Lentala of The South Seas 3

Lentala of The South Seas 3

"That girl is going to be mixed up with our fate."

 

"What do you make of her?"

 

"An eaglet hatched by buzzards."

 

Christopher's evident regard for her was dazzled wonder.

 

"You like her, Christopher?" I asked.

 

He was serious at all times, and much of his gravity was sadness. He

nodded impressively.

 

"Yes, sir."

 

"She has fed you well."

 

"Yes, sir." He spread his immense hands over his stomach.

 

"I'll ask her to bring you some more," I said.

 

His face showed alarm. "Don't, sir! I'd shorely bust."

 

"But you wouldn't have to eat more, even if she brought it."

 

"Yes, I would, sir."

 

"Why?"

 

"I'd jess _have_ to, sir." This with a solemn helplessness.

 

"He has taken her measure," dryly remarked Captain Mason.

 

He had found opportunity to study the splendid jewels so abundantly

adorning the king and the girl.

 

"Those gems," he said, "were cut by European lapidaries."

 

There was a disturbing suggestion in his words, but I could not define

it. This island had received rich treasures from civilization. Here was

a mystery.

 

"How do you account for them?" I asked.

 

"The typhoon makes many wrecks. There's no knowing what shores they

crawl up on to die."

 

"Yes; but you see that although our ship was wrecked, we came ashore.

Survivors of other wrecks likely have had the same experience."

 

"No doubt."

 

"Then, why haven't they given out news of this island? It is evidently

very rich, and----"

 

He gave me an obscure look, and turned away with the remark:

 

"I think you'll find the reason in a few hours."

 

He must have felt the hurt in my silence, and opened a confidence on

another tack.

 

"You have noticed, Mr. Tudor, that there are no women, children, nor

domestic animals in this village. Do you infer anything from that?"

 

"What is your inference, Captain?"

 

"The village is not inhabited. The natives live back of those mountains

to the west. This is merely a receiving-station for wrecks and

castaways."

 

The shrewdness of the king was not hidden by his hospitality. I did

not overlook the inquiries that he made among the colonists with Gato's

help, nor his private colloquy with Mr. Vancouver, nor the thoughtful

look of that gentleman when it was over.

 

The banquet was ended; the colony was reassembled before the throne; the

king, backed by his now sedate fan-wielder, seated himself; and Captain

Mason, Christopher, and I stood ready. We were made to understand the

following:

 

We had not been invited to this island, but the misfortune that landed

us on it would be respected. Two circumstances ruled the situation. One

was that no vessels from the outside world ever put in here, and hence

our means of escape were restricted to such resources as the king might

devise; the other, that our intercourse with the people would not be

permitted beyond a certain limit. The king explained that in youth he

had gone abroad and found that the ways of white people were not suited

to the islanders, who would be demoralized should they come under our

civilization.

 

At intervals he sent his people, two or three at a time, in a small

boat to the nearest islands, some hundreds of miles away, with native

products for barter. But so great had been their precautions that the

situation of the island had never been discovered. In these boats one or

two of us would be taken away at a time, and thus placed in the path of

ships that would assist us homeward.

 

In order to keep us isolated from the people, we were to be conduced at

once to a pleasant valley, which would be free to us for our exclusive

use. Natives skilled in farming would be furnished us for a time as

instructors; but it would be expected that we should pledge our honor

not to make any attempt to leave the valley without permission.

 

Every heart among us sank. A deep look was in Captain Mason's eyes. It

was on the end of my tongue to say, "Captain, let him know that we can

make our own vessels and leave in them;" but a glance at him informed

me that he had forgotten nothing, and that anything but a cheerful

acceptance of the old bandit's conditions, until we might devise and

execute plans of our own, would precipitate immediate disaster. And then

I understood why the captain had asked no question about the barkentine.

 

He said to me, under his breath:

 

"You have an easy tongue. We must keep our people blind for the present.

Brace them up and flatter the king."

 

The colonists were in the apathy of weariness and repletion. The glow

with which I put the situation to them was barely needed to secure their

acquiescence.

