l°r THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY " PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID FROM THE FOUR WINDS FROM THE FOUR WINDS BY FRANCIS SINCLAIR AUTHOR OF "BALLADS AND POEMS FROM THE PACIFIC, "WHERE THE SUN SETS," "UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS," ETC. f Only the flickering fire-light in my room, Only bells tolling for the dying year, Only the silence and the midnight gloom, And then my ghosts appear ! And on my hands kind loving hands are laid, And o'er my face the tears of parting fall, And through my room's uncertain light and shade, I hear old voices call ! ? LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND COMPANY, Ltd. IOO, SOUTHWARK STREET, S.E. MCMIX CHISWICK PRESS : CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 95. AUTHORS NOTE EVERAL appreciative reviewers and readers of my last work " Under North Star and South- ern Cross" having expressed a hope that I would write another book on the same lines, set me exploring the picture gallery of my memory, and thereby recalling many a vanished scene and good comrade of the old days. The present volume is the outcome of those memories, and I trust that " From The Four Winds" will not disappoint my kind readers, and indulgent critics. Perhaps it would be as well to explain the origin of the preludes which appear before the stories, and this I will do as briefly as possible. When Sam Kent concluded his curious remi- niscence, and had read his father s manuscript V vi AUTHOR'S NOTE (as recorded in the following pages) it became my turn to contribute something towards the gene7^al entertainment. Of course I had intended to fulfil honotirably my share of our contract, but at this juncture it occurred to me — with the usual indolence of human nature — that if 1 collated and put into due form all my friends contributions (as I knew they expected me to do although nothing definite had been said upon the subject) in fairness I should be relieved from any further duty. When I expressed these views upon the matter, my comrades at once acknowledged that there was a certain amount of justice in the plea, but they pointed out that there was one obviously weak point in my position, which shattered the whole case, namely, that I should have clearly expressed this stipulation when we made our agreement and arranged our programme. This was so distinctly true, and reasonable, that I could only throw myself on the mercy of the court — as all clever lawyers advise their clients to do when they see that the case is AUTHOR'S NOTE vii hopeless. My humble surrender so pleased my old friend Kinross, that he undertook to fill the blank, caused by my retirement, with a reminiscence of his childhood. But he made this concession on the condition that I should preface each story with some appropriate verses y which, he said, would not only be a pleasing variety to the prose articles, but would be ample recompense to himself individually for his extra contribution, inasmuch as verse — if good — {here Kinross looked solemnly at me) was always more soothing and instructive to his soul than prose. That is the history of the verse preludes. Whether they are such as will fulfil my friend's proviso must be left to the judgement of the reader. If, unfortunately, the reader finds the verses tcnworthy of his perusal, then he must simply ignore the prologue altogether, and pass on to the story itself, where I hope he will find some congenial, and not unprofitable entertain- ment. F.S. CONTENTS PAGE I How John Trueman learned his Lesson Black-Birding in the Pacific .... 93 Sam Kent's Story 175 The Legend of the Magic Rings . . 287 Bridget Macleod of Whinnie Braes . 375 IX HOW JOHN TRUEMAN LEARNED HIS LESSON HOW JOHN TRUEMAN LEARNED HIS LESSON Chapter I N our way back from the pearl fishing adventure, Kinross deter- mined to call at the Marquesas Islands for the joint purpose of seeing two old friends, and doing any little trading which might come to his thrifty hands. Kinross gave me scattered bits of history re- garding his friends (the Rev. John Trueman, itinerant Missionary in the Pacific, and Samuel Kent, trader and Government Agent) as we were slowly and carefully creeping through the Islands to the little bay, or rather cove, where these friends were located. At last we rounded a bold headland, and slid into the little harbour of Heao which is barely fifty fathoms wide at any part, and about half a 3 4 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN mile in length from its entrance to the white sandy beach which bounds the head of the beautiful little cove. It was a very startling experience to enter the curious narrow water- way. But Kinross understood Heao perfectly, having often been there upon former voyages, and of course knew exactly how and where to moor the schooner. As we entered between the giant, perpendicular bluffs which stood so close together that it seemed to me there was no vestige of a harbour, and that we were inevitably smashing into destruction among rocks and palms, and cliffs festooned with gorgeous flowers of all the colours of the rain- bow, a quick, sharp command came from the Skipper, and every sail rattled down, the yards were braced fore-and-aft, to keep clear of the overhanging cocoanut and bread-fruit trees, and "like a steed which knows its rider," the Lapwing glided slowly through the wonderful maze of foliage to her moorings at the head of the little enchanted loch. It is impossible to anchor with safety in Heao, the cove is too narrow to allow a craft to swing clear of the shore, so the schooner was moored head and stern to the trees on either side. After drawing a long breath — for my senses LEARNED HIS LESSON 5 had been half dazed by the quick transition from the breezy bluster of the trades outside to the absolute stillness and silence of the cove — I began to examine our surroundings. I judged from its appearance and shape that Heao must be the crater of an extinct volcano, and, like all such places within the tropics, if they have plenty of moisture, it was splendidly fertile. From the bit of white sandy beach which encircled the head of the loch, the land rose in terrace after terrace of carefully cultivated patches until all further human skill was brought to an abrupt termination by the mountain wall which rose sheer to a height of some two or three thousand feet. The village was scattered around the beach, every snug little hut em- bowered amid a profusion of fruit and flowers of such luxuriant growth that the only care necessary was to see to it that vegetable nature, in its exuberance, did not overwhelm human nature. After the Lapwing was moored we were soon surrounded by fully a score of neat little canoes. I learned afterwards that there were only three or four large ones in the village, which were kept exclusively for deep sea fishing. Each of the tiny craft, which came to give us welcome, 6 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN carried one, two, or, at most, three persons, all looking admiringly at the Lapwing, and be- having in the most friendly and at the same time most dignified manner. This was my first experience of the Marquesas Islanders, and it was quite a pleasing surprise, after the many yarns I had been told of their fierce disposition and boisterous manners, to find these children of Nature smilingly polite, quiet, and friendly. It was certainly an agreeable contrast to the manner in which our own race would have behaved under similar circumstances! While I stood looking and marvelling at the beauty and charm of it all, Kinross patted me on the shoulder, and whispered, " Are your Strand, and Billingsgate, and Threadneedle Street manners a great improvement upon this ? " and I hadn't a word to say for my country, feeling that it was one of those moments when " Silence and tears are best." At the time I refer to there were only two white men living in Heao. One was Kinross's friend the Rev. John Trueman, and the other Sam Kent, a trader, of the lost gentleman caste who used to be so numerous in the Pacific, but who are rarely met with nowadays. Circumstances have so changed that the romance and glamour LEARNED HIS LESSON 7 (which formerly induced so many gay, young spirits to cut the painter with Europe, and, dreamily listening to the witchery of the Siren songs, forget their past hopes, ambitions, and loves) are not nearly so resistless now as in years gone by — years which can never return, because the simplicity and charm of the times and peoples have gone for ever, and the commonplace has obliterated romance. Both the Rev. John Trueman and Sam Kent were — when our lives drifted together for a short season — well past middle life. Trueman was a tall, handsome Cornishman, with all the ancient characteristics of the Cornish race; honesty, simplicity, courage, and that peculiar visionariness which has filled their romantic end of England from time immemorial with saints and demons, witches and genii, giants and gnomes, and all manner of interesting folk. Sam Kent was, as I have said, one of the lost gentleman caste. But I must say that he was a most delightful companion, with reminiscences of the days of his youth that were most enter- taining, and all told in that charming manner in which educated people spoke in the days of our grandfathers, but which is now almost a lost art. People don't take time to speak nowadays, 8 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN they only gabble; and in the same way, they don't write a letter, they only scribble. Kent was of Jewish extraction, son of a London lawyer once in good practice, with an office in Chancery Lane, and a house overlook- ing Hyde Park. Young Sam had had all the advantages of what was considered a proper education for a gentleman's son in the days when he was a lad, besides having the very important advantage of the best society of the day. He could speak French like a native, having associated much with Frenchmen in his father's house — refugees of many sorts, who swarmed about London in those revolutionary times. Queer, crack-brained fellows, but all gentlemen, and very entertaining chaps. More- over Sam had been polished off at that elegant institution of learning — the University of Bonn. Such were the only two white men in Heao, with five or six hundred natives in the village and scattered here and there around the cove. They were an exceedingly well-to-do com- munity. A few hours of work per day supplied a man and his family with an abundance of food — taro, sweet potatoes, bread-fruit, and many other kinds, all of them the healthiest food in the world. Then the waters of the LEARNED HIS LESSON 9 cove, and the sea outside, swarmed with many varieties of fish. Beyond the food question, the wants of the simple islanders were few. Cloth- ing, and such other articles as they required, or imagined they required (for in that delicious climate their own artistic " Kapa," which the women manufactured, was really all they re- quired in the clothing line) were supplied by Kent; whose neat little store was well stocked with such things as are adapted for trade in the South Seas. Besides the store, Sam had a few other matters to attend to. He was, as I have said, an excellent French scholar, and he also knew a bit of lawyer-jargon from having been in his father's office for a couple of years. He was therefore a most useful man to the Powers at Tahiti, and they were very glad to have a man of his ability to attend to the duties of magistrate, tax-collector, etc., for the district of Heao, sending in his report by the Govern- ment steamer which made a general round of the Islands once a year. Fortunately there was not much to report, for where there are no " scalawag" white men, and consequently no firewater, an official in the Pacific is invariably entitled to a pair of white kid gloves at the end of the year. io HOW JOHN TRUEMAN Kent's supplies of all kinds were sent from Tahiti by his business agent Alfred Hort, a fellow Hebrew, and a very honourable mer- chant, whose name was known from New Zealand to the Line as a synonym for fair dealing and prompt settlement of accounts. The natives paid all their scores, whether Government or private, to Kent in the shape of barter. This consisted of several articles : copara, beach-le-mer, sandalwood, sharks' fins, and fungus, etc. These commodities Kent shipped off by a little schooner which his agent in Tahiti despatched twice a year to take out such supplies as Sam required, and to bring back the native produce. It was a quiet little business, and suited Sam Kent admirably. It was many a long day since he had lost the energy of the British breed, and relapsed into the dreamy fatalism of his race, and had become utterly unsuited for the turmoil, rush, and chi- canery of civilized life. The foregoing is a short synopsis of Heao, as it appeared to me on that delectable cruise with my friend Kinross among the enchanted isles and atolls of the wonder-ocean of the world — the beautiful South Seas! After a few days of excitement, and general LEARNED HIS LESSON n good-fellowship between the people of the land and we of the outside world, things settled down into an orderly sort of intercourse; the natives finding articles among our trade which struck their fancy, and we laying in a stock of yams, sweet potatoes, taro, and other delicacies for our future sojourning. Thus, during the day we were more or less busy, not forgetting, however, the usual mid-day, South Sea siesta. But at night (oh! let me pause for a moment to recall those gorgeous tropic nights in that bower of mystical glory! with the white moon pouring her splendour through palm and vine, making the still waters of Heao glitter like an enchanted lake of molten gold and scattered diamonds) we four white men dropped into a habit of gathering on the schooners quarter- deck — after the various occupations of the day were done — entertaining ourselves, and each other, with scraps of reminiscences of the past years. Some of these flotsam and jetsam struck me as well worth preserving, but, alas! I can- not give you the glamour of the circumstances under which I heard them, and which, perhaps, gave them their unforgetable charm. I think that I had better preface these re- cords by saying that we four men were quite 12 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN out of the usual commonplace, respectable sort whom one meets every day in the ordinary routine of civilized life. None of us were of the dining-out-polite-small-talk-sort, and the promise of a K.C.B. would not have induced any one of us to submit to the shackles of the old life again. Probably we all had been born under the vagabond's horoscope, and, as the Arabs say, no man can escape kismet. But however that may be, those enchanted nights on the still waters of Heao, and the fragments of our quiet talks on the beautiful little Lapwing s quarter-deck, will never fade from my memory in this world, and, perhaps, not even in the next. Kinross was in no hurry to proceed on his voyage to Sydney. He was picking up some good tortoise-shell, and I think that he enjoyed the wonderful charm of the dolce far niente life every whit as much as I did, although he was a bit shy of expressing it, as most Scotchmen are shy of showing their feelings. So the days and nights drifted on ; each of us thinking that "Time was made for slaves/' and that manana is a very appropriate word when one is within ten degrees of the Line, and under such cir- cumstances as ours. LEARNED HIS LESSON 13 After some consultation we decided that each of us should, for the general entertain- ment, recount some adventure in which he had taken part. There was to be no polishing, or careful construction, for such methods would impose too much trouble upon the narrator, besides giving an air of artificiality to his story. Spontaneous, unstudied bits of personal history were to be the main subjects, and each remi- niscence given in the simple manner in which it recurred to the memory. As boys say, there was to be no schoolmaster-language, or we would lose interest, and suspect the speaker of cribbing, and look at his cuffs for cribs — only in that sweet life we did not have cuffs at all. By a unanimous vote of three we elected the Rev. John Trueman to give the first entertain- ment. Of course the Parson voted for some one else, but that did not count as he was in a minority of one. So yielding with the charm- ing grace which seemed inherent to his nature, he merely said that he would take a few turns fore and aft to collect his thoughts and decide where to begin. When Trueman started in this deliberate way we knew that we were in for something i 4 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN not only entertaining, but instructive and profit- able as well. Kinross was especially pleased, and whispered to us that now we had got the Parson under way we were sure of something ' 'By ordinare." In a few minutes Trueman came back to his chair, and without more ado began to give us the following synopsis of his wanderings, which he entitled as given above. But before pro- ceeding with the Parson's history I must introduce one of the preludes which my friend Kinross stipulated for. And I sincerely hope that the verses may fulfil his expressed proviso. PRELUDE The world is a jumble of sorrow, And life is a store-house of lies : The weary awaiting the morrow Of justice which never arrives! The weaker are crushed by the stronger — Till they hide themselves under the sod — But I know it will be thus no longer When we meet at the Judgement of God ! I know that "God's mills grind slowly, Yet they grind most exceedingly small," I know that they grind high and lowly, And that justice is waiting for all. LEARNED HIS LESSON 15 I know that the eyes dim with weeping — Feet bleeding with ways they have trod — Will be healed of their wounds, and their weeping, When we meet at the Judgement of God ! Some day all the darkness will vanish, When the day-dawn of trueness appears; Some day the death Angel will banish From eyes the blurred vision of tears. Some day every heart shall be open, When touched by Death's alchemic rod; And the thought will be seen, and not spoken, When we meet at the Judgement of God ! All souls shall receive their just portions With never protests or complaints — From the blackest of Hell's black abortions To the whitest of Heaven's white Saints. There shall come — all the naked, untreasured — The silk-robed, and gold-sandal-shod, But the Soul — not the gold — will be measured, When we meet at the Judgement of God ! Then — Peace — Oh my brother of sorrow ! The gates of the Dawn are in sight. The gleam of the Light of the morrow Is touching the outposts of night. Know thou ! — the Hands Wounded, were leading Through all the dark paths thou hast trod ! And the Heart, that was broken, is pleading For you at the Judgement of God ! 16 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN Chapter II " I think any one of you," said the Parson, " could tell a much more entertaining story than I can, but as you have given me the honour of precedence on the programme I must perforce proceed, and you must perforce submit. " I will begin my reminiscence by telling you that I am a Cornishman, with a good deal of the Cornishman's dreaminess and other peculi- arities, in my composition. Of course the old habits of thought, and modes of life have very much changed in the dear old land since I was a lad. When I was a youngster Cornishmen were what would be called in these fast days of fourteenth standard schooling, a superstitious, slow, and stubborn race. But that is altogether a wrong estimate of my people. They were, I admit, fiercely in earnest in whatever they pro- fessed, and in nothing more so than in their religious beliefs. If they were Churchmen, they were Churchmen of such a stern order that they condemned the whole outside world to the bottomless pit with the greatest com- placency and comfort. If, on the other hand, they were Wesleyans — as most of them were — LEARNED HIS LESSON 17 they believed that the same gruesome fate would in due time befall the Church people. What would seem to any ordinary individual too vast and terrible for the human mind to conceive, and yet hold its balance, was accepted by good, kind people with a sort of grim satis- faction as a comfortable solution of all the inexplicable and awful mysteries of evil. " I was the only son of the Rector of St. M , and being the only son of an intensely devoted minister, I was dedicated to the service of God — like Samuel — from my birth. I was educated in the ordinary way in which young men are educated who are intended for the Church. I got through that period of life much in the usual way, being neither very stupid nor very brilliant. I took my degrees at Oxford, and, after passing my Ecclesiastical examina- tions successfully, I was ordained, together with two other young men, by the Bishop of E , assisted by my father, who was not only a very happy, but a very proud and thankful man. He was selected to preach the sermon, and a most beautiful and tender discourse it was. All three of us ordained that day were destined to go to foreign fields, although I did not dream of such a career then. One — a brave, enthusi- c 18 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN astic spirit — went to China, and won the martyr's crown. The other — a gentle, loving youth — gave his love, his energy, his learning, and at last his life, to the poor simple islanders of the South Seas, made mad, as they were, by the accursed cruelties of the ' Black- Birders/ " In those old days I had one ideal career mapped out for a life work, and which I often discussed with my father, who I now know to have been a very wise man, although then, with youth's usual conceit and vanity, I did not fully appreciate his wisdom. This was to spend my life for, and with the poor. Not only did I desire to do what all clergymen try more or less to do, viz., give their parishioners good advice upon all subjects of conduct, and such comfort as lieth in their power to give, but what I meant was to become one of the poor themselves, suffer their sorrows, endure their ills, and in the daily intercourse of in- timate life learn the reason of the existence of this great underworld of hopeless suffering in the wealthiest, and most enlightened, nation on the globe. Then, after learning the cause of all the maelstrom of poverty which over- whelms such a great proportion of our people, I hoped to go to work upon true remedial lines. LEARNED HIS LESSON 19 " I spent two years in the slums of London, working, helping, and teaching with all the diligence of a strong earnest nature. But at the end of that strange experience I was as far from the solution of the problem I had set myself to solve as I was at the begin- ning. I found that the poor are very human indeed, very much like the rest of us. Before you can reach a man's heart, and find out his line of thought, and his ethical mode of looking at things, you must have gone through the experiences which have formed his mode of thought, and his outlook on life. For instance, let us take the case of a man (one of many such as I knew) with a wife and two or three children — generally many more, for somehow the poor always seem to be in that position which is described by the Psalmist as, ' Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.' This man had been out of work for over two months; the last job he had was sweeping a crossing for a friend who had been knocked down by a hansom, and had to go to the hospital for a couple of months. The man I speak of, the injured man's friend, had been very thankful to carry on the business of the crossing until his * pal ' came out of the hos- 20 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN pital. It was a very rainy autumn, and business was brisk. My friend made on an average fifteen pence on week days, and half-a-crown on Sundays. You see Sundays paid well; he often wished there were more of them. Ladies and gentlemen going to church, if they found that they had a copper over the one they had provided for the collection, generally gave it to the sweeper, feeling, no doubt, as the thrifty Chinese say, that they were ' making virtue/ Every shilling which this man earned during those, for him, lucky months — excepting a few pence per day expended for food to keep soul and body together in him and his family — were paid in rent for the miserable, filthy hole which, by the force of some hazy memory of a long past time, he called by the sacred name of home ! " At last the owner of the crossing returned, and my poor friend l went nosing around ' as he expressed it, looking for anything that might turn up. I knew the man, and I knew that he would work if work could be found, but who was going to engage ' a disreputable loafer ' as they called him ? And so the days went past until late on Saturday night he came home with a good heavy sackful of grub! — several loaves LEARNED HIS LESSON 21 of bread, a Dutch cheese, a small box of fancy- raisins, and a dozen or so tins of canned things; the latter, heavenly food to the poor, however much the ordinary man may look askance upon such comestibles. " Well now, do you expect those people to explain to their minister how and where these things were obtained? If you do you will be disappointed. But their starving fellow lodger will hear every detail as he helps, with a grate- ful heart and stomach, to dispose of the treasure trove. And not one of those people will feel a pang of shame at the method of obtaining their living; they only feel sorrow, and pain, and deadly hatred for the state of things which has reduced them to the necessity of resorting to such practices. And, mind you, these are not extra wicked men and women. They just have about the average wickedness of the rest of us. The only difference between us is that we have not had the same dire necessities, and the same inducements to develop our individual peculiarities, and opportunities of 'he should take who has the power — and he should keep who can ! ' " After two years of slum work — two years in which, I trust God, I helped to bring a little 22 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN comfort to some heavy-laden souls, but, alas! no enlightenment to my own — I determined to descend a step still further down the social ladder. Namely, to take to the road as a veritable tramp, without a vestige of my usual position about me, and try if I could read the riddle of life from another standpoint alto- gether. " My friend Kent here has long put me down among those Utopian dreamers, the Socialists, and I must admit that he is partly right in his diagnosis. Enormous useless wealth on one hand, and abject poverty on the other, such as our modern civilization has evolved, never cease to arouse my intense sorrow and hatred. As I am telling you, I spent years with the poor and outcast in the old land, and I have been a witness of the rapid deterioration of the islanders in the Pacific under what is falsely called the splendid results of education, and the civilizing power of commerce; and I solemnly declare that what I have seen has made me despair of this world's future. Our race — with all its boasted achievements of art and science — is no whit further advanced on the lines of absolute justice, and doing as we would be done by, than it was hundreds of LEARNED HIS LESSON 23 years ago. Indeed, it sometimes seems to me that the great self-sacrificing souls of the human race grow fewer and fewer as the world grows older. But that they have not totally dis- appeared from the earth I will be able to show you when I get along a bit, if you fellows will only have the virtue of patience. I will merely remark, en passant, that there is no such misery as ours found among 'savages' — as we ignorantly class all the brown or black races of the earth. If, as sometimes happens, they have stricter rules than we have, these rules are well known and easily kept. For instance, if it is death for a common man to allow his shadow to fall on a Chief, it is a simple matter to avoid letting his shadow do that evil thing. But if his body is so miserably emaciated that it casts no shadow at all, and his wife and children are in the same case, with no hope of amelioration in this world; then all decent men in their senses — excepting, perhaps, a few plethoric millionaires — would vote for the savage State, or Socialism, or whatever you like to call it. "When I determined to take up the life of the utterly poor and vagrant tramp, it was from no romantic love of adventure — for I 24 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN knew enough already to be fully aware that there would be no romance in the life — but with the determination of learning the awful riddle of poverty, the cause of this Nemesis which dogs the footsteps of our civilization. And I concluded that the only way to do so was to become one of the poor myself, making my living as they made their living, participat- ing in their joys and sorrows — for they have flashes of what they call joys, at odd times, although you would not think so at a casual glance! In short, getting into that world which cannot be entered except by the hard way of abject poverty. " My father knew what I proposed to do, and by no means approved of it. But, doubtless thinking that a little more experience would cure my 'romantic dream,' as he called my plans, he offered no objection, only exacting a promise that I should write to him once a month, and, in case of illness, would seek his assistance at once. Under these circumstances, and with the appropriate clothing and bundle of a tramp, I betook myself to the road. "I kept to the country and small towns for the first six months of my vagrant life, and as I began my journey in spring I found the life LEARNED HIS LESSON 25 by no means so hard as my dear father had tried to make me expect. Starting from the South of Cornwall in spring, of course, afforded me the best of the year for working — rather I should say tramping — my way North. When I said 'working' just now, I used the word in its nautical sense, as we so often use it in the Pacific. But the word is not a favourite with road society, for when our civilization has brought a man down to the tramp level, the hopeless fellow eschews work, accounting it one of the great evils of life, instead of one of its blessings, and a thing he used to like in his happy days, if he ever had any happy days — poor soul! As I said, I started from dear old St. M in the beautiful spring of the year; and it was no hardship to sleep under a tree or behind a haystack or any such comfortable spot, snugly rolled up in my nice, old, warm rug. But I found it much more awkward to provide for the inner man. For many months I only called at the humblest cottages, and I was seldom refused a meal of some sort. I sometimes travelled alone, and sometimes with a companion or two. But I found that gentle- men of the road are not much given to con- versation as a rule. 26 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN "I would overtake a man, knowing by some instinctive sense that he was of the road fraternity, and after a salute which would probably only be 'Mornin'; had breakfast?' I would as like as not respond 'No.' Then he, nodding at a farmstead, would suggest, ' Let 's try this diggin's.' No sooner proposed than acted upon, we would walk up to the door, and make our humble request — 'A bite o' somethin', Missis.' Then back to the road and discuss whatever the farmer's wife had given us. After that if we were lucky enough to have a bit of 'bacca' we would extend our rest for another half hour, talk a little on mat- ters affecting our personal comfort, the weather, the prospect of rain, or frost, etc., then on, on again, parting at the next cross roads with the brief, expressive farewell ' So long, Mate!' "After a month or two of steadily plodding northward, one day I overtook a fellow tramp with whom I struck up a friendship which turned out mutually satisfactory to us both. I did not know it then, but I learned before long, that although the road is a communistic Republic of the broadest type, yet it has its distinct sets and castes just as all other societies have theirs. LEARNED HIS LESSON 27 "When I foregathered with Sandy Mac (that was the only name he gave me) I soon learned that he was of a class altogether differ- ent from the sort of tramp with whom I had been associating, off and on, ever since I had taken to the road. They are not so plentiful as are those of the lower strata, but there are many — too many, alas! — of those we term gentlemen on the road. In fact, as a rule tramps are very much like the rest of us, and the sort of men we meet in ordinary life. Generally speaking one never meets a woman of the pure tramp species. I suppose the reason is the fact that they are so often afflicted with children, and all the misery connected there- with. Besides, it is not good form for men of the road to be seen with women. Of course one too often meets families of poor people trudging the road, but these are not tramps at all, they are working people hoping to better their condition by a move to some other farm or village. "When Mac and I became acquainted, he had been nearly ten years on the road. He had given up all intention — if he ever had any — of abandoning the tramp profession, and it was peculiar in such an old hand that he 28 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN had never acquired the modes, manners, and expressions of the road. Even I — after only a few months of apprenticeship — was frequently startled to find myself addressing a farmer's wife with the pleading drawl and flattering humility of the hardened old tramp. Mac's manners were always the same whether he were addressing the lady of the Manor, or a hard-worked labourers wife at her wash-tub, with a two-year-old child tugging at her gown, a baby howling on a rug at the doorstep, and a grumbling pig nosing around, looking for any stray scraps. And it was really most in- structive to see how Mac would approach a stern-faced mechanic standing in his doorway, motioning us to be gone. In every case a few softly modulated words of greeting from Mac, and a polite petition, would invariably lead to the replenishing of our craving stomachs and empty sacks. "When I would ask my chum the secret of his success, he would smile blandly, stroke his beard — he had a beard like a Turk had Mac — and make answer: " ' It all depends on the fashion of your own heart. If you have the truly kind heart it will show in your face, and even in the very move- LEARNED HIS LESSON 29 ments of your body; for the quality of kindness is divine, and, moreover, it is like the Word of God, quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. "'I have never yet failed with man or woman in moving their sympathies by a few simple words expressing my hope for their welfare, and soliciting a little relief for my own ne- cessities.' " Mac and I were pals — in the nomenclature of the road — for more than a year, and we had many queer experiences together. In towns we sometimes consorted with strange companions; not exactly from choice, but from dire necessity owing to the dens of lodgings our finances compelled us to occupy. In the summer it was by no means so bad; we could wander at our own sweet will, and we always had the clean leaves and grass for a bed. As a rule Mac and I preferred to be by ourselves, but occasionally there would be an impromptu gathering of the guild in some kindly farmer's empty outhouse, or unused byre, where many old stagers would happen to foregather on an 30 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN autumn night when there was a touch of frost in the air. There were many farms in the lonelier parts of the country which were re- gistered as 'hospitable,' where I have met as many as a dozen men of an evening, with a cheery fire in the middle of the earthen floor, cooking a huge potful of hotchpotch concocted of contributions from all hands, with a nice bit of salt pork, or a leg of mutton generously given to the deputation which had been sent to borrow the pot. If Mac happened to be of the company he was always chosen for spokes- man; for the very good reason that he never failed with the farmers' wives, or with the farmers themselves for that matter. It was generally said, and I have no doubt it was often true, that the hospitable farms had fewer misfortunes of lame horses, or burned ricks, and such like mishaps, than the stingy sort. "At such gatherings there were often stories told and songs sung, that have hung about corners of my memory ever since in spite of joys and sorrows, life and death, and the effac- ing fingers of many eventful years. At those gatherings there was often quite an amount of jollity and good fellowship displayed, although, as a rule, your thorough tramp is rather a LEARNED HIS LESSON 31 taciturn individual, little given to society and the lighter frivolities of life. He has come down to the bed-rock of existence, and has no room in the chambers of his soul for anything save stern realities. "I remember one such gathering in North Devon. The autumn days were drawing in, and there was a keen feel in the air which made our fire wonderfully cheerful. We had a splendid pot going, and one man had produced from his miscellaneous swag a bottle of rum; and by some wonderful self-control he had managed to hoard the precious stuff intact. It was not much among a dozen men, but by proceeding upon the Scotch maxim of 'deal sma' and serve a/ and with the exhilarating hotchpotch to comfort the inner man, we had an evening of great good comradeship and merriment. Many were the queer episodes recorded, many the songs sung. I remember one song sung by my comrade Mac, and as he told me — in a burst of confidence — that he had composed it himself, I really think it worth transcribing; but I cannot give the music, and the charm with which he trolled it forth, and the rousing way all hands joined in the chorus. 32 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN THE TRAMP'S SONG There 's no road like the old road, Be it summer, or autumn, or spring; There 's no such way to lighten life's load, Tramp — tramp if you want to sing ! Hurrah, hurrah for the road, my lads ! Hurrah for the bonnie green-wood, But the best hurrah for the farmers' wives, For they're both bonnie and good ! Some love the streets of the city, Some others the gay saloon, But I reckon it waste and pity To miss the sun and moon. Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. And, oh the leaves in the spring-time, And at even the robin's song, And the flying foam of the sea rime, And the glad wind laughing along ! Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. It 's oh the scent of a pheasant Done brown on a skewer to a turn! And, it 's oh the taste o' the bonnie trout Fresh cooked from the wimpling burn. Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. We know the best of the country, We know where there's plenty or dearth; We know where there 's wandering poultry, And — " The meek shall inherit the earth." Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. LEARNED HIS LESSON 33 You work for your living, and weep — While your life goes sliding past — I wouldn't exchange my woodland sleep For all the gold thou hast ! Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. We share and share with a comrade Whatever we have in store ; And whatever we hear of good or bad We report it o'er and o'er. Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. "Dinna gang up to yon hoose!" Says Weary Will to me ; " Is there a muckle dug let loose? " Then says I back to he. Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. "No," says Will, "there's no a dug, To tear your breeks and sark ! But there 's ae thing gies sairer rug — A fearsome sicht o' wark!" Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. And so we help each other along, As Christian men all should! If we have no more we give a song — And wish each other good. Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. Good luck, good weather, and good grub, Freedom from every ill — Ne'er to be ordered the workhouse tub, And never their piggish swill! Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. D 34 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN Our prayers are very short and few, And when we offer them up, We have faith to know we'll get 'em too, For we ask but a bite and a sup. Hurrah, hurrah for the road, etc. And a warm hayrick in winter night, A tree in summer sun; A long sleep under hawthorns white — When tramping days are done! Chapter III " After nearly two years of this strange, hard life, with the very dregs of our social system, I began to give up in utter despair and hope- less bewilderment. Instead of working out any plan of reforming the dark places of the earth, I actually found myself becoming a worthless derelict on the fathomless wastes of a shoreless sea. What first made me realize the hopeless- ness of it all, was kneeling by the deathbed of my companion, one miserable winter night, in a wretched place in London. I say ' death-7 Babylon, we reached our destination and rapped at No. — Sweet-brier Court. I suppose some poetical wag had named the hole with the least appropriate name in his vocabulary. By no stretch of imagination could it be called a court, much less sweet, for its odours were of the pit. It was simply a narrow passage, so narrow that the inhabitants on each side could almost shake hands (or fight, according to cir- cumstances) with each other from their respect- ive windows. After waiting a short time — but it appeared a long time to us — we were ad- mitted by a rather stout lady whom Mac ad- dressed as ' Jess Macindo/ tenant of one of the many tenement houses in the neighbourhood, all within easy reach of some one of the numerous public-houses conveniently situated in or near the miserable, foul place ycleped ' Sweet-brier Court.' It is wonderful how ten- aciously civilization holds to the public-house. It is an institution which the uncivilized man has never invented, and never takes kindly to until he also is civilized like his white brother. "Jess was one of the usual sort, poor thing! Short, stoutish, big apron, grayish hair twisted into a bunch at the back, two children, apparently twins, clinging to her skirts, to whom 38 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN she administered a shake, or a cuff, every few moments for some reason I could not understand, certainly it was not from any motive of correc- tion — as the dirty little creatures stood abso- lutely quiet, staring at Mac and me. Perhaps she did it from mere force of habit, as some people twirl their thumbs, and she had no time to do that. " The poor woman looked for a few moments at my companion, and seemed to be seriously thinking of closing the door in our faces, fearing, I suppose, that she might have a dying man on her hands, and judging, no doubt, from our forlorn condition, that our financial state was as hopeless as our physical appearance was deplorable. But the woman-soul in poor Jess Macindo's bosom gained the mastery over the prudent doubts prompted by many years experi- ences of the hard battles of life. • Come awa ben,' she said, * but mind ye, Professor, I canna gie ye ony thing but shelter — the bairns wull hae to gang supperless tae bed this nicht, for Tarn has gane on ane o' his damned sprees, and there's no a bite or sup in the hoose, nor a bawbee o' money. But come awa ben, puir man ! And Til dae what I can for ye for the sake o' your mither, an' the auld days in bonnie Dundee/ LEARNED HIS LESSON 39 " So with careful steps we made our way up the narrow, dark stair to Jess Macindo's dingy domicile. By the miserable light of a tallow candle the woman showed us into a room void of any article of furniture, unless a heap of dirty straw bestrewn with old sacks and torn bits of carpet could, by a stretch of imagination, be termed furniture. " Mac threw himself on the straw with a sigh of comfort and satisfaction as genuine as if it had been a bed of down, and in a moment fell into the God-given mystery of sleep. The woman laid some of the sacks over the sleeper, and whispering, more to herself than to me, ■ I maun mak' the puir man a drap o' brose wi' the bit meal I was savin' for the morn,' she dropped some of the candle-grease on the stone mantel, and sticking the candle therein, departed on her merciful errand. In a few moments she came rushing back, and handing me some rough garments, said : ' Get him into thae things ! they'er Tarn's Sunday claes, an' he'll strike me when he kens what I've din, but losh me — I canna let the Professor dee in such awfu' meesery, for ye ken he 's deein' — and oh ! to think o' the bonnie braw man he was ten years syne! ' 4 o HOW JOHN TRUEMAN " The kindly creature went hurrying off to make the mess beloved of all Scots, and cele- brated in many a brave song and story. It is a simple concoction, quickly made if you have the requisite ingredients — oatmeal and boiling water — and very comforting and sustaining it is ; while if you can add a drop of ' mountain dew ' it is a comestible fit for the gods, at least that is what I thought that night. " I managed to get my dying pal into the soft warm clothes for the loan of which Jess had yet to square accounts with her man, as the Scotch usually call a husband. After I com- pleted the operation Mac seemed to improve, and when the landlady brought a jug of hot brose — with the most delicious odour I had ever inhaled in my life — and administered some to my passing friend, he rapidly improved and actually became cheerful, with that mysterious cheerfulness which is often an accompaniment of the most fatal disease of all the ills which modern civilization has developed. A disease unknown to primitive mankind until his un- sanitary white brother comes along with the seeds of this, and other evil things, hanging about his puny body and carefully packed kit. 1 1 Wherever civilized men camp, even for a short time in LEARNED HIS LESSON 41 " After our hostess had slowly and tenderly administered as much as she deemed proper of what she called ' the bonnie brose ' — with its aroma which alone was a solace and delight — she patted Mac as a mother soothes an ailing child, and said: * Lie doun noo, an' hae' a bit sleep!' and as she happed him with the old sacks and carpet, she whispered : ' Maybe he'll no wauken in this warld, and it would be far better he did nae.' " Then the good soul handed me the balance of the brose, which I have no doubt she knew I had been eyeing with an intense longing — wondering the while if any would come my way. " ' I dinna ken wha ye are, an' I dinna want tae ken! But just sup this pickle brose, an' then cuddle doun wi' the Professor, an* try to keep him an' yoursel' warm wi' the bits o' clouts, an' I'll see what I can dae the morn's morn. It's a waefu' warld! that I, Jess Macindo, should live to see the braw cantie Professor deein' in a stinking London close, in a thieves' den and lost women's lodge hoose ! ' And so I was left the most out-of-the-way spots of the earth, noxious weeds almost invariably spring up, and the many diseases common to the white races develop. 