it so far and even those who have were possibly cast all abroad again by the next and his successor shall be duly elected according to the laws and customs of the right to elect freely given in one sentence was suspended in the next and a line or so further on appeared to be by a side wind the reason offered for was false in may when sir edward moved the matter in the conference the election of was not only certain to have been peaceful it could not have been opposed and behind the english it was easy to suspect the hand of germany no one is more swift to smell than a and the thought that under the long bland benevolent arid sentences of the act some lay lurking filled him with the breadth of opposition seems never to have been a popular king on the other hand holds an position in the eyes of his fellow countrymen he was the hero of the war he had lain with them in the bush he had borne the heat and of the day they began to claim that he should enjoy more largely the fruits of victory his was believed to be a stroke of german vengeance his elevation to the was looked for as the fitting crown and of the triumph and but a little after the coming of the chief justice an ominous cry for began to arise in the islands it is difficult to see what that official could have done but what he did he was loyal as in duty bound to the treaty and to and when the of the important and of demanded to his face a change of kings he had no choice but to refuse them and his reproof being to the meeting whether by any neglect of his own or the mere force of circumstance he failed however to secure the o eight years of trouble in sympathy failed even to gain the confidence of the latter is not without a sense of his own abilities or of the g eat service he has rendered to his native land he felt himself neglected at the very moment when the cry for his elevation rang throughout the group he thought himself made little of on and he began to weary of his part in this humour he was exposed to a temptation which i must try to	38
explain as best i may be able to the of the g eat name is in the power of the district of some seven miles to the westward of the most noisy and conspicuous of that party are the inhabitants of hence in the elaborate of is always referred to by the name of authority as having the power of the name and by that of or household as forming the immediate family of the chief but these though so important are only small and perhaps the chief force of the the island of has no royal name to bestow and all the five being in the gift of different districts of but she has the weight of numbers and in these latter days has acquired a certain force by the in her of a single man the orator the reader will now understand the peculiar significance of a which should embrace and the of both and how it would represent all that is most effective on the side and all that is most considerable in politics except the opposite party of the and in the temptation brought to bear on even the was was dead his followers had conceived a not unnatural aversion to all from which only the loyal is and a not unnatural admiration for their late successful adversary men of his own blood and men whom he had fought in the field whom he had driven from who had smitten him back time and again from before the rustic of they approached him hand in hand with their enemies and in the same prayer the treaty they eight years of trouble in argued was not carried out the right to elect their king had been granted them or if that were denied or suspended then the right to elect his successor they were dissatisfied with and claimed according to the laws and customs of duly to another the of declared with irritation that their second appointment was alone and a the sole the whole body of named him as their choice for king and they requested him in consequence to leave and take up his dwelling in the name place of a step which may be described to european ears as placing before the country his for the crown i do not know when the proposal was first made doubtless the grew slowly every trifle adding to its force doubtless there lingered for long a to give the new government a trial the chief justice at least had been nearly five months in the country and the president baron von rather more than a month before the mine was sprung on may the house of was and found empty he and his chiefs had vanished from and what was worse three prisoners from the had accompanied them in their two being political and the third accused of having been perhaps set free by accident although the step had been discussed in certain quarters it took all men by surprise the inhabitants at large expected instant war the officials awakened from a dream to recognise the value of that which they had lost at where he was the pledge of peace had perhaps not always been deemed worthy of particular attention at was seen twelve hours too late to be an altogether different quantity with excess of zeal on the other side the officials to their boats and proceeded almost in a body to where they seem to have employed every of flattery and every resource of eloquence upon the fugitive high chief these perhaps excessive in themselves had the fault of being offered when too late showed himself on small issues on the main he restored the prison eight years of trouble in ers he returned with the to on a flying visit he gave his word that peace should be preserved a pledge in which perhaps no one believed at the moment but which he has since nobly on the rest he was immovable he had cast the die he had declared his he had gone to thither after his visit to he returned again there he has practically since resided thus was created in the islands a situation strange in the beginning and which as its inner significance is developed becomes daily stranger to observe on the one hand sits in a state receives heads his letters government of treats the king as a co and yet declares himself and in many ways himself as a law abiding citizen on the other the white officials in stand contemplating the phenomenon with eyes of growing now with symptoms of now with of violence for long even those well in island manners and the island character daily expected war and heard imaginary drums beat in the forest but for now and close upon a year and against every stress of persuasion and temptation has been the of our peace lay open to be seized he had the power in bis hand his followers cried to be led on his enemies him the same way by impotent examples and he has never faltered early in the day a white man was sent from the government of to examine and report upon his actions i saw the spy on his return it was only our rebel that saved us he said with a laugh there is now no honest man in the islands but is well aware of it none but knows that if we have enjoyed during the past eleven months the of peace it is due to the forbearance of our rebel nor does this part of his conduct stand alone he calls his party at the government our government but he pays his taxes to the government at he takes ground like a king he has steadily and refused to obey all orders as to his own movements or behaviour but upon he sends to be tried under the chief justice we	38
have here a problem of conduct and s eight years of trouble in what seems an image of very hard at the first sight to be solved by any european plainly does not act at random plainly in the depths of his mind he regards his attitude as regular and constitutional it may be unexpected it may be it may be but he thinks it and perhaps it is in full accordance with those laws and customs of by the of the act the point is worth an effort of comprehension a man s life may yet depend upon it let us conceive in the first place that there are five separate in though not always five different kings and that though one man by holding the five royal names might become king in all parts of there is perhaps no such matter as a of all he who holds one royal name would be upon this view as much a sovereign person as he who should chance to hold the other four he would have less territory and fewer subjects but the like independence and an equal now even if all points were decided against him is and still and as such on this a sovereign prince in the second place the of the act exceeding bold employed the word election and justified all steps towards the according with the customs of i am not asking what was intended by the gentlemen who sat and very and on the whole wisely in i am asking what will be understood by a studying their literary work the act i am asking what is the result of taking a word out of one state of society and applying it to another of which the writers know less than nothing and no european knows much several and several days were employed last september in the fruitless attempt to convey to the mind of the sense of the word resignation what can a gather from the words e f election of a king election of a king according to the laws and customs of f what are the measures what is the method of likely to be employed by two three four or five more or less absolute eager to each other and eight years of trouble in who is to distinguish such a process from the state of war in such or i should say the nearest we can come towards understanding is to appreciate the cloud of in which all parties treading the crude half on foot half flying now in one part of s behaviour his purpose is beyond mistake towards the provisions of the act his desire to be formally obedient is manifest the act imposed the tax he has paid his taxes although he thus to the ways and means of his immediate rival the act the supreme court and he sends his to be tried at although he thus places them as i shall have occasion to show in a position far from wholly safe from this literal in matters regulated to the terms of the we may infer in regard to the rest a no less exact of the famous and obscure laws and customs of and but though it may be possible to obtain in the study to some such of an understanding it were plainly unfair to expect it of officials in the hurry of events our two white officers have accordingly been no more than was to be looked for and i think they have sometimes been less wise it was not wise in the president to proclaim and his followers and their estates such words are not respectable till they repose on force on the lips of an angry white man standing alone on a small they were both dangerous and absurd they might have provoked ruin thanks to the character of they only raised a smile and the authority of government and again it is not wise in the government of to have twice attempted to once in once here in the the fate of the attempt i never heard it seems to have been still born the other passed under my eyes a war party was armed in and despatched across the island against villages where it was to seize the women and children it was eight years of trouble in absent for some days engaged in with those whom it went out to fight and returned at last and in this fortunate though ending we may read the fact that the natives on s side are sometimes more wise than their indeed for our last twelve months of miraculous peace under what seem to be two rival kings the credit is due first of all to and second to the half or the forbearance or both of the natives in the other camp the voice of the two has ever been for war they have published at least one they have armed and sent into the field at least one war party they have continually captains of to attack and the captains of the war ships have refused thus in the last twelve months our european rulers have drawn a picture of themselves as bearded like the full of strange oaths and like while over against them obstinate and their own surround them into the question of motive i refuse to enter and but if we come to war in these islands and with no fresh occasion it will be a war and one that has been against the grain of opinion by two foreigners for the last and worst of the mistakes on the side it would be unfair to blame any but the king himself capable both of virtuous resolutions and of fits of obstinacy his majesty is usually the whip top of and his conduct is so as to wear at times an appearance of treachery which would surprise himself if he	38
the prisoners the chief justice is only again in so far as he was at the moment absent from the seat of his duties and the blame falls on baron von president of the and council there were in certain loyal to being people i they were very to their neighbours the majority as they belonged to the same island were the more impatient and one fine day fell upon and destroyed the houses and of the according to the laws and customs of the president went down to the island in a war ship and was landed alone upon the beach to one so much a stranger to the of this must have seemed an act of desperation and the baron s gallantry met with a deserved success the six acting in s interest had been guilty of a with s approval they delivered themselves over to be tried on friday september they were convicted before a native magistrate and to six months imprisonment or i should rather say for it was expressly directed that they were to be used as gentlemen and not as prisoners that the door was to stand open and that all their wishes should be gratified this extraordinary sentence fell upon the accused like t eight years of trouble in a there is no need to suppose where a careless to explain all but the six chiefs claim to have understood their coming to as an act of submission merely formal that they came in fact under an implied and that the president stood pledged to see them already on their way from the they were surrounded by friends and who pressed and cried upon them to escape lieutenant must order his men to load and with that the momentary died away next day saturday th the chief justice took his departure from the islands a step never yet explained and in view of the doings of the day before and the of other officials hard to justify the president an amiable and brave young man of singular was thus left to face the growing difficulty by himself the of the prisoners to the number of near upon a hundred lay in a village half way between and there they talked big thence sent menacing messages the should be broken in the night they said and and the six rescued allowance is to be made for the character of the people of turbulent fellows of tongue but of late days not thought to be bold in person yet the moment was anxious the government of had gained an important moral victory by the surrender and condemnation of the chiefs and it was needful the victory should be maintained the guard upon the was accordingly strengthened a was sent to watch the road under and the chiefs of the were to arm and their men it must be supposed the president was doubtful of the loyalty of these he turned at least to the war ships where it seems he was thence he fled into the arms of the gang where he was unhappily more successful the government of washington had presented to the king the of the and the an american had been formed to break them up an experienced gang was in consequence settled in and the report of had long grown familiar in the ears of from eight years of trouble in these the president obtained a supply of the needful and the loan of a the was and the people in were advertised of the fact in a letter signed by partly by the of the who had sought to himself like lady with liquor for his somewhat dreadful task the story immediately out and raised a very general or i might say almost universal some blamed the proposed deed because it was barbarous and a foul example to set before a race half barbarous itself others because it was others again because in the face of so weak an enemy it appeared almost all because it tended to and war in the midst of the turmoil he had raised and under the immediate pressure of certain indignant white the baron fell back upon a new expedient certainly less barbarous perhaps no more legal and on monday afternoon september th packed his six prisoners on board the and them to the neighbouring low island group of the and we watched her put to sea with mingled feelings anything were better than but this was not good the men had been summoned in the name of law they had surrendered the law had uttered its voice they were under one sentence duly delivered and now the president by no right with which we were acquainted had exchanged it for another it was perhaps no less fortunate though it was more in a stranger that he had increased the punishment to that which in the eyes of ranks next to death exile from their native land and friends and the appeared to carry away with her into the parts of the sea the honour of the administration and the of the supreme court the policy of the government towards has thus been of a piece throughout always would be violent it has been almost always with some appearance of or the policy of though extremely bewildering to any white appears everywhere consistent with itself and the man s bearing has always been calm but to eight years of trouble in sent the fulness of the contrast it is necessary that i should give some description of the two or the two and the ways and means of the regular and irregular government the reader may remember is a narrow finger of land planted in which runs forth into the perhaps three quarters of a mile to the east is the bay of to the west there is first of all a swamp the green the mud ink black and its face	38
the pacific but the evil that he o eight years of trouble in chanced to do lives after him his majesty was greatly and i must say justly offended by the freedom of the expressions used he appealed to his white and these whether from want of thought or by design issued an intending visitors to the palace must appear before their and justify their business the majesty of buried was henceforth only to be viewed like a private collection under special permit and was thus at once cut off from the company and opinions of the self respecting to retain any dignity in such an abject state would require a man of very different virtues from those claimed by the not he is not designed to ride the or direct the storm rather to be the ornament of private life he is kind gentle patient as job well of charming manners and when he pleases he has one accomplishment in which he now begins to be alone i mean that he can pronounce correctly his own beautiful language the government of accomplished a good deal and was continually and and attempting more the government of our two has confined itself almost wholly to paying and receiving they have built indeed a house for the president they are believed if that be a merit to have bought the local newspaper with government funds and their rule has been by a number of into which i feel with relief it is unnecessary i should enter even if the three powers do not remove these gentlemen their absurd and disastrous government must perish by itself of native taxes except perhaps from true to his own private policy have long been beyond hope and only the other day may th on the expressed ground that there was no as to how the funds would be expended and that the president refused to allow the of his cash the council has the proposal to call up farther taxes from the all is well that ends even ill so that it end and we believe that with the last dollar we shall see the last of the last now when it is so nearly over we can afford to smile at this eight of trouble in passage though we must still sigh over the occasion lost the way to lies round the shores of bay and through a succession of pleasant groves and villages the road one of the works of is now cut up by pig fences eight times you must leap a barrier of posts the take off and the landing both in a patch of mire planted with big stones and the stones sometimes with the blood of horses that have gone before to make these obstacles more you have sometimes to wait while a black over the so called pig fence nothing can more thoroughly the worst side of the character than these useless which their only road it was one of the first orders issued by the government of after the coming of the chief justice to have the passage cleared it is the disgrace of that the thing is not yet done the village of is a scene of prosperity and peace in a very good account of a visit there published in the the writer a and describes it to be fortified she must have been deceived by the appearance of some pig walls on the shore there is no no parade of war i understand that from one to five hundred fighting men are always within reach but i have never seen more than five together under arms and these were the king s guard of honour a sabbath quiet over the well green the horses the troops of pigs the round or oval native dwellings of these there are a surprising number very fine of their sort yet more are in the building and in the midst a tall house of assembly by far the greatest structure now in these islands stands about half finished and already makes a figure in the landscape no bustle is to be observed but the work accomplished to a still activity the centre piece of all is the high chief himself king or not king or king of all goes to him all comes from him native bring him gifts and are in return white travellers to their indescribable irritation are on his approach waved from his eight years of trouble in path by his armed guards he summons his dancers by the note of a he sits nightly at home before a semi circle of talking men from many quarters of the islands delivering and hearing those and elegant in which the heart delights about himself and all his surroundings there breathes a striking sense of order tranquillity and native plenty he is of a tall and powerful person sixty years of age white haired and with a white moustache his eyes bright and quiet his jaw which gives him something of the expression of a benevolent his manners dignified and a thought with an air of a catholic he was never married and a natural daughter upon his guests long since he made a vow of to live as our lord lived on this earth and report with breath that he has kept it on all such points true to his catholic training he is inclined to be even rigid the of has recently his wife and taken a fairer and when i was last in with a strange superiority to his own interests had but and just despatched a in his immediate circle in spite of the of his ways he is said to be more respected than beloved and his influence is the child rather of authority than popularity no now living need have attempted that which he has accomplished during the last twelve months with not only to withhold	38
his followers from war but to send them to be judged in the camp of their enemies on and it is a matter of debate whether such a triumph of authority were ever possible before speaking for myself i have visited and dwelt in almost every seat of the race and have met but one man who gave me a stronger impression of character and parts about the situation expresses himself with peace to the chief justice he with some bitterness to with a smile as my poor brother for himself he stands upon the treaty and expects sooner or later an election in which he shall be raised to the chief power in the meanwhile or for an alternative he would willingly embrace a compromise with to which he would i eight years of trouble in probably add one condition that the joint should remain seated at a sensible but not inconvenient distance from white and white officials one circumstance in my last interview particularly pleased me the king s chief is an old employ under and the talk ran some while upon the character of loyalty in this world is after all not thrown away was guilty in eyes of many errors but he stood true to in the course of tim a sense of this virtue and of his general has the memory of his mistakes and it would have done his heart good if he could have heard his old and his old adversary join in him yes concluded i wish we had back again a chose est bon so strong is the impression produced by the defects of and baron that i believe far from singular in this opinion and that the return of the upright might be even welcome to many i must add a last touch to the picture of and the s life about four in and the morning the visitor in his house will be awakened by the note of a pipe blown without very softly and to a soothing melody this is s private luxury to lead on pleasant dreams we have a bird here in that about the same hour of darkness sings in the bush the father of while he lived was a great friend and protector to all living creatures and passed under the by name of the king of birds it may be it was among the of the that the son acquired his fancy for this morning music i have now sought to render without the impressions received of dignity plenty and peace at of and distraction at and i wish i might here bring to an end ungrateful labours but i am sensible that there remain two points on which it would be improper to be silent i should be blamed if i did not indicate a practical conclusion and i should blame myself if i did not do a little justice to that tried company of the land the land commission has been in many i eight years of trouble in senses unfortunate the original german member a gentleman of the name of fell early into precarious health his work was from the first interrupted he was at last to the regret of all that knew him home and his successor has but just arrived in like manner the first american henry c a man of character and intelligence was recalled i believe by private when he was but just settling into the spirit of the work and though his place was promptly filled by ex governor a worthy successor distinguished by strong and common sense the break was again sensible the english my friend michael haggard is thus the only one who has continued at his post since the beginning and yet in spite of these unusual changes the commission has a record perhaps among it has been unanimous practically from the first until the last and out of some four hundred cases disposed of there is but one on which the members were divided it was the more unfortunate they should have early fallen in a and difficulty with the chief justice the original ground of this is supposed to be a difference of opinion as to the import of the act on which as a it would be if i were to offer an opinion but it must always seem as if the chief justice had suffered himself to be irritated beyond the bounds of discretion it must always seem as if his original attempt to deprive the of the services of a secretary and the use of a safe were even senseless and his step in and a denying their were equally and the dispute had a secondary result worse than itself the gentleman appointed to be natives advocate shared the chief justice s opinion was his close intimate advised with him almost daily and drifted at last into an attitude of opposition to his he suffered himself besides being a in law to embrace the interest of his with something of the warmth of a disagreeable scenes occurred in court the advocate was more than once he was warned that his with the judge of appeal tended to damage his s i eight years of trouble in own character and to lower the credit of the court having lost some cases on which he set importance it should seem that he spoke among natives a sudden cry of colour prejudice went up and were heard to assure each other that it was useless to appear before the land commission which was sworn to support the this deplorable state of affairs was brought to an end by the departure from of the natives advocate he was succeeded pro by a young new e w not much more in law than himself and very much less so in whether by more skill or better fortune has been able in the course of a few weeks to recover for the natives	38
