CHAPTER V--A TALE OF A TAPU--continued
Tuesday, July 16.--It rained in the night, sudden and loud, in
Gilbert Island fashion. Before the day, the crowing of a cock
aroused me and I wandered in the compound and along the street.
The squall was blown by, the moon shone with incomparable lustre,
the air lay dead as in a room, and yet all the isle sounded as
under a strong shower, the eaves thickly pattering, the lofty palms
dripping at larger intervals and with a louder note. In this bold
nocturnal light the interior of the houses lay inscrutable, one
lump of blackness, save when the moon glinted under the roof, and
made a belt of silver, and drew the slanting shadows of the pillars
on the floor. Nowhere in all the town was any lamp or ember; not a
creature stirred; I thought I was alone to be awake; but the police
were faithful to their duty; secretly vigilant, keeping account of
time; and a little later, the watchman struck slowly and repeatedly
on the cathedral bell; four o'clock, the warning signal. It seemed
strange that, in a town resigned to drunkenness and tumult, curfew
and reveille should still be sounded and still obeyed.
The day came, and brought little change. The place still lay
silent; the people slept, the town slept. Even the few who were
awake, mostly women and children, held their peace and kept within
under the strong shadow of the thatch, where you must stop and peer
to see them. Through the deserted streets, and past the sleeping
houses, a deputation took its way at an early hour to the palace;
the king was suddenly awakened, and must listen (probably with a
headache) to unpalatable truths. Mrs. Rick, being a sufficient
mistress of that difficult tongue, was spokeswoman; she explained
to the sick monarch that I was an intimate personal friend of Queen
Victoria's; that immediately on my return I should make her a
report upon Butaritari; and that if my house should have been again
invaded by natives, a man-of-war would be despatched to make
reprisals. It was scarce the fact--rather a just and necessary
parable of the fact, corrected for latitude; and it certainly told
upon the king. He was much affected; he had conceived the notion
(he said) that I was a man of some importance, but not dreamed it
was as bad as this; and the missionary house was tapu'd under a
fine of fifty dollars.
So much was announced on the return of the deputation; not any
more; and I gathered subsequently that much more had passed. The
protection gained was welcome. It had been the most annoying and
not the least alarming feature of the day before, that our house
was periodically filled with tipsy natives, twenty or thirty at a
time, begging drink, fingering our goods, hard to be dislodged,
awkward to quarrel with. Queen Victoria's friend (who was soon
promoted to be her son) was free from these intrusions. Not only
my house, but my neighbourhood as well, was left in peace; even on
our walks abroad we were guarded and prepared for; and, like great
persons visiting a hospital, saw only the fair side. For the
matter of a week we were thus suffered to go out and in and live in
a fool's paradise, supposing the king to have kept his word, the
tapu to be revived and the island once more sober.
Tuesday, July 23.--We dined under a bare trellis erected for the
Fourth of July; and here we used to linger by lamplight over coffee
and tobacco. In that climate evening approaches without sensible
chill; the wind dies out before sunset; heaven glows a while and
fades, and darkens into the blueness of the tropical night; swiftly
and insensibly the shadows thicken, the stars multiply their
number; you look around you and the day is gone. It was then that
we would see our Chinaman draw near across the compound in a
lurching sphere of light, divided by his shadows; and with the
coming of the lamp the night closed about the table. The faces of
the company, the spars of the trellis, stood out suddenly bright on
a ground of blue and silver, faintly designed with palm-tops and
the peaked roofs of houses. Here and there the gloss upon a leaf,
or the fracture of a stone, returned an isolated sparkle. All else
had vanished. We hung there, illuminated like a galaxy of stars in
vacuo; we sat, manifest and blind, amid the general ambush of the
darkness; and the islanders, passing with light footfalls and low
voices in the sand of the road, lingered to observe us, unseen.
On Tuesday the dusk had fallen, the lamp had just been brought,
when a missile struck the table with a rattling smack and rebounded
past my ear. Three inches to one side and this page had never been
written; for the thing travelled like a cannon ball. It was
supposed at the time to be a nut, though even at the time I thought
it seemed a small one and fell strangely.
