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 YORKE THE ADVENTURER
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 Large crown S-t/o, cloth, %%, 
 
 Pacific Tales. With Portrait of 
 the Author. 
 
 Rodman the Boatsteerer. 
 
 Ridan the Devil. And Other 
 Stories. 
 
 Edward Barry: South Sea Pearler. 
 
 By Rock and Pool. 
 
 William Breachley. 
 
 Also, 
 
 By Reef and Palm. And Other 
 Stories, Cr. 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Tessa, and the Trader's Wife. 
 Cr, 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 His Native Wife. Cloth, 23.; 
 
 paper, Is. 6d. 
 London : Paternoster Scy/ARE, E,C.
 
 Yorke the Adventurer, 
 
 And Other Stories 
 
 By 
 
 Louis Becke 
 
 London 
 
 T . Fisher U n w i n 
 
 Paternoster Square 
 
 1901
 
 
 CAll righn raeyved)
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER . . .1 
 
 THE COLONIAL MORTUARY BARD . . 74 
 
 " 'rEO," THE FISHERMAN . . •79 
 
 THE BLACK BREAM OF AUSTRALIA . . 87 
 
 "martin of NITENDI " . .■ . 101 
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS . . .112 
 
 "old MARY " . . . . -133 
 
 " FIVE-HEAD " CREEK . . . 168 
 
 FISH DRUGGING IN THE PACIFIC . . i8q 
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER . 2O3 
 
 POISONOUS FISH OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS . 23O
 
 Torke the Adventurer 
 
 Chapter I 
 
 In that delightful and exciting book, written by Cap- 
 tain Joshua Slocum, and entitled, " Sailing Alone 
 Round the World," there is a part wherein the adven- 
 turous American seaman relates how he protected 
 himself from night attacks by the savages by a simple, 
 but efficient precaution. It was his custom, when he 
 anchored for the night off the snow-clad and inhospi- 
 table shores of Tierra del Fuego, to profusely sprinkle 
 his cutter's deck with sharp tacks, and then calmly 
 turn in and sleep the sleep of the just ; for even the 
 horny soles of the Fuegian foot is susceptible to the 
 business end of a tack ; and, as I read Slocum's story, 
 I smiled, and thought of dear old Yorke and the 
 France sea. 
 
 yts Tff n* ^ 
 
 I first met Yorke early in the " seventies." Our 
 vessel had run in under the lee of the South Cape of 
 New Britain to wood and water, and effect some 
 repairs, for in working northward through the 
 Solomon Group, on a special mission to a certain island 
 
 2
 
 2 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 off the coast of New Guinea, we had met with heavy 
 weather, and had lost our foretopmast. In those days 
 there was not a single white man living on the whole 
 of the south coast of New Britain, from St. George's 
 Channel on the east, to Dampier's Straits on the 
 west — a stretch of more than three hundred miles, 
 and little was known of the natives beyond the fact of 
 their being treacherous cannibals. In Blanche Bay 
 only, on the northern shore, was there a settlement of 
 a few adventurous English traders — the employees of a 
 rich German company — and these were only acquainted 
 with the natives in their own vicinity. Even the masters 
 of trading vessels avoided the south coast of the great 
 island, not only on account of the dangerous character 
 of its inhabitants, but also because there was not, they 
 thought, anything to tempt them to risk their and their 
 crews' lives — for the shore nearly everywhere presented 
 a line of dense unbroken forest, with but scanty groves 
 of coco-palms at long intervals, and even had there been 
 many such groves, no communication could be had 
 with the people. In the wild days of the "seventies " 
 the practice of cutting up and drying the coconut into 
 what is known as "copra" had scarcely made any 
 headway in those parts of New Britain, New Ireland, 
 and the Solomon and New Hebrides Groups which 
 were visited by trading vessels — the nuts were turned 
 into oil by a crude and wasteful process known as 
 " rotting." 
 
 The captain of our little vessel was one of the 
 oldest and most experienced trading skippers in the 
 Western Pacific, grim, resolute, and daring, but yet
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 3 
 
 cautious of his men's lives, ir not of his own ; so 
 when he decided to anchor under the lee of the South 
 Cape, he chose a part of the coast which seemed to 
 be but scantily inhabited. The dense forest which 
 came down to the water's edge concealed from view 
 any village that might have been near us ; but the 
 presence of smoke arising from various spots denoted 
 that there were some natives living in the vicinity, 
 though we could not see any canoes. 
 
 We brought to about half a mile from the shore. 
 Two boats were at once lowered, manned, and armed, 
 and under the captain's guidance, set out to search for 
 water, which we knew we should have but little 
 difficulty in finding, even on the south coast of New 
 Britain, which is not nearly so well watered as the 
 northern shore of the island. In the captain's boat 
 were six men besides himself ; I was in charge of the 
 covering boat, manned by six native seamen and 
 carrying three water-casks — all we could stow. 
 
 Pulling in together, close to the shore, the captain 
 then went ahead, my boat following at the regulation 
 distance of fifty yards, only four hands rowing in each, 
 leaving four men to keep a look-out for natives. 
 
 Presently the skipper turned to me, and pointed 
 shoreward. 
 
 " That's the place for us, Drake — between those 
 two spurs — ^just round this point. There's bound to 
 be water there." 
 
 The place which he indicated was about two miles 
 distant to the eastward, and the crews gave way with 
 good will, for the prospect of having a drink of pure
 
 4 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 water after the brackish and ill-smelling stufF we had 
 been drinking for a fortnight, was very pleasing. 
 Although but a little past nine o'clock in the morning 
 the day was intensely hot, and windless as well, and 
 the perspiration was streaming down the naked chests 
 and backs of our sturdy native sailors. The only 
 sounds that broke the silence were the cries of birds — 
 cockatoos and large green and scarlet parrots, which 
 screamed angrily at us as the boats passed close in to 
 the dense, steamy jungle of the littoral. 
 
 Just as the captain's boat rounded the point, we 
 heard a cry of astonishment from his crew, a cry that 
 was echoed by ourselves half a minute later ; for there 
 in the centre of a small landlocked bay, was a cutter 
 lying at anchor ! She appeared to be of about thirty 
 or forty tons, had an awning spread aft, and presented a 
 very weather-worn appearance ; her rudder was gone, 
 and the upper part of her stern badly damaged. There 
 was no one visible on deck, but presently, in answer to 
 the captain's hail, the face of an old, white-haired man, 
 appeared above the companion. 
 
 " Come on board," he called out in clear, vigorous 
 tones, and we saw him take up a broom, which was 
 lying on the skylight, and begin to sweep the after- 
 deck vigorously with one hand, the other being in a 
 sling. 
 
 " Guess he's a lunatic," said Captain Guest, turning 
 to me with a laugh. But we had no time to indulge in 
 surmises, for in a few minutes we were drawing up 
 alongside ; the stranger was standing at the stern, 
 broom in hand, watching us.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 5 
 
 " Step on board here, over the stern, please," he said, 
 and then he added quickly, " but are you all wearing 
 boots ? " 
 
 " No," answered the captain, now quite sure the old 
 man was wrong in his head, " some of my men have 
 no boots." 
 
 " Then they had better not come aboard," he said 
 with a quiet, amused smile, as he saw our puzzled 
 faces. 
 
 The moment Captain Guest and myself stepped 
 over the rail and shook hands with the stranger, we 
 saw the reason for the broom — the entire deck, except 
 the small space aft which had just been swept, was 
 covered with broken glass ! 
 
 " Glad to see you, gentlemen. My name is Yorke, 
 and this cutter is the Francesca." 
 
 " And my name is Guest. I am master of the 
 brigantine Fray 'Bentos^ of Sydney, lying just round the 
 point, and this is Mr. Drake, my supercargo." 
 
 " Sit down here on the skylight, gentlemen, out of 
 the way of the glass — my cabin is very small." 
 
 " Guess it would have to be a pretty big one if you 
 had another two men like yourself to share it," said 
 Guest with a laugh, as he surveyed our new friend's 
 proportions. And indeed he was right, for Yorke was 
 over six feet in height, rather stout, and with a chest 
 like a working bullock. His face and neck were 
 deeply bronzed to a dark tan, and presented a striking 
 and startling yet pleasing contrast to his snowy-white 
 hair, moustache, and eyebrows ; his clear, steely blue 
 eyes were in consonance with the broad, square jaw,
 
 6 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and the man's character revealed itself in his features 
 — strong, courageous, dominant, and self-reliant. 
 
 The moment Captain Guest mentioned that our 
 men were thirsty and would like a drink of water, 
 Yorke became the soul of hospitality, and told them to 
 come on board and help themselves, while for Guest 
 and myself he produced a couple of bottles of excellent 
 Tennant, and took a glass of it himself. 
 
 " Now, do you know, gentlemen," he said as he sat 
 down on the cutter's rail, facing us, " this morning I 
 had a dream ? I thought I heard some one call out, 
 ' All ready there, for'ard ? ' and I heard the rattle of a 
 cable through the hawse-pipes. Then I woke and 
 looked at the clock — it was just half-past seven." 
 
 " And at half-past seven we let go anchor, a good 
 four miles from here. Surely you could not have heard 
 us at such a distance." 
 
 " No, that's a fact. So, when I did hear you hail 
 just now I knew my dream was verified. As a rule, 
 dreams aren't worth a bag of shakings." 
 
 " Where are your crew, captain ? " I asked. 
 
 " Ah, now I've a yarn to tell you. I'm the only 
 man on board — my mate and every man of my crew 
 were massacred about six weeks ago ofF the north end 
 of New Ireland, and I only escaped by the skin of my 
 teeth. And now you can guess the meaning of all 
 this glass on the deck. There's plenty of niggers 
 all around us here, and that broken glass is a splendid 
 protection for me at night time. Since I lost my men 
 they have made two attempts to cut me ofF at night 
 time, once at a place just the other side of Cape St.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 7 
 
 George and once near here. But," and he laughed 
 softly, " they didn't stay on deck more than five 
 seconds, I can assure you. I'll tell you the whole yarn 
 presently. But say, captain — can you help me to a 
 new rudder ? I lost mine a week ago, and having a 
 bad hand have not been able to do anything towards 
 making one myself." 
 
 " Certainly I will. I'll send my carpenter to you 
 as soon as we get back to the ship ; or, better still, 
 we'll tow you down to the Fray Bentos. But we are 
 in want of water and firewood, and I should like to 
 take some of both back with me." 
 
 He thanked Guest warmly, and added that, although 
 the cutter had no rudder, she would steer very well 
 with a sweep ; and then he informed us there was 
 good running water within a couple of cables' length 
 of the cutter, also plenty of wood, and offered to 
 take us to the place. We need not, he said, apprehend 
 any attack by the natives, as our party was too large, 
 and the spot where we could fill the casks was in 
 fairly open country, and by stationing a sentry or two 
 on each side of the creek, we could both wood and 
 water with safety. 
 
 " There is a village about six miles along the coast 
 from here, and no doubt it was the people from there 
 who boarded me the other night, for I saw a lot of 
 canoes on a little beach there. I think it must be 
 the largest village for many miles hereabout. Now, 
 do you see all those columns of smoke ? Some, you 
 will notice, are very thin and bluish, while others are 
 almost black ; the thin ones are only from native
 
 8 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ovens, the others are signals to the various smaller 
 villages to the eastward — by this time every nigger 
 within fifty miles of us knows that your ship is at 
 anchor. I hope you left plenty of men on board ? " 
 *' Plenty, and ours is a well-armed crew." 
 Just as he was stepping into the captain's boat, I 
 asked him what was the matter with his hand. He 
 replied carelessly that he had " managed to get a bit of 
 a knock," and would be glad if I would look at it 
 when we returned to the cutter, as it was rather 
 painful at times. 
 
 The boats were soon under way for the shore, and 
 in a quarter of an hour we entered a narrow but deep 
 creek, not wide enough to permit us using our oars ; 
 but this was of no consequence, for each boat carried 
 half a dozen canoe paddles. Within a hundred yards 
 up from the entrance we found the water to be quite 
 fresh, and while some of the men started to fill the 
 casks, the rest, except the sentries, made for a clump 
 of about a dozen coconut-trees growing close beside 
 a magnificent grove of areca-palms. Every nut that 
 was young enough to drink was quickly thrown 
 down, and carried to the boats. Then we set to work 
 to collect firewood, and two or three dry, solid logs 
 were dragged down into the creek, lashed together, 
 and then, with them and the filled water casks in tow, 
 we returned merrily to the Francesco^ hoisted up our 
 water casks, swept up all the glass, shovelled it into 
 a hogshead standing on the deck, hoisted her main- 
 sail, and hove up her anchor, glad of having accom- 
 plished our task so easily and so quickl3\ A light air
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 9 
 
 had sprung up, and the vessel, aided by the boats, 
 made good progress towards our brigantine, despite the 
 logs towing astern. 
 
 Our new friend asked me if I would mind coming 
 below with him, as it was past three o'clock, and 
 quite time we had something to eat and drink. 
 
 The cabin certainly was small, but was spotlessly 
 clean, and exceedingly well furnished. It contained 
 three bunks, two of which were hidden from view by 
 neat cretonne curtains. 
 
 " That was my poor young mate's bunk," he said 
 sadly, "and the other was the boatswain's. Now, 
 will you please pass these up on deck ? " 
 
 From a locker he took out a dozen or more of ale, 
 two bottles of spirits, and a number of tins of beef, 
 sardines, etc., together with an ample supply of biscuit. 
 These I passed up to Guest, who, at Yorke's request, 
 ordered the boats alongside, so that the crews could 
 get some dinner, and a stiff glass of grog all round. 
 Then we ourselves ate a most hearty meal, rendered 
 the more enjoyable by the deliciously cool beer — a 
 liquor which, until that day, we had not tasted for 
 quite four or five months. As soon as we had finished, 
 I asked him to let me examine his hand. 
 
 " Can you do a bit of cutting ? " he asked, as I 
 began to remove the bandages. 
 
 " Rather," answered Guest for me, "Drake loves to 
 dig out a bullet, especially — doesn't he, Napoleon ? " 
 
 Napoleon was one of our native crew — a short, 
 nuggety little Tongan, who, in an attack made on 
 our boats nearly a year before, had received a bullet in
 
 lo YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the calf of the leg. I had succeeded in extracting it 
 without unduly mutilating the patient, for I had 
 once acted as amateur assistant to a medical 
 missionary in Samoa, and had seen a good many 
 bullets extracted during a very lively six months' 
 native war. 
 
 When I saw the condition of Yorke's hand, I was 
 startled. It was enormously swollen from the tips of 
 the fingers to the wrist, and badly lacerated and 
 bruised all over the back, and presented a very 
 dangerous appearance. The pain he had endured, 
 and was enduring at the moment, must have been 
 something atrocious, and I felt a sudden respect and 
 admiration for a man who could attend to our wants 
 before thinking of himself. 
 
 " Good heavens ! " said Guest sympathisingly, "how 
 did it happen ? " 
 
 He told us that ten days previously the cutter 
 had struck on a reef in the night. She bumped 
 heavily three or four times, but would have worked 
 across the reef without serious damage, as there was a 
 good breeze, had not a sea taken her on the bows, 
 thrown her aback, and driven her stern first against 
 the one exposed portion of the reef, tearing away her 
 rudder, and smashing all the upper part of her stern. 
 Yorke, who was half-stunned by the boom swinging 
 over, and striking him on the head as he was rising 
 to his feet after being hurled along the deck, felt 
 that he had received an injury to his hand, which was 
 bleeding profusely. But just then he gave no thought 
 to it, for the next two or three seas fortunately carried
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER n 
 
 the cutter over the reef into deep water and safety. 
 When he came to examine his hand, he found it had 
 been crushed, probably by a piece of the heavy hard- 
 wood rail, and several splinters were protruding from the 
 back and wrist. These he had succeeded in extracting, 
 but the pain continued to increase day by day, and the 
 palm of the hand began to swell and gather. 
 
 " Perhaps there's a bit of timber in there yet," he 
 remarked to us. 
 
 I thought so also, and so did Guest, and after 
 torturing the poor fellow a few minutes, I located the 
 exact spot — ^just below the ball of the thumb. 
 
 " Captain Yorke," I said, " I can cut it out, I am 
 sure. But, frankly, the thumb is a dangerous thing 
 for an amateur surgeon to meddle with, and " 
 
 " I know," he interrupted quietly, " but I'd rather 
 run the risk of lockjaw than the certainty of blood 
 poisoning, and I know that that is what it will turn 
 to. Last night I made up my mind to cut into the 
 damned thing this morning if that last poultice I put 
 on had no effect. Now go ahead. There's a bottle 
 of carbolic acid below, which will be useful, and my 
 pocket-knife has a razor-edge." 
 
 In less than five minutes I set to work, and in a few 
 more, to my intense satisfaction — for I felt nervous — 
 the thing was done, and I had extracted a piece ot 
 wood half an inch long, and as thick as a small quill. 
 Then Guest and I carefully washed the wound over 
 and over again in a solution of carbolic acid, and in 
 half an hour the hand was bound up pro tern. Poor 
 Yorke bore the pain without the twitching of an
 
 12 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 eyelid, and I felt a sincere thankfulness when, two 
 hours later, we saw the change that relief from intense 
 physical suffering had effected in his features. 
 
 When we reached the brigantine, I was able to 
 bandage the injured hand in a more shipshape and 
 proper manner, as we had an ample supply of lint 
 and other requirements ; and within ten days he 
 could use his hand freely, though it took a much 
 longer time for a thorough recovery. That he 
 was deeply grateful to us he showed us in many 
 quiet ways ; and before he had been with us a week, 
 both the captain and myself, and, indeed, every one 
 else on board the Fray Bentos had grown to like 
 the man immensely, though at times he would 
 become unaccountably moody and silent, and keep 
 to himself, only speaking in answer to a direct ques- 
 tion. But, even then, he never attempted to directly 
 avoid us, and was always civil, even to any of our 
 native crew who might speak to him. 
 
 " Guess he thinks a lot about those poor men of 
 his," said Guest to me one day. 
 
 That first evening we had a very pleasant supper. 
 Yorke was with us, and during the meal he gave us 
 a detailed account of his voyage, and of the massacre 
 of his little vessel's company.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 13 
 
 Chapter II 
 
 He had, he told us, bought the Francesco at Sourabaya 
 about three years before, and after making several 
 trading voyages between Manila and the Ladrone 
 Islands — voyages which did not pay as well as he had 
 anticipated — he fell in with the master of a Hobart 
 Town whaler, who strongly advised him to go farther 
 eastwards and southwards, particularly about the 
 Admiralty Group and their vicinity, where a few 
 colonial vessels were doing very well, trading for 
 coconut oil, beche-de-mer, sandalwood, tortoiseshell 
 and pearl-shell. Yorke took his advice and made 
 a very successful voyage to the Admiralties, taking 
 a cargo of pearl-shell to Singapore. This he sold 
 very profitably, and was soon at sea again. On 
 reaching the Admiralty Group, however, he was 
 prevented from trading by the hostility of the 
 natives, though on his previous visit they had been 
 very friendly ; and so, fearing that they might cut off 
 the vessel, he decided to leave. He had with him 
 a native of Yap, one of the Caroline Islands — a man 
 who had wandered about the North and South Pacific 
 from his boyhood. His name was Rul, and he was 
 not only a good seaman and an expert diver, but 
 spoke fluently nearly a score of Melanesian and 
 Micronesian dialects.
 
 14 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 On the evening of the day that the cutter left 
 Callie Harbour, on Admiralty Island, Yorke called 
 his six men together, and told them that he was very 
 undecided w^hat to do. (I found out afterwards that 
 he had a way of taking his crew into his confidence — 
 " It pleases them," he said, " and has proved very 
 useful on a number of occasions when their goodwill 
 meant much to me "). 
 
 After telling them that he did not like to risk their 
 lives by trying to return to Callie Harbour, he asked 
 if they were willing to sail with him to the south- 
 western coast of New Guinea, where, he had heard, 
 there was a great deal of pearl-shell to be bought 
 from the natives. At the same time he pointed out 
 to them that it would be a risky undertaking ; he had 
 no chart of that part of the Western Pacific, and, if 
 they lost the ship, they would stand but little chance 
 of escaping from the cannibal natives. 
 
 "Then," he went on, "this fellow Rul said that 
 although he and the other natives on board were 
 quite willing to go anywhere with me, he knew of a 
 place only two days' sail away to the eastward where 
 there was not only plenty of black-edge pearl-shell, 
 but hawkbill turtle-shell as well. He had, he said, 
 been cast away there in a whaleship, and remained on 
 the island three months, could speak a little of the 
 language, and gave me the names of several villages 
 and harbours, but did not know the name of the 
 island as a whole. 
 
 " I brought up my chart, and in a few seconds 
 I discovered the names he had mentioned. The island
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 15 
 
 was New Hanover, and, with the northerly breeze 
 then blowing, I knew we should be there in twenty- 
 four hours. So I made up my mind to try the place ; 
 for Rul was a thoroughly trustworthy fellow, and I 
 knew I could depend on him. 
 
 "My mate was a young American named Ted 
 Merriman, a native of New London, Connecticut, a 
 fine sailorman, and a good navigator. My boatswain, 
 too, was one of the right sort ; and, as for the rest, 
 although they were all natives, they were good 
 seamen, and I had never had a sulky look from any 
 one of them since they first shipped with me. 
 
 " We anchored just off a village which Rul knew, 
 and in a few minutes the people came off to us in 
 crowds and filled the deck. Many of them recog- 
 nised Rul, and they all showed great friendliness and 
 eagerness to trade ; and I, like a cocksure fool, was 
 thrown off my guard," 
 
 He ceased speaking, sighed, then lit his pipe and 
 smoked in silence for awhile, and it was evident to us 
 all that, although he was not an emotional man, he 
 was strongly affected by the memory of the tragedy, 
 and reproached himself keenly. 
 
 "Everything went well for the two following 
 days," he resumed ; " the natives had over ten tons of 
 good black-edge shell, all of which I bought from 
 them, paying for it principally in tobacco. It was 
 worth to me in Singapore about ^65 a ton, and only 
 cost me about £s ^ *^o") so you may imagine that I 
 felt very well satisfied. Then, besides the pearl-shell 
 I bought nearly five hundredweight of splendid hawk-
 
 i6 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 bill turtle-shell, giving but two or three sticks of 
 tobacco for an entire carapace of thirteen plates 
 weighing between two and three pounds, and, as you 
 know, hawkbill shell is worth eight dollars a pound 
 in Hongkong, and much more in London or 
 Hamburg." 
 
 " Captain Yorke," said Guest, with a laugh, " you 
 should not have told us this. Drake here is a very 
 good fellow, but in business matters — as a super- 
 cargo — he'd cut the throat of his best friend." 
 
 " Don't believe that, Captain Yorke," I said, " but 
 at the same time I wish you had not told us of this 
 place. You certainly have the prior right of dis- 
 covery, and ought to have the benefit, so I promise 
 you I will not repeat to our owners anything you 
 now tell us." 
 
 Yorke's face changed, and his bright blue eyes 
 looked into ours with such a kindly expression that 
 the fascination he already possessed over me deepened 
 quickly. 
 
 " You and Captain Guest are welcome to my 
 knowledge, but I trust you will use it for your own 
 benefit, and not consider your owners. Tell me now, 
 gentlemen, would they consider you F Would they 
 give you a handsome bonus for putting, say, five, 
 or six thousand pounds into their pockets ? " 
 
 " I daresay they would give us each a cheque for 
 fifty pounds," said Guest meditatively. 
 
 " Then keep the thing dark," said the big man 
 energetically, " keep it dark. Why should you, 
 Captain Guest, and you, Mr. Drake, enrich your
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 17 
 
 owners by imparting to them this information ? I 
 tell you, gentlemen, that all shipowners are alike, at 
 least I never ran across any that showed much con- 
 sideration for any one else's welfare. Nine out of 
 every ten will work the soul out of their ship-masters 
 and officers, who, w^hen they grow too old to go to 
 sea, are chucked out into the gutter to die of poverty, 
 unless they have laid by a nest-egg for their old age." 
 
 " That is true enough," assented Guest, " and our 
 esteemed employers are no better than the general 
 run. So we will look on what you have just told us 
 as private ; by and by we will all talk over the matter, 
 and see if we cannot go into the thing together." 
 
 Yorke nodded. " I'm with you. I've always 
 played a lone hand hitherto, but I think that I can 
 pull very well with men like you." 
 
 Then he resumed his story. 
 
 " On the morning of the third day I went ashore 
 with my gun to have a few hours' shooting on a large 
 swamp, situated about three miles inland from the 
 village. One of the natives had told Rul that there 
 were great numbers of wild duck and plover there, and 
 offered to guide me to the place ; so, telling Merriman 
 that I would be back in time for dinner, I started with 
 the guide. The gun I had with me was a double-barrelled 
 pin-fire Lefaucheux breech-loader, and just before I left 
 the cutter, I put in a couple of cartridges, intending 
 to have a shot at some cranes which I saw walking 
 about on the beach. Most fortunately for me, they 
 flew away before I could get near enough. Besides 
 the gun, Ibrought with me a Sharp's rifle, as the 
 
 3
 
 i8 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 guide said that we should most likely see a wild pig or 
 two about the swamp. The rifle I gave to him to carry, 
 but the ten cartridges for it I put in my coat pocket, 
 together with about twenty cartridges for the gun. 
 
 " On landing at the village, I was met by the head 
 man, who wanted to know if I would buy a couple of 
 pigs from him. I told him to take them on board to 
 the mate, who would pay him ; then, the guide lead- 
 ing, we struck out into the forest. After going about 
 a mile or so, the nigger was joined by half a dozen young 
 bucks, all armed with spears and clubs. I asked the 
 guide, who spoke a little English, what they wanted ; 
 he replied that they wished to see me shoot. 
 
 " ' Very well,' I said, * go ahead then, all of you.' 
 
 " The bucks grinned, but instead of going ahead 
 stepped back to let me pass, and fell in, in single file at 
 the rear, the guide still leading. Now, I didn't like 
 that at all, and I turned round to tell them to go in 
 front of me ; I was just in time to save myself from 
 getting a spear through my back — as it was, it whizzed 
 through the side of my coat, and in another second 
 the nigger who threw it had a charge of shot through 
 his brains. Then, slewing round, I was just able 
 to drop the guide, who was running off with the rifle. 
 I hit him in the back, and saw him fall, then took 
 cover behind a big tree to load again ; but every 
 other nigger had vanished, and then I heard a sound 
 that filled me with dread for those on board the cutter 
 — the loud, hoarse bellowing of conch shells. 
 
 " I ran over to the guide, who was lying where he 
 had fallen. I don't think he was mortally wounded,
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 19 
 
 for he was quite thirty yards off when I fired. How- 
 ever, I made certain of him by cracking his skull with 
 a long-handled club he carried. Then I loaded the 
 Sharp's rifle, slung it over my shoulder by its sling ; 
 and started back for the village at a run, holding my 
 shot gun ready cocked. 
 
 " When I reached the village, I could not see a soul 
 — every house was deserted, but from the sea front I 
 could hear diaboHcal yells and cries. I had to run 
 another hundred yards or more before I came in sight 
 of the cutter, and the moment I did so, I saw that it 
 was all over with poor Merriman and the others — the 
 vessel was simply swarming with niggers, and sur- 
 rounded by canoes, into which they were already 
 throwing the plunder ! 
 
 "I rested a minute or so to get my breath and 
 steady my hand, and then opened fire. The cutter 
 was not two hundred yards away from where I stood, 
 and the very first shot plumped right into the black, 
 surging crowd on deck, and one nigger gave his last 
 jump. I fired three more shots into them before they 
 had time to get into their canoes, or spring overboard 
 to swim ashore. Most of the canoes made off to the 
 south, around a point, but three or four of them came 
 right in towards me, heading for the village. I don't 
 think any of them saw me, for I was lying down 
 among the roots and debris of a fallen tree, just above 
 high water mark. They came in, paddling like mad, 
 but not uttering a sound. I waited till the first canoe 
 was within ten yards of me, and then fired both 
 barrels of my gun in quick succession right into them,
 
 20 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 nearly blowing the chest out of the old chief, who was 
 seated amidships, and wounding all the others. Then 
 I got to work with my rifle again on the other canoes ; 
 and, although the moment they saw me, the niggers 
 jumped overboard and dived, I got one for every 
 shot of the last six cartridges — whenever one got 
 into shallow water and stood up to run, down he 
 went. 
 
 " Then, taking both shot gun and rifle by the barrels, 
 I smashed them on a rock, tore off my clothes and boots, 
 and started to swim off to the vessel, looking behind me 
 every now and then to see if the niggers were follow- 
 ing. But they had had enough of me, and their 
 empty canoes were drifting about the bay. 
 
 " I got alongside, clambered up over the waist, 
 and saw a sight I shall never forget — every one of my 
 poor shipmates had been ruthlessly slaughtered, and 
 their mutilated bodies, stripped of every bit of clothing, 
 were lying about the deck. A very brief examination 
 showed me that every one of them was dead — in fact 
 their heads had been beaten to pulp, and each body 
 was pierced through and through with spear wounds 
 and hacked and chopped about with tomahawks ; 
 while the deck was just a puddle of blood, mixed 
 with sticks of tobacco, pieces of print, knives, and all 
 sorts of trade goods. 
 
 " The first thing I did was to try and hoist the 
 mainsail so as to get under way, but the black devils 
 had cut away a lot of the running gear, and the halliards 
 had been severed and lay on the deck, ready to be 
 taken on shore with the other loot littered about.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 21 
 
 though the sail itself had not been damaged. The jib 
 and staysail, also, I could not hoist : they were lying in 
 a heap on the windlass with a dead nigger on top, and, 
 further aft, were another two of the gentry, one dead and 
 one with a smashed thigh bone. I slung the wounded 
 man overboard to the sharks, and then began to consider 
 what was best to do. The niggers, I felt certain, 
 would not tackle the cutter again, when they knew I 
 was safe on board, but I determined to make certain. 
 
 " You noticed those two brass three-pounders I 
 carry ? Well, the first thing I did was to load them 
 with heavy charges of round bullets, and some nuts 
 and bolts. Then I got up a dozen or so of rifles, and 
 plenty of ammunition, and laid them in readiness on 
 the skylight ; for, although the niggers had turned my 
 cabin upside down when looting the ship, there were 
 any amount of small arms and various stores in the 
 little hatch under the cabin table ; besides these, I had 
 some more in my own berth in a locker. 
 
 " Just as I was taking a long drink at the scuttle 
 butt, I saw some of the niggers creeping back to the 
 village through the trees, and watching what I was 
 doing. I soon let them know. 
 
 " The cutter had swung round, and was broadside 
 on to the houses, so taking the gun on the port 
 side over to the starboard, I secured it well, and 
 then trained it with the other on the biggest 
 house in the village — a sort of meeting-house or 
 temple, or some such darned thing. I can tell you, 
 gentlemen, I felt as if I could laugh when I saw 
 quite a score of the black swine go into this house.
 
 22 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 one after another. I had friction tubes in both guns, 
 and waited for another five minutes ; then I fired 
 them one after another. Whether many or any 
 niggers were killed, I do not know ; but there was 
 a fearful howling, which did me good to hear, and 
 the front of the house went into splinters under the 
 heavy charges of the guns, and in five seconds the 
 village was deserted again. 
 
 " Before I did anything more for my own 
 safety, I got some sailcloth and rugs, and covered the 
 bodies of my shipmates — the dreadful appearance they 
 presented just unnerved me, and I felt like sitting 
 down and crying. But I had to hustle. I wanted to 
 get under way as quickly as possible before darkness 
 came on, and it was now noon. 
 
 " First of all I rove the mainsail halliards, and then 
 bent on the jib, stopping only now and then to fire 
 a rifle at the village, just to let the natives know I 
 was keeping my eyes skinned. Then I hoisted the 
 mainsail and hove up my anchor without any trouble, 
 for the wind was very light, and got a good cant ofF 
 shore as soon as I ran up the jib. 
 
 "As soon as I was well away from the land, I stood 
 north-about so as so clear Cape Queen Charlotte, 
 the westerly point of New Hanover, and ran on for 
 three or four hours, the vessel steering herself while 
 I sewed up poor Merriman's and the boatswain's bodies 
 as well as I could under the circumstances. I should 
 have done the same for the natives had I had 
 the time, especially for Rul, but I had not. About 
 dusk I brought to, just oflF the Cape, and dropped
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 23 
 
 them over the side one after another — only just 
 realising, ten minutes previously, that I was still stark 
 naked ! 
 
 " After rounding the north point of New Hanover, 
 I stood away down the coast of New Ireland till I 
 made Gerrit Denys Island, where I anchored for a 
 couple of days, the natives being very friendly, and 
 giving me all the fresh provisions I wanted for a little 
 tobacco and some hoop-iron. There was an old white 
 beachcomber named Billy living with them ; he seemed 
 to do pretty well as he liked, and had a deal of influence 
 with them, not allowing any one of them to hang about 
 the vessel after sunset, and each night he slept on board 
 with me. I gave him a case of Hollands for lending 
 me a hand to set up my rigging, which so pleased 
 him that he turned to and got drunk in ten minutes. 
 
 "After leaving Gerrit Denys I had a hard 
 struggle to make Cape St. George, on the south end 
 of New Ireland. For eight or ten days I had rainy 
 weather, with heavy squalls from the eastward, and did 
 not feel very well into the bargain, for I had a touch 
 of fever and ague." 
 
 I asked him how he managed at night-time as 
 regarded sleep. 
 
 He laughed quietly, and assured us that he never 
 lost a night's rest during the whole of the time he 
 was at sea. He would simply " scandalise " his main- 
 sail without reefing it, haul the staysail sheet to 
 windward, and let the cutter head reach till daylight. 
 The Francesca^ he said — and I afterwards found out
 
 24 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 that he was not over-rating her qualities — was a 
 marvellous little vessel for taking care of herself. 
 
 "Well, I jogged along till one Sunday morning, 
 when I made the land between Cape Bougainville 
 and Cape St. George. It had been raining in torrents 
 for two days, and I was feeling a bit done up ; so, 
 picking out a quiet little bay with thick forest growing 
 right down to the water's edge, and not a sign of a 
 native or native house, I ran in and let go in fifteen 
 fathoms, but within a stone throw of the shore. And 
 I'll be hanged, gentlemen, if I did not see, ten minutes 
 afterwards, the smoke of half a dozen signal fires rising 
 over the trees from as many different places, and all 
 within three miles of the cutter. However, I was too 
 weak to heave up again, even had I felt inclined. I 
 wanted to cosset myself up, and get a good sweating 
 between thick blankets to drive some of the fever out 
 of me ; and, niggers or no niggers, I meant to do so 
 that day. Then I thought of a dodge — I mean the 
 broken-glass trick. 
 
 " In the hold were half a dozen barrels of empty 
 gin, beer, and whisky bottles. We had put them aside 
 to give to the Admiralty Island people — especially the 
 women and children — who attached some value to 
 them as water holders. I brought up sixty or seventy 
 dozen, and smashed them up in a clean hogshead. 
 Then I turned the whole lot out in a heap on the 
 main hatch, got a shovel, and covered the entire 
 deck fore and aft, first getting all loose ropes, &c., 
 out of the way, as I did not want to get any 
 glass in my own hands when I next handled the
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 25 
 
 running gear. After that I went below, lit a spirit 
 lamp, and made myself a big bowl of hot soup — real 
 hot soup — a small tin of soup and bouilli, and a half 
 bottle of Worcester sauce with a spoonful of cayenne 
 pepper and a stiff glass of brandy thrown in. 
 
 " It touched me up, I can tell you, but I knew it 
 would do me good as I lay down in my bunk, rolled 
 myself in a heavy blanket, and piled over me every 
 other rug and blanket I could find. In half an hour 
 I was sweating profusely, for not only was the soup 
 remedy working, but the little cabin, having every 
 opening closed, was stiflingly hot. However, I stuck 
 it out for a good two hours, till I felt I could stand it 
 no longer ; so I got up, unfastened my cabin door to 
 get some air, and began rubbing myself down with a 
 coarse towel. Heavens ! it felt delightful ; for although 
 my bones still ached, and I was very shaky on my 
 legs, my head was better, and my spirits began to rise. 
 I put on my pyjamas, went on deck, and had a look 
 round. It was nearly dark, the rain had cleared off, 
 a young moon was just lifting over the trees, and the 
 little bay was as quiet as the grave — except for the 
 cries of a colony of flying foxes^which lived in a big 
 vi tree just a cable's length away from the cutter. 
 
 " I knew that the New Britain and New Ireland 
 natives don't like going out after dark, and that if these 
 people meant mischiet to me, they would wait till 
 just before daylight, when they would expect to find 
 every one on board asleep ; so, feeling much better and 
 stronger, I turned in at eight o'clock, and slept till 
 past midnight. I made some coffee, drank it, and
 
 z6 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 laid down again, dozing off every now and then till 
 just before dawn. Then I heard a sudden rush on 
 deck, followed by the most diabolical howls and yells 
 as twenty or thirty niggers jumped overboard with 
 bleeding feet, many of them leaving their clubs lying 
 on the deck. I put my head out of the cabin, and 
 gave them half a dozen revolver shots, but I'm afraid 
 I didn't hit any of the beggars. 
 
 " I got away on the same morning, and made a 
 fine run right across St. George's Channel, and along 
 the New Britain coast till I made Cape Roebuck. 
 Once the cutter did a steady nine knots for thirty 
 hours. After running on that reef, I did not drop 
 anchor again till I brought up off a rocky beach a few 
 miles from here ; and there the niggers made another 
 try to get me, but the broken glass again proved 
 effectual." 
 
 " It's a mighty smart dodge, Captain Yorke," said 
 Guest, as we rose and shook hands with him, for he 
 was going to sleep on board his own vessel. 
 
 Chapter III 
 
 We lay under the lee of the South Cape or New 
 Britain for nearly a fortnight, during which time we 
 effected all the necessary repairs to our own vessel, and 
 fitted Yorke's cutter with a new rudder. So far he had 
 not told us anything further of his intentions as re- 
 garded either the further prosecution of his trading 
 voyage, or its abandonment. At breakfast one morn- 
 ing. Guest told him that he (Yorke) could have a
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 27 
 
 couple of our native hands to help him work the cutter 
 to Manila, or any other port in the China Seas, if he so 
 desired. 
 
 He stroked his big, square jaw meditatively. 
 
 " That is very kind of you, Captain Guest," he said ; 
 " but to tell you the exact truth, I don't know my own 
 mind at this moment. I've a hazy sort of an idea that 
 I'd like to keep the Fray Bentos company for a bit 
 longer. I can outsail you in light winds — and I really 
 don't care what I do now. And if you can spare me 
 a couple of hands, I could jog along in company with 
 you indefinitely. But, please understand me — I don't 
 want to thrust myself and the Francesca into your 
 company \i you don't want ?ne. As a matter of fact, I 
 don't care a straw where I go — but I certainly would 
 like to keep in company with you, if you don't object. 
 Perhaps you would not mind telling me where you are 
 bound ? " 
 
 Guest looked at me interrogatively. 
 
 "Well, Captain Yorke," I said, "one confidence 
 begets another ; your confidence in us is worth a heap 
 of money to Guest and myself, and, to be perfectly 
 frank and straightforward with you, the captain and 
 myself intended to lay a proposition before you whereby 
 we three might possibly go into this New Hanover 
 venture on our own hook. But Guest and myself are 
 bound to our present employers for another seven 
 months." 
 
 Yorke nodded. " That will be all right. I'm ready 
 to go in with you, either at the end of seven months 
 or at any other time which may suit you. You can
 
 28 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 count on me. I'm not a rich man, nor yet am I a poor 
 man ; in fact, there's a thousand pounds' worth of stuff 
 under the Francesco's hatches now." 
 
 " Well then, Captain Yorke," I said, " as Guest here 
 leaves me to do all the talking, I'll tell you why we are 
 so far up to the northward, out of our usual beat. 
 We heard in Samoa that a big ship, named the 
 Sarawak^ had run ashore and been abandoned at Rook 
 Island, in Dampier Straits, between the west end of 
 New Britain and the east coast of New Guinea, and 
 both Guest and myself know her to be one of the 
 largest ships out of Liverpool ; she left Sydney for 
 Hongkong about six months ago with a general cargo. 
 And ' there be pickings,' for she is almost a new vessel, 
 and her gear and fittings alone, independent of her 
 cargo, ought to be worth a thousand pounds. All we 
 could learn at Samoa was that she had run up on a 
 ledge of reef on Rook Island, and that the skipper, with 
 three boats' crews, had started off for Thursday Island, 
 in Torres Straits. Now, it is quite likely that, if she 
 has not broken up, there may be a lot of money hang- 
 ing to it." 
 
 " For your owners ! " said Yorke, with his slow, 
 amused smile. 
 
 "Just so. Captain Yorke. 'For our owners,' as 
 you say. But even our owners, who are rather 
 * sharp ' people, are not a bad lot — they'll give Guest 
 and myself a bonus of some sort if we do them good 
 over this wrecked ship." 
 
 " And if you don't ' do them good ' r " he asked, 
 with the same half-humorous, half-sarcastic smile.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 29 
 
 "If we don't, the senior partner in our highly- 
 esteemed, sailor-sweating firm, will tell Guest and 
 myself that we ' made a most reprehensible mistake,' 
 and have put the firm to a considerable loss by doing 
 too much on our own responsibility." 
 
 He nodded as I went on — " We heard of this wreck 
 from the officers of a French cruiser which called at 
 Samoa while we were there. They sighted her lying 
 high and dry on the reef, sent a boat ashore, and found 
 her abandoned. She was bilged, but not badly, as far 
 as they could see. On the cabin table was nailed a 
 letter, written by the captain, saying that being unable 
 to float the ship again, and fearing that he and his un- 
 armed crew would be attacked by the savages, he was 
 starting off in his boats for Thursday Island, the nearest 
 port. Now, that is a big undertaking, and the chances 
 are that the poor fellows never reached there. How- 
 ever, Guest and I thought so much of the matter that 
 we hustled through our business in Samoa, and sailed 
 the next day direct for Rook Island, instead of doing 
 our usual cruise to the eastward. But we met with 
 fearful weather coming up through the Solomon Group, 
 lost our foretopmast, and strained badly. And here we 
 are now, tied up by the nose off the South Cape of New 
 Britain instead of being at Rook Island at work on that 
 wreck." 
 