of men and women merchant clerks and navy officers dancing in its wake arms about waist and crowned with long ago darkness and silence had gone from house to house about the tiny pagan city only the street lamps shone on making a glow worm in the or drawing a tremulous image on the waters of the port a sound of ran among the piles of lumber by the government pier it was ashore from the graceful where they lay close in like and their were stretched upon the deck under the open sky or huddled in a rude tent amidst the disorder of but the men under the had no thought of sleep the same temperature in england would have passed without remark in summer but it was bitter cold for the south seas nature knew it and the bottle of oil stood frozen in every bird cage house about the island and the men knew it and shivered they wore cotton clothes the same they had in by day and run the of the showers and to night on the beach ii complete their evil case they had had no breakfast to mention less dinner and no supper at all in the telling south sea phrase these three men were on the beach common calamity had brought them acquainted as the three most miserable english speaking creatures in and beyond their misery they knew next to nothing of each other not even their true names for each had made a long in going downward and each at some stage of the descent had been into the of an and yet not one of them had figured in a court of justice two were men of kindly virtues and one as he sat and shivered under the had a tattered in his pocket certainly if money could have been raised upon the book robert would long ago have sacrificed that last possession but the demand for literature which is so marked a feature in some parts of the south seas extends not so far as the dead tongues and the which he could not exchange against a meal had often consoled him in his hunger he would study it as he lay with belt on the floor of the old seeking favorite passages and finding new ones only less beautiful because they lacked the of remembrance or he would pause on random country walks sit on the gazing over the sea on the mountains of and dip into the seeking and if the as is the way of replied with no very the ebb tide tain or encouraging voice visions of england at least would throng upon the exile s memory the busy the green playing fields holidays at home and the roar of london and the fireside and the white head of his father for it is the destiny of those grave restrained and classic writers with whom we make enforced and often painful at school to pass into the blood and become native in the memory so that a phrase of speaks not so much of or but of english places and the student s own youth robert was the son of an intelligent active and ambitious man small partner in a considerable london house hopes were conceived of the boy he was sent to a good school gained there an oxford and proceeded in course to the western university with all his talent and taste and he had much of both robert was deficient in and intellectual manhood wandered in by paths of study worked at music or at when he should have been at greek and took at last a paltry degree almost at the same time the london house was wound up mr must begin the world again as a clerk in a strange office and robert his and accept with gratitude a career that he detested and despised he had no head for figures no interest in affairs detested the of hours and despised the aims and the success of merchants to grow rich night on the beach was none of his rather to do well a worse or a more bold young man would have refused the destiny perhaps tried his fortune with his pen perhaps robert more prudent possibly more timid consented to embrace that way of life in which he could most readily assist his family but he did so with a mind divided fled the neighborhood of former comrades and chose out of several positions placed at his disposal a in new york his career was one of unbroken shame he did not drink he was exactly honest he was never rude to his yet was everywhere discharged bringing no interest to his duties he brought no attention his day was a of things neglected and things done amiss and from place to place and from town to town he carried the character of one thoroughly no man can hear the word applied to him without some flush of color as indeed there is none other that so emphatically in a man s face the door of self respect and to who was conscious of talents and who looked down upon those humble duties in which he was found wanting the pain was the more exquisite early in his fall he had ceased to be able to make after having nothing but failure to communicate he ceased writing home and about a year before his tale begins turned suddenly upon the streets of san by a vulgar and german jew he had broken the last t the ebb tide bonds of self respect and upon a sudden impulse changed his name and invested his last dollar in a passage on the mail the city of with what expectation he had trimmed his flight for the south seas perhaps scarcely knew doubtless there were fortunes to be made in pearl and doubtless others not more gifted than himself had	38
i should be the only party to be down with this form of vice and the only one to do the funny business i think one of you other parties might walk up tell a fellow something the trouble is we ve nothing to tell my son returned the captain i tell you if you like what i was thinking said tell us anything said the clerk i only want to be reminded that i ain t dead took up his lying on his face and speaking slowly and scarce above his breath not like a man who has anything to say but like one talking against time well i was thinking this he began i was thinking i lay on beach one night all moon and and fellows and i was cold and hungry and down in the mouth and was about ninety years of age and had spent about two hundred and twenty of them on beach and i was thinking i wished i had a ring to rub or had a fairy or could raise and i was trying to remember how you did it i night on the beach i knew you made a ring of for i had seen that in the and that you took off your coat and turned up your sleeves for i had seen do that when he was playing and you could see by the way he went about it it was a business he had studied and that you ought to have something to kick up a smoke and a bad smell i a cigar might do and that you ought to say the lord s prayer backward well i wondered if i could do that it seemed rather a feat you see and then i wondered if i could say it forward and i thought i did well no sooner had i got to world without end than i saw an old man in a and with a mat under his arm come along the beach from the town he was rather a hard favored old party and he and crippled and all the time he kept at first i didn t cotton to his looks i thought and then i got sorry for the old soul because he so hard i remembered we had some of that cough mixture the american gave the captain for hay it never did hay a ha p of service but i thought it might do the old gentleman s business for him and stood up i said i i says he look here i said i ve got some first rate stuff in a bottle it fix your cough harry my and i measure you out a in the palm of my hand for all our plate is at the banker s so i thought the old party came up and the nearer he came the less i come here the ebb tide took to him but i had passed my word you see is this interrupted the clerk it s like the rot there is in tracts it s a story i used to tell them to the at home said if it you i drop it oh cut along returned the sick man it s better than nothing well continued i had no sooner given him the cough mixture than he seemed to up and change and i saw he was n t a after all but some kind of an and had a long beard on his chin one good turn deserves another says he i am a out of the nights and this mat that i have under my arm is the original carpet of ben somebody or other say the word and you can have a upon the carpet you don t mean to say this is the travelling carpet i cried you bet i do said he you ve been to america since last i read the nights said i a little suspicious i should think so said he been everywhere a man with a carpet like this is n t going to in a semi detached villa well that struck me as reasonable all rights i said and do you mean to tell me i can get on that carpet and go straight to london england i said london england captain because he seemed to have been so long in your part of the world in the crack of a whip said he i night on the beach figured up the time what is the difference between and london captain taking and point nine hours odd minutes and seconds replied the well that s about what i made it resumed about nine hours calling this three in the morning i made out i would drop into london about noon and the idea me immensely there s only one bother i said i have n t a copper cent it would be a pity to go to london and not buy the morning standard oh said he you don t realize the of this carpet you see this pocket you ve only got to stick your hand in and you pull it out filled with sovereigns double was n t it inquired the captain that was what it was cried i thought they seemed unusually big and i remember now i had to go to the money at cross and get english silver oh you went then said the clerk did you do bet you had a b and s well you see it was just as the old boy said like the cut of a whip said the one minute i was here on the beach at three in the morning the next i was in front of the golden cross at midday at first i was dazzled and covered my eyes and there didn t seem the smallest change the roar of the	38
strand and the roar of the were like the same hark to it the ebb tide now and you can hear the and the rolling and the streets and then at last i would look about and there was the old place and no mistake with the statues in the square and st martin s in the fields and the and the and the and i can t tell you what i felt like i felt like crying i believe or dancing or jumping clean over the column i was like a fellow caught up out of hell and flung down into the part of heaven then i spotted for a with a horse a shilling for yourself if you re there in twenty minutes said i to the he went a good pace though of course it was a trifle to the carpet and in nineteen minutes and a half i was at the door what door asked the captain oh a house i know of returned bet it was a public house i cried the clerk only these were not his words and w y did n t you take the carpet there instead of in a i did n t want to a quiet street said the bad form and besides it was a well and what did you do next inquired the captain oh i went in said the old folks asked the captain that s about it said the other a grass night on the beach well i think you are about the poorest and at a cried the clerk it s like children i can tell you there would be more beer and about my little i would go and have a b and s for luck then i would get a big with fur and take my cane and do the la de da down then i would go to a slap up and have green peas and a bottle of and a chop oh and i forgot i d ave some w first and green and ot coffee and some of that form of vice in big bottles with a seal that s the then i d drop into a theatre and on with some and do the dancing rooms and bars and that and wouldn t go ome till morning till d doth appear and the next d y i d ave water am and fresh butter would n t i just oh my the clerk was interrupted by a fresh attack of well now i tell you what i would do said the captain i would have none of your fancy with the man driving from the but a plain fore and aft hack cab of the highest first of all i would bring up at the market and get a turkey and a pig then i d go to a wine merchant s and get a dozen of champagne and a dozen of some sweet wine rich and and strong something in the port or line the best in the the ebb tide store then i d bear up for a toy store and lay out twenty dollars in toys for the and then to a s and take in cakes and and fancy bread and that e with the in it and then to a news agency and buy all the papers all the picture ones for the and all the story papers for the old girl about the earl discovering himself to maria and the escape of the lady from the private and then i d tell the fellow to drive home there ought to be some s n up for the suggested they like yes s for the red at that said the captain and those things they pull at and go pop and have poetry inside and then i tell you we d have a day and christmas tree combined great scott but i would like to see the i guess they would light right out of the house when they saw driving up my little the captain stopped sharply well keep it up said the clerk the damned thing is i don t know if they are n t starving cried the captain they can t be worse off than we are and that s one comfort returned the clerk i defy the devil to make me worse off it seemed as if the devil heard him the light of the moon had been some time cut off and they had talked in darkness now there was heard a night on the beach roar which drew nearer the face of the was seen to and before they had staggered to their feet a burst in rain upon the the rage and volume of that one must have lived in the to conceive a man panted in its assault as he might under a shower bath and the world seemed in night and water they fled groping for their usual shelter it might be almost called their home in the old came into its empty chambers and lay down three of humanity on the cold coral floors and presently when the was the others could hear in the darkness the chattering of the clerk s teeth i say you fellows he for god s sake lie up and try to warm me i m if i don t think i die else so the three crept together into one wet mass and lay until day came shivering and off and continually to wretchedness by the of the clerk chapter ii morning on the beach the three letters x he clouds were all fled the beauty of the day was spread upon and the wall of breaking seas upon the and the palms upon the already trembled in the heat a french man of war was going out that morning homeward bound she lay in the middle	38
i can write more easily to you this is my last farewell to all the last you will ever hear or see of an unworthy friend and son i have failed in life i am quite broken down and disgraced i pass imder a false name you will have to tell my father that with all your kindness it is my own fault i know had i chosen that i might have done well and yet i swear to you i tried to choose i could not bear that you should think i did not try for i loved you all you must never doubt me in that you least of all i have always loved but what was my love worth and what was i worth i had not the manhood of a common clerk i could not work to earn you i have lost you now and for your sake i could be glad of it when you first came to my father s house do you remember those days i want you to you saw the best of me then all that was good in me do you remember the day i took your hand and would not let it go and the day on bridge when we were looking at a and i began to tell one of my silly stories and broke off to say i loved you that was the beginning and now here is the end when you have read this letter you will go round and kiss them all good by my father and mother and the children one by one and poor and tell them all to forget me and forget me yourself turn the key in the door let n thought of me return be done with the poor ghost that pretended he was a man and stole your love scorn of myself in me as i write i should tell you i am well and happy and want for nothing i do not exactly make money or i should the ebb tide send a but i am well cared for have friends live in a beautiful place and climate such as we have dreamed of together and no pity need be wasted on me in such places you understand it is easy to live and live well but often hard to make sixpence in money explain this to my father he will understand i have no more to say only linger going out like an guest god in heaven bless you f think of me at the last here on a bright beach the sky and sea blue and the great roaring outside on a barrier where a little isle sits green with palms i am well and strong it is a more pleasant way to die than if were crowding about me on a sick bed and yet i am dying this is my last kiss forgive forget the unworthy so far he had written his paper was all filled when there returned a memory of evenings at the piano and that song the of love in which so many have found the expression of their dearest thoughts o he added more was not required he knew that in his love s heart the would spring up escorted with fair images and harmony of how all through life her name should tremble in his ears her name be everywhere repeated in the sounds of nature and when death came and he lay dissolved her memory linger and thrill among his elements once o wonder i once from the ashes of my heart arose a blossom and the captain finished their letters about the same time each was breathing deep morning on the beach and their eyes met and were averted as they closed the sorry i write so big said the captain came all of a rush when it did come same here said i could have done with a when i got started but it s long enough for all the good i had to say they were still at the addresses when the clerk strolled up and his envelope like a man well pleased he looked over s shoulder he said you ain t writing ome i am though said she lives with my father oh i see what you mean he added my real name is no more hay they had both used the same no more hay than yours i dare say clean in the middle stump laughed the clerk my name s if you want to know everybody has a false in the pacific lay you five to three the captain as so i have too replied the captain and i ve never told my own since the day i tore the out of my and flung the damned thing into the sea but i u tell it to you boys john is my name i m of the sea you are said and what was she a or a she was the out of replied the captain and for the way i lost her i might as well have bored a hole in her side with an the ebb tide oh you lost her did you said the clerk she was no answer being returned to this sally still over with vanity and conversation struck into another subject i ve a good mind to read you my letter said he i ve a good fist with a pen when i choose and this is a prime lark she was a i ran across in she was a fine piece no end of style and we at first sight like parties in the play i suppose i spent the of a on that girl well i to remember her so i wrote to her and told her ow i had got rich and married a queen in the and lived in a blooming palace such a sight of	38
here my son said the captain this is business and don t you make any mistake about it if you re going to make trouble you can have the old it in your own way and stop right here only get the thing right if and i go we take the beer oh i don t want to my oar in returned i cut right enough give me the you can jaw till you re blue in the face for what i care i don t think it s the friendly touch that s all and he grumbling out of the cell into the staring sun the captain watched him clear of the then turned to what is it asked thickly i tell you said i want to consult you it s a chance we ve got what s that he cried pointing to the music on the wall what said the other oh that it s music it s a phrase of s i was writing up it means destiny knocking at the door does it said the captain rather low and he went near and studied the inscription and this french he asked pointing to the latin oh it just means i should have been if i had died at home returned impatiently what is this business destiny knocking at the door repeated the captain and then looking over his shoulder well mr that s about what it comes to he added what do mean explain yourself said but the captain was again staring at the music the ebb tide about how long ago since you wrote up this he asked what does it matter exclaimed i dare say half an hour my god it s strange cried there s some men would call that accidental not me that and he drew his thick finger under the music that s what i call providence you said we had a chance asked yes sir i said the captain suddenly face to face with his companion i did so if you re the man i take you for we have a chance i don t know what you take me for was the reply you can scarce take me too low shake hands mr said the captain i know you you re a gentleman and a man of spirit i did n t want to speak before that there you see why but to you i it right out i got a ship a ship cried what ship that we saw this morning off the passage the with the hospital flag that s the said she s the hundred and sixty tons register out of for in champagne captain mate and one hand all died of small same as they had round in the i guess captain and mate were the only white men all the hands seems a queer kind of from a christian port three of them left and a the old cook did n t know where they were i can t where they were either if you come to that must have been upon the i guess to sail the course he did however there he was dead and here were the as good as lost they around at sea like the in the wood and tumbled end on upon the here took charge he offered the berth to had never had the and backed down that was when i came in for the letter paper i thought there was something up when the asked me to look in again but i never let on to you fellows so s you d not be disappointed tried m scared of small he tried that and or whatever his name is wouldn t lay a hand on it all too fond of their sweet lives last of all when there wasn t nobody else left to offer it to he offers it to me brown will you ship captain and take her to says he let me choose my own mate and another white hand says i for i don t hold with this crew give us all two months advance to get our clothes and instruments out of and i take stock to night fill up stores and get to sea to morrow before dark i that s what i said that s good enough says the and you can count yourself damned lucky brown says he and he said it pretty appearing too however that s all one now i ship before the the ebb tide mast of course i let him berth aft and i ship you mate at seventy five dollars and two months advance me mate why i m a cried guess you ve got to learn said the captain you don t fancy i m going to and leave you on the beach perhaps i m not that sort old man and you re handy an i ve been with worse god knows i can t refuse said god knows i thank you from my heart that s all right said the captain but it ain t all he turned aside to light a cigar what else is there asked the other with a pang of alarm i m coming to that said and then paused a little see here he began holding out his cigar between his finger and thumb suppose you figure up what this u amount to you don t catch on well we get two months advance we can t get away from our would n t let us go for less it take us along about two months to get to and when we get there i just want to put it to you what the better are we we re o e the beach at least said i guess there s a beach at returned the captain and i tell you one thing mr i don t	38