Wednesday, July 24.--The dusk had fallen once more, and the lamp
been just brought out, when the same business was repeated. And
again the missile whistled past my ear. One nut I had been willing
to accept; a second, I rejected utterly. A cocoa-nut does not come
slinging along on a windless evening, making an angle of about
fifteen degrees with the horizon; cocoa-nuts do not fall on
successive nights at the same hour and spot; in both cases,
besides, a specific moment seemed to have been chosen, that when
the lamp was just carried out, a specific person threatened, and
that the head of the family. I may have been right or wrong, but I
believed I was the mark of some intimidation; believed the missile
was a stone, aimed not to hit, but to frighten.
No idea makes a man more angry. I ran into the road, where the
natives were as usual promenading in the dark; Maka joined me with
a lantern; and I ran from one to another, glared in quite innocent
faces, put useless questions, and proffered idle threats. Thence I
carried my wrath (which was worthy the son of any queen in history)
to the Ricks. They heard me with depression, assured me this trick
of throwing a stone into a family dinner was not new; that it meant
mischief, and was of a piece with the alarming disposition of the
natives. And then the truth, so long concealed from us, came out.
The king had broken his promise, he had defied the deputation; the
tapu was still dormant, The Land we Live in still selling drink,
and that quarter of the town disturbed and menaced by perpetual
broils. But there was worse ahead: a feast was now preparing for
the birthday of the little princess; and the tributary chiefs of
Kuma and Little Makin were expected daily. Strong in a following
of numerous and somewhat savage clansmen, each of these was
believed, like a Douglas of old, to be of doubtful loyalty. Kuma
(a little pot-bellied fellow) never visited the palace, never
entered the town, but sat on the beach on a mat, his gun across his
knees, parading his mistrust and scorn; Karaiti of Makin, although
he was more bold, was not supposed to be more friendly; and not
only were these vassals jealous of the throne, but the followers on
either side shared in the animosity. Brawls had already taken
place; blows had passed which might at any moment be repaid in
blood. Some of the strangers were already here and already
drinking; if the debauch continued after the bulk of them had come,
a collision, perhaps a revolution, was to be expected.
The sale of drink is in this group a measure of the jealousy of
traders; one begins, the others are constrained to follow; and to
him who has the most gin, and sells it the most recklessly, the
lion's share of copra is assured. It is felt by all to be an
extreme expedient, neither safe, decent, nor dignified. A trader
on Tarawa, heated by an eager rivalry, brought many cases of gin.
He told me he sat afterwards day and night in his house till it was
finished, not daring to arrest the sale, not venturing to go forth,
the bush all round him filled with howling drunkards. At night,
above all, when he was afraid to sleep, and heard shots and voices
about him in the darkness, his remorse was black.
'My God!' he reflected, 'if I was to lose my life on such a
wretched business!' Often and often, in the story of the Gilberts,
this scene has been repeated; and the remorseful trader sat beside
his lamp, longing for the day, listening with agony for the sound
of murder, registering resolutions for the future. For the
business is easy to begin, but hazardous to stop. The natives are
in their way a just and law-abiding people, mindful of their debts,
docile to the voice of their own institutions; when the tapu is re-
enforced they will cease drinking; but the white who seeks to
antedate the movement by refusing liquor does so at his peril.
Hence, in some degree, the anxiety and helplessness of Mr. Rick.