 

I turned to the king. Only with difficulty could I see him clearly

through the intensely dramatic picture made by the girl. All through the

conference I had seen her intense anxiety. What did it mean? With her

sweet audacity, she might have made some sign. As I read her conduct,

it betrayed a terrible uneasiness lest we refuse or were ungracious.

Clearly she was greatly relieved by our acceptance.

 

I thanked the king and gratefully accepted his proffers. He then

informed us that we should immediately be conducted to our valley, made

comfortable, and supplied with everything needful.

 

The cavalcade, conduced by the armed guard, started through the

enchanted forest, and mysteries throbbed in the very air. Never had I

seen so pathetic a spectacle as this draggling procession of civilized

people marched as dumb cattle to the shambles by a horde of savages.

 

Captain Mason, Christopher, and I stood apart as the others filed past.

The man of the sea was in a deep reverie.

 

"If the king," I said, "has been so careful to conceal this island from

the world, why should he plan sending us away to betray it?"

 

Captain Mason gave me a slow look.

 

"Do you think that he intends to send us away?" he asked.

 

"If not, he hasn't sent other castaways off, and we'll find them here."

 

Again that slow look, but I felt that it saw too far to include me. He

shook his head, and said, as though talking to himself:

 

"Now begins the great struggle. We'll be patient--and ready. That girl

is our hope."

 

The king descended; the fan-bearer, her face mantled with content,

disappeared within the administration hut and dropped the curtain. The

rear guard were waiting for us three, and we started. After a few paces,

I turned, and saw, as I had hoped to see, a brown face watching us

through the parted curtain, and it was filled with more mysteries than

any enchanted forest ever held.

 

On and up we went, and finally reached the summit. We stood on a small

open plateau, which abruptly ended in a precipice. Before us was a giant

chasm in a great tableland of lava. The floor was a thousand feet below.

We were looking down on it from the top of the great wall of columnar

basalt which enclosed it. The chasm was an irregular ellipse, some three

miles on its minor axis and five on its major. The floor was level, and,

except for some farms, was covered with a forest. A breeze sent long,

unctuous waves of lighter green rolling over it, or swirling in graceful

spirals where the wall deflected the wind and drifted it on in majestic

eddies.

 

In splendid contrast to the deep, warm colors below was the gloomy black

of the mighty enclosing rampart. Near the upper end a beautiful stream,

nearly a river in size, made a wild, joyous leap over the brink. A lake

into which the water plunged sent up clouds of mist, out of which sprang

a rainbow. From the lake ran the stream of molten silver which swung

lazily on its shining way through the valley till lost in the distance.

The leader of the guard announced that the valley was our destination.

I was dumb in the grasp of its witchery, but a quiet voice brought me

back:

 

"As good a prison as another." Captain Mason had spoken.

 

"Why, man," I cried, "that is Paradise!"

 

"No doubt; but the flaming sword will keep us in, not out."

 

During the march I had not failed to keep Christopher in the corner of

my eye. I had been trying to read in his face one of those flashes of

insight which his fine instinct sometimes threw into dark places. He had

held his listening attitude often since I found him standing beside me

on the sand. It had given his face a certain leaden alertness, which,

as we beheld the valley, slowly faded into the habitual blankness, and I

saw that it was useless to question him.

 

We descended through a steep, narrow cleft, and were marched through a

forest to the stream. A rude bridge bore us across, and there we found

a large number of natives rapidly and skilfully building us a village of

huts made from logs, boughs, and thatch. From all indications, they must

have begun the work almost immediately after we landed. Large stores of

food and other necessities had been accumulated; nothing needed for our

comfort and sustenance had been neglected.

 

As soon as the soldiers had helped us bring order to the camp and the

building of the village was finished, they and the workmen melted away

in the twilight.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER III.--The Menace of the Face.

 

_Accepting the Challenge. The Threat. What the Face Saw on the Bluff. A

Mysterious Visitor. The Fan-Bearer's Conspiracy._

 

 

CAPTAIN Mason and I occupied the same hut, but we held no converse

that night before falling into heavy slumber. Christopher insisted on

sleeping outside the door. If any of our party had thought it prudent to

appoint a watchman, no suggestion to that effect was made; but there was

no knowing what responsibilities Christopher assumed.