Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07


capricious circle, that had now one
center now another; they swept in dancing
crowds from end to end of the beach; tney
seemed without sense without reason In their
behavior; and yet
Vet there was purpose in those dark faces.
The eyes. deeo-set like bison's, beneath over
hanging brows, the cruel, clever NOUNS
showed none of the usual dance mtoxicatlon
u,;tn which Blades in his few weeks stay, was
aIraadv familiar The men of Yela today knew
what they were about; and they were certainly
about something.
What?
when Won have risked your life to go trad
ing ON the last, lonelest island outlying INC
long tail of Papua, you do not pass unnouceo
any peculiar action on the part OF tne ANeiy
sayaqes among whom your lot IS cast !rue'
YOU are the source of tobacco, the 1ount rom
which flow Calico timed salmon, kerosene
+oraahawks AIDES and knives, and you are
therefore, safe-as a general rule. But all rules
have their exceptions. Blades that day began
to wonder whether an exception might not DC
about to occur.
CINCE the day when he ran in 0eneatn the
~ dark tower Of Yela alone with his island
crew his stores. and his high adventure, Rich
ard Blades. g. aforetime senior clerk OF o
sydney real estate firm had known delights
Intoxicating, burning delights OF whose very
existence he had never before had so mucn
as o suspicion.
It was worth antagonizing your people, who
thought that going to the Islands was gong 70
the devil It was worth losing your chance OF
a junior partnership. 1t was worth the mad
ness Of spending all Of the only legacy you
had ever had, or ever would have, at single
blow. Worth it all to be so supremely your
own master, free beyond all widest dreams OF
freedom, alone in hundreds OF miles or sea,
amid beauty and wonder unimagined, with
your brown -thatched hut and your palms ana
your boat-pioneer, adventurer, king OF your
little world.
The Yela men had been pretty decent, on the
whole They hadn't had q trader there since
they killed the last one years ago-an impul-
siye act bitterly regretted: because the far-on
god called "Govamen" had walked up. sent
man-of-war, and smashed their villages.
Blades. coming up in cranky ketch from
Eamarai had been quite welcome. They let
him build his hut On the beach: they sold him
food, brought coconuts. and became very
Anxious to know where, what and how much
bis trade goods might be.
n But Blades warned beforehand, had not
brought them-yet. He had only enough to
buy food with. The ketch was to call again,
Bringing the stores that he had been just able
70 buy with the last squeezed-out drops OF his
legacy. Not much, but enough to make start.
ID All his chances in life now such as they
were. If he failed to make good as trader
here on lonely Yeia, well-he had kept back a
little which would take him to Sydney again;
70 the office again Chey would give him an
other chance; to the morning ferry up from
Mosman with the sun-gilt' waves racing IN
from Sydney Heads behind. and the dust-swept
city opening out before. To Heather Wilson,
his one-time fancee who had thrown him over
for naval officer, lost the officer, and expressed
herself ready to take or be taken back.
Heather would take him. The office would
take him-Blades was born salesman. Sydney
would take him, hold him, and never let him
60 again.
All-if he failed on Yela 1t would be safe
to bring his goods along soon. Yela was
crowded with coconuts. Copra ran high at
Eamarai that year. He'd make, not a fortune.
but enough to start his own plantation in o
year or two. And he would 60 on being q
king.
Thus Blades with his dream But there was
lnuch unworded, not to be told, in that dream;
Things to do with high mountains belted In
mist; golden birds and green and blue butter
flies; orchids pale as ice-howers on a window
pane; deeps, below Overhanging hills, where
int-white cockatoos scared screaming, reflected
in the agate-colored water; and long, bright,
moving flaws, like cracks in q crystal, shOVee
Ymhere mysterious beasts M Aha Submarine worlH