 Yorke thought a moment. " Well, gentlemen, let 
 me come in with you — ^just for the fun of the thing. 
 I don't want to get any money out of it, I assure 
 you, and I'll lend you a hand with the wrecking 
 work."
 
 30 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Agreed," said Guest, extending his hand, " but 
 only on this condition — whatever our owners give 
 Drake and myself, we three divide equally." 
 
 " As you please, as you please," he said. " Now come 
 aboard my little hooker, and have a look at what is in 
 the hold." 
 
 We went on board the Francesca with him, and made 
 an examination of her small but valuable cargo, and 
 Guest and I agreed that he had underestimated its 
 worth by quite four hundred or five hundred pounds 
 — in fact, the whole cargo would sell in Sydney or San 
 P'rancisco for about sixteen hundred pounds. 
 
 We sailed together that afternoon, the cutter getting 
 under weigh first. We had given Yorke three of our 
 men — Napoleon the Tongan, and two other natives — 
 and before ten minutes had passed, Guest and everyone 
 else on board the Fray Bentos could see that the Fran- 
 cesca could sail rings round our old brigantine, even in 
 a stiff breeze, for the cutter drew as much water as we 
 did, and had a big spread of canvas. By nightfall we 
 were running before a lusty south-east breeze, the 
 cutter keeping about half a mile to windward of us, 
 and taking in her gaff topsail, when it became dark, 
 otherwise she would have run ahead of, and lost us 
 before morning. At daylight, when I went on deck, 
 she was within a cable's length, Yorke was steering 
 — smoking as usual — and no one else was visible on 
 deck. 
 
 I hailed him : " Good morning, Captain ; where 
 are your men ? " 
 
 " Taking it out in ' bunk, oh,' " he answered with a
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 31 
 
 laugh. " I came on deck about two hours ago, and 
 told them to turn in until four bells." 
 
 " You'll ruin them for the Fray Bcntos^ sir," cried 
 our mate with grumbling good-humour. " Why 
 don't you start one of 'em at the galley fire for your 
 coffee ! " 
 
 " Because I'm coming aboard you for it," was the 
 reply. He hauled in the main-sheet, lashed the tiller, 
 went quietly forward without awakening his native 
 seamen, and put the staysail to windward. Then 
 he came amidships again to the main hatch, picked 
 up the little dingy which was lying there, and, 
 despite his bad hand, slid her over the cutter's rail into 
 the water as if she were a toy, got in, and sculled over 
 to the brigantine, leaving the cutter to take care of 
 herself ! 
 
 Charley King, the mate of the Fray Bentos^ turned 
 to me in astonishment. He was himself one of the 
 finest built and most powerful men I had ever met, not 
 thirty years of age, and had achieved a great repvita- 
 tion as a long-distance swimmer and good all-round 
 athlete. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Drake, that dingy must weigh three 
 hundred pounds, if she weighs an ounce, for she's 
 heavy oak built ! And yet with one gammy hand he 
 can put her over the side as if she was made of brown 
 paper." 
 
 Yorke sculled alongside, made fast to the main 
 chains, clambered over the bulwarks, and stepped 
 aboard in his usual quiet way, as if nothing out of the 
 common had occurred, and asked the mate what he
 
 32 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 thought of the Francesca as a sailer. King looked at 
 him admiringly for a moment. 
 
 " She's a daisy, Captain Yorke. . . . but you 
 oughtn't to have put your boat over the side by your- 
 self, sir, with that bad hand of yours." 
 
 The big man laughed so genuinely, and with such 
 an infectious ring in his voice, that even our Kanaka 
 steward, who was bringing us our cofiPee, laughed too. 
 The dingy, he said, was very light, and there was no 
 need for him to call one of the men to help him. As we 
 drank our coffee he chatted very freely with us, and 
 drew our attention to the lovely effect caused by the 
 rising sun upon a cluster of three or four small 
 thickly-wooded islets, which lay between the two 
 vessels and the mainland of New Britain, whereupon 
 King, who had no romance in his composition, 
 remarked that for his part he could not see much 
 difference between one sunrise or sunset and another. 
 " One means a lot of wind, and another none at all j 
 one means decent weather and another means rotten 
 weather, or middlin' weather." 
 
 "Ah, Mr. King, you look at everything from a 
 sailor's point of view," he said good-naturedly. 
 " Now, there's nothing gives me more pleasure than 
 to watch a sunset and sunrise anywhere in the tropics 
 — particularly if there's land in the foreground or back- 
 ground — I never miss a sunrise in the South Seas if I 
 can help it." 
 
 Presently we began to talk of the voyage, and I 
 asked him a question — which only at that moment 
 occurred to me — concerning himself before we met.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 33 
 
 " I wonder, Captain Yorke, when your crew were 
 cut off, that it did not occur to you to run down 
 the west coast of New Ireland, between it and New 
 Britain, to Blanche Bay, where there is a German 
 station, and where you could have obtained assistance. 
 It would have been much easier for you instead of that 
 long buffeting about on the east coast." 
 
 He made no answer at first, and I saw that his face 
 had changed colour. Then he answered slowly : 
 
 "Just so. I knew all about the Germans at 
 Blanche Bay, but I did not want to go there — for 
 very good reasons. Will you com.e aboard and 
 have some breakfast with me? I'll send you back 
 again any time you like ; the sea is so smooth, as far 
 as that goes, that I could run the cutter alongside, and 
 let you step off on to your own deck." 
 
 Just as we were pushing off from the brigantine, 
 Guest came on deck, glass in hand, to have a look at 
 the cluster of islands, at the same time calling out to 
 Yorke and myself to wait a little. After scanning the 
 islands from the deck, he went aloft for a better view, 
 then descended and came aft again to the rail. 
 
 "Good morning, Captain Yorke. I've just been 
 taking a look at those islands over there, and an idea 
 has just come to me. But, first of all, are they 
 marked on your chart ? They are on mine, but not 
 even named — ^just dots." 
 
 " Neither are they on my big sheet chart — and I 
 have no other of this part of the Western Pacific." 
 
 " Well then, here's my idea. I see from aloft that 
 there is a good-sized blue water lagoon there, and as 
 
 4
 
 34 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 likely as not there may be pearl-shell in it. Anyway, 
 it's worth seeing into, and so if Drake and yourself 
 like to take our boat and half a dozen men, you might 
 have a look in there. I can't see any houses, but at 
 the same time, be careful. You can run in with the 
 cutter pretty close, and then go ashore in the boat. 
 You are bound to find a passage into the lagoon some- 
 where or other. I'll send Tim Rotumah and George" 
 (two of our native crew who were good divers) " with 
 you in the boat ; they'll soon let you know if there is 
 any shell in the lagoon. If there is, light a fire, and 
 make a smoke, and I'll anchor the brigantine and come 
 after you." 
 
 I was delighted with this, and at once returned on 
 board, while Yorke went off^ to the cutter to give his 
 crew their instructions. In ten or fifteen minutes the 
 whaleboat was over the side awaiting me, manned by 
 six of our native crew, all of whom were armed with 
 Snider carbines and revolvers. Pushing off from the 
 Fray Bentos^ we went alongside the Francesca to pick 
 up Yorke, who was waiting for the boat. As the 
 wind had now fallen very light, he suggested to me 
 to make a start at once, leaving the cutter in charge 
 of Napoleon, with orders to anchor if it fell calm, 
 and he was on easy soundings. 
 
 The morning was deliciously bright, clear, and, for 
 those latitudes at that season of the year, very cool. 
 As the boat skimmed over the placid surface of the 
 ocean, " schools " of bright silvery gar-fish and count- 
 less thousands of small flying squid sprang into the air 
 and fell with a simultaneous splash into the water on
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 35 
 
 each side and ahead of us. Then " George," a merry- 
 faced, broad-chested native of Anaa, in the Paumotu 
 Islands, after an inquiring glance at me, broke out 
 into a bastard Samoan-Tokelauan canoe song, with a 
 swinging chorus, altering and improvising as he sang, 
 showing his white teeth, as every now and then he 
 smiled at Yorke and myself when making some 
 humorous play upon the words of the original song, 
 praising the former for his skill and bravery, and his 
 killing of the man-eating savages of New Hanover, 
 his great strength and stature, and his kindly heart — 
 " a heart which groweth from his loins upwards to his 
 throat." 
 
 Long, long years have passed since that day, but I 
 shall always remember how Yorke turned to me with 
 a smile when at something George had sung, the rest 
 of our crew burst into approving laughter. 
 
 " What is he saying about me ? — of course I can 
 recognise that ' loka ' means ' Yorke,' " he said. 
 
 " It's extremely personal, but highly complimentary 
 to you. Now, wait a bit, till they come to the 
 chorus, and I'll try and translate it. There, he's 
 
 startmg 
 
 >> 
 
 " Aliti lokaj malie toa^ toa ?7ialohl 
 Kapeni loka^ arii vaka I 
 'Pule loka^fana tonu ! 
 
 Mate puaka uriy kai tlno. 
 Maumau lava^ nofo noa ? 
 Maumau lava^ nofo noa ? 
 
 Halo I Tamoy Halo Foe I I !
 
 36 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " E aue ! le t'lga ina 
 Ma kalaga^ ffia kalaga 
 O fafine lalolagi 
 E kau iloOy e nofa noa 
 
 Kapeni loka 
 
 Halo ! Tama, Halo Foe ! ! ! " 
 
 " which goes," I said, " as far as I can understand, 
 something like this — * Mr. Yorke, warrior brave 
 and fighter strong, Captain Yorke, the sailor captain, 
 leader Yorke who fired so truly, slew the black, 
 man-eating pigs of savages ! Oh, the pity he is single, 
 oh, the pity he is single ! Pull^ men, pull /' The next 
 verse says that did the world of women know that 
 such a fine man as yourself was a bachelor, they would 
 consume themselves with grief." 
 
 " I wonder why they should take it for granted 
 that I am a single man," he laughed, as he began to 
 fill his pipe ; then he added quietly — " I may be a 
 widower for all I know. I was married in Copenhagen 
 thirty years ago, and have never seen my wife since, 
 and trust I never may." Then in a moment he 
 changed the subject, and I took good care not to 
 mention the matter again. 
 
 An hour after leaving the brigantine, we found a 
 passage — narrow but safe — leading into the lagoon, 
 which was a mile or mile and a half in width, and but 
 for the one opening in the reef, completely land 
 locked by four small islands, all low and densely wooded 
 with banyan and other trees, and connected with each 
 other at low tide. Here and there, at intervals, were
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 37 
 
 groves of coco-palms, and a few vi trees — the wild 
 mango of the Western Pacific, growing close down to 
 the beach, which on the inner side of the lagoon was 
 of bright yellow sand, and presented a very pleasing 
 appearance. 
 
 Chapter IV 
 
 A VERY brief trial of the lagoon, at various depths, 
 soon convinced us that it contained no pearl-shell, both 
 George and the Rotumah man coming up empty-handed 
 after each dive, and pronouncing the bottom to be oge^ 
 i.e.^ poverty-stricken as regarded shell. But we made 
 one rather pleasing discovery, which was that the 
 lao-oon contained a vast number of green turtle. We 
 could see the creatures, some of them being of great 
 size, swimming about beneath the boat in all direc- 
 tions. It at once occurred to me that I should let 
 Guest know, for we were getting short of provisions 
 on board the Fray Bentos^ and had been using native 
 food — pork, yams, and taro, to eke out our scanty 
 store. Here, now, was an opportunity of getting a 
 supply of fresh meat which would last us ror a couple 
 of months or more ; as we could easily stow eighty or 
 a hundred turtle on board, and kill one or two every 
 day as required. We always carried with us a heavy 
 turtle-net, made of coir fibre, which I had bought two 
 years before in the Tokelau Group. But, first of all, 
 I consulted with our native crew as to whether we 
 could dispense with the net by remaining on the island 
 all night and watching for the turtle to come ashore.
 
 38 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Thev all assured me that we should get none, or at 
 best but few, as it was not the laving season. 
 
 " \'erv well," I said, " go off to the ship, and tell 
 the captain that there is no pearl-shell here, but plenty 
 of turtle. Ask him if he will let you have the turtle- 
 net, so that we can set it across the mouth of the 
 passage as soon as it becomes dark ; and tell him 
 we shall come off again by midnight if he does not 
 care about our staying till the morning ; but that as 
 we are pretty sure to get a lot of turtle, he had better 
 send the longboat as well." 
 
 Yorke, at first, intended to go off again to the 
 Francesca^ but I told him I was so sure that Guest 
 would come to an anchor when he heard about the 
 turtle, that he (Guest) would be sure to tell Napoleon 
 and the other men on board the cutter to do the same. 
 " In fact," I added, " a supply of turtle will be a 
 God-send to us, and the skipper will not mind, I am 
 sure, if we stav here for a couple of days, under the 
 circumstances." 
 
 We pulled ashore to a little sandy beach, and Yorke 
 and myself, taking our rifles, ammunition, and a few 
 biscuits each, got out, the native crew at once starting 
 off again for the ship, pulling as hard as they could, 
 for they were eager to return with the turtle-net and 
 enjoy themselves as only South Sea Islanders and 
 other of Nature's children do when fishine. 
 
 About an hour after the boat had gone, we set to 
 work to get some coconuts to drink, both for our- 
 selves and the boat's crew when they returned. 
 Yorke ascended a very tall palm — about sixty feet in
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 39 
 
 height — like a native, and began throwing down the 
 young nuts. I took a shorter tree near bv, and was 
 leisurely twisting off the heavy nuts, when he, who 
 had a good view of the sea, called out to me that it 
 had fallen calm. 
 
 " And what I don't like, Drake, is this," he added 
 — " there's a dull, greasy look on the water over to 
 the eastward there, and I'd like to be on board the 
 Francesco instead of being here. I don't like it, I 
 can tell you, and I'm sorry we did not go off in the 
 boat." 
 
 I, in my fatuous, youthful conceit, laughed at his 
 forebodings. 
 
 " It's only a New Britain squall — a lot of wind for 
 ten minutes, then a power of rain for another twentv, 
 and then it'll be over." 
 
 Yorke, however, was too old and experienced a 
 seaman to disreg-ard the signs of comins: danger. 
 He quickly descended from his tree, and I followed 
 suit. 
 
 " There's something more than a squall coming, 
 my lad. Let us cut through the bush across to the 
 weather side of the island, and try and stop the boat. 
 We can do it if we arc quick." 
 
 The island was less than a mile in width, even at 
 its broadest portion, which was where we had landed ; 
 so, after a hurried drink, we picked up our rifles and 
 started off to try to intercept the boat as she was 
 pulling down the outer and eastern shore. But 
 before we had made two hundred vards, we came to a 
 dead stop, our progress being barred by a dense thicket
 
 40 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 of thorny and stunted undergrowth. We turned 
 aside and skirted the thicket for a quarter of a 
 mile, then tried again, with the same result — it was 
 absolutely impossible to force our way through the 
 obstacle. 
 
 By this time the air had become stiflingly hot and 
 oppressive, and the rapidly darkening sky presaged 
 the coming storm. From every pore in our bodies 
 the perspiration was streaming profusely, and our 
 hands and faces w^ere scratched and bleeding. 
 
 " We must go back," said Yorke, " we cannot 
 possibly get to the other side of the island through 
 this damnable scrub. The only thing we can do is to 
 run along the inner beach of the island till we come 
 to its end, wade across the reef, and try to stop 
 the boat before she has gone too far. This is no 
 common squall, I'm afraid — it's going to be a 
 hurricane. Come on." 
 
 We started off at a run, along the hard sand, but 
 before we had done the first quarter of a mile, I felt 
 that I could go no further, for I was pumped out, 
 could scarcely breathe, and felt a strange, unnatural 
 faintness overcoming me — a not uncommon sensation 
 experienced by many people just before a hurricane or 
 an earthquake. 
 
 "You must go on alone," I said, pantingly, to 
 Yorke ; " leave me here. I'll be all right, even if I 
 have to stop here a month of Sundays. I can't starve 
 in such a place as this." 
 
 Pitching his own and my rifle up on the bank 
 above high water mark, he seized me and lifted me
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 41 
 
 up on his back, telling me to hold on, as he meant to 
 make a big try for the boat. It was no use my 
 protesting — he set off again at a steady run, my 
 weight apparently impeding his progress no more than 
 if he had been carrying a doll instead of ten stone. 
 
 At last we gained the end of the island, where 
 there was a break in the verdure, and from which we 
 had a brief view of the sea before it was blotted out 
 by the black wall of the coming hurricane. 
 
 "We're done as far as getting on board is con- 
 cerned," he said, as I slid down his back on to the 
 sand ; " but, thank God, the boat is safe. In another 
 ten minutes she would have been too late to have 
 reached either the cutter or brigantine, and have been 
 smothered. Look, Captain Guest is all ready, and so 
 is the cutter ! " 
 
 I got up on my feet, just in time to see the boat 
 go alongside the brigantine, which was under a close 
 reefed lower topsail and a bit of her mainsail only — 
 for Guest knew what was coming, and had prepared 
 to meet it; the cutter, too, was reefed down, and had 
 taken her dingy on deck. At that moment, how- 
 ever, both vessels were becalmed ; but scarcely had the 
 whale boat been hoisted up to the starboard davits of 
 the Fray Bentos^ and secured, when the hurricane 
 struck both vessels. I thought at first that our poor 
 old brigantine was going to turn turtle, for she was all 
 but thrown on her beam ends ; but righting herself 
 gallantly, she plunged away into the growing dark- 
 ness, followed by the cutter, and in five minutes both 
 were hidden from view, and Yorke and myself had to
 
 42 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 throw ourselves flat on our faces to avoid being blown 
 down the beach into the lagoon. 
 
 I had once, years before when a boy in Fiji, seen a 
 bad hurricane, and was rather proud of my experience, 
 but I never saw, and never wish to see again, such a 
 truly terrifying and appalling sight as my companion 
 and I now witnessed — for within an hour all Nature 
 seemed to have gone stark, raving mad, and I never 
 expected to see the next morning's sun. I do not 
 think it was the fearful force of the wind which so 
 terrified me into a state of helplessness as the 
 diabolical clamour — the clashing and tearing and 
 rending asunder of the trees, accompanied by a 
 prolonged howling mingled with a deep droning hum 
 like one sometimes hears when a volcano is in 
 eruption — and, in a minor key, the dulled roaring of 
 the surf as the mighty seas swept over the outer reef, 
 and broke over the weather shore with such tre- 
 mendous force that the island seemed to tremble to its 
 very foundations. 
 
 Unable to make himself heard in the pandemonium 
 roaring around us, Yorke turned to me, and gripping 
 me by one hand, and shielding his eyes with the other 
 from the hurtling showers of sand and pebbles which 
 threatened to cut our faces to pieces, he managed to 
 drag me along the beach to a low ledge of coral 
 rocks, under the shelter of which we were protected 
 from the fury of the wind, and, in a measure, safe 
 from flying branches, though all along the beach 
 coco-palms were being torn up by the roots, or their 
 lofty crowns cut off as if they were no stronger than 
 a dahlia or some such weakly plant.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 43 
 
 As we crouched on the sand under the ledge of 
 rock, a terrific but welcome downpour of rain fell, 
 and we were able to satisfy our thirst by pressing our 
 mouths to crevices in the rock overhead. But we 
 were not long allowed to remain undisturbed in our 
 shelter, for, although the tide was on the ebb, the 
 enormous influx of water, driven over the reef by the 
 violence of the wind, so swelled the lagoon that we 
 had to abandon our refuge and crawl on our hands 
 and knees up over the bank, and thence into the 
 thorny scrub, where we were at least safe from falling 
 trees, there being none near us. 
 
 " I must try and get our rifles before it is too late," 
 shouted Yorke in my ear. " I know the place, but if 
 I don't get there pretty quick, I shall never be able to 
 recognise it. Stay where you are until I get back, 
 then we'll try and find a better camping place before 
 night comes on — if this little tin-pot island isn't 
 blown out of the water over on to New Guinea in 
 the meantime." 
 
 By this time I was beginning to get some courage, 
 and to feel ashamed of myself ; so, as soon as Yorke 
 had crept out of the scrub, I braced myself up, and 
 taking out my sheath knife, began to cut away the 
 thorny branches, and pull up by the roots some of the 
 scrub around me, so as to make more room. The 
 soil consisted of decomposed shell and vegetable 
 matter, very soft and porous, underneath which were 
 loose coral slabs, and I soon had a space cleared 
 large enough for us both to lie down upon. Then I 
 started to enclose it on three sides by a low wall of the
 
 44 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 flat coral stones, across which I laid a thick and nearly 
 rain-proof covering of branches and leaves, and when 
 Yorke returned an hour later, I was almost finished, 
 and had begun to make a fire of dead roots and 
 branches. 
 
 "That's grand," he said, as he laid down the rifles. 
 " I was wondering if your matches were dry. Mine 
 are spoilt, as I had them loose in my pocket. How is 
 your tobacco ? " 
 
 " Ouite dry, too. Here you are, fill your pipe." 
 
 The man's thoughtfulness showed at once. " No, 
 thank you — not just yet. I'll improve this newly- 
 erected mansion of ours by getting coconut branches 
 up from the beach. We might as well make our roof 
 as watertight as we can before dark. Then I want 
 something to eat, and there are plenty of coconuts 
 lying about everywhere." 
 
 " We won't starve," I said ; " there are any amount 
 of robber crabs in this scrub, and to-night we can get 
 as many as we want, if we can make a bright fire." 
 
 By dark we had succeeded in carrying up thirty or 
 forty coconut branches, and covering our sleeping 
 place over in a more satisfactory manner, though we 
 were every now and then chilled to the bone by the 
 stinging rain. Our rifles, matches, tobacco, and a few 
 biscuits, we placed in a dry spot, and then built up a 
 small but hot fire of roots under the shelter, and, after 
 eating a meal of coconut and biscuit, we filled our 
 pipes, piled on more roots, and sat by the fire drying 
 our clothes, and listening to the wild uproar of wind 
 and sea, congratulating ourselves upon being in a spot
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 45 
 
 where we were at least safe from the wind, for our 
 camp was at least eight or ten feet below the general 
 level of the island, both on its windward and leeward 
 sides. 
 
 All that night the wind blew with terrific violence, 
 and the noise of the surf thrashing upon the coral 
 barriers of the island was something indescribable. At 
 about midnight, just after a lull succeeded by a heavy 
 fall of rain, the wind hauled round two or three points 
 to the southward, and, if possible, blew with still 
 greater violence. The crashing of trees mingling 
 with the demoniacal shriek of the hurricane, v/as 
 enough to disturb the mind of the bravest ; but my 
 companion lay quietly beside the fire, smoking his 
 pipe and talking to me as he would had we been 
 seated at the supper table on board the Fray Bentos. 
 Yet that he was deeply anxious about our ship-mates 
 I well knew, when, bidding me good-night, he laid his 
 great frame upon the sand and went to sleep. 
 
 Chapter V 
 
 By dawn on the following morning, the hurricane 
 had lost its strength and settled down into a hard gale 
 from the north-east. When we crawled out from 
 our shelter, a fearful scene of desolation met our 
 eyes ; not more than a hundred coco-palms were left 
 standing on the weather side of the island, and 
 enormous boulders of coral rock, torn off the reef by 
 the violence of the sea, were piled up in wild confusion
 
 46 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 along the shore, while, at the north end, the surf had 
 made a clean breach over the land, with devastating 
 effect. On the inner beach of the lagoon, the 
 destructive results of the wind and sea had not been 
 so great, although vast numbers of fish were lying 
 dead on the sand, or among the soaked and flattened 
 undergrowth above high water mark. We at once 
 collected a few, lit a fire, roasted them over the coals, 
 and made a good breakfast, finishing up with some 
 young drinking coconuts, hundreds of which were 
 lying about us. 
 
 We knew that, until the weather moderated, there 
 was little likelihood of our seeing the brigantine and 
 cutter — if we ever saw either again. The ocean for 
 many hundreds of miles around us was full of dangers, 
 for it was unsurveyed, and risky even to a ship in good 
 weather. Many of the islands, shoals and reefs 
 marked on the charts had no existence, but still more 
 were placed in wrong positions, and we both felt that 
 it would be something marvellous if the two vessels 
 escaped disaster. All we could do was to hope for the 
 best, and wait patiently. 
 
 As the rain had ceased, and the sun was shining 
 brightly, although the gale was still blowing fiercely, 
 we decided to cross to one of the other islands and 
 make an examination of our surroundings. First ot 
 all, however, we examined our stock of ammunition, 
 and found we had thirty-five cartridges between us ; 
 the rest of our effects consisted of about a quarter of a 
 pound of plug tobacco, a sheath knife and a pocket 
 knife, a small box of vestas, and the clothes we had on.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 47 
 
 With some difficulty we managed to wade through 
 the shallow passage dividing the island on which we 
 had slept from the next, and found the latter to be 
 much better wooded, wider, and three or four feet 
 higher; and I had just observed to Yorlce that it would 
 suit us better to live on than the other, when I came 
 to a dead stop — right in front of us was a banyan tree, 
 from a low branch of which was suspended a huge 
 cane-work fishing basket ! 
 
 In a moment we hid ourselves, and remained quiet 
 for a few minutes, scanning the surrounding bush 
 carefully to see if there were any further signs of 
 human occupancy, or the humans themselves. From 
 the appearance of the basket, however, I judged that 
 it had not been used for many weeks at least, and had 
 been hung up to prevent its becoming rotten from 
 lying on the moist, steamy soil. 
 
 After satisfying ourselves that there were no natives 
 — in our immediate vicinity at least — we set out 
 again, proceeding very cautiously, and a short distance 
 further on struck a clearly-defined native path ; this 
 we followed, and presently came in sight of half a 
 dozen small thatched huts, under the shelter of two 
 very large trees, from the branches of which were 
 hanging fish baskets similar to that we had just seen. 
 Most of the huts, though damaged by the storm, were 
 substantially built, and evidently had not long been 
 vacated, for in a sort of cleared plot in front were 
 a number of gaily-coloured crotons, which showed 
 signs of having been recently tended — the grass had 
 been pulled up around their roots, &c. In one of the
 
 48 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 huts we found some smaller fish traps, a number of 
 fish spears, and two large wooden bowls. 
 
 "It's a fishing village, belonging to the niggers on 
 the mainland, I think," I said to Yorke. "It is quite 
 a common thing for them, both in New Ireland and 
 New Britain, to have plantations or fishing stations on 
 many of these small islands off the coast, and they come 
 over three or four times a year to plant or fish. Let us 
 go on further." 
 
 My surmise was correct, for, quite near the huts, 
 was a large taro plantation, on which great labour 
 and care had been expended. A brief examination ot 
 some of the tubers showed us that they were full 
 grown. This was not a pleasant discovery, for we 
 knew that the owners might be expected to put in an 
 appearance at any moment after the gale ceased, in order 
 to dig them up. 
 
 " Well, let us get on, and see what else we can dis- 
 cover," said Yorke, shouldering his rifle. "The 
 beggars can't get across from the mainland in such 
 weather as this, so we need not be under any immedi- 
 ate alarm." 
 
 By two in the afternoon we had thoroughly exam- 
 ined the whole of the four islands, but found no more 
 houses, though on all of them we came across the 
 inevitable fish-traps, and also a good-sized bamboo 
 fishing raft, lying far up on the beach. This we at 
 once carried off, and were about to hide in a thicket — 
 little thinking it would prove such a dangerous acqui- 
 sition—when Yorke suggested a better course. It 
 would be a mistake, he said, to leave the raft so far
 
 yORKE THE ADVENTURER 49 
 
 from our sleeping place, instead of taking it away, when 
 not only should we have it near us in case of a sudden 
 attack by the natives, but we could utilise it for fishing, 
 and that by removing it to the southernmost islet, 
 which was farthest away from the fishing village on the 
 largest island, we could easily conceal it from view. 
 
 The natives, he argued, would be bound to search for 
 it on the islet where they had left the thing, and would 
 conclude that it had been washed away in the hurricane, 
 and therefore were hardly likely to come down to the 
 southern islet, the inner beach of which could be seen 
 from nearly every point on the lagoon. 
 
 "So," he went on, "you see that if the black gentry 
 do think that their raft might have been carried down 
 to the inner beach of the south islet, they will only 
 need to use their eyes to show them it isn't there. But 
 it will be snug enough on the outer side of the island, 
 where they won't dream of looking for it, and where 
 we can use it whenever we like — for we'll shift our 
 camp down there to-day. . . . God knows how 
 long we may have to live here if anything has happened 
 to the Fray Bentos and the Francesco^ and so we must 
 run no needless risks." 
 
 " Right," I assented, " and see, the wind is falling 
 steadily, and there's not much of a swell inside the 
 lagoon now. Why not let us try and take the raft 
 away with us at once, instead of coming for her in the 
 morning ? " 
 
 We cut down a couple of young saplings for poles, 
 carried the raft to the water, and launched it. It was 
 big enough to support five or six people, but floated 
 
 5
 
 so YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 like a feather, and, to our delight, we found that we 
 could pole it along in shallow water with the greatest of 
 ease. By four o'clock we reached the island, and car- 
 ried our craft up from the inner beach into a clump of 
 trees. This spot, we thought, would make a good camp, 
 as from it we commanded not only a good view of the 
 lagoon, but of the sea to the south and west, and we 
 felt certain that if Guest turned up all right, he would 
 look for us at this end of the atoll — even if he made it 
 from the northward, and had to run the coast down. 
 
 By supper time we had fixed ourselves up com- 
 fortably for the night. The rain now only fell at 
 long intervals, the wind had fallen to a strong, steady 
 breeze, and we made up a fire, and cooked some 
 more fish, of which there were still numbers to be 
 had on the beach merely for the trouble of picking 
 them up. Then we ate our supper, smoked a pipeful 
 of our precious tobacco between us, and discussed our 
 plans for the morrow, Yorke listening to my sugges- 
 tions as if they were put forward by a man of his 
 own age and experience, instead of by one who was 
 as yet but a young seaman, and a poor navigator. 
 
 "I am quite sure," he said in his slow, quiet way, as 
 he passed me the pipe, " that you and I will get along 
 here all right for weeks, months — years even, if it has 
 pleased the Almighty to take our shipmates, and 
 we have to live here till we are taken off by some 
 ship, or can build a boat. Your knowledge of ways 
 and means of getting food, and living in such a place 
 as this, is of more value than my seamanship and 
 knowledge of navigation. Come, let us get out to the 
 beach and take a look at the weather."
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 51 
 
 He placed his hand on my shoulder in such a kindly 
 manner, as his bright blue eyes looked into mine, that, 
 with the impulsiveness of youth, together with my 
 intense admiration for the character of the man him- 
 self, I could not help saying : 
 
 " Captain Yorke ! Please don't think I was boasting 
 of what I could do in the way of getting food for us — 
 and all that. You see, I have been in the South Seas 
 ever since I was a kid — and by nature I'm half a Kanaka. 
 I've lived among natives so long, and " 
 
 He held up his hand, smiling the while : " I'm glad 
 to have such a good comrade as you, Drake. You have 
 the makings of a good sailorman in you, but you're 
 too quick and excitable, and want an old wooden- 
 headed, stolid buffer like me to steady you. Now 
 let us start." 
 
 We walked across the narrow strip of land to the 
 weather side, and sat down upon a creeper-covered 
 boulder of coral rock. Before us the ocean still 
 heaved tumultuously, and the long, white-crested 
 breakers thundered heavily on the short, fringing reef; 
 but overhead was a wondrous sky of myriad stars, set in 
 a vault of cloudless blue. 
 
 " The gale is blowing itself out," said my com- 
 panion. " We shall see a fine day in the morning. 
 And, Drake, we shall see the brigantine back in three 
 days." 
 
 " I hope so," I said, laughingly, " but I'm afraid we 
 won't. Both the brigantine and cutter must have had 
 to heave to, or else run, and if they have run, they may 
 be two hundred miles away from here by now. And
 
 52 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 I think that Guest would run to the westward tor open 
 water, instead of heaving-to among such an infernal lot 
 of reefs and shoals." 
 
 " Whatever he may have done, he, and my cutter, too, 
 are safe, and we shall see them back in three days," he 
 reiterated, with such quiet emphasis, and with such a 
 strangely confident, contented look in his eyes, that I 
 also felt convinced the vessels would, as he said, turn 
 up safely. 
 
 We sat silent for some minutes, watching the sea, 
 and noting how quickly the wind was falling, when 
 presently my comrade turned to me. 
 
 " You asked me why I did not try to make the 
 German head station in Blanche Bay, after my crew 
 were killed," he said. " Well, I'll tell you. I am 
 frightened of no man living, but I happened to hear the 
 name of the manager there — a Captain Sternberg, an 
 ex-captain of the German navy. He and I served 
 together in the same ship — and I am a deserter from 
 the German service." 
 
 I was astonished. " You ! " I exclaimed ; " surely 
 you are not a German ? " 
 
 "Indeed, I am," he replied, "and if I fell into the 
 hands or the German naval authorities, or any German 
 Consul, or other official anywhere, I should have but a 
 short time in this world." 
 
 " Why, what could they do ? " 
 
 " Send me home to be tried — and shot." 
 
 " Surely they cannot shoot a man for desertion in 
 the German navy." 
 
 " There is something beyond desertion in my case —
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 53 
 
 I killed an officer. Sternberg knows the whole story, 
 and though as a man and a gentleman he would feel 
 for me, he would have no hesitation in arresting me 
 and sending me home in irons, if he could get me. 
 And he could not fail to recognise me, although eight 
 and twenty years have passed since he last saw me." 
 
 "But he is not an Imperial officer now," I re- 
 marked. 
 
 " Yes, he is. He is Vice-Consul for Germany in 
 the Western Pacific, and, as such, would have authority 
 to apprehend me, and apprehend me he certainly would, 
 though, as I have said, he knows my story, and when 
 we served together, was always a kind and good friend 
 to me, despite the fact that he was an officer and I was 
 not ; for I came from as good a family as his own — 
 and that goes a long way in both the German army 
 and navy." 
 
 I made some sympathetic remark, and then Yorke 
 resumed : 
 
 "What I am telling you now — and I'll tell you 
 the whole story — is no secret, for thousands of people 
 have read of the Brandt extradition case in the United 
 States. Twenty years ago I was arrested in San 
 Francisco at the instance of the German Consul there, 
 but managed to escape after being in custody for six 
 weeks. 
 
 "My real name is Brandt. My father was a 
 German, my mother a Danish lady — a native of 
 Klampenborg, a small sea-coast town not far from 
 Copenhagen. My father was an officer in the army, 
 and was well-known as an Asiatic traveller and lin-
 
 54 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 guist, and I was the only child. At fifteen years of 
 age, much to my delight, I went into the navy, served 
 one commission in the Baltic, and two on the west 
 coast of South America. Then when I was about 
 twenty-one years of age, I was given, through my 
 father's influence, a minor position on the stafF of a 
 scientific expedition sent out by the German Geo- 
 graphical Society to Arabia. I came home at the end 
 of a year, and was given three months' leave, at the 
 end of which I was to join a new ship. 
 
 " Being pretty liberally supplied with money by my 
 father — who was a man of means — I determined to 
 spend my leave in London, and there I met the 
 woman who was to prove the ruin of my future. She 
 was the daughter of the woman in whose house I 
 lodged in Chelsea, and was a very handsome, fascin- 
 ating girl about nineteen. I fell madly in love with 
 her, and she professed to return my feelings, and I, 
 poor young fool, believed in her. Her mother, who 
 was a cunning old harridan, and greedy and avaricious 
 to a degree, gave us every opportunity of being 
 together. As I spent my money most lavishly on 
 the girl, and they both knew my father was well-ofF, 
 and I was the only son, they had merely to spread 
 their net for me to fall into it. 
 
 " Well, I married the girl, both she and her mother 
 promising to keep the matter secret from my parents 
 until after I returned from my next voyage and got a 
 commission. I knew well that I should get into very 
 serious trouble with my superiors if the fact of my 
 marriage became known, but was so infatuated with
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 55 
 
 the girl that I allowed no considerations to influence 
 me. 
 
 " A month before my leave expired, I sent my wife 
 over to Bremerhaven, where I had some friends on 
 whose secrecy I could rely. My ship — a small gun- 
 boat — was being fitted out at that port, and my wife 
 seemed delighted that she would see me pretty 
 frequently before I sailed. I was cautious enough 
 not to travel with her from London, for that would 
 have meant almost certain detection, and, as an addi- 
 tional precaution, she went to my friends in Bremer- 
 haven under her maiden name. I was to follow her 
 in a week, by the next steamer. 
 
 " That evening, as I was being driven home to my 
 wife's mother's house in Chelsea, the horse bolted. I 
 was thrown out of the cab, and half-an-hour later, I 
 was in a hospital with a broken arm and severe 
 internal injuries. It was six weeks before I was able 
 to leave England to join my ship ; but my father had 
 written to the navy office, telling of my accident, and 
 my leave had been extended. During all this time 
 my wife wrote to me weekly, telling me she was very 
 miserable at my not allowing her to return to England 
 to nurse me, but would obey me ; for I had written 
 to her and told her not to return, as I did not think it 
 advisable — the doctors and nurses at the hospital knew 
 I was in the German navy, and I was then becoming 
 somewhat fearful of the news of my marriage getting 
 to the knowledge of the naval authorities. 
 
 "When I reached Bremerhaven, I had still three 
 days of my extended leave to expire, so had no need
 
 56 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 to report myself ; but at once went to my friends' 
 house, where I met my wife, who was overjoyed to see 
 me again. My friends, too, welcomed me warmly, 
 though I somehow fancied there seemed to be some 
 underlying restraint upon them. They were quite a 
 young couple : the husband was a clerk in the custom- 
 house, and he and I had been friends from boyhood. 
 
 " In the morning I went to look at my new ship, 
 and was greatly pleased to find that my old officer, 
 Lieutenant Sternberg, had been appointed to her. 
 He saw me at once, came along the deck, and spoke 
 very kindly to me. Whilst he was talking to me, an 
 officer from the port guardship came on board. He 
 was a very handsome man, about thirty, with a deep 
 scar across his forehead, and I noticed that he looked 
 at me very keenly — almost rudely — and I fancied I 
 saw something like a sneer on his face as he turned 
 away to speak to Sternberg. 
 
 " My young friend, the custom house clerk, whose 
 name was Muller, returned every day from his office 
 at six o'clock, when we had supper, and on this occasion 
 I began to tell him of my new ship, and then said 
 casually : 
 
 "'By the way, who is that conceited-looking fellow 
 from the guardship — a man with an ugly scar across 
 his forehead ? ' 
 
 " No one answered, and then to my surprise I saw 
 that Muller was looking inquiringly at my wife, 
 whose face suddenly became scarlet, while Mrs. 
 Muller bent her face over her plate. Then Muller 
 looked at me and said quietly :
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 57 
 
 "'That was Captain Decker. I believe that he 
 has the honour of the friendship of Frau Brandt.' 
 
 " There was something so stern in his tones that I 
 could not understand ; but another look at my wife's 
 face filled me with the blackest misgivings. She had 
 turned a deathly pale, and, faltering something in- 
 audible, rose from the table and went to her room. 
 Then I asked Muller what it meant. 
 
 " * Ask your wife,' he said sadly ; ' you are my dear 
 friend, and she is my guest — but her conduct has not 
 been satisfactory.' 
 
 "I now insisted upon him telling me more, and 
 soon learnt the whole miserable story. My wife had 
 been in the habit of meeting Captain Decker clandes- 
 tinely ever since she had been in Bremerhaven, 
 although she had denied it when Mrs. Muller had 
 indignantly threatened to write and tell me if she did 
 not at once cease the intimacy. This she had sworn 
 to do, but, Muller said, she had, he feared, violated her 
 promise frequently, though he could not absolutely 
 prove it. 
 
 " I went direct to my wife. Instead of a shrinking, 
 trembling woman, I found a defiant devil — a shame- 
 less creature who coolly admitted her guilt, told me 
 that she had never cared for me, and that she had 
 only married me to escape from the monotony of her 
 London life with her mother — if she was her mother, 
 she added with a mocking laugh. 
 
 " Thank God, I didn't hurt her I The revelation 
 was a heavy one, but I braced myself up, and the rage 
 and contempt that filled me were mingled with some
 
 $8 yORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 sort of pity. I did not even reproach her. I had in 
 my pockets about thirty pounds in English gold. I 
 put down twenty on the table. 
 
 " * There are twenty pounds,' I said — ' take it and 
 go. I will send you another two hundred pounds as 
 soon as I can communicate with my father — on one 
 condition.' 
 
 " * What is it ? ' she said sullenly, 
 
 "'That you'll never try to see me, or harass me 
 again. If you do, by God ! I'll kill you.' 
 
 " I promise you that much," she replied. In half 
 an hour she had left the house, and I never saw or 
 heard of her again. 
 
 "That evening I made special preparations. First 
 of all I wrote to my poor father, and told him every- 
 thing, and bade Muller and his wife goodbye, telling 
 them I was going on board my ship. They, pitying 
 me deeply, bade me farewell with tears. 
 
 " But I had no such intention. I wanted to settle 
 scores with the man who had wronged me. At a 
 marine store dealer's that night I bought two common 
 cutlasses, and waited for my chance. I had learnt 
 that Decker went to the service club on certain 
 evenings, and stayed very late. 
 
 "My time came the following night. I saw my 
 man come out of the club, and followed him closely 
 till he entered a quiet street. Then I called him by 
 name. He turned and faced me and asked me angrily 
 what I wanted. 
 
