Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1899-03-11

He did not say this, though 1--we
made more money in a week then than
l can do i'll year now, he went on.
Forty years ago, when | was but
young fellow, | started trading ON the
southern side Of UpOlu. There was not
awhile man within 20 miles of me, and
| could get any price liked for an old
uniform coat, especially if it had brass
buttons ON it, but IA Tower nusket-that
was the thing" and his rugged old face
lit up at the pleasant remiTiscence.
81 had the place to myself for three
years and you may be sure | made
pretty good thing out of it, Wish | had
some of the money left now. Then old
Jack Wilkinson came along and settled
down near me.
But who was Jack Wilkinson" l
asked
Never hear of Jack Wilkinson-old
Jack, as he was always called: Why, |
thought everybody in Samoa knew of
him, but he was getting to be an old
man then, and he's been dead long since,
and l suppose you young people have
forgotten all about the old fOgies.
"Well, I'll tell you about Jack. He
was hard case, one of the regular old
style beach combcrs. He had been don't
know how many years i'll the group and
had grown to be almost like Il native.
He used TO wear Il lava-lava instead of
trousers, just like IA Samoan, and he
could 90 about barefoot anywhere, even
on a coral reef, and that's a thing few
~
their feet to pieces.
"They did say" and he lowered his
voice unconsCiously, that he was one
of a party of cOnvicts who had escaped
from Australia when it was a penal set
tlement They stole "a boat and somehow
found their way here and made them
selves at home among the natives, but
the story was only whispered between
white men, and it would have been as
much as ones life was worth to even
hint at the thing to old Jack. He was
handy man with his knife, and there
We're no police about to call him to ac-
count for his actions
g got along well enough with Jack,
though l must say he had ways of deal
ing with the natives which | hardly APP
proved of They We're afraid of him,
though, and fed him on the best the
land could furnish. Jack never did any
thing for them in return. He spent his
days lying on mat III the shade of one
of their big cool houses open all round,
so that the breeze could pass through
and Jack could see all that was going
on without even moving. Sometimes,
when he was particularly energetic, he
would go fishing on the reef at low tide,
when coral showed up high above the
water, and it was easy enough to spear
malauli with long three pronged native
spears.
''Still, | soon found it was to my in
terest to keep i'll with old Jack. He got
twice as much oil as | could for the
same amount of trade, and though he
was always abusing and i'll treating the
Samoans strangely enough they would
take their oil to him rather than to me,
and | was as smooth as butter to the
natives, talking kindly to them and al
ways giving them little presents. l own
that | could never quite make it out to
this day, and no man knows the crooks
and twists Of the Samoan character bet
ter than do. | cannot unders tand what
gave Jack his extraordinary influence
over the people, though, to be sure in
the end they killed him on ManOno But
Pll tell you about that some other time.
$50 it happened that Jack became Il
sort of subtrader or assistant and would
buy the natives oil, giving them in
return orders on me for so much trade.
| paid him good commission, and [
could afford to do it, for SO long as Jack
was sober he was the best hand ut bar
gaining with the SamOans | ever saw,
but when lie got drunk there was no
holding him. | had to get Il case of gin
down from Apia now and again or else
Jack would never have staid with me.
Then he would go tearing wild for a
week or two until it was all finished and
perhaps wind up by setting fire to ma
tive house, or carrying Oft a woman, or
something like that. | had to pay for
the damage, and then Jack sobered
down and went along right enough for
another month or two.
''It was this failing that had got the
village about 20 miles along the coast,
where he had lived before coming to my
place. The natives there had put up
with him for long time, but at last
they got sick of the business, and the
chiefs of the town turned dead against
him and gave him week in which to
clear out. | never knew rightly what
brought this about, for Jack was very
reticent on the point, but it must have
been something very bad or else the ma
tives would never have summoned up
courage to behave as they did There
was IL taupo, Il village virgin, mixed
up i'll the business, l know, IA fine look
ing girl. She stuck to him all through
and came away with him to Salua,
where / was.
For Il long time Jack had been play
ing off an old beach comber's bounce on
would turn bit nasty he would threat
en- to bring "a British man-of-w war down
on them and have them well punished.
This used to scare the people, for men
of-war We're scarce i'll those days, and
the SamOans had an almost superstitious
awe of their guns. It's different now,
for the natives have seen so much Of
modern war vessels that they've grown
to despise them. They aren't afraid Of
being shelled either. Why, I've seen
them over on Upolu, when man Of
war did actually fire on the rebels, sit
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