mean to try no sir will never see me the old speak out plain said plain dutch replied the captain i m going to own that it s nothing new it s done every year in the pacific stole a the other day did n t he and stole vessels all the time and it s the making of the crowd of us see here you think of that cargo champagne i why it s like as if it was put up on purpose in we ll sell that liquor os at the pier head and the after it if we can find a fool to buy her and then light out for the mines if you back me up i stake my life i u carry it through captain said with a voice don t do it i m desperate returned i ve got a chance i may never get another say the word back me up i think we ve starved together long enough for that i can t do it i m sorry i can t do it i ve not fallen as low as that said deadly pale what did you say this morning said that you could n t beg it s the one thing or the other my son ah but this is the jail cried don t tempt me it s the jail did you hear what the said on board that pursued the captain well i tell you he talked straight the french have let us alone a long time it can t last longer they ve the ebb tide got their eye on us and as sure as you live in three weeks you be in jail whatever you do i read it in the s face you forget captain said the young man there is another way i can die and to say truth i think i should have died three years ago the captain folded his arms and looked the other in the face yes said he yes you can cut your throat that s a frozen fact much good may it do you and where do i come in the light of a strange excitement came in s face both of us said he both of us together it s not possible you can enjoy this business come and he reached out a timid hand a few strokes in the and rest i i tell you i m most tempted to answer you the way the man does in the bible and say get thee behind me satan said the captain what you think i would go drown myself and i got children starving enjoy it no by god i do not enjoy it but it s the row i ve got to and i it tiu i drop right here i have three of them you see two boys and the one girl the trouble is that you are not a parent yourself i tell you i love you the man broke out i did n t take to you at first you were so and but i love you now it s a man that loves you stands here and with you i can t go to sea with the alone it s not possible go drown yourself and there goes my last chance the last chance of a poor miserable the old beast earning a crust to feed his family i can t do nothing but sail ships and i ve no papers and here i get a chance and you go back on me ah you ve no family and that s where the trouble is i have indeed said yes i know said the captain you think so but no man s got a family till he s got children it s only the count there s something about the little i can t talk of them and if you thought a cent about this father that i hear you talk of or that sweetheart you were writing to this morning you would feel like me you would say what matter laws and god and that my folks are hard up i belong to them i get them bread or by god i get them wealth if i have to bum down london for it that s what you would say and i tell you more your heart is saying so this living minute i can see it in your face you re thinking here s poor friendship for the man i ve starved along of and as for the girl that i set up to be in love with here s a mighty limp kind of a love that won t carry me as far as most any man would go for a of there s not much r to that love anyway it s not the kind they carry on about in song books but what s the good of my carrying on talking when it s all in your inside as plain as print i put the question to you once for all are you going to desert me in my hour of need you know if i ve deserted you or will you give me your the ebb tide hand and try a fresh deal and go home as like as not a say no and god pity me say yes and i u make the little ones pray for you every night on their knees god bless mr that s what they say one after the other the old girl sitting there holding at the foot of the bed and the damned little he broke off i don t often out about the he said but when i do there s something loose captain said faintly is there nothing else i if you like said the captain with renewed vigor refuse this because you think yourself too honest and before a month	38
s out you be for a thief i give you the word fair i can see it if you can t you re breaking down don t think if you refuse this chance that you go on doing the you re about through with your stock and before you know where you are you be right out on the other side no it s either this for you or else it s i bet you never were there and saw those white shaved men in their dust clothes and straw hats around in in the at they look like wolves and they look like and they look like the sick is a to the best of them well there s your company they re waiting for you and you got to go and that s a prophecy the old and as the man stood and shook through his great stature he seemed indeed like one in whom the spirit of worked and might utter looked at him and looked away it seemed not decent to spy upon such agitation and the young man s courage sank you talk of going home he objected we could never do that we could said the other captain brown could n t nor a mr hay that mate with him could n t but what s that to do with captain or mr you but had these wild islands where he used to call came the next fainter objection we have the wild islands of retorted they were wild enough for no longer than just last year i guess they be wild enough for us and the crew all come i see you re right old man i see you stand by and the captain once more his hand have it your own way then said i do it a strange thing for my father s son but i do it i stand by you man for good or evil god bless you cried the captain and stood silent he added with a smile i believe i d have died in my tracks if you d have said no the ebb tide and looking at the man half believed so also and now we u go break it to the said i wonder how he take it said him jump at it was the reply chapter iv the yellow flag he lay well out in the jaws of the pass where the terrified pilot had made haste to bring her to her and escape seen from the beach through the thin line of shipping two objects stood conspicuous to the little isle on the one hand with its palms and the guns and raised forty years before in defence of queen s capital the outcast upon the other banished to the threshold of the port rolling there to her and the plague flag as she rolled a few sea birds screamed and cried about the ship and within easy range a war guard boat hung off and on and glittered with the weapons of the daylight and the blinding heaven of the picked out and framed the a neat boat by natives in uniform and by the doctor of the port put from shore towards three of the afternoon and pulled for the the were heaped with of flour and potatoes the ebb tide perched among which was dressed as a hand a heap of and cases the action of the and in the stem by the left hand of the doctor sa dressed in a fresh of his brown beard trimmed to a point a pile of paper novels on his lap and nursing the while between his feet a for which they had exchanged that of the long since run down and the rate lost they passed the guard boat exchanging with the s mate in charge and drew near at last to the forbidden ship not a cat stirred there was no speech of man and the sea being exceedingly high outside and the close to where the lay the of the surf hung round her like the sound of battle la i sang out the doctor with his best voice instantly from the house where they had been away stores first and then the crew made their appearance hay that you said the captain leaning on the rail tell the old man to lay her alongside as if she was eggs there s a hell of a run of sea here and his boat s the movement of the was at that time more than usually violent now she heaved her side as high as a deep sea steamer s and showed the flashing of her copper now she swung toward the boat until her the yellow flag i hope you have sea legs observed the doctor you will require them indeed to board the in that exposed position where she lay was an affair of some dexterity the less precious goods were hoisted roughly in the after repeated failures passed gently and successfully from hand to hand and there remained only the more difficult business of even that piece of dead weight a b at eighteen dollars and described by the captain to the as an invaluable man was at last hauled on board without and the doctor with civil took his leave the three co looked at each other and heaved a breath of relief now let s get this fixed said he and led the way into the house it was a fairly spacious place two and a opened from the main cabin the bulk heads were painted white the floor laid with wax cloth no litter no sign of life remained for the effects of the dead men had been and conveyed on shore only on the table in a some burned and the set them as they entered the captain peered into the where the still lay tumbled in the the blanket flung back	38
as they had flung it back from the corpse before its burial now i told those to tumble that the ebb tide overboard grumbled guess they were afraid to lay hands on it well they ve the place out that s as much as can be expected i suppose lay on to these blankets see you blooming well far enough first said drawing back what s that snapped the captain i ll tell you my young friend i think you make a mistake i m captain here fat lot i care returned the clerk that so said then you ll berth forward with the walk right out of this cabin oh i said see any green in my eye a lark s a lark well now i explain this business and you see once for all just precisely how much lark there is to it said i m captain and i m going to be it one thing of three first you take my orders here as cabin steward in which case you mess with us or second you refuse and i pack you forward and you get as quick as the word s said or third and last i ll signal that man of war and send you ashore under arrest for and of course i would n t blow the e oh no replied the and who s to believe you my son inquired the captain no sir i there ain t no lark about my enough said up with these blankets the yellow flag was no fool he knew when he was beaten and he was no coward either for he stepped to the took the bed clothes fairly in his arms and carried them out of the house without a check or tremor i was waiting for the chance said to i need n t do the same with you because you understand it for yourself are you going to berth here asked following the captain into the where he began to the in its place at the bed head not much replied he i guess i berth on deck i don t know as i m afraid but i ve no immediate use for small i don t know that i m afraid either said but the thought of those two men sticks in my throat that captain and mate dying here one opposite to the other it s grim i wonder what they said last and said the captain probably mighty small potatoes that s the thing a fellow figures out for himself one way and the real business goes quite another perhaps said here old man fetch up the gin i m feeling powerful rocky and perhaps said oh hell well that s grim enough said and so it is said there there s that fixed and now it s about time to up anchor and clear the ebb tide he lit a cigar and stepped on deck here you what s your name he cried to one of the hands a lean ti built fellow from some far western island and of a darkness almost approaching to the african sally day replied the man devil it is said the captain did n t know we had ladies on board well sally oblige me by down that rag there i do the same for you another time he watched the yellow as it was past the cross trees and handed down on deck you float no more on this ship he observed muster the people aft mr hay he added speaking loud i ve a word to say to them it was with a singular sensation that prepared for the first time to address a crew he thanked his stars indeed that they were natives but even natives he reflected might be critics too quick for such a as himself they might perceive some lapse from that precise and cut and dry english which on board a ship it was even possible they understood no other and he his brain and his reminiscences of sea romance for some appropriate words here men aft he said at last lively now all hands aft they crowded in the like sheep here they are sir said for some time the captain continued to face the stem then turned with ferocious suddenness on the crew and seemed to enjoy their shrinking the yellow flag now he said twisting his cigar in his mouth and with the of the wheel i m captain i command this ship this is mr hay first officer the other white man is cabin steward but he stand watch and do his trick my orders shall be obeyed you f there shall be no growling about the which will be above allowance you put a handle to the mate s name and tack on sir to every order i give you if you re smart and quick i ll make this ship comfortable for all hands he took the cigar out of his mouth if you re not he added in a roaring voice i u make it a floating hell now mr hay we pick watches if you please all right said you will please use sir when you address me mr hay said the captain i u take the lady step to sally and then he whispered in s ear take the old man i take you there said what s your name said the captain what s that you say oh that s not english have none of highway on my ship we ll call you old uncle ned because you ve got no wool on the top of your head just the place where the wool ought to grow step to port uncle don t you hear mr hay has picked you then i take the white man white man step to now which of you two is the cook you then mr o the ebb tide	38
hay takes your friend in the blue step to port there we know who we all are uncle ned sally day white man and cook all f f v s i guess and now mr hay we up anchor if you please for heaven s sake tell me some of the words whispered an hour later the was under all plain sail the hard a port and the cheerfully had brought the anchor home all clear sir cried from the bow the captain met her with the wheel as she bounded like a from her repose trembling and bending to the the guard boat gave a parting hail the wake and ran out the was under way her berth had been close to the pass even as she ahead her for the channel between the pier ends of the the sounding and to either hand straight through the narrow band of blue she shot to and the captain s heart as he felt her tremble under foot and looking back over the beheld the roofs of changing position on the shore and the island mountains higher in the wake but they were not yet done with the shore and the horror of the yellow flag about of the pass there was a cry and a a man was seen to leap upon the rail and throwing his arms over his head to stoop and plunge into the sea the yellow flag l steady as she goes the captain cried the wheel to the next moment he was forward in the midst of the pin in hand anybody else for shore he cried and the savage of his voice no less than the ready weapon in his hand struck fear in all they stared after their escaped companion whose black head was visible upon the water for the land and the meanwhile slipped like a through the pass and met the long sea of the open ocean with a of spray fool that i was not to have a pistol ready exclaimed well we go to sea we can t help that you have a lame watch of it mr hay i don t see how we are to get along said got to said the captain no more for me both turned instinctively and looked the fair island was mountain top on mountain top on the port board lifted her and still the to the open sea think cried the captain with a gesture yesterday morning i danced for my breakfast like a dog chapter v the cargo op champagne he ship s head was laid to clear to the north and the captain sat down in the cabin with a a ruler and an east a half no the said he raising his face from his labors mr hay you have to watch her dead reckoning i want every yard she makes on every hair s breadth of a course i m going to knock a hole right straight through the and that s always a near touch now if this trade ever blew out of the which it don t we might hope to lie within half a point of our course say we lie within a point of it that ll just about weather yes sir that s what we ve got to do if we tack for it brings us through this of little islands in the place see and he showed where his ruler the wide lying of the dangerous i wish it was night and i could put her about right now we re losing time and well we do our best and if we don t fetch we bring up to all one i guess dollars down and the cargo op champagne no questions asked a remarkable fine the south american don was already some way the rising from among broken mountains was ah close aboard and stood black and strange against the golden splendor of the west when the captain took his departure from the two islands and the patent log was set some twenty minutes later sally day who was continually leaving the wheel to peer in at the cabin clock announced in a shrill cry fo bell and the cook was to be seen carrying the soup into the cabin i guess i sit down and have a pick with you said to by the time i ve done it be dark and we clap the on the wind for south america in the cabin at one comer of the table immediately below the lamp and on the lee side of a bottle of champagne sat what s this where did that come from asked the captain it s and it came from the after old if you want to know said and drained his this never do i exclaimed the merchant seaman s horror of breaking into cargo showing forth on board that stolen ship there was never any good came of games like that you said a fellow would the ebb tide think to ear him we were on the square and look ere you ve put this job up for me ave n t you i m to go on deck and steer while you two sit and and i m to go by a and got to call you sir and well you look here my i u have ad or it won t wash i tell you that and you know mighty well you ain t got any man of war to signal now was staggered i d give fifty dollars this had never happened he said weakly well it aj you see returned try some it s devilish good the was crossed without another struggle the captain filled a and drank i wish it was beer he said with a sigh but there s no denying it s the genuine and cheap at the money now you clear out and take your	38
wheel the little wretch had gained a point and he was gay ay ay sir said he and left the others to their meal soup exclaimed the captain blamed if i thought i should taste soup again sat and silent it was impossible after these months of hopeless want to smell the rough high sea without lust and his mouth watered with desire of the champagne it was no less impossible to have assisted at the scene between and the captain and not to perceive with sudden the gulf wherein the cargo of champagne he had fallen he was a thief among thieves he said it to himself he could not touch the soup if he had moved at all it must have been to leave the table throw himself overboard and drown an honest man here said the captain you look sick old man have a drop of this the champagne and in the its bright color its lively seized his eye it is too late to hesitate he thought his hand took the instinctively he drank with pleasure and desire of more drained the vessel dry and set it down with sparkling eyes there is something in life after all he cried i had forgot what it was like yes even this is worth while wine food dry clothes why they re worth dying worth hanging captain tell me one thing why are n t all the poor folk foot give it up said the captain they must be damned good cried there s something here beyond me think of that suppose we were sent suddenly back he shuddered as though stung by a and buried his face in his clutching hands here what s wrong with you cried the captain there was no reply only s shoulders heaved so that the table was shaken take some more of this here drink this i order you to don t start crying when you re out of the wood the ebb tide i m not crying said raising his face and showing his dry eyes it s worse than crying it s the horror of that grave that we ve escaped from come now you tackle your soup that tl fix you said kindly i told you you were all broken up you could n t have stood out another week that s the dreadful part of it cried another week and i d have murdered some one for a dollar god and i know that and i m still living it s some dream quietly quietly quietly does it my son take your soup food that s what you want said the soup strengthened and s nerves another glass of wine and a piece of pork and completed what the soup began and he was able once more to look the captain in the face i did n t know i was so much run down he said well said you were as steady as a rock all day now you ve had a little lunch you be as steady as a rock again yes was the reply i m steady enough now but i m a queer kind of a first officer cried the captain you ve only got to mind the ship s course and keep your slate to half a point a could do that let alone a college like you there ain t nothing the cargo of to when you come to look it in the face and now we u go and put her about bring the slate we have to start our dead reckoning right away the distance run since the departure was read o e the log by the light and entered on the slate ready about said the captain give me the wheel white man and you stand by the boom tackle mr hay please and then you can jump forward and attend head sails ay ay sir responded all clear forward asked au clear sir hard a lee cried the captain haul in your slack as she comes he called to haul in your slack put your back into it keep your feet out of the a sudden blow sent flat along the deck and the captain was in his place pick yourself up and keep the wheel hard over he roared you wooden fool you wanted to get killed i guess draw the he cried a moment later and then to give me the wheel again and see if you can that sheet but stood and looked at with an evil countenance do you know you struck me said he do you know i saved your life returned the other not to look at him his eyes travelling instead between the compass and the sails the ebb tide where would you have been if that boom had swung out and you in the slack no we have no more of you at the towns are full of men they hop upon one leg my son what s left of them and the rest are dead set your boom tackle mr hay struck you did i lucky for you i did well said slowly i there may be in that there is he turned his back on the captain and entered the house where the speedy explosion of a champagne cork showed he was attending to his comfort came aft to the captain how is she doing now he asked east and by no the a half no the said it s about as good as i expected what the hands think of it said oh they don t think they ain t paid to said the captain there was something wrong was there not between you and paused that s a nasty little beast that s a replied the captain shaking his head but so long as you and me hang in it don t matter lay down in the weather the	38