 " ' I am Theodor Brandt,' I said, and handed him 
 one of the two cutlasses I was carrying under my 
 overcoat.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 59 
 
 " The man was no coward, and fought well, but in 
 less than a minute I ran him clean through the body. 
 He fell in the muddy street, and by the time I had 
 dragged him away into the shadow of a high wooden 
 fence enclosing a timber yard, was dead. Half an 
 hour later I was on board a fishing-smack, bound for 
 Wangeroog, one of the Frisian Islands, off the coast. 
 At that place I remained in safety for a month, then 
 got away to Amsterdam, and from there to Java. 
 Then for the next eight-and-twenty years, down to 
 this very moment, I have been a wanderer on the 
 face of the earth. Six years after I escaped I joined 
 an American man-of-war — the Iroquois — at Canton, 
 and when we were paid off in the States I took out 
 my naturalisation papers. This served me well, when, 
 two years afterwards, I was recognised at San Fran- 
 cisco by some German bluejackets as ' Brandt, the 
 murderer of Captain Decker,' and arrested. For- 
 tunately, I had money, and while the German Consul 
 was trying hard to get me handed over to the German 
 naval authorities on the Pacific Coast, my lawyers 
 managed to get me out on bail. I got away down 
 to the Hawaiian Islands in a lumber ship, and — 
 well, since then I've been knocking around any- 
 where and everywhere. . . . Come, let us turn in."
 
 6o YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Chapter VI 
 
 At dawn the wind had died away to a light breeze, 
 and the sun rose to shine upon an ocean of unspecked 
 blue. To the eastward, the slopes of New Britain 
 were hidden from our view by a thick mist, only the 
 tops of some high mountain peaks far inland showing 
 above, and there seemed to be every appearance of 
 the fine weather lasting. This gave us much satis- 
 faction, and after a bathe in a rocky pool on the reef, 
 we ate our breakfast of fish and coconut with good 
 spirits, then fiUing our pipes, went down to the inner 
 beach to bask in the glorious sunshine. 
 
 " If this sort of weather keeps up," I remarked to 
 Yorke, "I'm afraid your prediction about our seeing 
 Guest and the cutter in another two days won't be 
 verified — it'll fall calm before noon to-day, and may 
 keep so for a week. I've known a calm to last for 
 a solid ten days on the north side of New Britain." 
 
 " Perhaps so," he replied ; " but then the current 
 about here sets strongly to the eastward, and some- 
 how I feel certain that, wind or no wind, we'll see 
 the ships." 
 
 "Well, if we do, you ought to give up sailoring. 
 Captain Yorke, and go into business as a prophet. 
 I for one would always come to you for a tip. But, 
 joking apart, let us imagine that Guest or the cutter 
 did not run far to the eastward, but hove-to, and as 
 soon as the hurricane had blown itself out, headed
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 6i 
 
 back for us ; in such a case, both vessels may be 
 within half a day's sail of us at this very moment." 
 
 "That is quite possible — it is also possible they may 
 be within twenty miles of us, becalmed. It would 
 not surprise me if Guest actually drifts in sight of 
 these islands, and comes to look for us in his boat." 
 
 " Now that brings me to the kernel of my 
 imagination. I think it very likely he may have no 
 boat to send, and " 
 
 He gave me a mighty thump on the back. 
 
 "Good boy ! I know what you're thinking of — 
 the raft ? " 
 
 " Exactly, Captain. So don't you think it would be 
 as well for us to turn to at once, and make a couple of 
 good paddles ? though in an emergency the butt ends 
 of dry coconut branches do very well for paddles." 
 
 Then I went on to say that it was quite likely 
 that Guest had lost both his boats, and the cutter her 
 dingy, before there was time to have them properly 
 secured ; and that the brigantine had lost the whaler, 
 which had brought us ashore, I was sure of, for she 
 had, as I have mentioned, been nearly thrown over 
 on her beam ends when struck by the first blast, and 
 the boat must certainly either have been hopelessly 
 stove when she was forced below, or torn away from 
 the davits by the weight of water in her when the 
 ship righted herself. 
 
 We set to at once with a good will — Yorke over- 
 hauling the cane fastenings with which the great 
 bamboos were lashed together, whilst I went along the 
 beach in search of some yonng futu trees, the wood or
 
 di YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 which is soft when green, but dries hard, and could 
 be easily worked, even by such a tool as a sheath 
 knife. 
 
 A quarter of a mile from our camp I found just 
 what I wanted — three or four young futu saplings 
 lying on the ground, torn up by the roots. Taking 
 two ot the best, I stripped ofF the branches, and 
 returned to my companion, who was still at work on 
 the raft, relashing its timbers wherever needed. 
 
 In a couple of hours I had made quite a decent 
 pair of paddles, each about four feet in length, and 
 with four inches of blade in the widest part. Then 
 Yorke, having finished with the raft, went with me 
 along the beach, and collected some old coconuts for 
 food, and some young ones to drink, for, as my com- 
 rade observed, one never knew what might happen, 
 and it would be as well to have some provisions all 
 ready to hand in case of emergency. There were 
 still thousands of dead fish to be seen everywhere 
 lying on the sand, or cast up among the debris above 
 high-water mark, but these were now turning putrid, 
 and of no use. 
 
 We had noticed a huge banyan tree not far distant 
 from our sleeping place, which was the roosting and 
 breeding place of a vast number of whale birds, so 
 Yorke proposed that we should go there and see if we 
 could kill some by hurling sticks at them. We had 
 often seen this done by the natives ot the western 
 Caroline Islands, for the birds are very stupid, and 
 allow themselves, when not on the wing, to be 
 approached quite closely. We cut ourselves each a
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 63 
 
 half-dozen of short, heavy throwing-sticks of green 
 wood, and set out for the rookery, and within an hour 
 had killed thirty or forty of the poor birds, some ot 
 which we at once picked, cleaned, and roasted. We 
 had no lack of salt, for every rock and shrub above 
 high-water mark on the weather side of the island 
 was covered with a thin incrustation of it, caused by 
 the rapid evaporation of the spray under a torrid sun. 
 The remainder of the birds we cooked later in the 
 day, intending them as a stand-by. 
 
 In the afternoon we again bathed, this time in the 
 lagoon, and Yorke, who was one of the strongest 
 and swiftest swimmers, for an European, that I had 
 ever seen, succeeded in capturing a turtle which was 
 lying asleep on the surface of the water, and brought 
 it ashore ; but it proved to be so old and poor that we 
 let it go again in disgust. 
 
 Towards the close of the day we again crossed the 
 islet to have a better look at the New Britain shore, 
 the heavy mist which had hung over it most of the 
 day having now vanished. That the native owners 
 of the plantations would put in an appearance before 
 many days had passed I was certain, for they would 
 be anxious to see what damage had been done by the 
 hurricane, and no doubt dig up some of the taro, 
 which, as I have said, was fully grown. 
 
 The moment we emerged from the scrub out upon 
 the eastern shore, we obtained a splendid view of the 
 opposite coast of the great island, though the actual 
 shore was not visible on account of the extreme 
 lowness of the belt of littoral, which was many miles
 
 64 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 in width ; but by climbing a tree we could just dis- 
 cern the long, dark line of palms, and here and there a 
 narrow strip of white, denoting either surf or a sandy 
 beach. 
 
 " Why," I said to Yorke, " that land cannot be 
 more than five miles distant to its nearest point, and 
 if there are niggers living there we should see their 
 fires to-night, and " 
 
 The next moment I uttered a loud hurrah ! and 
 nearly fell off the tree in my excitement, for away on 
 the northern horizon was a sail, shining snowy-white 
 in the rays of the sinking sun ! 
 
 Yorke echoed my cheer. " A day sooner than I 
 prophesied, Drake ! Wish we had a glass, so that we 
 could make out which it is. I am rather inclined to 
 think it is the Fray Bentos^ it looks too big for the 
 cutter. Anyway, whichever it is, she's becalmed ; 
 but even if there is not a breath of wind during the 
 night, she'll be closer in in the morning, as the current 
 is bound to set her along this way." 
 
 We descended from the tree jubilantly, and I sug- 
 gested that we should make a big blaze on the eastern 
 shore, so as to let the ship know we saw her, but the 
 more cautious Yorke said it would be rather risky. 
 Natives, he said, might be quite near at that moment, 
 a party of canoes could have easily crossed over during 
 the day, and we should be none the wiser unless we 
 happened to see the reflections of their fires, after 
 they had arrived, on the lagoon waters. So, after 
 waiting another ten minutes, when the sun set, we 
 returned to camp.
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 65 
 
 " Let us kill the fatted calf and divide it between 
 us," said my companion, taking our plug of tobacco 
 and cutting it in halves; "I'm going to smoke all 
 night, or at any rate until I fall asleep. Did you see 
 how the sun set ? Well, that thick, yellow haze 
 means a calm to-morrow, to a dead certainty, and I 
 shouldn't be a bit surprised if we see Guest pulling 
 into the lagoon at daylight, that is, if he has a boat 
 left." 
 
 I do not think either of us slept for more than a 
 quarter of an hour that night. That Yorke could 
 have done so, I do not doubt, but I would persist in 
 talking, getting up, walking about, and smoking, and 
 he, good-naturedly, kept awake on my account. The 
 night was wondrously calm and beautiful, so calm and 
 quiet that there was not the slightest surf on the outer 
 reef, and the only sound that broke the silence would 
 be the croak of some night-fishing bird, as it rose, 
 prey in bill, from the slumbering lagoon. 
 
 As soon as ever we could sec our way through to 
 the other side of the island, we were afoot, unheed- 
 ing the drenching we got from the dew-soaked 
 trees whenever we touched a branch. Within five 
 minutes after we had emerged out into the open 
 the sun rose, and a cheer broke from us when we 
 saw both the cutter and the brigantine lying becalmed 
 about four miles away, between the islet and the 
 mainland of New Britain, and almost abreast of where 
 we stood. 
 
 "They have both lost all the boats, I am almost 
 sure," said Yorke, "or we should see one coming 
 
 6
 
 66 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ashore ; unless, indeed, a boat is already pulling down 
 the lagoon on the other side. Let us wait an hour. 
 That will decide us what to do ; if we see no boat 
 between now and then, we can be assured that Guest 
 has none to send, and that he is waiting for a breeze, 
 so that he can run in close to the reef, and try to get 
 within hail of us. I daresay that he has a raft of 
 some sort already made, and is trying to get closer to 
 the land to send it ashore for us. So we'll give him a 
 pleasant surprise." 
 
 We waited impatiently till the hour had passed, but 
 could see no sign of a boat putting off from, or on the 
 way from the brigantine, and were then certain that 
 she had none to send, as if it had left the vessel, even 
 at daylight, it would have entered the lagoon and been 
 with us by that time. 
 
 Whilst we were waiting we had piled together on 
 the shore a great heap of dried coconut branches, 
 on top of which we threw masses of a thick, green, 
 saline creeper. This heap we lit as a signal, and 
 a pillar of dense smoke rose high in the windless 
 atmosphere. It was answered by Guest in a few 
 minutes — not by a gun, as we expected, but by a 
 similar signal of smoke, caused by a mass of cotton 
 waste being soaked in coal tar and ignited. 
 
 " He's answering us," exclaimed Yorke. " Now, 
 let's get the raft launched and make a start." 
 
 Wc tore back through the scrub to our camp, I 
 panting with excitement, Yorke as cool as ever. 
 Carrying the raft down to the water we quickly 
 put on board the bundles of young coconuts, not
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 67 
 
 deeming it worth while to bother with the old ones 
 and the cooked birds, as we quite expected to be 
 alongside the Fray Bentos within three hours at least, 
 the sea being as calm as a mill-pond, and the raft 
 very light. 
 
 " Go easy, my lad, go easy," said Yorke with 
 a smile, as he saw the state of flurry I was in. 
 " We've got two or three hours paddling to do, so 
 don't knock yourself up needlessly. Now, what 
 about our rifles ? " 
 
 I had actually forgotten them, but at once ran back 
 for them (the cartridges we always kept in our 
 pockets), and picking one up in each hand, tore down 
 the bank again, caught my left foot in a vine, and 
 pitched upon my nose on the top of the broken 
 coral and pebbles covering the beach with such 
 violence that had it not been for the muzzle of the 
 rifle I was carrying in my right hand plunging into 
 the loose stones, and bringing me up sharply, I might 
 have broken my jaw against a big boulder, which just 
 caught me on the chin. 
 
 Pretending I was not hurt, though my chin was 
 skinned, and my shoulder was strained, I picked 
 myself up, handed the rifles to Yorke, and said I was 
 ready. 
 
 " Take a drink first," he said in his authoritative, 
 yet sympathetic way, as he opened a young coconut. 
 " Then fill your pipe and rest awhile. We're in no 
 hurry for ten minutes. Poor chap, you did do a flyer. 
 Talk about the Gadarene swine ! Why you could 
 give them points in running down steep places !"
 
 68 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 I certainly had given myself a tremendous shaking, 
 for I felt quite dizzy, but after a few draws at my pipe, 
 said I was fit to paddle the raft to Cape Horn. 
 
 VVe pushed off, then poled along shore till we came 
 to the passage, which was as smooth as glass. Here, 
 on account of the deep water, we had to take to our 
 paddles, and were soon out in the open sea, heading 
 for the vessels. The sun was intensely hot, but we 
 took no heed of it, and congratulated ourselves upon 
 having such a calm sea, instead of having to paddle 
 against a swell, which would have greatly impeded 
 our progress. 
 
 For the first mile or so we went along in great 
 style — then, to our consternation, we suddenly ran 
 right into a heavy tide rip, and away we went at the 
 rate of three or four knots an hour to the south-east, 
 and towards the New Britain shore. The belt or 
 tide-rip seemed to be about a mile in width, and 
 although we paddled furiously in the endeavour to get 
 out of the whirling, seething stream, it was in vain — 
 the raft spun round and round with such rapidity 
 that wc lost control over, and had to let her go ; for 
 not only were we unable to make any headway, but 
 the manner in which we were spinning round would 
 not allow us to keep our feet, and began to make us 
 sea-sick. After half an hour or more of this, we at 
 last saw a chance of getting out of the rip into a side 
 eddy ; and, putting forth all our strength, we just 
 succeeded in doing so, only to be menaced by a fresh 
 and more alarming danger. 
 
 Yorke, dashing the pouring perspiration from his
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 69 
 
 brow with his hand, had just stood up to get a look at 
 the brigantine and cutter, when he uttered an oath. 
 
 " By God, we're in for it now ! Look, here's four 
 canoes, filled with niggers, heading dead on for us. 
 The beggars see us, too ! " 
 
 I stood up beside him, and saw, about a quarter of 
 a mile away, four canoes, each of which was carrying 
 six or eight natives, coming towards us at a furious 
 rate. They were, like all New Britain canoes, very 
 low down in the water, which, together with our own 
 troubles when we were in the tide rip, had prevented 
 our seeing them long before. 
 
 " Lucky we have not wasted any of our cart- 
 ridges " said Yorke grimly ; " we'll give them all 
 the fight they want. But let them get closer, 
 while we head back for the ships. We rtiust get 
 out of this current — we can lick the niggers easy 
 enough ; but if we get into that tide-rip again, we'll 
 be carried out of sight of the brigantine by midday." 
 
 Plunging our paddles into the water, we sent our 
 bamboo craft along till we were in absolute safety as 
 far as the tide-rip was concerned. Then Yorke laid 
 down his paddle. 
 
 " We're all right now, Drake ; and now we'll give 
 these man-chawing beggars a bit of a surprise. They 
 mean to knock us on the head in another ten minutes, 
 and take our carcasses ashore for to-night's dinner. 
 You are the younger man, and can shoot better than 
 I, so I'll be polite and give you first show. Sight for 
 five hundred yards for a trial shot, at the leading 
 canoe. But wait a minute — don't stand up."
 
 70 YORKR THE ADVENTURER 
 
 He quickly piled up the young coconuts in a firm 
 heap, and then stood over me, his own rifle in hand, 
 whilst I knelt on the bamboos and placed my rifle on 
 the top of the heap of coconuts. 
 
 I am now, at this time of life, ashamed of the 
 savage instinct that in those days filled me with a 
 certain joy in destroying human life, unthinkingly, 
 and without compunction. But I had been brought 
 up in a rough school, among men who thought it not 
 only justifiable, but correct and proper to shoot a 
 man — black, or white, or brown, or yellow — who had 
 done them any wrong. It had been my lot, in the 
 Solomon Islands, to witness one of the most hideous 
 and appalling massacres of a ship's crew that was ever 
 perpetrated by natives — a massacre that had filled my 
 youthful mind with the most intense and unreasoning 
 hatred of all " niggers," as we called the natives of 
 Melanesia. The memory of that awful scene had 
 burned itself upon my brain, for the captain and 
 mate of the vessel were dear friends of mine, and 
 they and their men had been cruelly slaughtered, 
 not for any wrong they had done— for they were 
 good, straight men — but simply because their blind 
 confidence in the sava2:e natives invited their 
 destruction. 
 
 *l" •!* *{• VI* 
 
 I Steadied my rifle upon the top of the heap of 
 coconuts, and waited a second or two till every man 
 in the first canoe was in line. Then I pulled the 
 trigger, and was thrown back bleeding and uncon-
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 71 
 
 scious, for the rifle burst just in front of the breech- 
 block, which blew out and struck me on the top of 
 my head, nearly fracturing my skull. 
 
 When I came to again Yorke's face was bending 
 over me. 
 
 " We're all right, Drake. The brigantine is 
 within a mile of us, coming up with a Hghc 
 air, and we'll be aboard in half an hour. How do 
 you feel, my son ? " 
 
 " Rocketty. Did the rifle burst ? " 
 
 " Burst ? It burst like a cannon, all but killed you, 
 and a splinter hurt me in the eye. Drake, my boy, 
 the next time you do the Gadarene swine trick with 
 a cheap German Snider in your hand, see that the 
 barrel is clear before you fire it. When you fell that 
 time, your rifle barrel must have been pretty badly 
 choked with sand and coral pebbles. . . Now lie 
 still, and don't worry like an old maid who has lost 
 her cat. You can do nothing, and will only be a 
 damned nuisance if you do trv to do anything. The 
 brigantine will be here presently, and you'll get your 
 head attended to, and have 'pretty-pretty' plasters 
 stuck on your nose and other parts of your facial 
 beauties." 
 
 " Where are the niggers r " I asked. 
 
 " Gone, gone, my dear boy. Vanished, but not 
 vanished in time enough for five or six of them. I 
 have used every one of our cartridges on the four 
 canoes, and have had the supreme satisfaction of 
 knowing that I have not used them in vain. Now 
 stop talking, and let me attend to the ship — the
 
 72 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 bamboo ship. . . There, put your head on my coat 
 and don't talk." 
 
 When the Fray Bentos sailed up alongside the raft I 
 was lifted on board, and placed in my berth, and long 
 days passed ere I saw Yorke again. 
 
 When I did see him the brigantine was lying at 
 anchor at Rook Island, and Guest was in my cabin 
 telling me the story of the hurricane — of how he had 
 lost the two boats within an hour — one being carried 
 away when the brigantine was all but thrown over on 
 her beam ends, and the other — the longboat — swept 
 away with everything else on deck — guns, deck-houses, 
 bulwarks and all. 
 
 " How we escaped smashing into some reef or 
 another I don't know," said Guest ; " but the 
 strangest thing about it all is that Yorke's cutter, 
 manned by native seamen, managed to stick so close 
 to the Fray Benton; for when I, running before the 
 hurricane, with my decks swept with tremendous seas, 
 suddenly ran into smooth water, brought to in fifteen 
 fathoms, and dropped anchor, there was the Francesca^ 
 cheek by jowl, alongside of me." 
 
 " Kanaka sailors' eyesight," I said. " Napoleon 
 never lost sight of the brigantine for a moment ! 
 And, talking about eyesight, how is Yorke's eye?" 
 
 *' Bad, bad, my boy. It is destroyed entirely, and 
 he is now on board here, in my cabin. He has been 
 asking for you. Do you feel strong enough to get 
 up and see him ? "
 
 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 73 
 
 I rose at once, and went into Guest's cabin. 
 Yorke was lying in the skipper's bunk, and as I 
 entered he extended both hands to me, and smiled 
 cheerfully, though his left eye was covered with a 
 bandage, and his brave, square-set face was white 
 and drawn. 
 
 " How are you, Drake, my boy ? We had a 
 narrow squeak, didn't we, from the niggers ? And 
 here is Captain Guest worrying and tormenting him- 
 self that he could not fire a gun to scare them off." 
 
 I held his big, right hand between my own, and 
 pressed it gently, for there was something in his one 
 remaining eye that told me the end of all was near. 
 
 "Goodbye, dear lad . . Goodbye, Captain 
 Guest. / know what is the matter with me — 
 erysipelas — and erysipelas to a big, fat man like me 
 means death . . . and if you would put a bullet 
 through my head now you would do me a good 
 turn . . . But here. Guest, and you, Drake . . . 
 your hands. I'll be dead by to-morrow morning, 
 and want to say goodbye, and wish good luck to 
 you both, before I begin babbling silly twaddle 
 about things that are of no account now ... of no 
 account now . . . not worth speaking about now. 
 But the South Seas are a rotten sort of a place, 
 anyway."
 
 The Colo?tial Mortuary Bard 
 
 A WRITER in the Sydney Evening News last year ga\'e 
 that journal some amusing extracts from the visitors' 
 book at Longwood, St. Helena. If the extracts are 
 authentic copies of the original entries, they deserve to 
 be placed on the same high plane as the follow^ing, 
 which appeared in a Melbourne newspaper some years 
 
 ago 
 
 " Our Emily was so fair 
 That the angels envied her, 
 And whispered in her ear, 
 ' We will take you away on Tuesday night ! ' " 
 
 I once considered this to be the noblest bit of 
 mortuary verse ever written ; but since reading the 
 article in the Sydney paper I have changed my opinion, 
 and now think it poor. Bonaparte, however, was a 
 great subject, and even the most unintelligent mortuary 
 verse-maker could not fail to achieve distinction when 
 the Longwood visitors' book was given up unto him. 
 Frenchmen, especially, figure largely. Here, for 
 instance : — 
 
 74
 
 THE COLONIAL MORTUARY BARD 75 
 
 " Malediction. 
 
 O grand homme ! O grand Napoleon ! 
 Mais la France et toi sont venge — 
 Hudson Lowe est mort ! " 
 
 The last line is so truly heroic — French heroic. It 
 instantly recalled to me a tale told by an English 
 journalist who, on a cycling tour in France just after 
 the Fashoda crisis, left his " bike " under the care of 
 the proprietor of an hotel in Normandy. In the 
 morning he found the tyres slashed to pieces, and on 
 the saddle a gummed envelope, on which was bravely 
 written, " Fashoda." This was unintentional mor- 
 tuary poetry. The gallant Frenchman who did the 
 daring deed when the owner of the " bike " was asleep 
 did not realise that the word itself was a splendid 
 mortuary epic for French aspirations generally. 
 
 Then comes something vigorous from one "Jack 
 Lee-Cork," who writes : — 
 
 " The tomb of Napoleon we visit to-day, 
 And troil on the spot where the tyrant lay ; 
 That his equal again may never appear, 
 'Twill be sincerely prayed for many a year," 
 
 The masters and officers of some of the whale-ships 
 touching at St. Helena seem to have made pilgrimages 
 to Longwood, Mr. William Miller, master of the 
 barque Hope^ of New Bedford, writes that he " visited 
 the remains of the greatest warrior of the day, interred 
 for twenty years," Then he breaks out into these 
 noble lines : — 
 
 " Here lies the warrior, bravest, of the brave. 
 Visited by Miller, God the Queen may save,"
 
 76 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 As a Britisher I shake your hand, William. When 
 you wrote that, forty years ago, American whaling or 
 any other kind of skippers did not particularly care 
 about our nation ; but you, William, were a white 
 man. How easily you might have said something 
 nasty about us and made "brave" rhyme with 
 "grave" ! But you were a real poet, and above 
 hurting our feelings. 
 
 Captain Miller was evidently accompanied by some 
 of his crew, one of whom contributes this gem of 
 prose : — 
 
 " Louis F. Waldron, on bord the barke hope of nubedford, its boat 
 steer, has this day been to see honey's tomb ; we are out 24 munts, 
 with 13 hundred barils of sperm oil." 
 
 All greasy luck attend you, honest Louis, boatsteerer, 
 in the shades beyond. You wielded harpoon and 
 lance better than the pen, and couldn't write poetry. 
 Your informing statement about the " ile " at once 
 recalled to memory an inscription upon the wooden 
 head-board of the grave of another boat-steerer which 
 in 1873 was to be seen at Ponape, in the Caroline 
 Islands : — 
 
 " Sacred to Memory of Jno, 
 
 HoUis of sagharbour 
 
 boatsterer of ship Europa of new 
 
 Bedfoni who by will of 
 
 alniity god died of four ribs stove in by a 
 
 Sperm Whale 
 
 off pleasant island north pacific 
 
 4.I7.69."
 
 THE COLONIAL MORTUARY BARD 77 
 
 Sailors love the full-blooded, exhaustive mortuary 
 poem as well as any one, and generally like to describe 
 in detail the particular complaint or accident from 
 w^hich a shipmate died. Miners, too, like it. Many 
 years ago, in a small mining camp on the Kirk River, 
 in North Queensland, I saw the following inscrip- 
 tion painted on the head-board of the grave of a 
 miner who had fallen down a shaft : — 
 
 I. 
 
 " Remember, men, when you pass by, 
 What you are now, so once was I. 
 Straight down the Ripper No. 3 shaft I fell ; 
 The Lord preserve my soul from hell." 
 
 On the Palmer River diggings (also in North 
 Queensland) one William Baker testified to his 
 principles of temperance in the following, written 
 on the back of his " miner's right," which was nailed 
 to a strip of deal from a packing-case : — 
 
 " Bill Baker is my name, 
 A man of no faim, 
 But I was I of the First 
 In this great Land of thirst 
 To warn a good mate 
 Of the sad, dreadful fate. 
 That will come to him from drink. 
 
 Wm. B.^ker of S. Shields, England." 
 
 But let me give some more quotations from the 
 Longwood visitors' book. Three midshipmen of the 
 Melville^ irreverent young dogs, write : —
 
 78 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " We three have ernJeavoured, by sundry potations of Mrs. T 's 
 
 brandy, to arrive at a proper pitch of enthusiasm always felt, or assumed 
 to be, by pilgrims to this tomb. It has, however, been a complete 
 failure, which I fear our horses will rue when we arrive at the end of 
 our pilgrimage. — Three Mids. of the Melvi/le," 
 
 That is another gross insult to France — an insult 
 which, fortunately for England, has escaped the notice 
 of the French press. And now two more extracts 
 from the delicious article in the Sydney paper : — 
 
 " William Collins, master of the Haivi, of Glasgow, from Icaboe, 
 bound to Cork for orders. In hope never to have anything to do with 
 the dung trade ! And God send us all a good passage home to old 
 England. Amen ! At Longwood." 
 
 I sympathise with you, good William ! You describe 
 the guano-carrying industry by a somewhat rude 
 expression ; but as a seafaring man who has had 
 the misfortune to be engaged in the transportation of 
 the distressful but highly useful product, I shake your 
 hand even as I shake the greasy hand of Mr. William 
 Miller, the New Bedford blubber-hunter. My benison 
 on you both. 
 
 The last excerpt in the book is — 
 
 "One mur<ler makes a villain, millions a hero ;'* 
 
 and underneath a brave Frenchman writes — 
 
 " You lie — you God-dam Englishmans."
 
 "'i?^^?," the Fisherman 
 
 'Reo was a short, squat Malayan, with a face like a 
 skate, barring his eyes, which were long, narrow slits, 
 apparently expressing nothing but supreme indifference 
 to the world in general. But they would light up 
 sometimes with a merry twinkle when the old rogue 
 would narrate some of his past villainies. 
 
 He came to Samoa in the old, old days — long before 
 Treaties, and Imperial Commissioners, and other 
 gilded vanities were dreamt of by us poor, hard-work- 
 ing traders. He seemed to have dropped from the 
 sky when one afternoon, as Tom Denison, the super- 
 cargo, and some of his friends sat on Charley the 
 Russian's verandah, drinking lager, he marched up 
 to them, sat down on the steps, and said, " Good 
 
 evening." 
 
 " Hallo," said SchlUter, the skipper of the Anna 
 Godeffroy, " Who are you ? Where do you come 
 from?" 
 
 'Reo waved a short, stumpy and black clay pipe to 
 and fro, and replied vaguely — 
 
 " Oh, from somewhere." 
 
 Some one laughed, surmising correctly enough that 
 
 79
 
 8o YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 he had run away from a ship ; then they remembered 
 that no vessel had even touched at Apia for a month. 
 (Later on he told Denison that he had jumped over- 
 board from a Baker's Island guano-man, as she was 
 running down the coast, and swum ashore, landing at 
 a point twenty miles distant from Apia. The natives 
 in the various villages had given him food, so when he 
 reached the town he was not hungry.) 
 
 " What do you want, anyway ? " asked SchlUter. 
 
 " Some tobacco, please. And a dollar or two. I 
 can pay you back." 
 
 " When ? " said Hamilton the pilot incredulously. 
 
 The pipe described a semicircle. " Oh, to-morrow 
 night — before, perhaps." 
 
 They gave him some tobacco and matches, and four 
 Bolivian " iron " half-dollars. He got up and went 
 across to Volkner's combined store and grog shanty, 
 over the way. 
 
 " He's gone to buy a bottle of square-face," said 
 Hamilton. 
 
 " He deserves it," said Denison gloomily. " A man 
 of his age who could jump overboard and swim ashore 
 to this rotten country should be presented with a case 
 of mn — and a knife to cut his throat with after he has 
 finished it." 
 
 In about ten minutes the old fellow came out of 
 Volkner's store, carrying two or three stout fishing- 
 lines, several packets of hooks, and half a dozen ship 
 biscuits. He grinned as he passed the group on the 
 verandah, and then squatting down on the sward near 
 by began to uncoil the lines and bend on the hooks.
 
 a > 
 
 REO," THE FISHERMAN 8i 
 
 Denison was interested, went over to him, and 
 watched the swift, skilful manner in which the thin 
 brown fingers worked. 
 
 " Where are you going to fish ? " he inquired. 
 
 The broad, flat face lit up. " Outside in the dam 
 deep water — sixty, eighty fa'am." 
 
 Denison left him and went aboard the ancient, 
 cockroach-infested craft of which he was the heart- 
 broken supercargo. Half an hour later 'Reo paddled 
 past the schooner in a wretched old canoe, whose out- 
 rigger was so insecurely fastened that it threatened to 
 come adrift every instant. The old man grinned as 
 he recognised Denison ; then, pipe in mouth, he went 
 boldly out through the passage between the lines of 
 roaring surf into the tumbling blue beyond. 
 
 At ten o'clock, just as the supercargo and the 
 skipper were taking their last nip before turning in, 
 the ancient slipped quietly alongside in his canoe, and 
 clambered on deck. In his right hand he carried 
 a big salmon-like fish, weighing about 20 lbs. 
 Laying it down on the deck, he pointed to it. 
 
 " Plenty more in canoe like that. You want some 
 more ? " 
 
 Denison went to the side and looked over. The 
 canoe was loaded down to the gunwale with the 
 weight of fish — fish that the lazy, loafing Apian 
 natives caught but rarely. The old man passed up 
 two or three more, took a glass of grog, and paddled 
 ashore. 
 
 Next morning he repaid the borrowed money and 
 showed Denison fifteen dollars — the result of his first 
 
 7
 
 82 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 night's work in Samoa. The saloon-keepers and other 
 white people said he was a treasure. Fish in Apia 
 were dear, and hard to get. 
 
 ***** 
 
 On the following Sunday a marriage procession 
 entered the Rarotongan chapel in Matafele, and 
 Tetarreo (otherwise 'Reo) was united to one of the 
 prettiest and not very disreputable native girls in the 
 town, whose parents recognised that 'Reo was likely 
 to prove an eminently lucrative and squeezable son-in- 
 law. Denison was best man, and gave the bride a 
 five-dollar American gold piece (having previously 
 made a private arrangement with the bridegroom that 
 he was to receive value for it in fish). 
 
 'Reo's wife's relatives built the newly-married couple 
 a house on Matautu Point, and 'Reo spent thirty- five 
 dollars in giving the bride's local connections a feast. 
 Then the news spread, and cousins and second cousins 
 and various breeds of aunts and half-uncles travelled up 
 to Matautu Point to partake of his hospitality. He 
 did his best, but in a day or so remarked sadly that he 
 could not catch fish fast enough in a poor canoe. If 
 he had a boat he could make fifty dollars a week, he 
 said ; and with fifty dollars a week he could entertain 
 his wife's honoured friends continuously and in a 
 befitting manner. The relatives consulted, and, think- 
 ing they had "a good thing," subscribed, and bought a 
 boat (on credit) from the German firm, giving a 
 mortgage on a piece of land as security. Then they 
 presented 'Reo with the boat, with many compli-
 
 '"REO," THE FISHERMAN 83 
 
 mentary speeches, and sat down to chuckle at the way 
 they would " make the old fool work," and the " old 
 fool " went straight away to the American Consul and 
 declared himself to be a citizen of the United States 
 and demanded his country's protection, as he feared 
 his wife's relatives wanted to jew him out of the boat 
 they had given him. 
 
 The Consul wrote out something terrifying on a 
 big sheet of paper, and tacked it on to the boat, and 
 warned the surprised relatives that an American man- 
 of-war would protect 'Reo with her guns, and then 
 'Reo went inside his house and beat his wife with a 
 canoe paddle, and chased her violently out of the place, 
 and threatened her male relatives with a larsie knife 
 and fearful language. 
 
 Then he took the boat round the other side of the 
 island and sold it for two hundred dollars to a trader, 
 and came back to Apia to Denison and asked for a 
 passage to Tutuila, and the German firm entered into 
 and took possession of the mortgaged land, whilst the 
 infuriated relatives tore up and down the beach demand- 
 ing 'Reo's blood in a loud voice. 'Reo, with his 
 two hundred dollars in his trousers' pocket, sat on the 
 schooner's rail and looked at them stolidly and without 
 ill-feeling. 
 
 *4i& •# 4^ -^ 
 
 fj^ 7^ *li TJv 
 
 Denison landed the ancient at Leone Bay on 
 Tutuila, for he had taken kindly to the old scoundrel, 
 who had many virtues, and could give points to any 
 one, white or brown, in the noble art of deep-sea
 
 84 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 fishing. This latter qualification endeared him greatly 
 to young Tom, who, when he was not employed in 
 keeping the captain sober, or bringing him round 
 after an attack of " D.T.'s," spent all his spare 
 time in fishing, either at sea or in port. 
 
 'Reo settled at Leone, and made a good deal of 
 money buying copra from the natives. The natives 
 got to like him — he was such a conscientious old fellow. 
 When he hung the baskets of copra on the iron hook 
 of the steelyard, which was marked to weigh up to 
 150 lbs., he would call their attention to the marks as 
 he moved the heavy " pea " along the yard. Then, 
 one day, some interfering Tongan visitor examined 
 the pea and declared that it had been taken from a 
 steelyard designed to weigh up to 400 lbs. 'Reo 
 was so hurt at the insinuation that he immediately 
 took the whole apparatus out beyond the reef in 
 his boat and indignantly sunk it in fifty fathoms of 
 water. Then he returned to his house, and he and 
 his wife (he had married again) bade a sorrowful 
 farewell to his friends, and said his heart was broken 
 by the slanders of a vile Tongan pig from a mission 
 school. He would, he said, go back to Apia, where 
 he was respected by all who knew him. Then he 
 began to pack up. Some of the natives sided with 
 the Tongan, some with 'Reo, and in a few minutes 
 a free fight took place on the village green, and 'Reo 
 stood in his doorway and watched it from his narrow, 
 pig-like eyes; then, being of a magnanimous nature, 
 he walked over and asked three stout youths, who 
 had beaten the Tongan into a state of unconscious-
 
 "'REO," THE FISHERMAN 85 
 
 ness, and were jumping on his body, not to hurt him 
 too much. 
 
 About midnight 'Reo's house was seen to be in 
 flames, and the owner, uttering wild, weird screams of 
 " Fia ola ! Fin ola ! " (" Mercy ! Mercy ! ") fled 
 down the beach to his boat, followed by his wife, a 
 large, fat woman, named appropriately enough 
 Taumafa (Abundance). They dashed into the water, 
 clambered into the boat, and began pulling seaward 
 for their lives. The villagers, thinking they had both 
 gone mad, gazed at them in astonishment, and then 
 went back and helped themselves to the few goods 
 saved from the burning house. 
 
 As soon as 'Reo and the good wife were out of 
 sight of the village they put about, ran the boat into 
 a little bay further down the coast, planted a bag 
 containing seven hundred dollars, with the best of 
 the trade goods (salved before the fire was discovered), 
 and then set sail for Apia to "get justice from the 
 Consul." 
 
 The Consul said it was a shocking outrage, the 
 captain of U.S.S. Adirondack concurred, and so the 
 cruiser, with the injured, stolid-faced 'Reo on board, 
 steamed off to Leone Bay and gave the astounded 
 natives twelve hours to make up their minds as to 
 which they would do — pay 'Reo one thousand dollars 
 in cash or have their town burnt. They paid six 
 hundred, all they could raise, and then, in a dazed 
 sort of way, sat down to meditate as they saw the 
 Adirondack steam off" a?ain. 
 
 'Reo gave his wife a small share of the plunder
 
 S6 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and sent her home to her parents. When Tom 
 Denison next saw him he was keeping a boarding 
 house at Levuka, in Fiji. He told Denison he was 
 welcome to free board and lodging for a year. 'Reo 
 had his good points, as I have said.
 
 The Black Bream of Australia 
 
 Next to the lordly and brilHant-hued schnapper, the 
 big black bream of the deep harbour waters of the 
 east coast of Australia is the finest fish of the bream 
 species that have ever been caught. Thirty years ago, 
 in the hundreds of bays which indent the shores of 
 Sydney harbour, and along the Parramatta and Lane 
 Cove Rivers, they were very plentiful and of great 
 size ; now, one over 3 lbs. is seldom caught, for the 
 greedy and dirty Italian and Greek fishermen who infest 
 the harbour with their fine-meshed nets have prac- 
 tically exterminated them. In other harbours of New 
 South Wales, however — notably Jervis and Twofold 
 Bays — these handsome fish are still plentiful, and there 
 I have caught them winter and summer, during the 
 day under a hot and blazing sun, and on dark, calm 
 nights. 
 
 In shape the black bream is exactly as his brighter- 
 hued brother, but his scales are of a dark colour, like 
 partially tarnished silver ; he is broader and heavier 
 about the head and shoulders, and he swims in a more 
 
 87
 
 88 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 leisurely, though equally cautious, manner, always 
 bringing-to the instant anything unusual attracts his 
 attention. Then, with gently undulating tail and 
 steady eye, he regards the object before him, or 
 watches a shadow above with the keenest scrutiny. 
 If it is a small, dead fish, or other food which is 
 sinking, say ten yards in front, he will gradually come 
 up closer and closer, till he satisfies himself that there 
 is no line attached— then he makes a lightning-like 
 dart, and vanishes in an instant with the morsel 
 between his strong, thick jaws. If, however, he sees 
 the most tempting bait — a young yellow-tail, a piece 
 of white and red octopus tentacle, or a small, silvery 
 mullet — and detects even a fine silk line attached to 
 the cleverly hidden hook, he makes a stern-board for 
 a foot or two, still eyeing the descending bait ; then, 
 with languid contempt, he slowly turns away, and 
 swims ofF elsewhere. 
 
 In my boyhood's days black-bream fishing was a 
 never-ending source of delight to my brothers and 
 myself. We lived at Mosman's Bay, one of the 
 deepest and most picturesque of the many beautiful 
 inlets of Sydney Harbour. The place is now a populous 
 marine suburb with terraces of shoddy, jerry-built 
 atrocities crowding closely around many beautiful 
 houses with spacious grounds surrounded by hand- 
 some trees. Threepenny steamers, packed with 
 people, run every half-hour from Sydney, and the 
 once beautiful dell at the head of the bay, into which 
 a crystal stream of water ran, is as squalid and detest- 
 able as a Twickenham lane in summer, when the
 
 THE BLACK BREAM OF AUSTRALIA 89 
 
 path is strewn with bits of greasy newspaper which 
 have held fried fish. 
 
 But in the days of which I speak, Mosman's Bay 
 was truly a lovely spot, dear to the soul of the true 
 fisherman. Our house — a great quadrangular, one- 
 storied stone building, with a courtyard in the centre 
 — was the only one within a radius of three miles. 
 It had been built by convict hands for a wealthy man, 
 and had cost, with its grounds and magnificent 
 carriage drives, vineyards, and gardens, many thousand 
 pounds. Then the owner died, bankrupt, and for 
 years it remained untenanted, the recrudescent bush 
 slowly enveloping its once highly cultivated lands, and 
 the deadly black snake, iguana, and 'possum harbouring 
 among the deserted outbuildings. But to us boys 
 (when our father rented the place, and the family 
 settled down in it for a two years' sojourn) the lonely 
 house was a palace of beautiful imagination — and solid, 
 delightful fact, when we began to explore the sur- 
 rounding bush, the deep, clear, undisturbed waters of 
 the bay, and a shallow lagoon, dry at low water, at its 
 head. 
 
 Across this lagoon, at the end near the deep water, 
 a causeway of stone had been built fifty-five years before 
 (in 1820) as a means of communication by road with 
 Sydney. In the centre an opening had been left, 
 about twenty feet wide, and across this a wooden 
 bridge had been erected. It had decayed and vanished 
 long, long years before we first saw the place ; 
 but the trunk of a great ironbark tree now served 
 equally as well, and here, seated upon it as the tide
 
 90 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 began to flow in and inundate the quarter-mile of dry 
 sand beyond, we would watch the swarms of fish 
 passing in with the sweeping current. 
 