42 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN to my own miserable reflections and uncomfort- able conditions. " By the woman's own admission I was housed with thieves and other gentry of that ilk. But I was so utterly exhausted and miserable in body, that the moral atmosphere did not oppress me at all. And I learned something that night which I think was worth all my suffering, and it was this : " Those we term the criminal class are so deeply and constantly occupied with their dire sur- roundings and their fierce struggle for mere physical existence, that the evil they inflict upon others, and the injustice of their methods, never cross their minds. They simply ignore all ethics human and Divine, and are never troubled by the question of right or wrong; life becomes a problem of expediency, their moral barometer falls so low that the tremendous pressure puts conscience out of court altogether, and evil be- comes good, and good evil. But — and here is the gist of the enlightenment which came to me as I lay by my dying pal that dismal night, and dreamily reflected upon the charity of a poor lodge-keeper of ' thieves and lost women ' — in every soul there is a pure spark, dim though it may be, which God preserves in some miraculous LEARNED HIS LESSON 43 fashion through the most dismal darkness of this world. And sometimes that spark flickers into flame, which, although feeble and pale, yet is seen and registered by the angels of God. That is why Christ said to the sleek priests: 'Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.' " Here the Parson paused a little, and then resumed. " You men to whom I am relating this adventure, have all had much and varied experience among those we superciliously call savage tribes. Therefore you doubtless know that they never fall into such conditions of misery and such obliquity of vision as do the peoples of the white races. Whether it is our unnatural mode of life, which we term ' civiliza- tion,' or whether we are more prone to evil than our brown brothers, I shall not attempt to say, but you all know that it is a deplorable fact. And out of it all I have only found one path! and I shall tell you of that shortly. But I may remark, ere passing on, that maybe the great and terrible cesspool of modern poverty is the result of the vast accumulation of the world's wealth in comparatively few hands. Of course that wrong state of things is naturally followed by huge armies and navies composed 44 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN of idle, worthless, and dangerous millions of men, who only exist to protect the few who hold (I do not say own, for no man can own that which other men have created and never been properly paid for) the wealth of the world. Thus the wealthy and their protectors hold this world's goods; the wealthless — which compose, say, one half of a nation — have either to be slaves, and eke out a miserable existence work- ing their fingers to the bone, or else drop into the ranks of the weaker ones who pick up a living as scavengers, like the wretched dogs of Constantinople. If the enormous waste in time of war, and in preparation for war in times of perfect peace, was utilized in such righteous, commonsense methods as, say, those pursued by the Salvation Army, the curse of poverty would vanish from this weary world, and a new era of peace and goodwill would dawn. " Another pitiable fact is that the rich are in even a worse case than the poor, for they have the awful responsibility of wealth upon their shoulders, like the pack which poor Christian found so hard to get rid of, and for which they will have to give account at the day of Judge- ment! ''Our only infallible guide — Christ — has made LEARNED HIS LESSON 45 this quite clear in the terrible history of Lazarus and the rich man. We are not told that he was a bad man, we are simply told that he was rich, and, like other fashionable people, ' fared sumptuously every day,' often, no doubt, feeling weary enough of it all. Nor are we told that the beggar was a good man, we are only told that he was full of sores, and was laid at the rich man's gate, in hopes of some scraps now and then! The account is seemingly rather favourable to the rich man, for the beggar with the dogs licking his sores could not have been a pleasant object lying all day long at one's gate. Of course any self-respecting lady or gentleman in London would quickly have had Lazarus removed by the police. But we are not told that the rich man adopted, or even thought of, this summary method of getting rid of the disagreeable beggar. Here is the history as Christ told it, and a tremendous history it is. # * * # * " ' There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day : And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's 46 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried: And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented/ " That is a very terrible, and startling parable, and you fellows may think I have preached quite enough. But in case, like the majority of sailors, you have been keeping your Bibles in the bottom of your trunks (just for safety, you know) I will give you one instance more on this subject. " 'And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, . . .Thou knowest the commandments, LEARNED HIS LESSON 47 Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell what- soever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his dis- ciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus, looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.' 48 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN " No wonder they were ' astonished out of measure ' at the awful and astounding words. Of course all down the ages sophistry has so smoothed and whittled the awful account until the home-thrust 'Thou art the man! ' strikes no one. But the terror of it all was only confirmed to the simple disciples by their Masters as- surance : ' With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' " I think there cannot be two opinions re- garding the wisdom of Solomon's petition: ' Give me neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with food convenient for me : Lest I be full and deny thee, and say Who is the Lord ? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain! " If the wise King's happy medium could be universally achieved, the dire mystery and misery of wealth and poverty would vanish, as an evil vision of the night vanishes at the dawn of day; for it is only through darkness and disorder that these things exist in a world teeming with abundance for all, if that abund- ance were only fairly apportioned, instead of one half of mankind being heavily burdened with superfluous things, for a fair share of which the other half of mankind are perishing. LEARNED HIS LESSON 49 " The profound trouble is that Satan has not only antagonized even men of the same nation- ality, but he has split up the world into so many bitterly opposed states that the wise King's dream of the happy medium is seem- ingly as far off, and difficult of accomplishment, as ever. So, I fear, that the matter is in a great sense hopeless. And the only course which is absolutely achievable is for every man to study — with infinite care and diligence, and for his individual enlightenment — that brief, startling information, ' The rich man also died, and was buried ! \ M That's all I am going to inflict upon you at present in the sermon line," said the Parson. "And it's quite enough for ae nicht," mur- mured his friend Kinross, but Trueman only smiled, saying in his pleasant way : " Well ! you men elected me speaker for to-night, and as I've got the floor, as they say in the House of Commons, you'll have to hear me out, or get into your hammocks and begin to snore. I think that would make me quiet." At this we all laughed, and cried " hear, hear ! " while Kinross told the steward to open some young cocoanuts, and we all had a good swig of one of the very best drinks that ever was brewed E 50 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN in the tropics. After that we unanimously requested the Parson to go ahead for at least another hour. " That last night with my poor friend Mac — or more correctly the Professor, as Jess Macindo addressed Mac the tramp ! — I slept long and soundly. When I awoke in the gray dismal dawn of the November morning, I found him already awake, half sitting, and half reclining against the grimy stone wall. When I remonstrated with him upon the foolishness of exposing himself to the cold, damp stone wall, instead of snuggling down in the straw, he only smiled, and patted my shoulder, saying, in a quiet contented tone as if he had got over some disagreeable task: ' No more cold and misery for me, my lad; I am beyond the odours of poor Jess Macindo's dismal abode. My soul is inhaling the perfume of immortal flowers in that land where "the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary be at rest."' "Just then the woman came bustling in with a jug of something steaming hot. She heard Mac's words, and a glance at his face revealed to her much experienced eyes that he was at the very end of his last tramp. Laying LEARNED HIS LESSON 51 the jug on the mantel, she quietly knelt down beside the dying man, and gently laying his head on her bosom, soothed him as only woman can soothe in the dire mysteries of life and death. " ' Are ye very ill, Professor?' she whispered, while she smoothed back the uncombed hair from his face. ' Canna' I help ye, Professor?' Mac smiled in his old sweet way — the way which captured me at our first meeting — ' You are doing all I need, Jess, and blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy ! ' Then he sighed in a quiet, contented way, and said almost in a whisper, and dropping into his native tongue for the first time in our acquaint- ance: " ' You were a bonnie lass, Jess, in the auld days in Aberdeen, when you were my Mother's serving-lass. Yes, bonnie and guid!' A hot flush passed over the face of the woman who was a 'lodge-keeper for thieves and lost women,' and she tenderly moved her disen- gaged hand over Mac's mouth, and leaned her face down near to his. ■ Bonnie, and guid, and kind!' — he slowly repeated — 'And you must never forget, Charity shall cover the multitude of sins.' 52 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN " These were my friend's last words, and, as the spirit passed, I knelt down to help the weeping woman to lay Mac decently on the straw. Her tears were falling fast and heavy on the dead man's placid face, and I heard broken words of endearment, and names of places and people which, of course, I knew nothing about, and therefore knew not what she meant. But, with my own tears falling, I prayed more fervently, I think, than I ever prayed before, that one Divine Prayer which we possess; and both poor Jess and I knew what that meant. " So the mystery drifts on. A hail from a kindly voice in the darkness, and in a moment the shadowy face is gone. A loving hand-clasp in the rush and hurry, but no time for spoken word to ease the breaking heart; only a sob, and a mist of tears floating for a little while through the gloom, and then darkness, and silence, and groping in the night for the lost path. That was my first experience in life and death, but, thank God, there was another which came long afterwards. " I returned to my father's house a profoundly miserable man. I had failed utterly to solve in the least degree the problems of life. The quest LEARNED HIS LESSON 53 which I had lightly undertaken with the pride and self-confidence of youth, had not only baffled me, but had so confused my mental vision that — like the man whom Christian saw in the iron cage — I could by no means, I then knew, find my way into freedom again. u I had many long talks with my father, in whom I had great confidence; not only in his love and care for me, but in his judgement of my case, for he had confided to me that in his young days he, also, had fallen into the same spiritual darkness. At last, with much self- sacrifice (for he had fondly hoped that I would become his own Curate, and eventually his successor) he advised me to take up foreign mission work, and, amid primitive mankind, study the problem of life from another point of view altogether. So it came about that I was destined for the Pacific after all, where I have gone through much — spiritually, physically, and mentally. But, above all, I have learned the lesson I sought. It is very different from what I dreamed of in my vain youth, and pride of intellect, but I know it is all the lesson we can understand until we shall see ' face to face,' and not as now * through a glass darkly/ W -n* rTp -t¥ -jF 54 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN " I was given a rather peculiar charge. There had been, and still continued to be, much con- fusion regarding the many islands in the Pacific. I was to carry on the work of an itinerant missionary from group to group, and from island to island. To pass, as best I could, in regular circuit, north, south, east, and west, working my best as opportunity offered, and gaining all the information possible of the state of the islanders under the changed conditions to which they had become subject since the advent of the white race into the Pacific. And to report from time to time whether such advent had, in my opinion, led to the improvement or deterioration of the native races. " I was not to be subject to any Church author- ity abroad. I must only receive my instructions from home. But I was expected to work har- moniously with all denominations and all classes of men. This, I am happy to say, I have always succeeded in doing, and besides it has been my great privilege and enduring consolation, that I have made many friendships in the Pacific which have endured unto death, and some — thank God! — whose cheering words of comfort and hope are still audible to my mortal ear. " In the first year of my western Pacific LEARNED HIS LESSON 55 wanderings I had the happiness of meeting that true servant of God, John Coleridge Patteson, Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands, than whom never a truer or more lovable disciple of our Lord bravely and unselfishly accomplished ' The way of the Cross.' " At the time I refer to ' Black-birding,' as the accursed trade was called, was rife in the South Seas. All the sugar growing countries in or bordering on the South Pacific, were more or less stained with the blood of broken-hearted islanders lured by fraud, or carried off by open force, from their happy isles, to toil for years, and too often until death, at work, and under conditions alien and hateful to their brave and free-born natures. ' Black-birding ' almost ruined the great and good work done by Patteson and many other devoted men in the South Sea, and was directly responsible for the martyrdom of one of the gentlest, the lovingest, and most unselfish of those Saints, who all through the ages have laid down their lives in the Master's service. "■It is quite a mistake to say that the good Bishop was murdered — in the ordinary meaning of that dreadful word. The real fact is that he was sacrificed by mad, broken-hearted men who 56 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN had lost fathers, mothers, brothers, wives, and children, stolen by men of the Bishops own race — men whom these children of Nature had trusted; and according to their poor, warped code of justice, it was fit that the brightest and best of the guilty race should pay the penalty for the wrong done. M And thus it always comes about that the Archfiend and his satellites dog the footsteps of the servants of God, and by some subtle means seek to compass their overthrow. Had it been possible to introduce the Gospel of our Lord into the Pacific, without the conglomeration of confused evil called civilization, the world Would have witnessed a golden age, such as saints and sages have dreamt of, but which has never yet been realized on this weary planet. " I was slowly voyaging southward from the line islands, calling here and there at the many islands in the western Pacific, and hoping eventu- ally to meet the Bishop at Mota, or at his home station on Norfolk Island, and once again have the refreshment and solace of his loving and wise advice and encouragement. But it was not to be. At one of the islands where I touched I was stricken down by the intelligence of his death. I was told of the tragedy by the rough LEARNED HIS LESSON 57 skipper of a ' Black-birding ' schooner who actually had tears in his eyes as he told me the sad story. For even those who carried on this wicked business could not help loving Patteson, while they feared his pure heart and noble character. "The skipper told me in simple, but very touching language, how that after the poor wild creatures had sacrificed their friend and pro- tector they laid him respectfully and tenderly on a canoe, in a daintily constructed bower of palm fronds, a fitting canopy for a servant of Christ. And so floated all that was mortal of Patteson out to his weeping friends on the little schooner, and next day was committed to the deep, a fitting resting place for one who loved the tropics and the wonderful coral seas. And so, in the crude language of human speech we say, ended a useful and valuable life. Whereas we ought to say, here began the higher and perfect life. Chapter IV " I will pass over twenty years, years in which I laboured strenuously among the beautiful islands and faerie atolls scattered like jewels all over 58 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN this wonderful South Sea. I had, as far as mortal man may know, led many a darkened soul to the only Light which never grows dim in all the darkness of the ages. I had seen hope come into hopeless eyes, and I had heard gentle words of faith and love from once fierce lips and savage hearts. But to my own soul, in all those active, and apparently useful years, there never came for one hour, even for one brief minute of time, 'the peace of God which passeth all understanding.' " Once I laid bare my heart to my friend Patteson, and he did all that one soul can do for another as we 'journey through the wilder- ness of this world.' He asked God in a simple, humble, loving manner — which was beautiful and wonderful, and which I have never for- gotten — to keep alive in my heart the flickering embers of hope, until such time as He in His loving wisdom saw fit to bestow that which supersedes hope, reality. " Then after long, loving talks he would say : ' My dear fellow, cling with all your might, like a drowning man, to the Cross of Faith, and to the anchor of Hope, and you will see Light ere you go hence.' 1 And his words were fulfilled to the letter, although in a way little dreamed LEARNED HIS LESSON 59 of by either of us at the time the words were spoken. " At last I found it absolutely necessary to return to England, to give a full personal account of the knowledge I had gained of the condition of the islands and their inhabitants, for which purpose I had been sent to the Pacific; and there were also private matters connected with my father's estate which required my personal attention. " But when I actually began to prepare to leave the Pacific I found it a hard struggle to part from those loving souls and the life which had become part of my very existence. We all have much of the primitive man in our make-up in spite of centuries of artificial culture. And to the palm groves, and shimmering lagoons of the coral atolls, to the merry, loving creatures — who never met me save with smiles, and never parted without tears — I had become so ac- customed, or I should rather say so attached, that I found it a most sorrowful ordeal to say a long and perhaps a last farewell. " These children of Nature are sometimes fierce in their passions, but they are also true as steel, and faithful unto death in their simple hearts, when put to the test. I have had many 6o HOW JOHN TRUEMAN proofs of this in my wanderings in the Pacific. I will give you one of many instances by which I have proved their faithfulness and courage. " I had taken passage in a little native schooner which traded among the southern islands, the Low Archipelago, and even as far north as the Line. The captain and crew were all natives, men whom I had often journeyed with from island to island. Fine fellows they were, born seamen, and with the splendid courage of their race, but at the same time with the careless happy-go-lucky methods of all kanaka sailors. " After getting away from port, clearing the reef, and putting things ship-shape on deck, all hands had a meal of baked bread-fruit and a bit of dried fish, winding up with a light smoke from a common pipe passed around among all hands, each man taking a whiff or two — the invariable South Sea custom. Then everybody (excepting the steersman) selected a comfortable spot and lay down to have a snooze. I had often pointed out the danger of this careless habit, but it made no more impression on these happy voyagers than it would startle a tramp in England to tell him that he was risking his life by taking his noon-day siesta under an oak where it was quite possible a branch might LEARNED HIS LESSON 61 crack and fall, and so end his do Ice far niente career. " But the unexpected happened that day, as it always does sooner or later. I have no idea how it all came about; one said it was owing to the mainsail gybing unexpectedly, another man declared that we ran on to a sleeping whale and slid so far up his slippery back that our little craft capsized as the monster shook himself free ; while the man at the helm affirmed that a squall caught us off the high peaks of the island. But whatever was the cause, we soon realized that we were in a desperate fix. We had no boat with us on that trip. Small native schooners have little room for a boat, and often sail with- out one. Wherever they go there are always plenty of canoes to do the work of loading and unloading. " When our little craft ' turned turtle ' no one was hurt, or, indeed, much incommoded in that warm sea. Every South Sea islander can swim like a fish, and even I had practised so con- stantly ever since I came to the Pacific, that it had become almost a joke to be accidentally tumbled into the warm, sparkling water. I had even become so expert in the water that I could quickly divest myself of such loose, light 62 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN clothing as we usually wear in this genial tropical world. So in the present instance I soon threw off all needless impedimenta, and joined the two dozen men who composed our crew and passengers, who quickly gathered together con- sulting over our mishap, and deciding what would be the best course to adopt. Of course, if the schooner had been merely a good-sized open boat, the accident would have been con- sidered a mere trifle, if not a joke. The mast and sail would have been quickly unshipped, the boat turned right side up, two light fellows would have scrambled on board and begun bailing, while the rest would have supported her so that the waves would soon have ceased to lap over the gunwales ; and in ten minutes all hands would have been on board again, laughing and joking, and thinking no more of the accident than a lot of boys think of rolling off a donkey on Margate sands. " The first time I saw how completely the islanders are at home in the water was rather a startling experience to me, for I was utterly inexperienced in the Pacific — what the Colonials call ' a new chum/ " I was crossing from Apia to one of the small islands to the westward, in a finely appointed LEARNED HIS LESSON 63 whale boat with a crew of half-a-dozen men, and several women passengers who had been to Apia to replenish their household necessities, and even luxuries. These they were showing to each other, comparing notes, and having a general gossip. One old lady had bought what she was evidently very proud of, and what she considered not only useful, but highly ornamen- tal, viz., one of the old-fashioned three-legged iron pots, which were common enough kitchen utensils of our grandmothers, but which have now become rather rare articles of furniture in English houses. " The old lady was greatly pleased with her purchase — no doubt the reward of much saving and planning — and sat in the stern sheets pat- ting the smooth, clean, cast-iron pot with much satisfaction and contentment. All hands were thus much more intent upon their recent acquire- ments than upon the management of the boat. When we got well clear of the land we struck the full force of the strong trade wind, and as the steersman swept the boat round before the wind, a big curling wave pitched the rudder out of the water, while at the same moment the sail gybed and caught the sea, and the boat capsized before one could say the proverbial 64 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN 1 Jack Robinson.' Of course we were all thrown out, and the boat floated with her keel where her gunwale ought to have been. Being a good swimmer — for a white man — I soon picked myself up, and proceeded to study the situation. What first impressed me was the fact that not a man, woman, or child showed the slightest fear or anxiety. The men were already unshipping the mast and sail, and turning the boat right side up, preparatory to bailing her free of water. The women were scattered about gathering their private belongings, and collecting the boat's gear, oars, rudder, etc., and, as I live ! the old lady of the pot was carefully keeping her treasure afloat without exciting the slightest merriment, anger, or astonishment among her friends. That incident taught me a lesson of the wonderfully amphibious nature of the islanders which I have never forgotten. " In less time than I have taken to relate the incident, everything was put to rights, and we were again flying before the stiff trades, the old lady's pot and everything else accounted for, our clothes rapidly drying in the genial sun- shine, and all hands laughing and joking as if we had been engaged in some merry escapade which had been arranged beforehand and had LEARNED HIS LESSON 65 come off to everybody's entire satisfaction. It is rather humiliating to our boasted cleverness of seamanship to reflect, that had white sailors fallen into such a fix every one must have perished. " That was my first boat adventure — I have had many since — but our schooner was a heavy craft of nearly twenty tons burden, and it was quite impossible to get her into seaworthy con- dition again until she drifted to shore some- where, and just where that would be it was im- possible to say. The currents are so variable among the islands that it is impossible to tell how wrecks will drift. " Our catastrophe happened about two p.m., and by sunset our Captain and crew had decided, after much consultation and careful observation of landmarks, that our best chance was to abandon the schooner and endeavour to reach land by slow, steady, and careful swimming. The stronger were not to forsake the weaker, the whole company were to keep close together, the weaker in front, and the strong men in rear. I was placed in the middle of the band, with a powerful swimmer on each side of me in case I required assistance, which I did long before that terrible swim was completed. F 66 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN " Previous to leaving the schooner each man provided himself with a bit of board a few feet in length, to rest upon, which as you know is a great help in swimming. We had a small deck load of redwood lumber on the schooner, which is a very buoyant wood, and suited admirably for swimming boards {papa hee nalu). Some of our men managed to get into the cabin, and secured a couple of tins of biscuits and some tins of sardines, which afforded us a good meal before we started, and without which even the strongest of the company could not have pulled through. We did not require any water to drink, for, if the body is kept wet with sea water, men can exist for several days without much incon- venience, whereas if men drink sea water to allay thirst, it invariably causes madness and death. " Of course we had all thrown off whatever clothing would impede our progress, but I noticed that every man looked carefully to his sheath knife and belt before we started on that desperate swim. I did not think much about it at the time, but I learned the reason before we reached the blessed, firm land, which I had never fully appreciated until I had so nearly lost it. " Being all ready for a start, the fine fellows LEARNED HIS LESSON 67 gathered around me as quietly and respectfully as if we had been at our ease on shore, while the Captain suggested that I should implore the Great God — Ruler of the sea, as well as the land — to be with us through the watches of the night, and bring us, in His mercy, to shore. So we started on our swim, of about twelve or fourteen miles, to the nearest point of land. We were on the lee side of the island, and, as often happens at night under the lee of high islands, the trades had given place to a very gentle land breeze which did not incommode us at all; indeed, all hands were in high spirits, and prophesied a speedy voyage. Of course I took no part in directing matters, having the common sense to know that my friends were more fitted to cope with our perilous circumstances than the whole collective wisdom and skill of the British Navy would have been. " Before we finally left the schooner it became quite apparent that she was drifting from the land, so we made as little delay as possible in getting away from the poor old craft. I may add that I heard afterwards that she went ashore on a little rocky island about a hundred and fifty miles to leeward of where she capsized, and there became a total wreck. 68 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN " For the first few hours of our swim I did not feel much inconvenience, and the fine, cheer- ful men by whom I was surrounded would have kept up the heart of even a coward, and I am not quite as low as that." Here Kinross gave a sort of growl, that had a lot of emotion in it, while he gripped the Parson's hand in a warm clasp, which had a deep meaning coming from a man of Kinross's temperament. At this most unusual demonstra- tion on the part of the skipper, Kent and I also shook hands with the hero of the evening, and implored him to proceed. "When we had been swimming for about five hours, as I judged by the height of the moon, and had accomplished fully half the distance to land, I heard a whisper passing from man to man, and I soon made out that name which is dreaded north and south in the Pacific, and strange to say is pronounced almost alike — manoo — (shark), although spelled differ- ently in the various island dialects. In all ancient mythologies in the islands, the shark is invariably represented as a god, showing the fear and dread in which the savage creature is held. " By this time I had become much exhausted, LEARNED HIS LESSON 69 and was depending almost entirely on the generous assistance of my friends. When I heard the whispers, and actually saw the fins of the monsters within a few yards of the out- side rim of our little band of swimmers — twenty- four men all told — I gave myself up as lost, for it was impossible to expect men in such desperate circumstances to trouble themselves with a helpless man of an alien race, however kind they might be under ordinary conditions. But I learned many things that night which I did not know before, or knew only very dimly, like the rest of stupid mankind; and two of these are the absolute infallibility of Tennyson's two axioms: 1 Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood.' ''There was no panic among our company, although each man knew that the chance of reaching shore was now reduced to zero. The Captain gave out his orders as calmly as if he were still on his lost schooner's quarter-deck. He told the outside men to keep close together so as to be within touch of each other, and if one were attacked, or a shark came within reach, to strike true and quick with their knives, then all hands to make a strong spurt ahead, and 70 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN leave the wounded shark to the tender mercies of his fellows, who always become fierce cannibals when they smell blood. " Thus we kept steadily onward for another hour or so ; the leading men passing the word every few minutes to the rearguard, and from side to side, so as to keep our band as close together as possible. Sharks, like their land prototypes, wolves, are cowardly savages, and they never care to attack a large company until they taste blood, and then they become fiends incarnate. " As I said, we kept steadily and bravely onward. We were fast approaching the shore, and could make out the white coral sandy beach quite distinctly, when I heard a terrible cry on my left-hand side, and I knew that the sharks had made an attack. There was much outcry and fierce imprecations, but above all rose the commands of our Kapena, in native, of course, 'Strike home! keep steady! swim strong!' and the brave fellows pushed steadily forward; not a sign of panic or despair, not a whisper of dropping the white man, which would have given much ease and a much needed respite to the weary swimmers, who were all showing symptoms of fatigue, not only with their own LEARNED HIS LESSON 71 desperate efforts to save themselves but with their extra exertions to save me. " For the next couple of hours I think I must have been as nearly dead as it is possible for a man to be and yet to be alive. But my friends never abated one jot of their care — or I should rather say tenderness — for me, at times carrying me on their backs, at another time towing me along on my board without the least exertion on my part ; but whichever way they decided to change me to, it was always done with that kind of tenderness which strong men evince towards a weakly child. And, I am ashamed to say, that sometimes when I actually found myself grumbling at some change which they deemed necessary, the splendid fellows would say some encouraging words to soothe my ungrateful heart. May God forgive my selfishness, and may He remember in mercy those brave souls in the Day of Judgement! " As we neared the land the sharks became more and more aggressive, knowing, I suppose, like their leader the Archfiend, that their time was short. Again and again I heard the terrible wail which told that one more of our diminish- ing company was torn to pieces by the dreadful monsters. 72 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN " At last I must have fallen into a troubled swoon, for I dreamt I was in Hell, and that hideous shapes, such as we can never conceive in our sane waking moments, were stretching out fleshless hands to seize me, and opening dreadful jaws with flaming rows of teeth to tear me to pieces. As I cried out in my agony I thought an angel stood before me, and, stretching forth his hand, drew me out of the awful place. And then I awoke, lying on the warm, dry sand, with the sun shimmering through the whispering cocoanut fronds, and the great Pacific rollers thundering on the coral reef. " I lay a long while in a kind of waking trance ere I fully realized my position. Sometimes I shuddered as I seemed to hear the cry of a dying man in his agony, and then — oh the blessedness of the feeling! — I stretched out my feeble arms and felt the soft warm sand under me, instead of the cruel sea with its legions of devils; and I wept and prayed in thankfulness as I fell into the dreamless sleep of utter prostration of body and mind. " We began that awful swim numbering twenty- four strong, brave men — ' Kanaka Maori/ as they themselves would say — and one member of a race not only worthless but a great encum- LEARNED HIS LESSON 73 brance in such an adventure, and we reached land only nine men all told ! Not one of the lost men had succumbed to fatigue or despair, every man had died heroically and conscienti- ously doing his duty under circumstances in- finitely more trying to a man's courage than the fiercest battle that was ever fought between men y either on sea or land. " Since that memorable day — or rather night — I have retained the most profound respect and affection for the pre-Adamite races. Of course they never had the great privileges of Adam's race, but probably for that very reason they never fell so low, and never developed to the same extent the devilish sins of ingratitude and selfishness. " Here were a company of uncivilized men — as we in our vanity and stupidity call them — who not only risked, but gave their lives to save one, a mere wanderer, from whom they could by no stretch of imagination expect any material reward. If these poor fellows had abandoned me I could by no means have blamed them. The circumstances were so desperate, the chance of reaching land so small, that they would have been quite justified in dropping one who was not only a useless member of the company but 74 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN who delayed the general progress by at least one third, and every hour in the water increased the awful danger of sharks. I often wonder, when I happen to lie awake at night, and my thoughts wander backwards, how many com- panies of white men would act in the same way to a helpless brown fellow creature under similar circumstances? But when I get that length I either jump up and take a turn at my exerciser, or I light my candle and read hard for a while to get into a new train of thought. Chapter V 11 As I have said, it was a hard matter to part from people who had proved their affection for me by actions such as I have recorded, and through many years of intimate association. Besides, the glamour of the South Seas sinks so deeply into a man that he is never very fit for any other life. But my English business was urgent, and I took shipping at Samoa on the mail boat bound for San Francisco. It was a strange experience, and yet a sort of relief to my heavy heart, to mingle with the passengers. I did my best, or perhaps it was my worst, to ease my LEARNED HIS LESSON 75 soul by listening to their silly talk and joyless laughter, and joining in — what seemed to me after my life with the abstemious islanders — their ceaseless feeding and drinking propensities. This (after my long absence from it) was a very shocking feature of civilized life, and I think is doubtless one of the most prolific causes of the enormous proportion of diseases which it is the unhappy fate of the white races to bear. " My fellow room-mate on that voyage was a jolly German trader, going to San Francisco to replenish his stock-in-trade. He gave me much interesting information concerning some islands I had never seen, particularly the Hawaiian Archipelago, with its once numerous and healthy people, now, alas! fast approaching extinction through the ravages of imported diseases, and the mental, moral, and bodily enervating in- fluence of the aggressive and unscrupulous white race. "In my frequent voyaging in the South Seas I had heard faint rumours of the fell progress which leprosy had made in the Hawaiian Islands. And, always in connection with the terrible scourge, I heard the name of a priest who had devoted his life to the stricken victims of the most woeful affliction which has ever befallen 76 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN the children of men. I had never been brought personally in contact with leprosy, and from my friend's lurid description of the horror and pathos of the segregation settlement, and the terrible life-in-death of the young Priest — Father Damien — amid his awful and hopeless surroundings, I was so touched and deeply interested, that I determined to break my voyage at Honolulu, and prove by actual ex- perience if the real facts were as dreadful as my friend made them appear, or — as I strongly suspected — if the picture was specially painted in its ghastly colours for the enlightenment of my stubborn Protestant darkness. I need only say further that within a few weeks I had proved the sorrowful truth of what I had heard, and indeed much more than mere words can express, ■ because things seen are greater than things heard.' And I had seen it all : and, God helping me, I learned the lesson which He had been leading me towards, step by step through strange paths of darkness and suffering. " At the time I refer to, the fine Hawaiian Islands were still an independent kingdom, but the monarchy was fast hastening to its doom. The great northern power and the foolish little kingdom of Hawaii were exactly LEARNED HIS LESSON 77 in the position of the wolf and the lamb in La Fontaine's appropriate fable. No matter although the poor little lamb was drinking further down the stream than the great greedy wolf, and therefore could not by any manner of human — or inhuman — logic be accused of committing the slightest offence against the wolf, yet the great monster soon declared that the harmless, little Hawaiian fool was worthy of death for the crime of drinking at all! And shortly after the time I refer to, the great wolf pronounced that ' the plum was ripe,' and one lovely morning when the lamb was keeping herself perfectly still, so as to attract as little observation as possible, the wolf declared 'that to prevent bloodshed ' the lamb must be slaughtered, which he at once proceeded to do, and with short shrift devoured his victim, to his own great gastronomic satisfaction, and to the delight of his admiring friends. Thus ended the history of the peaceful and unique little kingdom, to the sorrow and loss of its monarch and people, but to the joy and gain of the wolf and his friends. " Statesmen usually term this method of acquiring property ' Natural assimilation,' but God designates it by quite another appellation in the Eighth Commandment. 