night was the movement of the ship him he was oppressed besides by the first generous meal after so long a time of famine and he was recalled from deep sleep by the voice of singing out eight bells the cargo of champagne he rose and staggered aft where the captain gave him the wheel by the wind said the captain it comes a little when you get a heavy puff steal all you can to but keep her a good full he stepped towards the house paused and hailed the got such a thing as a forward said he bully for you uncle ned fetch it aft will you the very easy and watching the moon sails was overpowered by a sharp report from the cabin startled him a third bottle had been opened and remembered the sea and fourteen island group presently the notes of the sounded and then the captain s voice o honey with our pockets full of money we will trip trip trip we will trip it on the and i will dance with and tom will dance with sail when we re all back from south so it went to its quaint air and the watch below lingered and listened by the forward door and uncle ned was to be seen in the moonlight nodding time and smiled at the wheel his anxieties awhile forgotten song followed song another cork exploded there were voices raised as though the pair in the cabin were in and presently it seemed the breach was healed for it was now the voice of that struck up to the captain s accompaniment the ebb tide up in a boys up in a up among the little stars all around the moon a wave of overcame at the wheel he wondered why the air the words which were yet written with a certain and the voice and accent of the singer should all jar his spirit like a file on a man s teeth he at the thought of his two comrades drinking away their reason upon stolen wine quarrelling and and making up while the doors of a prison yawned for them in the near future shall i have sold my honor for nothing he thought and a heat of rage and resolution glowed in his bosom rage against his comrades resolution to carry through this business if it might be carried pluck profit out of shame since the shame at least was now inevitable and come home home from south america how did the song go with his pockets full of money o honey with our pockets full of money we will trip trip trip we will trip it on the so the words ran in his head and the honey took on visible form the rose before him and he knew it for the and he saw the lights of bridge the sullen river all through the remainder of his trick he stood the past he had been always true to his love but not always the cargo of champagne to recall her in the growing calamity of his life she had more distant like the moon in mist the letter of farewell the hope that had surprised and him in his distress the changed scene the sea the night and the music all stirred him to the roots of manhood i will win her he thought and ground his teeth fair or foul what matters if i win her fo bell i think um fo bell he was suddenly recalled by these words in the voice of uncle ned look in at the clock uncle said he he would not look himself from horror of the him past repeated the so much the better for you uncle he replied and he gave up the wheel repeating the directions as he had received them he took two steps forward and remembered his dead reckoning how has she been heading he thought and he flushed from head to foot he had not observed or had forgotten here was the old the slate must be filled up by guess never again he vowed to himself in silent fury never again it shall be no fault of mine if this and for the remainder of his watch he stood close by uncle ned and read the face of the compass as perhaps he had never read a letter from his sweetheart all the time and him to the more the ebb tide attention song loud talk laughter and the occasional of a cork reached his ears from the interior of the house and when the port watch was relieved at midnight and the captain appeared upon the quarter deck with flushed faces and steps the former laden with bottles the latter with the two tin silently passed them by they hailed him in thick voices he made no answer they cursed him for a he paid no heed although his belly quivered with disgust and rage he closed to the door of the house behind him and cast himself on a in the cabin not to sleep he thought rather to think and to despair yet he had scarce turned twice on his uneasy bed before a drunken voice hailed him in the ear and he must go on deck again to stand the morning watch the first evening set the model for those that were to follow two cases of champagne scarce lasted the four and twenty hours and almost the whole was drunk by and the captain seemed to on the excess he was never sober yet never wholly the food and the sea air had soon healed him of his disease and he began to lay on flesh but with things went worse in the drooping figure that all day upon the and reading novels in the fool who made of the evening watch a public on the quarter deck	38
it would have been hard to recognize the vigorous seaman of roads he kept himself the cargo of champagne well in hand till he had taken the sun and yawned and blotted through his calculations but from the moment he rolled up the his hours were passed in self indulgence or in slumber every other branch of his duty was neglected except maintaining a stem discipline about the dinner table again and again would hear the cook called aft and see him running with fresh or carrying away again a meal that had been totally condemned and the more the captain became sunk in the more delicate his showed itself once in the he had a bo sun s chair over the rail stripped to his trousers and went overboard with a pot of paint i don t like the way this s painted said he and i take a turn upon her name but he tired of it in half an hour and the went on her way with an patch of color on the stern and the word part and part looking through he refused to stand either the middle or the morning watch it was fine weather sailing he said and asked with a laugh who ever heard of the old man standing watch himself to the dead reckoning which still tried to keep he would pay not the least attention nor afford the least assistance what do we want of dead reckoning he asked we get the sun all right don t we we t get it always though objected and you told me yourself you were n t sure of the the ebb tide oh there ain t no flies on the cried oblige me so far captain said stiffly i am anxious to keep this reckoning which is a part of my duty i do not know what to allow for current nor how to allow for it i am too inexperienced and i beg of you to help me never zealous officer said the captain the again for had taken him over his day s work and while he was still partly sober here it is look for yourself an from the west no the west and from five to twenty five miles that s what the a m says i guess you don t expect to get ahead of your own i am trying to do my duty captain brown said with a dark flush and i have the honor to inform you that i don t enjoy being with what in thunder do you want roared go and look at the blamed wake if you re trying to do your duty why don t you go and do it i guess it s no business of mine to go and stick my head over the ship s i guess it s yours and i ll tell you what it is my fine fellow i ll trouble you not to come the over me you re insolent that s what s wrong with you don t you crowd me mr tore up his papers threw them on the floor and left the cabin he s turned a ain t he sneered the cargo of champagne he thinks himself too good for his company that s what raged the captain he thinks i don t understand when he comes the heavy swell won t sit down with us won t he won t say a civil word i serve the son of a gun as he deserves by god i show him whether he s too good for john easy with the names cap said who was always the more sober easy over the stones my boy all right i will you re a good sort i didn t take to you at first but i guess you re right enough le s open another bottle said the captain and that day perhaps because he was excited by the quarrel he drank more and by four o clock was stretched insensible upon the and alone one after the other opposite his flushed and body and if the sight killed s hunger the weighed so heavily on the clerk s spirit that he was scarce risen from table ere he was favor with his former comrade was at the wheel when he approached and leaned across the i say old he said you and me don t seem to be such somehow gave her a spoke or two in silence his eye as it skirted from the needle to the of the passed the man by without speculation but was really dull a thing he could sup js the ebb tide port with difficulty having no resources of his own the idea of a private talk with at this stage of their relations held out particular to a person of his character drink besides as it renders some men sensitive made and it would almost have required a blow to make him quit his purpose pretty business ain t it he continued on the must say i thought you gave it im a one to day he didn t like it a bit took on after you were gone ere says i old on easy on the i says was right and you know it give im a i says don t you no more of your jaw or i knock your eyes out well can i do but i tell you i don t like it it looks to me like the sea over again still was silent do you ear me speak asked sharply you re pleasant ain t you stand away from that said the clerk looked at him long and straight and black his figure seemed to like that of a snake about to strike then he turned on his heel went back to the cabin and opened a bottle of champagne when eight bells were cried	38
he slept on the floor beside the captain on the and of the whole watch only sally day appeared upon the summons the mate proposed to stand the watch with him and let uncle ned lie the cargo of champagne down it would make twelve hours on deck and probably sixteen but in this fair weather sailing he might safely sleep between his tricks of wheel leaving orders to be called on any sign of so far he could trust the men between whom and himself a close relation had sprung up with uncle ned he held long conversations and the old man told him his simple and hard story of exile suffering and injustice among cruel the cook when he found alone produced for him unexpected and sometimes of which he forced himself to eat and one day when he was forward he was surprised to feel a caressing hand run down his shoulder and to hear the voice of sally day in his ear you man he turned and choking down a sob shook hands with the they were kindly cheery childish souls upon the sunday each brought forth his separate bible for they were all men of alien speech even to each other and sally day communicated with his mates in english only each read or made believe to read his chapter uncle ned with spectacles on nose and they would all join together in the singing of missionary hymns it was thus a cutting reproof to compare the and the aboard the shame ran in s blood to remember what employment he was on and to see these poor souls and even sally day the child of in all a himself so faithful to what they knew of the ebb tide good the fact that he was held in grateful favor by these served like to his conscience and there were times when he was inclined with sally day to call himself a good man but the height of his favor was only now to appear with one voice the crew protested ere knew what they were doing the cook was aroused and came a willing all hands clustered about their mate with and caresses and he was to lie down and take his customary rest without alarm he tell you said uncle ned you sleep man he do all light man he like you too much struggled choked upon some trivial words of gratitude and walked to the side of the house against which he leaned struggling with emotion uncle ned presently followed him and begged him to lie down it s no use uncle ned he replied i could n t sleep i m knocked over with all your goodness ah no call me uncle ned no mo cried the old man no my name my name all e same king of for he call that i think no nothing all e same wise a it was the first time the name of the late captain had been mentioned and grasped the occasion the reader shall be spared uncle ned s the cargo of champagne dialect and learn in less embarrassing english the sum of what he now communicated the ship had scarce cleared the golden gate before the captain and mate had entered on a career of which was scarcely interrupted by their malady and only closed by death for days and weeks they had encountered neither land nor ship and seeing themselves lost on the huge deep with their insane the natives had drunk deep of terror at length they made a low island and went in and and landed in the boat there was a great village a very fine village and plenty in that place but all mighty serious and from every here and there in the back parts of the settlement heard the sounds of island i no talk that island said he i hear um i think hum too many people die here but upon and the significance of that was lost full of bread and drink they along embraced the girls who had scarce energy to them took up and joined with drunken voices in the death wail and at last on what they took to be an invitation entered under the roof of a house in which was a considerable of people sitting silent they stooped below the flushed and laughing within a minute they came forth again with changed faces and silenced tongues and as the press severed to make way for o the ebb tide them was able to perceive in the deep shadow of the house the sick man raising from his mat a head already by disease the two tragic fled without hesitation for their boat screaming on to make haste they came aboard with all speed of oars raised anchor and crowded sail upon the ship with blows and curses and were at sea again and again drunk before sunset a week after and the last of the two had been committed to the deep asked where that island was and he replied that by what he gathered of folks talk as they went up together from the beach he supposed it must be one of the this was in itself probable enough for the dangerous had been swept that year from east to west by small but thought it a strange course to lie for then he remembered the drink were they not surprised when they made the island he asked wise a he say dam what this was the reply oh that s it then said i don t believe they knew where they were i so too said uncle ned i no this one mo he added pointing to the house where the drunken captain take a sun all e same the implied last touch completed s picture of the life and death of his two the cargo op champagne	38
l of their prolonged sordid as they sailed they knew not whither on their last he held but a twinkling and belief in any future state the thought of one of punishment he yet for him as for all there dwelt a horror about the end of the man sickness fell upon him at the image thus called up and when he compared it with the scene in which himself was acting and considered the doom that seemed to brood upon the a horror that was almost superstitious fell upon him and yet the strange thing was he did not he who had proved his in so many fields being now placed amid duties which he did not understand without help and it might be said without countenance had hitherto surpassed expectation and even the shameful and shocking of that night served but to nerve and strengthen him he had sold his honor he vowed it should not be in vain it shall be no fault of mine if this he repeated and in his heart he wondered at himself living rage no doubt supported him no doubt also the sense of the last cast of the ships burned of all doors closed but one which is so strong a to the merely weak and so deadly a to the merely cowardly for some time the voyage went otherwise well they with one board and the wind holding well to the southward and blowing fresh they passed between and the ebb tide and ran some days by east half east under the lee of and neither of which they made in about fourteen south and between one hundred and thirty four and one hundred and thirty five west it fell a dead calm with rather a heavy sea the captain refused to take in sail the was lashed no watch was set and the rolled and for three days according to observation in almost the same place the fourth morning a little before day a breeze sprang up and rapidly the captain had drunk hard the night before he was far from sober when he was roused and when he came on deck for the first time at half past eight it was plain he had already drunk deep again at breakfast avoided his eye and resigned the deck with indignation to a man more than half seas over by the loud commands of the captain and the singing out of fellows at the ropes he could judge from the house that sail was being crowded on the ship his breakfast and came on deck again to find the main and the set and both watches and the cook turned out to hand the stay sail the lay already far over the sky was obscured with misty and from the an ominous came up and as it rose fear thrilled in s he saw death hard by and if not death sure ruin for if the lived through the coming she the cargo of champagne must surely be with that their enterprise was at an end and they themselves bound prisoners to the very evidence of their crime the greatness of the peril and his own alarm to silence him pride wrath and shame raged without issue in his mind and he shut his teeth and folded his arms close the captain sat in the boat to orders and his eyes glazed his face deeply a bottle set between his knees a glass in his hand half empty his back was to the and he was at first intent upon the setting of the sail when that was done and the great of canvas had begun to draw and to trail the lee rail of the level with the foam he laughed out an empty laugh drained his glass back among the lumber in the boat and fetched out a novel watched him and his indignation glowed red hot he glanced to where the already the near sea and already its coming with a singular and dismal sound he glanced at the and saw him clinging to the with a face of a sickly blue he saw the crew were to their stations without orders and it seemed as if something broke in his brain and the passion of anger so long restrained so long eaten in secret burst suddenly loose and filled and shook him like a sail he stepped across to the captain and smote his hand heavily on the s shoulder the ebb tide you brute he said in a voice that look behind you s that cried bounding in the boat and the champagne you lost the sea because you were a drunken said now you re going to lose the you re going to drown here the same way as you drowned others and be damned and your daughter shall walk the streets and your sons be thieves like their father for the moment the words struck the captain white and foolish my god he cried looking at as upon a ghost my god look behind you then the the wretched man already partly did as he was told and in the same breath of time leaped to his feet down he the hands were thrilling for the order and the great sail came with a run and fell half overboard among the racing foam let the stays l be he said again but before it was well uttered the shouted aloud and fell in a solid mass of wind and rain on the and she stooped under the blow and lay like a thing dead from the mind of reason fled he clung in the weather he was done with life and he in the release he in the wild noises of the wind and the choking of the rain he to die so and now amid the cargo of champagne this of the elements and meanwhile in the waist up to his knees	38
in water so low the lay the captain was at the with a pocket knife it was a question of seconds for the drank deep of the seas but the hand of the captain had the advance the boom tore apart the last of the sheet and to the leaped up into the wind and and the peak and throat which had long been let go began to run at the same instant for some ten minutes more she under the impulse of the but the captain was now master of himself and of his ship and all danger at an end and then sudden as a trick change upon the stage the blew by the wind dropped into light airs the sun beamed forth again upon the tattered and the captain having secured the boom and set a couple of hands to the pump walked aft sober a little pale and with the end of a cigar still stuck between his teeth even as the had found it followed him he could scarce recall the violence of his late emotions but he felt there was a scene to go through and he was anxious and even eager to go through with it the captain turning at the house end met him face to face and averted his eyes we ve lost the two tops and the stays l he good business we didn t lose any sticks i guess you think we re all the better without the thb ebb tide that s not what i m thinking said in a voice strangely quiet that yet echoed confusion in the captain s mind i know that he cried holding up his hand i know what you re thinking no use to say it now i m sober i have to say it though returned hold on you ve said enough said you ve said what i would take from no man breathing but yourself only i know it s true i have to tell you captain brown pursued that i resign my position as mate you can put me in irons or shoot me as you please i will make no resistance only i decline in any way to help or to obey you and i suggest you should put mr in my place he will make a worthy first officer to your captain sir he smiled bowed and turned to walk forward where are you going cried the captain him by the shoulder to berth forward with the men sir replied with the same hateful smile i ve been long enough aft here with you gentlemen you re wrong there said don t you be too quick with me there ain t nothing wrong but the drink it s the old story man let me get sober once and then you see he pleaded excuse me i desire to see no more of you said the captain groaned aloud you know what you said about my children he broke out the cargo of champagne by in case you wish me to say it to you again asked don t cried the captain clapping his hands to his ears don t make me kill a man i care for if you see me put a glass to my lips again till we re ashore i give you leave to put a bullet through me i beg you to do it you re the only man aboard whose is worth losing do you think i don t know that do you think i ever went back on you i always knew that you were in the right of it drunk or sober i knew that what do you want an oath man you re clever enough to see that this is earnest do you mean there shall be no more drinking asked neither by you nor that you won t go on stealing my profits and drinking my champagne that i gave my honor for and that you attend to your duties and stand watch and watch and bear your proper share of the ship s work instead of leaving it all on the shoulders of a and making yourself the butt and of native is that what you mean if it is be so good as to say it you put these things in a way hard for a gentleman to swallow said the captain you would n t have me say i was ashamed of myself trust me this once i do the square thing and there s my hand on it well i u try it once said fail me again the ebb tide no more now interrupted no more old man enough said you ve a tongue when your back s up just be glad we ve friends again the same as what i am and go tender on the i u see as you don t repent it we ve been mighty near death this day don t say whose fault it was pretty near hell too i guess we re in a mighty bad line of life us two and ought to go easy with each other he was yet it seemed as if he were with some design beating about the bush of some communication that he feared to make or perhaps only talking against time in terror of what might say next but had now his his was a kindly nature and content with his triumph he had now begun to pity with a few soothing words he sought to conclude the interview and proposed that they should change their clothes not right yet said there s another thing i want to tell you first you know what you said about my children i want to tell you why it hit me so hard i kind of think you u feel bad about it too it s about my little you hadn t	38
ought to have quite said that but of course i know you didn t know she she s dead you see why cried you ve told me a dozen times she was alive clear your head man this must be the drink the cargo of champagne no sir said she s dead right enough died of a complaint that was when i was away in the she lies in only daughter of captain john and his wife aged five i had a doll for her on board i never took the paper n that doll it went down the way it was with the sea that day i was damned the captain s eyes were fixed on the horizon he talked with an extraordinary softness but a complete composure and looked upon him with something that was almost terror don t think i m crazy neither resumed i ve all the cold sense that i know what to do with but i guess a man that s unhappy s like a child and this is a kind of a child s game of mine i never could act up to the truth you see so i pretend and i warn you square as soon as we re through with this talk i start in again with the pretending only you see she can t walk no streets added the captain couldn t even make out to live and get that laid a tremulous hand upon the captain s shoulder don t do that cried from the touch can t you see i m all broken up the way it is come along then come along old man you can put trust in me right through come along and get dry clothes the ebb tide they entered the cabin and there was on his knees open a case of champagne vast there cried the captain no more of that no more drinking on this ship turned ave you inquired i m agreeable about time eh nearly lost another ship i fancy he took out a bottle and began calmly to burst the wire with the of a do you hear me speak cried i suppose i do you speak loud enough said the trouble is that i don t care plucked the captain s sleeve let him be now said he we ve had all we want this evening let him have it then said the captain it s his last by this time the wire was open the string was cut the head of gilded paper was torn away and waited in hand expecting the usual explosion it did not follow he the cork with his thumb still there was no result at last he took the screw and drew it it came out very easy and with scarce a sound said ere s a bad bottle he poured some of the wine into the it was and still he smelt and tasted it w y s this he said it s water if the voice of trumpets had suddenly sounded about the ship in the midst of the sea the three men in the house could scarce have been more the cargo op champagne stunned than by this the passed round each each smelt of it each stared at the bottle in its glory of gold paper as may have stared at the and their minds were swift to fix upon a common apprehension the between a bottle of champagne and a bottle of water is not great between a of one or of the other lay the whole from riches to ruin a second bottle was there were two cases standing ready in a these two were brought out broken open and tested still with the same result the contents were still and and dead as the rain in a fishing boat said here let s the hold said the captain his brow with a back handed sweep and the three stalked out of the house grim and all hands were turned out two were sent below another stationed at a purchase and axe in hand took his place beside the are you going to let the men know whispered damn the men said it s beyond that we ve got to know ourselves three cases were sent on deck and in turn from each bottle as the captain smashed it with the axe the champagne ran and the ebb tide go deeper can t you cried to the in the hold the command gave the signal for a disastrous change case after case came up bottle after bottle was burst and mere water deeper yet and they came upon a where there was scarcely so much as the intention to deceive where the cases were no longer the bottles no longer or where the fraud was manifest and stared them in the face here s about enough of this i said back the cases in the hold uncle and get the broken overboard come with me he added to his co and led the way back into the cabin chapter vi the partners took a side of the fixed table it was the first time they had sat down at it together but now ail sense of all memory of differences was quite swept away by the presence of common ruin gentlemen said the captain after a pause and with very much the air of a opening a board meeting we re sold broke out in laughter well if this ain t the old he cried and ere who thought he had got up so early in the we ve stolen a cargo of spring water oh my and he with mirth the captain managed to screw out a phantom smile here s old man destiny again said he to but this time i guess he s kicked the door right in only shook his head oh lord it s rich	38