 First v/ith the tide would come perhaps a school 
 ot small blue and silver gar-fish, their scarlet-tipped 
 upper mandibles showing clear of the water ; then a 
 thick, compact battalion of short, dumpy grey mullet, 
 eager to get up to the head of the lagoon to the fresh 
 water which all of their kind love ; then communities 
 of half a dozen of grey and black-striped " blackfish " 
 would dart through to feed upon the green weed 
 which grew on the inner side of the stone causeway. 
 Then a hideous, evil-eyed " stingaree," with slowly- 
 waving outspread flappers, and long, whip-like tail, 
 follows, intent upon the cockles and soft-shell clams 
 which he can so easily discover in the sand when he 
 throws it upwards and outwards by the fan-like action 
 of his thin, leathery sides. Again more mullet — big 
 fellows these — with yellow, prehensile mouths, which 
 protrude and withdraw as they swim, and are fitted 
 with a straining apparatus of bristles, like those on 
 the mandibles of a musk duck. They feed only on 
 minute organisms, and will not look at a bait, except 
 it be the tiny worm which lives in the long celluroid 
 tubes of the coral growing upon congewo'i. And then 
 you must have a line as fine as horsehair, and a hook 
 small enough — but strong enough to hold a three- 
 pound fish — to tempt them. 
 
 As the tide rose higher, and the incoming water 
 bubbled and hissed as it poured through the narrow 
 entrance underneath the tree-bole on which we sat.
 
 THE BLACK BREAM OF AUSTRALIA 91 
 
 red bream, silvery bream, and countless myriads of the 
 small, staring-eyed and delicate fish, locally known as 
 "hardy-heads," would rush in, to return to the deeper 
 waters of the bay as the tide began to fall. 
 
 Sometimes — and perhaps " Red Spinner" of the Field 
 may have seen the same thing in his piscatorial wander- 
 ings in the Antipodes — huge gar-fish of three or four 
 feet in length, with needle-toothed, narrow jaws, and 
 with bright, silvery, sinuous bodies, as thick as a man's 
 arm, would swim languidly in, seeking for the young 
 mullet and gar-fish which had preceded them into the 
 shallow waters beyond. These could be caught by the 
 hand by suddenly gripping them just abaft of the head. 
 A Moruya River black boy, named " Cass " (/.^., 
 Casanova), who had been brought up with white people 
 almost from infancy, was a past-master in this sort of 
 work. Lying lengthwise upon the tree which bridged 
 the opening, he would watch the giant gars passing in, 
 swimming on the surface. Then his right arm would 
 dart down, and in an instant a quivering, twisting, 
 and gleaming "Long Tom" (as we called them) 
 would be held aloft for a moment and then thrown 
 into a flour-sack held open in readiness to receive it. 
 
 Surely this was "sport" in the full sense of the word ; 
 for although "Long Tom " is as greedy as a pike, and 
 can be very easily caught by a floating bait when he 
 is hungry, it is not every one who can whip him out 
 of the water in this manner. 
 
 There were at least four varieties of mullet which 
 frequented the bay, and in the summer we frequently 
 caught numbers of all four in the lagoon by running
 
 92 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 a net across the narrow opening, and when the tide 
 ran out we could discern their shining bodies hiding 
 under the black-leaved sea-grass which grew in some 
 depressions and was covered, even at low tide, by a 
 few inches of water. Two of the four I have described ; 
 and now single specimens of the third dart in — 
 slenderly-bodied, handsome fish about a foot long. 
 They are one of the few varieties of mullet which 
 will take a hook, and rare sport they give, as the 
 moment they feel the line they leap to and fro on the 
 surface, in a series of jumps and somersaults, and very 
 often succeed in escaping, as their jaws are very soft 
 and thin. 
 
 By the time it is slack water there is a depth of six 
 feet covering the sandy bottom of the lagoon, the rush 
 and bubble under the tree-bole has ceased, and every 
 stone, weed, and shell is revealed. Now is the time 
 to look on the deep-water side of the causeway for the 
 big black bream. 
 
 There they are — thirty, fifty — perhaps a hundred 
 of them, swimming gently to and fro outside the 
 entrance, longing, yet afraid to enter. As you 
 stand up, and your shadow falls upon their line of 
 vision, they " go about " and turn head on to watch, 
 sometimes remaining in the same position, with gently 
 moving fins and tails, for five minutes ; sometimes 
 sinking down to the blue depths beyond, their out- 
 lines looming grey and indistinct as they descend, to 
 reappear again in a few minutes, almost on the surface, 
 waiting for the dead mullet or gar-fish which you may 
 perhaps throw to them.
 
 THE BLACK BREAM OF AUSTRALIA 93 
 
 The old ex-Tasmanian convict who was 
 employed to attend to the boat in which we boys 
 went across to Sydney three days a week, weather 
 permitting, to attend school, had told us that we 
 " couldn't hook e'er a one o' thim black bream ; the 
 divils is that cunning, masters, that you can't do it. 
 So don't thry it. 'Tis on'y a-waistin' time." 
 
 But we knew better ; we were born in the colony 
 
 — in a seaport town on the northern coast — and the 
 
 aborigines of the Hastings River tribe had taught us 
 
 many valuable secrets, one of which was how to catch 
 
 black bream in the broad light of day as the tide 
 
 flowed over a long stretch of sand, bare at low water, 
 
 at the mouth of a certain " blind " creek a few miles 
 
 above the noisy, surf-swept bar. But here, in Mos- 
 
 man's Bay, in Sydney, we had not the cunningly 
 
 devised gear of our black friends — the principal article 
 
 of which was the large uni-valve ailoiis shell — to help 
 
 us, so we set to work and devised a plan of our own, 
 
 which answered splendidly, and gave us glorious sport. 
 
 When the tide was out and the sands were dry, 
 
 carrying a basket containing half a dozen strong 
 
 lines with short-shanked, thick hooks, and two or 
 
 three dozen young gar-fish, mullet, or tentacles of the 
 
 octopus, we would set to work. Baiting each hook so 
 
 carefully that no part of it was left uncovered, we dug 
 
 a hole in the sand, in which it was then partly buried ; 
 
 then we scooped out with our hands a narrow trench 
 
 about six inches deep and thirty or forty yards in 
 
 length, into which the line was laid, covered up 
 
 roughly, and the end taken to the shore. After we
 
 94 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 had accomplished laying our lines, radiating right and 
 left, in this manner we covered each tempting bait 
 with an ordinary crockery flower-pot, weighted on 
 the top with a stone to keep it in its place, and then a 
 thin tripping-line was passed through the round hole, 
 and secured to a wooden cross-piece underneath. 
 These tripping-lines were then brought ashore, and 
 our preparations were complete. 
 
 " But why," one may ask, " all this elaborate 
 detail, this burying of lines, and, most absurd of all, 
 the covering up of the baited hook with a flower- 
 pot ? " 
 
 Simply this. As the tide flows in over the sand 
 there come with it, first of all, myriads of small gar- 
 fish, mullet, and lively red bream, who, if the bait 
 were left exposed, would at once gather round and 
 begin to nibble and tug at it. Then perhaps a swiftly 
 swimming " Long Tom," hungry and defiant, may 
 dart upon it with his terrible teethed jaws, or the 
 great goggle-eyed, floundering sting-ray, as he flaps 
 along his way, might suck it into his toothless but 
 bony and greedy mouth ; and then hundreds and 
 hundreds of small silvery bream would bite, tug, and 
 drag out, and finally reveal the line attached, and then 
 the scheme has come to naught, for once the cute and 
 lordly black bream sees a line he is off, with a 
 contemptuous eye and a lazy, proud sweep of tail. 
 
 When the tide was near the full flood we would 
 take the ends of our fishing- and tripping-lines in our 
 hands and seat ourselves upon the high sandstone 
 boulders which fringed the sides of the bay, and from
 
 THE BLACK BREAM OF AUSTRALIA 95 
 
 whence we could command a clear view of the water 
 below. Then, slowly and carefully, we tripped the 
 flower-pots covering the baits, and hauled them in 
 over the smooth sandy bottom, and, with the baited 
 lines gripped tight in the four fingers of our right 
 hands, we watched and waited. 
 
 Generally, in such calm, transparent water, we 
 could, to our added delight, see the big bream come 
 swimming along, moving haughtily through the crowds 
 of small fry — yellow-tail, ground mullet, and trum- 
 peters. Presently, as one of them caught sight of 
 a small shining silvery mullet (or a luscious-looking 
 octopus tentacle) lying on the sand, the languid grace 
 of his course would cease, the broad, many-masted 
 dorsal fin become erect, and he would come to a 
 dead stop, his bright, eager eye bent on the prize 
 before him. Was it a delusion and a snare ? No ! 
 How could it be ? No treacherous line was there — 
 only the beautiful shimmering scales of a delicious 
 silvery-sided young mullet, lying dead, with a thin 
 coating of current-drifted sand upon it. He darts 
 forward, and in another instant the hook is struck 
 deep into the tough grizzle of his white throat ; the 
 line is as taut as a steel wire, and he is straining every 
 ounce of his fighting six or eight pounds' weight to 
 head seawards into deep water. 
 
 Slowly and steadily with him, else his many 
 brothers will take alarm, and the rest of the carefully 
 laid baits will be left to become the prey of small 
 " flatheads," or greedy, blue-legged spidery crabs. 
 Once his head is turned, providing he is well hooked,
 
 96 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 he is safe, and although it may take you ten minutes 
 ere you haul him into such shallow water that he 
 cannot swim upright, and he falls over upon his 
 broad, noble side, and slides out upon the sand, it is a 
 ten minutes of joy unalloyed to the youthful fisher- 
 man who takes no heed of two other lines as taut as 
 his own, and only prays softly to himself that his may 
 be the biggest fish of the three. 
 
 Generally, we managed to get a fish upon every 
 one of the ten or twelve lines we set in this manner, 
 and as we always used short, stout-shanked hooks of 
 the best make, we rarely lost one. On one occasion, 
 however, a ten-foot sawfish seized one of our baits, 
 and then another and another, and in five minutes the 
 brute had entangled himself amongst the rest of the 
 lines so thoroughly that our old convict boatman, who 
 was watching us from his hut, yelled out, as he saw 
 the creature's serrated snout raised high out of the 
 water as it lashed its long, sinuous tail to and fro, to 
 " play him " till he " druv an iron into it." He 
 thought it was a whale of some sort, and, jumping 
 into a dinghy, he pulled out towards it, just in time 
 to see our stout lines part one after another, and the 
 " sawfish " sail off none the worse for a few miserable 
 hooks in his jaws and a hundred fathoms of stout 
 fishing lines encircling his body. 
 
 This old Bill Duggan — he had " done " twenty-one 
 years in that abode of horror, Port Arthur in Tas- 
 mania, for a variegated assortment of crimes — always 
 took a deep interest in our black-bream fishing, and 
 freely gave us a shilling for each one we gave him.
 
 THE BLACK BREAM OF AUSTRALIA 97 
 
 He told us that by taking them to Sydney he could 
 sell them for two shillings each, and that he would 
 send the money to a lone, widowed sister who lived 
 in Bridgnorth, England. Our mother deeply sym- 
 pathised with the aged William (our father said he 
 was a lying old ruffian), and always let him take the 
 boat and pull over to Sydney to sell the fish. He 
 generally came back drunk after twenty-four hours' 
 absence, and said the sun had affected him. But 
 Nemesis came at last. 
 
 One day some of the officers of H.M.S. Chal- 
 lenger^ with some Sydney friends, came to spend a 
 Saturday and Sunday with us. It rained hard on 
 the Saturday night, and the stream which fell into 
 the head of the bay became a roaring torrent, 
 sending a broad line of yellow, muddy foam through 
 the narrow opening of the causeway, which I have 
 before mentioned, into the harbour. 
 
 Sadly disappointed that we could not give our 
 guests the sport which we had promised them, we sat 
 upon the causeway and gazed blankly upon the 
 yellowed waters of the bay with bitterness in our 
 hearts. Suddenly "Cass," the Moruya River black 
 boy, who was standing beside us, turned to us with 
 a smile illumining his sooty face. 
 
 "What for you coola (angry) ? Now the time to 
 catch big pfeller brack bream. Water plenty pfeller 
 muddy. Brack bream baal (is not) afraid of line 
 now." 
 
 I, being the youngest, was sent off, with furious 
 brotherly threats and yells, to our guests, to 
 
 8
 
 98 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 tell them to come down at once with their fishing 
 tackle. I tore up the path and reached the house. 
 The first-lieutenant, commodore's secretary, and two 
 ladies at once rose to the occasion, seized their beau- 
 tiful rods (at which my brothers and myself were 
 undecided whether to laugh in contempt or to pro- 
 foundly admire) and followed me down to the 
 causeway. 
 
 Before we reached there Billy Duggan and my 
 brothers had already landed half a dozen splendid fish, 
 one of which, of over ten pounds, was held up to 
 us for inspection as a curiosity, inasmuch as a deep 
 semicircular piece had been bitten out of its back 
 (just above the tail) by a shark or some other pre- 
 datory fish. The wound had healed over perfectly, 
 although its inner edge was within a quarter of an 
 inch of the backbone. 
 
 With a brief glance at the fish already taken, the 
 two officers and the ladies had their rods ready, and 
 made a cast into the surging, yellow waters, with 
 disastrous results, for in less than three minutes every 
 one of them had hooked a fish — and lost it. 
 
 " Ye're no fishing for finnickin' graylin', or such 
 like pretty-pretties av of the ould counthry," said the 
 old convict patronisingly, as his toothless mouth 
 expanded into a grin. " These blue-nosed devils 
 would break the heart and soul av the best greenheart 
 as was iver grown. Lay down thim sthicks an' take 
 wan of these," and he pointed to some thick lines, 
 ready coiled and baited with pieces of raw beef. 
 "Just have thim out into the wather, and hould on
 
 THE BLACK BREAM OF AUSTRALIA 99 
 
 like grim death — that's all. Sure the boys here have 
 taught me a mighty lot I niver larned before." 
 
 Our visitors "haved" out the already baited lines, 
 and caught a dozen or more of splendid fish, varying 
 from 6 lbs. to 10 lbs. in weight, and then, as a drenching 
 downpour of rain blotted out everything around us, we 
 went home, leaving our take with Billy, with the 
 exception of two or three of the largest, which we 
 brought home with us for supper. He whispered 
 to my brothers and myself that he would give us 
 " ten bob " for the lot ; and as the old villain's 
 money was extremely useful to us, and our parents 
 knew nothing about our dealings with the ancient 
 reprobate, we cheerfully agreed to the " ten bob " 
 suggestion. 
 
 But, as I have said. Nemesis was near to William 
 Duggan, Esq., over this matter of the black bream, 
 
 for on the following Tuesday Lieut. H happened 
 
 across the leading fishmonger's shop in Hunter Street, 
 where there were displayed several splendid black 
 bream. One of these, he noticed, had a large piece 
 bitten out of the back, and he at once recognised it. 
 He stepped inside and asked the black-moustached 
 Grecian gentleman who attended to the counter the 
 price of the fish, and where they were caught. 
 
 " Nine shillings each, sir. They are a very scarce 
 fish, and we get them only from one man, an old 
 fellow who makes his living by catching them in 
 Mosman's Bay. We give him five shillings each for 
 every fish over 6 lbs., and seven-and-sixpence for 
 every one over 10 lbs. No one else but this old fellow
 
 loo YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 can catch black bream of this size. He knows the 
 trick." 
 
 H , thinking he was doing us boys a good turn, 
 
 wrote a line to our father, telling him in a humorous 
 manner all about this particular wretched back-bitten 
 black bream which he had recognised, and the price 
 he had been asked for it. Then my father, having 
 no sense of humour, gave us, one and all, a sound 
 thrashing for taking money from old Duggan, who 
 thereafter sold our black bream to a hawker man who 
 travelled around in a spring cart, and gave him three 
 shillings each, out of which we got two, and spent at 
 a ship chandler's in buying fresh tackle. 
 
 For 'twas not the "filthy lucre" we wanted, only 
 the sport.
 
 ^^ Martin of Nite7idi'' 
 
 Half-way up the side of the mountain which over- 
 looked the waters of the little land-locked harbour 
 there was a space clear of timber. Huge, jagged 
 rocks, whose surfaces were covered with creepers and 
 grey moss, protruded from the soil, and on the highest 
 of these a man was lying at full length, looking at the 
 gunboat anchored half a mile away. He was clothed 
 in a girdle of t'l leaves only ; his feet were bare, cut, 
 and bleeding ; round his waist was strapped a leather 
 belt with an empty cartridge pouch ; his brawny right 
 hand grasped a Snider rifle ; his head-covering was a 
 roughly made cap of coconut-nut leaf, with a projec- 
 ting peak, designed to shield his blood-shot, savage 
 eyes from the sun. Yet he had been a White Man. 
 For nearly an hour he had been watching, ever 
 since the dawn had broken. Far below him, thin, 
 wavering curls of pale blue smoke were arising from 
 the site of the native village, fired by the bluejackets 
 on the previous evening. The ruins of his own house 
 he could discern by the low stone wall surrounding it ; 
 as for the native huts which, the day before, had 
 
 lOI
 
 I02 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 clustered so thickly around his own dwelling, there 
 was now no trace save heaps of grey ashes. 
 
 A boat put off from the ship, and as the yellow- 
 bladed oars flashed in the sunlight the man drew his 
 rifle close up to his side and his eyes gleamed with a 
 deadly hatred. 
 
 " Ofiicers' shootin' party," he muttered, as he 
 watched the boat ground on the beach and three 
 men, carrying guns, step out and walk up the beach — 
 " officer's shootin' party. Christ A'mighty ! I'd 
 like to pot every one o' the swine. An' I could do 
 it, too, I could do it. But wot's the use o' bein' a 
 blarsted fool for nothin' ? " 
 
 The boat's crew got out and walked about the 
 smouldering remains of the village, seeking for curios 
 which had escaped the fire, pausing awhile to look at 
 a large mound of sand, under which lay seven of the 
 natives killed by the landing-party on the preceding 
 day. Then, satisfied that there was nothing to be 
 had, the coxswain grumblingly ordered the men back 
 to the boat, which pushed off and returned to the 
 ship. 
 
 The wild, naked creature lying upon the boulder 
 saw the boat pull off with a sigh of satisfaction. 
 There was, under the ashes of his house, and buried 
 still further under the soil, a 50-lb. beef barrel filled 
 with Chilian and Mexican dollars. And he had feared 
 that the bluejackets might rake about the ashes and 
 find it. 
 
 He rose and stepped down the jagged boulder to 
 where, at the base, the thick carpet of dead leaves,
 
 "MARTIN OF NlTENDi" 103 
 
 fallen from the giant trees which encompassed it, 
 silenced even the tread of his naked feet. Seated 
 against the bole of a many-buttressed vi-tree was a 
 native woman, whose right arm, shattered by a bullet 
 and bound up in the spathe of a coconut-palm, was 
 suspended from her neck by a strip of soft bark. She 
 looked at him inquiringly. 
 
 "A boat has come ashore," he said in the native 
 tongue, " but none of the white men are seeking for 
 my money." 
 
 " Thy money ! " The woman's eyes blazed with 
 a deadly fury. " What is thy money to me ? Is 
 thy money more to us than the blood of our child ? 
 O, thou coward heart ! " 
 
 Grasping his Snider by the tip of the barrel the 
 man looked at his wife with sullen, dulled ferocity. 
 
 " I am no coward, Nuta. Thou dost not under- 
 stand. I wish to save the money, but I wish for 
 revenge as well. Yet what can I do ? I am but 
 one man, and have but one cartridge left." 
 
 *jiL, i^ ^ Jk- 
 
 ■^ Tfi 7^ ^F 
 
 This naked, sun-tanned being was one of the most 
 desperate and blood-stained beachcombers that had 
 ever cursed the fair isles of the South Pacific, and in 
 those days there were many, notably on Pleasant Island 
 and in the Gilbert Group. Put ashore at Nitendi from 
 a Hobart Town whaler for mutinous conduct, he had 
 disassociated himself for ever from civilisation. Per- 
 haps the convict strain in his blood had something to 
 do with his vicious nature, for both his father and 
 mother had " left their country for their country's
 
 104 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 good," and his early training had been given him 
 under the shadow of the gallows and within the 
 swishing sound of the " cat " as it lacerated the backs 
 of the wretched beings doomed to suffer under the 
 awful convict system. 
 
 From the simple, loafing beachcomber stage of 
 life to that of a leader of the natives in their tribal 
 wars was a simple but natural transition, and Jim 
 Martin, son of a convict father and mother whose 
 forbears were of the scum of Liverpool, and knew the 
 precincts of a prison better than the open air, followed 
 the path ordained for him by Fate. 
 
 The man's reckless courage won him undoubted 
 respect from his associates ; the head chief of the 
 village alone possessed a greater influence. A house 
 was built for him, and a wife and land given him ; 
 and within a year of his arrival on the island he 
 signalised himself by a desperate attempt to cut-off a 
 barque bound from Hobart to China as she lay becalmed 
 off the island. The attempt failed, and many of his 
 followers lost their lives. A few months later, how- 
 ever, he was more successful with a Fijian trading 
 cutter, which, anchoring off the village, was carried 
 during the night, plundered of her cargo of trade 
 goods (much of which was firearms), and then burnt. 
 This established his reputation. 
 
 Five years passed. But few vessels touched at the 
 island now, for it had a bad name, and those which 
 did call were well armed and able to beat off an 
 attack. Then one day, two years before the opening of 
 this story, a trading schooner called off the village, and
 
 "MARTIN OF NITENDI" 105 
 
 Martin, now more a savage native than a white man, 
 was tempted by her defenceless condition, and by the 
 money which the captain carried for trading purposes, 
 to capture her, with the aid of the wild, savage people 
 among whom he had cast his lot. Of what use the 
 money would be to him he knew not. He was an 
 outcast from civilisation, he was quickly forgetting his 
 mother tongue ; but his criminal instincts, and his 
 desire to be a " big man " with the savages among 
 whom he had lived for so long, led him to perpetrate 
 this one particular crime. In the dead of night he 
 led a party of natives on board the schooner, and 
 massacred every one of her crew, save one Fijian, 
 who, jumping overboard, swam to the shore, and was 
 spared. A few months later this man escaped to a 
 passing whaler, and the story of the massacre of the 
 captain and crew of the Fedora was made known to the 
 commodore of the Australian station, who despatched 
 a gunboat " to apprehend the murderers and bring 
 them to Sydney for trial." Failing the apprehension 
 of the murderers, the commander was instructed " to 
 burn the village, and inflict such other punitive 
 methods upon the people generally " as he deemed 
 fit. 
 
 So Commander Lempriere, of H.M. gunboat 
 Terrier^ went to work with a will. He meant to 
 catch the murderers of the crew of the Fedora^ if 
 they possibly could be caught, and set to work in a 
 manner that would have shocked the commodore. 
 Instead of steaming into the bay on which the village 
 was situated — and so giving the natives ample time to
 
 io6 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 clear out into the mountains — he brought-to at dusk, 
 when the ship was twenty miles from the land, and 
 sent away the landing party in three boats. The 
 Fijian — he who had escaped from the massacre of the 
 Fedora — was the guide. 
 
 " You know what to do, Chester," said Commander 
 Lempriere to his first lieutenant as the boatswain's 
 whistles piped the landing party away ; " land on the 
 north point, about two miles from the village, and 
 surround it, and then wait till daylight. You can do 
 it easily enough with thirty men, as it lies at the foot 
 of the mountain, and there is no escape for the beggars 
 unless they break through you and get into the bush. 
 Be guided by the Fiji boy ; and, as the Yankees say, * no 
 one wants a brass band with him when he's going 
 duck-hunting,' so try and surround the village as 
 quietly as possible. 77/ see that none of them get 
 away in their canoes. Fll work up abreast of the 
 harbour by daylight." 
 
 Guided by the boy. Lieutenant Chester and the 
 landing party succeeded in getting ashore without 
 being seen, and then made a long detour along the 
 side of the mountain, so as to approach the village 
 from behind. Then they waited till daylight, and all 
 would have gone well had not his second in command, 
 just as the order was given to advance, accidentally 
 discharged his revolver. In an instant the village was 
 alarmed, and some hundreds of natives, many of them 
 armed with rifles, and led by Martin, sprang from their 
 huts and made a short but determined resistance. 
 Then, followed by their women and children, they
 
 "MARTIN OF NITENDI" 107 
 
 broke through the bluejackets and escaped into the 
 dense mountain jungle, where they were safe from 
 pursuit. But the fire of the seamen had been deadly, 
 for seven bodies were found ; among them was a boy of 
 about ten, whom the Fijian recognised as the renegade's 
 son — a stray bullet had pierced his body as he sat 
 crouching in terror in his father's house, and another 
 had wounded his mother as she fled up the mountain- 
 side, for in the excitement and in the dim morning 
 light it was impossible for the attacking party to tell 
 women from men. 
 
 Then by the commander's orders the village and 
 fleet of canoes was fired, and a dozen or so of rockets 
 went screaming and spitting among the thick moun- 
 tain jungle, doing no damage to the natives, but 
 terrifying them more than a heavy shell fire. 
 ***** 
 
 "Let us away from here, Nuta," said Martin, 
 "'tis not safe. In the hut by the side of the big pool 
 we can rest till the ship has gone and our people 
 return. And I shall bind thy arm up anew." 
 
 The woman obeyed him silently, and in a few 
 minutes they were skirting the side of the mountain 
 by a narrow leaf-strewn path, taking the opposite 
 direction to that followed by the two officers and 
 bluejackets. Half an hour's walk brought them to 
 the river bank, which was clothed with tall spear- 
 grass. Still following the path, they presently emerged 
 out into the open before a deep, spacious pool, at the 
 further end of which was a dilapidated and deserted 
 hut. Here the woman, faint with the pain of her
 
 io8 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 wound, sank down, and Martin brought her water to 
 drink, and then proceeded to re-examine and properly 
 set her broken arm. 
 
 *-****■ 
 
 The two officers — the second Heutenant and a 
 ruddy-faced, fair-haired midshipman named Walters — 
 had hardly proceeded a hundred yards along the beach, 
 when the boy stopped. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Grayling, let us turn back and go the 
 other way. There's a big river runs into the next 
 bay, with a sort of a lake about a mile up ; I saw it in 
 the plan of the island, this morning. We might get 
 a duck or two there, sir." 
 
 "Any way you like," replied the officer, turning 
 about, " and walking along the beach will be better 
 than climbing up the mountain in the beastly heat for 
 the sake of a few tough pigeons." 
 
 Followed by the three bluejackets, who were armed 
 with rifles, they set off along the hard white sand. In 
 a few minutes they had rounded the headland on the 
 north side and were out of sight of the ship. For 
 quite a mile they tramped over the sand, till they 
 came to the mouth of the river, which flowed swiftly 
 and noisily over a shallow bar. A short search revealed 
 a narrow path leading up along the bank, first through 
 low thicket scrub, and then through high spear-grass. 
 Further back, amid the dense forest, they could hear the 
 deep notes of the wild pigeons, but as young Walters 
 was intent on getting a duck they took no heed, but 
 pressed steadily on. 
 
 "By jove ! what a jolly fine sheet of water!"
 
 "MARTIN OF NITENDI" 109 
 
 whispered the midshipman as they emerged out from 
 the long grass and saw the deep, placid pool lying 
 before them ; then he added disappointedly, " but not a 
 sign of a duck." 
 
 "Never mind," said Grayling consolingly, as he 
 sat down on the bank and wiped his heated face, 
 " we'll get plenty of pigeons, anyway. But first of all 
 I'm going to have something to eat and drink. Open 
 that bag, Williams, and you, Morris and Jones, keep 
 your ears cocked and your eyes skinned. It's lovely 
 and quiet here, but I wouldn't like to get a poisoned 
 arrow into my back whilst drinking bottled beer." 
 
 " I'm going to have a swim before I eat anything," 
 said Walters, with a laugh. " Won't you, sir ? " he 
 asked, as he began undressing. 
 
 "Looks very tempting," replied the officer, "but 
 I'm too hot. Take my advice and wait a bit till 
 you're cooler." 
 
 The youngster only laughed, and, having stripped, 
 took a header from the bank, and then swam out into 
 the centre of the pool where it was deepest. 
 
 "Oh, do come in, sir," he cried ; " it's just splendid. 
 There's a bit of a current here and the water is 
 delightfully cool." 
 
 * * *- * ^ 
 
 Martin was aroused from his sleep by the sound or 
 voices. He seized his rifle, bent over his wife, and 
 whispered to her to awake ; then crawling on his 
 hands and knees from the hut he reached the bank 
 and looked out, just as young Walters dived into 
 the water.
 
 no YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Hardened murderer as he was, he felt a thrill of 
 horror, for he knew that the pool was a noted haunt 
 of alligators, and to attempt to sv/im across it meant 
 certain death. 
 
 His wife touched his arm, and crouching beside 
 him, her black eyes filled with a deadly hatred, she 
 showed her white teeth and gave a low, hissing laugh. 
 
 " Before one can count ten he will be in the jaws," 
 she said, with savage joy. 
 
 " Nuta," whispered Martin hoarsely, " 'tis but a 
 boy," and the veins stood out on his bronzed forehead 
 as his hand closed tighter around his rifle. 
 
 " What wouldst thou do, fool ? " said the woman 
 fiercely as she seized the weapon by the barrel ; 
 " think of thy son who died but yesterday ... ah ! 
 ah ! look ! look ! " 
 
 Tearing the rifle from her grasp he followed the 
 direction of her eyes ; a swiftly-moving black snout 
 showed less than thirty yards from the unconscious 
 bather, who was now swimming leisurely to the bank. 
 
 "He must not die," he muttered; "'tis but a 
 boy ! " Then turning to the woman he spoke aloud. 
 " Quick ! run to the forest : I shall follow." 
 
 Again she sought to stay his hand ; he dashed her 
 
 aside, raised the rifle to his shoulder and took a quick 
 
 but steady aim ; a second later the loud report rang 
 
 out, and the monster, struck on his bony head by the 
 
 heavy bullet, sank in alarm ; and then, ere Martin 
 
 turned to run, two other shots disturbed the silence 
 
 and he pitched forward on his face into the long grass. 
 *****
 
 "MARTIN OF NITENDI" in 
 
 "We just saw the beggar in time, sir," cried Jones. 
 " I happened to look across and caught sight of him 
 just as he fired at Mr. Walters. Me and Morris fired 
 together." 
 
 Grayling had sprung to his feet. "Are you hit, 
 Walters ? " he shouted. 
 
 " No," replied the boy as he clambered up the 
 bank ; " what the deuce is the matter ? " 
 
 "A nigger took a pot-shot at you ! Get under 
 cover as quick as you can. Never mind your 
 clothes ! " 
 
 Ten minutes passed. No sound broke the deathly 
 stillness of the place ; and then, cautiously creeping 
 through the grass, the officer and Morris crawled 
 round to where the latter had seen the man fall. 
 They came upon him suddenly. He was lying partly 
 on his face, with his eyes looking into theirs. Morris 
 sprang up and covered him with his rifle. 
 
 " I'm done for," Martin said quietly ; "my back is 
 broken. Did the crocodile get the boy r " 
 
 " Crocodile ! " said Grayling in astonishment. 
 " Did you fire at a crocodile ? Who are you ? Are 
 you a white man ? " 
 
 " Never mind who I am," he gasped ; " let me lie 
 here. Look," and he pointed to a bullet-hole in 
 his stomach ; " it's gone clean through me and 
 smashed my backbone. Let me stay as I am." 
 
 He never spoke again, and died whilst a litter was 
 being made to carry him down to the beach.
 
 The River of Dreams 
 
 There is a river I know which begins its life in a 
 dark, sunless canyon high up amid the thick forest- 
 clad spurs of the range which traverses the island 
 from east to west. Here, lying deep and silent, is a 
 pool, almost encompassed by huge boulders of smooth, 
 black rock, piled confusedly together, yet preserving a 
 certain continuity of outline where their bases touch 
 the water's edge. Standing far up on the mountain- 
 side you can, from one certain spot alone, discern it 
 two hundred feet below, and a thick mass of tangled 
 vine and creepers stretching across its western side, 
 through which the water flows on its journey to 
 the sea. 
 
 A narrow native path, used only by hunters of the 
 wild pigs haunting the depths of the gloomy mountain 
 forest, led me to it one close, steaming afternoon. 
 I had been pigeon shooting along the crests of the 
 ridges, and having shot as many birds as I could carry, 
 I decided to make a short cut down to the level 
 ground, where I was sure of finding water, resting
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 113 
 
 awhile and then making my way home along the 
 beach to the village. 
 
 I had descended scarcely more than fifty yards 
 when I struck the path — a thin, red line of sticky, 
 clay soil, criss-crossed by countless roots of the 
 great forest trees. A brief examination showed me 
 that it had been trodden by the feet of natives quite 
 recently ; their footprints led downward. I followed, 
 and presently came to a cleared space on the mountain- 
 side, a spot which had evidently been used by a party 
 of hunters who had stayed there to cook some food, 
 for the ashes of a fire lay in the ground-oven they 
 had made. Laying down my gun, I went to the 
 edge and peered cautiously over, and there far below 
 I could see the pool, revealed by a shaft of sunlight 
 which pierced down through the leafy canopy. 
 
 Feeling sure that the track would lead me to the 
 water, where I should have the satisfaction of a long 
 drink, I set out again, and after narrowly escaping 
 pitching down headlong, I at last reached the bottom, 
 and, with a sigh of relief, threw down my gun and birds, 
 and in another moment was drinking eagerly of the 
 ice-cold, crystal water in one of the many minor 
 pools which lay everywhere amid the boulders. 
 
 After a few minutes' rest I collected some dead 
 wood and lit a fire, being hungry as well as thirsty ; 
 then leaving it to burn down, I climbed one of the 
 highest boulders to get a good view, and sighed with 
 admiration at the scene — there lay before me a deep, 
 almost circular sheet of water, about thirty yards 
 across. Directly beneath me I could see the rocky 
 
 9
 
 114 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 bottom ; fifty feet further out towards the centre it 
 was of unfathomable blueness. On the opposite side 
 a tree of enormous girth had fallen, long years 
 before, yet it was still growing, for some of its 
 mighty roots were embedded in the rich red soil of the 
 mountain-side. 
 
 As I looked, a fish, and then another, splashed 
 just beside the fallen tree. Slipping down from the 
 boulder, I made my way round, just in time to see 
 scores of beautiful silvery fish, exactly like English 
 grayling in shape, dart away from under the tree out 
 into the deep water. In other streams of the island 
 I had caught many of these fish, but had never seen 
 any so high up inland ; and, elated at the prospect 
 of much future sport, I went on with my explorations. 
 
 I was about to climb over the tree, when I dis- 
 covered that I could pass underneath, for here and 
 there it was supported on boulders standing out 
 two or three feet above the water. On the other 
 side a tiny stream trickled over a flat ledge of rock, to 
 fall into a second but much smaller pool ten or fifteen 
 feet below ; beyond that lay a long, narrow but shallow 
 stretch of crystal water, running between highly 
 verdured banks, and further away in the distance I 
 could hear the murmur of a waterfall. 
 
 Turning over a stone with my foot, a crayfish 
 darted off and tried to hide. There were scores, 
 hundreds of them, everywhere — fine, fat, luscious 
 fellows, and in ten minutes I had a dozen of the 
 largest in my bag, to roast on the now glowing fire 
 beside a juicy pigeon. Salt I had none, but I did
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 115 
 
 possess a ship biscuit and a piece of cold baked taro, 
 and with pigeon and crayfish, what more could a 
 hungry man desire ? 
 
 The intense solitude of the place, too, was enchant- 
 ing. Now and then the booming note of a pigeon, 
 or the soft coo-coo of a ringdove, would break the 
 silence ; overhead there was a sky of spotless blue ; an 
 hour before I had sweltered under a brazen sun ; here, 
 under the mountain shade, though there was not a 
 breath of wind to stir a leaf, it was surprisingly cool. 
 
 To lean against the soft white moss clothing the 
 buttresses of a giant maruhia-tree and smoke a pipe, 
 was delightful after a tramp of six or eight miles 
 through a mountain forest ; and to know that the 
 return journey would be through easy country along 
 the banks of a new river was better still. 
 
 I set ofF with a feeling of joyful expectancy, taking 
 a last glance at the beautiful little lake — I meant to 
 return with some native friends to fish it on the 
 morrow — ere I struck into the forest once more to 
 pick up the path. 
 
 Every now and then I caught glimpses of the river, 
 now gradually widening as it was joined by other 
 streamlets on either side. Some of these I had to 
 wade through, others I crossed on stones or fallen trees. 
 
 Half-way to the beach I came to a broad stretch of 
 shallow water covered with purple water-lilies ; three 
 small ducks, with alarmed quacking, shot upward from 
 where they had been resting or feeding under the 
 bank, and vanished over the tree-tops ; and a sudden 
 commotion in the water showed me that there were
 
 ii6 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 many fish. Its beautiful clearness tempted me to strip 
 off and swim about the floating garden resting on its 
 bosom, and I was just about to undress when I heard 
 a shot quite near. The moment after, I fired in 
 return, and gave a loud hail ; then the high reedy cane 
 grass on the other side parted, and a man and a woman 
 came out, stared at me, and then laughed in welcome. 
 They were one Nalik and his wife, people living in 
 my own village. The man carried a long single- 
 barrelled German shot-gun, the woman a basket of 
 pigeons. Stepping down the bank, they waded 
 across and joined me. 
 
 " How came ye here ? " they asked, as we sat down 
 together to smoke. 
 
 I told them, and then learnt that the river ran into 
 the sea through the mangroves at a spot many miles 
 from the village. Then I asked about the big pool. 
 Nalik nodded. 
 
 " Ay, 'tis deep, very deep, and hath many fish in it. 
 But it is a place o^ jelon (haunted) and we always 
 pass to one side. But here where we now sit is a 
 fine place for fish. And there are many wild pigs in 
 the forest." 
 
 " Let us come here to-morrow. Let us start ere 
 the sun is up, and stay here and fish and shoot till the 
 day be gone." 
 
 "Why not?" said Sivi his wife, puffing her 
 cigarette, " and sleep here when night comes, for 
 under the banks are many thousand unkar (crayfish), 
 and I and some other women shall catch them by 
 torchlight."
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 117 
 
 And that was how I began to learn this island river 
 and its ways, so that now it has become the river of 
 my dreams. 
 
 II 
 
 But with the dawn there came disappointment 
 keen and bitter, for in the night the north-east trade 
 had died away, and now wild, swooping rain squalls 
 pelted and drenched the island from the westward, 
 following each other in quick succession, and whipping 
 the smooth water inside the reef into a blurred and 
 churning sheet of foam, and then roaring away up 
 through the mountain passes and canyons. 
 
 With my gear all ready beside me, I sat on the 
 matted floor of the hut in which I lived, smoking my 
 pipe and listening to the fury of the squalls as the 
 force of the wind bent and swayed the thatched roof, 
 and made the cinnet-tied rafters and girders creak and 
 work to and fro under the strain. Suddenly the 
 wicker-work door on the lee side was opened, and 
 Nalik jumped in, dripping with rain, but smiling 
 good-naturedly as usual. 
 
 " JVoa r'' he said, taking his long,straight black hair 
 in his hands and squeezing out the water, " 'tis no 
 day for us." 
 
 I ventured an opinion that it might clear off soon. 
 He shook his head as he held out his brown hand for a 
 stiff tot of Hollands, tossed it off, and then sat down 
 to open a small bundle he carried, and which con- 
 tained a dry jumper and pair of dungaree pants.
 
 Ii8 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Then quickly divesting himself of the soddened girdle 
 of grass around his loins, he put on the European 
 garments, filled his pipe, and began to talk. 
 
 "The wind will soon cease, for these squalls from 
 the westward last not long at this time of the year ; but 
 when the wind ceases, then comes rain for two days 
 sometimes — not heavy rain such as this, but soft rain 
 as fine as hair, and all the forest is wetted, and the 
 mountain paths are dangerous even to our bare feet, 
 and the pigeons give no note, and the sun is dead. 
 So we cannot go to the river to-day. To-morrow 
 perhaps it may be fine ; therefore let us sit and be 
 content." 
 
 So we sat and were content, remaining indoors in my 
 own house, or visiting those of our neighbours, eating, 
 drinking, smoking, and talking. I was the only white 
 man on the island, and during my three months' 
 residence had got to know every man, woman, child, 
 and dog in the village. And my acquaintance with the 
 dogs was very extensive, inasmuch as every one of 
 the thirty-four families owned at least ten dogs, all of 
 which had taken kindly to me from the very first. 
 They were the veriest mongrels that ever were seen in 
 canine form, but in spite of that were full of pluck 
 when pig hunting. (I once saw seven or eight of 
 them tackle a lean, savage old wild boar in a dried-up 
 taro swamp ; two of them were ripped up, the rest 
 hung on to him by his ears and neck, and were dragged 
 along as if they were as light as feathers, until a native 
 drove a heavy ironwood spear clean through the 
 creature's loins.)
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 119 
 
 During the evening my native friends, in response 
 to my inquiries about the river, told me that it 
 certainly took its rise from the deep pool I have 
 before described, and that had I made a more careful 
 examination I should have seen several tiny rivulets, 
 hidden by the dense undergrowth, flowing into it from 
 both sides of the gorge. During severe rains an 
 immense volume of muddy water would rush down ; 
 yet, strangely enough, the two kinds of fish which 
 inhabited it were just as plentiful as ever as soon as 
 the water cleared. 
 
 About four o'clock in the morning, when I was 
 sound in slumber, a voice called to me to awaken. It 
 was Nalik. 
 
 " Come out and look." 
 
 I lifted (not opened) my Venetian-sashed door of 
 pandanus leaf, and stepped out. 
 
 What a glorious change ! The rain had ceased, 
 and the shore and sea lay bright and clear under a 
 myriad-starred sky of deepest blue ; the white line of 
 surf tumbling on the barrier reef a mile away seemed 
 almost within stone-throw. A gentle breeze swayed 
 the fronds of the coco-palms above us, and already the 
 countless thousands of sea birds, whose " rookery " 
 was on two small islets within the reef and near the 
 village, were awake, and filling the air with their 
 clamour as they, like us, prepared to start off for their 
 day's fishing. 
 
 Our party consisted of — 
 
 ( 1 ) Nalik, his wife and five dogs. 
 
 (2) Three young women,* each with several dogs.
 
 120 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 (3) Old Sru, chief of the district, with numerous 
 dogs. 
 
 (4) Two boys and three girls, who carried baskets 
 of food, crayfish nets, boar-spears, &c. Large number 
 of dogs, male and female. 
 