7% HOW JOHN TRUEMAN "But I have strayed from my subject, which has nothing to do with governments, good or bad, but with the problem of sorrow, and how the school of woe and suffering can teach the heart profounder lessons than all the other schools of life put together. The wise man told us long ago ' The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.' And it was in the house of mourning that I found the pearl above all price, which I had sought for in vain in every other kind of house. " Early one calm morning I landed from the little local steamer at the leper settlement of Kalawao, on the Island of Molokai. The settle- ment is completely isolated from everywhere else by stupendous cliffs on the land side, and by the ocean in front. It is by no means a dismal-looking place naturally, and from the sea or from the top of the cliffs one might imagine Kalawao a peaceful village of fisher- folk, such as one often finds here and there on the many islands of the Pacific. There is not much rainfall at the settlement, but that is a blessing which would be a curse elsewhere — for the woeful inhabitants dread the touch of cold or damp upon their miserable bodies. LEARNED HIS LESSON 79 " I had met some difficulty in being permitted to visit Kalawao at all, but through the influence of an old friend I had succeeded in obtaining a permit not only to visit the settlement, but to remain as a guest of Father Damien (to whom I had a letter of introduction) for ten days, but not an hour longer on penalty of the danger of being detained in that hopeless abode for the rest of my life. Did I say ' hopeless > just now? — Nay! I recall that word, for I learned in Kalawao — among many other wonderful things which I learned there — that the word * hopeless ' is never found in the true Christian man's vocabulary. "When I landed that fair morning, with all things in Nature beautiful — the glittering blue sea flecked here and there with cloud-shadows alternating with the glory of the tropical sun- shine, the land dotted with trees and huts and bits of native cultivation, bounded by the giant cliffs and the silvery streak of breakers on the reef — I thought Kalawao by no means such a dismal place as my friend's description had led me to expect. But, alas ! when I met a crowd of people, not like human beings, and yet — oh horror! — men and women and little children! I staggered back to the boat with the one im- 80 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN pulse of getting away from the dreadful place. But at that moment one came forward with the reflected light of the Son of Man upon his stricken face, and greeted me as only those who have seen their Lord can greet a brother still wandering in the valley of the shadow. " And thus at last I stood in presence of the martyr priest — the self-immolated servant of Christ. Many, through the ages of the world, have given the body to one hour or one day of torture followed by the swift transition, ' To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' But the man — or rather the decaying bodily remains of the man — who stood before me had voluntarily taken upon himself the life and burden of the leper — that most woeful doom which has ever befallen man : compared to which all swift or lingering torture invented by the skill of man or devil is merely the momentary prick of a rose thorn ! l 1 Since Damien's time devoted souls have gone to Kalawao — all honour to them for their noble self-sacrifice! — but so carefully guarded is their daily life that the risk of contracting the disease is brought to a minimum, while, at the time Father Damien went, the conditions were such that for the devoted spiritual guide, nurse, and friend, leprosy was eventually certain, and Damien was quite aware of that aw- ful fact. LEARNED HIS LESSON 81 " And so — after half a lifetime spent in vain search for my lost angel of peace — I found the heavenly messenger, not in the form of a white- robed spirit, but in the form of a man who had never been very handsome at the best, and who was now a leper in the sight of men, but in the clear vision of the angels of God, a being almost as beautiful as themselves. " And thus began ten of the happiest and by far the most profitable days of my life. During all that time I was surrounded by poor creatures only human in their kindly ways and expressive eyes. The Father never abated, day or night, one jot of his spiritual or bodily help to his children — as he called the whole community, some seven or eight hundred men, women, and children. He prayed for and comforted the souls and bodies of his people with that wonder- ful alchemy — Love — which * never faileth/ He nursed, washed, and fed miserable little mites who had no other earthly helper — creatures without hands or feet, and quite unhuman save for the loving eyes which never ceased to watch with a pathetic rapture the angel in the stricken form of the young Priest — already almost for- gotten even in the little island kingdom, and hardly known at all to the outside world. But G 82 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN that did not matter, for his name was written in the * Book of Life/ " Before I had been a day in Pere Damien's company I knew God in His mercy had led me to Kalawao to learn my lesson from a man stricken with the most dire affliction which is possible to befall the body of man. And in his terrible suffering never soothed by the loving companionship of parent or brother, utterly sundered from the faintest hope of recovery, a hope which is never quite denied to the victims of all other diseases however deadly. " Many, and long, and wonderful, were our talks, or I should rather say, my questions and his talks, as we sat under the lauhala tree, a spot he loved, and which had been his only shelter for a long time when he first came to the Settlement. How it ever happened that he came at all he told me in a few simple words, and in a plain matter-of-course way, as if there was nothing to notice about such a commonplace event. But I don't think God looked upon it as a commonplace event! " ' I had been in the Islands for some time/ he said, ' and spoke the language fluently, when my Bishop called for a volunteer to go to this place to attend to the spiritual welfare and LEARNED HIS LESSON 83 bodily afflictions of the sad ones here. God directed me to offer my life for the work. I knew well what I was undertaking (or I ought to say, what God was commanding me to under- take) for I had even then seen much of the sorrow and suffering of leprosy. But there was no one in our community more fitted than I for the work. I was young, just turned thirty, healthy and vigorous ; not the mere wreckage of a man as you see me now, slowly and unworthily making my way of the Cross, and hoping soon to be on top of my Golgotha. " ' I knew when I came here that I could never return to the outer world. Of course this did not matter at all to the world, but it mattered very much to me, and to those who loved me. All through my island life, before I came here, I had dreams of some day returning to my native land, to my mother, and to the homely surround- ings that are dear to the peasant class to which I belong. But when I slept under this tree the first night I spent amid my poor children, and dreamt that I saw my mother in the old humble home — and heard her bless me — I knew well that it was only in dreams, sleeping or waking, that those dear visions would ever recur. " ' But God gave me grace — as He alwaysdoes 84 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN to all who ask Him — never to regret my choice, or I should rather say, His choice for me. I am, and always have been, absolutely content with my life at Kalawao, and happy in the com- panionship of my children, with their poor, ugly, half bodies but beautiful, whole souls. And we always have the blessed knowledge that God will in His own time — which must be the right time — cast off these miserable, shameful rags of bodies, and take our purified souls into His Paradise, where no vile thing can exist. And, I think, of all the blessed in His presence, we shall be the most blessed, because from the deepest abyss of hopeless earthly horror and pain we shall feel His healing touch and hear His loving words as did the poor Galilean: " I will, be thou clean ! And immediately his leprosy was cleansed." As ours shall all be cleansed in His good time. " ' I used to be fond of philosophizing in my brave, strong days, as I suppose most healthy young men are prone to be. But philosophy vanished from my repertory when I came to Kalawao. My speculations are now bounded by the cliffs yonder, and the seashore at our feet. The best creeds are the simplest, and mine is nearly all included in this little rhyme : LEARNED HIS LESSON 85 " ' u For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." I ask no more — I trust no more my brain, For wisdom deems The goals men seek are all in vain : Dreams — idle dreams. A little while and I shall know What every sage, With weary toil, hath failed to show Age after age. I trace with awe the Maker's hand On land and seas; I love, but cannot understand, The Pleiades. I cannot tell why hearts must break And eyes must weep : I cannot tell why Death should take What I would keep. The robin singing in the sun Knows just as I, Each when his little day is done, Must cease — and die. Yestreen I laughed a happy child, And now, to-day, With lips as though they never smiled, I pass for aye. The prize I sought through weary years, Now only dross : The toil, the grief, the hopes, the fears; Loss — only loss ! 86 HOW JOHN TRUEMAN I am but as a little child Out in the night, I only hear the storm-wrack wild, I see no light. No light, but in the dark I feel A blessed Hand With wounds ! but oh ! a Hand to heal And understand My doubt, my terror, and my pain, And hold me safe; And make a happy child again Of wandering waif. Take back your vain, false knowledge, I Shall hold that Hand\ I ask no more to read the sky, To search the land. The mysteries vanish — darkness clears — The sorrows cease; And backward roll the weary years To childhood's peace I " Here the Father was interrupted to answer some one who had spoken to him. Then turn- ing to me he said, with a bright cheerful laugh, such as I had not enjoyed myself for many a year, and which utterly astonished me coming from a man, himself stricken, and in that abode of stricken men, unhuman in their awful de- formities : " ' Come, come ! I am wasting all this beautiful LEARNED HIS LESSON 87 morning in my usual idle way, while my children are waiting for me. Come and see for yourself how good and patient they are/ " Passing into his little room, he greeted quite cheerfully his children, as he called the ghastly men and women who were waiting for his com- forting ministrations, both physical and spiritual. It was a wonderful sight for a selfish, miserable man like myself to behold — wonderful beyond all words! " I had been accustomed to suppose that in my free, healthful, and untrammelled life, I had been working strenuously in the Master's vine- yard, whereas I now began to dimly perceive that I had only been enjoying the grapes as I went comfortably through the pleasant, shady paths, and occasionally plucking up a weed here and there as it happened to obtrude its ugly head upon my notice." Here the Parson made one of his rather em- barrassing pauses, and looked a bit quizzically at his audience — we three men lounging comfort- ably in our deck chairs and dreamily smoking, at peace with ourselves and all the world. Then he said, not in the story-telling tone in which he had previously been speaking, but in a direct sort of way which rather disconcerted us : 8S HOW JOHN TRUEMAN " Would to God that I could have had you three white men with me that day at Kalawao! I know you would never have been quite the same men again. The mysteries of God (which men are too dense to perceive, until one little corner of the veil is lifted by a simple, kind miracle, such as Jesus frequently performed to convince his stubborn disciples, or a sacrifice of self-immolation, such as Damien's, takes place at far intervals before the eyes of wondering men) would not lie in a dim, undefined cloud- land far back in your untroubled imaginations, but would so enlighten your souls that even stupid men of the world would take knowledge that you ■ had been with Jesus/ as the wonder- ing priests and Sadducees in their amazement took knowledge of Peter and John. " And so that day, and every day, Damien helped and washed, and did whatever was possible for the relief of the poor miserable bodies of the lepers, so terrible in their corruption that some- times my pampered nerves gave way, and I would faint. Then, after ministering tenderly to their hopeless bodies, this man of God attended still more diligently to their souls, heard their simple confessions, and prayed for their forgive- ness in the name of Him who never yet refused LEARNED HIS LESSON 89 forgiveness to the penitent. In this strange fashion I learned my lesson day by day in that Gehenna of sorrow, and I slowly recovered the peace of soul of childhood, without which there is no peace in this world or the next. Pere Damien made it quite clear to me that, * Who- soever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein/ " And thus was fulfilled the prophecy of my lost friend who was sleeping in the far South Sea — the manifestation of his foreknowledge — that I should some day find rest and peace of soul. But the loving heart was still which would have rejoiced with me, and the lips were silent that would have burst into paeans of thanksgiving for my rescue, which he had lovingly said would most assuredly come * ere you go hence/ "The little craft which had brought me to Kalawao returned punctually on the tenth day, and however fain I might be to linger in that school of knowledge, there could be no respite. All those who were able to crawl that morning came down to the beach. It was a little break in the awful monotony of their lives to engage once more in the universal island custom of * welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.' But there never were parting guests from that 9 o HOW JOHN TRUEMAN sad port, and the ' coming guests ' were too broken-hearted to heed word of welcome, even if such an incongruous salutation were spoken. " As Pere Damien and I sat on the beach that glorious tropical morning, lovingly talking over my experiences at Kalawao, and the com- fort and knowledge I had gained from his com- panionship, the boat came to the beach, and I had to prepare to embark. Very sadly and with heavy tears I said my farewells, and in my sorrow I added: ' It is farewell for ever, mon Pere! But Damien laid his hand on my arm, and looking into mine with those wonderful eyes of his, and with a smile I shall never forget while memory is mine, whispered: \ Nay, not for ever, only for that brief, merciful space of our lives which we designate TimeY And as I looked for the last time at the poor, maimed features of the man, and heard him call that awful life merciful, I saw his face — as they of old saw another martyr's face — ' as it had been the face of an angel.' " » » # # # The Parson lay quietly back in his deck chair, like one going to take a well-earned rest, and there ensued such a long silence that by degrees it dawned upon us that his reminiscences were LEARNED HIS LESSON 91 finished, at least for that night. I feel sure that each one of us felt inclined to cheer him in a warm manner for the interesting and touching bits of life history which he had given us. But somehow the pathos of it all, especially the end- ing, made it a little difficult to say just what was appropriate. At last Kinross, in his quiet way, relieved Sam Kent and me from any further embarrassment, and, by intuitive insight, ex- pressed exactly what we both were thinking, but were a little shy of expressing. " Friend Trueman," said the skipper, " you have put us all under a deep debt of gratitude for an evening of — I will not say entertainment, that is too light a word — but for a history of such tremendously important facts that I feel certain we shall all keep them in our memory for the rest of our lives, and I trust we shall do so to our great and enduring profit/' Kent and I, being the only disinterested parties, cried: "Well said, skipper, you have expressed our feelings exactly." Then we shook hands all round and went off to our respective hammocks. And, although we were soon in the world of dreams, I know that one in that world went voyaging over strange seas, with strange companions, and meeting awful apparitions, but 92 JOHN TRUEMAN he also met white-robed angels who brought him comfort and solace and peace. And a voice whispered in his dreaming ear : " These are they which came out of great tribulation . . . and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." And for many nights thereafter my soul jour- neyed in that world of dreams. And the white- robed angels prevailed over all the forms of darkness and evil; and I always awoke with a throb of gratitude to Parson John Trueman for the lesson he learned, and the lesson his story conveyed to me. BLACK-BIRDING IN THE PACIFIC BLACK-BIRDING IN THE PACIFIC 1 PRELUDE We rounded the point of the island with a breath of wind off shore, And braced sharp up to clear the reef, where the breakers surge and roar, And the coral gleams in the morning sun — and the rain- bows flash again — On the curling crest of the combers, where the foam flies like a mane. The palm-fronds drooped on the snow-white sand, and a mist like a bridal veil Hung low on the brow of the tropic hill — where the creepers wind and trail Their gorgeous blossoms from tree to tree — and, with music that falls and swells, The streams flash down from the beetling cliffs with a sound like silver bells. And out from the groves where the orange blooms, and the odours float and fall, We hear the laughter and merry song and kindly welcome call 1 A term applied to the labour traffic in the Pacific. 95 96 BLACK-BIRDING From lips and hearts of the simple race — whom the Devil had sent us to find — But dollars are dollars! and when 'tis so our race don't seem to mind ! Out from the glittering bay they come, wreathed in their flowers and smiles, Children of Nature as free from care as their own sea- guarded isles, Echoes of song from shore to shore as the paddles flash in the sun, While they race each other with laugh and shout, and cheer when the goal is won. Forms of Olympian beauty and strength, perfect in poise and mould, Fit to endure, without fear or flaw, the nude, like the gods of old; With grace unmarred by fashion — the grace unconscious of art, That is found in the children of Nature, who live near Nature's heart. Then gifts to the foolish creatures — of beads and baubles and things — While quietly squaring before the breeze, and rigging the nets in the wings ! Then securing our guests between-decks, just to make all snug and nice, For treachery is such a horrible thing, and it's their peculiar vice! Sliding away to the ocean, with the gratings over the hatch — Our two brass cannon trained fore and aft, and always a lighted match ; IN THE PACIFIC 97 For the mildest things in Nature get fierce and mad at times, And forget respect to a higher race, and commit most dreadful crimes! But the hold of a craft in the tropics isn't half as free and nice As the green grass under the palm trees, and the cool breeze touched with spice; And our " passengers " felt the difference, and drooped like wilted flowers, And their spirits went back at a ruinous rate to their own vine-covered bowers. They made no fuss about dying, just slipped away to their rest As peaceful and quiet as children asleep on a mother's breast; They never seemed to be troubled with visions of hell and woe, And back-loads of sin et cetera, which make us so loath to go! 'Twas always the best of the silly things that died the first; Great Scott! Within one week of sailing we had lost just half the lot ! And every one we gave the sharks meant twenty pounds and more ! I tell you it was heartrending — and oh how the Skipper swore ! And then to make our hard luck worse we found the trade winds fail, And the fierce sun glared from morn to night till you couldn't touch the rail; H 98 BLACK-BIRDING And the boiling pitch kept oozing out as the deck seams opened wide, But we dared not allow our " passengers " up, for they just slipped o'er the side! And so, to cut a long yarn short, we landed just one score Of labourers out of as likely a lot as was ever shipped before; So you see the trade was risky, either made or ruined a man, And we struck hard luck for Christian men in the schooner Mary Ann ! Chapter I HE night following Parson True- man's interesting history of past adventures, we voted Kinross himself to the honourable position of next speaker. And, although he tried to pass the honour on to Kent or myself, we all stood steadfast by the rules of our society, which clearly stated that a majority vote should in all cases prevail. " Very well ! " said the skipper, " I will, of course, submit. But my yarns are not learned, psychological studies like the interesting things which the Parson has been giving us. Mine are IN THE PACIFIC 99 only little bits of local history about the sea which I have cruised over nearly all my life. Such simple yarns as an old albatross might spin to his friends as he and they are all sunning them- selves some warm afternoon on the Crozets." This set us off into a laugh, and the Parson declared that to start a yarn in that way was really trenching on psychology — if not on poetry — at the very beginning. " All right! " said Kinross. " If it 's poetry to hear sea birds talking to each other, argufying, and swearing, and at another time conversing in friendly tones, or making love in whispers — then all I can say is that David Kinross is a poet, and a psychologist as well, although I don't half understand what that word means." " Bravo, bravo! " cried the Parson. " That is really a very pretty bit of sentiment, and I'll try to make out what the gulls are saying the next time I meet them. But in these tropical lands and seas one does not find many of the sea- faring feathered folk. The occasional bo's'n-bird, or booby, one may chance to meet now and then, don't seem much given to society, let alone conversation." " No," said the skipper, " that 's one of the advantages which the temperate zones have over ioo BLACK-BIRDING the tropics. It is forty-five years since I heard the cries of the gulls on the Ailsa Craig, but whenever I hear the name of that stern, old rock, I also hear the screams of the sea-mews that were a delight to my boyish ears. " But I must hasten to fulfil my share of our contract, and if you fellows find my little ad- venture dull and prosy, you have the invaluable resource of slumber to fall upon. At the same time you must not forget that I protested against your foolish choice to-night, and would most gladly resign my position even yet if the house, or rather ship, would reconsider its vote." There were cries of " Hear, hear! " and " No, no." So the skipper slued his chair into a position which enabled him to face his audience, and thus give each of us the same chance of hearing dis- tinctly what he said while speaking in his ordin- ary tone of voice; and a very pleasant voice Kinross was blest with. " There is one advantage in me giving you a bit of my history immediately after the Parson's reminiscences, and only one, which is that mine is about the accursed business of ' Black-bird- ing ' and will be a fitting sequel to his sad re- flections upon the death of Bishop Patteson, whom I also had met and loved, as indeed all IN THE PACIFIC 101 men did who had had the privilege of meeting that true servant of God and helper of men. " In the years of the late sixties, and early seventies, ' Black-birding ' (as the rascally labour traffic was termed) was a very flourish- ing trade in the south-western Pacific. All sorts of crafts of nearly all nationalities, and of no nationality at all, and sometimes without even a name, were prowling about the islands enticing the poor foolish Kanakas on board ; and when these 'slavers' — for they were nothing else — had secured as many as they could carry, it was hey! for the plantations where every able- bodied man was worth all the way from eighty to a hundred and fifty dollars, according to the demand for labour, which meant heaps of money for a good cargo. But it meant woe and misery for the wretched islanders ; good-bye to home, friends, free happy life ; then a miserable future of hard, unaccustomed work under the govern- ment of the whip in the hands of men who looked upon the brown man as merely a useful kind of animal. " Few of these kidnapped islanders ever re- turned to their homes, and the few who did were, as regards virtue, like the man in Scrip- ture, ' The last state of that man is worse than 102 BLACK-BIRDING the first ' ; for these poor beggars are prone to imbibe whatever they are brought in contact with, and unfortunately virtue is not one of the crops which are cultivated with assiduity on the ordinary sugar plantation. And it is a fact that those islands to which a few of the kidnapped natives managed to struggle back — with acquired tastes for rum, muskets, etc., and other civilized things — became much more savage and degraded than ever they were before the advent of white men. This traffic, as the Parson has told us, was the direct cause which led to the slaying of Patteson, and many other splendid Christian men. 1 " I had brought up a cargo of island produce 1 " In the years 1869 and 1870, if not before, the captains of the labour ships, finding that a sufficient supply of willing natives could not be procured, had begun to cajole them on board. When they went to trade, they were thrust under hatches and carried off. . . . " But decoying without violence began to fail; the natives were becoming too cautious, so the canoes were upset, and the men picked up while struggling in the water. If they tried to resist, they were shot at, and all endeavours at a rescue were met with the use of firearms. "They were thus swept off in such numbers that small islands lost almost all their able-bodied inhabitants, and were in danger of famine for want of their workers. Also, planters, thinking to make the men happier by bringing their wives, desired that this might be done, but it was not easy to make IN THE PACIFIC 103 to Sydney, and after disposing of it, painting ship, and giving the schooner a general over- haul, I was casting about in my mind what to do next. I had anchored in Wooloomooloo Cove, as I usually do unless I have cargo to discharge or take in. I was just taking things easy for a few days, in fact thinking, in that beautiful place and lovely climate, that ' Time was made for slaves/ when one morning a man- of-war boat, which was going up the harbour in the usual smart man-of-war fashion, veered a bit to port and slid alongside, and an officer jumped on board. He was a handsome, sailor- looking man, a good bit older than myself, but that did not make him very old, as I was only turned thirty at that time. He looked fore and aft with a sailors quick, comprehensive glance, which gleaned more than a landsman would have learned in a day's scrutiny. Then he saluted me in this fashion : ' Good-morning, Captain, if you are the captain, and if you are not, please put me on his tracks, as they say in out the married couples, nor did the crews trouble them- selves to do so, but took any woman they could lay hands on. Husbands pursued to save the wives, and were shot down, and a deadly spirit of hatred and terror against all that was white was aroused." — Life of John Coleridge Patteson, Mission- ary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands, vol. ii, pp. 285, 286. io4 BLACK-BIRDING the bush, where I have been spending a long shore-leave.' I thereupon intimated that I was both captain and owner of the schooner, at his service. This seemed not only to tickle, but to please him, for he at once said: ' Now, then, it is all clear sailing, so let us proceed to business/ " While we were talking we had been moving aft, and when we had reached the taffrail he sat down and took a sailor's critical look at the schooner alow and aloft. ' I like the look of your hooker, Captain! ' he said in a free and easy way; and, upon my remarking that I con- sidered the Lapwing a dot above the rank of a hooker, he laughed in a pleasant, genial way, saying : i That 's right ! Never allow mortal man to take liberties with your ship, or your sweet- heart. But I do like your schooner, and that 's why I am bothering you this morning. I have been looking at the Lapwing every day for a week past, as I go up to town, and I think she would be admirably adapted to the purpose I have in view/ Upon my remarking that if it would be compatible with the dignity of Her Majesty's Service to let me have a hint as to what he was going to do with my ship, I would feel deeply indebted to him if he would kindly IN THE PACIFIC 105 do so, he laughed more merrily than before and said: "'Very good indeed! I like a man that's a bit peppery. A fellow 's no use in this world unless he stands on his dignity on his own quarter-deck, especially on the quarter-deck of such a craft as yours. Besides that, we fellows in the Navy are very apt to become a bit uppish, you know, and it does us good to be called to order once in a while/ * • It struck me then, and many a time after- wards, that the speaker was a very manly, as well as a very kindly, fellow to talk in this free way to the skipper of a little hooker, for she is a little hooker, although I don't allow other fellows to say so very often. " The officer then told me that his name was Westgarth — Lieutenant Roger Westgarth, R.N. He was not attached to any ship at the moment, being in fact on a year's leave. But a short time before he boarded me, the Commander of the station had asked him if he would be willing to take charge of a suitable vessel for a cruise among the islands, to see if anything could be done with regard to the labour traffic — public opinion having been lately fiercely aroused by the death of Bishop Patteson, and other deplor- 106 BLACK-BIRDING able outrages which were all directly traceable to the wicked kidnapping of Kanakas for the plantations. " Having pointed out that it would be a somewhat dangerous cruise among the islands and reefs, and among people more or less incensed against all whites, he explained that it would be a good charter from a money point of view. He then asked me to allow him to look at the schooner's cabin, hold, and fo'c'sle. As to her sailing abilities he seemed quite satisfied by her general appearance. " Having made his inspection — and a pretty sharp one it was — Lieutenant Westgarth pre- pared to take himself off, but before going he gave me an invitation to meet him next morn- ing on board the Flag Ship, and in the mean- time to think over the matter of a charter for an indefinite period among the islands. " Thus commenced my acquaintance with the Lieutenant, and I may say that it grew into a mutual liking which not only continued during our cruise together, but has remained a pleasant, enduring friendship for many a long year. " I made a very good charter. In fact, unless it had been profitable I would have had nothing to do with it, for after a man has been his own IN THE PACIFIC 107 master for awhile — as I had been — it 's not quite agreeable to human nature to obey implicitly the commands of another, even though those commands are couched in quite polite terms. I have even noticed — so perverse is a man's nature — that the politer the orders given, the harder it is sometimes to obey. But the terms of our agreement were pretty easy after all. The charter was to the effect that I was to carry out Lieutenant Westgarth's wishes as far as possible, but I retained full discretion regard- ing the amount of sail it was prudent to carry, and, in fact, the management of the schooner was to remain in my hands. I wouldn't have allowed the best man in the British Navy to tear the sails and sticks out of my little darling — no, not for all the gold in the Bank of England ! " I was to carry, besides my own crew, four seamen from the man-of-war. My crew consisted of twelve Samoans, first class schooner sailors, though not accustomed to large square-rigged ships. My mate was Karl Olsen — whose history I gave you once — an excellent seaman, and a good man all round. I must not forget to men- tion that most important factor, if you are going to have a happy and contented ship's 108 BLACK-BIRDING company, viz., the cook. I had my old friend 'Ningpo' with me at that time, and what he did not know about the culinary art was not worth knowing. He never failed to arouse Westgarth's admiration by the variety and excellence of the dishes he could produce. " I did not require the four sailors whom the Lieutenant brought with him, and would just as soon have had their room as their company, but Westgarth brought on board two handsome six-pounder guns properly mounted, with one or two hundred rounds of ammunition, and he required the men to work the guns and keep them in order, or do anything else he wished, my crew being solely under my command. Of course it was not likely that there would be any necessity to use the guns in earnest, but, as Westgarth remarked : ' There was no sense in calling "stop thief!" unless you had the means handy to stop him.' " So everything being shipshape at last, good- byes all said, and with the white ensign flying bravely from the peak — the Lapwing was official now — we slipped quietly down the harbour at gray dawn one lovely morning in June, 187 — , and, after clearing the Heads, squared away to the nor'ard before a nice steady southerly breeze. IN THE PACIFIC 109 " I had arranged things very comfortably for such a large company in a small craft like this. Lieutenant Westgarth, my chief mate Olsen, and myself were located in the cabin ; the four Eng- lish sailors had comfortable quarters fitted up in the after-hold ; while all my crew — together with my second mate, ' Jim Lopai,' a fine steady Hawaiian of the old sort — lived in the well- aired roomy fo'c'sle. Even in such a small craft as this there is a great deal of room, for, as I have said, the Lapwing was designed more as a yacht for warm latitudes than for a trader. " To make things go smoothly in the cabin, I shipped a smart Chinese lad to act as steward under my good old cook Ningpo, who never failed, no matter how the weather behaved, to turn out a first-rate feed, even if at times he con- cocted an outlandish-looking dish, something like the bushman's horse, ' a rum un to look at, but a good un to go ! ' " We shaped a course for the Loyalty Islands, intending to cruise among them for awhile and then work our way north through the New Hebrides, the Queen Charlotte Islands, the Solomons, etc., doing our best at overhauling all suspicious looking vessels, or rather I should say, examining every craft we found among the no BLACK-BIRDING islands. If ships were honest they would have no objection to a visit from a friendly vessel ; if, on the contrary, they were shy at meeting us, we might reasonably conclude that they were knaves. " We had a long run to the islands. We did not pick up the trades as we expected. In fact, north-westerly winds headed us off our course so persistently that, after a fortnight of very poor work, we found ourselves in the longitude of the Fijis, something less than 300 miles south of Levuka. Under these circumstances Lieu- tenant Westgarth decided to call at the latter port, and quietly gather whatever information was procurable regarding Black - birding in general among the islands to the nor'-west, and what hand Fiji took in the wicked business. We knew that the Fijis were largely engaged in the production of sugar, and wherever sugar is produced from cane, cheap labour appears to be an absolute necessity. Why it should be so I do not know, unless it is the absolute necessity of the white man making vast profits out of the brown, black, or yellow man ! " The actual work of growing sugar cane has never attracted the white man, it is only the profit of the business which has been pleasant IN THE PACIFIC in in his eyes. The cultivation of the sugar cane is such a disagreeable job that the clever white man has handed it over entirely to the brown, black, and yellow fellows, and a hard time those poor chaps have had of it. By all manner of means — first by slavery pure and simple, then by semi-slavery under various names, then by flooding the sugar countries with hordes of miserable, ignorant creatures who had either to work or starve — the white race have always managed to hold the upper (I had almost said the whip) hand, and a very profitable business they have made of it. But they don't like to admit it, and it is very amusing — not to say sorrowful, when one thinks of it all — to hear those fat, wealthy sugar-barons, when they meet at the festive board, lamenting and condoling with each other, that on account of a shortage of labour through some cause or other (generally through the stubborn fuzzie-wussies taking to dying off at a ruinous rate) their profits have fallen, say, from one hundred per cent, to ninety- eight ! " After baffling about the islands for a couple of days we managed to slip into Levuka. West- garth did not intend to remain there long; only time enough to have a look round, and pick up ii2 BLACK-BIRDING all the information he could in a quiet way. It was important that our business should not get abroad, so we passed our two guns below, only flew the red ensign — although we were entitled to fly the white, being for the time a Government ship — and made the schooner and all hands look as much like a South Sea trader as possible. " The day after our arrival the Lieutenant asked me to go with him to a plantation where only Kanaka labour was employed, and pick up any bit of information we might find lying about. There was no use visiting those estates which were worked by Chinese; firstly, because 'John' is too discreet to commit himself to any state- ment which might involve him in a shade of disagreeable feeling with his employer, unless it is made distinctly clear beforehand that eventually it will redound to his, John's, ma- terial advantage ; and, secondly, Chinese affairs were not supposed to lie within the sphere of our investigations. " There are, or were — for I am referring to a time several years ago — some very fine sugar estates on the Fiji Islands, and most of the labourers were obtained from the various islands lying to the north and north-west, and those were the people in whom we were interested. IN THE PACIFIC 113 So after some inquiries and directions, we made our way to N-k-l-a Plantation, arriving there about noon, when the field hands were dropping their hoes, and collecting in little groups pre- paratory to having their midday meal. It was very noticeable to me — Westgarth was not so familiar with South Sea characteristics as I — to note the almost dead silence among the many groups of men. "As a rule in the South Seas meal time is always an occasion of fun and hilarity with the light-hearted islanders. No matter how frugal the fare, or how poor the company, the sunshine that is inherent in their natures breaks forth, at meal times, from their merry hearts and smiling lips, and gaiety and kindliness prevail. " But in the company we saw that day gloom and silence, hatred and despair, distorted fea- tures into ugliness, whose natural characteristics are brightness and suavity, smiles and good- fellowship. " I had brought along my second mate with us, who, being a Hawaiian, was not only one of themselves to a certain extent but had the ad- vantage of partly understanding most of the South Sea dialects. So with a word of salutation here and there, and a little judicious distribution 1 ii4 BLACK-BIRDING of bits of tobacco, my mate slowly wound him- self into the good graces of these poor lost souls — lost souls and bodies I may call them — and presently he got into quite an animated conversation with one of the oldest of the gang. There were twenty men in this squad, and the man who did the talking was their luna, what we would call the 'ganger,' and was quite an intelligent man in his poor half-savage way; but he had only a little while to talk before the ' pu ' — conch shell — would sound the ' turn-to/ and then sharp was the word, for there was woe for the skulker or absentee when the white overseer inspected the gangs. And it was most pitiful to see, as we did see later, how cunningly a luna would pretend to use a switch on the bare back of some one of his gang who seemed to loiter, all the while both men only acting to please the white man, ' dressed in a little brief authority.' " As I said just now, the luna had barely half an hour to talk to my mate, but he managed to get a heap of eloquence into that short period. The fire in his eyes, the hardly controlled fierceness of his hate, was very startling to see, and when my man interpreted the poor fellow's speech, it was also very startling to hear. IN THE PACIFIC 115 'We have all vowed,' said the poor savage, kidnapped chap, 'that when we get back to our islands we shall kill all white men when- ever we find any of the hateful race. If we die ourselves, it is well, z/we only kill many white men first/ " ' Funny beggar that luna of mine,' said the overseer as he rode up to us. 'He has too much of the gift of the gab, and I don't alto- gether like the cast in his eye at times, but all these Solomon Islanders are a bad lot, and it takes years of civilized life to get the savage out of them. I wish the company would decide to work the plantation with Chinese ; a fellow can understand them. You may bang a China- man over the head as much as you like and he don't care a cent, so long as he is making what the beggar calls ' muchee plentee dollar,' but these beastly Kanakas are too densely stupid to care for anything beyond a string of flowers round their necks, a feed of bread-fruit and fish, a swim in the surf, and a long sleep under the cocoanut trees. They haven't got within a hundred years of appreciating the rights and grand power of Capital. It takes a lot of civilizing to teach a savage man that, and until you do he isn't much use. Yes, I wish the n6 BLACK-BIRDING company would give me Chinamen, it would save me a heap of worry, and a nasty creepy feeling that these beggars would like to have me for dinner every time I give a lazy chap a scat with my whip to make him move a bit lively; you have no idea how terribly ungrate- ful those fellows are/ Then he added : ' Come over to my quarters and have a biscuit and a brandy and soda before you go back to your boat. I am afraid you will have a long pull against the trades.' "'No, thanks! 5 said Westgarth, 'I am in rather a hurry. Good-bye! Many thanks for all your interesting information.' "Then we trotted off to the boat, while the Lieutenant growled : ■ Confound his brandy and soda, it would taste bitter after that fierce look in the brown man's eyes. I don't wonder now that lots of tender-hearted people gave up the use of sugar in the old slavery days. They said it tasted of blood, and I rather think it tastes about the same yet. But we must have sweetening in our coffee, confound it! After this cruise I think I will take saccharine.' " The day after our visit to the plantation, a very handsome clipper barque came into the harbour, and anchored just outside of us. She IN THE PACIFIC 117 was flying the Peruvian flag, and her name, Rimac, was artistically displayed in gilt letter- ing. The red-white-red flag is not often seen in the Pacific nowadays. But I remember, when I was a lad, seeing four Peruvian ships brought ignominiously into Tahiti, in charge of a French gunboat, each of them carrying scores of kidnapped islanders for work on the Chincha guano islands. I don't know what became of that crowd (I was too young then to understand fully the rascally business) but I know — to their honour be it said — that the French authorities looked after the kidnappers pretty sharply. " Thinking that he might learn something useful, Westgarth decided to make a call upon the Peruvian. At the Lieutenant's suggestion, I took only two men in the boat, making our- selves look as much like ordinary South Sea traders as possible, with a sort of slovenly, under-manned, general appearance. "The barque being only about a couple of hundred fathoms from us, we were soon along- side. Finding no hospitable ladder, we shinned up the main-chains and jumped on deck. An officer who was on the quarter-deck came forward, and politely asked us what were our n8 BLACK-BIRDING wishes. We merely said that being strangers in Levuka, we made bold to pay the Rimac a visit to hear the latest news from the outside world. The officer informed us that he had the honour of being commander of the barque. He was three weeks out from Brisbane, and was bound for Arica, Peru, to load nitrate for Europe. Westgarth happened to say that it was a long way to go with an empty ship. At which the Captain shrugged his shoulders, Spanish fashion, saying, as he pointed down the main hold — hatches being off: ' We are not quite empty, I have one hundred iron tanks full of water. They will net me a good sum at Arica where there is no natural water, and they have to distil fresh water from the sea. I filled my tanks before I left Brisbane, so I will make a good profit out of what surplus water I may have to spare, as well as the tanks.' Thus he rattled on in his pleasant foreign way, speaking quite understandable English, although broken up a bit here and there. The ship was in spick-and-span order fore and aft, and the Spaniard evidently took great pride in showing her off. " After our walk around the deck, the Captain invited us into the cabin to have a glass of wine. IN THE PACIFIC 119 It was a large, airy place, more like a modern yacht's saloon than a trading ship's cabin, and much more luxuriously furnished than ever I had seen a ship's cabin before. The Spaniard was not only fond of his comforts, but was evidently fond of beautiful things to look at as well. " As we sat chatting and taking our wine, and at the same time admiring the cabin, the chief officer came in, and the Captain — in polite Spanish style — was about to introduce him to us, when a curious and rather disconcerting episode took place. " The mate was a man about Westgarth's own age ; a well-set-up man, like the Lieutenant himself: but these were not the points which attracted my wondering attention at the moment. " When the officer entered the cabin, West- garth sprang to his feet with a sharp cry of recognition, and the two men stood staring at each other for fully a minute, with a curious, hard kind of expression, that made one wonder whether they were friends or foes, but never speaking a word ! Then their faces softened, and each held out his hand with low, confused words of greeting. " Lieutenant Westgarth was the first to pull 120 BLACK-BIRDING himself together, and turning to the Spanish Captain explained that his mate was an old friend whom he, Westgarth, had not met for many years, and that meeting so suddenly and unexpectedly, had confused them both. Then, with an apology, he asked permission to go on deck and have a talk with his friend. The polite Spaniard bowed courteously, and, filling another glass, smilingly invited the mate to steady his nerves with \ un vaso de buen vino Espanol? " So the Spanish skipper and I were left to entertain each other, while the unexpectedly foregathered friends had their talk, good or bad, on deck. " It must have been fully an hour when Westgarth came back, and we bade the Captain of the beautiful barque Rimac ' adios ! ■ after a pleasant, not to say exciting, visit. I did not see the mate again that day, but I saw him right enough later. " As we pulled away from the barque both my men shook their heads and put on a very sour expression of countenance. When I asked them what was the matter with the ship, one of them — a Maori man — said sententiously, ' Te kaipuka kakino tenei! Pakeha kill- kill' (A bad ship, white men kill-kill) — the latter a common IN THE PACIFIC 121 name for labour hunters among the islands, and a name only too well deserved. How my fellows had come to their opinion regarding the Riniac, I cannot say. Of course while I was in the cabin they had taken turn-about to have a look on board, while one kept the boat; and with their sharp eyes and quick wits, had come to their own conclusions. " The morning after our visit, we found that the barque had slipped quietly off in the night, and as she lay so near she must have got under way in a wonderfully quiet manner, for we never heard a sound or saw a light. But yet in spite of my mens suspicions, and her quiet mode of departure, the Lieutenant and I never doubted the pleasant Spaniard's story; that is we never doubted it then, but my Maori was right in his diagnosis after all — as brown men generally are right. Somehow they jump to a conclusion as women do, that is, by some intuitive instinct which we men haven't got; but they nearly always come out right, while we're hunting about for proofs. " A few days after the unceremonious de- parture of the Rimac, we also left Levuka, and began working our way north-west through the New Hebrides and the innumerable beautiful 122 BLACK-BIRDING islands scattered throughout those faerie seas — seas that toss their merry, laughing waves and flying manes before the chasing trades by day, and in the calm, still, gorgeous nights, reflect the stars of heaven, like some wonderful glory of Paradise." Here Kinross paused, and in the dead silence that followed, he looked fore and aft, then at the glittering moonlight on the water, and said in a voice which had a sad ring in it that was not usual to his cheery way of speaking : " There is one verse in the Bible which I regret. 