laughed it would really be a lark if it ad ap to somebody else and are we to do the ebb tide next oh my eye with this too that s the trouble said there s only one thing certain it s no use this old glass and to no sir we re in a hole oh my and the merchant cried the man that made this he get the news by the mail and he ll think of course we re making straight for yes he ll be a sick merchant said the captain one thing this explains the crew if you re going to lose a ship i would ask no better myself than a crew but there s one thing it don t explain it don t explain why she came down ways w y to lose her you said a lot you know said the captain nobody wants to lose a they want to lose her on her course you you seem to think have n t got enough sense to come in out of the rain well said i can tell you i am afraid why she came so far to the eastward i had it of uncle ned it seems these two unhappy devils and were drunk on the champagne from the beginning and died drunk at the end the captain looked on the table they lay in their two or sat here in this damned house he pursued with rising agitation the partners filling their skins with the accursed stuff till sickness took them as they and the fever rose they drank the more they lay here howling and groaning drunk and dying all in one they didn t know where they were they didn t care they did n t even take the sun it seems not take the sun cried the captain looking up sacred what a crowd well it don t matter to joe said are and the t other to us a good deal too said the captain we re their i guess it is a great inheritance said well i don t know about that returned appears to me as if it might be worse t ain t what the cargo would have been of course at least not money down but i tell you what it appears to figure up to appears to me as if it amounted to about the bottom dollar of the man in old on said give a fellow time ow s this well my sons pursued the captain who seemed to have recovered his assurance and were to be paid for casting away this old and its cargo we re going to cast away the right enough and i make it my private business to see that we get paid what were w and w to get that s more n i can tell but w and w went into this business themselves they were on the now the ebb tide on the square we only stumbled into it and that merchant has just got to and i m the man to see that he good no sir there s some to this after all go it cap cried old ard there s your style for the money blow me if i don t prefer this to the bother i do not understand said i have to ask you to excuse me i do not understand well now see here said i m going to have a word with you any way upon a matter and it s good that should hear it too we re done with this business and we ask your pardon for it right here and now we have to thank you for all you did for us while we were making of ourselves you find me turn to all right in future and as for the wine which i grant we stole from you i take stock and see you paid for it that s good enough i believe but what i want to point out to you is this the old game was a game the new game s as safe as running a we just put this before the wind and run till we re well to of our port of departure and reasonably well up with some other place where they have an american down goes the and good by to her a day or so in the boat the us home at uncle sam s expense to and the partners if that merchant don t put the dollars down you come to me but i thought began and then broke out oh let s get on to well if you re going to for your health i won t say no replied the captain but for what other blame shadow of a reason you should want to go there gets me clear we don t want to go there with this cargo i don t know as old bottles is a lively article i go my bottom cent it ain t in it was always a doubt if we could sell the i never rightly hoped to and now i m sure she ain t worth a hill of beans what s wrong with her i don t know i only know it s something or she would n t be here with this in her inside then again if we lose her and land in where are we we can t declare the loss or how did we get to in that case the merchant can t touch the most likely he go bust and don t you think you see the three of us on the beach of there s no there said well my son and we want to be said the captain what s our point we want to have a us as far as san and that merchant s office door my idea is that would	38
be found an eligible business centre it s dead before the wind the states have a there and call so s we could right back and interview the merchant the ebb tide said it will take us forever to get there oh with a fair wind said the captain no trouble about the log eh asked no j v said light airs and winds and d r five miles no attended and fill in the and off of last year s trip never saw such a voyage says you to the thought i was going to run short he stopped in mid career say he began again and once more stopped beg your pardon he added with humility but did you keep the run of the stores had i been told to do so it should have been done as the rest was done to the best of my little ability said as it was the cook helped himself to what he pleased looked at the table i drew it rather fine you see he said at last the great thing was to clear right out of before the could think better of it tell you what i guess i take stock and he rose from the table and disappeared with a lamp in the ere s another screw loose observed my man said with a sudden gleam of it is still your watch on deck and surely your wheel also you come the swell don t you said stand away from that surely your w my man i the partners he lit a cigar and strolled into the waist with his hands in his pockets in a short time the captain reappeared he did not look at but called back and sat down well he began i ve taken stock roughly he paused as if for somebody to help him out and none doing so both gazing on him instead with manifest anxiety he yet more heavily resumed well it won t fight we can t do it that s the bed rock i m as sorry as what you can be and but the game s up we can t look near i don t know as we could get to mean asked i can t most tell myself replied the captain i drew it fine i said i did but what s been going on here gets me appears as if the devil had been around that cook must be the kind of a fraud only twelve days too i seems like i ll own up square to one thing i seem to have figured too fine upon the flour but the rest my land i i never understand it there s been more waste on this two penny ship than what there is to an atlantic he stole a glance at his companions nothing good was to be from their dark faces and he had recourse to rage you wait until i interview that cook he roared and smote the table with his fist i interview the son of a gun as he s never been spoken to before i ll put a bead upon the i loo the ebb tide you will not lay a finger on the man said the fault is yours and you know it if you turn a savage loose in your store room you know what to expect i will not allow the man to be it is hard to say how might have taken this defiance but he was diverted to a fresh well you re a captain ain t you you re a blooming captain don t you set up any of your chat to me john i know you now you ain t any more use than a oh you don t know don t you oh it gets you do it oh i w y weren t you for fresh every blessed day ow often ave i you send the dinner o e and tell the man to it in the tub and breakfast oh my breakfast for ten and you for more and now you can t most tell blow me if it ain t enough to make a man write an letter to you it mild john don t me i m sat like one it might even have been doubted if he heard but the voice of the clerk rang about the cabin like that of a among the of a e that will do said oh so you his part do you you stuck up it then come on the pair of you but as for john let him look out the partners he struck me the first night aboard and i never took a blow yet but i gave as good let him down on his and beg my pardon that s my last word i i stand by the captain said that makes us two to one both good men and the crew will all follow me i hope i shall die very soon but i have not the least objection to killing you before i go i should prefer it so i should do it with no more remorse than take care take care you little the with which these words were uttered was so marked in itself and so remarkable in the man who uttered them that stared and even the reared up his head and gazed at his as for the successive and disappointments of the day had left him wholly reckless he was conscious of a pleasant glow an agreeable excitement his head seemed empty his burned as he turned them his throat was dry as a the least dangerous man by nature except in so far as the weak are always dangerous at that moment he was ready to or be slain with equal here at least was the thrown down and battle offered he who should speak next would	38
now lay before them and close aboard and thought that never in his dreams had he beheld anything more strange and delicate the beach was white the continuous barrier of trees green the land perhaps ten feet high the trees thirty more every here and there as the northward the wood was and he could see clear over the strip of land as a man looks over a wall to the within and clear over that again to where the far side of the prolonged its of trees against the morning sky he tortured himself to find the isle was like the rim of a great vessel sunken in the waters it was like the of an railway grown upon with wood so slender it seemed amidst the outrageous so frail and pretty he would scarce have wondered to see it sink and disappear without a sound and the waves close smoothly over its descent i the ebb tide meanwhile the captain was in the fore glass in hand his eyes in every quarter for an entrance for signs of but the isle continued to itself in joints and to run out in and still there was neither house nor man nor the smoke of fire here a multitude of sea birds and and in the blue waters and there and for miles together the fringe of palm and extended desolate and made desirable green for nobody to visit and the silence of death was only broken by the throbbing of the sea the airs were very light their speed was small the heat intense the decks were the sun overhead brazen out of a brazen sky the pitch in the and the brains in the brain pan and all the while the excitement of the three glowed about their bones like a fever they whispered and nodded and pointed and put mouth to ear with a singular instinct of secrecy approaching that island like and thieves and even from the gave his orders mostly by gestures the hands shared in this mute strain like dogs without it and through the roar of so many miles of it was a silent ship that approached an empty island at last they drew near to the break in that interminable a spur of coral sand stood forth on the one hand on the other a high and the pearl i thick of trees cut off the view between was the mouth of the huge twice a day the ocean crowded in that narrow entrance and was heaped between these frail walls twice a day with the return of the ebb the mighty of water must struggle to escape the hour in which the came there was the hour of flood the sea turned as with the instinct of the pigeon for the vast swept through the gates was as it did so into a wonder of watery and silken hues and into the inland sea beyond the worked up close hauled and was caught and carried away by the like a toy she she flew a momentary shadow touched her decks from the trees the bottom of the channel showed up for a moment and was in a moment gone the next she floated on the bosom of the and below in the transparent chamber of waters a of many colored fishes were sporting a m pale flowers of coral the floor stood transported in the gratified lust of his eye he forgot the past and the present forgot that he was by a prison on the one hand and starvation on the other forgot that he was come to that island desperately clutching at a drove of fishes painted like the rainbow and like hovered up in the shadow of the and passed clear of it and in the sun they were no the ebb tide beautiful like birds and their silent passage impressed him like a strain of song meanwhile to the eye of in the the continued to its empty waters and the long succession of the trees to be paid out like fishing line off a and still there was no mark of habitation the immediately on entering had been kept away to the northward where the water seemed to be the most deep and she was now past the tall grove of trees which stood on that side of the channel and denied further view of tlie whole of the low shores of the island only this remained to be revealed and suddenly the curtain was raised they began to open out a haven there and beheld with an beyond words the roofs of men the appearance thus disclosed to those on the deck of the was not that of a city rather of a substantial country farm with its attendant hamlet a long line of sheds and store houses apart upon the one side a ed dwelling house on the other perhaps a dozen native huts a building with a and some rude offer at features that might be thought to mark it out for a chapel on the beach in front some heavy boats drawn up and a pile of timber running forth into the burning of the from a flag staff at the the red of england was displayed behind about and over the same tall the pearl ill grove of palms which had the settlement in the beginning prolonged its roof of tumultuous green and tossed and ruffled overhead and sang its silver song all day in the wind the place had the indescribable but unmistakable appearance of being in commission yet there breathed from it a sense of desertion that was almost no human figure was to be observed going to and fro about the houses and there was no sound of human industry or enjoyment only on the top of the beach and hard by the e a woman of stature and as white as snow was to be seen	38
with uplifted arm the second glance identified her as a piece of naval the figure head of a ship that had long hovered and plunged into so many running and was now brought ashore to be the and genius of that empty town the made a soldier s breeze of it the wind besides was stronger inside than without under the lee of the land and the stolen opened out successive objects with the swiftness of a so that the stood speechless the flag spoke for itself it was no and that had beaten itself to pieces on the post flying over desolation and to make assurance stronger there was to be in the deep shade of the a glitter of crystal and the fluttering of white if the head at the pier end with its perpetual the ebb tide gesture and its whiteness reigned alone in that hamlet as it seemed to do it could not have reigned long men s hands had been busy men s feet stirring there within the circuit of the clock the were sure of it their eyes dug in the deep shadow of the palms for some one hiding if intensity of looking might have prevailed they would have pierced the walls of houses and there came to them in these seconds a sense of being watched and played with and of a blow impending that was hardly the extreme point of palms they had just passed enclosed a creek which was thus hidden up to the last moment from the eyes of those on board and from this a boat put suddenly and briskly out and a voice hailed i it cried stand in for the pier in two you have twenty water and good holding ground the boat was with a couple of brown in scanty of blue the speaker who was wore white clothes the full dress of the a wide hat shaded his face but it could be seen that he was of size and his voice sounded like a gentleman s so much could be made out it was plain besides that the had been some time before at sea and the inhabitants were prepared for its reception mechanically the orders were obeyed and the ship and the three gathered the pearl ii aft beside the house and waited with galloping and a perfect of mind the coming of the stranger who might mean so much to them they had no plan no story prepared there was no time to make one they were caught red handed and must stand their chance yet this anxiety was with hope the island being it was not possible the man could hold any office or be in a position to demand their papers and beyond that if there was any truth in as it now seemed there should be he was the representative of the private reasons and must see their coming with a profound disappointment and perhaps hope whispered he would be willing and able to purchase their silence the boat was by that time alongside and they were able at last to see what manner of man they had to do with he was a huge fellow six feet four in height and of a build strong but his seemed to be dissolved in a that was more than languor it was only the eye that corrected this impression an eye of an unusual mingled brilliancy and softness sombre as coal and with lights that the an eye of health and an eye that bid you beware of the man s anger a complexion naturally dark had been in the island to a hue hardly from that of a only his manners and movements and the living force that dwelt in him like fire in flint betrayed the european he was tide dressed in white exquisitely made his and tie were of tender colored on the beside him there leaned a rifle is the doctor on board he cried as he came up doctor i mean you never heard of him nor yet of the hall ah he did not look surprised seemed rather to it in politeness but his eye rested on each of the three white men in succession with a sudden weight of curiosity that was almost savage ah then said he there is some small mistake no doubt and i must ask you to what i am indebted for this pleasure he was by this time on the deck but he had the art to be quite the three parts drunk would have known better than take liberties and not one of the so much as to shake hands well said i suppose you may call it an accident we had heard of your island and read that thing in the about the private reasons you see so when we saw the reflected in the sky we put her head for it at once and here we are we don t intrude i said the stranger looked at with an air of faint surprise and looked away again it was hard to be more offensive in dumb show it may suit me your coming here he said my own is and i may put something in your way in the mean time are you open to a the pearl ii well i guess so said it depends my name is continued the stranger you i presume are the captain yes sir i am the captain of this ship captain brown was the reply well see ere said better begin fair i e s on deck right enough but not below below we re all equal all got a lay in the adventure when it comes to business i m as good as e and what i say is let s go into the and have a and talk it over among we ve some prime he said and winked the presence of the gentleman	38
lighted up like a candle the vulgarity of the clerk and instinctively as one himself from pain made haste to interrupt my name is hay said he since are going we shall be very glad if you will step inside leaned to him swiftly university man said he yes said and the next moment blushed scarlet at his i am of the other lot said hall cambridge i called my after the old shop well this is a queer place and company for us to meet in mr hay he pursued with easy to the others but do you bear out i beg this gentleman s pardon i really did not catch his name my name is sir returned the clerk and blushed in turn il the ebb tide ah said and then turning again to do you bear out mr s description of your or was it only the poetry of his own nature up was embarrassed the silken of their visitor made him blush that he should be accepted as an equal and the others thus ignored pleased him in spite of himself and then ran through his veins in a of anger i don t know he said it s only it s good enough i believe seemed to make up his mind well then i tell you what you three gentlemen come ashore this evening and bring a basket of wine with you i try and find the food he said and by the by here is a question i should have asked you when i came on board have you had small personally no said but the had it deaths from two said well it is a dreadful sickness said ad you any deaths asked ere on the island twenty nine said twenty nine deaths and thirty one cases out of thirty three upon the island that s a strange way to calculate mr hay is it not souls i never say it but it me the pearl ii oh so that s why everything s deserted said that is why mr said that is why the house is empty and the full twenty nine out of thirty three exclaimed why when it came to burying or did you bother burying scarcely said or there was one day at least when we gave up there were five of the dead that morning and thirteen of the dying and no one able to go about except the and myself we held a council of war took the empty bottles into the and buried them he looked over his shoulder back at the bright water well so you ll come to dinner then shall we say half past six so good of you his voice in uttering these conventional phrases fell at once into the false measure of society and unconsciously followed the example i am sure we shall be very glad he said at half past six thank you so very much for my voice has been to the note of the that the deep when the combat s beg un quoted with a smile which instantly gave way to an air of solemnity i shall particularly expect mr he continued mr i trust you understand the invitation il the ebb tide i believe you my boy replied the genial that is right then and quite understood is it not said mr and captain brown at six thirty without fail and you hay at four sharp and he called his boat during all this talk a load of thought or anxiety had weighed upon the captain there was no part for which nature had so liberally endowed him as that of the genial ship captain but to day he was silent and abstracted those who knew him could see that he close to every syllable and seemed to and try it in it would have been hard to say what look there was cold attentive and sinister as of a man plans which still over the unconscious guest it was here it was there it was nowhere it was now so little that himself for an idle fancy and anon it was so gross and palpable that you could say every hair on the man s head talked mischief he woke up now as with a start you were talking of a said he was i said well let s talk of it no more at present your own is i understand continued the captain you understand perfectly captain brown said thirty three days at noon to day the pearl ii she comes and goes eh flies between here and hinted the captain exactly every four months three in the year said you go in her ever asked no i stop here said one has plenty to attend to here stop here do you cried say how long how long o lord said with perfect stern gravity but it does not seem so he added with a smile no i dare say not said no i suppose not not with all your gods about you and in as snug a berth as this for it is a pretty snug berth said he with a sweeping look the spot as you are good enough to indicate is not entirely intolerable was the reply shell i suppose said yes there was shell said this is a considerable big beast of a sir said the captain was there a was the fishing would you call the fishing i don t know that i would call it an anything said if you put it to me direct there were pearls too said pearls too said well i give out laughed and his laughter rang cracked like a false piece if you ve not going to tell you re not going to tell and there s an end to it the ebb tide there can be no reason why i should a	38
