The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-07-14
The Chief OF
TaOvata.

lJtlIl Dtt"ttil "'iSAN WV
somher outline of foliage showed in sharp
contrast to the white strip Of coral sand
No sound came from the land save tho
deep thunder of the surf, caused by the
heavy swell that rolled in long lines over
the barrier reef The trade breeze IVES
light. but the ever restless ocean roarcd
and Numbered III the deep monotone that
has IL soothing effect upon 4 sailors nerves
Everything spoke of peace and rest, and
the duh roar OF The southern ocean sound
cd deep and sad, like acalm but all power
FIJI protest against the inhumanity of man
to man.
Even u sailor has moments for thoughts.
and some Of the gunboat's crew were
wondering. as they cast an eye alnft,
whether they were any better than the
man who hung suspended by the neck
from the main yartlarm For there gh1.st-
IL and grim. in that peaceful picture,
hung the greatest chief Of the Archipelago,
stark and dead. 1t was an ugly sight: with
an uglipr story behind. and some of the
less cdilnus of the men sat silent and sui
len about the four small broadsidc guns.
The captain of the maintop, who had
swung the chief up, was i'll an ugly mood
He smoked III silence for nearly half an
hour, lacking over the mOonlit ocean, and
when johnson. the quartermaStcr, spoke
lightly TO him and jokcd at the ghastly
figure swayin:r slowly with the easy roll
OF the ship, he arose and put his pipe
away. Then he dashed out and knocked
the quartermastcr endways into Il coil of
rope.
There was some scuffiing before Digs
was subducd and brought to the mast.
Tho officer of the watch wished to know
the trouble and asked him why he had
struck his shipmate. Because l wished
to knock some sense into his bullet head, y
said Digs with emphasis.
"Don't talk loud to me, sir. I'm not
deaf" snapped the officer.
Its not because you're deaf, but be-
cause you re dumb, answered Diggs i'll
solcntly. 81 was forced to kill that poor
fellow, and man with half Il head might
know 1 won't b. joked about it. "
Tie smell of shore grOg hung heavily
upon the breath of the captain of the
maintop, and the officer of the deck WIS
lenient. Therefore he had him put in
irons and clappcd into IL brig until he To-
covered his temper enough tn he respectful
In the morning Ec WAS brought aft to
be tried fur INSTRUMENTATION and assault
upon his shipnatc. DigGS was cool and
prnitcnt enough now, and the shame of
the thing bore heavily upon him. As he
had never served time before his previous
good conduct was much i'll his favor, and
he was allowed to speak i'll his own behalf.
Il knew the fellow. sir, said he, land
it was Il bad job to have to swing him.
H. WAS Il good chief when l was in here
before and when he killed the old mis-
sonary lie WAS turned against Christians.
1t may have been right to hang him for
killing tie old man, but he WAS good
chief, and you can't blame Il poor nigger
for going wrong when he deals with the
Christians out here. They've pretty we'll
ruined the islands. | mean 10 diSrcspect,
sir. but there are two kinds of Christians
these that boot and those that act.
These ont here mostly boot. l don't say
anything against the old man, for he was
as good an old soul as ever ran mission,
and Maiatc was the best friend he had
He was cunvcrtcd-the only real convert.
cd chief Oh the island"
do you know that:' asked the officer
Eyes, sir, and because of that he had
only one wife. l.oa was what they called
her, and she WIS IL good girl. He was
married by the old missionary himself in
real lawful style, and there's lots Of white
folks wOrSc mated than they were. lneVer
saw man care more for Il woman, and she
was treated like any chiefs wife should he
by every decent white man. She would
swim ont t. a vessel when there wash t n
boat or y canoe handy but all the women
do that, ana when she did she never went
alone. II you had seen her that way,
you'd have seen the prctticst figure CT a
woman this side of the States
''But the whole business was ruined by
that idea that the islanders must he saved
from the devil. Where all the poor fellows
went who lived and died on this archi-
rclago III the last : 600 years never con-
ccrnc;l the mission They must have the
rest by making Christians of them, and
they converted Malatc and got him to
help. The trouble came when trader
dropped in for water. l reckon there was
mighty little of that aboard his schooner
for they served grog every watch. This
fellow saw Loa when she came aboard
with some Others, and he set cut for a
DEVILS job He got the old missionary
aboard his craft and prayed with him
There WASH t anything religious he didn't
do Then he found out the old fellow $
weakness for rum and filed him With the
worst that ever came from the west coast
After that he made himself all right with
the chief and was taken for the most pious
skipper in the south Pacific.
lone day lie had picnic aboard and
got all the nien drunk and bundled into
the canoes. Then lie clappcd all the wo
men below hatches with I.oa among them,
hove his anchor and stood to sea. That
. was the last any one i'll the archipelago
ever heard of them. You see, the chief
knew the skipper and the missionary had
been fast friends and that both were good
Christians, SO as the time went by he
stopped going to the mission and spent TIE
days on the beach looking for sails.
"Whcii he wills satisfied his wife was
gone for good. II change cams upon him.
He began to Lc siIllCn and morose. Per
haps IL Christian mightn' care if his wife
was lifted So easily. But with some OF
these hcathcns it is different. He never
forgot her.
"Ihin"s came to head when another
trader came in. The chief went aboard,
and, instead of trading for decent goods,
he got full of rum. Then he broke loose
He divcd below and tore things up, smash
ing Il cask of the spirits and setting fire to
it, They shot ut him, but missed, and he
Frrang on deck and, running aft, grabbed
the skipper. They went over the side to-
Gethcr, and the chief held the fellow below
until he was dead. Then he went on his
way ashore and took the old missionary
down to the beach to see the schooner
bum. He asked him if they wercn' all
Christians aboard, the same as took his
wife, and then lie told the poor old fellow
that as he was Christian also he must
die. lie had waited II year for his wife to
be brought back, and she hadn't come.
The whole outfit OF Christians were thieves
und robbers, and he would kill all no could
catch.
"Thc old fellow saw how the thing lay
and knew his time had come, and as the
chief carried him into the sea he PRAYED
loudly. That's the way matters were when
we came and the fellow would DO free
now if it wasn't for the fact he knew me.
1t was Il hard job finding him, and when
we went to lO'ard and saw the natives
were against us we knew he could keep
clear 1t was mostly by luck and mean
ness got him.
THE night before VIC came back aboard,
sir, the boat was pulled into slough be-
hind the barrier reef, where it was smooth,
and all hands turned in on the sand. You
know we had been gone three days and
were tired out, and the water was about
used up. About 8 bells was so thirsty
woke up, and, because the little stuff left
in the breaker was hot and dirty took
cutlass and went down the beach, intend
ing to get cocnanut and drink the milk.
found Il tree and climbed up and sInshc;i
II few down, and, as they fell some dis
tancc from the trunk, l went nosing about
in the sand to find them When l started
to pick one UP, noticed footprint that
was not mine.
THE track led up the beach into the jun
gle about 800 fathoms farther on. Some
thing mahe me follow it. for we had tried