'And there was no more sea! I wish these words had not been necessary! However, if there is no more sea there must be something more beautiful, but what that can be is beyond the power of man to conceive, and at that we must let it rest and wait. " We overhauled several schooners and brigs during the following six weeks. But as they all appeared legitimate traders of a sort, we had to let them go, although we felt pretty certain that half of them deserved confiscation as slavers, 'kill-kill' ships as the islanders designated them. " It was very miserable to see the terror and dislike displayed by the poor islanders wher- ever we landed, and we found it most difficult IN THE PACIFIC 123 to induce them to supply us with yams, sweet potatoes, bananas, etc., even when we offered the most tempting articles of trade in return. And it was quite impossible to induce the boldest to venture on board; whereas a few years pre- viously the difficulty was to keep the decks clear of the fearless, friendly, merry creatures. " During this cruise northward, we had lots of spare time on our hands, and at odd times Westgarth gave me a glimpse of the boyhood and youth of himself and Neil Mackenzie — that I learned was the name of the Rimacs mate — and as it will make things clearer, I will repeat, as nearly as I can remember, Westgarth's story in his own words. " ' Neil Mackenzie and I were nearly of an age. Neil was in reality a couple of years the elder, although he always maintained that I was several years older than he ; a fact, he declared, which was palpable to any unprejudiced person by my elderly and sedate ways, in contrast with his youthful, lively manners. Even when small children I was invariably taken for the elder, and spoken to by grown-up people, while Neil was treated as too young to be possessed of much sense. But it was all owing to his youthful appearance, for in reality he was a smarter lad i2 4 BLACK-BIRDING than I, while for scholarship he was really farther in advance of me than even his two years' advantage warranted. But in spite of these little disparities, or rather inequalities of nature, Neil Mackenzie was the best chum I ever had, barring none. " ' Of course we had our quarrels and fierce disputes — who has not ? — but we never had but one awful, pitched battle, when we really tried to kill each other ; and that was about a girl, as nearly all such deadly feuds are. " ' Elsie Graeme was just one of the ordinary good girls, of the sort we find plenty of in the world, thank God, if we only look for them. But as a matter of course Neil and I had pro- nounced our one girl companion perfection. And to me, I must say she was almost divine! I have not the least doubt now when it is all over, and our lives fast waning to eventide, and when I can look back with a calm mind, that Elsie Graeme did Neil Mackenzie and me a vast amount of unknown good. I say "unknown" for the influence of such a personality as hers upon two impressionable raw lads, from the ages of ten to seventeen, is immense, but undemon- strable in words. " ' It seems marvellous now as I look back IN THE PACIFIC 125 upon that time, how wisely little Elsie kept the peace between our turbulent boyish natures. She never attempted to smooth our wars with logic or force of argument ; her strength lay in her loving little soul finding expression through her tear-dimmed eyes. The clenched fists and fierce set lips always relaxed before the little maid's silent appeal for peace, and we three would jog lovingly along the two-mile road from school to the Glen, as if " battle and murder and sudden death " were unknown events in this wicked world. But I know well now — and I can acknowledge it myself without any raging lust of murder flaming in my soul and blazing from my eyes — that even in those childish years Elsie Graeme's heart belonged to Neil Mackenzie, and was not for me. " ' Nothing stands still in this strange life, and at last the sorrowful day dawned when the Glen that had been part of us, and we of it, was to know us no more for ever. Not even to give us graves at last, as it had given to all our for- bears for hundreds of years. We three had to fight our battle of life outside of our native land, and the Glen which was the ultima Thule of our young hopes and loves, was to shelter us no more, to hear our brave stories and Scotch 126 BLACK-BIRDING ballads never again. But I think the echoes of three young, clear, happy voices must linger in the Glen yet, even though the dull ears of men cannot hear them. " ' Neil chose the merchant service, which I would have gladly chosen also, but I was destined for the Navy, my father having some influence in high quarters ; so I was bundled off to the dull life of a training ship at permanent anchorage, while Neil went roaming over the world, getting heaps of entertainment in every corner of the globe, and learning his profession at the same time. " ' Of course Neil and Elsie drifted out of my orbit altogether. Neil was absent from England over three years on his first voyage. His ship went out to India, and after some trading out there, went to Chile and loaded a cargo of flour for Melbourne, and from there went up to Java for a cargo of coffee. Neil told me all this and much more when I met him the other day. Elsie Graeme had gone completely out of his life (but not out of his heart, poor fool) when we three said our tearful farewells at St. Enoch's railway station almost thirty long, long years ago! — Neil to join his ship at the Broomielaw, I to report myself at Portsmouth, and Elsie to IN THE PACIFIC 127 proceed to a London hospital to study nurs- ing, etc., and qualify herself for a career which so many young ladies have to take up as a profession. " ' At that time Neil Mackenzie was turned twenty, I about eighteen, and Elsie Graeme a year younger. Neil and she were in love right enough, but " alas how easily things go wrong." He told me the other day that he and Elsie never met again. He never received a line from her, and — poor fool again — never wrote a line to her, although pining for a word or a whisper every day of his life! And, crowning foolery of all, he blamed me for what was his own consummate stupidity. He knew perfectly well my address in the Navy, and could have written to me and had the state of my feelings explained in a moment; but when a man becomes thoroughly miserable regarding a girl, his judge- ment forsakes him altogether, and his mind be- comes a prey to wild, imbecile delusions. " ' Some years ago, so Mackenzie told me, he heard a vague rumour that Elsie Graeme had gone to the Pacific with a cousin (the Rev. Hugh Grant) and his wife, who were devoting their lives to the hard task of work among these islanders. I say hard, for as you 128 BLACK-BIRDING know Missionaries in the western Pacific simply carry their lives in their hands since this cursed Black-birding began. " 'When I showed Mackenzie how unfounded were all his suspicions regarding me, and how foolish and even cruel had been his persistent silence to Elsie Graeme, the poor fellow cursed himself roundly enough, and moaned those most hopeless and saddest words ever spoken by man or woman, " It might have been." ' "At this point Westgarth jumped up from his chair — I think memories of the past rather staggered him — and he started a quick walk fore and aft, altogether too rapid for the tropics. But it is always the better plan to let a man blow off steam by action, if it is innocent action, than to talk to him. So I went on wondering why mankind learn every difficult science and problem under the sun, but never learn one iota of the wisdom of life. Even when we know the wise thing to do, nine times out of ten we don't do it, and the tenth time we do it wrongly, and — the trail of the serpent is over it all! IN THE PACIFIC 129 Chapter II " Lieutenant Westgarth did not say any more about his friend Neil Mackenzie, but we soon had more to do with that gentleman. " A few days after this we were running down the weather side of Espiritu Santo Island, and as we opened out a wide bay about the middle of the island we sighted a barque coming out. She was ten or twelve miles north-west of us when we sighted her, but both Westgarth and I remarked what a striking resemblance she bore to our late acquaintance, the pretty Rimac. The barque — whoever she was — had to make a tack to clear the north point of the bay, and we were within three or four miles of each other when she cleared the headland; then we made out quite distinctly that she was the Rimac, but what puzzled us even more than finding her so far out of her course, was the Spaniard's churlish, persistent refusal to make any reply to our signals. "Of course we had no authority to stop a foreign ship, but it was so singular to find a vessel which had left Fiji over six weeks be- fore, bound for South America, away out here K Ij0 BLACK-BIRDING hundreds of miles to the north-west, when she ought to have been a couple of thousand miles and more in exactly the opposite direction, that we decided to overhaul her and investigate the matter. " We had been crawling along under easy- sail all the morning, now we set every stitch we had and shaped a course that would cut off the barque unless the wind veered towards the nor'- west, which, unfortunately, it did off the high land and thus put her some eight or ten miles to windward of us. We soon found, however, that in working to windward we had decidedly the advantage, whereas if it came to running before the wind, we judged the barque would have much the advantage of us with her greater power of carrying a heavy press of sail. And that was soon to be the position of affairs, for as the Rimac cleared the land she struck the brisk trade winds and then she set every scrap of canvas, even running out stunsails alow and aloft, until the pretty thing looked like a flying white cloud. She went away dead before the wind, which made her course about nor'-west and direct for the Solomon Islands. "When Westgarth became convinced that the Spaniard intended to pay no attention to IN THE PACIFIC 131 our repeated signals he determined to overhaul him by hook or by crook, and he asked me to work and humour the Lapwing by every means I knew, so as to get the very best speed possible out of her. " As soon as my crew perceived that there was to be a real chase after the barque, they entered into the game with fierce glee; for somehow, by intuitive instinct, or by wonderfully sharp eye- sight they were all convinced that she was a 1 kill-kiir ship, as they always call a labour vessel in the western Pacific. " When we got fairly clear of the land the trades settled into a steady, stiff breeze — or rather half a gale of wind — from the south-east, and the Rimac went tearing dead before it at fourteen or fifteen knots an hour. With three times as much tonnage, and twice as much beam, the barque could be pressed with perfect safety, while my little craft had to be carefully watched every moment for fear of mishap. We had everything set excepting the jib and flying jib. Going before the wind these sails are almost useless, and in fact rather dangerous. I have known a schooner to dip them under water while running in a high sea, and carry away her jib- boom, and make a general smash-up of her gear. 132 BLACK-BIRDING " With the amount of sail I was carrying the brave little Lapwing was staggering and shiver- ing along at a great rate, with a little more canvas than was good for her, and I had half a mind to take in the fore-topsail, but Westgarth would not hear of such a thing, and instead of taking in sail he insisted that I should set the square-sail, a big piece of canvas which I never set except in very light winds. I demurred at first, but my second mate, Jim Lopai, had heard the suggestion, and he and the crew were so excited and in such deadly earnest that they had the sail on deck in a moment, and then came to ask me if they should set it at once. I ordered them to put the sail back in the sail room, but West- garth — who had been observing the barque with naval precision — came to me with tears in his eyes, and declared that unless I could shove the schooner along a bit faster the barque would be out of sight by sundown. " ' Very well,' I said, ' if I run the schooner under it will be your fault; and if the Lapwing is posted as lost your people must pay the full charter money, for so it is stated in the charter lying in old Messrs. Ketchem and Squeezeum's safe in their office in George Street.' " ' All right, my dear fellow! ' cried Westgarth. IN THE PACIFIC 133 ' Only let us overhaul the barque and I agree to pay all the money in the Mint — when I get it. Now, my dear Kinross, you see what I am willing to agree to. But oh, up with the square- sail ; the barque is gaining on us every minute, and here we have wasted ten good minutes. Only think of it!' " I couldn't withstand the Lieutenant's half serious, half joking appeal, so turning to the eager fellows watching our every movement and listening to every word, I called, \ Set the square- sail!' and before you could count sixty a man had rove the halyards to the foreyard, and the sail was run up and sheets made fast in the shortest time I ever saw a sail set. " The little craft felt the extra pressure in a moment, and made a spring forward like a spirited horse at the touch of the spur. My crew were in wild excitement, and could not suppress a shout of pleasure as the schooner would take a run at lightning speed on top of a great roller. Westgarth's four sailors were hardly less excited than the Kanakas, and were carefully looking over their guns, and I have no doubt we all felt the passion of battle surging in our hearts. " There was now no longer any doubt but 134 BLACK-BIRDING that the Spaniard had good reason to avoid our further acquaintance. But Westgarth was sorely puzzled to account for his friend Mackenzie being mixed up in any bad business. Neil had explained to Westgarth how it came about that he was on the barque at all. He had sailed from Sydney a year before in his own fine ship, with a cargo of wool for London. Ten days at sea the ship caught fire and, in spite of all efforts to save her, the fire became so fierce that he and his crew had to take to the boats, and leave the fine ship to her fate. After much suffering they were picked up by a coasting steamer and carried to Brisbane. Mackenzie had saved his ship's papers, but when he laid them before a lawyer, and after cabling back and forth, it was found that the ship's insurance had, by some oversight on the part of the agent, lapsed only a few days before the loss of the ship. Thus Neil was stranded in a strange port, where he was utterly unknown, and without a shilling in his pocket. After trying a job or two on shore he was reduced to a pretty low ebb. " One day the owner of the boarding house where Mackenzie was staying, who knew how hard-up he was, told him of the barque Rimac> whose Captain was looking for a capable man to IN THE PACIFIC 135 act as chief mate. This was a capital chance, the boarding-house keeper said, with a wink, not only to earn good wages but a share in pro- spective profits. When Mackenzie asked what the prospective profits might be, the boarding- house man only winked again, nodded his head several times, and advised Neil to hunt up the Spanish Captain at once, lest the good chance should slip. Being a bit of a kindly ruffian — as some sailor boarding-house keepers are, in spite of their general rascality — and also, no doubt, thinking that some profit might accrue to himself out of the job, he offered to go with Mackenzie and guarantee his competency. It was soon all settled, and very glad he was to find a solid, clean deck under his feet, instead of a dirty farm -yard under a broiling sun, where he had been only earning his grub for the last few months. It was a down-come from his position a year ago, of course, but he was thankful to become mate of the pretty Rimac at sixty dollars a month, with the promise of a tenth of the profits — something he did not in the least under- stand. But that did not trouble his mind at all, as his sole desire was to reach England as quickly as possible. "Westgarth said that it was perfectly clear 136 BLACK-BIRDING to him that when he met Mackenzie in Fiji he had no more suspicion of any underhand work on the part of the Spaniard than he, Westgarth, had himself. Now when it seemed that my crew's diagnosis of the barque was correct, and that she was really a 'kill-kilV ship, Westgarth concluded that his friend had been completely deceived by the shipping agent and the Spanish Captain, and by this time fully realized that he was not bound for South America and England, but was chief mate of a ' Black- birder \ just as much of a slaver as any craft that ever ran a cargo from the West Coast into the Southern States, or the West India Islands, in the old days. " The chase continued all that day, and at sundown we had gained little, if anything, on the barque. The trades dropped slightly as the night advanced, and by midnight I was no longer anxious about the spars. Westgarth and I had been afraid that the Spaniard might give us the slip in the night, and no doubt he would — for he changed his course several times — if we had not had eyes watching him, not only clear and bright naturally, but brought to an intense sharpness by hate, and hope of revenge. Each time that he changed his course he was instantly detected by the men on the fo'c'sle IN THE PACIFIC 137 head, and the fellow on the foreyard. Neither the Spaniard nor ourselves showed a spark of light, and although the distance between us was fully ten miles, my fine fellows never failed to give the right course. " Westgarth was tremendously pleased : I know he realized that night — as he never did be- fore — what fine men these South Sea Islanders are. He would go forward every little while, and after failing to make out the barque with his splendid marine glasses, even after the men had pointed out her exact position, he would clap them on the shoulder and cry: 'Splendid! Splendid! Muy bueno! Kapai! Maikailoa!' to the great delight and amusement of the Kanakas. M My men asserted that we were gaining on the barque all night, and by daylight we found this to be a fact. By eight bells in the morning watch she was not more than eight or nine miles ahead, and as the trades had dropped down to a fair, steady breeze, we were certainly winning the race. By noon we had crept up within six or seven miles. If the light wind continued we made sure we would overhaul him within the next twenty-four hours at the most. "Just as eight bells went there was a wild howl and great excitement among my crew, and 138 BLACK-BIRDING the second mate, pointing ahead, shouted : ' Man overboard from ''kill-kill ship!"' and sure enough I soon made out a man occasionally appearing on top of a wave, and then dropping out of sight in the trough of the sea. In a few minutes we made him out quite plainly, and prepared to pick him up. We had to take in the square-sail, and when we got abreast of the poor fellow (who seemed much afraid that we were going to pass him) we rounded to, and laid the fore-topsail aback. The swimmer being a Kanaka there was no need to put out a boat as we might have had to do if he had been a white man. When we got near enough we simply threw him a rope's end, and the fellow shinned aboard like a monkey. As he stood on deck, with his wet, brown skin glistening in the sunshine, he was certainly a fine-looking fellow, but he had a fierce expression which is more common to the Western Pacific islanders, than to the Eastern islanders. "After his hour or more in the water, the poor fellow soon began to chill and shiver in the cool trade wind. Somebody quickly gave him a woollen shirt and a pair of trousers, and after a pannikin of hot coffee and a couple of biscuits, the savage glitter in his eyes softened, IN THE PACIFIC 139 and he looked altogether a more pleasant sort of chap to meet on a lonely road. " Then by degrees the derelict told his story, and a pretty mean story it turned out to be. Most of my crew understood him in a way, as all Pacific islanders do understand each other more or less; just as Highlanders and Low- landers make themselves understood to each other in a fashion. My second mate, Jim Lopai, who had knocked about all over the Pacific most of his life, understood every word of the man's story, and interlined every few sentences with a sonorous curse of some dire kind, which I did not at all understand, but which seemed to please all hands immensely, besides affording much relief to their overwrought feelings. "It turned out that our poor chap had neither fallen nor jumped overboard — the latter a mode of departure which kidnapped islanders are very apt to adopt — but had been deliberately pitched overboard. Neither he nor we could conjecture at first why this had been done; for if the barque was a ' Black-birder ' — which we now felt certain she was — then every strong able-bodied Kanaka on board was worth all the way from eighty to a hundred and fifty dollars. And it was a com- plete puzzle to us all why one of such valuable i 4 o BLACK-BIRDING stuff should be thrown to the sharks, unless he was so near death that it was needless expense to keep him alive. But we soon found that 1 though this be madness, yet there 's method in it,' for the delay we suffered by rounding to, and picking up the man, gave the Spaniard at least two or three miles to the good. And we soon proved that the rascally black-birder had fallen upon this plan to gain time — or rather distance — for, as the trades continued light, we again began to overhaul him, and then the same game was played upon us. When we got within four or five miles of the barque, and were rapidly diminishing the distance between us, we saw quite distinctly, with our powerful glasses, a man pitched over the taffrail, and at the same time two or three men stood high on the rail making derisive gestures for us to pick him up! Which we did, of course, and once more gave the pirate — that is the proper name for labour ships — a good advantage of several miles. " This process continued all that day, until we had picked up twenty men, which had given the barque at least twelve hours advantage of us. " At sunset we sighted St. Christoval, the most southerly of the Solomon Islands, and IN THE PACIFIC 141 then followed another night of anxiety and watching, lest we should lose the chase in the darkness. But my fellows were reinforced by twenty pairs of bright, eager eyes, and at day- dawn we were still in the Spaniard's wake, and only four or faye miles astern. We were now on the west side of the island, which is always called the lee side, as the trade wind blows almost all the year round on the east — weather side. But the trades had given place to a south- wester which put us on a lee shore, and as the breeze kept on puffy, and then fell calm, while the glass on the other hand was steadily falling, neither the Spaniard nor we were in a very comfortable position. The weather was by no means satisfactory. The glass was very low, and heavy clouds were gathering in the sou'- west. It was now the middle of September, just the time to expect dirty weather in those lati- tudes, and the trades having given us the slip, and the light wind blowing directly on the land gave us no chance of making an offing. " Things continued this way all that day, and at nightfall we had both forged ahead some few miles — we slightly diminishing the distance be- tween us. The Spaniard did not favour us with any more ' Black-birds,' so all we had to do was 142 BLACK-BIRDING to whistle for a light, steady breeze (which would have given us the advantage) and possess our souls in patience. " It was very rough on Lieutenant Westgarth, who hoped to ' make a spoon or spoil a horn ! by the capture of the slaver, as he now called the barque, feeling convinced that she was sail- ing under false colours, false papers, and a false name, as many crafts did in those days among the islands. " The faint south-westerly air kept on, with an occasional harder puff which boded no good; this, with the unusually low glass and heavy clouds to the westward, made us decidedly uneasy. My crew, with the help of the picked-up fellows, kept the barque in sight right enough, and I had very little fear of them losing the chase; so at midnight I said to Westgarth that I would leave the watch to my good old mate, Karl Olsen, and turn in for a couple of hours, for I was afraid there would be little sleep presently by the look of the weather. I had my foot on the top step of the companion ladder when there was a clear hail of ' Lapwing! Ahoy!' and in a minute we made out a man eight or ten fathoms off on our port bow. We were crawling along so slowly that there was no need to heave the schooner IN THE PACIFIC 143 to, and by sluing a little towards him we had the man alongside in a few moments, and then safely on deck. The fellow had got inside a lifebuoy and was not at all exhausted by his swim. But you can hardly believe our astonish- ment when we found him to be no other than Westgarth's friend, ' Neil Mackenzie/ West- garth soon had him rigged out in comfortable dry clothes, and after some hot food and drink he gave us the story of his adventure in a few words, for he knew that we were impatient for the bare facts, not for a long rigmarole. "The day after they left Fiji the Spanish captain came out ' square-footed ' as Mackenzie expressed it, and told him that they were not bound for Peru at all, but on a black-birding expedition. The Spaniard explained that he had refrained from telling this fact sooner for fear that he, Mackenzie, being new to the busi- ness, might have some silly qualms of conscience about it. But he assured him that he had better put all these sort of feelings in his pocket for home use, and take a good chance of making some honest money after all his misfortunes. The Spaniard said that if they made a good voyage and picked up enough islanders to make a full ship, his, Mackenzie's, share of profits 144 BLACK-BIRDING would amount to over a thousand pounds, be- sides his wages. " The Spaniard was careful to explain that he could have had plenty of mates of the ordinary sort that one can always pick up in all out-of- the-way ports, but he required one honest man in the ship upon whom he could rely in the event of rebellion or trouble with his passengers. "At the end of this simple explanation and free confession by the Spanish captain, Mackenzie found himself in a disagreeable position, from which there seemed no immediate mode of escape. The Spaniard was quite frank with Neil, now that he had made up his mind to explain matters fully, and, indeed, it was the only common-sense thing to do. He said he would use all fair means to fill the ship, but if fair means were inadequate then all and every means would be resorted to, for the ship must be filled. He intended this to be her last voyage in the trade. It was too rough a business for a gentleman to be engaged in for more than a couple of voyages — he had been one already — it was too risky and too demoralizing altogether. This coming from the old lying pirate made Mackenzie laugh, in spite of his sore feelings at the trick which had been played upon him. The IN THE PACIFIC 145 Spaniard took Neil's laugh as a good sign and drew a bottle of his ' buen vino espanoV at once, concluding, no doubt, in his own mind, that everything was settled satisfactorily. But it was settled in Neil Mackenzie's mind very differently from what the Spaniard wished, the real fact being that he made up his mind to get out of the wretched business at the very first oppor- tunity, and the chance had come that night, and — here he was. " On their way north — the Solomons being their objective point — they had touched at several islands, the last being Espiritu Santo, where we had overtaken them. The Spaniard (as I will continue to call him, although we were now doubtful of his nationality, as of everything else) had not been lucky in securing Kanakas, and so was in a bad humour. He determined to call at Espiritu Santo, where he understood that the people were friendly, few labour vessels having been there — perhaps because even those hardened old rascals had some respect for the safety of a little mission station which had been established on J:hat island by some devoted souls. A Missionary, his wife, and another lady — three souls in all — had been labouring there for some time; and although it was a very un- L 146 BLACK-BIRDING promising field at first, they were now reported to be getting on most amicably with the natives and doing much towards smoothing their rather exuberant manners, and altogether making a very good impression upon the people of those parts — a state of things which would soon be changed if Black-birders began their rascally, kidnapping methods, and exasperated the island- ers against all white people, good or bad. " Mackenzie told us that the twenty men whom the Spaniard had favoured us with were all kid- napped from the neighbourhood of the mission station. No one went on shore from the ship, but the islanders came gaily on board, never suspecting that such a large, fine-looking vessel could have any evil intentions. Being enticed below, they were promptly clapped under hatches and carried off, the captain's only regret being that he had secured so few. Then Neil explained that the reason the poor 'black-birds' were pitched overboard one at a time for us to pick up was solely to delay us and give the Spaniard a chance to shake us off in the darkness. He was utterly astonished how truly we kept in his wake in spite of all his dodges and the darkness of the nights. A bit of characteristic blackbird- ing callousness was shown by his expressed fear IN THE PACIFIC 147 to Mackenzie that we would not heave to at all but simply leave the drowning men to their fate — a piece of devilish cruelty that would not have troubled his mind for a moment; he only shed a tear and heaved a sigh for their money value. " Our picking-up process had been so success- ful every time, that at last it dawned upon Mackenzie's own mind that he would try the same mode of escape. Of course it was a risky method of changing ships. He might be dis- covered before he got well clear, in which case he was certain to be shot ; or the Spaniard might alter his course at any moment, in which event we would certainly change ours, and in that case would most likely pass him a mile or two on this side or that, quite beyond seeing or hearing. " However, Neil decided to make the attempt and if he failed it would only be a sailor's end- ing, and in any case he would escape from an intolerable position. He quietly secured a life- belt, and as there were no lights allowed about the deck he managed to get into the main-chains unnoticed, slipped off his clothes, and quietly slid into the water. " All this while the westerly wind was rising, 148 BLACK-BIRDING and before daybreak we had to shorten sail. In fact, we had not only to take in the fore- top- sail, but some of our fore-and-aft canvas as well ; and so quickly did the gale increase that by eight bells in the second watch I had reduced our sails to close-reefed mainsail, fore-staysail, and jib, and that was every stitch the schooner could carry. "The barque had taken in all her light sails, and was now under double-reefed topsails, reefed spanker, and jib. Of course both the Spaniard and ourselves were keeping as close to the wind as possible, for by this time we both realized that if we cleared the reef which ran out from the north-west point of the island, it would be a close shave, and with nothing to spare. But it seemed more than doubtful if either of us would clear that dreadful reef, over which the surf was boiling and raging at such a wild rate that it meant death and destruction to the bravest crew and stoutest ship that ever sailed the seas if once caught in the teeth of those fierce breakers. Westgarth urged me to keep up the chase in spite of the imminent risk of being pitched on the reef. However, I had one consolation, and that was that the Lap- wing looked a couple of points nearer the wind IN THE PACIFIC 149 than the Rimac^ so if she cleared the reef the schooner was safe. But there was the de- sperate rub, wotdd the barque clear the reef? " I warned Westgarth that it was now very doubtful if we could tack-ship in such a sea and wind (we had no room to wear-ship by this time) but still I thought we had better try to get on the other tack, when we would have plenty sea-room, and let the barque go free, or go to destruction as the case might be. But the Lieutenant would not hear of it. He said the schooner was behaving so beautifully, that she was safe to go clear of the reef, and it would be a deplorable thing to let the slaver go scot free after such a splendid chase. "This happened rather over, than under, thirty years ago," said Kinross; " and I was a bit younger and more reckless then. So I let my little sweetheart go. She is true as steel, and has never once failed me, and, of course, did not fail me that time, but it was a close shave! Too close a shave to ask even the truest, the beautifullest, the lovingest little craft that ever pulled a man out of a tight place to do. But she did it; as she has done all I ever asked of her. " The barque kept steadily on, but we could 150 BLACK-BIRDING see that it was touch-and-go with her. Being a large ship she could carry her canvas, or rather some of it, bravely enough. But she suffered more than the Lapwing from the tremendous rollers tearing towards the reef. The little craft danced over them like a gull, hardly shipping a drop of water, and never a heavy green sea; whereas the large ship when she rose on the great combers that were leap- ing, and curling to break on the reef, almost stood on end, and showed her forefoot down to the keel: then as she plunged into the trough of the sea, she would bury herself right up to the windlass. " I knew that this could not last long with- out catastrophe, but I suppose the Spaniard was hoping that his rigging and spars would hold for another half hour, and that would send him clear of the reef, when he could square away before the gale, and carry such a press of sail as he hoped would soon take him out of our sight. But that was not to be. His day of grace in this world was drawing to a close, and the beautiful, but wicked Rimac (although she was not to blame, poor thing! but it is hard for a sailor's mind to separate a craft from her trade, good or bad) never after that day IN THE PACIFIC 151 carried broken-hearted men and women into sorrowful bondage. " The barque had almost rounded the ex- treme point of the reef, which if she had succeeded in doing she would have been completely out of danger, but she had made so much leeway, and was so near the reef, that every moment the curling rollers threatened to engulf and cast her like a weed to utter destruction. We were considerably to wind- ward of the barque by this time, and although by no means free of anxiety for ourselves, yet we felt so certain of clearing the reef, that we could afford to look now and then, with a sort of sympathy, upon what was practically a doomed ship. My crew, and the rescued Kanakas, had no maudlin sentimentality of that sort. They watched her with gleaming eyes and clenched teeth, muttering low words of hate at the ship in her last agony, and fierce satisfaction for the fate which was fast over- taking her. "Whether the Spaniard attempted to go about, or whether he was only trying to luff a bit closer to the gale, I don't know, but certainly the barque rose square head on to a great roller, and then, as she plunged down- 152 BLACK-BIRDING wards, her headgear and all the fore-part of the ship disappeared under the next wave, and when she struggled free of water her whole headgear was gone, and with it the fore-top- mast, and all above it, had come crashing down on deck. Two more seas completed the catastrophe — in their awful power grasping the great ship, like a little plaything, and casting her in their wild sport on to the jagged coral reef, where she went to pieces like a bundle of match-wood. Of course no man could live through that terrible turmoil of crashing rollers and tearing coral reef. My Hawaiian mate — as he clung to the main rigging, with cap gone and shirt torn to ribbons in the gale, but never taking his eyes from the dying ship — expressed the position fully, and with apparent satisfac- tion to all hands: ■ Ua make lakou apau! y (They are all dead) — to which my Maori responded : ' Kanui te pai I ' (Very, very good !). " Then the clenched teeth relaxed, the fierce gleam faded from their eyes; and presently there were little snatches of song and careless laughter, as if a difficult piece of work was now satisfactorily accomplished, and all hands could take their ease with calm and happy consciences. That's always the way with the wise brown man IN THE PACIFIC 153 — no bothering sentiment or foolish qualms or regrets. But we white men could not, at the moment, find perfect satisfaction in our hearts at the awful ending of ship and crew — even though they were ' Black- birders/ We would have felt much more comfortable if they had paid for their misdeeds with a good long spell in a nice strict prison, with the prospect of coming out wiser and better men. " But it was too late now for this world, and we could only hope in a dim, sailor fashion, that God in His mercy has some other way, beyond our knowledge, of reforming men. But although we tried to soothe our minds with such hopes, yet we could not go whistling and smiling about the decks like our happy brown brothers; on the contrary we were unusually silent and moody for several days thereafter. Chapter III " We weathered the reef and ran into smooth water under lee of the island. After fossicking about for a while we came to an anchor near a native village and a splendid cocoanut grove. We saw people lurking about, but although we 154 BLACK-BIRDING made all kinds of peaceful and friendly signs, not a man, woman, or child came near us. After a couple of days spent in fruitless endeavours to enter upon friendly intercourse, we gave it up as hopeless. These poor fellows had learned their miserable lesson of caution from previous misadventures with the rascally ' Black-birders.' So we had to abandon all intention of landing and ascertaining if, by any possibility, men had reached shore from the wreck. But that prob- ability was so slim, that it was not worth while risking trouble with the natives about it. " The storm went down as quickly as it had arisen, and after wasting a day or two over the poor, scared San Christovals, we turned south- ward again, intending to call at Espiritu Santo, for the purpose of landing our strangely acquired guests, and to learn if any evil had befallen the mission station in revenge for the stolen men. " After the late fierce gale from the south- west, the trades had again dropped into their usual quiet business-like methods, and, of course, this meant a good deal of working to windward for us to reach Espiritu Santo. But as the Lapwing always enjoys that sort of sailing we made good progress, and, in spite of a calm spell, we made Espiritu in very good time, and IN THE PACIFIC 155 came to an anchor in the same bay where so shortly before Neil Mackenzie had been the unwilling assistant in carrying off the twenty poor chaps whom we had picked up. These fellows were now quite at home with us, and always ready to pull-and-haul, wash decks, or lend a hand at any job that happened to be going on. And of an evening they would entertain us with some of their grotesque dances, and queer, weird songs. With their quick wits they soon caught on to the meaning of things, designating us ' Mikinori man ' in contradistinction to their late captors 'kill-kill man.' Neil Mackenzie was a great puzzle to them for a few days. Why he, a ' kill-kill man ' as they supposed, should have been thrown to the sharks like themselves, they could not comprehend. But at last my second mate — Jim Lopai — got them to understand that Neil had never been a ' kill-kill man ' at all, but was enticed on board, like themselves, under false pretences. After this there was a great change of feeling among the poor wild hearts, and it was most touching to see these simple fellows show their sympathy and kindly feeling by coming quietly up to Mackenzie, when he was in a chair or leaning on the rail, and softly stroking his clothes, with wonderfully tender 156 BLACK-BIRDING touches that made me think of words my old school-master gave me as a copy-line : ' One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.' "When we sighted their island there was great excitement among the Kanakas, and long before we could make out the shape of the land, even with our glasses, they picked out peaks and valleys, points and cliffs, by name. Then they piloted us to a safe anchorage, in a beautiful bay which Mackenzie remembered only too well. " But to our disappointment there was no sign of life to be seen anywhere, that is of human life I mean, for we soon discovered shoals of fish under us, and, what is rather rare in those islands, there were several sea birds skimming about. " Our passengers were evidently disconcerted at the disappearance of their friends, and through my second mate they made us understand that, no doubt, fearing that we were another 'kill-kill* ship, the whole tribe had taken to the mountains. But even after this highly probable explanation of their people's absence, we could see that they were by no means easy in their minds as they gathered in little groups about the deck, whispering to each other, and casting furtive IN THE PACIFIC 157 glances at us; and I think that they, with their quick wits, had already guessed pretty accurately the terrible deed which had taken place. " The absence of people put us rather in a quandary as to how to proceed. Of course we could land the islanders, and then take our- selves off. But we were anxious to ascertain if the little Mission on this part of Espiritu Santo was safe, for we greatly feared that the kid- napping of their friends would have thrown the tribe into such a wild state that in their mad- ness they might have committed some acts of violence. " In this dilemma, my steady old mate, Karl Olsen, came to me with a proposal which rather staggered me at first — as I did not wish to run the risk of losing my only white officer — but which, after talking it over with Westgarth, I concluded to adopt. Olsen's plan was simply to let him take the twenty rescued men ashore, fully trusting to their good faith, and try to hold intercourse with the islanders; then, whether successful or not, to proceed to the mission station and ascertain its condition. In five minutes the boat was launched, the twenty men jumped in, Olsen took the helm, and off they went, but in a very quiet and subdued manner, 158 BLACK-BIRDING not at all in the hilarious fashion usual with South Sea islanders. " Then followed two anxious and quiet hours. After having those twenty lively fellows skipping about the decks for nearly a month, the silence was rather trying. Westgarth wandered fore- and-aft, examining with his glass every stick and stone on shore and every ripple on the sea. I had ensconced myself comfortably under the awning, and was soothing my uneasy feelings with my old ballad book. There was not a sound far or near, save the lapping of the water under the schooner's counter and an occasional footfall as Lieutenant Westgarth came aft, never saying a word, but no doubt thinking I was a cool cove to go reading trash (as he called my old book) at such an anxious time. I distinctly remember that I was reading : ' I took his body on my back, An' whiles I gaed, an' whiles I sat, I digged a grave and laid him in, An' happed him wi' the sod sae green ! ' when Westgarth shouted, 'Here they come!' and in ten minutes the boat was alongside. Olsen came up, but the men sat still in the boat, hanging their heads and looking sad and miserable. IN THE PACIFIC 159 " Westgarth, Mackenzie and I crowded round Olsen, anxious to hear his report, for we had grown more and more afraid — as hour after hour passed and no sign of life appeared — that some evil thing had been done by the exasper- ated islanders. And sure enough an evil and sorrowful deed had been done, much more evil and sorrowful than even our most direful fore- bodings had conjectured. " My mate's countenance was modelled after the fashion of what Defoe termed the ' wooden face/ I had become quite accustomed to his natural expression and rather liked it, although it was a bit exasperating at times. For instance, we might be tearing along, making the most of a stiff fair wind, and as I would be lying on the transom having forty winks, after a long watch on deck, I would hear a bang above the roaring of the wind, like the crack of a cannon, and Olsen would calmly stick his unchangeable face down the companion-way, and say in ex- actly the same tone of voice in which he would report any trifling event : ' The fore-topsail gone to pieces, sir ! (the said fore-topsail being worth from fifteen to twenty pounds !). Or it might be that we had not seen the sun for two days, and so had made a mistake in our reckoning; he 160 BLACK-BIRDING would come with exactly the same expression as if he were eating a good dinner, lying at anchor in Wooloomooloo Cove, and report : ' Heavy breakers right ahead, sir! ' " So when Olsen stepped on board with his calm, unreadable face, with no more sign of emotion than there is on the carved faces on the door-posts of a Maori chiefs house, it seemed to allay my friends' fears. But I knew my mate too well to augur good from his ex- pressionless countenance — the more expression- less, the worse — and when he took off his old cap, and held it in his hands as if he were at prayers, I knew his report was bad before he spoke a word. " Olsen and the islanders landed on a little sandy beach, behind some jutting rocks which hid them from our sight. He left ten men to keep the boat, and with the others went ex- ploring through the native village; but not a man, woman, or child was to be seen, not even a dog or a pig. Then his fellows piloted him to the mission station, a mile or so beyond the village, beautifully situated on a rising ground, and shaded by splendid bread-fruit trees. The little mission house appeared in good order, doors and windows open, the table set as if for IN THE PACIFIC 161 the morning meal, but, as in the village, there was no sign of life. That life, however, had been there very recently was shown by the fact that the fire was still smouldering in the stove in the little cook-house. " After Olsen had looked all over the place without finding a trace of living mortal, he was about to depart and bring his report to me, when there was a wild, mournful wail from his men, who had, with native sagacity, been rum- maging about the premises. Guided by the cry, which continued to be repeated for some minutes, Olsen went further through the bread-fruit grove and came on an open space perfectly clear of under bushes, in fact swept perfectly clean of leaves and twigs, and beautifully shaded by the great branching trees. The men made Olsen understand that this was the general meeting place of the tribe from time immemorial, for all kinds of native entertainments, dances, enchant- ments, priestly flummery, etc. But of late, after the people had proved that the Missionaries were not \ kill-kill ' people, but on the contrary * pono-roa people, they had devoted the place to ' fanauenl namely, teaching. 