the least degree of secrecy about my island returned that came wholly to an end with your arrival and i am sure at any rate that gentlemen like you and mr i should have always been charmed to make perfectly at home the point on which we are now if you can call it a difference is one of times and seasons i have some information which you think i might impart and i think not well we see to night by by he stepped into his boat and off all understood then said he the captain and mr at six thirty and you hay at four precise you understand that hay mind i take no denial if you re not there by the time named there will be no banquet no song no supper mr white birds in the air above a of party fishes in the scarce medium below between like s coffin the boat drew away briskly on the surface and its shadow followed it over the glittering floor of the looked steadily back over his shoulders as he sat he did not once remove his eyes from the and the group on her beside the house till his boat ground upon the pier thence with an pace he hurried ashore and they saw his white clothes shining in the dusk of the grove until the house received him the pearl the captain with a gesture and a speaking countenance called the into the cabin well he said to when they were seated there s one good job at least he s taken to you in earnest why should that be a good job said oh you see how it out presently returned you go ashore and stand in with him that s all you get lots of you can find out what he has and what the is and who s the fourth man for there s four of them and we re only three and suppose i do what next cried answer me that so i will robert said the captain but first let s see all clear i guess you know he said with an imperious solemnity i guess you know the bottom is about out of this speculation i guess you know it s out j and if this old island had n t turned up right when it did i guess you know where you and i and would have been yes i know that said no matter who s to blame i know it and what next no matter who s to blame you know it right enough said the captain and i m obliged to you for the now here s this what do you think of him i do not know said i am attracted and he was rude to you and you said the captain the ebb tide sat cleaning a favorite root he scarce looked up from that task don t me what i think of him he said there s a day i pray when i can tell it him myself means the same as what i do said when that man came stepping around and saying look here i m and you knew it was so by god i sized him right straight up here s the real article i said and i don t like it here s the real first rate copper god d n ye did god make ye f no that could n t be nothing but genuine a man s got to be born to that and notice smart as champagne and hard as nails no kind of a fool no sir not a pound of him well what s he here upon this island for i said he j not here collecting eggs he s a palace at home and powdered and if he don t stay there you bet he knows the reason why follow oh yes i ear you said he s been doing good business here then continued the captain for years he s been doing a great business it s pearl and shell of course there could n t be nothing else in such a place and no doubt the shell goes off regularly by this hall and the money for it straight into the bank so that s no use to us but what else is there is there nothing else he would be likely to keep here is there nothing else he would be bound to keep here yes sir the pearls i the pearl first because they re too valuable to trust out oi his hands second because pearls want a lot of handling and and the man who his pearls as they come in one here one there instead of hanging back and holding up well that man s a fool and it s not it s likely said that s w at it is not proved but likely it s proved said suppose it was said suppose that was all so and he had these pearls years and years collection of them suppose he had there s my question the captain with his thick hands on the board in front of him he looked steadily in s face and as steadily looked upon the table and the fingers there was a gentle of the ship and a big patch of sunlight travelled to and fro between one and the other hear me burst out suddenly no you better hear me first said hear me and understand me ive ve got no use for that fellow whatever you may have he s your kind he s not ours he s took to you and he s wiped his boots oh me and save him if you can i save him repeated save him if you re able i with a blow of his fist go ashore and talk him smooth and if you	38
get him and his pearls tide aboard i spare him if you don t there s going to be a funeral is that so does that suit you i ain t a man said but i m not the sort to spoil business neither bring the on board and his pearls along with him and you can have it your own way him where you like i m agreeable well and if i can t cried while the sweat streamed upon his face you talk to me as if i was god almighty to do this and that but if i can t my son said the captain you better do your level best or you see sights oh yes said oh yes he looked across at with a smile that was shocking in its and his ear caught apparently by the trivial expression he had used he broke into a piece of the chorus of a comic song which he must have heard twenty years before in london that in that hour and place seemed hateful as a the captain suffered him to finish his face was unchanged the way things are there s many a man that would n t let you go ashore he resumed but i m not that kind i know you d never go back on me or if you choose to go and do it and be d d i he cried and rose abruptly from the table the pearl he walked out of the house and as he reached the door turned and called suddenly and violently like the barking of a dog followed and remained alone in the cabin now see here whispered i know that man if you open your mouth to him again you ruin all chapter viii better acquaintance he boat was gone again and already half way to the before turned and went unwillingly up the pier from the crown of the beach the figure head confronted him with what seemed irony her head tossed back her formidable arm apparently something whether shell or in the direction of the she seemed a defiant deity from the island coming forth to its threshold with a rush as of one about to fly and in that dashing attitude looked up at her where she above him head and shoulders with singular feelings of curiosity and romance and suffered his mind to travel to and fro in her life history so long she had been the blind of a ship among the waves so long she had stood here idle in the violent sun that yet did not avail to her and was even this the end of so many adventures he wondered or was more behind and he could have found it in his heart to regret that she was not a goddess nor yet he a pagan that he might have bowed down before her in that hour of difficulty better acquaintance where he now went forward it was cool with the shadow of many w ll grown palms draughts of the d ring breeze swung them together overhead and on all sides with a swiftness beyond flies or the spots of sunshine flitted and hovered and returned the sand was fairly solid and quite level and s steps fell there noiseless as in new fallen snow it bore the marks of having been once like a garden alley at home but the had done its work and the weeds were returning the buildings of the settlement showed here and there through the stems of the fresh painted trim and and all silent as the grave only here and there in the there was a rustle and and some of poultry and from behind the house with the he saw smoke rise and heard the of a fire the store houses were nearest him upon his right the first was locked in the second he could dimly perceive through a window a certain of pearl shell piled in the far end the third which stood gaping open on the afternoon seized on the mind of with its and disorder of romantic things therein were and blocks of every size and capacity cabin windows and rusty a companion a with its brass and its compass idly pointing in the confusion and dusk of that shed to a forgotten pole ropes a the ebb tide of copper green with years a wheel a tool chest with the vessel s name upon the top the asia a whole curiosity shop of sea gross and solid heavy to lift ill to break bound with brass and shod with iron two at least must have contributed to this random heap of lumber and as looked upon it it to him as if the two ships companies were there on guard and he heard the tread of feet and and saw with the tail of his eye the commonplace ghosts of this was not merely the work of an aroused imagination but had something sensible to go upon sounds of a stealthy approach were no doubt audible and while he still stood staring at the lumber the voice of his host sounded suddenly and with even more than the customary softness of from behind it said only old and does mr hay find a i find at least a strong impression replied turning quickly lest he might be able to catch on the face of the speaker some on the words stood in the doorway which he almost wholly filled his hands stretched above his head and grasping the he smiled when their eyes met but the expression was inscrutable yes a powerful impression you are like me nothing so affecting as ships said he the ruins of an empire would leave me when a better acquaintance bit of an old rail that an old leaned on in the middle watch would bring me up all standing	38
but come let s see some more of the island it s all sand and coral and palm trees but there s a kind of in the place i find it heavenly said breathing deep with head in the shadow ah that s because you re new from sea said i dare say too you can appreciate what one calls it it s a lovely name it has a flavor it has a color it has a ring and fall to it it s like its author it s half christian i remember your first view of the island and how it s only woods and water and suppose you had asked somebody for the name and he had answered jam v exclaimed ye gods i yes how good if it gets upon the the will make nice work of it said but here come and see the shed he opened a door and saw a large display of apparatus neatly ordered and pipes and the boots and the huge shining in rows along the wall ten complete the whole eastern half of my is shallow you must understand said so we were able to get in the dress to great advantage it paid beyond belief and was a queer sight when they were at it and these marine monsters tapping i the ebb tide the nearest of the kept appearing and in the midst of the fond of he asked abruptly oh yes said well i saw these machines come up dripping and go down again and come up dripping and go down again and all the while the fellow inside as dry as toast said and i thought we all wanted a dress to go down into the world in and come up what do you think the name was he inquired self conceit said ah but i mean seriously said call it self respect then corrected with a laugh and why not grace why not god s grace hay asked why not the grace of your maker and he who died for you he who you he whom you daily afresh there is nothing here striking on his bosom nothing there the wall and nothing there stamping nothing but god s grace we walk upon we breathe it we live and die by it it makes the nails and of the universe and a in prefers self conceit the huge dark man stood over against by the line of divers and seemed to swell and glow and the next moment the life had gone from him i beg your pardon said he i see you don t believe in god better acquaintance i i not in your sense i am afraid said i never argue with young or habitual said let us go across the island to the outer beach it was but a little way the greatest width of that island scarce exceeding a and they walked gently was like one in a dream he had come there with a mind divided come prepared to study that and mask drag out the essential man from underneath and act accordingly decision being till then postponed iron cruelty an iron to the suffering of others the pursuit of his own interests cold culture manners without humanity these he had looked for these he still thought he saw but to find the whole machine thus glow with the of religious zeal surprised him beyond words and he labored in vain as he walked to piece together into any kind of whole his odds and ends of knowledge to again into any kind of with itself his picture of the man beside him what brought you here to the south seas he asked presently many things said youth curiosity romance the love of the sea and it will surprise you to hear an interest in that has a good deal declined which will surprise you less they go the wrong way to work they are too too much of the old wife and even the old apple wife clothes clothes are their idea the ebb tide but clothes are not christianity any more than they are the sun in heaven or could take the place of it they think a with roses and church bells and nice old women in the lanes are part and parcel of religion but religion is a savage thing like the universe it savage cold and bare but infinitely strong and you found this island by an accident said as you did said and since then i have had a business and a colony and a mission of my own i was a man of the world before i was a christian i m a man of the world still and i made my mission pay no good ever came of a man has to stand up in god s sight and work up to his weight then i talk to him but not before i gave these beggars what they wanted a judge in the bearer of the sword and i was making a new people here and behold the angel of the lord smote them and they were not with the very uttering of the words which were accompanied by a gesture they came forth out of the porch of the palm wood by the margin of the sea and full in front of the sun which was near setting before them the surf broke slowly all around with an air of imperfect wooden things inspired with wicked activity the land and into holes on the right whither pointed and abruptly turned was the of the island a field of broken stones from the better acquaintance of a child s hand to that of his head by many of the same material and walled by a rude of the same nothing grew there but a or two with some	38
white flowers nothing but the number of the and their shape indicated the presence of the dead the rude forefathers of the hamlet lie quoted as he entered by the open into that close coral to coral pebbles to pebbles he said this has been the main scene of my activity in the south pacific some were good and some bad and the majority of course and always here was a fellow now that used to like a dog if you had called him he came like an arrow from a bow if you had not and he came you have seen the eye and the little intricate dancing step well his trouble is over now he has lain down with kings and the rest of his act are they not written in the book of the that fellow was from like all the m he was ill to manage jealous violent the man with the nose he lies here quiet enough and so they all lie and darkness was the of the dead he stood in the strong glow of the sunset with bowed head his voice sounded now sweet and now bitter with the varying sense you loved these people cried strangely touched the ebb tide i said dear no don t think me a i dislike men and i hate women if i like the islands at all it is because you see them here plucked of their their dead birds and cocked hats their and colored here was one i liked though and he set his foot upon a mound he was a fine savage fellow he had a dark soul yes i liked this one i am fanciful he added looking hard at and i take i like you turned swiftly and looked far away to where the clouds were beginning to troop together and themselves round the of day no one can like me he said you are wrong there said the other as a man usually is about himself you are attractive very attractive it is not me said no one can like me if you knew how i despised myself and why his voice rang out in the quiet i knew that you despised yourself said i saw the blood come into your face to day when you remembered oxford and i could have blushed for you myself to see a man a gentleman with those two vulgar wolves faced him with a thrill wolves he repeated i said wolves and vulgar wolves said do you know that to day when i came on board i trembled better acquaintance you concealed it well stammered a habit of mine said but i was afraid for all that i was afraid of the two wolves he raised his hand slowly and now hay you poor lost what do you do with the two wolves what do i do i don t do anything said there is nothing wrong all is above board captain brown is a good soul he is a he is the phantom voice of called in his ear there s going to be a funeral and the sweat burst forth and streamed on his brow he is a family man he resumed again he has children at home and a wife and a very nice man said and so is mr no doubt i won t go so far as that said i do not like and yet he has his merits too and in short take them for all in all as good a ship s company as one would ask said oh yes said quite so then we approach the other point of why you despise yourself said do we not all despise ourselves cried do not you oh i say i do but do i said one thing i know at least i never gave a cry like yours hay it came from a bad conscience ah man that poor dress of self conceit is sadly tattered i to day if ye will hear my voice the ebb tide to day now while the sun sets and here in this burying place of brown fall on your knees and cast your sins and sorrows on the h ay not hay i interrupted the other don t call me that i mean for god s sake can t you see i m on the rack i see it i know it i put and keep you there my fingers are on the said please god i will bring a penitent this night before his throne come come to the mercy seat he waits to be gracious man waits to be gracious he spread out his arms like a his face shone with the brightness of a s in his voice as it rose to the last word the tears seemed ready made a vigorous call upon himself he said you push me beyond bearing what am i to do i do not believe it is living truth to you to me upon my conscience only folk lore i do not believe there is any form of words under heaven by which i can lift the from my shoulders i must on to the end with the pack of my responsibility i cannot shift it do you suppose i would not if i thought i could i cannot cannot cannot and let that suffice the rapture was all gone from s countenance the dark had disappeared and in his place there stood an easy gentleman better acquaintance i who took off his hat and bowed it was done and the blood burned in s face what do you mean by that he cried well shall we go back to the house said our guests will soon be due stood his ground a moment with clenched fists and teeth and as he so stood the fact of his errand	38
there slowly swung clear in front of him like the moon out of clouds he had come to that man on board he was failing even if it could be said that he had tried he was sure to fail now and knew it and knew it was better so and what was to be next with a groan he turned to follow his host who was standing with a polite smile and instantly and somewhat led the way into the now darkened of palms there they went in silence the earth gave up richly of her perfume the air tasted warm and in the nostrils and from a great way forward in the wood the brightness of lights and fire marked out the house of meanwhile and resisted an immense temptation to go up to touch him on the arm and breathe a word in his ear beware they are going to murder you there would be one life saved but what of the two others the three lives went up and down before in a well or like the scales of it had come to a choice and one that must be speedy for certain invaluable minutes the wheels the ebb tide of life ran before him and he could still divert them with a touch to the one side or the other still choose who was to live and who was to die he considered the men puzzled dazzled enchanted and him alive he seemed but a doubtful good and the thought of him lying dead was so unwelcome that it pursued him like a vision with every circumstance of color and sound incessantly he had before him the image of that great mass of man stricken down in varying attitudes and with varying wounds fallen prone fallen fallen on his side or clinging to a with the changing face and the fingers of the death agony he heard the click of the the of the ball the cry of the victim he saw the blood flow and this building up of circumstance was like a of the man till he seemed to walk in next he considered with his coarse oat bread of nature his and mirth in the old days of their starvation the of his faults and virtues the sudden shining forth of a tenderness that lay too deep for tears his children and her complaint and s doll no death could not be suffered to approach that head even in fancy with a general heat and a of his muscles it was borne in on that s father would find in him a son to the death and even shared a little in that by the better acquaintance i of daily life they were become brothers there was an implied bond of loyalty in their of the ship and of their past miseries to which must be a little true or wholly horror of sudden death for horror of sudden death there was here no hesitation possible it must be and no sooner was the thought formed which was a sentence than the whole mind of the man ran in a panic to the other side and when he looked within himself he was aware only of and inarticulate in all this there was no thought of robert he had complied with the ebb tide in man s and the tide had carried him away he heard already the roaring of the that must hurry him under and in his and soul there was no thought of self for how long he walked silent by his companion had no guess the clouds rolled suddenly away the was over he found himself placid with the of despair there returned to him the power of commonplace speech and he heard surprise his own voice say what a lovely evening i is it not said yes the evenings here would be very pleasant if one had anything to do by day of course one can shoot you shoot asked yes i am what you would call a fine shot said it is faith i believe my balls i the ebb tide will go true if i were to miss once it spoil me for nine months you never miss then said not unless i mean to said but to miss nicely is the art there was an old king one knew in the western islands who used to empty a all round a man and stir his hair or nick a rag out of his clothes with every ball except the last and that went plump between the eyes it was pretty practice you could do that asked with a sudden chill oh i can do anything returned the other you do not what must be must they were now come near to the back part of the house one of the men was engaged about the cooking fire which burned with the clear fierce essential radiance of shells a fragrance of strange was in the air all round in the lamps were lighted so that the place shone abroad in the dusk of the trees with many complicated patterns of shadow come and wash your hands said and led the way into a clean room with a cot bed a safe a shelf or two of books in a glazed case and an iron washing stand presently he cried in the native tongue and there appeared for a moment in the doorway a plump and pretty young woman with a clean cried who now saw for the first time the fourth of the and better acquaintance i i was startled by the recollection of the captain s orders yes said the whole colony lives about the house what s left of it we are all afraid of devils if you please and and she sleep in the front parlor and the other boy on the she is pretty said too pretty said	38
