Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-06-13
The Chief OF
Ta0vata.

|. I Inc Nulel vi (
( Ta0vata. :
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An English gunboat lay at anchor close
to the beach of Taovata OF the Marquesas,
and its crew lounged upon its spar deck
In the moonlight.
Eight bells had struck, but the weather
was warm. and the watch below was al
lowed on deck for air.
The sea was still, and tho full tropic
moon shone peacefully, making silvery
path between the ship and shore, where the
sonber outline Of foliage showed in sharp
contrast to the white strip Of coral sand.
No sound came from the land save the
deep thunder of the surf, caused by the
heavy swell that rolled In long lines over
tho barrier reef. The trade breeze was
light, but the ever restless ocean roarod
and Numbered In the deep monotone that
has a soothing effect upon sailors nerves.
Everything spoke Of peace and rest, and
the dull roar of the southern ocean sound
ed deep and sad, like calm but all power
full protest against the inhumanity Of man
to man.
Even a sailor has moments for thoughts,
and some Of tho gunboat's crew were
wondering, as they cast an eye aloft,
whether they were any better than the
man who hung suspended by the neck
from the main yardarm. For there, ghast-
~ and grim, In that peaceful picture,
hung the greatest chief of the archipelago,
stark and dead 1t was an ugly sight, with
an uglier story behind, and some Of the
less callous of the men sat silent and sui
len about the four small broadside guns. !.
The captain Of the maintop, who had
swung the ohief'up was in an ugly mood.
He smoked in silence for nearly half an
hour, looking over the moonlit ocean, and
when johnson, the quarter1naster, spoke
lightly to him and joked at the CHASTITY
figure swaying slowly with the easy roll
Of the ship, he arose and put his pipe
away. Then he dashed out and knocked
the quartermaster endways into coil of
rope.
There was some scuf1ling before Diggs
was subdued and brought to the mast.
The 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, "
said Diggs with emphasis.
"Don't talk loud to me, sir. I'm not
deaf, snapped the officer.
tits not because you're deaf, but be-
cause YOU'RE dumb" answered Diggs In.
solently. II was forced to kill that poor
fellow, and man with half head might
know won : b, joked about it," ~
The smell Of shore grog hung heavily
upon the breath of the captain Of the
maintop, and the officer Of the deck was
lenient Therefore he had him put in
irons and clapped into brig until he 10
covered his temper enough to be respectful.
In the morning he was brought aft to
be tried for Decentralization and assault
upon his shipmate. Diggs was cool and
penitent 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 In his favor, and
he was allowed to speak in his own behalf.
II knew the fellow, SIR" said he, land
1t was q bad job to have to swing him.
He was good chief when was In here
before, and when he killed the old mis-.
sionary he was turned against Christians.
It may have been right to hang him for
killing the old man, but he was good
chief, and you can't blame poor Niger
for going wrong when he deals with the
Christians out here. They've pretty we'll
ruined the islands. I mean no disrespect,
sir, but there are two kinds of Christians
those that boot and those that act.
These out here mostly boot. I don't say
anything against the old man, for he was
as good m old soul us ever ran u mission,
and Malate was the best friend he had.
He was converted-tho only real convert
ed chief on the island"
"Do you know that?" asked tho officer.
"Yes, sir, and because of that he had
only one wife. Loa was what they called
her, and sho was good girl. He was
married by tho old missionary himself in
real lawful style, and there's lots Of white
folks worse mated than they were. never
saw man care more for q woman. and she
was treated like any chiefs vito should be
by every decent white man. She would
swim out to a vessel when there wasn't a
boat or canoe handy, but all the women
do that, and when she did she never went
alone. II you had seen her that way,
you'd have seen tho prettiest figure Of a
woman this side Of the States.
"But the whole business was ruined by
that idea that the islanders must be saved
from the devil. Where all the poor fellows
went who lived and died on this arch-
pelago in the last 1900 years never con-
cerned the mission. They must have the
rest. by making Christians Of them, and
they converted Malate and got him to
help. The trouble came when trader
dropped in for water. 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 sot out for a
DEVILS job. He got the old missionary
aboard his craft and prayed with him.
There wasn't anything religious he didn't
do. Then he found out the old follow g
weakness for rum and filled 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 III ost pious
skipper in the south Pacific.
Zone day he had a picnic aboard and
got all the men drunk and bundled into
the canoes. Then he clapped all the wo'
men below matches, with Loa among them,
hove his anchor and stood to sea. That
was tho last any one in 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
scf; hu