The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-11-09
oecting to sellit to some white man for a

PecIing 70 sell IL 70 some white man Tor a
fortune.
"Three days later bought it from them
for plug of niggerhesd, and when Steven
son came that way again | gave him his
camera, none the worse for its soaking.
That night We all had our fill Of cham
payne on board the Casc1. The next day
Stevenson made q tour Of the island with his
phOtogrsphing apparatus
YES, there's many q good story told
OF life In the South Sea Islands. For all
it's so balmy and quiet down theirs a man
lives more and sees more OF the world 10
four years on the island than many men do
in forty years why stay at home in o big
city," continued Cook.
1t were worth your while to know Walter
Cook il only to listen to his South Sea
stories. Were he an accomplished lirera-
tuer be might write syndicate letters that
would win him more fame than those Of
Robert Louis Stevenson have won for their
author.
And talking Of Stevenson again." said
Cook. there never was a bigger greeuhorn
struck the island than the author Of The
Wreckeri
when he first came to Tahiti he hunted
put out when informed that there was no
such thing short Of Australia"
What aD going TO dor he asked. The
Casco wants scraping badly. l suppose Ill
have to beach her to have it done.'
mot bit Of it, we told him. Give a
dozen Kanakas plug Of tobacco aud set
them to work with the promise of another
plug apiece when the scraping is done
But how are they going to get at her
while she's In the water" asked the per-
picked author.
- Leave that to me, told him, aud he
did so. He was good deal surprised to see
those Ranakas dive under the Casco's bot
tom and scrape her clean in less time than
it would have taken to dry-dock the
schooner. had there been such a convenience
at hand.
stevenson watched them all day long.
He seemed fairly enchanted with their
spryness in the water, and when the sharks
began TO gather abOuG them he cried out to
bring them all on board in boat
but the natives never needed him They
feared the man-eating sharks no more in the
water than on deck. An able-bodied Kan
aka, you know, can out swim a shark any
day. When the big fish got too near one Of
the native scrapers he would get kick or
punch behind the fins, and that would settle
that shark, so far as that native was con-
cerned.
'lf one of the sharks got too persistent
In his attentions on the scraping Kanaka,
then the native would stop his work long
enough to jao his scraping tool into the
sharks belly few times. But this the
natives were loath to do, for it interfered
with their work, the blood from the wounded
shark dlscoloring the water and making it
opaque, SO they could not see the hull of the
schooner.
Stevenson was simply amazed at all
this, and instead of giving each Kanaka
another plug of tobacco he paid them S.
apisSs fer their days work.. There were
doSsn drunken KsnskAs In town that night.
49,
remember now occurred In the MarqueSas
Archipelago. At that time the author had
crew of SIX KGHakas. One night in the
schooner Poe, which means pearl, | spoke
the Cascolthirteen miles off the reefs. She
was In distress, so | went aboard to see what
was the matter. There found Stevenson
and his captain alone-not another soul
aboard.
WHATS the matterP says [. Where's
your crew? You can't get in alone
'''Of course we can't said Stevenson,
and that's just the trouble. The crew has
deserted US, every man Jack OF them. An
hour ago they soampered of over the deck
rail and are now swimming home or
drowned
Never you fear that they'll drown,
said. A 1S-mile swim for a Kanaka is only
pleasure trip. There's only one way TO
drown native, and that's 10 hold his head
under water'
Then Stevenson told US how the crew
came to desert him. One Of them had been
aloft to lower the gaff topsail aud make fast
the block. The Kanaka obeyed orders and
all went well till a sQuall struck the Casco
little later, one of those tropical storms
that do a heap of damage while they last,
but quickly blow over.
when the squall struck the Casco the
gatf topsail block blew off, showing that
the Kanaka had fastened it carelessly In
the excitement the captain lost his temper
and gave the offending native cuff
Instantly those six natives went below
and packed up their scant belongings. They
came on deck stripped, With their clothes
tied on their heads. In another instant the
Casco's crew was in the water, swimming
for shore thirteen miles away.
just at that place, too the sea is infested
with sharks, some of them Is feet long. But
not one of tho six met with mishap, and
three days later when | came back that
way, | carried them home to Tahiti.
well, the end of it was that l had to lend
the Casco three Of my natives This made
me awfully short-handed, and you bet
Stevenson bad to pay for it. But without
this help Stevenson would have been
wrecked, sure. No two men could have
taken a schooner over those reefs