1 'At one side of this open space there was a raised platform, three or four feet high, evidently M 162 BLACK-BIRDING made for the accommodation of the speakers, while the open space lay in front for the audi- ence. " When Olsen came from the cottage into the open space, upon hearing the men's wailing cries, he found them kneeling before the plat- form as silent and motionless as graven images. His long experience in the Pacific of the many superstitious customs of the islanders made him conclude that the men were performing some of their heathen rites, or maybe Christian cere- monies, according to their lights, poor chaps; so, not wishing to disturb them, he walked round the end of the kneeling row of men to get a better view of the platform, and then he saw, what poor old Olsen in his limited English vocabulary described as ' The sorrowfullest contemplation I ever behold ! ' " Lying side by side, with hands folded over their quiet hearts, and with perfectly calm, un- disfigured faces, lay those who had formed this little mission, two women and a man, in the solemn dignity of death ! They must have been killed by a quick, heavy, unexpected blow, for no wound was visible. Their apparel was not at all disturbed, as it would have been in a struggle, and their faces had such a placid ex- IN THE PACIFIC 163 pression as to suggest the idea that they were killed in their sleep. " When he had taken note of all there was to notice in the sad scene, Olsen started back to the boat. He fully expected that all the islanders would bolt after this awful discovery, but not a man deserted him, and they all took their places in the boat and returned to the schooner. " After hearing Olsen's sorrowful report, we held a consultation to decide what had better be done under the sad, terrible circumstances. We concluded to leave my mate Olsen in charge of the schooner, and that we three white men, Westgarth, Mackenzie, and I, should at once go on shore, make a thorough examination of the mission station, and if we could do no more at least give Christian burial to those who had worked for years in their Master's service, and finally had given their lives in His Name. " At the last moment we decided to take two of Westgarth's white sailors with us, as well as my second mate, Jim Lopai, the latter to inter- pret in case of falling in with the tribe on shore. Of course the twenty men we had picked up were as ignorant of the actual circumstances of the tragedy as we were ourselves, so we did not expect to learn anything from them — but never- 1 64 BLACK-BIRDING theless we did learn something from them which none of us will ever forget. " Having arranged signals with Olsen, in case of need, we started off with the twenty islanders, all of them looking sad and sorrowful, and never speaking a word, good or bad. Indeed, they seemed completely confused and broken-hearted at the miserable ending to what they had thought would be a joyful home-coming; for I had explained to them through Lopai, when we picked them up, that we would take them back to their own island. " I took two of my own crew with us in the boat to take her back to the schooner in case there might be some treachery practised upon us, and I even was so suspicious that I slipped a revolver into my pocket, and so did Westgarth and Mackenzie, but we were rather ashamed of our mistrust of the poor brown men before that day was done. " When we landed the islanders took the lead, and in about an hour brought us to the beautiful spot where the little mission house stood, but now, alas ! tenantless and silent. When we reached the sad place where the three silent forms lay, the poor brown men dropped respect- fully behind, and assumed that attitude of re- IN THE PACIFIC 165 pose, humility, comfort, or whatever you like to call it, which all darkies of every nationality with which I am acquainted can assume with ease and grace, but which no pale-face can, ex- cept with pain and awkwardness. I refer to the habit of sitting on one's heels. " Westgarth, Mackenzie, and I went forward to the platform and gazed long and sorrowfully at our three country people lying still and silent, placid and at rest, all pain and weeping and parting past for evermore. " I had seen sorrowful death too often to be as profoundly overcome as you might imagine I ought to have been ; and both my companions had seen death in too manifold fashions during their roving lives to be more than just ordin- arily touched by the sad spectacle. But as we three men stood there, calmly, silently, and reverently, Neil Mackenzie moaned the name of his lost love, and fell on his knees in the terrible paroxysm of a strong man's agony of broken-hearted grief and remorse beside the dead woman — bonnie Elsie Graeme — who would have been his happy wife but for his own pride and stupidity. He was both humble and wise enough now — but it was too late, poor man ! Too late! 1 66 BLACK-BIRDING "Westgarth was hardly less moved than Mackenzie, as he drew my attention to the initials E. G. in small, but perfectly distinct, characters tattooed in pale blue ink on her temple exactly where the luxuriant hair always covered it. In after days Westgarth told me how this unusual method of identification had been resorted to, and I may just as well repeat it now in his own words, or as near his own words as I can remember. " ' When we three were passing from happy childhood into the romantic years of youth,' said Westgarth, ' we read a story which very much impressed us, a story of a young English girl who was saved from a ship, and treated well by the Maoris of New Zealand, after they had killed every other person on board. The chief, into whose hands this little girl came, treated her most kindly, just as though she were his own daughter, and therefore a great chieftainess, and she had a very happy time of it among the poor savages, who did every- thing they could think of for her delectation and pleasure. They caught the beautiful wild birds and tamed them as playmates for their little chieftainess ; they gave her the best of everything they had to eat, and the women IN THE PACIFIC 167 worked the most beautiful fabrics for her to wear. " * In those early days the Maori girls always had some distinctive mark tattooed on some part of the face, generally on the lips. So the chief who had adopted "Mary" — that was the little maid's name — thought that she must be in the fashion now that she was a great chief's daughter. But it was hard to decide just what hieroglyphics would be most becoming on so fair a skin, and upon which part of the face it would be most suitable. "' At length a very wise old Tohunga — that is a wizard in their language — said that as the child was of another race of beings, but had be- come a Maori by adoption, it would be well to tattoo a small part of the chief's splendid family tattooing under the hair on her left temple, so that he could at all times claim her; but if in the future she foregathered with her own race, and it was to her advantage not to be a Maori, she could always conceal the tattoo under her hair. " ' This, and much more, was one of the many romantic stories which we three read at odd times, when we ought to have been polishing up our Latin, I suppose. " ' This pretty story took such tremendous 1 68 BLACK-BIRDING hold of Neil and Elsie, that they used to go on the sly to an old sailor who lived in the village, and they bribed the mean old swab with a sovereign — which Neil had been hoarding for some great occasion — to tattoo E. G. in small letters on Elsie's temple under her beautiful black hair. Elsie stood the ordeal like a manyr, and although she must have suffered a good deal of pain, she never flinched, and no one but ourselves knew anything about it until it was all over. Then, of course, there was an awful row. Her mother was inconsolable, and her father raged and swore, and Neil and I were forbidden the house where we had been welcome guests since babyhood. And, in addition, Neil had one of the prettiest floggings I ever saw administered, which, of course, I bewailed ap- propriately in Neil's presence, but at the same time had a certain inward satisfaction at his sufferings, for I knew in a dim way that Neil had come out of the scrape in a more manly fashion than I had, for he owned up, and took the blame bravely, while I rather doctored my evidence.' That was the history of the letters on the dead woman's temple. " I moved away from the two grief-stricken men, and the silent, released woman; those IN THE PACIFIC 169 three, who after thirty years of total separation, change, and the hardening effects of life, were once more brought together, in God's mysterious way, for a little while ; two, with hearts as tender as in childhood, but, alas! with that knowledge of sorrow for which there is no healing in this world. And one with the peace of God upon her silent lips and calm face. " After a while poor Neil Mackenzie recovered his composure, and taking his friend Westgarth's hand with a simple, shy, boyish smile, he stooped down and kissed the little blue marks on the dead woman's cold, white temple. They spoke no words, but it flashed through my mind at the moment, that perhaps those three had some communication beyond the power of human words to express. " By papers and letters which we found in the mission we fully established the identity of Mr. and Mrs. Grant and their cousin, Elsie Graeme. Westgarth secured all their private papers and effects and took notes of all the sad circumstances of the case. " As it was getting late in the afternoon I set the islanders to dig three graves close together, and within an hour those strong, willing fellows had completed their task. Then, after wrapping i 7 o BLACK-BIRDING the bodies in beautifully fine native cloth — Kapa — we laid them in their quiet graves, in the far land, and among the wild people for whom they had given their lives. " We fenced the sacred little spot with heavy stout logs, and at the head of each grave we affixed a board with the name of the dead. When the work was completed to the best of our ability, we white men stood still never say- ing a word, each one thinking his own thoughts, I suppose, according to the fashion of his own mind. The poor black fellows went away by themselves together with my second mate, Jim Lopai. I, of course, having a freer mind than my two companions with their sorrowful thoughts and heavy hearts, noticed more readily than they did what the Kanakas were doing. " After a few minutes council among them- selves, three men stepped out from the others, each with one of the axes which we had just been using at the fence work. I felt a thrill of horror as I put my hand in my pocket and clutched my revolver ready for use. Yet the men did not look as if they meant mischief, on the contrary they seemed sad and subdued. They came up to Westgarth, Mackenzie, and me, and each man dropped on his knees before IN THE PACIFIC 171 us and calmly laid his axe at our feet, while another man came forward and spoke quietly to my mate, Lopai. Lopai was a little while before he seemed to fully comprehend what was said, whereas generally he understood these islanders almost as well as if they were his own country- men. Presently he looked at us with a strangely troubled expression, not exactly of fear, but more of horror and astonishment, and said to me in a low tone, as if he did not wish Westgarth and Mackenzie to hear, 'Kapena!' — that was how Lopai always addressed me — ' Kapena! the people wish you three white men to kill these three Kanakas — one on the grave of each of your dead friends, in payment for the evil deed which their tribe have done. These men are quite willing to die, as they and the others wish to show you that they are very grateful for the good which you, and the dead ones, have done them, and sorry for the evil thing which the tribe have done to your friends. They also say that these good Missionaries — who have now gone into the Lani (Heaven) — always taught them this lesson: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Therefore, they say, they are now doing to you what they would have all those 172 BLACK-BIRDING who have stolen their dear ones do to them, viz., come freely forward and submit to be done to death in a peaceable manner.' U This was an example of the golden rule so utterly beyond our comprehension, that we were completely taken aback and could only stand aghast and considerably humiliated before these poor brown fellows who quietly awaited — with bowed heads and closed eyes — the fulfilment of their ideas of perfect justice. #*it- J&. ^L. AL. *7V* -TV- -7T 'TT r f I have only a word more to add, and to me it is very comforting to have this simple fact to record after the sorrow and evil of my black- birding story. "In a snug little cove on the north shore of Port Jackson two elderly men carry on the business of boat-hiring. Theirs is a very quiet little business, but if you wish to hire a motor launch, a sailing or a rowing boat, you will find a good one, well-equipped and safe, by applying to them. " Their little cottage by the quiet water is one of the few resorts which I frequent when I take a run up to Sydney. And when I visit these two old friends, fast nearing 'the land o' the leal,' I am greatly astonished to see how IN THE PACIFIC 173 contented, nay even happy, men can be although they have lost the great prize of life. But you see these men did not lose everything — they did not lose their ideal. Hope remains a star which never sets. And I think they live up to their ideal because there is one waiting and watching and praying for them in that land where no one need ever pray for oneself any more — the weeping, and the pain, and the sorrow, are all past." Kinross said the last sentence in a low voice and with a curious shimmer in his eyes as if tears were not far off, and we all strolled away to our hammocks without word or comment of any kind. This seemed a bit rude on the face of it, but somehow we thought that the skipper did not wish the silence to be broken or his mind disturbed by irrelevant remarks. His thoughts were too busy with old events, old friends, old, dead years. " The thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." SAM KENT'S STORY SAM KENT'S STORY PRELUDE Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Aye ! Keep thy heart ! For in the years Inexorable, joy or tears Will be the harvest thou shalt reap Of what ye lose, or what ye keep. Love — perfect love — will ever rise To higher spheres of ecstasies, Until we stand before the Throne, Where Love shall reign, and Love alone. Beware the shadows — deep or light — That dim your guiding stars of night; Beware the false uncertain ray Which leads from Truth's unchanging way; Beware the hate, beware the strife That sap the tender springs of life — And blast the florets of the sod, And hide us from the face of God. A little doubt, a word of pain That cannot be recalled again, A branch we bend to deck a bower, Soon grows beyond our feeble power ! N 178 SAM KENT'S STORY And then the shadows, dark and high, Shut all the sunlight from the sky. The bitter things beyond recall Become an adamantine wall, That mocks our efforts, weak and vain, To find the true, free life again. For habits make us more and more A part of all we were before; Our souls take tint in form and hue Of all we ever loved or knew ! And time can never tear apart The past from any human heart. Indelible — for good or ill — The weal or woe remaineth still. Aye ! Keep thy heart — that not at last Thy soul shall moan the changeless past- 'Tis thine to choose, for good or ill, What God shall give thee to fulfil! If Angels pass thee by in vain, Their white wings never come again — To-day but writes to-morrow's fate, Beware it does not write — " Too late/" SAM KENT'S STORY 179 Chapter I S you all know," said Sam Kent, " I am a Cockney, and that means a good deal, for real Londoners are a curious people. They are in some things the cleverest and sharpest people in the world, and yet in many ways they are the most astoundingly ignorant beings on the face of the earth. I have known quite an in- telligent London-bred woman ask the question, *'ow is new potatoes made?' You see, our modern Babylonians are — or were in my day — so completely self-absorbed, so entirely separated from life elsewhere, and so profoundly unin- terested in all things save their own circum- scribed, narrow surroundings, that I feel sure if the moon happened to fall in their immediate neighbourhood true Londoners would only sup- pose that one of the town lights had gone to pieces; and if you told them that it was the moon they would only stare, and retort : * Lauk- a-mussy ! we al'ays thort that'e on'y shin'd for poor folk in the country who 'ave no gas !' " So people who don't know my dear old London well enough are apt to say it is a sordid 180 SAM RENTS STORY town, with nothing but brick walls overhead and sticky mud underfoot — no attractiveness, no romance, no thought for the poor and the lost. Ah ! my superficial globe-trotter, there are more of all these admirable things which you have just enumerated within a radius of say two miles of Marble Arch than there are in a whole batch of your Continental towns which are lauded and admired by people who ought to know better. 4 'Charles Dickens — that prince of London writers, both as regards romance and reality — knew these facts well, and revealed to our less acute vision and denser souls pictures of beauty, virtue, and all charitableness, cheek-by-jowl with squalid misery, vice, and the most awful ignor- ance in the world. " Another curious thing about the old town is the fact that London is the most dangerous place in all the world wherein to be lost. There are many other places, of course, where people get lost. For instance, one may be lost on the prairie, lost in the bush, as they say in Australia, and as I have been myself — and a very dis- agreeable fix it is. Then you may be lost in the desert, or lost on the sea; but the most irretrievable case of all is to be lost in London. SAM KENT'S STORY ISI "If you are lost on the prairie you are almost certain to reach human abode if you let your ' bronco ' have his own way — which is generally quite opposite to what you think is the right way. If your head gets slued in the bush your horse (if you have a horse) is sure to know the way out, and if you are on foot you are pretty certain to have a gun, in which case you are sure of something to eat, even if it is only such small game as a laughing jackass or a bush rat; and then you can always strike fire with your gun if you have recklessly used up all your matches lighting your pipe every quarter of an hour. " Suppose you lose your reckoning on the trackless desert, with never a landmark in all your flat, glaring world, with the yellow, dim horizon apparently so near but beyond all possi- bility of reach. Yet if you have the sense to let your silly- looking, but wonderfully wise camel — good patient beast! — have his own way, he will steer you to the nearest oasis as straight as a compass, if you don't hurry him and so confuse his philosophical mind. " Then if you get adrift on the most merciless of all the elements, although the most beautiful, if you only possess your soul in patience for a 182 SAM KENT'S STORY short time, there are few seas nowadays so lonely but some craft will come along and pick you up before it is too late. " But if a man is lost in London — I mean thoroughly lost 'in mind, body, and estate' — then I believe there is no hope for that man. Of course miracles have happened, as I have proved beyond question or doubt ; and may happen again, as I profoundly hope and trust, but outside of a miracle, I repeat that I have no hope for the utterly lost in London on this side of the grave. And I simply give him my mite (which the wise ones tell me I should not give) and go on my way trusting that God has a greater and wiser plan than all my weak, foolish little plans of this, that, or t'other of rescuing my neighbour. " Mind you, I have a tremendous belief in the grand efforts of the many noble institutions existing in our poor, weary, old Babylon. And no one but a fool can ignore the splendid life- saving work of the Salvation Army and many others, for which we have to thank God and take courage with renewed hope for our race. But the kind of lost which I refer to are as far beyond mere human reach as if they were in the relentless grasp of the whirlpools and rapids SAM KENT'S STORY 183 of Niagara, and you may as well talk to the deaf waters as to those dead souls. " I have mentioned romance, and all that, and some of you [here Kent looked at me] may imagine that you will get hold of a yarn to put in a book, a story of love and murder in true modern fashion, therefore I think it will be better to disabuse your minds of that expectation at once, and state distinctly, like Canning's honest knife-grinder: ' Story? God bless you, I have none to tell, sir! ' " I have simply to show you one specimen out of thousands of victims of what we call ! civilization ' — a system which we take with us wherever we go and set up as a cure-all, like the serpent of brass which Moses set up in the Wilderness, and when the people looked upon it they lived ! But the pity of our system is that when our fetish is thrust before simple, primitive folk, they die! You will please ob- serve that my remarks do not in the least refer to Christianity, that is another and a better history altogether. " When I was a youngster of fifteen or six- teen, there was a handsome young soldier who was frequently at my father's gay, hospitable house. Leopold Durand was a subaltern in a 1 84 SAM KENT'S STORY regiment which had seen much service and was destined to see much more. " At the time I refer to the trouble with Russia was becoming red hot, and presently- broke into flame; and the glorious, dismal, useless Crimea campaign began its roll of wounds, death, and misery — broken hearts and ruined homes — and then ended leaving things, as regarded States, in statu quo, but not as regarded broken hearts and ruined homes. " Durand' s regiment was among those which suffered all the horrors of that first awful winter, and although my friend was in the thick of all the dreadful work and misery, he went through the war from beginning to end unscathed saving a few sabre slicings, things which soon heal when you are young and vigorous. " After the Crimea, Durand went to India, and distinguished himself by many gallant deeds and hairbreadth escapes during that nightmare of horrors, the Mutiny. Such a ghastly episode that old Indian veterans don't like to think about it, much less speak about it, to this day. 'rf tt *n* *fi* tF " Captain Leopold Durand came home a bronzed, middle-aged looking, but still a young man in years. Of course he was a hero to us, SAM KENT'S STORY 185 and he again took up his old position in the family, and became practically an inmate of our house. " By that time I had completed my education and entered my father's office. I had a pretty easy life of it in those days and was looked upon with envious eyes by the other young fellows. I could swagger out and in without much regard to time, while they were kept strictly to exact rules, but I have no doubt it was all good for them in after years. " I think one reason which induced my father to let me have such a happy-go-lucky time was that the old gentleman did not wish to scare me by too much confinement, as I had, even at that early date, shown symptoms of the ' wanderlust ' which afterwards shaped my destiny. " Captain Durand had much — too much for his own good — leisure on his hands. His health had been a good deal impaired by the climate and hard life in India. So the authorities gave him many and long leaves, only calling upon him to report now and then, and for short spells of service. During his idle time my father's house became his favourite and almost constant resort, and he lived the gay, fashionable life of a man about town. Ladies petted him, 186 SAM KENT'S STORY men were proud of his company, and the best society was open to him everywhere. At last he seemed to lose interest in his profession, and even the little he was called upon to do became irksome; and much to my father's sorrow he sold his Commission, although he had every- thing in his favour, and, apparently, a brilliant career in prospect. And now began that idle, aimless life, which nine times out of ten is the entrance to the dark road which leads eventu- ally to the wilderness of lost souls. " My father, with his much experience of life, saw Durand's danger long before I ever dreamed of such a thing. In fact, he had strongly advised Durand to stick to his profession, saying that a man more than half-way from thirty to forty was too old to change his trade with any prospect of success. I did not know at that time why my father took such anxious interest in Leopold Durand, for he was by no means given to sentimental attachments; but however that was he became much concerned as Durand seemed to become more and more listless and regardless as to his future — in short, gradually became the utterly idle, lounging, street corner loafer. " Still he was yet a gentleman and kept in touch with his friends. We saw him every other SAM KENT'S STORY 187 day, but his visits were not so frequent as formerly, and his energetic ways, which were always inspiriting, grew forced and unnatural as if they were assumed — which I suppose they were — and he became more and more reticent and self-absorbed. " I know that my father read the many early signs of dry-rot and tried his best to save him, but the disease had got into the blood, and when it does that nothing short of a miracle can save its victim. Day by day it became more apparent that Durand was on the down grade, and at last he disappeared altogether, and we did not hear or see a vestige of him for three years. " One miserable wet afternoon I met him on Holborn Viaduct. I did not recognize the man at first sight and passed him, merely thinking that it was a face I must have seen before, or like some familiar face, and so passed on. But a moment after, I placed him in memory, and, turning to look at the man, I found him looking at me — Leopold Durand! When I spoke he knew me at once, but the curious thing was that he showed neither pleasure nor annoyance at our meeting, never held out his hand nor made any sign of salute by smile or word. His out- ward appearance bore witness to the inward 188 SAM KENT'S STORY decay. And when I asked him to come home with me as my father wished very much to see him, he only shook his head and presently turned down the Viaduct steps to the street below. As we went along, I doing all the talking, we came to one of those stuffy little bar-rooms (they are never far apart) which the Govern- ment so very thoughtfully provide for lost souls and broken hearts — for the purpose, I suppose, of keeping up the supply. In those days there were no A. B.C. rooms, those blessings to the wanderer in London with sixpence — and no more — to his credit. "It was a very strange and sad experience meeting Durand that day after his long dis- appearance. When I had seen him last he was just the ordinary sort of gentleman about town. Now he was the shy, silent, suspicious man of the street, picking up a living in the strange precarious ways common to lost souls. I had always supposed that lost souls drank, but I was quite disabused of that idea by the habits of Leopold Durand. He invariably preferred tea, coffee, milk, or chocolate to fire-water — which civilization prescribes as a divine panacea for all the ills that flesh is heir to, but which the so-called savage man never indulges in until he SAM KENT'S STORY 189 is civilized. On the present, and many future occasions, we dropped into one of the cheap eating bars near Ludgate Circus and had a feed of sandwiches washed down with copious mugs of hot tea. The buxom Hebe who served us frowned upon my order until I slipped a ' bob ' into her hand and explained — in a whisper — that my poor friend wanted tea to-day because he had been on the spree, which was true enough in a way; anyhow, it served my purpose. " After I learned more of Durand's haunts I often foregathered with him and gradually gained a little of his confidence. But I had to be very careful of my manners; very careful indeed. For instance, I had to confine my remarks absolutely to topics of the moment — the weather, the comfort or misery of the room we happened to enter, the portions of grub set be- fore us, the state of our appetites, etc. It was very strange how we two drew slowly together personally while our souls were as far apart as the poles. It was the first time I fully realized how absolutely true is the wise, but little under- stood, aphorism, ' As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.' Durand had gone so far under water that his thoughts were like the thoughts of the utterly hopeless canines of Constantinople, viz., ipo SAM KENT'S STORY a fixed suspicion of all institutions under the sun, especially of the human kind. Tv *7v' "Tv* "TV* " My father, as I have mentioned, was very deeply interested in poor Durand, and was always thinking out some new scheme of rescuing him from his miserable life. But what are you going to do with a man over whom you have no right of physical control, and who silently ignores all your plans and proposals of betterment? Why the man should have fallen into such habits of mind and body was a problem which neither my father nor Durand's friends could solve. Of course there must have been a beginning, how- ever unnoticeable at its very inception, just as everything in the universe (excepting God) had a beginning. But no man could tell more accur- ately when the dry-rot began in Leopold Durand than the cleverest botanist can tell the exact day when the deadly disease struck the heart of the oak which will eventually lay the pride of the forest in the dust. " I know that my father was the first to suspect the presence of the disease, but that was not the beginning. Not the beginning by a long way; and there was the pity of it. If it had only been possible to have seen the SAM KENT'S STORY 191 very beginning it might not then have been 'too late! " Thus it came about that I spent most of my days with Durand trying by all means I could devise to get him interested in the things and ways of his former and really natural life. My father never quite gave up hope, so he instructed me to stick with him day after day and to endeavour by all methods I could contrive to awaken again in the man's soul the hopes and ambitions of the past. It was all very curious, and if it had not been so sad, it would have been very interesting as well. Durand was not mad — that is, not madder than the rest of us. He was not lazy, he walked at least ten miles every day of his life, and ten miles a day on London streets is pretty stiff exercise. What I took to be a very bad symptom was the fact that nothing seemed to excite his curiosity. If I imparted the most startling news of public or private life, if I told him that it was quite possible we should have war with the United States, or that the Fenians were again at it in Ireland, or that some one of his most intimate friends had lately died, he would merely look far away up the street — if we were in the street, or across the room if we were indoors — nod, and 192 SAM KENT'S STORY take himself silently off. Or, if we dropped into the British Museum and I would pretend to be deeply interested in the Indian collection of weapons, gems, clothes, etc., and eagerly ask him questions about those things which he knew so well — he would merely yawn and remark that the place was very stuffy and close and we had better get into the open air. " It was really all very pitiful. But there was a strange sort of fascination about Durand which made his companionship most attractive to me. Indeed, I really think that my dear old father became a bit uneasy about my life — as I began to take so kindly to the task of trying to reclaim Leopold Durand — lest I, too, should fall into some of that poor man's shiftless ways. #-4£- -=£■ -3£ ^£- ■7T "Tv* W "A- " Those were the years when the brilliant, gallant, but most unfortunate Maximilian was making his dashing career in Mexico, a career which ended so disastrously for all concerned. My father and I knew several of the gay, young, reckless spirits who went out to that land of romance and adventure, many, alas! never to return. Seeing so many, and talking so much with men who were starting for Mexico, it came into my father's mind that as a last desperate SAM KENT'S STORY 193 attempt to infuse some kind of energy into Durand he would try to induce the poor fellow to take service with the Emperor, and under totally new circumstances again pick up the tangled threads of life. But when my father suggested this to Durand, and offered to pay all hisexpenses, the poor, broken man only shook his head in hopeless, silent fashion — more pathetic than any spoken words — put his battered hat on his grizzled head (not old in years, only old in hopelessness) and went shuffling down our front door steps and so into the wet, muddy street, while we thought of a handsome, gay young soldier who used to go with a light, firm foot down those very steps laughing a merry good-night back to us. Chapter II " I think I have told you that my father was a Hebrew. He was born in Damascus and educated in London. He was an exceedingly clever man, shrewd and keen-witted. Indeed, if he had not had an extra endowment of brains, lawyering would have been a poor business for a friendless young man in our Babylon. But o i 9 4 SAM KENT'S STORY Samuel Kent, ' The Damascus Jew Lawyer' as people generally called him, knew what he was about. There were many Jews in London, even when my father was a young man, and he quickly learned that they distrusted — rightly or wrongly — the alien lawyers they had to employ in their legal business, drawing up agreements, contracts, etc. So he determined to make himself master of the profession and then to devote himself exclusively to the business of his countrymen. And a very good business it became, for they all trusted him, and the firm of * Kent and Isaacs' never lacked business and never had a bad bebt. " Of course among men from all parts of the old world — as nearly all the Jews in London were at that time, few having been born in England — there were many strange characters; men of the most intense individuality, with minds imbued with the culture and wonderful history and achievements of their own race and also with the occult sciences of times and peoples totally unknown to western nations. There were old savants who — like Moses — were learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, the lore of that mysterious people of the ancient world. " One of those ancient men — Jacob El-Nathan SAM KENT'S STORY 195 by name — who could not speak a word of Eng- lish notwithstanding he was a great scholar in Oriental languages — had come to my father in much distress and laid his case before the firm. My father was a good Hebrew scholar. Not the Hebrew which is taught in English schools and which is as unintelligible to an Eastern man as if you were talking English — but he knew the idiomatic inflections of the old language, which not only made every word clear to the ear but also conveyed its subtile meaning to the mind. " Old Jacob was so delighted to find one of his own nation, who not only sympathized with him but could express that sympathy in deeds as well as words, that he implored my father to grant him a little room in a retired part of our great house where he could rest his aged feet until God, in His mercy, called him to eternal rest. So it came about that Jacob El-Nathan became an inmate of our house, and a most entertaining, pleasant, and instructive guest he turned out to be. " His trouble, for which he had first come to my father to seek advice and relief, was a simple piece of swindling on the part of a Greek money- lender in Cairo, by which the rogue had man- 196 SAM KENT'S STORY aged to grab all poor old Jacob's property for a mere song and left the old man in actual penury. Then in his despair Jacob managed to make his way to London, having heard that England was the only land merciful and just to his much persecuted and wronged race. " In the disturbed state of Egypt in those days my father knew that there was little chance of bringing the Greek money-lender to book. Nevertheless he determined to try if he could by any means frighten the fellow into restoring part of his ill-gotten gains. For this purpose he decided to send me to Cairo, armed with a power of attorney from Jacob, and a letter from the Foreign Secretary to our fellows in Egypt. " I had a delightful trip. That outing was more thought of and appreciated in those days than it is now when everybody runs all over the world. However, I need not go into details; suffice it to say that although I could not re- cover the whole of Jacob El-Nathan's property, I managed to frighten the rascally Greek out of nearly five thousand pounds — a Godsend to the old man, besides greatly pleasing my father by my cleverness, as he fondly called it. "Jacob lived quietly and contentedly in our house for over two years, passing most of his SAM KENT'S STORY 197 time in reading his books, and conversing with my father on abstruse subjects relating to the early history of the race. Then calmly and confidently relying upon the God of his fathers, he went into that world where perfect knowledge is learned at last. " A few days before Jacob El- Nathan betook himself to that wonderful journey, which we all more or less dread — but which he declared was a journey much to be desired — he called my father and me to his bedside, and after touchingly thanking my father for all his kind- ness (which had indeed been very great to the old man), he took from the middle finger of his left hand a ring, curiously wrought in the form of a serpent with a splendid opal, which shone with a strange weird fire, set in its head, and after kissing it reverently, put it on the same finger of my hand. Then from his right-hand middle finger he took another ring exactly similar in shape and design — but set with a ruby instead of an opal — and placed it on the middle finger of my right hand. Then slowly, and distinctly, our old friend told us the history of these rings, and a strange weird history it was — which I cannot now recount, though I may some other time. But the gist of it all was that whosoever 198 SAM KENT'S STORY willingly accepted the ruby ring, and wore it on his left hand (the hand nearest the heart), would be bodily and mentally under the influence of the wearer of the opal ring. " These rings, with their strange talismanic secret, had been given to Jacob by a fellow Hebrew whom he found and succoured from dire straits in the Sahara Desert, and, like the good Samaritan, took care of until the poor man died. At the last — just before he died — this man gave Jacob El- Nathan these two rings, with an account of their history and strange power, To preserve their pristine power, both rings could only be transferred to another im- mediately preceding the owners death : if they passed to another at any other time, or by un- fair means, their power lay dormant until they were restored to their rightful owner. The ruby ring — which was the one to be given to influence another mind — would eventually be restored to the wearer of the opal no matter when or where lost. " Soon after he revealed these things to my father and me, Jacob El-Nathan passed to his account, much content that his long journey was over, and the many years of his pilgrimage — one hundred and ten — were ended. SAM KENT'S STORY 199 " For some days after old Jacob's death my father was unusually silent and self-absorbed, leaving business entirely to his partner, and reading much in old musty tomes (he had a roomful of books, had my father), and in various ways showing me that he was maturing some weighty matters in his mind. At last he opened his heart fully to me, and it was to this effect: He explained much more fully than he had ever done before, how deeply he was interested in Leopold Durand. He told me that Leopold was the son of a very