He and Tom, alarmed by the rabblement of the Sans Souci, had
stopped the sale; they had done so without danger, because The Land
we Live in still continued selling; it was claimed, besides, that
they had been the first to begin. What step could be taken? Could
Mr. Rick visit Mr. Muller (with whom he was not on terms) and
address him thus: 'I was getting ahead of you, now you are getting
ahead of me, and I ask you to forego your profit. I got my place
closed in safety, thanks to your continuing; but now I think you
have continued long enough. I begin to be alarmed; and because I
am afraid I ask you to confront a certain danger'? It was not to
be thought of. Something else had to be found; and there was one
person at one end of the town who was at least not interested in
copra. There was little else to be said in favour of myself as an
ambassador. I had arrived in the Wightman schooner, I was living
in the Wightman compound, I was the daily associate of the Wightman
coterie. It was egregious enough that I should now intrude unasked
in the private affairs of Crawford's agent, and press upon him the
sacrifice of his interests and the venture of his life. But bad as
I might be, there was none better; since the affair of the stone I
was, besides, sharp-set to be doing, the idea of a delicate
interview attracted me, and I thought it policy to show myself
abroad.
The night was very dark. There was service in the church, and the
building glimmered through all its crevices like a dim Kirk
Allowa'. I saw few other lights, but was indistinctly aware of
many people stirring in the darkness, and a hum and sputter of low
talk that sounded stealthy. I believe (in the old phrase) my beard
was sometimes on my shoulder as I went. Muller's was but partly
lighted, and quite silent, and the gate was fastened. I could by
no means manage to undo the latch. No wonder, since I found it
afterwards to be four or five feet long--a fortification in itself.
As I still fumbled, a dog came on the inside and sniffed
suspiciously at my hands, so that I was reduced to calling 'House
ahoy!' Mr. Muller came down and put his chin across the paling in
the dark. 'Who is that?' said he, like one who has no mind to
welcome strangers.
'My name is Stevenson,' said I.
'O, Mr. Stevens! I didn't know you. Come inside.' We stepped
into the dark store, when I leaned upon the counter and he against
the wall. All the light came from the sleeping-room, where I saw
his family being put to bed; it struck full in my face, but Mr.
Muller stood in shadow. No doubt he expected what was Coming, and
sought the advantage of position; but for a man who wished to
persuade and had nothing to conceal, mine was the preferable.
'Look here,' I began, 'I hear you are selling to the natives.'
'Others have done that before me,' he returned pointedly.
'No doubt,' said I, 'and I have nothing to do with the past, but
the future. I want you to promise you will handle these spirits
carefully.'
'Now what is your motive in this?' he asked, and then, with a
sneer, 'Are you afraid of your life?'
'That is nothing to the purpose,' I replied. 'I know, and you
know, these spirits ought not to be used at all.'
'Tom and Mr. Rick have sold them before.'
'I have nothing to do with Tom and Mr. Rick. All I know is I have
heard them both refuse.'
'No, I suppose you have nothing to do with them. Then you are just
afraid of your life.'
'Come now,' I cried, being perhaps a little stung, 'you know in
your heart I am asking a reasonable thing. I don't ask you to lose
your profit--though I would prefer to see no spirits brought here,
as you would--'
'I don't say I wouldn't. I didn't begin this,' he interjected.
'No, I don't suppose you did,' said I. 'And I don't ask you to
lose; I ask you to give me your word, man to man, that you will
make no native drunk.'
Up to now Mr. Muller had maintained an attitude very trying to my
temper; but he had maintained it with difficulty, his sentiment
being all upon my side; and here he changed ground for the worse.
'It isn't me that sells,' said he.
'No, it's that nigger,' I agreed. 'But he's yours to buy and sell;
you have your hand on the nape of his neck; and I ask you--I have
my wife here--to use the authority you have.'
He hastily returned to his old ward. 'I don't deny I could if I
wanted,' said he. 'But there's no danger, the natives are all
quiet. You're just afraid of your life.'
I do not like to be called a coward, even by implication; and here
I lost my temper and propounded an untimely ultimatum. 'You had
better put it plain,' I cried. 'Do you mean to refuse me what I
ask?'
'I don't want either to refuse it or grant it,' he replied.
'You'll find you have to do the one thing or the other, and right
now!' I cried, and then, striking into a happier vein, 'Come,' said
I, 'you're a better sort than that. I see what's wrong with you--
you think I came from the opposite camp. I see the sort of man you
are, and you know that what I ask is right.'
