The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-08-02

none needed him. Against all expectation,
they came safe In dreadful tempest to
Papa malulu,, where the palms were sing
ing out and the cocoanuts flying like cannon
balls about the village green and the same
night the five young gentlemen sickened,
and spoke never reasonable word until
they died.
"And do you mean to tell me you can
swallow yarn like that?'' 1 asked.
She told me the thing was well known,
and with handsome young men alone it was
even common; but this was the only case
where five had been slain the same day
and in company by the love OF the women
devils; and it had made a great stir in the
island, and she would be crazy if she
doubted.
well, anyway" says /, you needn't be
frightened about me. I've no use for the
women-devils. You're all the women /
want and all the devil, too, old lady"
TO this she answered there were other
sorts, and she had seen one with her own
eyes. She had gone one day alone to the
oa h anf bad PerHaps IT. too the
high bush overshadowcd her from the kent
of the hill, but she herself was outside or
fat place. very stony and growing full of
young mummy apples, four and five feet
high. 1t was q dark day in the rainy sea
son, and now there came squalls that tore
off the leaves and sent them flying, and now
it WAS all still as in a house. 1t was in
one of these still times Jhat Il whole gang of
bITuS ana lA ing FOXES came pCSElDg out OF
the bush like creatures frightened. Present
ly after she heard q rustic nearer at hand,
and saw coming out of the margin of the
trees among the mummy apples the appear
ance OF lean, gray Old boar. 1t seemed
TO think as it came, like q person; and all
Of a sudden. as she looked at it coming, she
WAS aware 1t was no boar, but thing that
WAS n man with mans thoughts. At that
she ran, and the pig after her, and as the
pig ran 1t halloed aloud. SO that the place
rang with it,
Il wish / had been there with my gun,"
said l. Il guess that pig would have hal
loed so as TO surprise himself"
But she told me GIN was of no use with
the like of these, which were the spirits OF
the dead.
Well. this kind of talk put in the evening,
which was the best of 1t; but, of course, 1T
didn't change my notion, and the next day,
with my gun and good knife, | set off upon
voyage of discovery. ! made as near as
| could for the place where L had seen Case
come out, for if. it was true he had some
kind of establishment in the bush ! eck-
oned l should find a path. The beginning
of the desert was marked off by q wall, to
call it so. for it was more OF a long mound
of stones. They say it reaches right across
the island. but how they know it is another
question, for ] doubt if any one has made
the journey in hundred years, the natives
sticking chiefly to the sea and their little
colonies along the coast; and that part being
the west side of the wall, the ground has
been cleared, and there are cocoa palms
and mummy apples and guavas, and lots of
sensitive Just across the bush begins out
right, high bush at that, trees going up IKE
the masts of ships, and ropes of Llama hang
ing down like ships rigging, ana nasty
orchids growing in the forks like funguses.
The ground where there was no underwood
looked to be heap OF bGulders.; L say, saw
shot only | was there with n different idea.
4 number of butterflies Topped up and down
along the ground like dead leaves; some
.imes ! would hear n bird calling, some
times the wind overhead, and always the
sea along the coast.
But the queerness of the place it's more |
difficult TO tell of unless to one who has /
been alone in the high Oush himself. The |
brightest kind of day it is always dim |
down there. A man can see to the end OF
nothing; whichever way he looks the wood !
shuts up, one bough folding with another |
like the fingers of your hand; and whenever |
he listens he hears always something new |
men talking, children laughing, the stroke !
of far way ahead of him, and !
sometimes sort Of quick, stealthy sour |
~ near at hand that makes him jump |
and look to his weapons Its all very well |
for him to tell himself that he's alone, bar |
trees and BIRDS he can't make ont TO be- !
lieve it; whichever way he turns, the whole |
place seems to be alive and looking on. |
Don't think it was Uma's yarns that put |
me out; ] don't value native talk four |
penny piece; it's Il thing that's natural in |
the bush, and that's the end of it,
AS | got near the top of the hill, for !
the ground of the wood goes up in this place |
steep as u ladder, the wind began 10 sound
f 5 @n and and let the in 5e to s suited
me better; It was the same noise all the
time and nothing to stnrtle. Well, / had |
got to place where there was an under
wood of what they call wild cocoanut-
mlghfy pretty with its scarlet fruitS-wne4
there came n sound OF singing IN the wind |
that ] thought l had never heard the like of
It WAS ell very fine to tell myself IT was
the branches; | know better. 1t was all
very well to tell myself 1t was
A bird; l know l never heard Il bird that !
sang like that, 1t rose and swelled and |
died away and swelled again; and now ! /
thought 1t was Ike some one weeping, only !
pretter; and l thought it was like
harps; and there was one thing | made sure |
of, it was a sight too sweet to be whole /
some il Il place like that You may laugh
If You like; but / declare / called 10 mind
the six young ladies that came, with their |
scarlet necklaces, out Of the cave at Fanga-
anaana, and wondered if they sang like
that. We laugh at the natives and their
superstitions; but see how many traders
take them up, splendidly educated white
men, that have been bookkeepers (some
of them and clerks in the old country.
It's my belief Il superstition grows up in
Il place like the different kind of weeds:
and rs ] stood there and listened
70 that Wailjr% l twittered IN my shoes.
You may call me a coward to be frighten-
ed; | thought myself brave enough to 60
on ahead. But | went mighty carefully,
with my gun cooked, spying all about me
like hunter, fully expecting to see hand
some young woman sitting somewhere in
the bush, and fully determined, if l did, to
Try her with u charge of duck shot. And
sure enough, | had not gone far when | ,
met with queer thing. The wind came on
top Of the wood in a strong puff the leaves
III front of me burst open, aud | saw for a
second something hanging in a tree It
was gone in a wink, the puff blowing by /
and the leaves closing. | tell you the truth. |
i had made up my mind to see an aitu;
and if the thing had looked like a pig or a
woman, 1t wouldn't have given me the same |
turn The trouble was that it seemed kind |
of square, and the idea of a square thing |
that was alive and sang knocked me sick |
and silly. ! must have stood quite awhile;
and ] made pretty certain il was right out |
of the same tree that the singing came.
Then | began 10 come to myself a bit
We'll" says l, IF this is really so, If |
this is place where there are square things |
that sing, I'm gone up anyway. Let's have |
my fun for my money.
But ] thought | might well take the |
oG-chance Of g prayer being any good; SO !
/ pumped on my knees and prayed out |
loud, AID ali the time | was praying the /
strange sounds came out OF the tree, and |