dear friend, who had died shortly after Durand got his commission; and having little belief in his son's discretion re- garding money matters, he had left a neat little fortune to him but wholly under my father's control; and to be used for the benefit of his son in whatever way my father should judge best. " Leopold Durand had been an extravagant boy, youth, and man. And in spite of all my father's care and forethought, the money which ought to have been the nucleus of a fortune, was frittered away in stupid debts, which my father had either to pay, or allow the son of his early friend to be disgraced before the gay world of fashion. These debts were mostly debts of 200 SAM KENT'S STORY honour — not legal at all, but just on that account much more important to a fashionable young man than his tailor's or his shoemaker's bills. But, alas! the disgrace had come in spite of all my father's care, and now the handsome, brave, clever soldier — who had won half-a-dozen medals for gallant actions — was a hopeless derelict on London streets. " So now I understood that ever since Jacob El-Nathan had bequeathed the rings and their mysterious secret to us, my father's mind had become possessed with the idea that through them, mayhap, was the power put into our hands which perchance would be the means of rescuing his friend's son from a hopeless life, and miser- able death. After much thinking and planning, the following is what my father decided upon. " As I have told you, there were many French- men coming and going about our house in those days, and the one absorbing subject of conversa- tion was Maximilian's prospects in Mexico, and what was likely to happen when the French army was withdrawn, as everybody knew it would be as soon as the Yankees settled their own little family trouble, and were free to turn their attention to other matters. Under these conditions, of which poor Maximilian was fully SAM KENT'S STORY 201 aware, volunteers to his standard were exceed- ingly welcome. Hearing so much of all this, it again occurred to my father's mind that this was an adventure that would appeal to Durand's soul, if he had any soul left. My father had tried before to awaken the man's military pride and enthusiasm on this very subject, but without a shadow of success; now, however, he deter- mined to try the power of Jacob El-Nathan's secret, in bringing one mind unconsciously under the control of another mind, and so infusing strength and energy, where there was only apathetic weakness. " One night in his comfortable study, with a large map of Mexico spread upon the table, my father laid his plans before me — plans that made my blood tingle with excitement, the sort of excitement, I think, which sent the great, old Conquistadors in search of glory, adventure, and pillage. And I know that when we broke up our confab, about four next morning, I was no longer a youngster with the frivolities and immaturities of youth in mind and body, but a man with the ambitions and purposes in my soul which eradicate the dreams of youth, and in their stead put the facts of life. " My fathers plan was to rescue his friend's 202 SAM KENT'S STORY son — Leopold Durand — by getting him into my power by means of the magic rings, and then going with him to the Emperor Maximilian's service in Mexico. Durand's military training would be a most valuable asset to the cause, and although I was only a raw youth, yet I was a good shot, an expert horseman, and as for the rest I would soon learn. " I was much astonished that my father should propose such a wild and dangerous adventure for me. But, as he said, we had received the rings, with the secret of their magic power, direct from Jacob El- Nathan's dying hands, to use for good. And it would be wicked to allow an opportunity of saving one, who was very dear to us, to remain untried. It would be use- less to induce Durand to take up any career but that of a soldier, and would inevitably be a hopeless makeshift sort of life, and only end in miserable disaster as soon as my influence was withdrawn, which, of course, would have to be the case as I could not be expected to devote more than a year or two of constant care and thought for one who had lost the power of do- ing so properly for himself. My father thought that the adventurous life in a new land, coupled with the direct prospect of a successful military SAM KENT'S STORY 203 career, would restore poor Durand' s energy and will-power. "My father seemed even then to have perfect confidence in the power of the magic rings, and this of course strengthened my faith also. But I feel certain that he had many doubtful and unhappy thoughts until he finally saw the com- plete success of the wonderful secret. As I said just now, I was much astonished that my loving father should propose such a dangerous adven- ture for me only because Leopold Durand was the son of his early friend. But I learned that night in our long, confidential talk, what I never knew before, viz., that besides being the son of the friend of his youth, Durand's mother was a deathless memory in my father's heart. One of those ghosts that are never laid, but come and make their moan, which none ever hear, save the listening heart to whom they come. "With his shrewd knowledge of men, and his long, sad experience with Durand, my father was fully convinced that there was no hope of the poor lost man ever finding his way out of London streets except by some abnormal power gradually changing and strengthening his weakened will, and restoring his dead soul to life again by exerting some extraneous, 204 SAM KENT'S STORY irresistible power, as the dead man revived and stood upon his feet when his body touched the bones of the prophet. " From the first my father had taken a deep interest in Maximilian's romantic adventure and had advanced the means to fit out many a high- spirited lad to join the Emperor's standard. So when the power was mysteriously placed in his hands of rescuing his dead friend's, no less dead, son, he was compelled to risk me also in the hazardous adventure. But it must have been a sore trial to the dear old man, for I was the one hope left to him in life, and, alas! as it turned out he lost that hope as well as the hope of rescuing the dream-son of his youth. " My course being marked out for me in this startling fashion, my next and first step was to secure Leopold Durand and get him under my influence. This was no easy matter, as I had proved upon many former occasions, but that was before I had the advantage of the magic rings. Now I hoped for better results, and set about the business at once. "«• tP "Ts- tp tt " Like all lost souls Durand was not only exceedingly suspicious of any attempt to change his mode of life (existence would be a better SAM KENT'S STORY 205 word, for he did not live, he only existed) and stubbornly resisted — or rather resented as if they were insults — nine proposals out of ten. But one day I struck upon the tenth. In rather good humour, poor chap, after a sumptuous re- past at a queer little stall down Billingsgate way, he accepted an invitation to visit the Tower of London, that melancholy abode where many a brave soul, after weary months of shackles, found freedom at last on the friendly block. " Durand and I passed listlessly from room to room looking at old and new weapons of many kinds which men have invented wherewith to slay, and be slain. As we stood near a collection of heavy Indian swords and knives, Durand suddenly startled me by grasping the handle of a wicked-looking creese — its evil, wavy blade made to slide round bones, and let out a man's life with great ease and celerity. Looking hard at the thing, he said : " ' That devil's weapon killed my comrade at the siege of Delhi. We had fought our awful, bloody way through the gate and had a moment's breathing space amid the hellish uproar. We were leaning against a wall for a moment while we looked over some nasty cuts we had gotten, for you never know at the moment if you are 206 SAM KENT'S STORY done to death or only scratched. Just then a fellow sold his life for the pleasure of killing one more white man, and he hoped two. Perhaps this is the very weapon he had in his hand, for I fought with it the rest of that day and brought it back to camp. The black devil leant as far down the wall as he could without falling, and in a twinkling he dropped his heavy creese with such unerring aim that before I could gather his meaning — my attention was here, there, and everywhere — the heavy, sharp, wavy, cursed thing struck my comrade's shoulder, and he fell with his heart's blood welling from the little harmless-looking slit about quarter the size of a cut he did not know he had until I asked if it hurt much. The Sepoy had no intention of losing his beloved creese, which, no doubt, had served him well in many a fight. He had — what I did not notice at the moment — one of those finely made agave cords, very strong and yet as fine and pliable as a bit of silk thread, attached to the handle of his creese, and the instant its work was done he drew the weapon back. But that instant was the last time he ever held the wicked thing in his wickeder hands, for my revolver laid him beside my friend, as quiet as he.' SAM KENT'S STORY 207 "That was the longest, most coherent, and feeling speech I had heard from Leopold Durand since he had been lost in London. And it struck me like a flash that this was perhaps a lucid moment in which my mind might gain the desired ascendency over his. Evidently the glamour of glittering swords, daggers, strange guns, and innumerable instruments of warfare, had awakened thoughts and feelings in his long dormant mind, and for the moment brought back the flashing eyes, the brave look, and gallant bearing of the soldier — Leopold Durand — in place of the dull, hopeless expression, the weak, uncertain eyes, and the cowardly, shambling gait of the lost soul. There were no others in the room save our two selves and the silent but vigilant policeman by the door, and he knew his business too well to bother us: I always take care of that when I go to places where I wish to be let alone. Or I should say when I used to go, for all that sort of thing was more than half a lifetime ago, and we don't tip in the South Seas, we make presents. " As Durand put the creese back into its place, and while that flash of intelligence from the dead years still lingered on his handsome features, I seized his hand, and in my excitement 208 SAM KENT'S STORY and emotion actually kissed it, while I laid the ruby ring in his open palm, and said : " ■ Leopold, old friend ! wear this ring on your left-hand middle finger for my sake. It will bring you treasure of great price and much contentment, besides giving me great happiness.' Durand laughed in a way I had not heard him laugh for many a year, as he said : " ' Certainly, my dear Sam! I shall wear it for your last reason,' and he kissed the beautiful thing, and carefully placed it on the middle finger of his left hand, saying laughingly, but yet with a solemn sort of earnestness: " ' This ring I shall wear and defend for my friend Sam Kent's sake, and he who takes it from me must first take my life.' " These words, coming from a man I had always loved, but who had held me at arm's length in all our intercourse ever since he had lost his way in London streets, filled my heart with joy and exultation, and a great hope for the future. " That night my friend came home with me, and became quite companionable and communi- cative with my father, a state of mind he had not displayed for many a miserable year. SAM KENT'S STORY 209 Chapter III M I need not linger over this period. Suffice it to say that within a month ' Captain Leopold Durand and Samuel Kent, Esquire' (as our letters from the Emperor's agents designated us two) were on our way to ' make a spoon or spoil a horn'; and — most wonderful meta- morphosis for one of us — with high hopes and ambitions. " We had few adventures on our way out to Mexico. We travelled via Havanna, the Gulf of Mexico, and Vera Cruz, and had no trouble in reaching the City of Mexico, where we reported ourselves to the Emperor in due form and were most graciously received. " Maximilian was then a fine, soldierly-looking man in the prime .of life, generous and brave, and would have made a good ruler if he had had a fair chance, perhaps too good for a country like Mexico. "Not long after our arrival in Mexico the French troops took their departure, and if the Emperor had been a little less brave, a little less generous, and a little more careful of his life, he, too, would have said good-bye to that p 210 SAM KENT'S STORY turbulent people whom he did not understand, nor they him. And so matters drifted on to their sorrowful end — a brave man's needless death, and a loving, grief- stricken woman's mad- ness. " Durand and I were assigned positions at once, he as Captain, I as a private; but in that free-and-easy service men of all grades fore- gathered freely enough, and Durand and I were almost as much together as if we had been of the same rank. However, that sort of thing did not matter much. We were not long in the positions allotted to us, when the cloud burst which overwhelmed the Emperor and scattered his army to the ends of the earth, and lucky were those who did get back to the ends of the earth, from whence most of those composing that miscellaneous army originally came. Jaurez gave short shrift to any members of the defeated party who happened to fall into his hands. " When everything was over, our last stand made, and our gallant Emperor dead, Durand and I fled westward with the hope of making our escape into the vast world of the Pacific. It made no manner of difference to us where we went so that we got away from Mexico. " Through all that wild, dangerous, and hard SAM KENT'S STORY 211 adventure, Durand never faltered, never lost energy, and if I became depressed at extra hardships, he would give me some cheerful advice or quaint old homily such as ' God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,' or 'It's a long lane that has no turning,' etc. "It was really wonderful how he kept up his spirits and courage, and never once failed me in the tightest places — until all our tight places were past. But evil always happens when we are at our ease, and that's the way the devil wins when we are off our guard. He has had so much practice with our race that he knows exactly the proper methods and times of attack. " As we made our way towards the coast we had many strange adventures and close shaves. The common, poor peasantry of the country had no ill-will towards us. It did not matter much to them whether they were under Maximilian or Jaurez, they knew they had to work hard and pay their taxes anyhow, and with the usual sympathy which all human beings feel for the poor under dogs (unless they have an interest on the result) they would rather see us escape than caught. Our one great danger was falling into the hands of Jaurez's ragamuffin soldiery who were scouring the country after the scattered 212 SAM KENT'S STORY followers of the lost cause, and when one was found they made short work of him as a rule. " Once Durand and I were spending the night at a farmer's rancho. After a good supper — may God reward the householder therefor — we had rolled ourselves in our ponchos and were sleeping the blessed sleep of wearied men, when there was a hurried knock at the door, and a man rushed in saying that Jaurez's men were upon us. Our poor hosts were of that breed, and had 'growed' — like Topsy — under a system which necessitates deception always, until it becomes quite virtuous to eliminate the word ' not ' from the ninth commandment, especially if thy neighbour is the man in power over you. " There was a hasty confab between the peasant and his women-folk. In a few moments five or six squatted on low stools in a circle on the middle of the floor with a large piece of the beautiful Mexican lace-work spread on their knees, each woman deftly working at her particular portion by the light of the big oil lamp, which, with its broad, queer, old-fashioned wick, gave out a fine working light. It only took a few minutes for the women to arrange themselves, but Durand and I were very little SAM KENT'S STORY 213 interested in their arrangements, and, indeed, were disgusted at their cool way of leaving us to shift for ourselves in our desperate plight. " By this time we could hear the soldiers' horses as they came clattering along the stony road. We were on the point of making a dash from the door, intending— if we escaped the shots, which we knew would be sent thick and fast after us — to take to the woods where our pursuers could not follow on horseback, and where they would not dare to follow on foot, having a mortal dread of the revolvers which they knewall the followers of Maximilian carried, even if they had lost everything else. " But this household were by no means the callous people we thought them to be. So far from that, the kind creatures actually risked their lives for us that exciting night. "When the women were arranged at their work, and diligently going at it as if they had no other earthly thought but to complete the job as quickly as possible, get their few pesos for their long work, and then have high jinks at the fiesta which was to be held shortly in honour of Jaurez's return to power — our host told us, by words and signs, to get on our hands and knees, crawl under the sheet at which the 2i 4 SAM KENT'S STORY women were working, and make ourselves as small as possible. We both spoke Spanish fairly well, and caught on to the dodge in a jiffy, never thinking of the humiliation of the position: but I did feel a pang for the poor people themselves. If they were discovered harbouring rebels the penalty was death, but that extreme measure was not always carried out; even Jaurez's reckless soldiers seldom fulfilling the cruel order if they were in a party who could depend upon each other to keep silence. " Durand and I never hesitated a moment. Our case was too desperate. The soldiers were dismounting at the door, and escape that way impossible, so we had to put our pride in our pockets, and humbly creep into our refuge. There was little enough room among the poor women's feet, but we were young and supple, and could make ourselves very small when it was a case of necessity; and this was a case of that sort with a vengence. And I don't think that two grown men — and not diminutive at that — ever stowed themselves into such small compass, and kept so absolutely still for three of the very longest hours that clocks ever measured since time-keepers were invented. SAM KENT'S STORY 215 " There were six troopers in the squad. Three came in at a time, and three looked after the horses. They were too wide-awake to risk the loss of their mounts either by a stampede or by quiet purloining. There were many desperate men lurking about the country for months after the Emperor's death, who were ready to take any risks to get beyond Jaurez's reach. " When the three men swaggered into the peasant's humble abode, they put on high airs, and blustered around poking their swords into every hole and corner; declaring that they had tracked two rebels all day, and that they must find the rascals and shoot them at once; threatening to burn the house down if the farmer did not produce the men. We understood the drift of every word that was said, and fully expected to be given up. We could not expect that a poor man would risk his all for two worthless members of a lost cause. And so we lay among the women's bare, dusty feet, and repeated in our hearts such short scraps of prayers as we could remember at the moment. Durand — poor fellow — was a Christian of a sort. That is the kind of a Christian a roving soldier can be. As for myself, my mother was a Christian, and my father never interfered with what she taught me, so 216 SAM KENT'S STORY long as I went regularly to the Synagogue on Saturday — Sabbath he called that day. Thus my religious education was rather unorthodox and scrappy. But whenever I got into a des- perate fix like the one I am now telling you of, I always fell back on my mother's prayers, they seemed most suitable and effective when I happened into an awful tight place — while my father's religion appeared more adapted to times of ease, and comfort, and grandeur. "When the first three swashbucklers had rested for awhile, and had had a good feed washed down with a drink oi pulque y they went out to take their turn at watching the horses, and allow the others to have their bit of festivity. These contented themselves with having a hearty supper, without troubling in the least about rebels, and after solacing themselves with a cigarette or two, they took a fancy for music, and commanded one of the women to produce a guitar and accompany them while they worked off some of their exuberant spirits in hilarious songs and copious libations oi pulque. It was a very dangerous moment for us; a soldier seized the hand of one of the women and began to drag her out of the circle: the toe of his heavy boot gave me a sharp dig on SAM KENT'S STORY 217 the ankle, but he only supposed that he had touched one of the women, and said ' per don, Senorita\ ' Then he and his comrades burst into song as the girl struck her guitar. Presently all the women joined in the music, beating time with their hands as Spanish people so often do, but in this case I knew that the kindly creatures did it that the sheet on their knees might be moved, and so give us a chance to slightly change our cramped positions without raising the suspicions of the sharp-eyed soldiers. " At last the fun grew so fast and furious that the fellows outside could stand it no longer, and fastening their horses came in to join the sport. This went on for another hour or so — the poor peasant plying them liberally with pulque, which we knew he did for our sake. One after another the fellows expressed themselves as feeling somnolentia, and lay down side by side with their feet towards the fire — the nights were chilly at that altitude, nearly seven thousand feet — and in a short time the whole gang of Juarez's heroes were safely asleep, and the way clear for us to make our escape. Then with brief farewells, and gratitude expressed by silent signs, but none the less sincere for that, we took our departure. For a moment, after 218 SAM KENT'S STORY we were safe outside, the devil tempted us to mount two of the horses and turn the others loose, but such a trick would have brought trouble upon those who had so generously risked their lives for us. So we left the main Acapulco road and took to the woods, where there was little danger of being detected. ^ IP -ff "Jr * " We were nearly two months wandering in that wild country which lies between the high Plateau of Mexico and the Pacific coast. Much of the warm fertile parts of that vast stretch of forest land is now cultivated I understand ; but in those days most of the Pacific slopes were virgin forests, and very rough virgins at that, as we found to our cost with our badly shod feet tied up with rags, and old sandals which better off people than ourselves had cast away as useless. " However, we did win through that desperate adventure after many hairbreadth escapes which I cannot recount to-night, it would take too long. But I must tell you of how we cut out the schooner Santa Catalina, and went sailing on the Pacific — this sea of witchery and en- chanted islands — where all who listen to the siren songs, and drink of the silent river of SAM KENT'S STORY 219 Lethe, fall into the sleep of dreams — the sleep from which men never awaken in this world. That is, they never awaken to the old energetic life of Europe. If ever they do come into what is called 'civilized life' they are like sleep-walkers. They seem to be conscious of what is around them, but it is only semi-consciousness. Their real selves are far away, where the warm tropic seas are laving the coral reefs, and the soft trade winds are whispering their witching songs in the tinkling fronds of the palm groves. Chapter IV " Acapulco is one of the most beautiful and safest harbours in the world. And although we were not in the exact frame of mind to appreciate all its loveliness that moonlit night when we first looked upon its calm, glittering waters, yet I have a mental picture of that splendid haven, which always affords me much pleasure to look upon whenever I enter my gorgeous picture gallery of the past. "Acapulco is so perfectly land-locked, and narrow in comparison to its length, that its dark blue waters are only ruffled by rippling, spicy 220 SAM KENT'S STORY breezes from the mountains, or swirled into foam at rare intervals by tropic storms from the Pacific. It is an absolutely safe harbour in all weathers, which makes it an imporant place on a long coast singularly devoid of safe anchorages. " When Durand and I reached Acapulco we attracted little notice. Clad in our ponchos y with battered sombreros on our heads, old straw sandals on our feet, and general dilapidated appearance, we passed for what are abundant at all times in Mexico (and were especially plentiful in those troublous days) viz., hopelessly broken men seeking employment. What little enterprise exists in Mexico in ordinary times was quite extinguished by the utter chaos into which Government, or I should say misgovern- ment, had fallen. "Very fortunately both Durand and I had managed to carry safely through all our adven- tures waterproof belts under our clothing, in which we had concealed a comfortable sum in five and ten pound Bank of England notes, and a few sovereigns. Things, I may remark, for which all people I have met — excepting a few primitive fools like us of Heao — have a profound respect, even though they may have lost all SAM RENTS STORY 221 respect and veneration for God above, and man below. " After exploring the place a bit we camped under a tree in a lonely part so as to attract as little notice as possible. We tried all manner of means to obtain a little of the plainest food, but it was a hopeless business. We found, as we had found elsewhere, that the people of a Ciudad were by no means as charitable as the poorest of the poor in the country — but I suppose that is the case all the world over. At last we decided to change one of our precious sovereigns at a Banco, and then supply our sore needs by legitimate trade. But the bank-man looked at us so suspiciously that we determined not to attempt that sort of business again, if we could possibly avoid it; in fact, it seemed to us much more dangerous than occasionally helping our- selves from a garden or an orchard. But that, too, was risky, and we concluded to proceed at once to put a scheme into operation which had been maturing in our minds ever since we had shaped our course for the Pacific. " This scheme was nothing more nor less than to cut out a handy schooner, or die in the attempt. If we succeeded, then to make our way to one of the French islands — the Marquesas 222 SAM KENT'S STORY or Society Islands — where we knew we would meet with sympathy, even if by very strict logic we might be accounted pirates. " Neither Durand nor I understood scientific navigation, but we both understood a good deal about the management of boats, and we felt certain that if we could once get possession of a moderately sized schooner, and were safely clear of the mainland of Mexico, we could find our way across the Pacific by compass and dead-reckoning. And even coasting schooners always carry a compass and log-line. " After cautiously investigating up and down the harbour in a rickety, leaky dingey, which we hired with an old man to row us about and to give us information, we decided upon a rather neat-looking schooner of about forty tons, which lay well down the harbour, taking in a miscellaneous cargo for a southern port. " As we came alongside and had a look over the Santa Catalina — that was the schooner's name — all hands were busy stowing cargo, bending sails, and preparing for an early start. We found the Patron at last, although he did not look in the least degree superior to the rest of the gang, and humbly asked him if he wished to ship two more men. We explained that we SAM KENT'S STORY 223 were used to all kinds of fore-and-aft crafts, but did not pretend to be square-rigged sailors. The old fellow, judging by our looks that we were at our ' last split pea ' — like the sailors in the old song — offered us two pesos a month with our grub, and one glass of pulque per diem. This last indulgence he considered a most generous concession — pulque being a be- loved drink with the Mexicans, especially if properly fermented, when it becomes a very potent spirit; rather too potent for any but a Mexican stomach. " The Santa Catalina was to sail next morn- ing at daylight, so as to get well to sea with the land breeze, which usually drops and gives place to the sea breeze about nine or ten a.m. 11 Having arranged matters with the Mexican skipper, we returned to shore to procure some necessary personal effects for the long sea voyage we purposed to take — much longer than the skipper purposed, poor old chap. " After prowling about for awhile, we struck a sort of general drapery shop which seemed to have the articles we required. But when we went in and accosted the man behind the counter, we were much startled to find that he was a Scotchman, who insisted upon speaking to us in 224 SAM KENT'S STORY the vernacular, in spite of our pretending not to understand a word he said. "When we had completed our purchases and paid him with some beautiful St. George and the Dragon coins, he looked long and lovingly at the pieces and said : " ' Ah weel! I dinna ken what deevTs prank ye are on, an' I dinna want tae ken, for it 's safer no tae ken ony thing in thae bad times. But I ken weel that ye twa lads are fra the auld land. And I hope I'll no see ye baith hangin' at the Toun Cross the morn's morn — whar' I've seen mony a brave man swingin afore noo ! — Guid day to ye baith, an' I hope ye'll win through, but I sair misdoubt it.' " Then we repaired on board the schooner with our swag — a pair of disreputable-looking swabbers, dirty and ragged, but very thankful indeed to be clear of Mexico with whole skins, the land which we had entered so gaily with light hearts and high hopes of fame and fortune. "We found only two men on board. One was the negro cook, the other a Mexican man, who, like ourselves, had just been shipped for the trip. Something peculiar about this man, his persistent aversion to speak to us, and his un-Mexican ways, made us suspect that like SAM KENT'S STORY 225 ourselves he was only pretending to be a native, but in reality was a derelict from Maximilian's vanished army. At last when Durand got him away from the negro and boldly challenged him in plain English with being a fugitive, and offered him the chance of joining us, he at once threw off all disguise and freely told us his history, which was a romance in itself. I will only say that he was a Canadian, and had come South with half-a-dozen other gay lads, all determined to fight their way to fame and fortune under Maximilian's flag. But, alas! their high hopes had ended in disaster and death, and, at last, his own solitary shipment as 'Jimmy-ducks' in a dirty little Mexican hooker. " Of course he joined in our scheme with great alacrity, as a good, though roundabout way of getting back to Canada, which he affirmed was 'the best land under God's blue Heavens/ His name was William Adams, son of William Adams, senior, who commanded a three-masted schooner on Lake Superior. " In every way Adams was a most valuable addition to our side. Not only was he a de- sperate man, like ourselves, but he was an ex- perienced sailor, although, again like ourselves, Q 226 SAM KENT'S STORY he could not navigate scientifically by the stars, only by rule-of-thumb, like us. Adams at once advised to take the negro into our confidence, feeling certain that ' Snowball,' as he called the darkie, was ripe for rebellion on account of some harsh treatment he had been subjected to by the skipper. " When we broached the matter to the negro, he threw in his lot with much satisfaction and with characteristic negro pride and self-esteem. " ' I like mucho to serve with gentle-folks. With the kind I have always been accustomed to. Not with them low, mean, stinking Mexicans, who make me sick whenever I come near them. No, sir-ee, Tennessee Jackson's got no use for piebald folk. There's only two respectable colours on earth; them's black and white. So I'm yours truly, from pitch and toss up to manslaughter — Amen.' " So far, so good. We had succeeded beyond our utmost hopes, and Durand repeated with much cheerfulness the old saw ' Well begun, half done.' " With Tennessee's assistance we overhauled the cabin, looking for arms, but there were none to be found. And the negro said that the Patron always carried his revolver on his SAM KENT'S STORY 227 person. The sailors only had their sheath knives, so we concluded that we could soon overpower the lot by taking them unawares. Durand and I had managed to save our revolvers through all our travels; with these, and Adams and Tennessee armed with a hatchet apiece, or a chopper of any kind, we felt sure of being a safe match for any resistance which the skipper and his four sailors could put up. " But the serious question was to prevent such a noisy rumpus arising that the town would become alarmed, and then the fears of our Scotch draper would certainly be realized. And we would be a ghastly spectacle for the Acapulcoans to jeer at ' on the morn's morn.' Mexicans dearly love the gala of a public execution so long as they are not the principal actors therein. " It did cross our minds that we might slip the cable and make off at once, but there were too many chances against us. The skipper and his men might return at any moment — he had told Tennessee to keep the galley-fire alight as he would want supper when he returned. Even if we did get away unnoticed, not one of us knew the entrance to the harbour, and we would run a great risk of coming to grief before we ever got to sea at all. So we decided to bide 228 SAM KENT'S STORY our time until the schooner was fifteen or twenty miles clear of the land, make our rush, secure the Captain and his men, bundle them into the schooner's boat with oars and sufficient food and water to last them a week or ten days — And then? Well then, good-bye Mexico, and hey for the Pacific! " Of course there was a good deal of risk in this neat little plan. We might be beaten in the attempt to take the schooner, or, if we did succeed, and sent the skipper off, we might get becalmed (a thing very apt to happen on that windless coast), and the Patron and his men might send an expedition after us if he reached Acapulco safely, which he was almost certain to do. " Taking these contingencies into considera- tion, Tennessee strongly advocated the wisdom of running no risks. • Dead men tell no tales/ said he; which was quite true. And Tennessee thought no more of shooting a Mexican than he thought of shooting a squirrel. It was only the danger of the thing with which he was con- cerned, and in this case, as he said, ' Dead men tell no tales,' so there was no risk whatever, and therefore no harm. " But we three white men voted against this SAM KENT'S STORY 229 summary method, and stuck to the plan of get- ting well to sea, rushing the skipper and crew, then they and we going our respective ways; after that hoping for good luck. M When Durand and I found ourselves so much strengthened by the addition of two strong men, we evolved even a higher ethical scheme than the plan which had disgusted Tennessee by its pusillanimity. I never realized before that adventure how very much comfortable easy circumstances conduce to morality. Yester- day we were planning to take the ship by any means, without a qualm of conscience; to-day, with our hands strengthened by double, we were concocting only to take her by fair means, or semi-fair means. I wonder if the change was caused by virtue, or caution — quien sabef " Having made our arrangements, and plighted troth all round, we took a nap on the softest plank, as sailors say, and awaited events. In the gray dawn the skipper and his four men re- turned. But to our dismay two Mexican officers, with long, clanking swords, came also. This made almost two to one against us, and two of them fighting men at that. However, we kept our council, and, moreover, a stiff upper lip, as we had done many a time before then in hard 2 3 o SAM KENT'S STORY scrapes. But I looked at Tennessee rather anxiously to see how he took it, but he only- smiled, and made a contemptuous gesture, as if to indicate that he would take care of these two gentlemen himself. " The skipper ordered all hands to turn-to and get the schooner under way at once. I was very glad to notice, by their hilarious manners, that the Patron and his men, and the soldiers too, had been indulging rather freely in pulque, and therefore would all want sleep later on, and then our chance would come. " There was the usual light land-breeze, and we soon had the little craft slipping down the beautiful bay with all sails set. " It is many a year since that night, and I never saw Acapulco again, thank God! But its wonderful charm, its waters glittering in the moonlight, its shores wooded to the water's edge, and winding far inland among the silent mountains, the musical cry from a passing fish- ing-boat: ' Adios, Conservese bien!' — I see and hear now, as plainly as I did that night when we sailed away to the broad Pacific on the little schooner Santa Catalina. "The Captain steered until we were finally clear of the harbour, then he called a sailor to SAM KENT'S STORY 231 the helm, and gave him the course as south-west, which I was glad to see was directly off the land. By this course the skipper hoped to get a good offing before the sea-breeze set in; and that was exactly what we four men were praying for. ? While Durand and I were in Acapulco we had ascertained, much to our satisfaction, that there were no Government ships of any kind in the harbour. In fact, Mexico had no properly- equipped warships at that time, nor indeed have the Government ever paid any attention to ships, devoting their energies to land forces. " We found the little craft a good sailer, and we were soon clear of Mexico, very thankful to see its shores receding, and the wide Pacific stretching its thousands of leagues of enchanted, island-studded waters before us. Durand and I, like most British lads, had had much practice in boating during many holidays at the seaside, and were quite at home on a little craft like the Santa Catalina. " Everything had played into our hands up to this time, but the dangerous bit had now to be done, and in spite of the risk we had fully determined to carry our plan into execution, and get possession of the schooner at all hazards. 11 Notwithstanding much suffering and narrow 232 SAM KENT'S STORY escapes from death at the hands of Juarez's soldiery, who were swaggering about the country, and making short work of most Maxi- milian men who fell into their hands (the mix- ture of Spaniards, Indians, and Negroes, which the Mexicans are, make a bad breed), we had no intention of wreaking revenge upon any one, and if we could carry out our little programme pleasantly, then by all means we intended to do so. But if blood-letting became necessary we were quite prepared to let it flow freely. And Tennessee whispered to me, with a fiendish grin, as he and I were sweeping down the decks (the Captain with his men and the soldiers were asleep, overcome by last night's spree) : ■ Massa! Only say the word, and in two minutes all we will have to do will be to chuck their stinking carcasses overboard, and sluice down the decks with a few buckets of water.' " I had much ado to keep Tennessee quiet, for his savage, black blood was up, and he was eager to have the fierce delight of killing. When I told him that our plan was to quietly overcome the Captain and his men, and send them off in the schooner's boat, a gloomy ex- pression came over his sparkling countenance and gleaming eyes, as he whispered, or rather SAM KENT'S STORY 233 hissed in my ear — while he rested his arms on the rail, and looked at the sea : ' Oh lor ! no fun at all for poor me, and I feelin' sure that I was to have a real good time, like I once had in Hayti when I killed six white blokes as they lay asleep! They had insulted me by calling me a nigger \ and in Hayti we don't allow white trash to insult gentlemen.' As Tennessee said this, he drew himself up to his full height — about six feet six inches — and looked gloomily down, as I think Othello the Moor must have looked when he said: ' Farewell ! Othello's occupation 's gone ! ' "It was really quite startling, but I soothed the fellow by promising to allow him to have all the active part if peaceful methods failed. " By some whispers and signals among our- selves, we decided that the moment had arrived for action, and as Tennessee and I worked slowly aft, and reached where the skipper and the two soldiers lay sleeping, I quietly slipped the revolver from the Patron's belt, while pre- tending to be shoving a rope out of our way, and Tennessee as quietly secured the soldiers' weapons, which they had innocently unbuckled from their waists and laid by their sides. After 234 SAM KENT'S STORY seeing that the revolver was fully loaded, I stood back a little to keep guard while Tennessee proceeded with astonishing dexterity to tie the skipper's wrists with spunyarn — which with commendable forethought he had stowed in his blouse — and, actually before the fellows were quite awake, he had all three securely tied up hand and foot, staring this way and that, in helpless amazement. " In the meantime Durand and Adams had accounted for the three men forward. Quietly slipping away their knives, Durand stood guard over them while Adams made them fast as Ten- nessee had fixed the skipper and the soldiers. There was now only the man at the wheel to deal with, and he, seeing how things had gone, was very thankful to keep quiet and obey orders — which orders were, as I carefully instructed him, to stand by the wheel and keep the schooner's head south-west until we arranged matters further. ' " I think I told you that Durand and I had managed to carry safely through all our adven- tures a nice little package of Bank of England notes in waterproof belts. Durand had two hundred pounds and I had five hundred; both of which sums my father had generously and SAM RENTS STORY 235 thoughtfully given us, besides our ample outfits. But, alas ! the latter had been distributed among our ragamuffin fellow adventurers long ago, and having nothing to wear which could by any stretch of imagination excite the cupidity of friends or foes (after our flight from the final overthrow of the unfortunate Emperor), we had escaped the importunities of both. And thus we had been lucky enough to avoid the too close inspection of both sides. " Durand and I had determined that if we managed to get possession of the Santa Catalina without mishap, that as a sort of salve to our conscience we would purchase the craft honestly from Manuel Lorenzo. We had learned from our old boatman in Acapulco that ' Seiior Lorenzo ; was sole owner of the schooner, and therefore was accounted a very wealthy man — \ un caballero de importancial as our old man expressed it. "So when our very neat 'natural assimilation' (as statesmen call that sort of transaction) of the Santa Catalina was complete, and all hands had calmed down a bit, we set the Captain against the companion-way, together with the two soldiers, and opened our negocio. At first the poor skipper was silent and gloomy, no 236 SAM KENT'S STORY doubt thinking that we were only trying some other evil game upon him, for of course, to his mind, any idea of us now turning round and acting honestly by him after he was completely in our power, was as far beyond his expectation, as it was to expect St. Peter to come bodily walking over the sea and throw the heathens overboard and restore the Santa Catalina to his humble servant. " I fully explained to the skipper, that if he and his people behaved quietly it was our intention to act generously by them. I said that we would give them the boat, with oars, food, and water, and they could easily reach land, as the snowy peaks were still in sight. "Our intentions regarding his disposition having slowly dawned upon his rather dazed mind, and his fear of immediate death being removed, like human Nature in all races instead of being duly grateful for the mercy vouchsafed to him, old Lorenzo at once turned to his next grief, and began lamenting the loss of his schooner. ' Oh! mi hermosa Santa Catalina — Oh mi Querida!' he moaned and wept. " At last I proceeded to deliver my final and astounding shot, which I feel sure fully convinced SAM KENT'S STORY 237 the old man that 'El Ingles' were not only heathens but madmen as well. " I asked El Capitan what he valued his schooner at as she stood ; but he, thinking that we were only making sport out of his misfortune, would not vouchsafe me an answer. However, after a while, it seeming to dawn upon his mind that there might be some possible advantage in it, he declared that the Santa Catalina was the fastest schooner on the coast, and worth every centavo of fifteen hundred pesos (dollars). "When I asked him if he would willingly sell out at that price he got a bit crusty, and asked if it was ' El Ingles ■ custom to torment their victims before they killed them. Then he added, with more tears and lamentations, that he had intended to sell his craft after this voyage, having a standing offer of twelve hundred pesos, which he intended to accept and build a larger schooner. When I reminded him that he had named fifteen hundred as his price, the shrewd old chap explained that I had asked him what was the schooner s value as she stood, and, of course, in his valuation he had included the cargo, as he was responsible to the shippers for that. " I now decided upon my course at once. Thirty of my pretty ten pound notes would 238 SAM KENT'S STORY more than satisfy ' Don Manuel Lorenzo ' and put me in legal possession of the Santa Catalina y besides soothing all our minds, excepting poor Tennessee's. He was watching the proceedings with a very dissatisfied expression on his gloomy countenance. " Five hundred pounds in ten pound notes go into very small bulk, and if one carries his fortune in this way he can command instant respect in all parts of the globe by producing one of those crispy, clean, magic, talismanic things. I slipped into the cabin, and in a few minutes returned with thirty of the magic bits of paper in my hand. Then I counted them slowly and impressively over to the skipper : saying that the Santa Catalina was now mine, and the money was his. At this I really feared that the old man was going to have a fit, and we loosed him at once, and gave him a drink of the Mexican's panacea — pulque. The first thing he did was to cross himself, and then kneel at the top of the cabin steps : from there he could see a gorgeously coloured print of the Virgin Mary, and for ten minutes at least, he poured forth thanks and adoration in a wonderful torrent of words which flowed without effort or hesitation from his lips. SAM KENT'S STORY 239 M I wrote a full receipt for the money, putting in all the law words I could remember; then I explained it to Capitan Manuel Lorenzo and got him to sign it with the two officers as witnesses. The skipper quite understood the value of the notes, and doubtless he made a handsome sum out of exchange when he got back to Acapulco. " The business part of the transaction being now completed to everybody's satisfaction — excepting Tennessee, who never smiled or even looked cheerful all that morning — we laid the schooner to the wind, hauled the foresail to windward to keep her steady, and shoved the boat over the lee rail, putting such things as were necessary into her, water, biscuits, etc., quite enough to last them a week. Indeed, we gave them so much that Tennessee said sadly that there was no fear of * the black rascals starving.' " Finally we gave them four oars, but no sail, for we reckoned that if they had a sail they might reach land a little too soon to be alto- gether comfortable for us if there happened to be any brave souls in Acapulco who might feel inclined to give chase and try a tussle ; but, as Tennessee remarked, with a sneer, ' we had no 2 4 o SAM KENT'S STORY such luck.' When all was arranged — the four sailors, two soldiers, and ' El Capitan ' safely in the boat — we cast off the painter and gave them three cheers and 'actios* to which the skipper responded cheerfully enough, but the rest of the gang looked crestfallen and gloomy, and doubtless they wished us bad luck and an evil end. " Very fortunately for us we carried a light easterly breeze for the next two days, which carried us about two hundred and fifty miles from the coast; that was what we made it out to be by dead reckoning, which was the only sort of reckoning we had to go by on that voyage. For although we were all quite capable of sailing the schooner — indeed Adams was a thoroughly expert sailor on such crafts, as we found to our comfort afterwards — none of us understood navigation, that wonderful science by which a rough-and-tumble sailorman can pick up any spot he wishes amidst the trackless ocean as certainly as a Londoner can find his way from Oxford Circus to the Bank. " All we had to go by was the compass and log-line, a map of the world, and a chart of the coast from Panama to Mazatlan. These latter the old man explained to me, he generously left SAM KENT'S STORY 241 for my use although they were not included in the sale of the schooner. ' But,' he added in a burst of fine confidence at the last moment, ' you, Sefior, have acted so generously in paying me the full price for mi hermosa Santa Catalina that I am bound to make some return for the honour of my good name.' •fit never seemed to enter the old man's mind that we had been really guilty of piracy. I think the Spanish mind, especially the new world Spanish mind, is so deeply imbued with the pernicious doctrine of ■ the end justifies the means,' that they do not always distinguish between meum and tuum, but perhaps that's a weakness which is not altogether peculiar to El Espanol. However this may be, the skipper and we (all but Tennessee, poor chap!) parted in as friendly and virtuous frames of mind as if we had concluded the negocio before a squad of lawyers, with all the time-honoured accessories of sealing wax, stamps, red tape, and an army of witnesses. " Then as the little boat pulled away landward we let the foresail go over, put the helm hard up, and went sliding away to whatever was in store for us on the wide, blue waters of the Pacific. 