 (5) The white man, to whom, as soon as he 
 appeared, the whole of the dogs immediately attached 
 themselves. 
 
 (6) Small boy of ten, named Toka, the terror of the 
 village for his illimitable impudence and unsurpassed 
 devilry. But as he was a particular friend of the 
 white man (and could not be prevented) he was allowed 
 to come. He had three dogs. 
 
 Before we started old Sru, Nalik, and myself had 
 some Hollands, two bottles of which were also placed 
 in the care of Nalik's wife. The " devil," as Toka 
 was called, mimicked us as we drank, smacked his lips 
 and rubbed one hand up and down his stomach. One 
 of the big girls cuffed him for being saucy. He 
 retahated by darting between her legs and throwing 
 her down upon the sand. 
 
 Presently we started, the women and children going 
 ahead, with the exception of the "devil," who stuck 
 close to me, and carried my Snider in one hand and 
 my double-barrel muzzle-loader in the other. 
 
 For the first two or three miles our way lay along 
 the hard, white beach, whose sands were covered every- 
 where by millions of tiny, blue-backed, red-legged 
 soldier crabs, moving to and fro in companies, 
 regiments, and divisions, hastening to burrow before 
 the daylight revealed their presence to their dreaded
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 121 
 
 enemies — the golden-winged sand plovers and the 
 greedy sooty terns, who yet knew how to find them 
 by the myriad small nodules of sand they left to betray 
 their hiding-place. 
 
 Oh, the sweet, sweet smell of the forest as it is 
 borne down from the mountains and carried seaward, 
 to gladden, it may be, the heart of some hard-worked, 
 broken-spirited sailor, who, in a passing ship, sees from 
 aloft this fair, fair island with its smiling green of leaf, 
 and soft, heaving valleys, above the long lines of 
 curving beach, showing white and bright in the 
 morning sun ! And, as you walk, the surf upon the 
 reef for ever calls and calls ; sometimes loudly with 
 a deep, resonant boom, but mostly with a soft, faint 
 murmur like the low-breathed sigh of a woman when 
 she lies her cheek upon her lover's breast and looks 
 upward to his face with eyes aglow and lips trembling 
 for his kiss. 
 
 Far, far above a faint note. 'Tis but a snow-white 
 tropic bird, suspended in mid-air on motionless wing, 
 his long scarlet pendrices almost invisible at such 
 a height. Presently, as he discerns you, he lets his 
 aerial, slender form sink and sink, without apparent 
 motion, till he is within fifty feet, and then he turns 
 his graceful head from side to side, and inquiringly 
 surveys you with his full, soft black eye. For 
 a moment or two he flutters his white wings gently 
 and noiselessly, and you can imagine you hear his 
 timid heart-beats ; then, satisfied with his scrutiny, his 
 fairy, graceful form floats upward into space again, and 
 is lost to view.
 
 122 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Leaving the beach and the sound of the droning 
 surf behind us we turned to the starboard hand, and 
 struck through the narrow strip of littoral towards the 
 mountains. For the first mile or so our way was 
 through a grove of pandanus-palms, nearly every one 
 of which was in full fruit ; on the branches were 
 sitting hundreds of small sooty terns, who watched 
 our progress beneath with the calm indifference borne 
 of the utter confidence of immunity of danger from 
 any human being. 
 
 Once through the sandy stretch on which the 
 pandanus loves to grow, we came to the outlier of 
 the mountain lands — low, gently undulating ridges, 
 covered on both sides of the narrow track with dense 
 thickets of pineapples, every plant bearing a fruit half- 
 matured, which, when ripened, was never touched by 
 the hand of man, for the whole island was, in places, 
 covered with thickets such as this, and the wild pig 
 only revelled among them. 
 
 " They grow thickly," I said to Nalik. 
 
 "Ay, tah'ina^'^ they grow thickly and wild," he 
 replied, with some inflection of sadness in his voice; 
 " long, long ago, before my father's father lived, there 
 was a great town here. That was long before we of 
 this land had ever seen a white man. And now we 
 who are left are but as dead leaves." 
 
 " How came it so to be ? " 
 
 He shook his head. " I cannot tell. I only know 
 that once we of this land numbered many, many 
 thousands, and now we are but hundreds. Here, 
 
 ' Friend.
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 123 
 
 where we now walk, was once a great town of houses 
 with stone foundations; if ye cut away the fara 
 (pineapples) thou wilt see the lower stones lying in 
 the ground." 
 
 We pressed onward and upward into the deeper 
 forest, then turned downwards along a narrow path, 
 carpeted thick with fallen leaves, damp and soft to the 
 foot, for the sun's rays never pierced through the 
 dense foliage overhead. And then we came out upon 
 a fair, green sward with nine stately coco-palms 
 clustered, their branches drooping over the river of my 
 dreams, which lay before us with open, waiting 
 bosom. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Under the shade of the nine cocos we made our 
 camp, and old Sru and the women and children at 
 once set to work to build a " house " to protect us in 
 case it rained during the nights. Very quickly was 
 the house built. The "devil" was sent up the cocos 
 to lop ofF branches, which, as they fell, were woven 
 into thatch by the deft, eager hands of the women, 
 who were supervised by Sivi, Nalik's handsome wife, 
 amid much chatter and laughter, each one trying to 
 outvie the other in speed, and all anxious to follow 
 NaHk and myself to the river. 
 
 The place was well chosen. For nearly a hun- 
 dred yards there was a clear stretch of water flowing 
 between low, grassy banks on which were growing
 
 124 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 a few scattered pan danus- palms — the screw pine. 
 Half a mile distant, a jagged, irregular mountain-peak 
 raised high its emerald-hued head in the clear sunshine, 
 and from every lofty tree on both sides of the stream 
 there came the continuous call of the gentle wood- 
 doves and the great grey pigeons. 
 
 With Nalik and myself there came old Sru and 
 the imp Toka, who at once set to work and found 
 us some small crayfish for bait. Our rods were 
 slender bamboos, about twelve feet long, with lines 
 of the same length made of twisted banana fibre 
 as fine as silk, and equally as strong. My hook was 
 an ordinary flatted Kirby, about half the size of an 
 English whiting hook ; Nalik preferred one of his 
 own manufacture, made from a strip of tortoise-shell, 
 barbless and highly polished. 
 
 Taking our stand at a place v/here the softly-flowing 
 current eddied and curled around some black boulders 
 of rock whose surfaces were but a few inches above the 
 clear, crystal stream, we quickly baited our hooks and 
 cast together, the old chief and the boy throwing in 
 some crushed-up crayfish shells at the same time. 
 Before five seconds had passed my brown-skinned 
 comrade laughed as his thin line tautened out suddenly, 
 and in another instant he swung out a quivering streak 
 of shining blue and silver, and deftly caught it with 
 his left hand ; almost at the same moment my rod 
 was strained hard by a larger fish, which darted in 
 towards the bank. 
 
 "P'irst to thee, Nalik ; but biggest to the rehelli^''^ 
 
 * White man.
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 125 
 
 cried old Sru, as with some difficulty — for my rod was 
 too slight for such a fish — I landed a lovely four- 
 pounder on the grass. 
 
 Nalilc laughed again, and before I had cleared my 
 hook from the jaw of my prize he had taken another 
 and then a third, catching each one in his left hand 
 with incredible swiftness and throwing them to the 
 boy. The women and girls on the opposite bank 
 laughed and chaffed me, and urged me to hasten, or 
 Nalik would catch five ere I landed another. But the 
 rebelli took no heed of their merriment, for he was 
 quite content to let a few minutes go whilst he ex- 
 amined the glistening beauty which lay quivering and 
 gasping on the sward. It was nearly eighteen inches 
 in length, its back from the tip of the upper jaw to 
 the tail a brilliant dark blue flecked with tiny specks 
 of red, the sides a burnished silver, changing, as the 
 belly was reached, to a glistening white. The pectoral 
 and lower fins were a pale blue, flecked with some- 
 what larger spots of brighter red than those on the 
 back, and the tail showed the same colouring. In 
 shape it was much like a grayling, particularly about 
 the head ; and altogether a more beautiful fresh-water 
 fish I have never seen. 
 
 We fished for an hour or more, and caught three 
 or four dozen of this particular fish as well as eight or 
 nine dark-scaled, stodgy bream, which haunted the 
 centre of the pool where the water was deep. Then 
 as the sun grew fiercer they ceased to bite, and we 
 ceased to tempt them ; so we lay down and rested 
 and smoked, whilst the women and children made a
 
 126 yORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ground-oven and prepared some of the fish for cooking. 
 Putting aside the largest — which was reserved for 
 the old chief and myself — Nalik's kindly, gentle- 
 voiced wife, watched the children roll each fish up in 
 a wrapper of green coconut leaf and lay them care- 
 fully upon the glowing bed of stones in the oven, 
 together with some scores of long, slender green 
 bananas, to serve as a vegetable in place of taro or 
 yams, which would take a much longer time to cook. 
 On the top of all was placed the largest fish, and then 
 the entire oven was rapidly covered up with wild 
 banana leaves in the shape of a mound. 
 
 The moment Nalik and I had laid down our rods, 
 and whilst the oven was being prepared, Toka and 
 the two other boys sprang into the water at one end 
 of the pool and began to disturb the bottom with 
 their feet. The young girls and women, each 
 carrying a small finely-meshed scoop-net, joined them, 
 and in a tew minutes they had filled a basket with 
 crayfish, some of which were ten inches in length, 
 and weighed over a pound, their tails especially being 
 very large and fleshy. 
 
 " Shall we boil or bake them ? " asked Nalik as the 
 basketful was brought up to me for examination. 
 
 " Boil them," I replied, for I had brought with me 
 several pounds of coarse salt taken from our wrecked 
 ship's harness cask and carefully dried in the sun, and a 
 
 boiled crayfish or crab is better than one baked and 
 
 spoiled. 
 
 A tall, graceful girl, named Seia, came forward with 
 a large wooden bowl, nearly eighteen inches in diameter
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 127 
 
 at the top, and two feet in depth — no light weight 
 even to lift, for at its rim it was over an inch thick. 
 Placing it on the ground in front of Sru and myself, 
 she motioned to the other girls to bring water. They 
 brought her about two gallons in buckets made of the 
 looped-up leaves of the taro plant, and poured it into 
 the vessel ; then Nalik and old Sru, with rough tongs 
 formed of the midrib of a coconut branch, whipped 
 up eight or ten large red-hot stones from a fire near 
 by, and dropped them into the vessel, the water in 
 which at once began to boil and send up a volume ot 
 steam as Seia tipped the entire basketful of crustacean 
 delicacies into the bowl, together with some handfuls of 
 salt. Then a closely-woven mat was placed over the 
 top and tied round it so as to keep in the heat — that 
 is the way they boil food in the South Seas with a 
 wooden pot ! 
 
 From time to time during the next quarter of an 
 hour more red-hot stones were dropped into the bowl 
 until old Sru pronounced the contents to be tunua^ i.e., 
 well and truly cooked, and then whilst the now bright 
 red crayfish were laid out to cool upon platters of 
 green woven coconut leaf, the first oven of fish and 
 bananas was opened. 
 
 What a delightful meal it was ! The fat, luscious 
 fish, cooked in their own juices, each one deftly ridden 
 of its compact coating of silvery scales by the quick 
 hands of the women, and then turned out hot and 
 smoking upon a platter of leaf, with half a dozen 
 green, baked bananas for bread ! Such fish, and so 
 cooked, surely fall to the lot of few. Your City
 
 128 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 professional diner who loves to instruct us in the 
 daily papers about " how to dine " cannot know 
 anything about the real enjoyment of eating. He is 
 blasc^ he regulates his stomach to his costume and to 
 the season, and he eats as fashion dictates he should 
 eat, and fills his long-suffering stomach with nickety, 
 tin-pot, poisonous " delicacies " which he believes are 
 excellent because they are expensive and are prepared 
 by a chef vihost income is ten times as much as his own. 
 
 So we ate our fish and bananas, and then followed 
 on with the crayfish, the women and children shelling 
 them for us as fast as we could eat, the largest and 
 fattest being placed before the old chief and the white 
 man. And then for dessert we had a basket of red- 
 ripe wild mangoes, with a great smooth-leaved pine- 
 apple as big as a big man's head, and showing red and 
 green and yellow, and smelling fresh and sweet with 
 the rain of the previous night. Near by where we 
 sat was a pile of freshly-husked young coconuts, which 
 a smiling-faced young girl opened for us as we wanted 
 a drink, carefully pouring out upon the ground all the 
 liquid that remained after Sru and myself had drank, 
 and then putting the empty shells, with their delicate 
 lining of alabaster flesh, into the fire to be consumed, 
 for no one not of chiefly rank must partake even of 
 that which is cast aside by a chief or his guests. 
 
 Our first meal of the day finished, we — that is, 
 Nalik, Sru, and myself — lay down under the shade of 
 the newly-built thatched roof and smoked our pipes 
 in content, whilst the women and children, attended 
 by the dogs, bathed in the deepest part of the pool,
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 129 
 
 shouting, laughing, and splashing and diving till they 
 were tired. The dogs, mongrel as they were, enjoyed 
 the fun as much as their masters, biting and worrying 
 each other playfully as they swam round and round, 
 and then crawling out upon the bank, they ran to 
 and fro upon the grassy sward till they too were glad 
 to rest under the shade of the clump of coco-palms. 
 
 In the afternoon — leaving the rest of our party to 
 amuse themselves by catching crayfish and to make 
 traps for wild pigs — Sru, Nalik, Toka, and myself set 
 out towards the pool at the head of the river, where, 
 I was assured, we were sure to get a pig or two by 
 nightfall. The dogs evidently were equally as certain 
 of this as Nalik and Sru, for the moment they saw 
 the two men pick up their heavy hunting-spears they 
 sprang to their feet and began howling and yelping 
 in concert till they were beaten into silence by the 
 women. I brought with me a short Snider carbine — 
 the best and handiest weapon to stop a wild pig at a 
 short range — and a double-barrelled muzzle-loading 
 shot-gun. The latter I gave to the " devil " to carry, 
 and promised him that he should fire at least five 
 shots from it at pigeons or mountain fowl before we 
 returned to the village. 
 
 Following a narrow footpath which led along the 
 right bank of the stream, we struck directly into the 
 heart of the mountain forest, and in a few minutes the 
 voices, shouts, and laughter of our companions sounded 
 as if they were miles and miles away. Now and 
 then as we got deeper into the dark, cool shade caused 
 by the leafed dome above, we heard the shrill cry'of the 
 
 10
 
 I30 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 long-legged mountain cock — a cry which I can only 
 describe as an attempt at the ordinary barnyard rooster's 
 " cock-a-doodle-do " combined with the scream of a cat 
 when its tail is trodden upon by a heavy-booted foot. 
 Here in these silent, darkened aisles of the forest it 
 sounded weird and uncanny in the extreme, and 
 aroused an intense desire to knock the creature over ; 
 but I forebore to fire, although we once had a view of 
 a fine bird, attended by a hen and chicks, scurrying 
 across the leaf-strewn ground not fifty feet away. 
 Everywhere around us the great grey pigeons were 
 sounding their booming notes from the branches over- 
 head, but of these too we took no heed, for a shot 
 would have alarmed every wild pig within a mile of 
 us. 
 
 An hour's march brought us to the crest of a spur 
 covered with a species of white cedar, whose branches 
 were literally swarming with doves and pigeons, 
 feeding upon small, sweet-scented berries about the 
 size of English haws. Here we rested awhile, the 
 dogs behaving splendidly by lying down quietly and 
 scarcely moving as they watched me taking ofi'' my 
 boots and putting on a pair of cinnet (coir fibre) 
 sandals. Just beneath us was a deep canyon, at the 
 bottom of which, so Nalik said, was a tiny rivulet 
 which ran through banks covered with wild yams and 
 ti plants. 
 
 " There be nothing so sweet to the mouth of the 
 mountain pig as the thick roots of the //'," said Nalik 
 to me in a low voice. " They come here to root 
 them up at this time of the year, before the wild yams
 
 THE RIVER OF DREAMS 131 
 
 are well grown, and the t'l both fattens and sweetens. 
 Let us start." 
 
 At a sign from Sru, Nalik and the boy Toka, 
 followed by the dogs, went off towards the head of 
 the canyon, so as to drive down to the old man and 
 myself any pigs which might be feeding above, whilst 
 we slipped quietly down the side of the spur to the 
 bank of the rivulet. Sru carried my gun (which I 
 had loaded with ball) as well as his spear. I had my 
 Snider. 
 
 We had not long to wait, for presently we heard 
 the dogs give cry, and the silence of the forest was 
 broken by the demoniac yells of Nalik and the " devil," 
 who had started a party of two boars and half a dozen 
 sows with their half-grown progeny, which were 
 lying down around the buttressed sides of a great tika- 
 tree. They (the pigs) came down the side of the 
 rivulet with a tremendous rush, right on top of us in 
 fact. I fired at the leader — a great yellow, razor- 
 backed boar with enormous tusks — missed him, but hit 
 a young sow who was running on his port side. Sru, 
 with truer aim, fired both barrels of his gun in quick 
 succession, and the second boar dropped with a bullet 
 through both shoulders, and a dear little black and 
 yellow striped four-months'-old porker went under to 
 the other barrel with a broken spine. Then in 
 another three or four minutes we were kicking and 
 " belting" about half of the dogs, who, maddened by 
 the smell of blood from the wounded animals, sprang 
 upon them and tried to tear them to pieces ; the rest 
 of the pack (Heaven save the term !) had followed the
 
 132 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 flying swine down the canyon ; they turned up at 
 the camp some three or four hours later with bloodied 
 jaws and gorged to distension. 
 
 The boar which Sru had shot was lean enough in 
 all conscience, but the young sow and the four- 
 months'-old porker were as round-bodied as barrels, 
 and as fat as only pigs can be fat. After disembowel- 
 ling them, we hoisted the carcasses up under the 
 branch of a tree out of the reach of the dogs, and sent 
 Toka back to the camp to tell the women to come 
 and carry them away. 
 
 Then, as we had still another hour or two of day- 
 light, and I longed to see the deep, deep pool at the 
 head of the river, even if it were but for a few 
 moments, the old chief Nalik and I started off. 
 
 It lay before us with many, many bars of golden 
 sunlight striking down through the trees and trying 
 to penetrate its calm, placid bosom with their warm, 
 loving rays. Far below the sound of the waterfall 
 sung to the dying day, and, as we listened, there came 
 to us the dulled, distant murmur of the combing 
 breakers upon the reef five miles away. 
 
 " 'Tis a fair, good place this, is it not ? " whispered 
 Nalik, as he sat beside me — " a fair, good place, 
 though it be haunted by the spirits." 
 
 " Aye, a fair, sweet place indeed," I answered, 
 " and this pool aid the river below shall for ever be in 
 my dreams when I am far away from here."
 
 ''Old Mary'' 
 
 Early one morning, just as the trade wind began to 
 lift the white mountain mist which enveloped the 
 dark valleys and mountain slopes of the island, Denison, 
 the supercargo of the trading schooner Palestine^ put 
 off from her side and was pulled ashore to the house 
 of the one white trader. The man's name was 
 Randle, and as he heard the supercargo's footstep he 
 came to the door and bade him good morning. 
 
 " How are you, Randle ? " said the young man, 
 shaking hands with the quiet-voiced, white-haired old 
 trader, and following him inside. " I'm going for a 
 day's shooting while I have the chance. Can you 
 come ? " . 
 
 Randle shook his head. " Would like to, but can't 
 spare the time to-day; but Harry and the girls will be 
 delighted to go with you. Wait a minute, and have 
 a cup of coffee first. They'll be here presently." 
 
 Denison put down his gun and took a seat in the 
 cool, comfortable-looking sitting-room, and in a few 
 minutes Hester and Kate Randle and their brother 
 
 133
 
 134 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 came in. The two girls were both over twenty years 
 of age. Hester, the elder, was remarkably handsome, 
 and much resembled her father in voice and manner. 
 Kate was of much smaller build, full of vivacity, and 
 her big, merry brown eyes matched the dimples on 
 her soft, sun-tanned cheeks. Harry, who was Randle's 
 youngest child, was a heavily-built, somewhat sullen- 
 faced youth of eighteen, and the native blood in his 
 veins showed much more strongly than it did with his 
 sisters. They were all pleased to see the supercargo, 
 and at once set about making preparations, Harry 
 getting their guns ready and the two girls packing a 
 basket with cold food. 
 
 " You'll get any amount of pigeons about two miles 
 from here," said the old trader, " and very likely a pig 
 or two. The girls know the way, and if two of you 
 take the right branch of the river and two the left 
 you'll have some fine sport." 
 
 " Father," said the elder girl, in her pretty, halting 
 English, as she picked up her gun, " don' you think 
 Mr. Denison would like to see ol' Mary ? We hav' 
 been tell him so much about her. Don' you think we 
 might stop there and let Mr. Denison have some talk 
 with her ? " 
 
 " Ay, ay, my girl. Yes ; go and see the poor old 
 thing. I'm sure she'll be delighted. You'll like her, 
 Mr. Denison. She's as fine an old woman as ever 
 breathed. But don't take that basket of food with 
 you, Kate. She'd feel awfully insulted if you did not 
 eat in her house." 
 
 The girls obeyed, much to their brother's satisfac-
 
 "OLD MARY" 
 
 135 
 
 tion, inasmuch as the basket was rather heavy, and 
 also awkward to carry through the mountain forest. 
 In a few minutes the four started, and Hester, as she 
 stepped out beside Denison, said that she was glad he 
 was visiting old Mary. " You see," she said, " she 
 hav' not good eyesight now, and so she cannot now 
 come an' see us as she do plenty times before." 
 
 " I'm glad I shall see her," said the young man ; 
 " she must be a good old soul." 
 
 " Oh, yes," broke in Kate, " she is good and brave, 
 an' we all love her. Every one /nus^ love her. She 
 hav' known us since we were born, and when our 
 mother died in Samoa ten years ago old Mary was 
 jus' like a second mother to us. An' my father tried 
 so hard to get her to come and live with us ; but no, 
 she would not, not even fo' us. So she went back to 
 her house in the mountain, because she says she wants 
 to die there. Ah, you will like her . . . and she will 
 tell you how she saved the ship when her husband was 
 killed, and about many, many things." 
 
 * * «f ii; * 
 
 Two hours later Denison and his friends emerged out 
 upon cultivated ground at the foot of the mountain, 
 on which stood three or four native houses, all neatly 
 enclosed by low stone walls formed of coral slabs. In 
 front of the village a crystal stream poured swiftly and 
 noisily over its rocky bed on its way seaward, and on 
 each thickly wooded bank the stately boles of some 
 scores of graceful coco-palms rose high above the sur- 
 rounding foliage. Except for the hum of the brawling 
 stream and the cries of birds, the silence was unbroken,
 
 136 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and only two or three small children, who were play- 
 ing under the shade of a breadfruit-tree, were visible. 
 But these, as they heard the sound of the visitors' 
 voices, came towards them shouting out to their elders 
 within the huts that "four white people with guns" 
 had come. In a moment some grown people of both 
 sexes came out and shook hands with the party. 
 
 " This is Mary's house," said Hester to Denison, 
 pointing out the largest ; " let us go there at once. 
 Ah, see, there she is at the door waiting for us." 
 
 " Come, come inside," cried the old woman in a 
 firm yet pleasant voice, and Denison, looking to the 
 right, saw that " Mary," in spite of her years and 
 blindness, was still robust and active-looking. She 
 was dressed in a blue print gown and blouse, and her 
 grey hair was neatly dressed in the island fashion. In 
 her smooth, brown right hand she grasped the handle 
 of a polished walking-stick, her left arm she held 
 across her bosom — the hand was missing from the wrist. 
 
 " How do you do, sir ? " she said in clear English, 
 as, giving her stick to Kate Randle, she held out her 
 hand to the supercargo. " I am so glad that you have 
 come to see me. You are Mr. Denison, I know. Is 
 Captain Packenham quite well ? Come, Kitty, see 
 to your friend. There, that cane lounge is the most 
 comfortable. Harry, please shoot a couple of chickens 
 at once, and then tell my people to get some taro, and 
 make an oven." 
 
 " Oh, that is just like you, Mary," said Kate, 
 laughing, " before we have spoken three words to you 
 you begin cooking things for us."
 
 "OLD MARY" 137 
 
 The old woman turned her sunburnt face towards 
 the girl and shook her stick warningly, and said in the 
 native tongue — 
 
 " Leave me to rule in mine own house, saucy," and 
 then Denison had an effort to restrain his gravity as 
 Mary, unaware that he had a very fair knowledge of 
 the dialect in which she spoke, asked the two girls if 
 either of them had thought of him as a husband. Kate 
 put her hand over Mary's mouth and whispered to 
 her to cease. She drew the girl to her and hugged 
 her. 
 
 Whilst the meal was being prepared Denison was 
 studying the house and its contents. Exteriorly the 
 place bore no diflPerence to the usual native house, but 
 within it was plainly but yet comfortably furnished in 
 European fashion, and the tables, chairs, and sideboard 
 had evidently been a portion of a ship's cabin fittings. 
 From the sitting-room — the floor of which was covered 
 by white China matting — he could see a bedroom 
 opposite, a bed with snowy white mosquito curtains, 
 and two mahogany chairs draped with old-fashioned 
 antimacassars. The sight of these simple furnishings 
 first made him smile, then sigh — he had not seen such 
 things since he had left his own home nearly six 
 years before. Hung upon the walls of the sitting- 
 room were half a dozen old and faded engravings, and 
 on a side-table were a sextant and chronometer case, 
 each containing instruments so clumsy and obsolete 
 that a modern seaman would have looked upon them 
 as veritable curiosities. 
 
 From the surroundings within the room Denison's
 
 138 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 eyes wandered to the placid beauty of the scene with- 
 out, where the plumes of the coco-palms overhanging 
 the swift waters of the tiny stream scarce stirred to 
 the light air that blew softly up the valley from the 
 sea, and when they did move narrow shafts of light 
 from the now high-mounted sun would glint and shine 
 through upon the pale green foliage of the scrub be- 
 neath. Then once again his attention was directed to 
 their hostess, who was now talking quietly to the two 
 Randle girls, her calm, peaceful features seeming to 
 him to derive an added but yet consistent dignity from 
 the harmonies of Nature around her. 
 
 What was the story of her infancy ? he wondered* 
 That she did not know it herself he had been told 
 by old Randle, who yet knew more of her history 
 and the tragedy of her later life than any one else. 
 Both young Denison, the supercargo of five-and- 
 twenty, and Randle, the grizzled wanderer and veteran 
 of sixty-five, had known many tragedies during their 
 career in the Pacific ; but the story of this half-blind, 
 crippled old woman, when he learnt it in full, appealed 
 strongly to the younger man, and was never forgotten 
 in his after life. 
 
 ***** 
 
 They had had a merry midday meal, during which 
 Mary Eury — for that was her name — promised 
 Denison that she would tell him all about herself 
 after he and the Randies came back from shooting, 
 " but," she added, with her soft, tremulous laugh, 
 " only on one condition, Mr. Denison — only on one 
 condition. You must bring Captain Packenham to
 
 "OLD MARY" 139 
 
 see me before the Palestine sails. I am an old woman 
 now, and would like to see him. I knew him many 
 years ago when he was a lad of nineteen. Ah, it is so 
 long ago ! That was in Samoa. Has he never spoken 
 of me ? " 
 
 " Often, Mrs. Eury " 
 
 " Don't call me Mrs. Eury, Mr. Denison. Call 
 me ' Mary,' as do these dear friends of mine. ' Mary ' 
 — ' old ' Mary if you like. Every one who knew me 
 and my dear husband in those far, far back days used 
 to call me ' Mary ' and my husband ' Bob Eury ' 
 instead of ' Mrs. Eury ' and ' Captain Eury.' And 
 now, so many, many years have gone . . . and now 
 I am ' Old Mary ' . . . and I think I like it better 
 than Mrs. Eury. And so Captain Packenham has 
 not forgotten me ? " 
 
 Denison hastened to explain. " Indeed he has not. 
 He remembers you very well, and would have come 
 with me, but he is putting the schooner on the beach 
 to-day to clean her. And I am sure he will be 
 delighted to come and see you to-morrow." 
 
 " Of course he must. Surely every English and 
 American in the South Seas should come and see me ; 
 for my husband was ever a good friend to every sailor 
 that ever sailed in the island trade — from Fiji to the 
 Bonins. There now, I won't chatter any more, or 
 else you will be too frightened to come back to such a 
 garrulous old creature. Ah, if God had but spared to 
 me my eyesight I should come with you into the 
 mountains. I love the solitude, and the sweet call of 
 the pigeons, and the sound of the waterfall at the
 
 i+o YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 side of Taomaunga. And I know every inch of the 
 country, and blind as I am, I could yet find my way 
 along the mountain-side. Kate, and you, Harry, do 
 not keep Mr. Denison out too late." 
 
 By sunset the shooting party had returned, and 
 after a bathe in the cool waters of the mountain 
 stream Denison returned to the house. Kate 
 Randle and her sister, assisted by some native women, 
 were plucking pigeons for the evening meal. Harry 
 was lying down on the broad of his back on the 
 grassy sward with closed eyes, smoking, and their 
 hostess was sitting on a wide cane bench outside the 
 house. She heard the young man's footstep, and 
 beckoned him to seat himself beside her. And then 
 she told him her story. 
 
 II 
 
 " I don't know where I was born — for, as I daresay 
 Randle has told you, I was only five years of age when I 
 was picked up at sea in a boat, the only other occupant 
 of which was a Swedish seaman. The vessel which 
 rescued us was one of the transports used for conveying 
 convicts to New South Wales, and was named the 
 Britannia^ but when she sighted the boat she was on a 
 voyage to Tahiti in the Society Islands. I imagine 
 this was sometime about 1805, so I must now be about 
 seventy years of age. 
 
 "The Swedish sailor told the captain of the 
 Britannia that he and I were the only survivors of a
 
 "OLD MARY" 141 
 
 party of six — among whom were my father and 
 mother — belonging to a small London barque named 
 the TFinifred. She was employed in the trade between 
 China and Valparaiso, and my father was owner as 
 well as captain. On the voyage from Canton, and 
 when within fifty miles of Tahiti, and in sight of 
 land, she took fire, and the Chinese crew, when they 
 saw that there was no hope of the ship being saved, 
 seized the longboat, which had been prepared, and was 
 well provisioned, and made off, although the cowardly 
 creatures knew that the second boat was barely sea- 
 worthy. My father — whose name the Swede did 
 not know — implored them to return, and at least take 
 my mother and myself and an officer to navigate their 
 boat to land. But they refused to listen to his plead- 
 ings, and rowed off. The second boat was hurriedly 
 provisioned by my father and his officers, and they, 
 with my mother and myself and the Swede — all 
 the Europeans on board — left the burning ship at sun- 
 down. A course was steered for the eastern shore of 
 Tahiti, which, although the wind was right ahead, we 
 hoped to reach on the evening 01 the following day. 
 But within a few hours after leaving the barque the trade 
 wind died away, and fierce, heavy squalls burst from 
 the westward upon the boat, which was only kept 
 afloat by constant bailing. About dawn the sea had 
 become so dangerous, and the wind had so increased 
 in violence, that an attempt was made to put out a 
 sea-anchor. Whilst this was being done a heavy sea 
 struck the boat and capsized her. The night was 
 pitchy dark, and when the Swede — who was a good
 
 142 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 swimmer — came to the surface he could neither see 
 nor hear any of the others, though he shouted loudly. 
 But at the same moment, as his foot touched the line 
 to which the sea anchor was bent, he heard the mate's 
 ■ voice calling for assistance. 
 
 "'I have the child,' he cried. ' Be quick, for I'm 
 done.' 
 
 "In another minute the brave fellow had taken 
 me from him ; then the poor mate sank, never to 
 rise again. Whether I was alive or dead my rescuer 
 could not tell, but being a man of great physical 
 strength, he not only kept me above water with one 
 hand, but succeeded in reaching first the sea-anchor — 
 four oars lashed together — and then the boat, which 
 had been righted by another sea. 
 
 " How this brave man kept me alive in such a 
 terrible situation I do not know. By sunrise the wind 
 had died away, the sea had gone down, and he was 
 able to free the boat of water. In the stern-sheet 
 locker he found one single tin of preserved potatoes, 
 which had been jammed into a corner when the boat 
 capsized — all the rest of the provisions, with the water- 
 breakers as well, were lost. On this tin of potatoes 
 we lived — so he told the master of the Britannia — 
 for five days, constantly in sight of the land around 
 which we were drifting, sometimes coming to within 
 a distance of thirty miles of it. All this time, by God's 
 providence, we had frequent heavy rain squalls, and 
 the potato tin, which was about eighteen inches square, 
 and was perfectly water-tight, proved our salvation, for 
 the potatoes were so very salt that we would have
 
 "OLD MARY" 143 
 
 perished of thirst had we been unable to save water. 
 Ohlsen cut down one of his high sea-boots, and into 
 this he would put two handfuls of the dried potatoes, 
 and then fill it up with water. It made a good 
 sustaining food after it had been softened by the water 
 and kneaded into a pulp, 
 
 "An hour before dawn, on the sixth day, Ohlsen, 
 who was lying on the bottom boards of the boat, was 
 awakened by hearing me crying for my mother. The 
 poor fellow, who had stripped off his woollen shirt to 
 protect my little body from the cold, at once sat up and 
 tried to comfort me. The sea was as smooth as glass, 
 and only a light air was blowing. Drawing me to his 
 bare chest — for I was chilled with the keen morning 
 air — he was about to lie down again, when he heard 
 the creaking of blocks and then a voice say, *■ Ay, ay, 
 sir ! ' and there, quite near us, was a large ship ! In a 
 moment he sprang to his feet, and hailed with all his 
 strength ; he was at once answered, the ship was 
 brought to the wind, a boat lowered, and in less than 
 a quarter of an hour we were on board the Britannia. 
 
 " On that dear old ship I remained for five years or 
 more, for the captain had his wife on board, and 
 although she had two young children of her own, she 
 cared for and loved me as if I had been her own 
 daughter. Most of this time was spent among the 
 Pacific Islands, and then there came to me another 
 tragedy, of one of which I have a most vivid remem- 
 brance, for I was quite eleven years old at the time. 
 
 " The Britannia, like many South Seamen of those 
 times, was a letter of marque, and carried nine guns.
 
 144- YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 for although we were, I think, at peace with Spain, wc 
 were at war with France, and there were plenty of 
 French privateers cruising on the South American coast, 
 with whom our ships were frequently engaged. But 
 none had ever been seen so far eastward as the Gala- 
 pagos Islands, and so we one day sailed without fear 
 into a small bay on the north-west side of Charles 
 Island to wood and water. 
 
 " On the following morning the captain, whose 
 name was Rossiter, ordered my old friend Ohlsen, 
 who was now gunner on the Britannia^ to take 
 four hands and endeavour to capture some of the 
 huge land tortoises which abound on the islands 
 of the group. I was allowed to go with them. 
 Little did I think I should never again see his 
 kindly face when I took my seat in the boat and 
 was rowed ashore. Besides Ohlsen and myself, there 
 were two English seamen, a negro named King and 
 a Tahitian native. The youngest of the English 
 sailors was named Robert Eury ; he was about twenty- 
 two years of age, and a great favourite of the captain 
 who knew his family in Dorset, England. 
 
 " We hauled the boat up on a small sandy beach, 
 and then started off into the country, and by noon we 
 had caught three large tortoises which we found 
 feeding on cactus plants. Then, as we were resting 
 and eating, we suddenly heard the report of a heavy 
 gun, and then another and another. We clambered 
 up the side of a rugged hill, from the summit of which 
 we could see the harbour, a mile distant, and there 
 was the Britannia lying at anchor, and being attacked
 
 "OLD MARY" 145 
 
 by two vessels ! As we watched the fight we saw 
 one of the strange ships, which were both under sail, 
 fire a broadside at our vessel, and the second, putting 
 about, did the same. These two broadsides, we 
 afterwards heard, were terribly disastrous, for the 
 captain and three men were killed, and nine 
 wounded. The crew, however, under the mate, still 
 continued to work her guns with the utmost bravery 
 and refused to surrender. Then a lucky shot from one 
 of her 9-pounders disabled the rudder of the largest 
 Frenchmen, which, fearing to anchor so near to such 
 a determined enemy, at once lowered her boats and 
 began to tow out, followed by her consort. At the 
 entrance to the bay, however, the smaller of the two 
 again brought-to and began firing at our poor ship 
 with a 24-pounder, or other long-range gun, and 
 every shot struck. It was then that the mate and his 
 crew, enraged at the death of the captain, and finding 
 that the ship was likely to be pounded to pieces, 
 determined to get under weigh and come to close 
 quartei's with the enemy, for the 'Britannia was a 
 wonderfully fast ship, and carried a crew of fifty-seven 
 men. But first of all he sent ashore Mrs. Rossiter, 
 her two children, a coloured steward, and all the 
 money and other valuables in case he should be 
 worsted. His name was Skinner, and he was a man 
 of the most undaunted resolution, and had at one time 
 commanded a London privateer called the Lucy^ 
 which had made so many captures that Skinner was 
 quite a famous man. But his intemperate habits 
 caused him to lose his command, and he had had to 
 
 II
 
 146 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ship on the Britannia as chief mate. He was, 
 however, a great favourite with the men, who now 
 urged him to lead them on and avenge the loss of the 
 captain ; so the moment the boat returned from landing 
 Mrs. Rossiter he slipped his cable, and stood out to 
 meet the enemy. 
 
 " We, from the hill, watched all this with the 
 greatest interest and excitement, and then Ohlsen 
 turned to the others and said, ' Let us get back to the 
 boat at once. The captain has got under weigh to 
 chase those fellows, and we should be with him.' 
 
 " So we descended to the beach, where we met the 
 poor lady and her children, and heard that her 
 husband was dead. She begged Ohlsen not to leave 
 her, but he said his duty lay with his shipmates ; then 
 she besought him to at least leave Robert Eury with 
 her, as she was terrified at the idea of having to spend 
 the night on such a wild island with no one but the 
 coloured steward to protect her and her children. At 
 this time — although we could not see them — we knew 
 the ships were heavily engaged, for the roar of the 
 cannon was continuous. So, much to his anger, 
 young Eury was bidden to remain with the captain's 
 wife, her son aged twelve, her daughter Ann, who was 
 three years younger, the coloured steward, and myself. 
 Then, bidding us goodbye, Ohlsen and his three men 
 went off in the boat, and were soon out of sight. 
 
 " Young as he was, Robert Eury had good sense 
 and judgment. He was angry at Mr. Skinner 
 venturing out to attack such well-armed vessels with 
 our poor 9-pounders, and although he had been
 
 "OLD MARY" 147 
 
 most anxious to join his shipmates, he was, he 
 afterwards told me, pretty sure that the 'Britannia 
 would have to strike or be sunk. The first thing he 
 did, however, was to make all of our party comfort- 
 able. At the head of the bay there was an empty 
 house, which had been built by the crews of the 
 whaleships frequenting the Galapagos as a sort of 
 rest-house for the men sent to catch tortoises. 
 To this place he took us, and set the steward 
 to work to get us something to eat, for Mr. Skinner 
 had sent provisions and wine ashore. Then he took 
 the ship's money, which amounted to about thirteen 
 hundred pounds, and buried it a little distance away 
 from the house. I helped him, and when the bags 
 were safely covered up he turned to me with a smile 
 lighting up his brown face. 
 
 "'There, Molly. That's done, and if Mr. Skinner 
 has to strike, and the Frenchmen come here, they'll 
 get nothing but ourselves.' 
 
 " By this time it was well on towards the afternoon, 
 and we only heard a cannon shot now and then. 
 Then the sound of the firing ceased altogether. We 
 got back to the house and waited — we knew not for 
 what. Poor Mrs. Rossiter, who was a very big, stout 
 woman, had sobbed herself into a state of exhaustion, 
 but she tried to brace herself up when she saw us, and 
 when Robert Eury told her that he had buried the 
 money, she thanked him. 
 
 " ' Try and save it for my children, Robert. I fear 
 I shall not be long with them. And if I am taken 
 away suddenly I want you to bear witness that it was
 
 148 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 my husband's wish, and is mine now, that Mary here 
 is to share alike with my son Fred and my daughter 
 Ann. Would to God I had means here to write.' 
 
 "Robert tried to comfort her with the assurance 
 that all would be well, when as he spoke we saw a 
 sight at which I, girl of twelve as I was, was struck 
 with terror — the two French ships appeared round the 
 headland with the Britannia following with French 
 colours at her peak. The three came in together very 
 slowly, and then dropped anchor within a cable's 
 length of the beach. The captain's wife looked at 
 them wildly for a moment, and then fell forward on 
 her face. She died that night. 
 
 " The two French captains treated us very kindly, 
 and they told Robert, who spoke French well, that 
 Mr. Skinner had made a most determined attempt to 
 board the larger of the two vessels, but was killed by 
 a musket-shot, and that only after thirty of the 
 Britannia^s crew had been killed and wounded, and 
 the ship herself was but little more than a wreck, did 
 Ohlsen, who was himself terribly wounded by a 
 splinter in the side, haul down his flag. Then the 
 elder of the two Frenchmen asked Robert which was 
 the child named ' Marie.' 
 
 "'This is the child, sir,' said Eury, pointing to me. 
 
 " 'Then let her come with me and see the gunner of 
 our prize,' said he ; ' he is dying, and has asked to see 
 her.' 
 
 "I was taken on board the Britannia^ over her 
 bloodstained decks, and into the main cabin, where 
 poor Ohlsen was lying breathing his last. His face
 
 "OLD MARY" 149 
 
 lit up when he saw me, and he drew me to his bosom 
 just as he had done years before in the open boat off 
 Tahiti. I stayed with him till the last, then one of 
 the French privateer officers led me away. 
 