that was why i had her married a man never knows when he may be inclined to be a fool about women so when we were left alone i had the pair of them to the chapel and performed the ceremony she made a lot of fuss i do not take at all the romantic views of marriage he explained and that strikes you as a asked with amazement certainly i am a plain man and very literal whom god hath joined together are the words i fancy so one married them and respects the marriage said ah said you see i may look to make an excellent marriage when i go home began i am rich this safe alone la ring his hand upon it will be a moderate fortune when i have the time to place the pearls upon the market here are ten years from a where i have had as many as ten divers going all day long and i went farther than people usually do in these waters for i a lot of the ebb tide shell and did splendidly would you like to see them this confirmation of the captain s guess hit hard and he contained himself with difficulty no thank you i think not said he i do not care for pearls i am very indifferent to all these suggested and yet i believe you ought to cast an eye on my collection which is really unique and which oh it is the case with all of us and about us hangs by a hair to day it up and to morrow it is cut down and cast into the oven to day it is here and together in this safe to morrow to night it may be scattered thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee i do not understand you said not said you seem to speak in said i do not understand what manner of man you are nor what you are driving at stood with his hands upon his and his head bent forward i am a he replied and just now if you insist on it an talking of which by the by who painted out the s name he said with mocking softness because do you know one thinks it should be done again it can still be partly read and whatever is worth doing is surely worth doing well you think with me that is so nice well shall we step on the i better acquaintance have a dry that i would like your opinion of followed him forth to where under the light of the hanging lamps the table shone with and crystal followed him as the criminal goes with the or the sheep with the butcher took the mechanically drank it and spoke mechanical words of praise the object of his terror had become suddenly till then he had seen and a helpless victim and had longed to run in and save him he saw him now tower up mysterious and menacing the angel of the lord s wrath armed with knowledge and threatening judgment he set down his glass again and was surprised to see it empty you go always armed he said and the next moment could have plucked his tongue out always said i have been through a here that was one of my incidents of missionary life and just then the sound of voices reached them and looking forth from the they saw and the captain drawing near chapter ix the dinner party ti hey sat down to an island dinner remarkable for its variety and excellence soup and fish fowls a pig a and for not a tin had been opened and save for the oil and in the and some green of which cultivated and plucked with his own hand not even the were european and succeeded each other and the champagne brought up the rear with the it was plain that like so many of the extremely religious in the days before had a dash of the for such characters it is softening to eat well doubly so to have designed and had prepared an excellent meal for others and the manners of their host were agreeably in consequence a cat of huge growth sat on his shoulder and occasionally with a captured a morsel in the air to a cat he might be himself as he at the head of his table dealing out attentions and the dinner party does and using the velvet and the and both and the captain fell under the charm of his hospitable freedom over the third guest the incidents of the dinner may be said to have passed for long accepted all that was him ate and drank without and heard without comprehension his mind was singly occupied in contemplating the horror of the circumstance in which he sat what knew what the captain designed from which side treachery was to be first expected these were the ground of his thoughts there were times when he longed to throw down the table and flee into the night and even that was him to do anything to say anything to move at all were only to the barbarous tragedy and he sat eating with white lips two of his companions observed him narrowly with side long glances that did not interrupt his talk the captain with a heavy and anxious consideration well i must say this is a really prime article said w much does it stand you in if it s a fair question a hundred and twelve shillings in london and the freight to and on again said it strikes one as really not a bad a and twelve the clerk the wine and the figures in a common ecstasy oh my the ebb tide so glad you like it said help yourself mr and keep the bottle	38
by you my friend s name is and not sir said the captain with a flush i beg your pardon i am sure and not certainly said i was about to say that i have still eight dozen he added fixing the captain with his eye eight dozen what said was the reply eight dozen excellent why it seems almost worth it in itself to a man fond of wine the words struck home to guilty and and the captain sat up in their places and regarded him with a scare worth what said a hundred and twelve shillings replied the captain breathed hard for a moment he reached out far and wide to find any in these remarks then with a great effort changed the subject i allow we are about the first white men upon this island sir said he followed him at once and with entire gravity to the new ground myself and dr i should say the only ones he returned and yet who can tell in the course of the ages some one may have lived here and we sometimes think that some one must the palms grow all round the island which is scarce the dinner party like nature s planting we found besides when we landed an unmistakable upon the beach use unknown but probably erected in the hope of gratifying some whose very name is forgotten by some thick gentry whose very bones are lost then the island witness the has been twice reported and since my we have had two both the rest is conjecture y dr is your partner i g ess said a dear fellow s i how he would regret it if he knew you had been here said e s on the all ain t he asked if you could tell me where the ah was you would confer a favor mr was the reply i suppose she has a native crew said since the secret has been kept ten years one would suppose she had replied well now see ere said you have everything about you in no end style and no mistake but i tell you it would n t do for me too much of the old rustic bridge by the mill too retired by give me the sound of bow bells you must not think it was always so replied this was once a busy shore although now hark you can hear the solitude i find it and talking of the sound of bells kindly follow a little experiment of mine in silence the ebb tide there was a silver bell at his right hand to call the servants lie made them a sign to stand still struck the bell with force and leaned eagerly forward the note rose clear and strong it rang out clear and far into the night and over the deserted island it died into the distance until there only lingered in the of the ear a that was sound no longer empty houses sea solitary said and yet god hears the bell and yet we sit in this on a lighted stage with all heaven for spectators and you call that solitude there followed a bar of silence during which the captain sat then laughed softly these are the of a lonely man he resumed and possibly not in good taste one tells one s self these little fairy tales for company if there should happen to be anything in folk lore mr hay but here comes the one does not offer you captain because i believe it is all sold to the railroad dining cars in your great but this is of a good year and will give me news of it that s a queer idea of yours cried the captain bursting with a sigh h om the spell that had bound him so you mean to tell me now that you sit here evenings and ring up g well ring on the angels by yourself as a matter of historic fact and since you put it directly one does not said why the dinner party i ring a bell when there flows out from one s self and everything about one a far more momentous silence the least beat of my heart and the least thought in my mind echoing into eternity forever and forever and forever oh look ere said turn down the lights at once and the band of will oblige this ain t a spiritual no folk lore about mr i beg your pardon captain not of course said as the boy was filling s glass the bottle escaped from his hand and was shattered and the wine on the floor instant as of death appeared in the face of he smote the bell and the two brown natives fell into the attitude of attention and stood mute and trembling there was a moment of silence and hard looks then followed a few savage words in the native and upon a gesture of dismissal the service proceeded as before none of the party had as yet observed upon the excellent bearing of the two men they were dark and well set up stepped softly waited brought on the and dishes at a look and their eyes attended on their master where do you get your labor from anyway asked ah where not answered not much of a soft job i suppose said the captain the ebb tide if you will tell me where getting labor is said with a shrug and of course in our case as we could name no destination we had to go far and wide and do the best we could we have gone as far west as the and as far south as iti pity isn t here he is full of that was his part to collect them then began mine which was the you mean to run them	38
the voice that about the d d if i caught on to that say you did n t give me away oh give you away repeated with weary scorn what was there to give away we re transparent we ve got rascal on us detected rascal detected rascal why before he came on board there was the name painted out and he saw the whole thing he made sure we would kill him there and then and stood you and on the chance he calls that being frightened i next he had me ashore a fine time i had the two wolves he calls you and what is the doing with the two wolves f he asked he showed me the ebb tide bis pearls he said they might be dispersed before morning and all hung by a hair and smiled as he said it such a smile oh it s no use i tell you he knows all he sees through all we only make him laugh with our he looks at us and laughs like god there was a silence stood with brows gazing into the night the pearls he said suddenly he showed them to you he has them no he did n t show them i forgot only the safe they were in said but you never get them i ve two words to say to that said the captain do you think he would have been so easy at table unless he was prepared cried the servants were both armed he was armed himself he always is he told me you will never deceive his vigilance i know it it s all up i tell you and keep telling you and proving it all up all up there s nothing for it there s nothing to be done all gone life honor love o my god my god why was i bom another pause followed upon this outburst the captain put his hands to his brow another thing he broke out why did he tell you all this seems like madness to me shook his head with gloomy you would n t understand if i were to tell you said he i guess i can understand any blame thing that you can tell me said the captain the open door l l well then he s a said what s that a said oh it s a fellow that believes a lot of things said believes that his bullets go true believes that all falls out as god chooses do as you like to prevent it and all that why i guess i believe right so myself said you do said you bet i do said shrugged his shoulders well you must be a fool said he and he leaned his head upon his knees the captain stood biting his hands there s one thing sure he said at last i must get out of that he v not fit to hold his end up with a man like you describe and he turned to go away the words had been quite simple not so the tone and the other was quick to catch it he cried no don t do it spare me and don t do it spare yourself and leave it alone for god s sake for your children s sake his voice rose to a passionate another moment and he might be overheard by their not distant victim but turned on him with a savage oath and gesture and the miserable young man rolled over on his face on the sand and lay speechless and helpless the captain meanwhile set out rapidly for s house as he went he considered ii the ebb tide with himself eagerly his thoughts racing the man had understood he had them from the beginning he would teach him to make a mockery of john thought him a god give him a second to aim in and the god was he chuckled as he felt the butt of his revolver it should be done now as he went in from behind it was difficult to get there from across the table no the captain preferred to shoot standing so as you could be sure to get you hand upon your gun the best would be to summon and when stood up and turned ah then would be the moment f wrapped in this ardent of events the captain posted towards the house with his head down hands up halt cried the voice of and the captain before he knew what he was doing had obeyed the surprise was complete and coming on the top crest of his intentions he had walked straight into an and now stood with his hands lifted staring at the the party was now broken up leaned on a post and kept covered with a one of the servants was hard by with a second at the port arms leaning a little forward round eyed with eager in the open space at the head of the stair was partly supported by the other native his face in smiles his mind seemingly sunk in the contemplation of an cigar the open door well said you seem to me to be a very the captain uttered a sound in his throat for which we have no name rage choked him i m going to give you mr or the wine that remains of him continued he talks a great deal when he drinks captain of the sea but i have quite done with him and return the article with thanks now he cried sharply another false movement like that and your family will have to the loss of an invaluable parent keep strictly still said a word in the native his eye still fixed on the captain and the servant thrust forward from the brink of the stair with an extraordinary of his	38
members that gentleman bounded forth into space struck the earth and brought up with his arms about a palm his mind was quite a stranger to these events the expression of anguish that his countenance at the moment of the leap was probably mechanical and he suffered these in silence clung to the tree like an infant and seemed by his to suppose himself engaged in the of for apples a more finely sympathetic mind or a more observant eye might have remarked a little in front of him on the sand and still quite beyond reach the cigar there is your said the ebb tide and now you might very weu ask me why i do not put a period to you at once as you deserve i will tell you why it is because i have nothing to do with the sea and the people you drowned or the and the champagne that you stole that is your account with god he keeps it and he will settle it when the clock strikes in my own case i have nothing to go on but suspicion and i do not kill on suspicion not even like you but understand if ever i see any of you again it is another matter and you shall eat a bullet and now take yourself off march and as you value what you call your life keep your hands up as you go the captain remained as he was his hands up his mouth open with fury march said one two three and turned and passed slowly away but even as he went he was meditating a prompt offensive return in the twinkling of an eye he had leaped behind a tree and was crouching there pistol in hand peering from either side of his place of with teeth a serpent already poised to strike and already he was too late and his servants had disappeared and only the lamps shone on the deserted table and the bright sand about the house and threw into the night in all directions the strong and shadows of the palms ground his teeth where were the open door the to what hole had they retreated beyond reach it was in vain he should try anything he single and with a second hand revolver against three persons armed with and who did not show an ear out of any of the of that lighted and silent house some of them might have already below it from the rear and be drawing a bead upon him at that moment from the low cr the of empty bottles and broken no there was nothing to be done but to bring away if it were still possible his shattered and forces he said come along s loss my said reaching vaguely forward the captain let out a oath come right along here said he s all sleep here th go t replied the one if you don t come and come now by the living god i u shoot you cried the captain it is not to be supposed that the sense of these words in any way penetrated to the mind of rather that in a fresh attempt upon the cigar he over balanced himself and came forward a course which brought him within reach of now you walk straight said the captain clutching him or i know why not s loss my replied the ebb tide the captain s contained fury blazed up for a moment he twisted round grasped him by the neck of the coat ran him in front of him to the pier end and flung him savagely forward on his face look for your cigar then you swine said he and blew his boat call till the in it ceased to rattle an immediate activity responded on board the far away voices and soon the sound of oars floated along the surface of the and at the same time from nearer hand aroused himself and strolled languidly up he bent over the insignificant figure of where it apparently insensible at the base of the figure head dead he asked no he s not dead said and asked now you just shut your head replied you can do that i fancy and by god i u show you how i u stand no more of your they waited accordingly in silence till the boat on the farthest then raised head and heels carried him down the and flung him in the bottom on the way out he was heard murmuring of the loss of his cigar and after he had been handed up the side like baggage and cast down in the to slumber his last audible expression was l fl this the expert into the open door splendid fellow with so much innocence had this great spirit from the adventures of the evening the captain went and walked in the waist with brief turns leaned his arms on the the crew had all turned in the ship had a gentle motion at times a block like a bird on shore through the of palm stems s house was to be seen shining steadily with many lamps and there was nothing else visible whether in the heaven above or in the below but the stars and their reflections it might have been minutes or it might have been hours that leaned there looking in the water and drinking peace a bath of stars he was thinking when a hand was laid at last on his shoulder said the captain i ve been walking os my trouble a sharp jar passed through the young man but he neither answered nor so much as turned his head i guess i spoke a little rough to you on shore pursued the captain the fact is i was real mad but now it s over and you and me have to turn to and think i will	38
the far side of the the sky brightened the clouds became with gorgeous colors the shadows of the night lifted and suddenly was aware that the and the trees wore again their daylight livery and he saw on board the the lantern and smoke rising from the without doubt remarked and recognized the ebb tide the figure on the beach or perhaps hesitated to recognize it for after he had gazed a long while from under his hand he went into the house and fetched a glass it was very powerful had often used it with an instinct of shame he hid his face in his hands and what brings you here mr hay or mr hay asked the voice of your back view from my present position is remarkably fine and i would continue to present it we can get on very nicely as we are and if you were to turn round do you know i think it would be awkward slowly rose to his feet his heart hard a hideous excitement shook him but he was master of himself slowly he turned and faced and the of a pointed rifle why could i not do that last night he thought well why don t you fire he said with a voice that trembled slowly put his gun under his arm his hands in his pockets what brings you here he repeated i don t know said and then with a cry can you do anything with me are you armed said i ask for the form s sake armed no said oh yes i am too and he flung upon the beach a dripping pistol you are wet said the open door yes i am wet said can you do anything with me read his face attentively it would depend a good deal upon what you are said he what i am a coward said there is very little to be done with that said and yet the description hardly strikes one as oh what does it matter cried here i am i am broken the whole of my life is gone to water i have nothing left that i believe in except my living horror of myself why do i come to you i don t know you are cold cruel hateful and i hate you or i think i hate you but you are an honest man an honest gentleman i put myself helpless in your hands what must i do if i can t do anything be merciful and put a bullet through me it s only a with a broken leg if i were you i would pick up that pistol come up to the house and put on some dry clothes said if you really mean it said you know they we they but you know all i know quite enough said come up to the house and the captain from the deck of the saw the two men pass together under the shadow of the grove chapter xi david and h had himself up from the glare of the day his face to the house his knees the frail bones in the thin tropical seemed scarce more considerable than a and sitting on the rail with his arm about a stay contemplated him with gloom wondering what manner of counsel that insignificant figure should contain for since had thrown him off and deserted to the enemy alone of mankind remained to him to be a and he considered their position with a sinking heart the ship was a stolen ship the stores whether from carelessness or ill during the voyage were insufficient to carry them to any port except back to and there waited in the shape of i a judge with a queer shaped hat and the horror of distant upon that side there was no glimmer of hope here at the island the was roused with his men and his watched and pa david and the house let him who dare approach it what else was then left but to sit there pacing the decks until the hall arrived and they were cast into irons or until the food came to an end and the pangs of famine succeeded for the hall was prepared he would the house and die there defending it like a rat in a but for the other the of the into which he had plunged only a fortnight before with such golden expectations could this be the nightmare end of it the ship at anchor the crew stumbling and dying in the it seemed as if any extreme of hazard were to be preferred to so a certainty as if it would be better to up anchor after all put to sea at a venture and perhaps perish at the hands of on one of the more obscure his eye swiftly over sea and sky in quest of any promise of wind but the fountains of the trade were empty where it had run yesterday and for weeks before a roaring blue river clouds silence now reigned and the whole height of the atmosphere stood balanced on the endless ribbon of island that stretched out to either hand of him its array of golden and green and silvery palms not the most was to be seen stirring they drooped to their stable images in the like things carved of metal and already their long line began to heat there was no escape the ebb tide possible that day none probable on the morrow and still the stores were running out then came over from deep down in the roots of his being or at least from far back among his memories of childhood and innocence a wave of superstition this run of ill luck was something beyond natural the chances of the game were in themselves more various it seemed as if the devil must serve the pieces	38
the devil he heard again the clear note of s bell ringing abroad into the night and dying away how if god briskly he averted his mind that was the point had food and a treasure of pearls escape made possible in the present riches in the future they must come to with the man must die a smoky heat went over his face as he recalled the impotent figure he had made last night and the contemptuous speeches he must bear in silence rage shame and the love of life all pointed the one way and only invention halted how to reach him had he strength enough was there any help in that packet of bones against the house his eyes upon him with a strange as though he would read into his soul and presently the moved stirred uneasily turned suddenly round and threw him a look maintained the same dark stare and looked away again and sat up david and lord i ve an on me said he i believe i was a bit last night w ere s that cry gone said the captain ashore cried oh i say i d v gone too would you said the captain yes i would replied i hke e s all right we got on like one o clock when you were gone and ain t his in it rather it s like and pond s i wish i ad a drain of it now he sighed well you ll never get no more of it that s one thing said gravely ere i s wrong with you ot well look at me i ain t said i m as as a bird i am yes said you re playful i own that and you were playful last night i believe and a damned fine performance you made of it said ow s this performance well i tell you said the captain getting slowly o e the rail and he did at full length with every epithet and absurd detail repeated and he had his own vanity and s upon the and them and as he spoke he inflicted and endured agonies of humiliation it was a plain man s master piece of the what do you think of it said he when he the ebb tide had done and looked down at flushed and serious and yet i tell you it is was the reply you and me cut a pretty figure that s so said a pretty figure by god and by god i want to see that man at my knees ah said ow to get him there that s it cried how to get hold to him they re four to two though there s only one man among them to count and that s get a bead on and the others would cut and run and sing out like frightened poultry and old man would come round with his hat for a share of the pearls no sir it s how to get hold of and we dare n t even go ashore he would shoot us in the boat like dogs are you particular about having him dead or alive asked i want to see him dead said the captain ah well said then i believe i do a bit of breakfast and he turned into the house the captain followed him what s this he asked what s your idea an oh you let me alone will you said opening a bottle of champagne you ear my idea soon enough till i pour some on my ot he drank a glass off and a david and to listen ark said he ear it like am i declare ave a glass do and look no said the captain with emphasis no i will not there s business you p your money and you your choice my little man returned seems rather a sh to me to spoil your breakfast for s really ancient he finished three parts of a bottle of champagne and a comer of with extreme deliberation the captain sitting opposite and the bit like an impatient horse then leaned his arms on the table and looked in the face w en you re ready said he well now what s your idea said with a sigh fair play said what s yours the trouble is that i ve got none replied and wandered for some time in discussion of the difficulties in their path and useless explanations of his own about done said i dry up right here replied well then said you give me your and across the table and say strike me dead if i don t back you up his voice was hardly raised yet it thrilled the his face seemed the of cunning and the captain from it as from a blow l o the ebb tide what for said he luck said substantial demanded and he continued to hold out his hand i don t see the good of any such said the other i do though returned your and and say the words then you ear my view of it don t and you don t the captain went through the required form breathing short and gazing on the clerk with anguish what to fear he knew not yet he feared what was to fall from these pale lips now if you excuse me a second said i go and fetch the the baby said what s that fragile with care this side up replied the clerk with a wink as he disappeared he returned smiling to himself and carrying in his hand a silk handkerchief the long stupid wrinkles ran up s brow as he saw it what should it contain he could think of nothing more than a revolver resumed his seat now said he are you man enough to take charge of and the because	38