242 SAM KENT'S STORY " We looked over the maps and decided — after a good deal of consultation — to steer a south-west course, which we hoped would bring us into the vicinity of the Society Islands in about forty days, if we were lucky enough to carry good trades all the way, and managed to escape coming to grief on some one of the many islands which lay scattered in our way. " After nearly a week of dead calm, we were favoured with a northerly breeze by which we could lay our course south-west, and in a few days — much to our satisfaction — the wind settled into the steady north-east trades which sent us gaily along at over a hundred miles a day. If we maintained this rate for forty days or so, we reckoned that we should be nearing Tahiti — our objective point — that is always supposing that we did not lose our way or some disaster of shipwreck befall us. Chapter V " There was an old-fashioned log-line carefully rolled up on its reel and hung ship-shape under the quarter-deck rail, and I had noticed that the skipper cast it every two hours, keeping time SAM KENT'S STORY 243 with an old silver watch about the size of a smallish frying-pan. This watch I bought from him at the last moment for two pounds sterling, and it was our only time-keeper on that voyage, and a fairly good time-keeper it proved. After each heave of the log the skipper noted the result in his log-book, and that was all the reckoning the old chap kept. He told me that he had sailed the Santa Catalina by this method, and never made a bad land-fall or a serious mistake in thirty years, excepting once, and that was not his fault. The Government had chartered the Santa Catalina, and sent a Naval Lieutenant along to make a report upon the Revillagigedo Islands. This official insisted upon sailing the schooner himself; and, of course, navigating with all the instruments of the latest and most approved kind. 'And,' said Lorenzo, • with the resultado that he ran the schooner ashore, but fortunately it was a sandy beach and we got her off without damage, but no thanks to the Lieutenant and his in- struments; it was all the mercy of God.' " So, like Skipper Manuel Lorenzo, without chronometer or sextant — and they would have been useless to us even if we had possessed them — we worked our way (or I should rather 244 SAM KENT'S STORY say we played our way) for thousands of miles over the great Pacific. "When we fairly settled down to our daily routine of life, we were quite a happy ship's company and had no kind of misunderstanding until a very beautiful girl came on board. But that was after we crossed the line, and I have first to tell you of a great hurricane which we encountered in what we reckoned to be about ten degrees north latitude; and if it had not been for Adams' skilful seamanship and know- ledge of managing a small craft in a storm, I would never have gotten south to spin you this yarn, or do anything else in this world. "That blow happened towards the end of March — the month when we expect equinoctial gales; and the expected happened that time. Durand had carefully written up our log-book from the start, and I wish I had it now to read some extracts; it would bring the facts I am trying to tell you more clearly to your minds than these disjointed reminiscences of mine can possibly do after the effacing influence of time and change. Durand's log-book was really a valuable work. He could write well, and he devoted a couple of hours each day to noting, not only everything connected with the schooner SAM KENT'S STORY 245 and our daily occupations, but, in addition, he wrote page after page of the wonders and glories of sea and sky, and all their gorgeous colouring on our ocean world, besides many reflections upon the mysterious effects of these things on the human mind when free from the dwarfing influence of commonplace life amidst crowds of our frivolous fellow creatures. His account of our hurricane, and how we got through it, was a splendid bit of descriptive writing. But I never saw that log-book after our sad disunion, and I think Durand must have dropped it over- board, impelled thereto by some foreboding of coming evil. "Wind and clouds are wonderful things. Truly ? the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.' And very much like the wind are its friends, the clouds. Of course I mean to an ignorant person : the learned know all about such things — a vacuum must be filled, hence the rushing storm : clouds are condensers or expanders, hence rain or drought. It's all as plain as a pikestaff. But I will pass on to my storm and tell you what I think, quite independently of science and all that abstruse stuff. Summer winds pass- 246 SAM KENT'S STORY ing over a field of ripening wheat in the old land, a rain squall sweeping over a glittering tropic sea, thunder-clouds torn by lightning as the bolts flash from crag to crag on the mighty mountain peaks, are beautiful, wonderful, and awe-inspiring. But more weirdly beautiful, more terrifying, and more convincingly proving how helplessly weak we are in Nature's power, is the long, low, lurid line of the on-coming hurricane. " Although we all had experienced storms of more or less violence, Tennessee was the only one of our company who had actually encountered a real live hurricane, and that was in the Seychelle Islands where they are found in perfection. Fortunately Adams had been in many a great storm on the Lakes, and had learned what to do with a schooner in the choppy seas and tearing winds of those sometimes turbulent waters. Therefore, as soon as Tennessee decided that the low, straight line of yellowish cloud- wrack crawling up from the south-west fore- boded a tornado, we turned to with all our might to construct what I had read of — but, of course, had never seen — a sea-anchor. Knowing in a dim way what to expect, we were all sailors enough to understand that unless we had some solid drag to hold the little craft's head to the SAM KENT'S STORY 247 crashing force of the hurricane that was coming, the Santa Catalina would not live five minutes after she was struck. " We had a stout spar on deck about twenty- five feet long, which the Mexican skipper had told us was part of his cargo to Tehuantepec, but which under the changed circumstances would never be delivered. So in a friendly mood, induced no doubt by the unexpected lucky sale of his craft, he advised me to slide the log overboard as it only lumbered up the deck and could never be of the least use. But fortunately we had not taken the trouble to disturb the stick for the reason that being lashed to the stanchions it made a convenient seat for all hands, with a comfortable backing against the bulwarks. Adams at once saw that this spar would make an excellent foundation for our sea- anchor, and with the aid of the foresail halyards we soon had it over the side and set to work upon it under Adams' direction. "With some heavy mahogany boards that we found in the hold, and which probably had been intended for some very different use — a grandee's dining-table perhaps — we made a foundation for a lot of things: old sails and ropes tightly lashed together, two casks of 248 SAM KENT'S STORY whale-oil, any odds and ends that we could spare and which were of such sort as we could fasten securely to the foundation spar. When our sea-anchor was completed it looked a huge concern. It was level with the water, as we had added several steel bars, which we found among the cargo — intended for bridge work or something of that sort. These kept the anchor well down in the water so that the thing would not drift too fast, but afford resistance enough to keep the schooner head on to the wind. We made our stoutest rope cable securely fast to each end of the heavy spar, and rode to the bight of this rope about fifteen fathoms from the sea- anchor. At Tennessee's suggestion we made two small gimlet holes in each of the casks of oil. Tennessee had been a whaler, among his many other trades, and he told us that he had often been at the ' cutting in ' of a whale in such a gale of wind that it would have been quite im- possible to do the work but for the calming influence of the oil floating from the whale's blubber, which made a circle of many fathoms around the ship, where no waves broke, only rolled and heaved harmlessly past. And I have no doubt that the oil oozing from the casks helped to save our anchor. SAM KENT'S STORY 249 " Finally we made everything about the Santa Catalina as snug as human foresight could suggest, and then awaited the advent of the hurricane with what equanimity we could muster, but I know it was : A breathless waiting for the spell, Of the weird restless rest to break; Lips white with what they cannot tell, Stout hearts that almost quake With a strange unaccustomed fear, To stand so still, with death so near! " There was a hot swirl in the air, cat's-paws went rippling hither and thither on the glassy water, and then a crash fell upon us which seemed to me to be something tangible; not mere wind at all, but like a heavy, wet sail torn from the boltropes, and dashing us half sense- less to the deck, where we lay holding on like grim death to the gear of the mainsail and fore- sail, which we had lowered flat on the deck and lashed as securely as ropes would lash them. When we knew for certain from which direction the wind would strike us, but before the crash came, we managed, with a pair of long oars we had, to get the schooner head on to it. If we had not done this the Santa Catalina would have instantly capsized with the sudden shock 250 SAM KENT'S STORY of that first terrific blast. For it is a curious fact that crafts of all sizes and rigs — I don't include great steamers and ironclads, for they are out of the category of crafts altogether — feel the first shock of a tempest most severely; as if they were taken by surprise, poor things, just as we mortals are so often taken and so often go down in the storms of life." " It is simpler than your poetical explanation would make it, Kent," said Kinross. "A ship feels the first shock of a storm hardest because she is standing still — afterwards she does not feel it so hard as she offers less resistance to the wind when she drifts or scuds before it. And if she could go as fast as the wind she would not feel it at all." "Thank you very much, Kinross," retorted Kent. " But this is my little yarn which I am spinning, and as I have a deep personal interest in the record, I prefer to spin it my own way and with my own reflections." "Very true, Kent; and I won't foolishly interrupt you again. Ye ken I'm very fond o' poetry, and I enjoy your poetical touches very much." Then we all laughed and Kent went on with his story. SAM KENT'S STORY 251 " When I recovered my senses a bit, I found that the schooner had also recovered herself, and was riding head on to our sea-anchor with all her faculties alert, and evidently appreciating the shelter we had rigged for her comfort. It was impossible to look to windward, but we knew by a perceptible sort of tug that the sea- anchor was doing its duty. There was hardly any sea on ; that came later as the force of the hurricane spent itself. But as far as I could see to leeward there was nothing to be made out distinctly save the rush of the mingled wrack of sea and cloud, and the flying scud that drove through the air, not like water at all, but like showers of stones shot from demon catapults that would have crushed the life out of men like flies, if they had dared to stand up against it. " It took twelve hours for that hurly-burly of demons to pass, and we four men clustered to- gether, partially sheltered by the bulwarks and closely lashed sails and spars, hardly moving and never speaking during all that time. We had no- thing to say even if we could have spoken intelli- gently, but that was impossible, for the terrible roar and rush of the elements caught the word ere it could reach another's ear, and whirled it 252 SAM KENT'S STORY into the hellish din, where it was lost like a child's cry amid the tearing crash of artillery. " In the terrible uproar, I remember thinking that I would try to get into the cabin, for it did not matter where we were, we could do nothing to save the schooner or ourselves; we simply had to depend entirely upon the sea- anchor keeping her head on to the hurricane. If the anchor broke up, or our hawser parted, we knew that the Santa Catalina would broach to, roll over, and founder quicker than a man could say his shortest prayer. But when I thought of the dark little cubby-hole of a cabin, I concluded it would be much better to die in the open, where one could do battle with the elements for a few moments, and, when utterly exhausted, sink with a delicious sense of rest and freedom into the silent depths of the warm, calm ocean, far, far down beneath its troubled surface. " That hurricane came to an end as suddenly as it commenced. Instantly, as if one had en- tered a door from a windy street, the noise, the turmoil, the rushing storm-wrack ceased ; ' and there was a great calm,' like that other time on the Lake of Galilee. ' 'The Santa Catalina was still tumbling about SAM KENT'S STORY 253 a bit, but our hawser which held us to the sea- anchor was quite slack; in fact, we had slued broadside on to it, for the last breath of wind had ceased, and there wasn't a sound save the little swish of the water on the schooners side as she rolled slowly and comfortably about. " We all stood up, and were most thankful to find our four selves safe and sound in wind and limb. Good old Tennessee was the first to re- cover his speech. After stamping his feet, as if to find if they were really there, and giving a kind of hop like the first step of a jig, he shook hands all round as he said: " ' By golly, massas! let's thank de Lord all round. That was the very worst scratch I ever was in barring one in Port Louis. When that tornado struck our ship, the Sea King, of one thousand tons, it took her broadside on, and just turned her over and sent her to the bottom like a soup tureen ; and this old nigger was the only man that got ashore alive out of a crew of twenty-five men, the skipper, and three mates. That same blow capsized a big gun, carriage and all, and rolled it over and over for a matter of twenty or thirty yards, until it fell into a ditch. Yes, Tennessee Jackson has a mucho to thank the good Lord for, and this swatch ain't the 254 SAM KENT'S STORY littlest! And to think that my good little galley stood through it all. Oh, bless the Lord! I'll have boiling hot coffee and lobscouse in ten minutes!' And I really think he did, and it was one of the very best meals I ever had in my life — fit for a king, as the saying goes, and we were all kings there that day. I always have a tender feeling for old Tennessee when I think of that voyage, and especially when I remember that quickly-gotten-up-delicious-mess. I wonder where he is now? I trust that he has a good place, either on this side or that. " We hung on to our sea-anchor all that night for fear that the hurricane was only playing hide- and-seek with us. But next day, when the north- east trades came laughing along — as if they thought they had played us a pretty joke by allowing the tornado to take their place for a bit, and that now we would appreciate their loving caresses more than ever, which truly we did, and I have loved them ever since — we con- cluded that the hurricane was really ove"r. So we hauled the sea-anchor alongside, broke it up, and took the pieces aboard for another time. We didn't know when we might meet another South Sea zephyr ! SAM KENT'S STORY 255 Chapter VI " Ten days after the hurricane we reckoned that we crossed the Line. The great storm had come upon us directly from the point to which we had been steering all our voyage, viz., south-west. So our drift had been, in a general way, back upon our tracks. We allowed a hundred miles for the twelve hours of hurricane, and although it was all a loose sort of reckoning, yet it turned out to be not so very outrageously inaccurate as a modern navigator might have prophesied when we started. And I think it went a long way towards proving how natural and easy it would be to people the Pacific from the north-east; and how unnatural and difficult it would be for a primitive people, with only primitive means at their disposal, to fight their way over thousands of miles of trackless ocean against the persistent trade winds. And, as I have said before, any westerly winds which they might encounter would almost invariably be in the form of great gales that would dash their frail crafts to de- struction. "On the fifteenth day after the hurricane — that terrible experience being, of course, an era 256 SAM KENT'S 3T0RY to date from — we sighted a large dismasted vessel. Of what rig she had been we could not tell, but that she had been a three-master was evident enough by the stump of the mizzen mast, which still stood some fifteen or twenty feet above the deck. As we slowly drew near the helpless craft we made out that she was not wholly deserted, for the red ensign, upside down, was run up to the stump of the mast. But we did not need that signal to let us know that she was in distress, her helpless condition showed that fact clearly enough. " When we got quite near and lay to, with our fore-sheet hauled to windward, we made out that there were a man and two women on the ship. They were apparently making signs for us to send a boat, but that was exactly what we could not do, as we had no boat to send. By and by they seemed to make out what was the matter, and presently we could see them moving fore and aft, as if they were at some work or other, and very soon we understood what they were doing. They evidently had plenty of timber — probably the ship was timber-laden — for the man was putting boards (which the women were handing to him) into the bight of a rope slung over the ship's side, and then we guessed that SAM KENT'S STORY 257 they were trying to make a raft to ferry them- selves over to us; which, indeed, was the only wise thing to do, seeing that neither of us had a boat, and it was too risky a manoeuvre to at- tempt to run the schooner alongside of the heavy ship — with the long, constant roll she had she might either shove us under water altogether, or knock our masts over the side. All we could do was to get as near the ship as we could without endangering the schooner, and make signals to the people that we would lay by them until they managed to fix up their raft. We could see quite distinctly what they were doing. When they had got a lot of wood together, quite enough to float three people, the man passed two ropes around the concern, with loops to run taut as they cautiously lowered the whole thing into the water. " After it was afloat he went down the ship's side so cleverly hand-over-hand, by a single rope, that we knew he was a sailor-man, and we felt pretty certain that the raft would turn out satisfactory. This was all very well so far, but how were the women to be got safely down a high ships side on to the none too steady raft? And then how were they to propel the clumsy, heavy thing over to us unless we could get a line s 258 SAM KENT'S STORY to them ? At last we all became so excited over the job that we decided to cast lots among our- selves as to who should risk his life by swimming with a line from the schooner to the ship, and so solving the problem of getting the raft with the people to us. It was a sort of forlorn hope to undertake. Even at the nearest we could venture our little craft to the high, rolling ship, it would take an expert swimmer a good fifteen minutes, towing our very smallest line, to reach her. And a ghastly thing we had discovered since we came near the wreck, was the fact that sharks were swarming round and under the poor doomed old craft; her grass-grown and barnacle- covered bottom affording them excellent hunt- ing ground for picking up a nice bite from shoals of wandering bonito, pilot-fish, and other small game. But those savage monsters of the deep are always on the look out for human-kind in all seas and under all circumstances ; ' long- pig' — as the old-style Fijian called it — being the most enticing of all comestibles. " The lot fell on my friend Leopold Durand, and although I offered to take his place, and even the brave darkie, Tennessee, volunteered to go, saying — what is quite true — that there is SAM KENT'S STORY 259 not nearly as much danger of a shark attacking a black skin as a white. But Durand would not yield, and at once prepared himself for the hazardous task by donning a blue jersey bath- ing suit, which he had bought from our Scotch draper in Acapulco. I had laughed at him wasting his money upon it at the time, but he stuck to his bargain, declaring that he would wear it when he got down about the Line, which now he was going to do sure enough. Then he fixed his old sombrero on his head to protect him from the blazing sun, and jumped on the rail ready for his dangerous swim. " Our experienced sailor, William Adams, had managed to carefully dodge the schooner under small sail — only mainsail and jib — as near the ship as he deemed safe, and then we hove to. The wind was so light that the schooner was hardly manageable in the long, heavy swell, and we dared not venture nearer than about two or three hundred fathoms of the ship. The man and women waved and cheered us with much energy — that is, we saw they were doing so, although we only caught the faintest sound of voices. Poor things ! it must have been an exciting time for them, after drifting day after day, week after week, for more than three 260 SAM KENT'S STORY months (as we learned afterwards) in a water- logged ship, only kept from foundering by her cargo of lumber. And often during that time, especially during the hurricane, in momentary fear that the decks would tear open with the awful rolling of the dismasted ship, with neither spar nor sail to steady her, and the buoyant cargo forcing itself upward, would escape, and the ballast instantly take the heavy ship to the bottom. " All being ready, Durand started on his perilous swim. He had a sailor's sheath knife in his belt, but if the sharks really attacked him we knew, and he knew, that the beginning would be the ending. He was an expert swimmer, had won many a prize in his younger days, but he had long been out of practice; and swimming is an exercise that must be kept up or a man soon loses the power of doing a real hard journey in water. It is very curious to reflect that swim- ming comes so naturally to all the lower crea- tion, that none of them need to learn the art, and can always save themselves if they happen to fall into river or sea ; whereas the strongest man drowns like the most helpless babe if he has not learned the queer accomplishment. " It was a pretty hard task to tow even a SAM KENT'S STORY 261 small line from the schooner to the wrecked ship. We unrove the signal halyards, and spliced it to the lead line, and then made up the balance of the distance with spunyarn. Durand got over bravely and quickly, and sent back a halloo of triumph when he scrambled on to the raft and shook hands with the man who eagerly welcomed him there. Then we bent on the end of a coil of Manilla rope to Durand's line, which he and the other man hauled carefully over, and made fast to the raft. " That slow swim, towing a line in water in- fested with sharks, was a much braver action than leading a forlorn hope, and Durand had done that more than once. Oh, what unaccount- able creatures human beings are, and how little they are to be depended on! When I reflect upon the past, and recall to mind the strength and weakness, the goodness and the badness, the bravery and the cowardice, of men whom I thought I knew, but, as it turned out I didn't know at all, I have come to the conclusion that our globe is encompassed by spirits good and evil — and that a man is bound to consort with one kind or the other, and then we call it destiny. But it is not destiny, it is choice. "Ah, old friend! brave, gallant, kind, and 262 SAM KENT'S STORY true! Cowardly, mean, cruel, and false! We shall know better when we forgather in that Land where we shall see clearly, and make no errors, because ' There is no night there.' No night — no night — O friend, when we shall meet, Beyond earth's gloom, and clasp hands in the Light — We shall not lose our way with weary feet; Because in that clear Land there is no nighjt! " Durand and the Captain, for so he was, poor man, soon arranged matters, for one was a good sailor, and one a good soldier, and that's a first-rate combination to carry through a tough job properly. Durand stayed on the raft, which he found pretty steady and secure, while the Captain shinned up the ship's side to send down his wife and daughter, as the two women we had seen turned out to be. It did not take long to do this. What with a sailor's handy ways, and the women's eager- ness to escape from what they had long thought would be their tomb, they made no silly delay, as women are so apt to do in easy circumstances. A looped rope made the transfer in a very ex- peditious manner, and when everything was ready we slowly and carefully hauled the raft over to the schooner. But it was something SAM KENT'S STORY 263 awful to see how the devilish sharks followed the raft, nibbling at the edges of the planks, and sliding their ugly snouts almost up to the people's feet. Durand told me afterwards that he never thought of sharks while he was in the water, but when he and the others were on the raft, and the fiends were nosing and knocking against the planks, a great horror came over him, thinking they would, with their razor-like teeth, cut the ropes that held the planks to- gether, and — then} " While we were busy securing the raft along- side, and getting the two women on board, with their few belongings which they had managed to save, I did not notice that Tennessee had got hold of a whaler's long-handled lance, which had hung unused under the rail all the voyage ; and before I could stop him (for I guessed the horrid scene which would follow, having read of it in some old sea yarn) he plunged the weapon into one of the monsters with such unerring aim, and powerful arm — he had been a har- pooner in whaling ships many times he told me — that the lance went clean through the shark's body, and as it was withdrawn the brute rolled over and over in its death agony, with its life's blood staining the clear, blue water into a 264 SAM KENT'S STORY horrible crimson. But even that was not the worst of it, for the whole shoal of cannibals rushed upon their wounded mate, tearing and devouring the luckless monster before he was actually dead. " It was a ghastly spectacle for women to witness, and the youngest sank into a dead swoon before we got her on deck. We hurriedly shipped what personal effects these three had managed to bring with them, and running up the foresail and staysail — the jib and mainsail were up all the time — we squared away on our south-west course, glad to get free of the blood- stained water and the raft. " And so we left the doomed hulk — whilom the brave, gallant ship, North Star — rolling slowly from port to starboard, and from star- board to port; silent, lonely, lifeless, save for the hoard of fiends prowling from stem to stern, waiting, waiting, wearying for the brave old ship to go to pieces, and so give up the prey they hoped she carried in her dark hold. " The rescued man, Captain John Gordon, gave us the story of their disaster in a few words. His ship was the North Star of London, on a voyage from Vancouver to Chile with a cargo of lumber, the captain intending to pick up a SAM KENT'S STORY 265 cargo in South America either for Europe or Australia. Everything had gone well until about three months before we fell in with them. The ship was lying becalmed, with all sails set — rather a foolish thing to do in the tropics — when a sud- den, terrific squall fell upon them, taking the ship aback; and before a halyard could be let go, or the ship got before the wind, she was laid on her beam ends, and to save her the fore and main masts had to be cut away. Then fol- lowed a great gale, almost as bad as our late hurricane (which they also had encountered), but the gale was worse in that it lasted three days, and swept away all their spars with which they might have managed to rig jury-masts, and so have struggled to some port or other. " Fortunately they had plenty of provisions and water, and so for nearly two months they waited patiently — watching, but watching in vain for a friendly sail to heave in sight. The Pacific is such a vast sea that ships are few and far be- tween, excepting in the vicinity of some well- frequented ports. At last the mate and crew proposed that they should all take to the long- boat, the only boat which was left, and she had been saved because she was very heavy and strong, and was securely lashed to ring-bolts in 266 SAM KENT'S STORY the ship's deck. The long-boat was a large craft, quite capable of carrying them all with sufficient food and water to last to the Mar- quesas Islands, which they hoped to reach in eight or ten days if they had anything like luck. The men pointed out that they could carry plenty of provisions, and were pretty sure of keeping the water-cask full by the frequent tropical showers. This was good reasoning on the crew's part, as we had proved on our voyage across the Pacific, having often replenished our stock in that way. " Captain Gordon was ready enough to give his consent to the crew's proposition, but his wife and daughter utterly refused to leave the great strong ship — even maimed as she was — and trust themselves to what they thought a small frail boat, half full of provisions, water, sails, oars, etc., and crowded with nearly twenty men. Under these circumstances Gordon was helpless, and could only wish his men Godspeed and send a letter addressed to a British Consul, or in his absence to any official of a friendly power. And I should hope they would all be friendly powers in such a case, and send out any craft they could lay their hands on to the rescue of the drifting derelict. SAM KENT'S STORY 267 " Of course the mate took the ship's chrono- meter, sextant, and charts to enable him to pick up an island, and all instruments pertain- ing to navigation were completely useless to those left on the unmanageable ship. Whether the crew reached land I never heard. Both Gordon and I were of opinion that if they had not reached a place of safety before our late hurricane they must inevitably have perished. I think they must have been lost, for I never heard any intelligence of them thereafter. " This, in brief, was the story of the North Star, and when I frankly told Gordon and his wife and daughter ours, I really think he was doubtful — poor man — if he had improved his prospects by deserting his own ship, and cast- ing in his lot with four men — and one of them a darkie — who, if they were not pirates, were only honest men for good policy. But what- ever Gordon's feelings might have been regard- ing these questions of ethics, etc., I know that his wife and daughter were profoundly thankful for the change in their circumstances; and when we gave up our little cabin to their sole use and betook ourselves to the hold, they declared that they were supremely contented, and did not mind a pin when or where we reached land. 268 SAM KENT'S STORY " Mrs. Gordon and her daughter were very handsome women of Spanish descent, and al- though they spoke English perfectly well, especially the daughter, it was easy to know that they were Spanish, and I soon learned that Mrs. Gordon was a native of Chile, whom Gordon had wooed and won in his gay young days. Whether he ever regretted it or not I don't know, but I should think not. He was deeply attached to his still beautiful wife, who seemed all that a loving helpmeet could be to him. " One thing in favour of the Chilenos (I saw much of that Republic in after years) is that they are a pure Spanish race. Chile was never cursed, to any extent, with negro-slavery, as all Spain's tropical or semi-tropical possessions were. So to their lasting advantage the Chilenos are practically a pure race — a fact which strikes one very pleasantly if one comes to Chile from any of Spain's many former possessions. Poor, old, effete Spain! a delightful country, a gal- lant and congenial people — but crushed under the incubus of sacerdotalism, militarism, and officialism — her methods have always been the same in all her vast possessions in the Americas and in her innumerable islands, so awfully cruel that the pen of history shrinks from the record ! SAM KENT'S STORY 269 Chapter VII " After the North Star adventure we were never again the same community on the Santa Catalina. I do not mean, of course, that we were not the same number of people — that goes without saying. We had increased our number from four to seven, two of those being ladies. All that was simple enough, but what I am try- ing to explain, and which is not quite so easy as it seems, is the fact that we four men were never again the free, congenial companions after the rescue of Captain Gordon, his wife, and daughter, which we were before that event. We did our work as heretofore, Adams, Durand, and I trimming sails, taking our tricks at the helm, etc., while Tennessee mostly devoted him- self to the commissariat department, as he had done all the voyage. But somehow we seemed to fall into little cliques, a state which is not conducive to general good - fellowship and hilarity. In fact, it is a sort of selfishness that is bad enough on shore, but still more painful and even dangerous at sea. " Gordon picked out Adams as his chum, his wife gave me her confidences — rather to my 270 SAM KENT'S STORY confusion — and poured her hopes and fears, her joys and sorrows, and general reminiscences into my wearied ears, morning, noon, and night, whenever she had opportunity; while her daughter, ' Annita,' and Durand seemed to find ample entertainment in each other's society from the very first day of their acquaintanceship. " Thus matters continued, or I should rather say appeared to continue, for a couple of weeks after our guests came on board, for under the quiet exterior of people and things, a tragedy was brewing between two of our company, which finally wrecked one life, and maybe two — although I do not know of that for certain — and gave me a life-long sorrow. "It was quite evident to us all that Durand and Annita Gordon were in love with each other. The girl's parents ignored, or pretended to ignore, the affair, and smiled at their daughter's preference for Durand's society. However, I think they were anxious enough about the matter, but felt themselves helpless, as parents usually do in such cases. " As I said, things drifted on in this way for a couple of weeks or so. Then, much to my relief — whatever it was to the others — we fell in with a native schooner from Fatuhiva, bound SAM KENT'S STORY 271 for Tahiti. As the craft came ranging up close under our lee, I made her out to be one of a type with which I became well acquainted in after years. The decks were swarming with islanders of both sexes and all ages, from the great-grand- father to the baby grandchild. All hands laugh- ing, shouting, and gesticulating, whilst dogs, pigs, cats, babies, and chickens were scattered about, anxiously looked after by their respective owners, as the schooner went plunging along under a good press of sail, with the spray flying over her weather bulwarks in fine style, making the women laugh and scream like a parcel of children, as indeed the light-hearted creatures were. Alas ! that white people ever came into their islands and seas and changed their laughter to sorrow and weeping! " I hailed the Captain of the Fataua and found him to be a white man. I explained to him that I had lost my reckoning, and said if he would give me a lead into Tahiti I would give him a five pound note for his trouble. This he gladly agreed to do, and so our conver- sation ended perforce for that time as his craft soon passed us, but he reduced sail when he got about a mile ahead, and very cleverly kept about that distance between us until we slid through 272 SAM KENT'S STORY the wonderful coral reefs of Tahiti and let go our anchor in the beautiful harbour of Papeete, after our long and adventurous run across the Pacific. But I must go back a little in my history to an event which happened on the day before we sighted land. "It was a lovely day and things going on as usual. I was standing on the lee rail holding on to the main-rigging, and looking at our pilot, who was taking in his foresail to reduce speed as he was getting too far ahead of us. I suppose he had let his hooker go a bit, wishing to hurry us up, on account of his importunate passengers and live stock. " Adams was at the helm, Tennessee was for- ward putting his pots and pans to rights after washing up the breakfast things. Gordon and his wife were sitting on a stout plank which stretched across the deck for the convenience of the steersman when he wished a rest. Durand and Annita Gordon had taken up their position on some coils of rope on the lee side so as to have the benefit of the shade afforded by the foresail. Somehow I never cared to look at those two before, but, I don't know how it was, this time I kept watching them closely. Perhaps it was ' coming events casting their shadows be- SAM KENT'S STORY 273 fore,' but whatever it was, I was keeping an eye on them while I pretended to be only watching the schooner ahead. " Durand and the girl seemed to be having a very close confab, and, although I could not make out exactly what she was saying, I knew that she was asking to see the ring on his finger — the ring which had never left his finger since the memorable day I put it into his hand. " Durand seemed to hesitate, but a man never hesitates long when a beautiful girl he loves asks for anything, and he held out his hand. In an instant she whipped the ring off and slipped her own ring on instead and held Durand's ring in her tightly-shut fist. The man's face turned as white as the sail over his head, as he said with a kind of fierceness I had never heard in Durand's voice before : " \ Give it back! You cannot have that ring, Annita! My life depends upon it! Give it back, give it back!' And he grasped her hand. " The girl evidently put a wrong construction upon his words and fierce tone. Her eyes blazed with the passion of her race, and with a cry she tore her hand from his grasp and flung the ring into the sea. Almost before the sparkling thing 274 SAM KENT'S STORY touched the water, Durand plunged after it, but it was gone beyond mortal recovery. " * A man overboard ! ' is always a startling cry, and to me Adams' cry sounded weird and ominous, for it was borne into my heart, by some subtile intelligence, that, although we might rescue his body, Durand was lost, lost, lost! " We had the schooner round in a couple of minutes — greatly to our pilot's astonishment, who also at once put about. Durand, after diving several times, threw himself on his back to keep quietly afloat until he was picked up. This was a very ticklish job to perform, we having no boat to send to his rescue. All we could do was to heave to and let the schooner drift down. " But before we reached him, the skipper of the Fataua saw what was the matter, shoved out his boat and picked up our man in a very smart and seaman-like manner. Then, as his schooner came round again, Durand hailed me saying that as the skipper had supplied him with dry clothes, he would stay where he was until we got into Papeete next morning. #M M Mi iH " We came to an anchor near a large German ship with her top-sails loose and evidently on SAM KENT'S STORY 275 the point of sailing. When our friend, the skipper of the Fataua, came on board for his five pound note, which he did as soon as we were moored, he told me that the German was one of Goddefroy's ships bound for Bremen, and that my friend, whom he had picked up, had gone on board and taken his passage for Europe and wished me to send his small belongings at once, as the ship was quite ready for sea, and would slip through the reef as soon as the pilot went on board. "I was completely dumbfoundered by this curt message from Durand who had faithfully and cheerfully borne me company for two years and more, through all manner of adventures and dangerous hairbreadth escapes; and I never had, and never expect to have, a better or truer companion. " Hastily packing up such things as I could find of Durand's, I jumped into the skipper's boat, and in two minutes — it does not take you long to find your way in little Papeete — I was on the German ship just as the men started to heave up their anchor. ** Durand was standing by the rail on the quarter-deck. He saw me coming but made no motion or sign of greeting. When I gave him 276 SAM KENT'S STORY his parcel of things he never said a word; and when I asked him why he deserted me in this sudden and cold manner after all our long, good comradeship and adventurous time together, and expressed the hope I had always held, viz., that our friendship was to be for life and to our mutual and great advantage and comfort, he merely held out his ringless hand and, as I live ! turned silently away and went slowly into the cabin with the exact shuffle and slouch of the London streets, and no more like his own natural, gallant bearing, than decrepit age is like the dashing gait of youth. " I have had many hard rubs in my life, both before and since that day, but I never felt the same strange pain as I did at that moment. And I went slowly down the ship's ladder feeling my way like a weak, blind man. " That happened many a long year ago, but the pain of it, the grief of it, and the weird horror of it, are in my heart to this day; and often in the night I am awakened by my own voice calling my lost friend's name, and with my face wet with unavailing tears. SAM KENT'S STORY 277 Chapter VIII " I roamed about the Pacific for some years, the glamour of its coral atolls and enchanted islands taking deeper and deeper root in my heart month after month; until the old life of energy and ambition grew like a dream of some former weary existence, and the dolce far niente methods of the South Seas seemed to be the true panacea for all the ills and evils that have overtaken mankind. I was quite wrong, of course, in my diagnosis, but I leave it at that for the present, and will finish my story. " I was summoned home by a great sorrow. My dear father died unexpectedly, and I had to return to arrange his affairs. My father's good old partner, Isaac Isaacs, wished me to assume my late father's position in the firm of * Kent and Isaacs,' but London life had lost its charm for me, and I was constantly thinking, or rather dreaming, of the seas and lands on the other side of the world. At last old Isaacs saw that it was hopeless to try to induce me to take up my father's business, and he carefully arranged matters so that for the future I should have a safe, even if it were a limited, income. 