 " In the morning Mrs. Rossiter was buried ; the 
 French captains allowing some of the surviving 
 members of the crew of the Britannia to carry her 
 body to her grave. There was a young Spanish 
 woman — the wife of the older captain — on board the 
 larger of the privateers, and she took care of us three 
 children. I cannot remember her name, but I do 
 remember that she was a very beautiful woman and 
 very kind to us, and told us through an interpreter 
 that we should be well cared for, and some day go 
 home to England ; and when she learned my own 
 particular story she took me in her arms, kissed, and 
 made much of me. 
 
 "About noon the crew of the Britannia were 
 ranged on deck, and the elder of the two French 
 captains called on Robert Eury to step out. 
 
 " * This man here,' he said in English, indicating 
 the coloured steward, ' tells me that you have buried 
 some money belonging to the prize. Where is it ? ' 
 
 '"I cannot tell you,' replied Robert ; 'the captain's 
 wife told me it belonged to her children and to the 
 little girl Mary.' 
 
 " The Frenchman laughed. ' It belongs to us now ; 
 it is prize money, my good boy.' 
 
 " Eury looked at him steadily, but made no answer. 
 
 '" Come,' said the captain impatiently, ' where is itr' 
 
 " ' I cannot tell you.'
 
 cc c 
 
 150 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "The younger of the captains laughed savagely, 
 and stepped up to him, pistol in hand. 
 I give you ten seconds to tell.' 
 Five will do, monsieur,' replied Robert, in 
 French, 'and then you will be losing five seconds 
 of your time. I shall not tell you. But I should 
 like to say goodbye to my dead captain's children.' 
 
 " The young Frenchmen's face purpled with fury. 
 * Very well then, you fool ! ' and he raised his pistol to 
 murder the young man, when the older captain seized 
 his arm. 
 
 " ' Shame, Pellatier, shame ! Would you kill such 
 a brave man in cold blood ? Let us be satisfied with 
 getting such a good ship. Surely you would not shoot 
 him for the sake of a few hundred dollars ? ' 
 
 " ' There may be thousands. How can we tell ? ' 
 replied Pellatier. 
 
 " Robert laughed, and then raised his hand in salute 
 to the elder captain. 
 
 " ' Captain Pellatier is right, sir. Madame Melville 
 told me that there were thirteen hundred pounds in 
 the bags which I have buried. And on certain con- 
 ditions I will tell you where to find it.' 
 
 " ' Name them.' 
 
 " ' The money is fair prize money. That I admit. 
 But you will never see it, unless you agree to my 
 conditions, and pledge me your word of honour to 
 observe them honourably. I am not afraid to die, 
 gentlemen.' 
 
 " ' You are a bold fellow, and ought to have been a 
 Frenchman — but be quick, name the conditions.'
 
 "OLD MARY" 151 
 
 " * Half of the money to be given to these orphan 
 children, whose pitiable condition should appeal to 
 you. And promise me on your honour as men that 
 you will land them at Valparaiso, or some other 
 civilised place, from where they may reach England. 
 If you will not make this promise, you can shoot me 
 now.' 
 
 "'And what of yourself?' said Pellatier, who was 
 a little dark man with very ugly monkey-like features ; 
 ' you would be the guardian of this money, no doubt, 
 my clever fellow.' 
 
 " The insulting manner in which he spoke exaspe- 
 rated Eury beyond endurance, and he made as if he 
 would strike the man ; but he stopped suddenly, and 
 looking contemptuously at the P" ranchman uttered 
 the one word — 
 
 " ' Babouin ! ' 
 
 " It nearly cost him his life, for Pellatier, stung to 
 fury by the loud laughter of his fellow-captain, again 
 levelled his pistol at the young man, and again the 
 older captain seized his arm. 
 
 " ' By Heaven, you shall not harm him I ' he cried, 
 amid a murmur of applause from the crew. Then 
 addressing Eury he said. ' I give you my promise. 
 The children and yourself are under my protection, 
 and when we reach Valparaiso I will put you all on 
 shore.' Then he ordered one of his officers to escort 
 Robert ashore and get the money. 
 
 " Eury thanked him quietly, and then he turned to 
 Pellatier, and said he was sorry he used an offensive 
 word to him ; but Pellatier received his apology with
 
 152 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 a scowl, and turned away. In half an hour Eury 
 returned with the officer, carrying the money. It 
 was counted and divided, and it was easy to see that 
 Dupuis, the elder captain, was very pleased when the 
 young man asked him to take charge of the half 
 of the money belonging to the Rossiter children and 
 myself. 
 
 " The three ships sailed in company for South 
 America a week later. I remained on board the 
 Britannia together with Robert Eury and six others 
 of her original crew, the Rossiter children being taken 
 by the Spanish lady on board the larger of the 
 privateers, the second lieutenant of which, with about 
 twenty men, were drafted to the prize. After keeping 
 in close company for four or five days we lost sight 
 of the privateers, much to the annoyance of our 
 captain, who was a very indifferent navigator, as he 
 soon showed by altering his course to E. by S. so 
 as to pick up the coast of South America as soon as 
 possible. This was a most fortunate thing for us, for 
 at daylight on the following morning two sail were 
 seen, not five miles distant, and to our intense delight 
 proved to be English letters of marque — the barque 
 Centurion of Bristol and the barque Gratitude 
 of London. They at once closed in upon and 
 engaged us, and although the Frenchmen made a 
 good fight, they had to strike after a quarter of an 
 hour's engagement, for the Centurion was a very 
 heavily armed ship. 
 
 " Her captain was a very old man named Richard 
 Glass. He came on board the Britannia and spoke
 
 "OLD MARY" 153 
 
 very good-humouredly to the French lieutenant, for 
 on neither side had any one been killed, and he saw 
 that the Britannia was a fine ship. He told the 
 Frenchmen to take the longboat, and as much 
 provisions and water as they liked, and make for the 
 coast, which was less than seventy miles distant. 
 This was soon done, and our former captors parted 
 from us very good friends, every one of them coming 
 up and shaking hands with Robert Eury and calling 
 him bon camarade. 
 
 " Captain Glass put his own chief officer in charge 
 of the Britannia (with Robert as his mate) and 
 ordered him to proceed to Port Jackson and await 
 the arrival there of the Centurion and her consort. 
 We arrived at our destination safely, and as soon as 
 my story was known many kind people wanted to 
 adopt me ; but the agent of the Britannia took me to 
 his own home, where I lived for many happy years as 
 a member of his family. Robert Eury was then 
 appointed mate of a vessel in the China trade, but I 
 saw him every year. Then when I was seventeen 
 years of age he asked me to marry him, and I did so 
 gladly, for he was always present in my thoughts 
 when he was away, and I knew he loved me. 
 
 Ill 
 
 <c 
 
 My husband invested his savings in a small 
 schooner, which he named the Taunton^ and within a 
 month of our marriage we were at sea, bound on a
 
 154 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 trading voyage to Tahiti and the Paumotus. This 
 first venture proved very successful, so did the two 
 following voyages; and then, as he determined to found 
 a business of his own in the South Seas, he bought a 
 large piece of land on this island from the natives, 
 with whom he was on very friendly terms. His reasons 
 for choosing this particular island were, firstly, 
 because of its excellent situation — midway between 
 Port Jackson and the Spanish settlements on the 
 South American coast, which were good markets ; 
 secondly, because great numbers of the American 
 whaling ships would make it a place of call to refresh 
 if there was a reputable white man living on the 
 island ; and thirdly, because he intended to go into 
 sperm whaling himself, for it was an immensely profit- 
 able business, and he could, if he wished, sell the oil 
 to the American ships instead of taking it to Port 
 Jackson. The natives here in those days were a very 
 wild set, but they really had a great friendship and 
 respect for my husband ; and when they learnt that 
 he intended to settle among them permanently they 
 were delighted beyond measure. They at once set to 
 work and built us a house, and the chief and my 
 husband exchanged names in the usual manner. 
 
 " My first child was born on the island whilst my 
 husband was away on a voyage to Port Jackson, and, 
 indeed, of my four children three were born here. 
 When Robert returned in the Taunton he brought 
 with him a cargo of European stores and comforts for 
 our new home, and in a icw months we were fairly 
 settled down. From the first American whaleships
 
 "OLD MARY" 155 
 
 that visited us he bought two fine whaleboats and all 
 the necessary gear, and then later on engaged one of 
 the best whalemen in the South Seas to superintend 
 the business. In the first season we killed no less than 
 six sperm whales, and could have taken more, but 
 were short of barrels. The whaling station was at 
 the end of the south point of the harbour, and when 
 a whale was towed in to be cut in and tried out the 
 place presented a scene of great activity and bustle, 
 for we had quite two hundred natives to help. Alas, 
 there is scarcely a trace of it left now ! The great 
 iron try-pots, built up in furnaces of coral lime, were 
 overgrown by the green jungle thirty years ago, and 
 it would be difficult even to find them now. 
 
 "The natives, as I have said, were very wild, 
 savage, and warlike; but as time went on their friend- 
 ship for my husband and myself and children deepened, 
 and so when Robert made a voyage to Port Jackson 
 or to any of the surrounding islands I never felt in 
 the least alarmed. I must tell you that we — my 
 husband and myself — were actually the first white 
 people that had landed to live on the island since the 
 time of the Bounty mutiny, when Fletcher Christian 
 and his fellow mutineers tried to settle here. They 
 brought the Bounty in, and anchored her just where 
 your own schooner is now lying — opposite Randle's 
 house. But the natives attacked Christian and his 
 men so fiercely, and so repeatedly, though with 
 terrible loss to themselves, that at last Christian and 
 Edward Young abandoned the attempt to found a 
 settlement, and the Bounty went back to Tahiti, and
 
 iS6 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 finally to Afita, as the people here call Pitcairn 
 Islands. 
 
 "Four years passed by. My husband was making 
 money fast, not only as a trader among the Paumotus 
 and the Society Islands, where he had two small vessels 
 constantly employed, but from his whale fishery. 
 Then came a time of sorrow and misfortune. A 
 South Seaman, named the Stirling Castle, touched 
 here for provisions, and introduced small-pox, and 
 every one of my poor children contracted the disease 
 and died ; many hundreds of the natives perished 
 as well. My husband at this time was away in one of 
 his vessels at Fakarava Lagoon in the Paumotu Group, 
 and I spent a very lonely and unhappy seven months 
 before he returned. Almost every morning, accom- 
 panied by one or two of my native v/omen servants, I 
 would ascend that rugged peak about two miles from 
 here, from where we had a complete view of the 
 horizon all round the island, and watch for a sail. 
 Twice my heart gladdened, only to be disappointed 
 again, for the ships on both occasions were Nantucket 
 whalers. And then, as the months went by, I began 
 to imagine that something dreadful had happened to 
 my husband and his ship among the wild people of the 
 Paumotus, for when he sailed he did not expect to be 
 away more than three months. 
 
 " At last, however, when I was quite worn out and 
 ill with anxiety, he returned. I was asleep when he 
 arrived, for it was late at night, and his vessel had not 
 entered the harbour, though he had come ashore in a 
 boat. He awakened me very gently, and then, before
 
 "OLD MARY" 157 
 
 I could speak to him and tell him of our loss, he 
 said — 
 
 " ' Don't tell me, Molly. I have heard it all just 
 now. But, there, I'm home again, dear; and I shall 
 never stay away so long again, now that our children 
 have been taken and you and I are alone.' 
 
 " After another year had passed, and when I was well 
 and strong again, the whaleship Chalice^ of Sag Harbour, 
 Captain Freeman, touched here, and the master came 
 on shore. He was an old acquaintance of my 
 husband's, and told us that he had come ashore pur- 
 posely to warn us of a piratical vessel which had 
 made her appearance in these seas a few months before, 
 and had seized two or three English and American 
 ships, and murdered every living soul of their crews. 
 She hailed from Coquimbo, and her captain was said 
 to be a Frenchman, whilst her crew was composed of 
 the worst ruffians to be found on the coast of South 
 America — men whose presence on shore would not 
 be tolerated even by the authorities at any of the 
 Spanish settlements from Panama to Valdivia. 
 Sailing under French colours, and professing to be 
 a privateer, she had actually attacked a French mer- 
 chant brig within fifty miles of Coquimbo Roads, the 
 captain and the crew of which were slaughtered and 
 the vessel plundered and then burnt. Since then she 
 had been seen by several vessels in the Paumoto 
 archipelago, where her crew had been guilty of the 
 most fearful crimes, perpetrated on the natives. 
 
 " My husband thanked Freeman for his information; 
 but said that if the pirate vessel came into Tubuai
 
 158 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Lagoon she would never get out again, except under 
 British colours. This was no idle boast, for not only 
 were my husband's two vessels — which were then 
 both at anchor in the lagoon — well armed, but they 
 were manned by English or English-blooded half- 
 caste seamen, who would have only been too delighted 
 to fight a Frenchman, or a Spaniard, or a Dutchman. 
 
 "Ah, 'tis so long ago, but what brave, rough fellows 
 they were! Some of them, we well knew, had been 
 transported as convicts, and were, when opportunity 
 offered, drunken and dissolute, but to my husband and 
 myself they were good and loyal men. Two of them 
 had seen Trafalgar day in the Royal Sovereign under 
 Collingwood when that ship had closed with the 
 Santa Anna and made her strike. Their names — as 
 given to us — were James Watts and Thomas Godwin. 
 After the fleet returned to England they got into 
 mischief, and were transported for being concerned 
 in a smuggling transaction at Deal, in Kent, in which 
 a preventive officer was either killed or seriously 
 wounded — I forget which. Their exemplary conduct, 
 however, had gained them a remission of their sen- 
 tences, and the Governor of New South Wales, who 
 was most anxious to open up the South Sea Island 
 trade, had recommended them to my husband as good 
 men, Godwin having been brought up to the boat- 
 building trade at Lowestoft in England, and Watts as 
 a gunsmith. 
 
 " About ten days after the visit of the Chalice my 
 husband left in one of his vessels for Vavitao — only a 
 day's sail from here. He wanted me to go with him,
 
 "OLD MARY" 159 
 
 but I was too much interested in a large box of 
 English seeds, and some young fruit trees which the 
 Governor of New South Wales had sent to us, and so 
 I said I would stay and watch our garden, in which T 
 took a great pride. He laughed and said that 1 must 
 not forget to look out for ' Freeman's pirate ' as well 
 as for my garden. He never for one moment imagined 
 that the French vessel would turn up at Tubuai. 
 
 " He took with him Thomas Godwin and William 
 Myson, leaving Watts, who was master of the other 
 vessel, with me, to attend to the whaling. 
 
 " A week after he had sailed I set out to walk to 
 the north end of the island, where my children were 
 buried. I had with me an active native boy named 
 Xati — who was carrying some plants and seeds which 
 I intended planting on and about the children's graves 
 — and two young women. We started early in the 
 morning, for I intended staying at the north end till 
 late in the afternoon, whilst the two girls went cray- 
 fishing on the reef. 
 
 " About noon I had finished my labours, and then, 
 as it was a beautifully bright day, I climbed a hill near 
 by, called ' The White Man's Lookout,' which com- 
 manded a clear view of the sea all round the island. 
 It had been given this name by the natives, who said 
 that Fletcher Christian and his fellow-mutineer, 
 Edward Young, had often ascended the hill and gazed 
 out upon the ocean, for they were fearful that at any 
 moment a King's ship might appear in pursuit of their 
 comrades and themselves. 
 
 " I was again feeling somewhat anxious on account of
 
 i6o YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 my husband. He should have returned a week before, 
 for there had been no bad weather, and I knew that his 
 business at Vavitao should have kept him there only a 
 day at the most. But the moment I gained the 
 summit of the hill my heart leapt with joy, for there 
 were two vessels in sight, one of which I at once 
 recognised as my husband's. They were about a mile 
 distant, and were running before the wind for the 
 harbour. The strange vessel, which was a brigantine, 
 was following close astern of our own schooner — 
 evidently, I thought, my husband is showing her the 
 way into the lagoon. 
 
 " Just as I was preparing to descend the hill my 
 little companion, the native boy, Tati, drew my atten- 
 tion to four canoes which, in company with a boat 
 from Captain Watts' schooner, were approaching the 
 vessels. 
 
 " ' Ah,' I thought, ' Watts has seen the vessels 
 from the whaling station, and is going out to meet 
 them.' 
 
 " But presently something occurred which filled me 
 with terror. When the boat and canoes were quite 
 close to the vessels, they both luffed, and fired broadsides 
 into them ; the boat and two canoes were evidently 
 destroyed, and the two remaining canoes at once 
 turned round and headed for the shore, the brigantine 
 firing at them with guns which I knew to be long 
 twenty-fours by the sharp sound they made. In a 
 moment I knew what had happened — my husband's 
 ship had been captured by the French privateer 
 of which Captain Freeman had told us, and the
 
 "OLD MARY" i6i 
 
 Frenchmen were now coming to seize our other 
 selves lying anchored in the lagoon. 
 
 " Tati looked at me inquiringly. 
 
 "*Run,' I said, 'run and tell Uasi (for so the 
 natives called Captain Watts) that the master and his 
 ship have been captured by an enemy, who will be 
 upon him very quickly, for the boat and two of the 
 canoes he has sent out have been destroyed, and every 
 one in them killed. Tell him I am coming.' 
 
 " The boy darted away in a moment, and I followed 
 him as quickly as I could ; but Tati reached the 
 harbour and was on board Watts' schooner quite half 
 an hour before me, and when I went on board I 
 found the vessel was prepared to defend the entrance 
 to the harbour. Captain Watts had swung her broad- 
 side on to the entrance, boarding nettings were already 
 triced up from stem to stern, and on the schooner's 
 decks were fifty determined natives, in addition to the 
 usual crew of twenty men, all armed with muskets 
 and cutlasses. The four 6-pounders which she 
 carried, two on each side, were now all on the port 
 side, loaded with grape-shot, and in fact every prepara- 
 tion had been made to fight the ship to the last. 
 Watts met me as soon as I stepped on board, and told 
 me that before my messenger Tati had arrived to 
 warn him he had heard the sound of the firing at sea, 
 and at once surmised that something was wrong. 
 
 " ' Soon after you left the house, Mrs. Eury, some 
 natives sighted the two vessels to the north-east and 1 
 sent the boatswain and four men off in one of the whale- 
 boats, little thinking that I was sending them to their 
 
 12
 
 i6z YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 death. Four canoes went with the boat. Just now 
 two of the canoes came back with half of their 
 number dead or wounded, and the survivors told me 
 that as soon as they were within musket-shot both 
 the ships opened fire on them, sunk the boat and two 
 of the canoes with grape-shot, and then began a heavy 
 musketry fire. I fear, madam, that Captain Eury and 
 his ship ' 
 
 " * Your fears are mine, Watts,' I said, ' but whether 
 my husband is alive or dead, let us at least try and save 
 this vessel.' 
 
 " ' Ay, ay, madam. And if we have to give up the 
 ship, we can beat them off on shore. There are a 
 hundred or more natives lying hidden at the back of 
 the oil shed, and if the Frenchmen capture this vessel 
 they will cover our retreat ashore. They are all armed 
 with muskets.' 
 
 " We waited anxiously for the two ships to appear ; 
 but the wind had gradually died away until it fell a 
 dead calm. Then a native runner hailed us from the 
 shore, and said that both vessels had anchored off the 
 reef, and were manning their boats. 
 
 " 'All the better for us,' said Watts grimly ; ' we'll 
 smash them up quick enough if they try boarding. If 
 they had sailed in, the Frenchman's long guns would 
 have sunk us easily, and our wretched guns could not 
 have done him much harm.' Then he went round the 
 decks, and saw that the crew and their native allies 
 were all at their proper stations. 
 
 " Presently he saw the boats — five of them — come 
 round the point. Two of them wc recognised as
 
 "OLD MARY" 163 
 
 belonging to my husband's vessel, though they were, 
 of course, manned by Frenchmen. They rowed 
 leisurely in through the entrance till they were within 
 musket-shot, and then the foremost one ceased rowing, 
 and hoisted a white flao;. 
 
 "'They want us to surrender without a fight,' said 
 Watts, 'or are meditating some treachery,' and taking 
 a musket from one of the crew he levelled it and 
 fired in defiance. The bullet struck the water within 
 a foot of the boat. The white flag, however, was held 
 up higher by the oflScer in the stern. Watts seized a 
 second musket, and this time his bullet went plump 
 into the crowded boat, and either killed or wounded 
 some one, for there was a momentary confusion. 
 Then the white flag was lowered, and with loud 
 cheers the five boats made a dash towards us. Telling 
 the gunners to reserve their fire of grape until he gave 
 the word, Watts and the natives now began a heavy 
 musketry fire on the advancing boats, and although 
 they suffered heavily the Frenchmen came on most 
 gallantly. Then when the first two boats, which 
 were pulling abreast, were within fifty yards' distance. 
 Watts and a white seaman sprang to two of the guns 
 and themselves trained them, just as I heard a native 
 near me cry out that in the bows of each boat he 
 could see a man — my husband and his chief mate, 
 who were both bound. Before I could utter a warn- 
 ing cry to Watts, both of the guns belched out their 
 volleys of grape, and with awful effect. The boats were 
 literally torn to pieces, and their mangled occupants 
 sank under the smooth waters of the lagoon ; only
 
 i64 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 two or three seemed to have escaped unwounded, and 
 as they clung to pieces of wreckage our savage allies, 
 with yells of fury, picked them off with their muskets ; 
 for the same native who had seen my husband bound 
 in the boat had seen him sink. 
 
 " ' No quarter to any one of them ! ' roared Watts 
 when he heard this ; ' the cowards lashed Captain Eury 
 and poor Mr. Myson to the bows of the boats, and 
 our own fire has killed them.' 
 
 " He sprang to the third gun, the white seaman to 
 the fourth, and waited for the other three boats, 
 which, undaunted by the dreadful slaughter, were 
 dashing on bravely. Again the guns were fired, and 
 again a vmited yell of delight broke from our crew 
 when one of the boats was swept from stern to stern 
 with the deadly grape and filled and sank. The two 
 others, however, escaped, and in another moment were 
 alongside, and the officer in command, followed by his 
 men, sprang at the boarding nettings, and began hack- 
 ing and slashing at them with their cutlasses, only to 
 be thrust back, dead or dying, by our valiant crew, and 
 the now blood-maddened natives. Nine or ten of 
 them did succeed in gaining a foothold on the deck, 
 by clambering up the bobstay on to the bowsprit, and 
 led by a mere boy of sixteen, made a determined 
 charge ; a native armed with a club sprang at the 
 youth and dashed out his brains, though at the same 
 moment a Frenchman thrust him through the body 
 with his cutlass. But the boarding party were simply 
 overwhelmed by numbers, and in less than five minutes 
 every one of those who had reached the deck were
 
 "OLD MARY" 165 
 
 slaughtered with but a loss of three men on our side. 
 Those still remaining in the boats alongside then tried 
 to draw off, but Watts, who was now more like a 
 mad animal than a human being, calling to some of the 
 crew to help him, himself cut down the boarding net- 
 ting, and lifting one of the 6-pounders, hurled it bodily 
 into one of the boats, smashing a large hole through 
 it. Then a score of naked natives leapt into the 
 remaining one, and cut and stabbed the crew till not a 
 living soul remained. Some indeed had tried to swim 
 to the shore a few minutes earlier, but these poor 
 wretches were met by canoes, and their brains beaten 
 out with clubs. The memory of that awful day of 
 carnage will be with me if I live to be a hundred. 
 
 " As soon as possible Watts and the carpenter 
 restored some order among our native allies, who, 
 according to their custom, were beheading and other- 
 wise mutilating the bodies of the enemy. We found 
 that we had lost four killed and had about thirteen 
 wounded. Of those killed two were white men. 
 
 " Then taking with me half a dozen natives, I went 
 off in one of our own boats to the spot where our 
 grape-shot had sunk the boat in which the native had 
 said he had seen my husband. The water was only 
 about four fathoms deep, and we could clearly see 
 numbers of bodies lying on the white sandy bottom. 
 One by one they were raised to the surface and 
 examined, and the fifth one raised was that of my poor 
 husband. His arms were bound behind his back, and 
 his chest and face were shattered by grape-shot. 
 
 "A wild fury took possession of me, but I could
 
 i66 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 not speak. I could only point to the ship. We went 
 back on board, and my husband's body was laid on 
 deck for the crew to see. 
 
 " I hardly know what I did or said, but I do 
 remember that Watts swore to me that I should be 
 revenged, and in a few minutes I was seated beside 
 him in one of our own boats with a pistol in 
 my hand, and we, in company with thirty or forty 
 canoes, were on our way to the ships anchored out- 
 side. 
 
 " What followed I cannot remember, but Watts 
 told me that I was the first to spring up the side of the 
 French brigantine, and that the captain, as I fired my 
 pistol at him, struck off my hand with his sword, and 
 was then himself cut down by the carpenter. There 
 were but nine men on board, and these were soon 
 disposed of by our men, who gave no quarter. My 
 husband's vessel was in charge of but three of the 
 enemy, and from them, when they surrendered, we 
 heard that every one of her crew, except the mate 
 Myson and my husband, had been cruelly slaughtered 
 at Vavitao a few days previously. Watts tried to save 
 the lives of these three men, but in vain ; the natives 
 killed them, in spite of all his efforts. They died 
 bravely enough, poor wretches. 
 
 " Watts and the carpenter succeeded in saving my 
 life, and the stump of my arm healed up very quickly, 
 for I was always a strong and vigorous woman. 
 When they came to search the cabin of the French 
 brigantine they found that her captain — the man who 
 had cut off my hand — was Louis Pellatier, the very
 
 "OLD MARY" 167 
 
 same man who, years before, had attempted to shoot 
 my poor husband at the Galapagos Islands. 
 
 " I sailed with Watts to Port Jackson a few 
 months later in the French brigantine, which was sold 
 as a prize, and remained there for nearly two years. 
 Then the loneliness of my life began to affect my 
 health, and so I returned here to live and die. And 
 here on this island have I lived for nearly fifty years in 
 peace and happiness, for since Randle and his family 
 came here I have been very happy, and now I only 
 await the last call of all — that call which will summon 
 me to stand before the throne, side by side with my 
 dear husband."
 
 '' Five-Head'^ Creek 
 
 I HAD ridden all day through an endless vista ot 
 ghostly grey gums and ironbarks, when I came in 
 sight of the long wavering line of vivid green foliage 
 which showed me that I had reached my destination 
 — a roughly-built slab hut with a roof of corrugated 
 iron. This place was to be my home for six months, 
 and stood on the bank of Five-Head Creek, twenty- 
 five miles from the rising city of Townsville in North 
 Queensland. 
 
 Riding up to the building, I got off my wearied, 
 sweating horse, and, removing the saddle and my 
 blanket and other impediments, led him to the creek 
 to drink, and then hobbled and turned him loose to 
 feed on the soft lush grass and reeds growing along the 
 margin of the water. Then I entered the empty 
 house, made a brief examination of it, and wondered 
 how my mate would like living in such an apparently 
 comfortless abode. 
 
 I must mention that I had come from Townsville 
 to take charge of Five-Head Creek cattle run, 
 
 i68
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK 169 
 
 which had suffered so severely from a terrible drought 
 that it had been temporarily abandoned. We were to 
 look after and repair the fencing, many miles' length 
 of which had been destroyed by fire or succumbed to 
 white ants, to search for and collect the remnant of 
 the cattle that had not perished in the drought, and 
 see after the place generally. My mate was to 
 follow me out in a few days with a dray-load of 
 stores. 
 
 I lit a fire, boiled a billy of tea, and ate some cold 
 beef and damper. Then, as the sun dipped below a 
 range of low hills to the westward, I filled my pipe, 
 and, walking down to the bank of the creek, surveyed 
 my environs. 
 
 " What a God-forsaken-looking country ! " I thought 
 as I gazed around me; and, indeed, the prospect was 
 anything but inviting. On both sides of the creek 
 the soil showed evidences of the severity of the 
 past drought. Great gaping fissures — "sun cracks" 
 we called them — traversed and zig-zagged the hot, 
 parching ground, on which not a blade of grass was 
 to be seen. Here and there, amid the grey-barked 
 ghostly gums, were oases of green — thickets of stunted 
 sandalwood whose evergreen leaves defied alike the 
 torrid summer heat and the black frosts of winter 
 months; but underneath them lay the shrivelled 
 carcasses and whitening bones of hundreds of cattle 
 which had perished of starvation — too weak even to 
 totter down to die, bogged in the banks of the creek. 
 As I sat and smoked a strong feeling of depression 
 took possession of me ; I already began to hate the
 
 I70 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 place, and regretted I could not withdraw from my 
 engagement. 
 
 Yet in less than a week I began to like it, and when 
 I left it I did so with some regret, for I had made 
 friends with sweet Mother Nature, whose loving- 
 kindness is with us always in wild places, though we 
 may not know it at first, and take no heed of her many 
 calls and silent beckonings to us to come and love, and 
 rest and dream, and be content upon her tender, 
 mighty bosom. 
 
 My horse, cropping eagerly at the soft grass and 
 salty pigweed, suddenly raised his head and pricked 
 up his ears. He had heard something and was 
 listening, and looking across to the opposite bank I 
 saw a sight that lifted me out of my sudden fit of 
 depression and then filled me with delight. 
 
 Two stately emus were walking along in single file, 
 the male bird leading, holding his head erect, and 
 marching like the drum-major of a regiment of 
 Guards. On the margin of the bank they halted 
 and looked at the horse, which now stood facing 
 them; a minute's scrutiny satisfied both parties that 
 there was nothing to fear from each other, and then 
 the great birds walked down the bank to a broad 
 dry patch of bright yellow sand, which stretched half- 
 way across the bed of the creek. Here the male 
 began to scratch, sending up a shower of coarse sand, 
 and quickly swallowing such large pebbles as were 
 revealed, whilst the female squatted beside him and 
 watched his labours with an air of indifference. Her 
 digestive apparatus was, I suppose, in good order, and
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK 171 
 
 she did not need three or four pounds' weight of 
 stones in her gizzard, but she did require a sand bath, 
 for presently she too began to scrape and sway from 
 side to side as she worked a deep hole beneath her 
 body, just as a common hen scrapes and sways and 
 ruffles her feathers in the dry dust of the farmyard. 
 In less than five minutes the huge bird was encom- 
 passed in a cloud of flying sand, and working her long 
 neck, great thick legs, and outspread toes exactly as 
 an ordinary fowl. Then, having thoroughly covered 
 herself with sand from beak to tail, she rose, shook 
 herself violently, and stalked away up the bank again, 
 where her companion soon followed her, and I lost 
 sight of the pair as they strode through the thick 
 green of the she-oak trees. 
 
 As darkness fell I built up a larger fire and spread 
 my blanket beside it to sleep under the open sky 
 instead of in the deserted house, for the night was 
 soft, warm, and windless. Overhead was a firmament 
 of cloudless blue, with here and there a shining star 
 beginning to show ; but away to the south-west a dark 
 line of cloud was rising and spreading, and I felt 
 cheered at the sight, for it was a sign of rain. As 
 I watched it steadily increasing the first voices of the 
 night began to call — a 'possum squealed from the 
 branches of a blue gum in the creek, and was answered 
 by another somewhere near ; and then the long, long 
 mournful wail of a curlew cried out from the sun- 
 baked plain beyond. Oh, the unutterable sense of 
 loneliness that at times the long-drawn, penetrating 
 cry of the curlew, resounding through the silence of
 
 172 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the night amid the solitude of vast Australian plains, 
 causes the solitary bushman or traveller to feel ! I well 
 remember on one occasion camping on the banks of 
 the Lower Burdekin River, and having my broken 
 slumbers — for I was ill with fever — disturbed by a 
 brace of curlews, which were uttering their depressing 
 cries within a few hundred yards of me, and how I at 
 last became so wrought up and almost frenzied by 
 the persistency of their doleful notes, that I followed 
 them up with a Winchester rifle, mile after mile, 
 wasting my cartridges and exhausting mind and body 
 in the vain attempt to shoot them in the dark. There 
 is to my knowledge nothing so mournful as the call 
 of the curlew, unless it be the moaning cry of a penguin 
 out upon the ocean, when a sea-fog encompasses the 
 ship that lies becalmed. There is something so 
 intensely human about it — as if some lost soul were 
 wailing for mercy and forgiveness. 
 
 But on this night the cry of the curlew was pleasing 
 to my ear, for as I lay and watched the rising bank of 
 cloud, I heard others calling from the opposite bank 
 of the creek, and then a parrot screamed shrilly — and 
 I knew that rain was certain. I jumped up, carried 
 my blanket, saddle, and gun into the house, and then 
 went out to collect firewood. My horse, as he heard 
 my footsteps, bounded up, hobbled as he was, from the 
 bed of the creek, and neighed to me in the darkness. 
 He too smelt the coming rain, and was speaking to 
 me out of his gladness of heart. I called back to 
 him, and then set to work and soon collected a 
 number of dry logs, which I carried in to the hut
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK 173 
 
 and threw down on the hard earthen floor made of 
 pulverised ant heaps, just as the welcome thunder 
 muttered away ofF in the distance. 
 
 I brought a burning brand from the fire, threw it 
 inside, and then called to my horse. Taking off his 
 hobbles, I slipped the bridle over his head, and brought 
 him in under shelter of the verandah, where he stood 
 quietly, with a full stomach and contented mind, 
 watching the coming storm. 
 
 Half an hour later the iron roof of the house was 
 singing a sweet, delightful tune to the heavy down- 
 pouring rain, which, till long past midnight, fell in 
 generous volume, the dry, thirsty soil drinking it in 
 with gladness as it closed up the gaping fissures, and 
 gave hope and vigour and promise of life to the 
 parched and perishing vegetation of the wide plains 
 around. 
 
 With supreme satisfaction I sat at the open door, 
 and smoked and watched, with my fire blazing merrily 
 away ; then, before it was too late, I stripped off, and 
 went out and let the rain wash off the dust and dirt 
 of a day's journey under a fierce, baking sun. How 
 cool, delightful, and invigorating it felt ! 
 
 I dried myself with a spare shirt, and then lay 
 down on my blanket beside the fire to listen con- 
 tentedly to the clamour of the rain upon the roof. 
 About two in the morning the downpour ceased, the 
 "sky cleared, and a fair half-moon of silvery brightness 
 shone out above the tops of the white gum forest. 
 Fifty yards or so away, in front of the door, a shallow 
 pool had formed in a depression of the hard, sun-baked
 
 17+ YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 soil, and as the soft light of the moon fell upon it 
 there came a whirr of wings as a flock of night-roving, 
 spur-winged plover lit upon its margin. I could have 
 shot half a dozen of them from where I sat, but felt 
 that I could not lift gun to shoulder and slaughter 
 when there was no need, and their shrill cries, as they 
 ran to and fro, afforded me an infinite pleasure. 
 
 I took off my horse's bridle, put his hobbles on 
 again, rubbed my cheek against his warm, moist 
 nose, and left him. An hour before daylight he 
 stepped quietly inside and stood near the fire — the 
 mosquitoes were annoying him, and he had come in 
 to get the benefit of what little smoke was arising 
 from the burning logs. 
 
 At dawn, as I lay half-awake, I heard a sound that 
 made me jump to my gun — the soft quacking of wild 
 duck in the creek. Stealing cautiously down through 
 the fringe of she-oaks, I came to a fine broad pool, 
 in the centre of which was a small sandbank, whereon 
 stood a black duck with a brood of seven half-fledged 
 ducklings around her, dabbling merrily amongst the 
 weed and debris of the margin. Of course, no one who 
 thinhy unless impelled by sheer hunger, would shoot 
 either an incubating or "just familied" duck, and I laid 
 down my gun with an exclamation of disappointment. 
 But I was soon to be rewarded, for a minute or two 
 later five beautiful black and white Burdekin ducks 
 flashed down through the vista of she-oaks, and 
 settled on the water less than thirty yards away from 
 me. They lit so closely together that my first 
 barrel killed two, and my second dropped one of
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK 175 
 
 the others as they rose. I waded in and brought 
 them ashore. I 
 
 I wonder how many people know how to cook and 
 eat wild duck as they should be cooked and eaten — 
 when they are plentiful, and when the man who shoots 
 them is, in his way, a gourmet, and is yet living away 
 from civilisation and restaurants ? This is the way. 
 Pluck the feathers off the breast and body, then cut 
 the breast part out, sprinkle it with salt, impale it upon 
 a stick — if you have a stick or branch of any kind — 
 and hold it over a fire of glowing wood coals. If 
 you have no skewer, then lay the red, luscious-looking 
 flesh upon the coals themselves, and listen to it singing 
 and fizzing, as if it were impatiently crying out to you 
 to take it up and eat it ! 
 
 When I returned, the sunrays were piercing through 
 the gum-trees and dissipating a thin mist which hung 
 about the green, winding fringe of she-oaks bordering 
 the creek. From the ground, which now felt soft, 
 warm, and springy to my naked foot, there came that 
 sweet earthy smell that arises when the land has lain 
 for long, long months under a sky of brass, and all 
 green things have struggled hard to live. As I drew 
 near the hut I saw that the flock of spur-winged plover 
 were still standing or running about the margin of 
 the newly-formed pool. They took not the slightest 
 notice of my approach, and I was careful not to alarm 
 them, knowing that as long as the water remained 
 
 ' The name " Burdekin " has been given to these ducks because they 
 are so common on the river of that name. Their wings are pure white 
 and black.
 
 176 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 they would continue to haunt the \icinity of the pool, 
 and, besides that, I already had three plump ducks, 
 which would last me at least till the following 
 morning. 
 
 After breakfast I set out to make a detailed examina- 
 tion of the creek for a distance of three or four miles 
 towards its source. I was glad to find some very 
 extensive water-holes at intervals of a few hundred 
 yards, then would come a stretch of sand from bank 
 to bank, for owing to the want of rain the water had 
 fallen very low, though it was still flowing by percola- 
 tion through the sand. Yet, in time of flood, the 
 whole of the flat country was submerged, and some 
 of the large gum-trees growing on the banks held in 
 their forks, thirty-five feet from the ground, great piles 
 of dead wood and tangled debris that had been deposited 
 there in a great flood of two years before. 
 
 I was not long in making a very pleasing discovery 
 — all the pools contained fish, some of which were of 
 good size, for the water was so clear that I could see 
 them swimming about, and I remembered now with 
 satisfaction that among the stores comino; on in the 
 dray was a bundle of fishing-tackle which 1 had 
 bought in Townsville. Bird life all along the creek 
 was plentiful ; but this was to be expected, as the long 
 drought had naturally driven game of all sort towards 
 the water. I saw two or three small kangaroos, and 
 everywhere along the margin were bandicoot holes, 
 where the little pig-like creatures had been digging 
 for roots. 
 
 Two miles from the hut I came across a well-
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK 177 
 
 constructed native fish-weir, and near by found the 
 site of a camp ; evidently a party of blacks had been 
 enjoying themselves quite recently, fishing and cattle 
 killing, for under some scrub I found the head and 
 foreleg of a young steer. 
 
 As I w^alked my horse slowly over the sand under 
 the fringing oaks, I made the unpleasant discovery 
 that snakes were very plentiful — not only the harmless 
 carpet snake, but the deadly brown and black-necked 
 tiger variety ; though against this were a correspond- 
 ing number of iguanas, both of the tree-climbing and 
 water-haunting species. The latter, to which I shall 
 again allude, is a particularly shuddersome reptile. 
 I had never before seen these repulsive creatures, and, 
 indeed, had never heard of them. 
 
 I returned to the hut at noon, and to my surprise 
 found a party of thirty or more blacks camped under 
 some Leichhardt trees. They seemed a fairly healthy 
 lot of savages, and were not alarmed when they 
 saw I was carrying a gun. I rode quietly up to 
 them, and shook hands with two or three of the bucks, 
 who spoke a little English. They were, they told 
 me, from the Ravenswood district, which they had 
 left some weeks ago, and were now travelling towards 
 the Burdekin, hunting as they went. 
 
 Some of them came to the hut with me, and I saw 
 at once that they had not taken anything of mine, 
 though among other articles I had left on a wooden 
 seat outside were several plugs of tobacco. I gave 
 them a plug to divide, and then asked the most voluble 
 of them how many cattle they had speared. 
 
 13
 
 178 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "Baal blaclcfellow spear him cattle," he answered.^ 
 " What about that young fellow bullock you been 
 eat longa creek ? " I inquired. 
 
 They assured me that they had not speared the 
 animal, which they had found lying at the bottom of 
 a deep gully with a broken leg. Then knowing it 
 could not live, they had killed and eaten it. I was 
 pleased to hear this, and have no doubt the poor 
 creatures told the truth. They remained with myself 
 and mate for a month, and proved of great assistance 
 to us in fencing and other work, and I learnt much 
 valuable bush-craft from these wandering savages, 
 especially of their methods of hunting and fishing. 
 I shall now give the reader an account of some of the 
 happy days my mate and myself spent in this lonely spot. 
 
 II 
 
 A few days later my mate arrived with the dray, 
 which we at once unloaded, and then turned the horses 
 out to feed and have a spell before working them 
 again. Every night since I had arrived a thunder- 
 storm had occurred, much to my delight, and already 
 the once cracked and baking flats were beginning to 
 put on a carpet of grass ; and indeed, in three weeks it 
 was eighteen inches high, and made a glorious sight, 
 the few remaining cattle eating it so hungrily that 
 when night fell the creatures were scarcely able to 
 move, so distended were their stomachs. 
 
 ' Lit., " We blacks did not spear any cattle."
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK 179 
 
 Having started our aboriginal friends to cut down 
 ironbarlc saplings to repair the fencing, we first of all 
 paid a visit to our nearest neighbour, a settler named 
 Dick BuUen, who lived ten miles away. He received 
 us most hospitably, like all good bushmen, and offered 
 to assist us in looking for lost cattle. He was a 
 splendid type of the native-born Australian bushman, 
 over six feet two in height, and simple and unaffected 
 in his manner. I shall remember this man for one 
 thing. He had two of the finest teams of working 
 bullocks I have ever seen, and handled them in a way 
 that commanded our admiration. Never once did he 
 use his whip for any other purpose than to crack it 
 occasionally, and it did one good to hear his cheery 
 call to the fourteen labouring beasts as they toiled up 
 the steep side of a creek or gully with a heavy load of 
 timber, straining every nerve in their great bodies, 
 while the sweat poured off their coats in streams. He 
 was like one of his own bullocks, patient, cheerful, and 
 strong, and an exclamation of anger seldom passed his 
 lips — an oath never. He took a great pride in the 
 appearance of his teams, and especially of the fact that 
 no one of them showed the marks of a whip. 
 