i take care of how cried you can t tut tut said the clerk you time s the first point the first point is that we can t get ashore and i make you a present of david and l l that for a ard one but ow about a flag of would that do the trick d ye think or would simply aw y at us in the boat like no said i don t believe he would no more do i said i don t believe he would either and i m sure i he won t so then you can call us ashore next point is to get near the direction and for that i m going to ave you write a letter in w you s y you re to meet his eye and that the bearer mr j l is to represent you armed with w ly simple expedient mr j l will proceed to business he paused like one who had finished but still held with his eye how said why well you see you re big returned e knows you ave a gun in your pocket and anybody can see with an eye that you ain t the man to about it so it s no go with you and never was you re out of the but he won t be of me i m such a little un i m no kid about that and i old my up right enough he paused if i can manage to up nearer to him as we talk he resumed you look out and back me up smart if i don t we go aw y again and to see the captain s face was by the effort to comprehend i the ebb tide no i don t see he cried i can t see what do you mean i mean to do for the beast cried in a burst of triumph i bring the bully to grass he s ad his out of me i m goin to ave my lark out of im and a good lark too what is it said the captain almost in a whisper sure you want to know asked rose and took a turn in the house yes i want to know he said at last with an effort your back s at the wall you do the best you can don t you began the clerk i s y that because i to know there s a prejudice against it it s considered vulgar ly vulgar he the handkerchief and showed a jar this ere s this is said he the captain stared upon him with a face this is the stuff he pursued holding it up this bum to the bone you see it smoke upon im like ell fire one drop upon is and i trouble you for no no by god exclaimed the captain now see ere said this is my feast i believe i m goin up to that man single i am e s about seven foot high and i m five foot one e s a rifle in his and e s on the look out e was n t born yesterday this is david and and i tell you if i ad you to walk up and face the music i could understand but i don t i on y you to stand by and the it all come in quite natural you see else thing you know you see him running round and like a good un don t i said don t talk of it i well you are a exclaimed what did you want you wanted to kill him and tried to last night you wanted to kill the lot of them and tried to and ere i show you ow and because there s some medicine in a bottle you kick up this fuss i suppose that s so said it don t seem reasonable only there it is it s the of science i suppose sneered i don t know what it is cried pacing the floor it s there i draw the line at it i can t put a finger to no such it s too damned hateful and i suppose it s all your fancy it said w en you take a pistol and a bit o lead and a man s brains all over him no for i m not denying it said it s something here inside of me it s foolishness i it s damn foolishness i don t argue i just draw the line is n t there no other way look for yourself said i ain t wedded to this if you think i am i ain t ambitious i the ebb tide don t make a point of the lead i offer to that s all and if you can t show me better by i then the risk cried if you me i should say it was a case of seven to one and no said but that s my and i m look at me there ain t any about me i m that s what i am all through the captain looked at him sat there his sinister vanity in his in evil and the courage and readiness of the creature shone out of him like a candle from a lantern dismay and a kind of respect seized hold on in his own despite until that moment he had seen the clerk always hanging back always and openly grumbling at a word of anything to do and now by the touch of an s he beheld him sitting and resolved and his face radiant he had raised the devil he thought and asked who was to control him and his spirits look as long as you like was going on you don t see any green in my	38
eye i ain t af of i ain t af of you and i ain t af of words you want to kill people that s you want but you want to do it in kid gloves and it can t be done that w y murder ain t genteel it ain t easy it ain t safe and it a man to do it ere s the man david and began the captain with energy and then stopped and remained staring at him with brows well with it said ave you else to put up is there any other to try the captain held his peace there you are then said with a shrug fell again to his pacing oh you may do go till you re blue in the you won t find else said there was a little silence the captain like a man launched on a swing flying among extremes of conjecture and refusal but see he said suddenly pausing can you can the thing be done it it can t be easy if i get within twenty foot of im it be done so you look out said and his tone of certainty was absolute how can you know that broke from the captain in a choked cry you beast i believe you ve done it before oh that s private returned i ain t a talking man a shock of struck and shook the captain a scream rose almost to his lips had he uttered it he might have cast himself at the same moment on the body of might have picked him up and flung him down and wiped the the ebb tide cabin with him in a frenzy of cruelty that seemed half moral but the moment passed and the crisis left the man weaker the were high the pearls on the one hand starvation and shame on the other ten years of pearls the imagination of translated them into a new existence for himself and his family the seat of this new life must be in london there were deadly reasons against and the pictures that came to him were of english manners he saw his boys marching in the procession of a school with gowns on an them and reading as he walked in a great book he was in a villa semi detached the name on the gate posts in a chair on the gravel walk he seemed to sit smoking a cigar a blue ribbon in his victor over himself and circumstances and the of he saw the parlor with red curtains and shells on the mantel piece and with the fine of visions mixed a at the mahogany table ere he turned in with that the gave one of the and nameless movements which even in an ship and even in the most profound calm remind one of the of and he was back again under the cover of the house the fierce daylight it all round and glaring in the and the clerk in a rather airy attitude awaiting his decision he began to walk again he after the david and of these dreams like a horse for water the lust of them burned in his inside and the only obstacle was who had insulted him om the first he gave a full share of the pearls he insisted on it opposed him and he trod the opposition down and praised himself exceedingly he was not going to use himself was he s keeper it was a pity he had asked but after all he saw the boys again in the school procession with the gowns he had thought to be so long since and at the same time the shame of the last evening blazed up in his mind have it your own way he said hoarsely oh i knew you would walk up said now for the letter there s paper pens and ink sit down and i the captain took a seat and the pen looked awhile helplessly at the paper then at the swing had gone the other way there was a upon his eyes it s a dreadful business he said with a strong of his shoulders it s rather a start no doubt said a dip of ink that s it william john esq sir he dictated how do you know his name is william john asked saw it on a packing case said got that no said but there s another thing what are we to write the ebb tide oh my cried the exasperated kind of man do you call yourself i m goin to tell you to write that s my pitch if you just be so as to write it down william john esq sir he and the captain at last beginning half mechanically to move his pen the proceeded is of and thai i approach you after the events of last night our mr has left the and will have doubtless communicated to you the nature of our needless to these are no longer possible fate as against us and we bow the well as i am of the just suspicions with i am re i do not venture to of an interview for myself but in order to put an end to a w must be equally to all i ave my friend and partner mr z to before you my proposals and by their will i trust be found to merit your attention mr j l is entirely j swear to and will old over is the moment he begins to approach you i am your servant john read the letter with the innocent joy of chuckled to himself and it more than once after it was folded to repeat the pleasure meanwhile sitting and heavily frowning of a sudden he rose he seemed all abroad david and i no he	38
cried no it can t be it s too much it s god would never forgive it well and oo wants him to returned shrill with fury you were damned years ago for the sea and said so yourself well then be damned for something else and old your tongue the captain looked at him no he pleaded no old man don t do it ere now said i u give you my go or st y w ere you are i don t mind i m goin to see that man and this in his eyes if you st y i go alone the will likely knock me on the and a fat lot you be the better but there s one thing sure i ear no more of your rot and it the captain took it with a and a memory with phantom voices repeated in his ears something similar something he had once said to years ago it seemed now over your pistol said i ave to see all clear six shots and mind you don t them the captain like a man in a nightmare laid down his revolver on the table and wiped the and the works it was close on noon there was no breath of wind and the heat was scarce when the two men came on deck had the boat and the ebb tide passed down one after another into the a white shirt at the end of an oar served as a flag of and the men by direction and to give it the better chance to be observed pulled with extreme the isle shook before them like a place on the face of the blinding copper no bigger than danced and them in the there went up from sand and sea and even from the boat a glare of brightness and as they could only peer abroad from between closed lashes the excess of light seemed to be changed into a sinister darkness to that of a thunder cloud before it bursts the captain had come upon this errand for any one of a dozen reasons the last of which was desire for its success superstition rules all men semi ignorant and gross natures like that of it rules utterly for murder he had been prepared but this horror of the medicine in the bottle went beyond him and he seemed to himself to be parting the last that united him to god the boat carried him on to to and he himself to be carried silently bidding farewell to his better self and his hopes sat by his side in towering spirits that were not wholly genuine perhaps as brave a man as ever lived brave as a he must still himself with the tones of his own voice he must play his part to exaggeration he must out david and i insult all that was respectable and brave all that was formidable in a kind of desperate with himself so the young soldier may jest as he goes into the battle so perhaps of old the on the but it s ot said he cruel ot i call it nice d y to get your in i s y you know it must feel ly peculiar to get over on a d y like this i d rather have it on a and morning wouldn t you singing ere we go round the bush on a and frosty spoken give you my word i ave n t thought o that in ten years used to sing it at a ant school in it was singing this is the way the does the spoken you off now for the notion of a future do you cotton to the tea fight view or the old red ot business oh dry up said the captain no but i want to know said it s within the ere of practical politics for you and me my boy we may both be over one up t other down within the next ten minutes it would be rather a lark now if you only across came up t other side and a met you with a b and s under his wing you d s y come i this kind the captain groaned while was thus and his the man at his side was actually engaged in prayer prayer the ebb tide what for god knows but out of his inconsistent agitated spirit a stream of was poured forth inarticulate as himself earnest as death and judgment thou me i continued i remember i had that written in my bible i remember the bible too all about and parties well said he the you re goin to see a rum start presently i promise you that the captain bounded i have no he cried no in my boat all right cap said an to oblige any other topic you would like to suggest the the rod or the musical glasses ere s on tap put a penny in the and ere they are he cried now or never is e goin to shoot and the little man straightened himself into an alert and dashing attitude and looked steadily at the enemy but the captain rose half up in the boat with eyes what s that he cried s said those blamed things said the captain and indeed it was something strange and both armed with had appeared out of the grove behind the figure head david and i and to either hand of them the sun upon two objects ry like men and occupying in the economy of these creatures the places of heads only tiie heads were to hit between wind and water his appeared to have come alive and to be but was not a moment you can t you see he said so they are said with a gasp and why oh i see it s for	38
did i tell you said and all the and back the two natives for they it was that were equipped in this unusual of war spread out to right and left and at last lay down in the shade on the extreme flank of the position even now that the mystery was explained was stared at the flame on their and forgot and then remembered with a smile the explanation withdrew again into the grove and with his gun under his arm came down the pier alone about half way down he halted and hailed the boat what do you want he cried i tell that to mr replied stepping briskly on the ladder i don t tell it to you because you the here s a letter for him it and give it and be to you the ebb tide is this au right said raised his chin glanced swiftly at and away again and held his peace the glance was charged with some deep emotion but whether of hatred or fear it was beyond to divine well he said i give the letter he drew a score with his foot on the boards of the till i bring the answer don t move a step past this and he returned to where leaned against a tree and gave him the letter glanced it through what does that mean he asked passing it to treachery oh i suppose so said well tell him to come on said one isn t a for nothing tell him to come on and to look out returned to the figure head half way down the pier the clerk was waiting with by his side you are to come along said he bids you look out no tricks walked briskly up the pier and paused face to face with the young man were is e said he and to s surprise the low bred insignificant face before him flushed suddenly crimson and went white again right forward said pointing now your hands above your head the clerk turned away from him and toward the david and figure head as though he were about to address to it his he was seen to heave a deep breath and raised his arms in common with many men of his unhappy physical s hands were long and broad and the palms in particular enormous a four jar was nothing in that fist the next moment he was steadily forward on his mission at first followed then a noise in hu rear startled him and he turned about to find already advanced as far as the figure head he came crouching and open mouthed as the may follow the all human considerations and even the care of his own life swallowed up in one abominable and burning curiosity halt cried covering him with his rifle what are you doing man you are not to come instinctively paused and regarded him with a of eye put your back to that figure head do you hear me and stand fast said the captain fetched a breath stepped back against the figure head and instantly his glances after there was a hollow place of the sand in that part and as it were a among the in which the direct sun blazed at the far end in the shadow the the ebb tide tall figure of was to be seen leaning on a tree toward him with his hands over his head and his steps smothered in the sand the clerk painfully the surrounding glare threw out and exaggerated the man s it seemed no less perilous an enterprise this that he was gone upon than for a to a there mr that will do cried from that distance and keeping your hands up like a good boy you can very well put me in possession of the s views the interval them was perhaps forty feet and measured it with his eye and breathed a curse he was already distressed with laboring in the loose sand and his arms ached bitterly from their unnatural position in the palm of his right hand the jar was ready and his heart thrilled and his voice choked as he began to speak mr said he i don t know if ever you ad a mother i can set your mind at rest i had returned and henceforth if i might venture to suggest it her name need not in our communications i should perhaps tell you that i am not to the pathetic i am sorry sir if i ave seemed to on your private s said the clerk and stealing a step at least sir you will never pe me that you are not a gentleman david and i know a gentleman when i see him and as such i ave no in myself on your merciful consideration it is ard lines no doubt it s ard lines to have to yourself beat it s ard lines to ave to come and beg to you for charity when if things had only gone right the whole place was as good as your own suggested i can understand the feeling you are judging me mr said the clerk and knows how me was the i ad in my bible w my father wrote it in with is own and upon the fly i am sorry i have to beg your pardon once more said but do you know you seem to me to be a trifle nearer which is entirely outside of our bargain and i would venture to suggest that you take one two three steps back and stay there the devil at this staggering disappointment looked out of s face and was swift to suspect he frowned he stared on the little man and considered why should he be creeping nearer the next moment his gun was at his shoulder	38
kindly oblige me by opening your hands open your hands wide let me see the fingers spread you dog throw down that thing you re holding he roared his rage and increasing together and then at almost the same moment the in the ebb tide decided to throw and pulled the there was scarce the of a second between the two but it was in favor of the man with the rifle and the jar had not yet left the clerk s hand before the ball shattered both for the twinkling of an eye the wretch was in helps agonies in liquid flames a screaming and then a second and more bullet stretched him dead the whole thing was come and gone in a breath before could turn about before could complete his cry of horror the clerk lay in the sand and ran to the body he stooped and viewed it he put his finger in the and his face and hardened with anger had not yet moved he stood astonished with his back to the figure head his hands clutching it behind him his body inclined forward from the waist turned deliberately and covered him with his rifle he cried in a voice like a trumpet i give you sixty seconds to make your peace with god looked and his mind awoke he did not dream of self defence he did not reach for his pistol he drew himself up instead to face death with a quivering i guess i not trouble the old man he said considering the job i was on i guess it s better business to just shut my face david and i fired there came a movement of the victim and immediately above the middle of his forehead a black hole the whiteness of the figure head a dreadful pause then again the report and the solid sound and jar of the bullet in the wood and this time the captain had felt the wind of it along his cheek a third shot and he wa bleeding from one ear and along the rifle smiled like a red indian the cruel game of which he was the was now clear to three times he had drunk of death and he must look to drink of it seven times more before he was despatched he held up his hand steady he cried i take your sixty seconds good said the captain shut his eyes tight like a child he held his hands up at last with a tragic and ridiculous gesture my god for christ s sake look after my two he said and then after a pause and a for christ s sake amen and he opened his eyes and looked down the rifle with a quivering mouth but don t keep me long he pleaded that all your prayer asked with a singular ring in his voice guess so said so said resting the butt of his rifle on the ground is that done is your peace made the ebb tide with heaven because it is with me go and sin no more sinful father and remember that whatever you do to others god shall visit it again a thousand fold upon your the wretched came staggering forward from his place against the figure head fell upon his knees and waved his hands and fainted when he came to himself again his head was on s arm and close by stood one of the men in divers holding a bucket of water from which his late now his face the memory of that dreadful passage returned upon him in a clap again he saw lying dead again he seemed to himself to on the brink of an eternity with trembling hands he seized hold of the man whom he had come to and his voice broke from him like that of a child among the of fever oh is n t there no mercy oh what must i do to be saved ah thought here is the true penitent chapter xii a tail piece o n a very bright hot strongly blowing noon a fortnight after the events recorded and a month since the curtain rose upon this episode a man might have been praying on the sand by the beach a point of palm trees isolated him from the settlement and from the place where he knelt the only work of man s hand that interrupted the expanse was the her berth quite changed and rocking at anchor some two miles to in the midst of the the noise of the trade ran very boisterous in all parts of the island the nearer and whistled in the those farther off contributed a humming bass like the roar of cities and yet to any man less absorbed there must have risen at times over this turmoil of the winds the note of the human voice from the settlement there all was activity stripped to his trousers and a strong hand of help was directing and encouraging five from his lively voice and their more lively it was to be gathered that some sudden and the ebb tide joyful emergency had set them in this bustle and the union jack floated once more on its but the on the beach unconscious of their voices prayed on with and and the sound of his voice rose and fell again and his countenance brightened and was with changing moods of piety and terror before his closed eyes the e had been for some time towards the distant and deserted and presently the figure of might have been observed to board her to pass for a while into the house thence forward to the and at last to plunge into the main in all these quarters his visit was followed by a of smoke and he had scarce entered his boat again and off before flames broke forth upon the they burned had not	38

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