The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-04-16
THE ISLE OF VOICES.
4 Tale Of the Hswaiiaa Isia.ds.


Copyrighted lsss, BY Robert Louis Stevenson.
Keola was married with Lehua, daugh-
ter Of Kalamake, the wise man Of Moio-
kai. and he kept his dwelling with the
father Of his wife. There was no man
more cunning than that prophet; he read
the stars. he could divine by the bodies of
the dead and by means Of evil creatures;
he could 90 alone into the highest parts
Of tbe mountain. into the region of. the
hobgoblins. and there he would lay snares
TO entrap the spirits Of the ancient.
For this reason no man was more con-
suited in eli the kingdom Of Hawaii.
Prudent people bought and sold and mar
ried and laid ont their lives by
his counsels; and the king had him
twice to Kona to seek the treasures
of Kamehameha. Neither was any man
more feared; Of his enemies. some had
dwindled In sickness by tho virtue of his
incantations. and some had been spirited
away, the life and the clay both, 90 that
folk looked In vain tor 80 much a. . bone
Of their bodies. It was rumored that he
had the art or the gift of the old heroes.
Men had seen him at night upon the
mountains. stepping from one cliff to the
next; they had seen him walking in the
high forest. and his head and shoulders
were above the trees. This Kalamake was
. strange man to BEE. He was come Of tho
best blood in Molokai and Maui. of . pure
descent; and yet he was more white to
look upon than any foreigner; his hair
the color of dry grass, and his eyes red
and very blind, 30 that ''blind - Kala-
make that can see across tomorrow" was
byword In tho Islands.
OF all these doings Of his father-in-law
Keola knew . little by the common repute,
little more he suspected and the rest he
ignored. But there was one thing that
troubled him. Kslamake was man that
spared for nothing. whether to eat or to
drink or to wear; and for all he paid in
bright new dollars. alright as Kala-
makes dollars" was another saying in the
Eight isles. Yet he neither sold, planted
nor took hire--oniy now and then from his
sorceries-and there was no source con-
ceivable for 10 much silver coin.
IL CHANGED ono day that Keola's wife
was gone upon . visit to Kaunakakai, on
the lee side Of the island, and the men
were forth ~ the Sea fishing. But Keola
was IN idle dog, and he lay in the veranda
and watched the surf beat on the shore and
the birds 6y about the cliff. It was chief
thought with him aiways-the thought OF
the bright dollars. When he lay down to
bed he would be wondering why there
were 20 many, and when he awoke st
morn he would be wondering why they
were eli new. and the thing was never
absent from his mind. But this day OF
ali days he made sure in his heart OF
some discovery. For it seems he
had observed the place where
kalamake kept his treasure, which
was . Iockfast desk against the parlor
wall, under the print Of Kamehameha V.
and photograph of Queen Victoria with
her crown; and IL seems again that, no
later than the night before, he found occa-
sion 10 look In. and behold the bag lay
there empty. And this was the day OF the
steamer: he could see her smoke of Kala-
upapa: and she must soon arrive with a
months goods, timed salmon and gin,
and all manner Of rare luxur,es for Kaia.
make.
''Now If he can pay for his goods today"
Keoia thought. II shall know for certain
that the man is wariock. and the dollars
come out Of the devils pocket"
While he was thinking, there was his
father-in.law behind him looking vexed.
lis that the steamerf" he asked
EYES," said Keoia. .she has but to call
1t Polokunu and then she will be here"
"There Is no help for II them" returned
KalAmske. land l must take you in my