 We spent a pleasant hour with this man, and 
 returned home by a different route, in the hope of 
 getting a " plain " turkey — an altogether different bird 
 from the "scrub" turkey, Hansen (my mate) was an 
 excellent shot, especially with a rifle, and indeed when 
 shooting turkeys preferred to use a 44* Winchester 
 rifle. We managed to get one bird — a cock — but so 
 old and poor that we gave it to the black contingent
 
 i8o YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 to eat. Nothing in the shape of food came amiss to 
 these people, and their appetites were astounding. 
 One day Hansen and I were following down a creek 
 which junctioned with the Reid River, when we saw 
 smoke ascending from a dry gully. Riding up we 
 came across a very old and shrivelled gin and a boy 
 and girl of about eight years of age. They were 
 busily engaged in eating emu eggs, and out of thirteen 
 had already devoured eleven, together with four or five 
 hundred of fresh-water cockles ! Such a meal would 
 have satisfied half a dozen hungry white men. Their 
 over-loaded stomachs presented a disgusting appear- 
 ance, and they were scarcely able to articulate. 
 
 A week after our arrival the blacks told us that 
 there were indications that the rainy season would 
 come on earlier than usual, and that game, except 
 duck and spur-winged plover, would be very scarce ; 
 also that if the creek came down in flood, it would 
 carry away most of the fish. This was bad news for 
 such ardent sportsmen as Hansen and myself, for we 
 were looking forward to plenty of fishing and shooting, 
 not alone for its pleasures, but also because we were 
 charged heavily for anything but the ordinary salt 
 beef, tea, sugar and flour. Sardines and tinned salmon 
 were luxuries we could not afford, but fresh fish and 
 game were better, and, even when salted, were 
 preferrable to a continuous diet of beef. 
 
 We had among our stores a 250 lb. bag of coarse salt 
 — we had to kill our own meat and salt it down — and I 
 proposed that we should at once set to work whilst 
 the weather was fine and spend a week shooting and
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK. i8l 
 
 fishing. Such game as plain turkeys (the bustard), 
 scrub turkeys, cockatoos, ducks, &c., we could put in 
 brine, whilst the fish could be drysalted and then put 
 in the sun to dry. Hansen quite approved the idea, 
 and we at once set to work. I was to be fisherman, 
 and he the gunner ; for, curiously enough, my mate 
 was the most helpless creatures with a fishing-line or 
 rod that I ever saw. In five minutes he would either 
 have his line hopelessly tangled, his rod broken, or his 
 hook caught in his hand ; and yet he never lost his 
 temper. 
 
 Taking with me two sturdy black boys as porters, 
 and also bringing my gun and ammunition in case of 
 meeting duck, I set out on foot, Hansen riding off, 
 accompanied by a blackfellow, to a chain of shallow 
 lagoons five miles away. 
 
 Within a quarter of a mile from the house was a fine 
 deep water-hole formed by the creek being here confined 
 between high banks. At one end, however, an exposed 
 bar of small, coarse round pebbles ran almost across, 
 and here I decided to begin, instead of from the bank, 
 for not only were snakes difficult to see in the under- 
 growth, but plants of the dreaded stinging-tree were 
 also growing around and between the magnificent 
 gums and the Leichhardts. These latter trees, named 
 after the ill-fated Dr. Leichhardt, are, I think, the 
 most strikingly handsome of all large trees in the 
 north of Queensland. They love to grow near or 
 even in the water, and their broad, beautiful leaves 
 give a welcome shade. 
 
 But before I descended to the bank I had to remain
 
 i82 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 for some minutes to gaze on the beauty of the scene. 
 The water at one end of the pool was of the deepest 
 blue, towards the pebbly bar it gradually shallowed, 
 and for the next eight or ten feet from the margin was 
 as clear as crystal. Close in under the banks the 
 broad leaves of blue flowering water-lilies covered the 
 surface with a carpet of many shades of green and 
 pink ; hovering above the lily leaves were hundreds of 
 small white butterflies, with here and there a black 
 and yellow-banded dragon-fly — "horse-stingers" the 
 Australian youth call them. Not a sound broke the 
 silence, except now and then the rippling splash of a 
 fish rising to the surface, or the peculiar click^ click 
 made by a crayfish burrowing under a stone. 
 
 I leant over the bank and looked down, and then 
 gave a start of pleasure, for right beneath me were 
 three fish floating motionless on the surface — fish that, 
 until then, I never knew lived in fresh water. They 
 were in shape, colour, and appearance exactly like the 
 toothed gar so common on the sea coast — a long 
 slender body with back of dark blue, sides of silvery 
 white, and fins and tail of blue tipped with yellow. I 
 was so excited that I was about to shoot them, but 
 remembered that at so short a distance I should have 
 only blown them to pieces, especially as they were 
 directly beneath me. I motioned to the blackboys to 
 come and look ; they did so, and I learnt that these 
 fish, when the creek was low, were sometimes plentiful, 
 and would take almost any floating bait, especially if it 
 were alive. 
 
 Eager to begin, I told the boys to collect some
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK 183 
 
 crayfish for bait, but they said that it would take too 
 long, and small fish were better, and running to some 
 small lily-covered pools about two feet in diameter, 
 and very shallow, they jumped in and stirred up the 
 sand and muddy sediment at the bottom. In a few 
 minutes some scores of very pretty red and silvery- 
 hued minnows were thrown out on the sand. I 
 quickly baited my line, and threw it, with the sinker 
 attached, into the centre of the pool ; before it could 
 sink the bait was taken by a fine bream of 2 lbs., 
 which I landed safely, and tossed to the boys. It was 
 the first fresh-water bream I had caught in Queensland, 
 and I felt elated. 
 
 Finding that the pool was clear of snags, I bent on 
 three extra hooks, baiting each one with the whole of 
 a tiny fish. Again the baits were seized before they 
 reached the bottom ; I hauled in two more bream, 
 and as they came struggling and splashing into the 
 shallow water I saw they were being followed by 
 literally hundreds of the same species, and also by fish 
 much like an English grayling — the pool seemed to be 
 alive ! The presence of such large numbers in so cir- 
 cumscribed a space could, however, be easily accounted 
 for by the absence of rain for so many months, the 
 drying up of many minor pools and stretches, and the 
 diminution of the water generally throughout the 
 creek and its tributaries driving the fish to congregate 
 in the deeper and larger pools. 
 
 By noon I had caught as many fish as the boys 
 could carry. None, it is true, were very large, 
 2^ lbs. being the heaviest ; but I was pleased to learn
 
 1 84 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 that there were places farther down the creek where 
 the blacks frequently caught some very large cat-fish ; 
 when the water was muddy from heavy rain. These 
 cat-fish, or, as some people call them, "jew-fish," are 
 the heaviest and best of all the Queensland river fish I 
 have ever tasted, except those which, for want of their 
 true name, I called grayling, and Hansen asserted 
 were trout. 
 
 Sending the black boys off with the fish, I cut a rod 
 from a she-oak and quickly rigged a line ; for a float I 
 used a small piece of dead wood, and baited with the 
 largest minnow I could find. Then, clambering up 
 the bank, I found a suitable open place to stand at the 
 butt of a Leichhardt, from where I had a good view. 
 I could not, however, see any of the gars, one at least 
 of which I was so anxious to get, but made a cast into 
 the centre — and almost instantly one darted out from 
 under the lily leaves and hooked himself beautifully, 
 but in swinging him out my line fouled a thorny 
 bush, and for a minute I was in despair ; there was 
 the shining beauty suspended over the water, and 
 almost making a circle of his body in his struggle to 
 escape. At last, however, I cleared my line, and 
 swung my prize high up on the bank. Determined 
 to get a better rod, and return after dinner, I picked up 
 gun and fish and followed the boys. 
 
 By sunset I had a catch of fish that fairly astonished 
 Hansen when he returned at dusk with but half a 
 dozen black duck, two or three teal, and two turkeys. 
 All that evening we were employed in cleaning and 
 salting the fish and birds, except some for immediate use.
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK 185 
 
 We had many such days. Fish were to be had all 
 throughout the course of the creek, and had we pos- 
 sessed a net like those the blacks sometimes used, we 
 could have taken a hogsheadful in half an hour. 
 
 Then, as the rainy season began, I ceased fishing and 
 took to the gun, for now three or four kinds of duck 
 made their appearance, and one moonlight night an 
 immense number alighted in the creek just below the 
 hut, and kept up an incessant gabble and quacking till 
 sunrise. 
 
 In less than ten days we had enough salted game and 
 dried and smoked fish to last us three months, even 
 had we eaten nothing else. Our black friends — with 
 the exception of one lad who desired to remain — left us 
 one morning at sunrise, and we saw them no more. I 
 am afraid they were deeply hurt by our poisoning half 
 a dozen of their mangy dogs, which were, with the rest 
 of the pack, a continual source of annoyance to us by 
 their expert thieving. 
 
 One dull, rainy day, as we sat indoors mending 
 our clothes, and yarning and smoking, we heard 
 the scream of parrots, and, going to the door, saw 
 some twenty or thirty of them, large, fine, green 
 and scarlet plumaged birds, hanging on to and 
 crawling in and out among the branches of some low 
 trees growing between the stockyard and the creek. 
 These trees were a species of wattle, and were just 
 opening out their yellow, sweet-smelling, downy 
 flowers, which the beautiful birds were devouring 
 eagerly. We did not disturb them, and they did not 
 appear to be alarmed when we walked up to within a
 
 186 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 few yards of the trees, merely screaming defiance, and 
 flying up to the higher branches, or to other trees 
 near by. These birds the local settlers called "king- 
 parrots " ; they were larger than those of the same 
 species in New South Wales, and later in the season 
 we shot a few of them for soup. This particular 
 flock visited us for many days in succession, forming 
 a pretty picture as they hung on the branches, chat- 
 tering loudly the while, and flashing their gaily- 
 coloured plumage in the bright sunshine. Like the 
 spur-winged plover, they were very inquisitive birds; if 
 one of their number was shot, and fell wounded, the 
 rest of the flock would fly round and round the poor 
 creature, watching its movements and listening to 
 its cries, not out of pity, but of sheer curiosity, and 
 each could be shot in succession, or sometimes 
 knocked down with a stick. I was told by a stock- 
 man on Fanning Downs station that on several 
 occasions when he had wounded birds of this variety 
 of the parrot tribe, their companions descended upon 
 them with furv, tore out their feathers, and bit and 
 lacerated them savagely. 
 
 Now and again a few wandering emus would cross 
 the grey gum plains around us, and then, as they 
 caught sight of our figures, shamble quickly off again. 
 In former years they had been plentiful in the district, 
 and provided good food for the aborigines when the 
 latter organised their big hunting parties. But as the 
 country was taken up as cattle runs, hundreds of the 
 great birds were wantonly shot by white men for 
 the mere pleasure of killing, and all the months
 
 "FIVE-HEAD" CREEK 187 
 
 we lived in the district we did not see more than 
 twenty. 
 
 I have before spoken of the number of snakes that 
 were everywhere to be seen in the vicinity of the 
 water, particularly about pools with a reedy margin. 
 Scarcely a week passed without our killing three or 
 four, and we were always careful in bathing to do so 
 in very shallow water, where there was a clear sandy 
 bottom. There were three kinds of water-snakes, 
 one of which was of a dull blue colour, and these the 
 blacks said were " bad fellow," l.e.^ venomous. They 
 seldom grew over two feet and a half in length, and 
 on a bright day one might see several of these reptiles 
 swimming across from one bank to the other. Of 
 the common brown snake — the kind we most dreaded 
 — and the black-necked tiger snake, we killed numbers 
 with our guns and with sticks, and one day, when 
 crossing some red ironstone ridges on the Ravenswood 
 road, we despatched two death-adders which were 
 lying asleep on the bare, hot road. They were of a 
 dull reddish brown, the same hue as the ground in 
 the ironstone country, just as they are a yellowish 
 brown in a sandstone region. 
 
 One great pest to us when fishing were the number 
 of mud turtles, greedy little creatures which persis- 
 tently swallowed our hooks, which could only be 
 recovered by placing one's foot on their backs, 
 drawing out their long snaky necks to the utmost 
 tension, and cutting off their heads ; the other pests 
 were the hideous flabby water iguanas (I do not know 
 their proper name), which, although they never inter-
 
 i88 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 fered with our lines, sickened us even to look at them. 
 They were always to be seen lying on a log or snag 
 in the water. As you approached they either crawled 
 down like an octopus, or dropped, in a boneless, 
 inert mass, without a splash. Their slimy, scaleless 
 skins were a muddy yellow, and in general they 
 resembled an eel with legs. Even the blacks looked 
 on them with disgust, though they are particularly 
 fond of the ordinary iguana. 
 
 The time passed somewhat wearily to us when 
 heavy rains and flooded country kept us indoors for 
 days together. Then one night after the weather 
 had begun to get cooler and clearer, we heard, far, 
 far overhead, the honk^ honk of the wild geese, flying 
 southwards to distant lagoons, and Hansen reminded 
 me that in another week our term of service came to 
 an end. 
 
 " What made you think of it ? " I asked. 
 
 " The cry of the wild geese going South." 
 
 For we, too, longed for the South again.
 
 Fish Drugging i?t the Pacific 
 
 In an American magazine of a few months ago mention 
 was made of the "discovery" of a method of capturing 
 fish by impregnating the waters of slowly running 
 rivers or small lakes with a chemical which would 
 produce stupefaction, and cause the fish to rise help- 
 less to the surface. The American discoverer no 
 doubt thought he really had " discovered," though I 
 am sure many thousands of people in the civilised world 
 have heard of, and some few hundreds very often seen, 
 fish captured in a somewhat similar manner, the 
 which is, I believe, practised not only in India, Africa 
 and South America, but in the islands of the North 
 and South Pacific, and I have no doubt but that it 
 was known thousands of years ago — perhaps even 
 "when the world was young." 
 
 Nearly all the Malayo-Polynesian people inhabiting 
 the high, mountainous islands of the South Pacific 
 and North Pacific Oceans can, and do, catch fish in 
 the " novel " manner before mentioned, /.^., by pro- 
 ducing stupefaction, though no chemicals are used, 
 while even the Australian aborigines — almost as low a 
 type of savage as the Fuegians — use a still simpler 
 
 I8g
 
 190 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 method, which I will at once briefly describe as I saw 
 it practised by a mob of myall (wild) blacks camped 
 on the Kirk River, a tributary of the great Burdekin 
 River in North Queensland. 
 
 At a spot where the stream was about a hundred 
 feet wide, and the water very shallow — not over six 
 inches in depth — a rude but efficient dam was expedi- 
 tiously constructed by thrusting branches of she-oak 
 and //-tree into the sandy bottom, and then making 
 it partially waterproof by quickly filling the interstices 
 with earthen sods, //-tree bark, reeds, leaves, and the 
 other debris found on the banks. In the centre a 
 small opening was left, so as to relieve the pressure 
 when the water began to rise. Some few hundred 
 yards further up were a chain of water-holes, some of 
 which were deep, and in all of which, as I knew by 
 experience, were plenty of fish — bream, perch, and a 
 species of grayling. As soon as the dam was com- 
 plete, the whole mob, except some " gins " and 
 children, who were stationed to watch the opening 
 before mentioned, sprang into the water, carrying with 
 them great quantities of a greasy greyish blue kind of 
 clay, which rapidly dissolved and charged the clear 
 water with its impurities. Then, too, at the same 
 time thirty or forty of their number (over a hun- 
 dred) began loosening and tearing away portions of 
 the overhanging bank, and toppling them over into 
 the stream ; this they accomplished very dexterously 
 by means of heavy, pointed sticks. The work was 
 carried out with an astounding clamour, those natives 
 in the water diving to the bottom and breaking up the
 
 FISH DRUGGING IN THE PACIFIC 191 
 
 fallen earth still further till each pool became of the 
 colour and something of the consistency of green pea- 
 soup. Hundreds offish soon rose gasping to the surface, 
 and these were at once seized and thrown out upon the 
 banks, where a number of young picaninnies darted 
 upon them to save them being devoured by a swarm 
 of mongrel dogs, which lent an added interest to the 
 proceedings by their incessant yelping and snapping. 
 As the slowly running current carried the suffocating 
 and helpless fish down-stream the hideous noise 
 increased, for the shallow stretch in front of the dam 
 was soon covered with them — bream, and the so- 
 called "grayling," perch, eels, and some very large 
 cat-fish. The latter, which I have mentioned on 
 a previous page, is one of the most peculiar- 
 looking but undoubtedly the best flavoured of all the 
 Queensland fresh- water fishes ; it is scaleless, tail-less, 
 blue-grey in colour, and has a long dorsal spike, like 
 the salt-water " leather-jacket." (A scratch from this 
 spike is always dangerous, as it produces intense pain, 
 and often causes blood-poisoning.) Altogether over a 
 thousand fish must have been taken, and I gazed at 
 the destruction with a feeling of anger, for these 
 pools had afforded my mining mates and myself excel- 
 lent sport, and a very welcome change of diet from 
 the eternal beef and damper. But, a few days later, 
 after our black friends had wandered off to other 
 pastures, I was delighted to find that there were still 
 plenty of fish in the pools. 
 
 '^' '^' "^ 't* "T" 
 
 Early in the " seventies " I was shipwrecked with
 
 192 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the once notorious Captain " Bully " Hayes, on 
 Kusaie (Strong's Island), the eastern outlier of the 
 Caroline Islands on the North Pacific, and lived there 
 for twelve happy months, and here I saw^ for the first 
 time the method of fish stupefaction employed by the 
 interesting and kindly-natured people of this beautiful 
 spot. 
 
 I had previously seen, in Eastern Polynesia, the 
 natives drugging fish by using the pounded nuts of 
 xhtfutu tree [Barringtonia speciosa)^ and one day as I 
 u^as walking with a native friend along the beach 
 near the village in which I lived, I picked up Tifutu 
 nut lying on the sand, and remarked that in the 
 islands to the far south the people used it to drug 
 fish. 
 
 Kusis laughed. " Futu is good, but we of Kusaie 
 do not use it — we have oap^ which is stronger and 
 better. Come, I will show you some oap growing, 
 and to-morrow you shall see how good it is." 
 
 Turning off to our right, we passed through a 
 grove of screw-pines, and then came to the foot ot 
 the high mountain range traversing the island, where 
 vine and creeper and dense jungle undergrowth 
 struggled for light and sunshine under the dark shade 
 of giant trees, whose thick leafy branches, a hundred 
 feet above, were rustling to the wind. Here, growing 
 in the rich, red soil, was a cluster of oap — a thin- 
 stemmed, dark-green-leaved plant about three feet in 
 height. Kusis pulled one by the roots, and twisted it 
 round and round his left hand ; a thick, white and 
 sticky juice exuded from the bark.
 
 FISH DRUGGING IN THE PACIFIC 193 
 
 "It 'sickens' the fish very quickly," he said, 
 "quicker than the futu nut. If much of it be bruised 
 and thrown into the water, it kills the largest fish 
 very soon, and even turtles will ' sicken.' It is very 
 strong." 
 
 I asked him how the people of Kusaie first became 
 acquainted with the properties of the plant. He 
 shook his head. 
 
 " I do not know. God made it to grow here in 
 Kusaie in the days that were dark" (heathenism) 
 "and when we were a young people. A wise man 
 from Germany was here ten years ago, and he told us 
 that the people of Ponape, far to the west, use the oap^ 
 even as we use it, but that in Ponape the plant grows 
 larger and is more juicy than it is here."i 
 
 Early on the following morning, when the tide was 
 falling, and the jagged pinnacles of coral rock began 
 to show on the barrier reef opposite the village, the 
 entire population — about sixty all told — were awaiting 
 Kusis and myself outside his house. The men 
 carried small, unbarbed fish-spears, the women and 
 children baskets and bundles of oap. 
 
 From the village to the reef was a distance of two 
 miles, which we soon covered by smart paddling in a 
 dozen or more canoes ; for had we delayed we should, 
 through the falling tide, have been obliged to leave 
 our stranded crafts on the sand, half-way, and walk 
 the remainder. 
 
 ^ The " wise man from Germany," I ascertained a year or two after- 
 wards, was the well-known J. S, Kubary, a gentleman who, although 
 engaged in trading pursuits, yet enriched science by his writings on his 
 discoveries in Micronesia. 
 
 H
 
 194- YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 I need not here attempt to describe the wondrous 
 beauties of a South Sea coral reef at low tide — they have 
 been fully and ably written about by many distinguished 
 travellers — but the barrier reef of Strong's Island is so 
 different in its formation from those of most other 
 islands in the Pacific, that I must, as relative illustra- 
 tion to this account of the fishing by oap^ mention its 
 peculiarity. 
 
 Instead of the small clefts, chasms, and pools which 
 so frequently occur on the barrier reefs of the moun- 
 tainous islands of Polynesia and Melanesia, and which 
 at low tide are untenanted except by the smallest 
 varieties of rock-fish, here were a series of deep, 
 almost circular, miniature lakes, set in a solid wall of 
 coral rock with an overlapping edge, which made 
 the depth appear greater than it was, especially when 
 one stood on the edge and looked down to the 
 bottom, four to six fathoms below. 
 
 In all of these deep pools were great numbers of 
 fish of many varieties, size, and colour ; some 
 swimming to and fro or resting upon the sandy 
 bottom, others moving upwards and then downwards 
 in the clear water with lazy sweep of tail and fin. 
 One variety of the leather-jacket tribe was very 
 plentiful, and their great size was excelled only by 
 their remarkable ugliness ; their ground colour was a 
 sombre black, traversed by three broad bands of dull 
 yellow. Some of the largest of these fish weighed 
 quite up to 20 lbs., and were valued by the natives 
 for their delicacy of flavour. They would always 
 take a hook, but the Strong's Islanders seldom
 
 FISH DRUGGING IN THE PACIFIC 195 
 
 attempted to capture them in this manner, for their 
 enormous, hard, sharp, and human-Hke teeth played 
 havoc with an ordinary fish-hook, which, if smaller 
 than a salmon-hook, they would snap in pieces, and 
 as their mouths are very small (in fact the leather- 
 jacket's mouth is ridiculous when compared to its 
 bulk), larger and stronger hooks could not be used. 
 
 Another and smaller variety were of a brilliant light 
 blue, with vivid scarlet-tipped fins and tail, a perfectly 
 defined circle of the same colour round the eyes, and 
 protruding teeth of a dull red. These we especially 
 detested for their villainous habit of calmly swimming 
 up to a pendant line, and nipping it in twain, ap- 
 parently out of sheer humour. Well have the 
 Samoans named the leather-jacket Isii'umu Moana — 
 the sea- rat. 
 
 In one or two of the deeper pools were red, bream- 
 shaped fish that I had in vain tried to catch with a 
 hook, using every possible kind of bait ; but the 
 natives assured me that I was only wasting my time, 
 as they fed only vipon a long thread-like worm, which 
 lived in the coral, and that a spear or the oap was the 
 only way of capturing them. So far I had never 
 actually handled one, but on this occasion we secured 
 some dozens. Here and there we caught sight of a 
 young hawk-bill turtle darting out of sight under the 
 ledge of the overhanging walls of coral, putting to 
 flight thousands of small fish of a score of shapes and 
 colours. 
 
 We waited until the tide had fallen still lower and 
 until the whole surface of the great sweeping curve
 
 196 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 of reef stood out, bare and steaming, under the bright 
 tropic sun. Westward lay the ocean, blue and 
 smooth as a mill pond, with only a gentle, heaving 
 swell laving the outer wall of the coral barrier. Here 
 and there upon its surface communities of snowy 
 white terns hovered and fluttered, feeding upon small 
 fish, or examining floating weed for tiny red and 
 black crabs no bigger than a pea. Eastward and 
 across the now shallowed water of the lagoon was 
 our village of Leassc, the russet-hued, saddle-backed 
 houses of thatch peeping out from the coco- 
 palms and breadfruit-trees ; beyond, the broken, 
 rugged outline of the towering mountain range, 
 garmented from base to summit with God's mantle 
 of living green ; overhead a sky ot wondrous, un- 
 specked blue. 
 
 We were all sitting on the rocks, on the margin of 
 the best and largest pool, smoking and chatting, when 
 at a sign from Kusis, who was the head man (or local 
 chief) of the village, the women took their bundles of 
 oap^ and laying the plants upon smooth portions of the 
 reef began to pound them with round, heavy stones, 
 brought from the village for the purpose. As each 
 bundle was crushed and the sticky white juice exuded, 
 it was rolled into a ball, used like a sponge to wipe up 
 and absorb all the liquid that had escaped, and then 
 handed to the men and boys, who leapt into the pool, 
 and dived to the bottom, thrusting the balls of oap 
 underneath every lower ledge and crevice, and then 
 rising quickly to the surface and clambering out again. 
 In less than five minutes the once crystal water had
 
 FISH DRUGGING IN THE PACIFIC 197 
 
 changed to a pale milky white, thousands upon 
 thousands of tiny fish, about half an inch in length, 
 and of many hues, began to rise to the surface ; then 
 others of a larger size, which the women at once 
 scooped up with small nets ; then presently, with 
 much splashing and floundering, two or three of the 
 handsome red fish I have described, with a great 
 leather-jacket, came up, and, lying on their sides, 
 flapped helplessly on the surface. Other kinds, of the 
 mullet species, came with them, trying to swim 
 upright, but always falling over on their sides, and yet 
 endeavouring to lift their heads above the water, 
 as if gasping for air. Then more big leather-jackets, 
 some of which shot up from below as if they had 
 been fired from a mortar, and, running head-on 
 to the rocky wall of the pool, allowed themselves 
 to be lifted out without a struggle. It was most 
 exciting and intensely interesting to witness. 
 
 Presently up came a half-grown hawkbill turtle, 
 his poor head erect and swaying from side to side ; 
 a boy leapt in and, seizing it by its flippers, pushed it 
 up to some women, who quickly carried the creature 
 to a small pool near by, where it was placed to recover 
 from the effects of the oap^ and then be taken ashore 
 to the village turtle-dock to grow and fatten for 
 killing. (The "turtle-dock," I must explain, was a 
 walled-in enclosure — partly natural, partly artificial — 
 situated in a shallow part of the lagoon, wherein the 
 Leasse people confined those turtle that they could 
 not at once eat ; sometimes as many as thirty were 
 thus imprisoned and fed daily.)
 
 198 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Out of this one pool — which I think was not more 
 than fifteen yards across — we obtained many hundred- 
 weights of fish and three turtle. All fish which were 
 too small to be eaten were thrown into other pools to 
 recover from the effects of the oap. The very smallest, 
 however, did not recover, and were left to float on the 
 surface and become the prey of large fish when the 
 incoming tide again covered the reef. 
 
 I must here relate an incident that now occurred, 
 and which will serve to illustrate the resourcefulness 
 and surgical knowledge of a race of people who, had 
 they met them, Darwin, Huxley and Frank Buckland 
 would have delighted in and made known to the world. 
 I shall describe it as briefly and as clearly as possible. 
 
 I had brought with me a knife — a heavy, broad- 
 backed, keen-edged weapon, which the Chinese 
 carpenter of our wrecked ship had fashioned out for me 
 from a flat twelve-inch file of Sheffield steel, and Kusis 
 had, later on, made me a wooden sheath for it. In my 
 excitement at seeing a large fish rise to the surface 
 I used it as a spear, and then, the fish secured, 
 had thrown the knife carelessly down. It fell edge 
 upwards in a cleft of the coral rock, and Kini6, the 
 pretty twelve-year-old daughter of Kusis, treading 
 upon it, cut her left foot to the bone. Her father and 
 myself sprang to her aid, and whilst I was tying the 
 one handkerchief I possessed tightly round her leg 
 below the knee so as to stay the terrible flow of blood, 
 he rapidly skinned a large leather jacket by the simple 
 process of cutting through the skin around the head 
 and shoulders and then dragging it off the body^by
 
 FISH DRUGGING IN THE PACIFIC 199 
 
 holding the upper edge between his teeth and then 
 with both hands pulling it downwards to the tail. In 
 less than five minutes the sheet of tough fish-skin was 
 deftly and tightly wrapped round the child's foot, the 
 handkerchief taken off and replaced by a coir fibre 
 fishinor-line, wound round and round below and above 
 the knee. The agony this caused the poor child 
 made her faint, but her father knew what he was 
 about when he ordered two of the women to carry 
 her ashore, take off the covering of fish-skin, cover 
 the foot with wood-ashes, and bind it up again. This 
 was done, and when we returned to the village an 
 hour or two later I found the girl seated in her 
 father's house with her injured foot bandaged in a 
 way that would have reflected credit on a M.R.C.S. 
 
 After exploiting the large pool we turned our 
 attention to some of those which were wider, but 
 comparatively shallow ; and in these, the bottoms of 
 which were sandy, we obtained some hundreds of 
 mullet and gar-fish, which were quickly overpowered 
 by the oap juice. In all I think that we carried back 
 to the village quite five hundredweight of fish, some 
 of which were very large : the weight of three of the 
 large banded leather-jackets I estimated at fifty pounds. 
 
 In after years, in other islands of the Pacific, when 
 I saw the fearful and needless havoc created by traders 
 and natives using vile dynamite cartridges and so 
 destroying thousands of young fish by one explosion, 
 I tried hard to get them to use either the Jutu nut or 
 the oap plant, both of which under many names are 
 known to the various peoples of Eastern Polynesia.
 
 200 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 But the use of dynamite has an attractive element of 
 danger ; it is more sudden and destructive in its effect ; 
 it makes a noise and churns up and agitates the water ; 
 its violent concussion breaks and smashes the submarine 
 coral forest into v^^hich it is thrown ; and its terrific 
 shock kills and mutilates hundreds of fish, which, 
 through their bladders bursting, sink and are not 
 recovered. 
 
 Only a few years ago an old and valued American 
 friend of mine — an ex-ship captain settled in the 
 Gilbert Islands in the North Pacific — became annoyed 
 at what he deemed to be the excessive prices the 
 natives charged for fish. The "excessive price," I 
 may mention, meant that he was asked a half- 
 dollar for a basket of fish weighing, say, fifty or sixty 
 pounds. A half-a-dollar is equal to an English 
 florin ; but no coin was handed over — four sticks ot 
 tobacco costing the trader about ten cents, was the 
 equivalent. So my friend decided to show the natives 
 that he could do without them as far as his fish 
 supply went. He bought a box of dynamite, with 
 fuse and caps, from a German trading schooner, and 
 at once set to work, blowing off his right hand within 
 twenty-four hours, through using too short a fuse. 
 
 That wretched box of dynamite proved a curse to 
 the island. The natives, despite my friend's accident, 
 bought every cartridge from him, singly or in lots, 
 and they then began to enjoy themselves. Every 
 hour of the day for many weeks afterwards the sullen 
 thud of the explosive could be heard from all parts 
 of the lagoon, followed by applauding shouts. Vast
 
 FISH DRUGGING IN THE PACIFIC 201 
 
 numbers of fish were blown to pieces, for no native 
 would ever think of dividing a cartridge into half a 
 dozen portions and using only one at a time ; the 
 entire 6-oz. cartridge was used, and sometimes so short 
 were the fuses, that explosions would take place on the 
 surface, to the delight of the children, who said, " it 
 was as good to hear as the cannons of a man-of-war." 
 In the short space of eight weeks there were five 
 serious accidents, two of which ended fatallv. I was 
 thankful when the last charge had been exploded, and 
 although the natives begged me to import a fresh 
 supply, I always declined — not on their account only, 
 but because of the wanton destruction offish involved. 
 
 One day I decided to try and ascertain if oap would 
 affect fish by being swallowed. I prepared twenty or 
 thirty small balls of the plant, wrapped each one up 
 carefully in thin strips of fish flesh, so as to thoroughly 
 conceal the contents, and took them out to the " turtle 
 dock." The dock, although it was a safe enclosure 
 for turtle, yet had many small passages through the 
 coral rock which permitted the ingress and exit of 
 moderately-sized fish, particularly a variety of black 
 and red-spotted rock-cod. 
 
 Throwing in the balls, one by one, I watched. 
 Three of them were at once swallowed by a lively young 
 hawk-bill turtle, and the remainder were soon seized 
 by some yellow eels and rock-cod, before the larger 
 and slower-moving turtle (of which there were about 
 twenty in the dock) discerned them. I waited about 
 on the reef in the vicinity for quite three hours or 
 more, returning to the pool at intervals and examining
 
 202 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the condition of its occupants. But, at the end of 
 that time, the oap had apparently taken no effect, and, 
 as night was near, I returned to the village. 
 
 On the following morning, I again went to the 
 " dock," lowered my line, and caught six rock-cod. 
 In the stomachs of two I found the undigested fibres 
 of the oap which, through expansion, they had been 
 unable to dislodge ; but that it had not had any effect 
 on them I was sure, for these two fish were as strong 
 and vigorous when hooked as were the four others in 
 whose stomachs there was no sign oi oap. 
 
 The young hawkbill turtle, however, was floating 
 on the surface, and seemed very sick. 
 
 Here is a point for ichthyologists. Are the digestive 
 arrangements of a turtle more delicate than those of a 
 fish?
 
 yohn Corwellj Sailor and Miner 
 
 " Am I to have no privacy at all ? " demanded the 
 Governor irritably as the orderly again tapped at the 
 open door and announced another visitor. " Who is 
 he and what does he v^^ant ? " 
 
 " Mr. John Corwell, your Excellency, master of the 
 cutter Ceres^ from the South Seas." 
 
 The Governor's brows relaxed somewhat. " Let 
 him come in in ten minutes, Cleary, but tell him at 
 the same time that 1 am very tired — too tired to 
 listen unless he has something of importance to say." 
 
 The day had indeed been a most tiring one to the 
 
 worthy Governor of the colony of New South 
 
 Wales, just then struggling weakly in its infancy, 
 
 and only emerging from the horrors of actual 
 
 starvation, caused by the utter neglect of the 
 
 Home authorities to send out further supplies of 
 
 provisions. Prisoners of both sexes came in plenty, 
 
 but brought nothing to eat with them ; the military 
 
 officers who should have helped him in his arduous 
 
 labours were secretly plotting against him, and their 
 
 203
 
 204 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 spare time — and they had plenty — was devoted to 
 writing letters home to highly-placed personages im- 
 ploring them to induce the Government to break up 
 the settlement and not " waste the health and lives of 
 even these abandoned convicts in trying to found a 
 colony in the most awful and hideous desert the eye 
 of man had ever seen, a place which can never be 
 useful to man and is accursed by God." But the 
 Governor took no heed. Mutiny and discontent he 
 had fought in his silent, determined way as he fought 
 grim famine, sparing himself nothing, toiling from 
 dawn till dark, listening to complaints, remedying 
 abuses, punishing with swift severity those who 
 deserved it, and yet always preserving the same cold, 
 unbending dignity of manner which covered a highly- 
 sensitive and deeply sympathetic nature. 
 
 But on this particular day, fatigue, the intense heat, 
 which had prevailed, a violent quarrel between the 
 intriguing major commanding the marines, and many 
 other lesser worries, had been almost more than he 
 could bear, so it may well be imagined that he was 
 more inclined for rest than talk. 
 
 Ten, twenty minutes, and then the thin, spare figure 
 raised itself wearily from the rude sofa. He must see 
 his visitor. He had promised to do so, and the sooner 
 it was over the better. He called to the orderly. 
 
 " Tell Mr. — Corwell you said ? — to come in." 
 
 A heavy step sounded on the bare floor, and one ot 
 the finest specimens of manhood Governor Arthur 
 Phillip had ever seen in all his long naval career stood 
 before him and saluted. There was something so
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 205 
 
 pleasant and yet so manly in the handsome, clean- 
 shaven and deeply-bronzed face, that the Governor 
 was at once attracted to him. 
 
 "Be seated, Mr. Corw^ell," he said in his lov^^, yet 
 clear tones. " I am very tired, so you must not keep 
 me long." 
 
 " Certainly not, your Excellency. But I thought, 
 sir, that you v^^ould prefer to hear the report of my 
 voyage personally. I have discovered a magnificent 
 harbour north of the Solomon Islands, and " 
 
 " Ha ! And so you came to me. Very sensible, very 
 sensible of you. I am obliged to you, sir. Tell me 
 all about it." 
 
 " Certainly, your Excellency ; but I regret I have 
 intruded on you this evening. Perhaps, sir, you will 
 permit me to call again to-morrow ? " 
 
 " No, no, not at all," was the energetic reply. I 
 am always ready to hear anything of this nature. 
 
 " I knew that, sir, for the masters of the 'Brecken- 
 br'idge and another transport told me that you were 
 most anxious to learn of any discoveries in the Pacific 
 Islands." 
 
 " Very true, sir. I am looking forward to hear 
 from them and from the masters of other transports 
 which I am inducing to follow the whale fishery on 
 their return voyage to England via Batavia. But so 
 far I have heard nothing from any one of them." 
 
 Encouraged and pleased at the Governor's manner, 
 the master of the Ceres at once produced a roughly 
 executed plan and a detailed written description of the 
 harbour, which, he asserted with confidence, was one or
 
 2o6 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the finest in that part of the Pacific. A broad, deep 
 stream of water ran from the lofty range of mountains 
 which traversed the island north and south and fell 
 into a spacious bay, on the shores of which was a 
 large and populous native village, whose inhabitants 
 had treated Corwell and the few men of his 
 ship's company with considerable kindness, furnish- 
 ing them not only with wood and water, but an 
 ample supply of fresh provisions as well. 
 
 During the two weeks that the Ceres lay at anchor, 
 Corwell and two or three of his hands unhesitatingly 
 trusted themselves among the natives, who escorted 
 them inland and around the coast. Everywhere was 
 evidence of the extraordinary fertility of the island, 
 which, in the vicinity of the seashore, was highly 
 cultivated, each family's plantation being e]Klosed by 
 stone fences, while their houses were strongly built 
 and neatly constructed. The broad belt of the slopes 
 of the mountains were covered with magnificent 
 timber, which Corwell believed to be teak, equal in 
 quality to any he had seen in the East Indies, and 
 which he said could be easily brought down to the sea- 
 shore for shipment owing to there being several other 
 large streams beside the one on whose banks the 
 principal village was built. 
 
 The Governor was much interested, and com- 
 plimented the young seaman on the manner in which 
 he had written out his description of the place and his 
 observations on the character and customs of the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 "Such information as you have given me, Mr.
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 207 
 
 Corwell, is always valuable, and I give you my best 
 thanks. I wish I could do more ; and had I the 
 means, men, and money to spare I should send a vessel 
 there and to other islands in the vicinity to make 
 further examination, for I believe that from those 
 islands to the northward we can obtain invaluable food 
 supplies in the future. The winds are more favourable 
 for making a quick voyage there and back than they 
 are to those groups to the eastward ; but," and here he 
 sighed, "our condition is such that I fear it will be 
 many years ere His Majesty will consent to such an 
 undertaking. But much may be done at private cost 
 — perhaps in the near future." 
 
 The young man remained silent for a moment or 
 two ; then with some hesitation he said, as he took a 
 small paper packet from his coat pocket and handed it 
 to the Governor, " Will your Excellency look at this 
 and tell me what it is. I — I imagine it is pure gold, 
 sir." 
 
 " Gold, gold ! " and something like a frown 
 contracted the Governor's pale brows; "ever since 
 the settlement was formed I've been pestered with 
 tales of gold, and a pretty expense it has run me into 
 sending parties out to search for it. Why, only six 
 months ago a rascally prisoner gulled one of my 
 officers into letting him lead an expedition into the 
 bush — the fellow had filed down a brass bolt — " he 
 looked up and caught sight of the dark flush which 
 had suddenly suffused his visitor's face — " but I do 
 not for a moment imagine you are playing upon my 
 credulity, Mr. Corwell."
 
 2o8 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 He untied the string and opened the packet, and in 
 an instant an exclamation of astonishment and pleasure 
 escaped as he saw that the folds of paper held quite 
 three ounces of bright and flaky water-worn gold. 
 
 " This certainly is gold, sir. May I ask where you 
 obtained it ? " 
 
 "I made the voyage to Sydney Cove to tell your 
 Excellency of two discoveries — one was of the fine 
 harbour, the other was of this gold, which my wife 
 (who is a native of Ternate) and myself our- 
 selves washed out of the bed of a small stream ; the 
 natives helped us, but attached not the slightest value 
 to our discovery. In fact, sir, they assured us as well 
 as they could that much more was to be had in every 
 river on the island." 
 
 " Your wife was it, then, or yourself, who first 
 recognised what it was ? " 
 
 " She did, sir. She has seen much of it in the hands 
 of the Bugis and Arab traders in her native country." 
 
 The Governor moved his slender forefinger to and 
 fro amid the shining, heavy particles, then he pondered 
 deeply for some minutes. 
 
 " Tell me frankly, Mr. Corwell — why did you make 
 a long voyage to this settlement to tell me of your 
 discovery ? " 
 
 "In the hope, sir, that you would advise and 
 perhaps assist me. My crew are Malays and Chinese 
 and would have murdered me if they knew what I 
 knew. Will your Excellency tell me the proper 
 course to pursue so that I may be protected in my 
 discovery ? I am a poor man, though my ship is my
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 209 
 
 own, but she is old and leaky and must undergo heavy 
 repairs before she leaves Sydney Cove again ; my 
 present crew I wish to replace by half a dozen 
 respectable Englishmen, and " 
 
 The Governor shook his head. "I will do all I can 
 to help you, but I cannot provide you with men. 
 The island which you have visited may have been 
 discovered and taken possession of by France, two of 
 whose exploring ships were in these seas a few years 
 ago, and even if that is not the case I could not take 
 possession of them for His Majesty, as I have no 
 commissioned officer to spare to undertake such a 
 duty. Yet, if such an officer were available, Mr. 
 Corwell, I would be strongly tempted to send him 
 with you, hoist the British flag, and then urge the 
 Home Government to confirm my action and secure 
 to you the right, subject to the King's royalties, to 
 work these gold deposits. But I am powerless — 
 much as I wish to aid you." 
 