Again he changed ground. 'If the natives get any drink, it isn't
safe to stop them,' he objected.
'I'll be answerable for the bar,' I said. 'We are three men and
four revolvers; we'll come at a word, and hold the place against
the village.'
'You don't know what you're talking about; it's too dangerous!' he
cried.
'Look here,' said I, 'I don't mind much about losing that life you
talk so much of; but I mean to lose it the way I want to, and that
is, putting a stop to all this beastliness.'
He talked a while about his duty to the firm; I minded not at all,
I was secure of victory. He was but waiting to capitulate, and
looked about for any potent to relieve the strain. In the gush of
light from the bedroom door I spied a cigar-holder on the desk.
'That is well coloured,' said I.
'Will you take a cigar?' said he.
I took it and held it up unlighted. 'Now,' said I, 'you promise
me.'
'I promise you you won't have any trouble from natives that have
drunk at my place,' he replied.
'That is all I ask,' said I, and showed it was not by immediately
offering to try his stock.
So far as it was anyway critical our interview here ended. Mr.
Muller had thenceforth ceased to regard me as an emissary from his
rivals, dropped his defensive attitude, and spoke as he believed.
I could make out that he would already, had he dared, have stopped
the sale himself. Not quite daring, it may be imagined how he
resented the idea of interference from those who had (by his own
statement) first led him on, then deserted him in the breach, and
now (sitting themselves in safety) egged him on to a new peril,
which was all gain to them, all loss to him! I asked him what he
thought of the danger from the feast.
'I think worse of it than any of you,' he answered. 'They were
shooting around here last night, and I heard the balls too. I said
to myself, "That's bad." What gets me is why you should be making
this row up at your end. I should be the first to go.'
It was a thoughtless wonder. The consolation of being second is
not great; the fact, not the order of going--there was our concern.
Scott talks moderately of looking forward to a time of fighting
'with a feeling that resembled pleasure.' The resemblance seems
rather an identity. In modern life, contact is ended; man grows
impatient of endless manoeuvres; and to approach the fact, to find
ourselves where we can push an advantage home, and stand a fair
risk, and see at last what we are made of, stirs the blood. It was
so at least with all my family, who bubbled with delight at the
approach of trouble; and we sat deep into the night like a pack of
schoolboys, preparing the revolvers and arranging plans against the
morrow. It promised certainly to be a busy and eventful day. The
Old Men were to be summoned to confront me on the question of the
tapu; Muller might call us at any moment to garrison his bar; and
suppose Muller to fail, we decided in a family council to take that
matter into our own hands, The Land we Live in at the pistol's
mouth, and with the polysyllabic Williams, dance to a new tune. As
I recall our humour I think it would have gone hard with the
mulatto.
Wednesday, July 24.--It was as well, and yet it was disappointing
that these thunder-clouds rolled off in silence. Whether the Old
Men recoiled from an interview with Queen Victoria's son, whether
Muller had secretly intervened, or whether the step flowed
naturally from the fears of the king and the nearness of the feast,
the tapu was early that morning re-enforced; not a day too soon,
from the manner the boats began to arrive thickly, and the town was
filled with the big rowdy vassals of Karaiti.
The effect lingered for some time on the minds of the traders; it
was with the approval of all present that I helped to draw up a
petition to the United States, praying for a law against the liquor
trade in the Gilberts; and it was at this request that I added,
under my own name, a brief testimony of what had passed;--useless
pains; since the whole reposes, probably unread and possibly
unopened, in a pigeon-hole at Washington.
Sunday, July 28.--This day we had the afterpiece of the debauch.
The king and queen, in European clothes, and followed by armed
guards, attended church for the first time, and sat perched aloft
in a precarious dignity under the barrel-hoops. Before sermon his
majesty clambered from the dais, stood lopsidedly upon the gravel
floor, and in a few words abjured drinking. The queen followed
suit with a yet briefer allocution. All the men in church were
next addressed in turn; each held up his right hand, and the affair
was over--throne and church were reconciled.
