Evening star., 1924-04-06

leave my mate to set up and overhaul
! some needed repairs whilrt L chased
/ right after that beche de mer.
= !; = x
SWELL, done it. had my boys
sail me over in the whale boat,
there bein' no proper anchorage for
a schooner yonder, and l told Far
well-that was my mate-he sh'd send
'em back again after me the next day
But he never did. And they never
came. No. they never. And | would
think it the less strange but that
Farwell, my mate, and every other
man of my crew, white or black,
should have, been the sacrifice. For
what had they done compared with
me? And yet l buried them, the few
/ could find of 'em after, in the coral
sand by the waters edge. =. . They d
been shot to pieces as they lay
II landed on Vatu along in the
afternoon. l walked up from the
lagoon and there wasn't living
creature in sight nor any trace of the
same.
1T looked queer the boats were
gone from the beach, the curing
sheds were empty. Thinks /. maybe
everybodys off on a big canoe festi
val, or elseway, and so l squatted in
the shade till they should please to
| come home again.
After 2 while l got the notion you
get of somebody spyin on y, and
sure enough when / turned nay head
l saw kid-just one. Maybe he was
eight year old, a brown bit of a
scamp peekin' from the doorway at
me through his oily ringlets, clever
as a mouse with his bright little eyes.
1 beckoned him over. but he whipped
inside, and when I went after him he
barred the door.
Well, l seen 1 was stuck at Eatu
for the day. anyhow, just me and the
kid-and him so perk and sassy-and
so I laid a reg'iar siege to catch that
chap. So | took my knife and bit
of driftWood I found and set down
to whittle kind of jumping toy,
which / hadn't done since I was a
kid myself.
II heard him stirrin at the window,
but | never let on, and pretty soon
here he come sneakiu' around behind
me for better look. / tossed the
jigger to him and he made a dive
for it and T near grabbed him. but he
went up tree smart as a squirrel.
You white fella mahrster.' he
chatters at me, you get to the devil.
Get to the devil long scrub" he says.
"'Oh-ho,' I says, my bold bucca-
neer, you talk big for such a spry
one. What name you SO much fright"
Me no fright he says. One fella
man. me-.
Cannon" L says. a-teasin' Of
him. If you're man why amt you off
with the rest of the bunch? All fella
Kanaka he go fish. only pickaninny
he stop home. Pickaninny, you
mo fish" he cries Sick, Plenty
strong fella sick. All fella Kanaka
run like devil. You no run like devil,
plenty soon you catch'm strong fella
sick--my word. Close up you die
altogether
Sick, d. y see, mister? All. that
was it. He told me what had hap
pened on Vatu. How crew of,
strange white men had showed up
around those parts in a little ketch:
how they hired some native divers
from Vatu and went grubbing the
reefs after pearls and how two weeks
before they'd put those unlucky divers
back on shore again to die. Aye,
mister-of measles. That was their
pay, the big sickness that sweeps an
island bare. Naturally the people had
cleared like frightened rats, scatter
ing for safety through the round
about group-all except this one boy.
me no fright" he says. One fella
man. me- And by heaven, he was,
He had stayed. Knowing quite we'll
what it meant, he had stayed. And
why? Father b'long me plenty too
much sick he says. Because there
was nobody else TO look after his old
man as was dyin' all alone in that
house"
But the boy was doomed" he cried.
Surely you should have seen that"
"As you say, mister returned the
other. Il saw that quite well-for L
nursed him the three days and
nights"
The Rev. David sat very still in
the darkness.
Il been a good deal amongst mig
gers in my time" resumed the
stranger. "A niger has always been
a nigger to me, black or brown or
pipe -colored. But that little kid now
he was different.
He was sickenin' for il himself, of
course, and even whilst he sat up
there in the tree a-cussin of me the
fever was on him. But 1 couldn't
coax him down. He was leary of
white men, and perhaps he had rea-
son. His father had been one of
those divers, you see. Not a step
would he come until / thought to
walk away into his house, and then
he came fast enough, all hands TO
repel boarders. He wasn't goin' to