The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1898-07-16

her old father"
There was q long pause, and we
drank more kava and smoked in
silence. Then the old gentleman be-
came reminiscent,
'She was three years old when the
old woman died, and the boy here
well, he could just toddle about, hold
ing Oh to his mothers skirts. There
were some who blamed me for taking
her to that outlandish New Britain,
where the people are real savages, and
not civilized like here. But what was
| to do? I'd been trading for McAlis-
ter & Co.-you've heard of them, I sup
pose?-when the firm broke up, and
was left stranded on the beach. I
hadn't had chance to save much, and
there was the wife and child to keep.
When 1 got the offer to go to New
Britain and open up some new trad
ing stations, I jumped at it, without
thinking overmuch of the risk.
II was a fool, | know, and now, if
I could only take it all back" He
took another cup Of kaya to hide his
emotion.
I could think of nothing appropriate
to say, SO [ sat and waited, while the
girl, squatting on the floor, looked UP
in her masters face and thoughtfully
began to prepare q second bowl of
kava.
At last he resumed the broken mar
rative: eve got on alright as long as
we were at the head station, where
there were several whites, and the
natives had, in way, learned some
manners. But when [ went away to
distant parts of the isle to open up
new stations I began to feel sorry that
I'd brought the missus with me. But
she would not hear of going back, not
she; she swore she'd stick to me
through thick and thin, and so she did
till the end.
''But to cut q long story short.
We opnned up three or four stations
safely enough. We used to go, just
ourselves, in a boat with our box of
trade and o crew of four boys from
the Duke of York's isle. They were
more afraid of being eaten than we
were, so they stuck to us pretty close.
cit was the cheek of the thing that
did it, and I wonder now, when I
look back, that we were not killed and
cooked q dozen times over. The ma
tives simply could not understand a
white man coming among them like
that all alone, and they were so aston
ished that they forgot to attack us.
"They were a poor lot Of savages,
and if you gave one Of them a piece Of
print he would hang it around his
neck and walk away as proud as
Punch. They were always fighting
among themselves. and thought nc
more of killing man than we would
of shooting pigeon. Why, I've seer
young fellow executed there just fol
stealing a cocoanut off chiefs tree,
and if they had dared they would
have killed me just as readily for the
sake Of my trade.
"They hadn't much to buy goods
with, either, little copra and some
beche-demer and pearl shells. They
wanted axes and tomahawks an(
knives, but most Of all they wanted
tobacco sspipes,g common clay pipes
What they did with them I dom
know, for they did not buy any to
bacco. Kept them as a sort Of idol o.
fetish, I suppose. They would sci
everything they had to get pipe, ant
especially black one, and it was be
cause of those cursed pipes that I los
my wife and nearly lost my own life
too. Perhaps it might have been o.
WE'LL" he added, despondently.
Nonsense, man," interposed, q
cheerfully as I could, "but how di'
it happen; tell me about it"
cit was the fourth place [ was at.
think, avid part, where no mission
ary had ever dared to set his foot
We were q long way from the mail
station, and I had to depend upol
myself entirely. 1t was up at the hea'
of a deep bay, and there were a lot o
mangroves, L remember, growing
along the beach, and then you wen
up steep bank ten or twelve fee
high, on top of which was the village
"Well, the chief was very glad t
see me; he said they wanted & whit
trader badly, and invited me to stop
So I pitched on q likely spot in til
middle of a grove of palms, close t
the beach, you may be sure. We 500
ran up rough bamboo house, and
got the wife and children, for Their
were two by this time, into it. The
we carried the goods ashore, haule
up the boat and I sat down to wal
for my customers.
IT might have been waiting till thi
day, for all the business I did. Tn
chief was very pleasant and fair spoke
) and took all the presents I gave hi
with the greatest condeseension. b
IL oon,o IN t,oJ;pu r fo,,nJ ~