 A look of disappointment clouded the young 
 captain's handsome features. 
 
 " Would your Excellency permit me to endeavour 
 to find three or four seamen myself? There is a 
 transport ready to sail for England, and I may be able 
 to get some men from her." 
 
 "I doubt it. Unless you revealed the object of 
 your voyage — which would be exceedingly foolish ot 
 you — you could not induce them to make a voyage in 
 such a small vessel as yours to islands inhabited mostly 
 by ferocious savages. But this much I can and will 
 do for you. I will direct Captain Hunter of the Sirius, 
 
 15
 
 210 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the only King's ship I have here, to set his carpenters 
 to work on your vessel as soon as ever you careen her ; 
 I w^ill supply you at my own private cost with arms 
 and ammunition and a new suit of sails. Provisions I 
 cannot give you — God knows we want them badly 
 enough ourselves, although we are not now in such a 
 bad plight as we were ten months ago. Yet for all 
 that I may be able to get you a cask or two of beef." 
 
 " That is most generous of you, sir. I will not, 
 however, take the beef, your Excellency. But for 
 the sails and the repairs to my poor little vessel I thank 
 you, sir, most heartily and sincerely. And I pledge you 
 my word of honour, as well as giving you my written 
 bond, that I will redeem my obligations to you." 
 
 " And if you fail I shall be content, for I well know 
 that it will be no fault of yours. But stay, Mr. 
 Corwell ; I must have one condition." 
 
 " Name it, sir." 
 
 " You too must pledge me your honour that you 
 will not reveal the secret of your discovery of gold to 
 any one in the settlement. This I do not demand — -I 
 ask it as a favour." 
 
 Then the Governor took him, guardedly enough, 
 into his confidence. With a thousand convicts, most 
 of them utter ruffians, guarded by a scanty force or 
 marines, the news of gold having been found would, 
 he was sure, have a disastrous effect, and lead to open 
 revolt. The few small merchant ships which were in 
 port were partly manned by convict seamen, and there 
 was every likelihood of them being seized by 
 gangs of desperate criminals, fired with the idea of
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 211 
 
 reaching the golden island. Already a party of con- 
 victs had escaped with the mad idea of walking to 
 China, which they believed was only separated from 
 Australia by a large river which existed a few hundred 
 miles to the northward of the settlement. Some of 
 them died of thirst, others were slaughtered by the 
 blacks, and the wounded and exhausted survivors were 
 glad to make their way back again to their gaolers. 
 
 Corwell listened intently, and gave his promise 
 readily. Then he rose to go, and the Governor held 
 out his hand. 
 
 "Good evening, Mr. Corwell. I must see you 
 again before you sail." 
 
 II 
 
 One evening, three weeks later — so vigorously had 
 the carpenter's mates from the old frigate Sirius got 
 through their work — the Ceres was ready for sea. 
 She was to sail on the following morning, and Corwell, 
 having just returned from the shore, where he had 
 been to say goodbye to the kind-hearted Governor, 
 was pacing the deck with his wife, his smiling face 
 and eager tones showing that he was well pleased. 
 
 He had reason to be pleased, for unusual luck had 
 attended him. Not only had his ship been thoroughly 
 and efficiently repaired, but he had replaced six of his 
 untrustworthy Malays by four good, sturdy British 
 seamen, one of whom he had appointed mate. These 
 men had arrived at Sydney Cove in a transport a few 
 days after his interview with the Governor; the trans-
 
 212 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 port had been condemned, and Corwell, much to his 
 delight, found that out of her crew of thirty, four 
 were willing to come with him on what he cautiously 
 described as a " voyage of venture to the South Seas." 
 All of them had served in the navy, and the captain 
 of the transport and his officers gave them excellent 
 characters for sobriety and seamanship. Out of the 
 sixty or seventy pounds which still remained to him he 
 had given them a substantial advance, and the cheerful 
 manner in which they turned to and helped the car- 
 penters from the frigate convinced him that he had 
 secured decent, reliable men, to whom he thought he 
 could reveal the real object of his voyage later on. 
 ***** 
 
 Two years before Corwell had been mate of a 
 " country " ship employed in trading between Cal- 
 cutta and the Moluccas. The Ternate agent of the 
 owners of the ship was an Englishman named 
 Leighton, a widower with one daughter, whose 
 mother had died when the girl was fifteen. With 
 this man the young officer struck up a friendship, 
 and before six months had passed he was the 
 acknowledged suitor of Mary Leighton, with whom 
 he had fallen in love at first sight, and who quickly 
 responded to his affection. She was then twenty-two 
 years of age, tall and fair, with dark hazel eyes, like 
 her English mother, and possessed of such indomitable 
 spirit and courage that her father often laughingly 
 declared it was she, and not he, who really managed 
 the business which he controlled. 
 
 And she really did much to help him j she knew
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 213 
 
 his weak, vacillating, and speculative nature would 
 long since have left them penniless had he not yielded 
 to her advice and protests on many occasions. 
 Generous and extravagantly hospitable, he spent his 
 money lavishly, and had squandered two or three for- 
 tunes in wild business ventures in the Indian Seas 
 instead of saving one. Latterly, however, he had 
 been more careful, and when Corwell had made his 
 acquaintance he had two vessels — a barque and a 
 brig — both of which were very profitably engaged in 
 the Manila-China trade, and he was now sanguine or 
 mending his broken fortunes. 
 
 Isolated as were father and daughter from the 
 advantages of constant intercourse with European 
 society, the duty of educating the girl was a task of 
 love to her remaining parent, who, before he entered 
 "John Company's" service, had travelled much in 
 Europe. Yet, devoted as he was to her, and looking 
 forward with some dread to the coming loneliness of 
 life which would be his when she married, he cheer- 
 fully gave his consent to her union with John Corwell, 
 for whom he had conceived a strong liking, and who, 
 he knew, would make her a good husband. 
 
 They were married at Batavia, to which port they 
 were accompanied by Mr. Leighton, who, during the 
 voyage, had pressed Corwell to leave his then employ- 
 ment and join him in a venture which had occupied 
 his mind for the past year. This was to despatch 
 either the barque or brig, laden with trade goods, to 
 the Society Islands in the South Pacific, to barter for 
 coconut oil and pearl shell.
 
 214 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Leighton was certain that there was a fortune 
 awaiting the man who entered upon the venture, and 
 his arguments so convinced the young man that he 
 consented. 
 
 On arrival at Batavia they found there the officers 
 and crew of a shipwrecked English vessel, and one of 
 the former eagerly took Corwell's place as chief mate, 
 his captain offering no objection. A few weeks after 
 Mr. Leighton hired the Ceres to take himself, his 
 daughter, and her husband back to Ternate, eager to 
 begin the work of fitting out one of his vessels for the 
 voyage that was to bring them fortune. He, it was 
 arranged, was to remain at Ternate, Mary was to sail 
 with her husband to the South Seas. 
 
 But a terrible shock awaited them. As the Ceres 
 sailed up to her anchorage before Mr. Leighton's 
 house, his Chinese clerk came on board with the news 
 that the barque had foundered in a typhoon, and the 
 brig had been plundered and burnt by pirates within a 
 few miles of Canton. The unfortunate man gave one 
 last appealing look at his daughter and then fell on the 
 deck at her feet. He never spoke again, and died in a 
 few hours. When his affairs came to be settled up, it 
 was found that, after paying his debts, there was 
 less than four hundred pounds left — a sum little 
 more than that which Corwell had managed to save 
 out of his own wages. 
 
 "Never mind, Jack," said Mary. "'Tis little 
 enough, but yet 'tis enough. And, Jack, let us go 
 away from here. I should not care now to meet any 
 of the people father knew in his prosperity."
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 215 
 
 Corwell kissed his wife, and then they at once 
 discussed the future. Half an hour later he had bought 
 the Ceres from her captain (who was also the owner), 
 paid him his money and taken possession. Before the 
 week was out he had bought all the trade goods he could 
 afford to pay for, shipped a crew of Malays and 
 Chinese, and, with Mary by his side, watched Ternate 
 sink astern as the Ceres began her long voyage to the 
 South Seas. 
 
 After a three weeks' voyage along the northern and 
 eastern shores of New Guinea the Ceres came to an 
 anchor in the harbour which Corwell had described to 
 the Governor. The rest of his story, up to the time 
 of his arrival in Sydney Cove, the reader knows. 
 ***** 
 
 Steadily northward under cloudless skies the high- 
 pooped, blufF-bowed little vessel had sailed, favoured 
 by leading winds nearly all the way, for four-and- 
 twenty days, when, on the morning of the twenty-fifth, 
 Corwell, who had been up aloft scanning the blue 
 loom of a lofty island which lay right ahead, descended 
 to the deck with a smiling face. 
 
 " That is not only the island itself, Mary, but with 
 this breeze we have a clear run for the big village in 
 the bay ; I can see the spur on the southern side quite 
 clearly." 
 
 "I'm so glad. Jack, dear. And how you have 
 worried and fumed for the past three days ! " 
 
 " I feared we had got too far to the westward, my 
 girl," he said. Then telling the mate to keep away a 
 couple of points, he went below to pore over the plan
 
 2i6 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 of the harbour, a copy of which had been taken by 
 the Governor. As he studied it his wife's fingers 
 passed lovingly through and through his curly locks. 
 He looked up, put his arm around her waist, and swung 
 her to a seat on his knees. 
 
 "I think, Mary, I can tell the men now." 
 
 " I'm sure you can ! The sooner you take them 
 into your confidence the better." 
 
 Corwell nodded. During the voyage he had 
 watched the mate and three white seamen keenly, and 
 was thoroughly satisfied with them. The remainder 
 of the crew — three Manila men and two Penang 
 Malays — did their duty well enough, but both he and 
 his wife knew from long experience that such people 
 were not to be trusted when their avarice was aroused. 
 He resolved, therefore, to rely entirely upon his white 
 crew and the natives of the island to help him in 
 obtaining the gold. Yet, as he could not possibly keep 
 the operations a secret from the five men he distrusted, 
 he decided, as a safeguard against their possible and 
 dangerous ill-will, to promise them double wages from 
 the day he found that gold was to be obtained in 
 payable quantities. As for the mate and three other 
 white men, they should have one-fifth of all the gold 
 won between them, he keeping the remaining four- 
 fifths for himself and wife. 
 
 He put his head up the companion-way and called 
 to the man whom he had appointed mate. 
 
 " Come below, Mallett, and bring Totten, Harris, 
 and Sam with you." 
 
 Wondering what was the matter the four men
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 217 
 
 came into the cabin. As soon as they were standing 
 together at the head of the little table, the captain's 
 wife went quietly on deck to see that none of the 
 coloured crew came aft to listen. 
 
 " Now, men," said Corwell, " I have something 
 important to tell you. I believe I can trust you." 
 
 Then in as few words as possible he told them the 
 object of the voyage and his intentions towards them. 
 At first they seemed somewhat incredulous, but when 
 they were shown some of the gold their doubts 
 vanished, and they one and all swore to be honest and 
 true to him and to obey him faithfully whether afloat 
 or ashore, in fair or evil fortune. 
 
 From his scanty store of liquor the captain took 
 a bottle of rum, and they drank to their future 
 success ; then Corwell shook each man's hand and 
 sent him on deck. 
 
 Just before dusk the Ceres ran in and dropped her 
 clumsy, wooden-stocked anchor in the crystal-clear 
 water, a few cables' length away from the village. 
 As the natives recognised her a chorus of welcoming 
 shouts and cries pealed from the shore from five 
 hundred dusky-hued throats. 
 
 Ill 
 
 A blazing, tropic sun shone in mid-heaven upon 
 the motionless waters of the deep, land-locked bay in 
 which the Ceres lay, with top-mast struck and 
 awnings spread fore arid aft. A quarter of a mile
 
 2i8 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 away was the beach, girdled with its thick belt of 
 coco-palms whose fronds hung limp and hot in the 
 windless air as if gasping for breath. Here and 
 there, among the long line of white, lime-washed 
 canoes, drawn up on the sand, snowy white and blue 
 cranes stalked to and fro seekins; for the small thin- 
 shelled soldier crabs burrowing under the loose debris 
 of leaves and fallen palm-branches to escape the heat. 
 
 A few yards back from the level of high-water 
 mark clustered the houses of the native village, built 
 on both sides of the bright, fast-flowing stream which 
 here, as it debouched into the sea, was wide and 
 shallow, showing a bottom composed of rounded 
 black stones alternating with rocky bars. Along the 
 grassless banks, worn smooth by the constant tread of 
 naked feet, grew tall many-hued crotons, planted and 
 carefully tended by their native owners, and shielded 
 from the rays of the sun by the ever-present coco- 
 palms. From either side of the bank, looking west- 
 ward towards the forest, there was a clear stretch of 
 water half a mile in length, then the river was hidden 
 from view, for in its course from the mountains 
 through the heavily-jungled littoral it took many 
 bends and twists, sometimes running swiftly over 
 rocky, gravelly beds, sometimes flowing noiselessly 
 through deep, muddy-bottomed pools and dank, 
 steamy swamps, the haunt of the silent, dreaded 
 alligator. 
 
 At the head of the straight stretch of water of 
 which I have spoken there was on the left-hand bank 
 of the river an open grassy sward, surrounded by
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 219 
 
 clumps of areca and coco-palms, and in the centre 
 stood a large house, built by native hands, but showing 
 by various external signs that it was tenanted by 
 people other than the wild inhabitants of the island. 
 Just in front of the house, and surrounded by a 
 number of canoes, the boat belonging to the Ceres 
 was moored to the bank, and under a long open- 
 sided, palm-thatched shed, were a number of brown- 
 skinned naked savages, some lying sleeping, others 
 squatting on their hams, energetically chewing betel 
 nut. 
 
 As they talked and chewed and spat out the scarlet 
 juice through their hideous red lips and coaly black 
 teeth, a canoe, paddled by two natives and steered by 
 Mallet, the mate of the Ceres^ came up the river. 
 The instant it was seen a chorus of yells arose from 
 the natives in the long hut, and Mary Corwell came 
 to the open doorway of the house and looked out. 
 
 " Wake up, wake up, Jack ! " she cried, turning 
 her face inwards over her graceful shoulder, " here is 
 Mallet." 
 
 Her voice awoke her husband, who in an instant 
 sprang from his couch and joined her, just as Mallet — 
 a short, square-built man of fifty — stepped out of the 
 canoe and walked briskly towards them, wiping his 
 broad, honest face with a blue cotton handkerchief 
 
 " Come inside, Mallet. 'Tis a bit cooler in here. 
 I'm sorry I sent you down to the ship on such a day 
 as this." 
 
 Mallet laughed good-naturedly. "I didn't mind it, 
 sir, though 'tis a powerful hot day, and the natives are
 
 220 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 all lying asleep in their huts ; they can't understand 
 why us works as we do in the sun. Lord, sir ! 
 How I should like to see old Kingsdown and Walmer 
 Castle to-day, all a-white with snow. I was born at 
 Deal." 
 
 Mary Corwell brought the old seaman a young 
 coconut to drink, and her husband added a little 
 rum ; Mallet tossed it off and then sat down. 
 
 "Well, sir, the ship is all right, and those chaps 
 aboard seem content enough. But I'm afeared that 
 the worms are a-getting into her although she is 
 moored right abreast of the river. So I took it on 
 me to tell Totten and Harris to stay aboard whilst I 
 came back to ask you if it wouldn't be best for us to 
 bring her right in to the fresh water, and moor her 
 here, right abreast o' the house. That'll kill any 
 worms as has got into her timbers. And we can tow 
 her in the day after to-morrow, when there will 
 be a big tide," 
 
 " You did quite right, Mallet. Very likely the 
 worms have got into her timbers in spite of her being 
 abreast of the river's mouth. I should have thought 
 of this before." 
 
 " Ah, Jack," said his wife, with a smile, "we have 
 thought too much of our gold-getting and too little of 
 the poor old Ceres.''^ 
 
 " Well, I shall think more of her now, Mary. 
 And as the rains will be on us in a few days — so the 
 natives say — and we can do no more work for three 
 months, I think it will be as well for us to sail the 
 Ceres over to that chain of lagoon islands about thirty
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 221 
 
 miles from here. I fear to remain here during the 
 wet season, on account of the fever." 
 
 After further discussion it was decided that Jack 
 and Mallet, with some natives, should make an 
 early start in the morning for their mining camp, 
 six miles away, at the foot of the range, and 
 do a long, last day's work, returning to the house on 
 the following day. Meanwhile a message was to be 
 sent to Harris and Totten to bring the vessel into the 
 creek as soon as the tide served, which would be in 
 forty-eight hours. Then, whilst she lay for a week 
 in the fresh water, so as to kill the suspected teredo 
 navalis worms, which Mallet feared had attacked her, 
 she was to be made ready for the short voyage of 
 thirty miles over to a cluster of islands enclosing 
 a spacious lagoon, where Corwell intended to beach 
 her till the rainy season was over, when he would 
 return to work a very promising stream in another 
 locality. Already he and his men, aided by the 
 natives, had, in the four months that had passed since 
 they arrived, won nearly five hundred ounces of gold, 
 crude as were their appliances. 
 
 " Jack," said his wife, " I think that, as you will 
 be away all day and night, to-morrow I shall 
 go on board and see what / can do. I'll make the 
 men turn to and give the cabin a thorough over- 
 hauling. Marawa, the chief's wife, has given me a 
 lot of sleeping-mats, and I shall throw those old 
 horrible flock mattresses overboard, and we shall have 
 
 nice clean mats instead to lie on." 
 
 *****
 
 222 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 At daylight Mallet aroused the natives who were 
 to accompany him and the captain, and then told 
 oflF two of them to make the boat ready for Mrs. 
 Corwell. Then he returned to the house and called 
 out — 
 
 " The boat is ready, sir." 
 
 " So am I, Mallet," replied Mary, tying on her 
 old-fashioned sun-hood. Then she turned to her 
 husband. " Jack, darling, this will be the very first 
 time in our married life that I have ever slept away 
 from you, and it shall be the last, too. But I do 
 want to surprise you when you see our cabin again." 
 
 She put her lips up to him and kissed him half a 
 dozen times. " There, that's a good-night and good 
 morning three times over. Now I'm ready." 
 
 Corwell and Mallet walked down to the boat with 
 her and saw her get in. She kissed her hand to them 
 and in a few minutes was out of sight. 
 
 IV 
 
 A light, cool breeze, which had set in at daylight, 
 was blowing when Mary Corwell boarded the Ceres. 
 Totten and Harris met her at the gangway, caps in 
 hand. Poor Sam, their former shipmate, had died of 
 fever a month before. They were delighted to hear 
 that she intended to remain on board, and Harris at 
 once told Miguel, the scoundrelly-faced Manila cook, 
 to get breakfast ready. 
 
 " And you must have your breakfast with me,"
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 223 
 
 said Mary, " and after that you must obey my orders. 
 I am to be captain to-day." 
 
 ***** 
 As she and the two seamen sat aft under the 
 awning, at their breakfast, Selak, the leading Malay, 
 and his fellows squatted on the fore-hatch and talked 
 in whispers. 
 
 "I tell thee," said Selak, "that I have seen it. On 
 the evening of the day when the man Sam died and 
 was buried, I was sitting outside the house. It was dark, 
 and the Tuan Korwal thought I had returned to the 
 ship. I crept near and listened. They were speaking 
 of what should be done with the dead man's share of 
 the gold. Then I Jooked through the cave side of 
 the house, and — dost remember that white basin of 
 thine, Miguel ? " 
 
 The Manila man nodded. 
 
 "The white woman, at a sign from her husband, 
 went into the inner room and brought it out and 
 placed it on the table. It was full to the brim with 
 gold ! and there was more in a bag ! " 
 
 His listeners drew nearer to him, their dark eyes 
 gleaming with avarice. 
 
 " Then the Tuan said, ' None of Sam's gold will I 
 or my wife touch. Let it be divided among you 
 three. It is but fair.' 
 
 " They talked again, and then Mallet said to the 
 Tuan, ' Captain, it shall be as you wish. But let it 
 all go together till the time comes for thee to give us 
 our share.' 
 
 " I watched the white woman take the basin and
 
 224 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the bag, put them into a box, and place the box in a 
 hole in the ground in her sleeping-room. Then I 
 came away, for my heart was on fire with the wrong 
 that hath been done to us." 
 
 He rose to his feet and peered round the corner of 
 the galley. Mary and the two seamen were eating 
 very leisurely. 
 
 " Three of them are here now and will sleep aboard 
 to-night. God hath given them into our hands ! " 
 
 "And what of the other two ? — they are strong 
 men," asked a wizen, monkey-faced Malay, nick- 
 named Nakoda (the captain). 
 
 " Bah ! What is a giant if he sleeps and a kriss is 
 swept across his throat, or a spear is thrust into his 
 back from behind ? They, too, shall die as quickly 
 as these who sit near us. Now listen. But sit thou 
 out on the deck, Miguel, so that thou canst warn 
 us if either of those accursed dogs approach." 
 
 The cook obeyed him silently. 
 
 " This it is to be. To-night these three here shall 
 die in their sleep, silently and without a sound. Then 
 we, all but thou, Nakoda, shall take the boat and go 
 to the house. Both the Tuan and Mallet sleep 
 heavily, and " — he drew his hand swiftly across his 
 tawny throat. 
 
 " And then ? " queried Nakoda. 
 
 " And then the gold — the gold, or our share of 
 which we have been robbed — is ours, and the ship is 
 ours, and I, Selak, will guide ye all to Dobbo in the 
 Aru Islands, where we shall be safe, and become 
 great men."
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 225 
 
 " But," muttered another man, " what if these 
 black sons of Shaitan here of the Island turn upon 
 us after we have slain the white men ? " 
 
 SelaJc laughed scornfully. " The sound of a gun 
 terrifies them. They are cowards, and will not seek 
 to interfere with us." 
 
 ^:- ;■? * ii-- * 
 
 Night had fallen. The two white seamen, tired 
 out with their day's work, had spread their mats on 
 the poop, and were sound in slumber. Below in the 
 cabin, the captain's wife lay reading by the light of a 
 lamp; and Selak, standing in the waist, could see its 
 faint reflection shining through the cabin door, which 
 opened on to the main deck. Sitting on the fore- 
 deck, with their hands clutching their knives, his 
 companions watched him. 
 
 At last the hght was lowered, and Mary closed her 
 eyes and slept. 
 
 The Malay waited patiently. One by one the 
 remaining native fires on the shore went out ; and, 
 presently, a chill gust of air swept down from the 
 mountains, and looking shoreward he saw that the sky 
 to the eastward was quickly darkening and hiding the 
 stars — a heavy downpour of rain was near. 
 
 He drew his kriss from its tortoiseshell sheath and 
 felt the edge, made a gesture to the crouching tigers 
 for'ard, and then stepped lightly along the deck to the 
 open cabin door ; the other four crept after him, then 
 stopped and waited — for less than a minute. 
 
 A faint, choking cry came from the cabin, and 
 then Selak came out, his kriss streaming with blood. 
 
 16
 
 226 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " It is done," he whispered, and pointing to the poop 
 he sprang up. 
 
 " Hi, there ! what's the matter r " cried Totten, 
 who had heard the faint cry ; and then, too late, he 
 drew his pistol from his belt and fired — as Selak's 
 kriss plunged into his chest. Poor Harris was 
 slaughtered ere he had opened his eyes. 
 
 Spurning Totten's body with his naked foot, Selak 
 cursed it. " Accursed Christian dog ! Would I could 
 bring thee to life so that I might kill thee again ! " 
 Then, as he heard the rushing hum of the coming 
 rain squall, and saw that the shore was hidden from 
 view, as if a solid wall of white stone had suddenly 
 arisen between it and the ship, he grinned. 
 
 " Bah ! what does it matter ? Had it been a cannon 
 instead of a pistol it could scarce have been heard on 
 the shore in such a din." 
 
 Ordering the bodies of the two seamen to be thrown 
 overboard, Selak, the most courageous, entered the 
 cabin, took a couple of muskets from the rack, and some 
 powder and ball from the mate's berth, and returning 
 to his followers, bade them bring the boat alongside. 
 
 "Throw the woman after them," he cried to 
 Nakoda, as the boat pushed off into the darkness, just 
 as the hissing rain began. "We shall return ere it is 
 dawn." 
 
 Nakoda would have sprung over the side after the 
 boat, but he feared the sharks even more than Selak's 
 kriss ; so running for'ard, he crept into his bunk and 
 
 lay there, too terrified to move. 
 
 * * * *
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 227 
 
 Mallet and Corwell, with the natives, worked hard 
 till near sunset, and then ceased. 
 
 " There's nearly five ounces in that lot, Mallet," 
 said the captain, pointing to two buckets of wash-dirt. 
 " Let us have a bathe, and then get something to cat 
 before it is too dark." 
 
 " The natives say we ought to get back to the house, 
 sir, instead of sleeping here to-night. They say a 
 heavy storm is coming on, and we'll be washed out of 
 the camp." 
 
 " Very well, Mallet. I don't want to stay here, I 
 can assure you. Tell them to hurry up, then. Get 
 the shovels and other gear, and let us start as quickly 
 as possible. It will take us a good three hours to get 
 back to the house." 
 
 By sunset they started, walking in single file along 
 the narrow, dangerous mountain-path, a false step on 
 which meant a fall of hundreds of feet. 
 
 Half-way down, the storm overtook them, but guided 
 by the surefooted natives they pressed steadily on, 
 gained the level ground, and at last reached the house 
 about ten o'clock. 
 
 " Now that we have come so far we might as well 
 go on board and give my wife a surprise," said Corwell 
 to Mallet. " Look, the rain is taking off." 
 
 " Not for long, sir. But if we start at once we 
 may get aboard afore it starts again." 
 
 Two willing natives, wet and shivering as they 
 were, quickly baled out a canoe, and in a few minutes 
 they were ofF, paddling down towards the sea. But 
 scarce had they gone a few hundred yards when
 
 228 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 another sudden downpour of rain blotted out every- 
 thing around them. But the natives paddled steadily 
 on amid the deafening roar; the river was vi'ide, and 
 there was no danger of striking anything harder than 
 the hanging branch of a tree or the soft banks. 
 
 "I thought I heard voices just now," shouted 
 Mallet. 
 
 " Natives been out fishing," replied Corwell. 
 
 As the canoe shot out through the mouth of the 
 river into the open bay the rain ceased as suddenly as 
 it began, and the Ceres loomed up right ahead. 
 
 " Don't hail them, Mallet. Let us go aboard 
 quietly." 
 
 They clambered up the side, the two natives 
 following, and, wet and dripping, entered the cabin. 
 
 Corwell stepped to the swinging lamp, which burnt 
 dimly, and pricked up the wick. His wife seemed to 
 be sound asleep on the cushioned transom locker. 
 
 " Mary," he cried, " wake up, dearest. We 
 
 ... Oh my God, Mallet ! " 
 
 He sprang to her side, and kneeling beside the still 
 figure, placed his hand on the blood-stained bosom. 
 
 " Dead ! Dead ! Murdered ! " He rose to his feet, 
 and stared wildly at Mallet, swayed to and fro, and 
 then fell heavily forward. 
 
 As the two natives stood at the cabin door, gazing 
 in wondering horror at the scene, they heard a splash. 
 Nakoda had jumped overboard and was swimming 
 ashore. 
 
 TJe ^ ^ ■9||E' ^ 
 
 Long before dawn the native war-drums began to
 
 JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER 229 
 
 beat, and when Selak and his fellow-murderers reached 
 the mouth of the river they ran into a fleet of canoes 
 which waited for them. They fought like the tigers 
 they were, but were soon overcome and made prisoners, 
 tied hand and foot, and carried ashore to the " House 
 of the Young Men." The gold was taken care of 
 by the chief, who brought it on board to Corwell. 
 
 " When do these men die ? " he asked, 
 
 " To-day," replied Corwell huskily ; " to-day, after 
 I have buried my wife." 
 
 On a little island just within the barrier reef, she 
 was laid to rest, with the never-ending cry of the surf 
 for her requiem. 
 
 At sunset, Corwell and Mallet left the ship and 
 landed at the village, and as their feet touched the sand 
 the war-drums broke out with deafening clamour. 
 They each carried a cutlass, and walked quickly 
 through the thronging natives to the " House of the 
 Young Men." 
 
 " Bring them out," said Corwell hoarsely to the 
 chief. 
 
 One by one Selak and his fellow-prisoners were 
 brought out and placed on their feet, the bonds that 
 held them were cut, and their hands seized and held 
 widely apart. And then Corwell and Mallet thrust 
 their cutlasses through the cruel hearts. 
 
 * * ■* * *
 
 Poisonous Fish of the Pacific 
 Isla7tds 
 
 Many years ago I was sent with a wrecking party of 
 native seamen to take possession of a Swedish barque 
 which had gone ashore on the reef of one of the 
 Marshall Islands, in the North Pacific. My employers, 
 who had bought the vessel for ;^ioo, were in hopes 
 that she might possibly be floated, patched up, and 
 brought to Sydney. However, on arriving at the 
 island I found that she was hopelessly bilged, so we at 
 once set to work to strip her of everything of value, 
 especially her copper, which was new. It was during 
 these operations that I made acquaintance with both 
 poisonous and stinging fish. There were not more 
 than sixty or seventy natives living on the island, and 
 some of these, as soon as we anchored in the lagoon, 
 asked me to caution my own natives — who came from 
 various other Pacific islands — not to eat any fish they 
 might catch in the lagoon until each one had been 
 examined by a local man. I followed their injunction, 
 and for two or three weeks all went well ; then came 
 
 trouble. 
 
 230
 
 POISONOUS FISH OF THE PACIFIC 231 
 
 I had brought down with me from Sydney a white 
 carpenter — one of the most obstinate, cross-grained 
 old fellows that ever trod a deck, but an excellent 
 workman if humoured a little. At his own request 
 he lived on board the wrecked barque, instead of 
 taking up his quarters on shore in the native village 
 with the rest of the wrecking party. One evening as 
 I was returning from the shore to the schooner — I 
 always slept on board — I saw the old man fishing from 
 the waist of the wreck, for it was high tide, and there 
 was ten feet of water around the ship. I saw him 
 excitedly haul in a good-sized fish, and, hailing him, 
 inquired how many he had caught, and if he were 
 sure they were not poisonous ? He replied that he 
 had caught five, and that " there was nothin' the 
 matter with them." Knowing what a self-willed, 
 ignorant man he was, I thought I should have a look 
 at the fish and satisfy myself; so I ran the boat 
 alongside and clambered on board, followed by two of 
 my native crew. The moment we opened the fishes' 
 mouths and looked down their throats we saw the 
 infallible sign which denoted their highly poisonous 
 condition — a colouring of bright orange with thin 
 reddish-brown streaks. The old fellow grumbled 
 excessively when I told him to throw them overboard, 
 and then somewhat annoyed me by saying that all the 
 talk about them being unsafe was bunkum. He had, 
 he said, caught and eaten just the same kind of fish at 
 Vavau, in the Tonga Islands, time and time again. 
 It was no use arguing with such a creature, so, after 
 again warning him not to eat any fish of any kind
 
 232 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 unless the natives "passed" them as non-poisonous, I 
 left him and went on board my own vessel. 
 
 We had supper rather later than usual that evening, 
 and, as the mate and myself were smoking on deck 
 about nine o'clock, we heard four shots in rapid 
 succession fired from the wreck. Knowing that 
 something was wrong, I called a couple of hands, and 
 in a few minutes was pulled on board, where I found 
 the old carpenter lying writhing in agony, his features 
 presenting a truly shocking and terrifying appearance. 
 His revolver lay on the deck near him — he had fired 
 it to bring assistance. I need not here describe the 
 peculiarly drastic remedies adopted by the natives to 
 save the man's life. They at first thought the case 
 was a hopeless one, but by daylight the patient was 
 out of danger. He was never able to turn to again as 
 long as we were on the island, and suffered from the 
 effects of the fish for quite two or three years. He 
 had, he afterwards told me, made up his mind to eat 
 some of the fish that evening to show me that he was 
 right and I was wrong. 
 
 A few weeks after this incident myself and a native 
 lad named Viri, who was one of our crew and always 
 my companion in fishing or shooting excursions, went 
 across the lagoon to some low sandy islets, where we 
 were pretty sure of getting a turtle or two. Viri's 
 father and mother were Samoans, but he had been 
 born on Nassau Island, a lonely spot in the South 
 Pacific, where he had lived till he was thirteen years 
 of age. He was now fifteen, and a smarter, more 
 cheerful, more intelligent native boy I had never met.
 
 POISONOUS FISH OF THE PACIFIC 233 
 
 His knowled2:e of bird and fish life was a never- 
 ending source of pleasure and instruction to me, and 
 the late Earl of Pembroke and Sir William Flower 
 would have delighted in him. 
 
 It was dead low tide when we reached the islets, so 
 taking our spears with us we set out along the 
 reef to look for turtle in the many deep and winding 
 pools which broke up the surface of the reef. After 
 searching for some time together without success, Viri 
 left me and went off towards the sea, I keeping to the 
 inner side of the lagoon. Presently in a shallow pool 
 about ten feet in circumference I espied a small but 
 exceedingly beautiful fish. It was about four inches in 
 length, and two and a half inches in depth, and as it 
 kept perfectly still I had time to admire its brilliant 
 hues — blue and yellow-banded sides with fins and tail 
 tipped with vivid crimson spots. Around the eyes 
 were a number of dark yellowish or orange-coloured 
 rings, and the eyes themselves were large, bright, and 
 staring. It displayed no alarm at my presence, but 
 presently swam slowly to the side of the pool and 
 disappeared under the coral ledge. I determined to 
 catch and examine the creature, and in a few 
 minutes I discovered it resting in such a position that 
 I could grasp it with my hand. I did so, and seizing 
 it firmly by the back and belly, whipped it up out ot 
 the water, but not before I felt several sharp pricks 
 from its fins. Holding it so as to study it closely, I 
 suddenly dropped it in disgust, as strange violent pains 
 shot through my hand. In another two minutes they 
 had so increased in their intensity that I became
 
 234 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 alarmed and shouted to Viri to come back. Certainly 
 not more than five or ten minutes elapsed before he 
 was with me ; to me it seemed ages, for by this time 
 the pain was excruciating. A look at the fish told 
 him nothing ; he had never seen one like it before. 
 How I managed to get back to the schooner and live 
 through the next five or six hours of agony I cannot 
 tell. Twice I fainted, and at times became delirious. 
 The natives could do nothing for me, but said that the 
 pain would moderate before morning, especially if the 
 fish was dead. Had its fins struck into my foot 
 instead of my hand I should have died, they asserted ; 
 and then they told the mate and myself that one day 
 a mischievous boy who had speared one of these 
 abominable fish threw it at a young woman who was 
 standing some distance away. It struck her on the 
 foot, the spines penetrating a vein, and the poor girl 
 died in terrible agony on the following day. By 
 midnight the pain I was enduring began to moderate, 
 though my hand and arm were swollen to double the 
 proper size, and a splitting headache kept me awake 
 till daylight. The shock to the system affected me 
 for quite a week afterward. 
 
 During many subsequent visits to the Marshall 
 Group our crews were always cautioned by the people 
 of the various islands about eating fish or shell-fish 
 without submitting them to local examination. In 
 the Radack chain of this widely spread out archipelago 
 we found that the lagoons were comparatively free 
 from poisonous fish, while the Ralick lagoons were 
 infested with them, quite 30 per cent, being highly
 
 POISONOUS FISH OF THE PACIFIC 235 
 
 dangerous at all times of the year, and nearly 50 per 
 cent, at other seasons. Jaluit Lagoon was, and is now, 
 notorious for its poisonous fish. It is a curious fact 
 that fish of a species which you may eat with perfect 
 safety, say, in the middle of the month, will be 
 pronounced by the expert natives to be dangerous a 
 couple of weeks later, and that in a " school " of pink 
 rock bream numbering many hundreds some may 
 have their poison highly developed, others in but a 
 minor degree, whilst many may be absolutely free 
 from the taint. In the year 1889 the crew of a large 
 German ship anchored in one of the Marshall Islands 
 caught some very large and handsome fish of the 
 bream kind, and the resident natives pronounced them 
 "good." Three or four days later some more were 
 taken, and the cook did not trouble to ask native 
 opinion. The result was that eight or nine men were 
 taken seriously ill, and for some time the lives of 
 several were despaired of. Two of them had not 
 recovered the use of their hands and feet at the end of 
 ten weeks, and their faces, especially the eyes and 
 mouth, seemed to be permanently, though slightly 
 distorted. AH the men agreed in one particular, that 
 at midday they suffered most — agonising cramps, 
 accompanied by shooting pains in the head and con- 
 tinuous vomiting to the point of exhaustion, these 
 symptoms being very pronounced during the first 
 week or eight days after the fish had been eaten. 
 
 That kind-hearted and unfortunate officer. Commo- 
 dore J. G. Goodenough, took an interest in the 
 poisonous and stinging fish of the Pacific Islands,
 
 236 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and one day showed me, preserved in spirits of wine, 
 a specimen of the dreaded nohi fish of the Hervey 
 Group — one of the most repulsive-looking creatures it 
 is possible to imagine out of a child's fairy book. The 
 deadly poison which this fish ejects is contained in a 
 series of sacs at the base of the spines, and the 
 commodore intended to submit it to an analyist. By 
 a strange coincidence this gallant seaman a few 
 months afterwards died from the effects of a poisoned 
 arrow shot into his side by the natives of Nukapu, one 
 of the Santa Cruz group of islands. 
 
 This no'uy however, which is the nofu of the 
 Samoans, and is widely known throughout Polynesia, 
 and Melanesia under different names, does not disguise 
 its deadly character under a beautiful exterior like the 
 stinging fish of Micronesia, which I have described 
 above. The nofu^ which is also met with on the 
 coasts of Australia, is a devil undisguised, and belongs 
 to the angler family. Like the octopus or the death- 
 adder (Acanthopis antarctica) of Australia, he can 
 assimilate his colour to his environment. His hideous 
 wrinkled head, with his staring goggle eyes, are often 
 covered with fine wavy seaweed, which in full-grown 
 specimens sometimes extends right down the back to 
 the tail. From the top of the upper jaw, along the 
 back and sides, are scores of needle-pointed spines, 
 every one of which is a machine for the ejection 
 of the venom contained at the root. As the creature 
 lies hidden in a niche of coral awaiting its prey — it is 
 a voracious feeder — it cannot be distinguished except 
 by the most careful scrutiny ; then you may see that
 
 POISONOUS FJSH OF THE PACIFIC 237 
 
 under the softly waving and suspended piece of sea- 
 weed (as you imagine it to be) there are fins and a tail. 
 And, as the nofu has a huge mouth, which is carefully 
 concealed by a fringe of apparently harmless seaweed 
 or other marine growth, he snaps up every unfortunate 
 small fish which comes near him. In the Pacific 
 Islands the mfu [i.e., "the waiting one ") is generally 
 a dark brown, inclining to black, with splashes or 
 blotches of orange, or marbled red and grey. In 
 Australian waters — I have caught them in the 
 Parramatta river. Port Jackson — they are invariably 
 either a dark brown or a horrid, dulled yellow. 
 
 Despite its poison-injecting apparatus this fish is 
 eaten by the natives of the Society, Hervey, and 
 Paumotu groups of islands, in the South Pacific, where 
 its flesh is considered a delicacy. It is prepared for 
 cookery by being skinned, in which operation the 
 venomous sacks are removed. In 1882, when I was 
 living on the island of Peru in the Gilbert Group (the 
 Francis Island of the Admiralty charts), a Chinese 
 trader there constantly caught them in the lagoon and 
 ate them in preference to any other fish. Here in 
 Peru the ?iofu would bury itself in the soft sand and 
 watch for its prey, and could always be taken with a 
 hook. And yet in Eastern Polynesia and in the 
 Equatorial Islands of the Pacific many deaths have 
 occurred through the sting of this fish, children 
 invariably succumbing to tetanus within twenty-four 
 hours of being stung. 
 
 A little more about poisonous fish, i.e.^ fish which at 
 one time ot the year are good and palatable food
 
 238 YORKE THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and at others deadly. In the lagoon island of 
 Nukufetau (the " De Peyster Island " of the charts), 
 where the writer lived for twelve months, the fish both 
 within the lagoon and outside the barrier reef became 
 highly poisonous at certain times of the year. Flying- 
 fish (which were never caught inside the lagoon) 
 would be safe to eat if taken on the lee side of the 
 island, dangerous, or at least doubtful, if taken on 
 the weather side ; fnaniniy a small striped fish much 
 relished by the natives, would be safe to eat if caught 
 on the reef on the western side of the island, slightly 
 poisonous if taken four miles away on the inside shore 
 of the eastern islets encompassing the lagoon. Sharks 
 captured outside the reef, if eaten, would produce 
 symptoms of poisoning — vomiting, excessive purging, 
 and tetanus in a modified form ; if caught inside 
 the reef and eaten no ill effects would follow. Cray- 
 fish on one side of the lagoon were safe ; three miles 
 away they were highly impregnated with this mys- 
 terious poison, the origin of which has not yet been 
 well defined by scientists. 
 
 UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.
 
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 TIDE 
 
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 LOUIS BECKE 
 
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 LOUIS BECKE 
 
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 THE RAIDERS 
 
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 S. R. CROCKETT 
 
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 SOME SCOTCH NOT/CBS. 
 
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 "'The Raiders' is one of the most brilliant efforts of recent 
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 THE GREY MAN 
 
 BY 
 
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 WORKS BY JOSEPH CONRAD 
 
 I. 
 
 AN OUTCAST OF THE 
 ISLANDS 
 
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 imagines his scenes and their sequence like a master ; he knows his individu- 
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 ALMAYER'S FOLLY 
 
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 unspoiled by -traming after effect. There are, too, some admirably graphic 
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 SIX- SHILLING NOVELS 
 
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 Ed.tion. 
 
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 THE MERMAID SERIES 
 
 The Best Plays of the Old Dramatists. 
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