Omaha daily bee., 1891-10-25


antly covered with green uuderbush. well
was not far of under n rustic well house,
nearer still, in a sandy cup OF the land. "A
pond where we might wash our clothes. The
place was out Of the wind, out OF the sun and
out Of sight Of the village. IL was shown TO
the king, and the town promised for the NOR
row.
Tomorrow came. MIR. Strong and MIR. Os-
bourne landed, found nothing done, aud car
ried ther complaint 20 Hembiuok.' He
heard them, rose, called for a Winchester.
and stepped without the royal p%ailsade, ana
fired two shots In the air. a shot IN the air
Is tho first Apemama warning; 1t has the
force of a proclamation in more loquacious
countries, aud his majesty remarked agree-
ably that IL would make bis laborers mo
bright In less than thirty minutes, ac-
cordingly, the men had mustered, the work
was begun and we were told that we might
bring our baggage when we pleased.
IL was two In the afternoon ere tine first
boat was bcaChcd. and the long procession OF
chests and crates and sacks began TO strug-
gle through the sandy desert toward Equa-
tor town. The grove Of pludaners was prac.
tically a thing of the past. Fire surrounded
and smoke rose in the green undorbrush. In
a wide circuit the axes were still crashing.
Those very advantages for which the place
was chosen, it had been the kings first idea
to abolish; and in the midst of this devasta-
tion there stood already a good sized moniap'
and q small, closed house. A mat was spread
near by for Tembinok'; mere he sat superin-
tending, in cardinal red, u pith helmet on his
head, a meerschaum pipe in his mouth, u wife
stretched at his back with custody OF tho
matches and tobacco. Twenty or thirty feet
in front of him the bulk of the
workers squatted ON the groundi
som of the bush here survived, and
in this the commons sat nearly to their
shoulders, and presented only an arc of
brown faces, black heads, and atten-
tive eyes fixed on his majesty. Long
pauses rcigned, during which the sub
s,-t. .s,,.,l a,4 thn lipr gTnplraH Than
Tembinok' would raise his voice and speak
shrilly and briefly. There was never a re-
spOnse IN words, but If the speech were jest
ing, there came by way OF answer discreet,
ooseqnious laughter, such laughter as we
hear in sChOolrOOms, and. ii 1t were practical,
the sudden uprising and departure OF the
squad. Twice they so disappeared and re-
turned with f1rther elements of the city, D
second house and a second monlap'. IL was
singular to spy far off through the cocoa
stems tho silent oucoming of the moniap'; at
first it seemed swimming spontaneously in
the air, but on nearer view betray ing under
the caves many score of moving, naked legs.
In all the affair senile obedience was no less
remarkable than senile dellberation. Inc
gang had here mustered by the note of Il
deadly weapon. The man who looked on
was the unqueStioneu master OF their lives;
and, except for ciyilty, they bestlrred them
selves like so many American hotel clerks.
The spectator was aware OF an unoOtrlSlVe
yet invincible inertia, at which the skipper
of a trading dandy might have torn his hair.
Yet tho work was accomplished. BY dusk,
when his majesty withdrew, the town was
founded and complete, a new and ruder Am
phion having called it from nothing with
three cracks of a rifle. And the next morn
ing the same c%onjurer Obliged us with II
further miracle, q mystic rampant fencing us,
so that the path which ran by our doors be-
came suddenly impossible, the inhabitants
who had business across the isle must fetch q
wide circuit, and we sat in the midst in a
transparent privacy, seeing, seen, but unap-
proachable, like bees in u glass hive. The
outward and visible sign OF this glamour was
no more than a few ragged cocoa leaf gar
lands round the stems of the outlying palms;
but its Significance reposed on the tremendous
sanction of the taboo aud the guns of Tenn
binok'.
We made our first meal that night in the
improvised city, where we were TO stay two
months, ana whiCh-SO soon as we had done
with twas to vanish in a day as 1t ap-
peared, its elements returning whence they
came, the taboo raised, the traffic on the path
resumed, the sun and the moon peering in
vain between the palm trees for the bygone
work, the wind blowing over an empty site.
Yet the place, which is now only an episode
in some memories, seemed to have been built
and to be destined to endure for years. IL
was a busy hamlet. One of the moniaps we
made our dining room, one the kitchen. The
houses we reserved for sleeping. They were
on the admirable Apemama plan, out and
away the best house in the South Seas,
stanuing some three feet above the ground on
posts; the sides of woven flaps, which can
be raised to admit light and air, or lowered
to shut out the wind and the rain; airy,
healthy, clean and water-tight. We had Il
hon Of a remarkable ~kind-almost unique in
my OK perience-being a hen that occasionally
laid eggs. Not far off Mrs. Stevenson
tended q garden of salad and shalotts. The
salad vas devoured by the hen, which was
her bane. The shalotts were served out a
leaf at a time and welcomed and relished
like peaches. Teddy and green cocoanuts
were broug hit us daily. We once had a
present of fish from the king, and once of
a turtle. Sometimes we shot s~o-called
plover along the shore, sometimes wild
chickens in the bush. The rest of our diet
was from tins.
Our occupations were various-all varying.
Mr.. Osbourne and | hammered away at a
novel, Mr.. Strong would be away sketching.
We read Gibbon and CARLYLE aloud, we blew
on fageolets, we on guitars, we
took photographs by the light of the sun, the
moon, and decorating powder, sometimes EN-
ployed CARDS. Pothunting engaged a part of
our leisure. | nave myself passed afternoons
in the exciting but innocuous pursuit OF
winged animals with a revolver, and it was
fortunate there were better shots of the
party, and fortunate the king could lend us a
more suitable weapon In the form of an ex-
cellcnt fOwllng piece, or our spare diet would
have been sparer still.
Night was the time to see our city, after
the moon was up, after the lamps were
lighted, and so long as the fire sparkled in
the cook house. We suffered from a plague
of flies and mosquitoes, comparable TO that
of Egypt; our dinner table (sent. like all our
furniture, by the king must be enclosed in a
tent OF netting, our citadel and refuge; and
this became all luminous, and 6ulged and
beacoued under the cave like the globe of
some moustrous lamp under the margin Of
its shade. Our cabins, the sides being prop
ped ut a variety of inc!inations, spilled out
strange, angular patterns of brightness. In
his rooted and open kitchen An Foo was to
DO seen by lamp and freight, dabbling
among pots. Over all there fell in the sea-
son an extraordinary splendor of mellow
moonshine. The sand sparkled as with the
dust of diamonds, the stars had vanished.
At intervals a dusky light bird, slow and
low flying, passed in the colorado of the tree
stems and uttered a hoarse, croaklng cry.
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
ron II DIE
The feminine belt grows really startling.