278 SAM KENT'S STORY You see, although my father's was a large and lucrative business, yet he was far too free-handed and generous to amass a fortune. He was like J ob, ' a father to the poor, and the cause which he knew not he searched out.' " Within a couple of months everything was arranged. The great house, which had been my only home, passed to strangers. The brass plate in Chancery Lane — which always seemed to me as staunch and infallible as the Bank of England — was removed, and I felt myself free to follow the life which had taken me in thrall for good or ill. " How well I remember my last day in London, although it is thirty odd years ago. I was eager to get away from the city which once was the ultima Thule of all my wishes and hopes. Now my heart was elsewhere, far away where the palm fronds whispered to the trade winds, and the breakers on the reef mingled their weird music with the happy laughter and songs that were yet lingering in my ears. " All my business was settled. I was packed and ready for a start on the morrow, and rather sad and lonely I went for a last stroll on the old familiar streets. " I wandered from Marble Arch down Oxford SAM RENTS STORY 279 Street, every foot of the way so familiar that, even with pictures of white sands, palm groves, great rollers thundering on the coral reefs, float, ing before my mind's eye, I never hesitated or made a single mistake at a crossing, every- where recalling people and events of vanished years. Here was old Holies Street with the green trees at top: a girl once lived in Holies Street whom I used to take for a stroll in the Park at Church Parade time, and often to a concert or the opera. I wonder if she has quite forgotten ? Over yonder is the bookseller's where my mother bought me, as a birthday present, a copy of dear old ' Robinson Crusoe,' with its quaint, charming illustrations, the frontispiece representing sweet-faced Robin going abroad with a musket on each shoulder. In the back- ground of the picture there is a wonderful sea and ship, both much higher than the land where Robin is standing. I thought that a delightful picture in those days — and I think so still. " And here is dear old Oxford Circus! Cabs, buses, terrified men and women waiting nerv- ously for the gallant, brave, splendidly-calm policeman, who, like some wondrous genie from the days of old, with a power far beyond that of King or Lord Mayor, stops the howling 28o SAM KENT'S STORY cataract of rushing humanity by his magical up- lifted hand, and, in a moment, there is a blessed calm and silence. Then, as I reach the long refuge where the comfortably shawled flower- sellers ply their evidently healthy trade — for they are all fat and jolly as of old — and while one of them is pinning a red carnation on my coat, my thoughts fly back to a morning long ago when I was knocked over by a hansom at that very spot, and the only thing I remember — after the joy of finding that my new top hat was not ruined — was the kindly, womanly, sym- pathetic, united cry of these very flower-girls, or their predecessors. " So on I go, past the deathless Peter — and the ever young and ever beautiful women ad- miring his wonderful wares. Here I take a 'bus bound for Southampton Row, intending to drop into some of the queer old haunts which I used to frequent with Durand. "Oh! the luxury, the peace, the complete repose of that most splendid of all modes of town locomotion, the front seat of a dear old London 'bus on a fine day! There's nothing to compare with it in the way of driving. And I always pity (I mean that I always did pity, for it's many a day since I've been out of it all, SAM KENT'S STORY 281 and I cant go on pitying them for ever) ladies, and especially gentlemen — who are not so much consoled by the vanity of it as ladies are — who are compelled by the inexorable edict of fashion to endure the dangerous and disagreeable ordeal of driving in their own carriage through London streets. "From Southampton Row I went dawdling down towards Holborn Viaduct, looking this way and that at the old well-remembered places. A little after I passed Chancery Lane I saw the man whom I can never obliterate from my memory. The man who for years and years in the old days was our household friend, then for more than two years my close companion, true as steel, cheerful under all dangers and priva- tions, resourceful, quick-witted, and splendidly brave under the most appalling circumstances — and now ! "Leopold Durand looked exactly the same hopeless London loafer as of old. Of course he was older, and therefore even more deplorable, if that were possible, than in former years. But in general appearance he was the same prowler of the streets. " I crossed over and turned back to meet him. One can do almost anything in London streets 282 SAM KENT'S STORY and no one will take notice, unless it be the shopkeeper watching his wares at the door, or the clever Bobby with sharp eyes everywhere. When I spoke Durand stopped his slow, shuffling walk, and looked at me, not with the dauntless eyes of our campaigning days — eyes that I have seen scare a dozen of Jaurez' soldiers, and turn the ragged beggars to instant flight — but weak, shiftless eyes, that a street Arab would look into with a jeer and never move an inch out of the way. 4< Even when I saluted and addressed him by name, I was not quite sure if he remembered me and. the past days, he looked so utterly uninterested and careless. As we stood talking, or rather I talking and Durand leaning against those funny old houses on the left-hand side as you go up the street after passing the gallant statue of Albert the Good, a policeman came up to us, and addressing me said: " ' If you are interested in this man, I think it would be wise to get him into the workhouse. I have seen him on this beat for a long time, and yesterday I saw him several times fingering a pair of boots at the door of a shop over the way. And you know, sir, it is better for a poor cove to go into the " 'ouse " than to be put into quod.' SAM KENT'S STORY 283 " Durand heard what the policeman said as plainly as I did; and, without saying a word, or appearing to be in the least flustered, he put his hand into some inside breast pocket and pulling out an old greasy, but what was once a handsome, morocco pocket-book which I remem- bered well y he turned into the quiet of Staple Inn Court, beckoning us to follow, and showed the astounded policeman (and my no less as- tounded self) twenty five-pound Bank of Eng- land notes. And as he turned over the corners in counting them, I noticed, by my father's initials, that they were some of the very notes which my kind father had given Durand when he and I started for Mexico. " The Bobby looked at the notes, looked at Durand, and finally looked at me, and then, with a very puzzled expression, he made a motion, as though he were going to salute — but checked himself in time — and moved slowly away, shaking his head, and no doubt saying to himself: 'This is a queer game, and I must keep my eyes on you, my lads.' "After that startling episode I suggested a cup of tea, to which Durand assented with the old-loafing-days-look of interest in tea, as if we had parted only yesterday. So we dropped into 284 SAM KENT'S STORY one of our old haunts, and gave our order in the old way, and ate and drank in the old style of silence — or monosyllabic converse. When we had finished our frugal repast I asked him if he would have a smoke — a thing we used to indulge in sometimes in our campaigning days. " ' No ! ' he said. ! It 's too expensive; besides, old ladies won't give anything if they think one smokes.' " That was the longest speech Leopold Durand made that day. He neither asked me of my welfare, nor gave me the slightest account of himself. And after walking slowly up to Totten- ham Court Road, we parted in the little quiet corner by the old bookstall. He hardly said a word at the last, and I don't think he intended even to shake hands, if I had not made such an obvious demonstration that he could not pretend to ignore it. "Thus I parted with my friend Leopold Durand, distinguished Captain in the British Army, gallant Lieutenant in the service of the Emperor of Mexico, my friend of many years in England, and my good, true, faithful comrade for more than two adventurous years roaming over the world. M But, in spite of the apparent foolishness of SAM KENT'S STORY 285 the hope, I still dream that some auspicious day, ere I shall be called hence, my drifting jewel will be restored to me — as it was restored to its former custodian from the turbulent Nile, and the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. And whenever that happy event occurs I shall know what God intends me to do for my long-lost friend." *7? *A* T? TS* W After a little pause, and when I thought Kent had quite finished, he said: " If you have been interested in the history I have given from memory, perhaps you would like me to read my father's manuscript giving the Legend of the Magic Rings. The history was given to him by old Jacob El Nathan a few days before the latter's death, and translated into English by my father." We had all been too deeply interested in Sam Kent's curious story to think of refusing his generous offer, so with one voice we greeted his proposal with acclamation, and next night he read, with very good diction and sym- pathetic voice, the following article, which he entitled — The Legend of the Magic Rings. THE LEGEND OF THE MAGIC RINGS THE LEGEND OF THE MAGIC RINGS AS WRITTEN IN HEBREW BY THE JEW JACOB EL NATHAN, AND TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY SAMUEL KENT, ESQUIRE, AND BY HIM BEQUEATHED TO HIS WANDERING SON : WHO READ THE LEGEND TO US ON THE " LAPWING'S " QUARTER-DECK, IN THE SILENT LITTLE HARBOUR OF HEAO Chapter I HEN I was a young, strong man, my father was a dealer in precious stones ; a business which has al- ways been most congenial to the soul of our people. He had carried on his trade in many countries, and many cities, but at the time I refer to he was settled in Alex- andria, where he had been for many years, as u 2 9 o THE LEGEND OF he found that Egypt was a most profitable centre for his business. My father, being no longer a young man, confined himself to the home business, and in- stead of taking long, laborious, and dangerous journeys into the desert, he deputed me to that department — which, indeed, suited me ad- mirably — and my natural shrewdness enabled me to carry out my father's instructions to his entire satisfaction. In this way I gathered a vast amount of knowledge regarding all the Oases, lands, and cities east, west, and south, both in and beyond the bounds of Egypt. I did not visit many parts on the Mediterranean — the people of our nation not being much given to roaming on the unstable world of waters — but I went to Rome, Constantinople, Athens, and other places where trade offered induce- ments. Of course I often visited our Holy City, but I always did so by land. It was upon one of my journeys into the Libyan Desert that I met with the adventure through which I became possessed of the Magic Rings, and learned their mystic power — a power which can only be used for beneficent purposes, otherwise their magic evaporates, and woe be- falls the owner. THE MAGIC RINGS 291 I was upon an expedition to the Oasis of Kufra, where my father had an agent who collected stones, and whom I visited once in two or three years. Travel in the desert in those days was a very dangerous business. Those far-off regions swarmed with Bedouin robbers, and the desert traveller's only safety was in the size of his caravan and the loyalty of his men. But my father always provided an efficient caravan, so I had little to apprehend from the roving bands of marauding Bedouins whom I might chance to encounter. In start- ing upon desert journeys he always gave me strict injunctions never to allow any strangers to join my caravan on the plea of seeking safety by travelling in company with my nu- merous and well appointed men, horses, and camels. My father had had some disagreeable experiences with parties of the pretended timid wayfarers, who afterwards turned out to be spies from large robber gangs hovering in the vicinity. So he warned me against all such hangers-on, and after much experience, and good admonition, and some narrow escapes, I became quite an expert desert dweller, and a lover of its mystery and its silence, as all our forefathers have been. 292 THE LEGEND OF On the journey of which I am telling you, I left Cairo at sunset so as to have the cool night air for the first stage in the desert. We passed the great Pyramids — those grim portals of the changeless, mysterious desert ! hateful to the uninitiated! beloved of all men over whom it has cast its weird spell, and to whom it has whispered its wordless secrets. On the sixth day of my journey I came upon a man in a deplorable condition. He was quite unconscious, lying beside his dead camel, the furniture of which afforded just sufficient shade to prevent the fierce sun burning the poor man's life completely out. A little ex- amination showed that the camel had been first disabled by hamstringing, and some time after- wards killed outright by a knife thrust in the throat. Then the unfortunate man had been reduced to the desperate expedient of opening the beast's side to get at that wonderful water receptacle with which God has provided the " ship of the desert," and which enables it to journey patiently for several days in those waterless wastes without apparent inconveni- ence, where all other living creatures quickly perish unless they are artificially supplied. Of course I succoured the man to the best THE MAGIC RINGS 293 of my ability, and after much care, and by slowly administering restoratives, I had the satisfaction of getting him back to life and to consciousness. I camped there a few days, until the rescued man was sufficiently recovered to tell me of the way he fell into his sore plight, and also about himself; who and what he was, of his business, of his father, of his tribe, and so forth. I found that he was one of my own nation, a descendant of a very ancient line, of the family name of Ashbel, of the tribe of Benjamin. He had been on a journey from Farafrah to the Oasis of Kufra with a good caravan well appointed in every respect. But, unfortunately, he had allowed — contrary to his wise father's advice — some Egyptians to join his company on the plea of getting through the desert safely. They were honest-looking merchant men, but they turned out to be nothing more or less than Bedouin spies, members of a robber band, to whom they gave notice by some secret means (probably by a writing concealed under a stone) of the most favourable time for attack ; and in the hour before the dawn, when man and beast sleep most profoundly, the Bedouins made their rush, and in a moment the caravan 294 THE LEGEND OF was overwhelmed and disarmed. Ashbel him- self had tried to escape on his camel, which was a very swift animal, but a savage sword- thrust — which the desert-men know exactly how to give — completely disabled the poor beast, and brought both it and its rider to the ground. There he was left utterly helpless, without food or water, his servants, goods, and cattle swept away, and himself so badly injured by the fall of his camel, that the Bedouins thought he was dead, and so took no further trouble with him. When the poor man came to himself, the sun had set and the silence of the desert night (with its wonderful roof of stars so low, that desert wanderers fall into the habit of speaking softly lest they be overheard in those high, sinless worlds) had fallen upon the shadowless plains and ghostly white dunes. As I said, Ashbel was severely hurt, and as he slowly recovered consciousness he became aware of that worst of all desert agonies, thirst ! and being a man of the desert he realized that the Arab's last desperate expedient must be resorted to, or he must perish. His faithful camel was in a sore plight, and would certainly die after long suffering, and after consuming its store of that precious water for which its master THE MAGIC RINGS 295 was perishing. All the camels of the caravan had been given water to drink copiously at a well twenty hours previous to the Bedouin attack; and, according to Arab reckoning, the marvel- lous provision with which God has endowed the u ships of the desert " enables them to travel — if starting with a full supply — for several days without another drop, and yet without apparent suffering. When the desert dweller has from some cruel cause or other fallen into such a pitiful case as Ashbel, there is only one possible means of saving his life, and that is to slay his camel and exist upon the precious water so mysteri- ously provided to sustain the wonderful " ship of the desert " in its weary journeys through the waterless world for which it was evidently created. When I came upon Ashbel he was so low that I hardly expected him to live long enough to reach Kufra. He was so weak that I had to arrange a sort of palanquin slung on a tent pole between two men mounted on steady horses. The poor man made but a light burden, being reduced to a mere skeleton. When he killed his camel (which he told me was like killing a man) he drained the water carefully from the 296 THE LEGEND OF beast's stomach into a large stone jar, which either had been forgotten or left as useless by the robbers. Then he cut thin strips of the camel's flesh, laying these on stones, and a few hours in the fierce sun cooked the meat as if it had been before a fire. Ashbel had been more than twelve days in these very deplorable conditions when I found him, and it was wonderful how the man had managed to exist; but our race are marvellously tenacious of life, especially of life in the desert, for of that life we have had much experience, and, what is more, divine instruction from God himself — such as was never vouchsafed to any other race of men. Under these peculiar circumstances, my poor guest and I became not only good companions but close friends. I found him a man com- bining two qualities which are seldom found highly developed in one individual, viz., classical learning and practical knowledge. And although my journey to Kufra occupied more than double the usual time on account of our slow pace and frequent stoppages — for Ashbel could only bear the fatigue of short stages in the cool of the morning and evening — I did not in the least grudge the delay, so delighted was I with the THE MAGIC RINGS 297 interesting and varied discourses with which my guest and I beguiled many an hour, which other- wise would have hung heavy on my hands. Ashbel related many of the incidents of his own life, and very interesting they were, for his had been a varied and exciting career. After his school and college days, which he spent in England, "that land of true freedom and merciful charity, as I have proved" (added old Jacob El Nathan in a parenthesis) Ashbel's father took him into the business, and diligently taught him the secrets and mysteries of precious stones — that is, as far as man has yet learned them. But all learned and intelligent dealers know that there are secrets hidden in the heart of stones beyond the powers of any man yet born into this world to decipher. Foolish and vain men throughout the ages have wasted their lives — burning out their souls and bodies over crucibles and furnaces — trying to create that which is uncreatable save by the Creator of the universe. And yet with all their weary toil, and spent lives, no man has yet discovered the secret in the heart of the opal. After we reached Kufra I began to see that Ashbel was soon to take that restful journey which God has mercifully appointed for all men 298 THE LEGEND OF to take. Fortunately my poor friend did not suffer pain ; even to the very last he was bright and lively, and was always ready to converse cheerfully on all manner of subjects. I must go back in my story to the time when I found Ashbel in his sore distress. As I have already said, I ordered my caravan to go into camp for a few days, or until I could decide whether the man was fit to travel, or was soon going to die. I was glad to find he began to mend, and in a couple of days could converse quite intelligently, and slowly gave me a clear account of his disaster — of which I have given a sufficient synopsis. But I have not yet men- tioned the important subject which made that desert journey the most momentous of my life. In bathing the poor man's fevered body with a little vinegar and water, I noticed two strangely beautiful rings which he wore, one on his left hand and one on his right. They were wrought in such true and perfect manner as is never seen in modern workmanship. The ring on his right hand was set with a wonderfully beautiful ruby; that on his left hand was set with an opal so transcendently lovely, with such innate splendour, that one could understand how THE MAGIC RINGS 299 men, casting about for something tangible as an object of worship, could become fire-wor- shippers, for in this stone there is a spiritual fire, as there is in the sun. Naturally I took notice of the strangely beautiful gems, remarking that they were surely too valuable to be worn so openly in the robber- infested desert. But Ashbel disabused my mind of that fear by telling me that these rings cannot be taken, they must be freely given. They have the gift of invisibility. Moreover, they possess the talismanic power that would wither the sacrilegious hand which dared to take them by force. If by some misadventure the ruby ring is lost it will be restored to the wearer of the magic opal, unless he becomes unworthy to hold his trust. But that — said Ashbel — has never happened in our long event- ful history from the time of Solomon to this day. Ashbel then proceeded to tell me fully of their occult power, and asked me if I would receive, and wear, the ruby ring, and thereby become his inalienable friend — closer than a brother. I at once consented, not only for the sincere affection which had sprung up in my heart for this lonely man whom I had succoured 300 THE LEGEND OF — and as one of your poets has written most truly and beautifully : ' Dear is the helpless creature we defend ' — but also for the passionate desire which had grown up in my soul to possess the mysteriously beautiful gem. There were tears in Ashbel's eyes, even while there was a smile on his lips, as he laid the lovely ring in my hand, bidding me wear it as a pledge of true friendship and perfect loyalty between us two. #M. Ji. M. J*. "A* *7V- -fi- -7V - When we reached the Oasis of Kufra and got into comfortable quarters, and after I had completed the business for which I had come into the desert, I had much leisure time on my hands, and from choice I spent most of it in my friend's society instead of yielding to the various attractions for which Kufra was celebrated, and which are generally so seductive to young men. It was in those days and nights of long converse that Ashbel told me the strange history of the Magic Rings, and finally, just before his death, confided both to my loving care. I took notes of all he told me, and, although I cannot repeat the story in his mystically THE MAGIC RINGS 301 poetical language — for he came of a long line of poets and metaphysicians — yet the history as I give it is approximately the account which my friend, Ashbel Ahiram, of the tribe of Benjamin, gave me; telling of where, and by what hard travail and labour the rings came into the keeping of his family. Chapter II "My dear friend Jacob" — thus began Ashbel — " I must begin my history by telling you that I am the last scion of a very ancient and honour- able family: and, alas! when I pass — which I know will be ere long, and I am quite content — the magic rings, which have come down from father to son in an unbroken line for nearly three thousand years, must pass out of our family. I am an only son, my father is dead, and I have no son now, alas! in this world. Therefore God, in His mercy, has sent you, my dear friend, to be the holder of the trust, until you can find a worthy successor, or until God shall give thee a son, in which case the rings must pass from father to son always. " The founder of our family was Ahiram, of 302 THE LEGEND OF the tribe of Benjamin, private agent and secre- tary to Solomon, King of Israel. The King- had the utmost confidence in Ahiram, and loved to have him near his person at all times, especi- ally when he went secretly abroad by day or night, which Solomon was very fond of doing — seeing and hearing what his subjects were doing and saying in their daily lives. In this way the wise King learned a great deal of his marvellous wisdom, and of his knowledge of the human heart. " On these secret expeditions Ahiram was his only attendant, and in many dangerous situa- tions, and amid crowds of reckless characters who cared not for their own or others' lives, the King proved the courage and fidelity of his servitor. And, as time went on, Solomon became more and more attached to his able and reliable secretary, and depended upon him, not only as an ordinary officer, but more as a trusted friend and adviser in the many onerous affairs of state by which a King in those days of absolute autocracy was burdened. As an instance of Solomon's reliance upon Ahiram's ability, I may mention that it has always been commonly be- lieved in our family that the King submitted his decision to his secretary before delivering the THE MAGIC RINGS 303 famous judgement when the two women claimed the living child. " As years went by, and the great King felt the effects of age and his strenuous life gradually coming upon him, and as, alas! he also learned by many sad proofs that there were fewer and fewer around him of all his servile retainers upon whom he could implicitly rely, he turned with ever increasing confidence and affection to Ahiram, whom he knew, by the infallible testi- mony of the heart, was a true man, even if all the rest of his gorgeous Court might be false as hell. " All men know that Solomon was the wisest king that ever reigned on earth, but his wisdom did not save him from sorrow and trouble ; in- deed, it only seemed to add to the burden, for the great potentate said, in the bitterness of his soul : ' Vanity of vanities, all is vanity ! ' and again: 'He that increaseth knowledge in- creaseth sorrow/ Solomon, poor man, certainly knew what he was talking about, for he was not only versed in all the learning of the most pro- found schools of the world, but God had endowed him, in a special degree, with intuitive insight, so that the inner spirit of things — which is hid- den from mortal eyes — was as clearly visible to 30 4 THE LEGEND OF him as ordinary things of sense are visible to ordinary people. What men call magic, occult- ism, sorcery, and many other names and mis- names, were like an open book to the countlessly rich, wise, happy King. But, alas ! poor, foolish, miserable man. " Perhaps for these reasons Solomon took Ahiram closer and closer to his heart; for in this life there is no treasure so great, no power so omnipotent, no wisdom so profound, no mystery so deep, as the love of one true human heart. And so the King, knowing how true Ahiram was, depended more and more upon him, much to the disgust and irritation of the proud, aristocratic courtiers ; for they looked upon him with disdain, not unmingled with fear. Firstly, because he was not of noble descent, and, secondly, because they knew the King loved him. "It was about this time it came to pass that Solomon had a secret message to send to one of his numerous fathers-in-law, viz., Pharaoh, King of Egypt. This King's daughter had be- come Solomon's wife: and among innumerable other Egyptian lore which she imparted to Solomon at various times was this, that her father knew where the secret magic was obtain- THE MAGIC RINGS 305 able, which made a man's thoughts subject to the control of another. This was of intense interest to Solomon's astute mind, for even with all his vast power, Solomon knew full well that he was utterly powerless to control for one moment the thoughts of the meanest scullion in his kitchen. " Of course the King had learned from the history of his nation that the Pharaohs of Egypt, and their magicians, had wonderful occult powers. But he never heard, before his wife told him, that it was possible for one man to have power over the thoughts of another, even to the extent of making that other think and act as desired, and to be as absolutely true and faithful as one is true and faithful to one's self. " These things greatly affected the King's mind, and he determined, if it were possible by any means, to obtain this wonderful power. Of course it was impossible for an absolute auto- cratic monarch to go so far from his kingdom as Egypt, especially on a quest which he desired to keep absolutely private, so he determined to obtain this secret by proxy, no matter what it might cost. " Solomon lost no time in preparing an em- bassy to Pharaoh on this — to him — important subject. And as the matter required careful x 306 THE LEGEND OF and secret handling, he determined to send his faithful servitor Ahiram, whom he knew he could trust absolutely as far as the business with Pharaoh was concerned, but whose thoughts Solomon well knew he was as powerless to con- trol as he was powerless to control the winds of the desert. "Ahiram was provided with a magnificent caravan, not only for safety and comfort, but as befitting an embassy from one great monarch to another. He was also the bearer of many wonderful and rich gifts, which Solomon selected from his vast collections of art, arms, and articles invented by his skilled mechanics for use in the peaceful business of ordinary life. Lastly, but greatest of all, Ahiram was entrusted with a diamond of such transcendent splendour, and such great size, that its like had never been seen in Jerusalem before. It was one of the gifts which the Queen of Sheba gave to the King. It had a long, wonderful history, and was called ' The Star of the South.' " So with a great company, much dignity, and many camels and splendid horses, Ahiram went forth to go into the land of Egypt; and, in due time, into the land of Egypt he came. THE MAGIC RINGS 307 " Pharaoh was much pleased to see such a magnificent embassage from his great son-in- law, the King of Palestine, and entertained Ahiram and his numerous company with much hospitality and great splendour. After many days taken up with various sports, sight-seeing, and fine entertainments, Ahiram laid before Pharaoh, in strict privacy, Solomon's secret message. But, greatly to Ahiram's astonish- ment, Pharaoh seemed much disturbed when he heard his son-in-law's request, and on the plea of sudden indisposition, he withdrew to the inner portion of the palace, and held no further inter- course whatever with his guest for several days. " This naturally disconcerted Ahiram not a little, for he, as well as all the Court, knew per- fectly well that Pharaoh's indisposition was of the mind, and not of the body. Therefore speculation was rife as to the meaning of it all. The ill-natured sort — of whom there are always plenty about a Court, and elsewhere for that matter — whispered that the Jerusalem King's envoy had offended Pharaoh, and that he would be dismissed in disgrace, if not worse, before long. Indeed, Ahiram himself began to grow uneasy at the persistent absence of the King, and gave secret instructions to his people to 308 THE LEGEND OF quietly prepare for departure at a moment's notice in case of necessity. " But at this juncture Pharaoh again set the gossips' tongues wagging by sending a gracious message to Ahiram to come to him in his pur- ple chamber — a room which not half-a-dozen living men had ever seen, let alone entered. Of course, Ahiram at once obeyed, and found Pharaoh the same kind, affable monarch as heretofore. Only there was this difference, viz., that there was a confirmed cloud of sadness on the handsome face, and in the great black eyes. " After greeting Ahiram cordially, the King motioned him to a gorgeous divan near where he himself reclined, and ordering all the attend- ants to retire, he proceeded to reveal the per- plexity of mind into which the purport of Solomon's embassy had thrown him. Pharaoh explained that Solomon's desire could only be fulfilled at much hazard to body and soul, and he, knowing Solomon's great affection for Ahiram, feared that if evil befell him in this quest (and there were nine chances out of ten that evil would befall him), Solomon would re- quire his Ambassador's life at his (Pharaoh's) hands. Then Pharaoh gave Ahiram an account THE MAGIC RINGS 309 of where the secret magic was obtainable, which Solomon's soul longed to possess. " On a magically hidden oasis in the further- most desert, which only those whose eyes are enlightened by sorrow and brave endeavour find, to their great profit — and those who seek that goal from selfish motives find to their great loss — there lives a man, if it is lawful to call him a man, who holds the secret of the control of thought; and he bestows it upon those who prove themselves worthy of the great trust by toil, by bravery, by continence, and charity in thought, word, and deed; but so mysterious are the laws of free will, and free choice, which govern that oasis, that of all those who achieve the hard task of reaching it not one in a hundred chooses aright. " So arduous are the ordeals to be undergone that of all who had adventured upon that quest only one, to Pharaoh's certain knowledge, had ever returned to Egypt, and that one came back in sorrow of mind and much suffering of body. Pharaoh said that when he himself was a youth this man lived in the vaults under the great Sphinx. He was a very aged man at that time, and had spent most of his life in the desert, pursuing the great quest, but failed through 310 THE LEGEND OF yielding to the last temptation — gold — and came back to Egypt to spend the remnant of his life in penance, humility, and deeds of mercy, if haply he might thereby win pardon for his sin, and so save his soul alive. "It was from this man, erroneously reputed to be a magician, that Pharaoh learned many things regarding the magic oasis. And at last his mind became so fired with dreams of the magic quest, that thinking — in the pride and vanity of youth — he could avoid the pitfalls into which ' Kef-heb ■ (that was the man's name) had fallen, he actually began equipping a caravan, and selecting suitable men for the adventure. But when matters had advanced thus far his father, the King, died, and then of course, with the cares of family and state upon his shoulders, it was impossible for him to leave Egypt. But he had learned so much from the so-called ' magician ' of the Sphinx (who had actually been at the magic Oasis of Truth), and had spoken of it so often in the family circle, that no doubt his daughter — Solomon's wife — was under the impression that her father had actually been there. 14 Thus the King felt himself in a very un- comfortable position. He must either confess THE MAGIC RINGS 311 to his son-in-law that he only knew of the secret by second hand, and advise him to abandon the quest as visionary — which would likely make Solomon exceedingly angry with his wife, whom Pharaoh loved most deeply of all his children — or else to give him, Ahiram, all available assist- ance possible, and start him on the adventure in the desert, from which it was most probable he would never return. In pursuing either of these courses Pharaoh feared that he would dis- please his powerful son-in-law, and in the then state of Egyptian politics and finance that was the very thing he devoutly wished to avoid doing. " But Ahiram soon put the old King's mind at rest — or rather turned it into one groove of settled anxiety (which was no doubt better than a restless brooding over many plans) — by de- claring his fixed determination of going in search of the magic Oasis, where those who proved worthy received the Talisman which made one mans thoughts lovingly and willingly subject to another, to the great comfort and content of both. "Then — having written as clearly as possible regarding the state of matters to his master, and having explained his decision to proceed at once 312 THE LEGEND OF personally upon the quest with which he had been entrusted — Ahiram at once set about pre- paring for his adventure into the unknown desert. He had come into Egypt with an im- mense retinue, as befitted the envoy of a great King; out of these he chose twelve men — a favourite number with our race and nation — of those whom he judged most fit to endure the ordeals and trials they were certain to encounter. But of all the gallant array of beautiful horses which came from Solomon's wonderful stables Ahiram took not one, for he knew that the ' ship of the desert,' which God created for the pur- pose, is the only safety in the endless wastes of waterless sands. " Having arranged his caravan according to his liking, and with such advice as Pharaoh could give — but that was not much, for Ahiram's quest was like the quest of every man's life, a battle that must be fought by each one's self, and the battle-ground is a man's own heart, and he is master or servant to his fate according as he is strong and true, or as he is weak and false. ' For there is no respect of persons with God,' and the poorest man may be the free conqueror, and the richest man may be the defeated slave ! THE MAGIC RINGS 313 " The general direction, which Pharaoh had learned from the old hermit of the Sphinx, for the traveller who purposed to go on the great quest in search of the enchanted oasis, was to begin his journey from the great pyramid of Cheops, and keep a south-westerly course for a month, and thereafter hold due south with the khamsin wind in front and the North Star directly behind; until, after long and weary travel, he wins to the ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight.' Then, if he escapes from that soul- destroying place, his course would still be due south into the very heart of the desert, where Bedouins never go for they say it is the abode of lost souls and spirits which bewitch men, and hold them in miserable thrall, subject to the evil devices of the powers of darkness. " Here at last, having overcome all the hard ordeals of his sore journey, the seeker after the secret of truth will find the oasis of his long quest. And if he is worthy he will receive his reward with great joy, and if he is unworthy he will have his portion assigned with those who have become mad by reason of the witchcraft of the ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight,' and who are condemned to carry unceasingly and with- out rest heavy burdens which they in their mad- 314 THE LEGEND OF ness deem to be precious treasure, but which in reality are only worthless metallic stones. These loads they gather, with much toil, in the desert on the west side of the oasis, and carry for many weary miles and deposit in the desert on the eastern side, and then in their madness in- stantly return for more of the useless rubbish. Thus these poor madmen spend their miserable existences, never even seeing the gorgeous desert sky, by reason of their constant stooping position in gathering and carrying their heavy burdens. Until at last these bewitched men lie down be- side their worthless heaps, and leave their bones to bleach in the fierce sunlight, a mark for the eyes of the buzzard of the desert, but not a warning to other men, for the madness never ceases, but rather seems to augment as the world grows older and the ages pass. Chapter III " In spite of all the warning words of Pharaoh, Ahiram became more and more minded to go upon the adventure in search of the ' Oasis of Truth and the Rewards of Good and Evil.' So Pharaoh gave up persuading him, and accom- THE MAGIC RINGS 315 panied him two days' journey into the desert, and then bade him a sorrowful farewell : for of all the many men whom he (Pharaoh) had known to depart upon that quest with high hopes and brave hearts, none had ever returned save one\ and he had only wasted his life in that vain endeavour. " Thus did my ancestor, Ahiram, begin that strange quest in search of the magic amulets which you see upon my hands, and which have never been out of our keeping during all those long centuries between then and now — centuries of war, persecution, wanderings from country to country; strangers and servants even in our own beloved land, that land which God himself gave us, but where now we cannot even find a grave. * Of course their magic has preserved them. For neither robber of the desert nor thief of the city has ever dared to lay hands on the sacred emblems: being prevented by some innate power inherent in the gems themselves. And to show their magic power, I will tell you what once happened in my own family. " My well-beloved and only son, who wore the ruby ring (as all the eldest or only sons in our house have worn it from our great ancestor, 316 THE LEGEND OF Ahiram, until this day) went upon a business voyage up the Nile from our home in Alex- andria. My son was only eighteen years of age, but he was one of the wise kind even in his youth, like the founder of our tribe — Benjamin. "In those days all travel into upper Egypt was done by dahabeah on the Nile, and my son went in that way. Having accomplished his arduous voyage up the Nile and completed his business at Darmout, he began the compara- tively easy journey down the great river. But, alas! my gallant boy was lost at the Cataract. Dahabeahs pass the rapids in safety every day, but in his case the steering oar broke, the boat was dashed on the rocks, and all perished. Strange to say I knew the moment this happened; for my son came to my bedside, as I rested in the heat of the day, and he looked upon me in all the radiance of immortal beauty : and I knew well that he had passed from earth, before ever I received my agent's letter telling me of the disaster. "Thereafter another strange and wonderful thing happened. One day as I wandered by the sea-shore at Alexandria, thinking sorrow- fully of my lost son — the last of my lineage and the only comfort of my advancing years — a THE MAGIC RINGS 317 little creature of the sea came up from the calm water, and laying my son's ruby ring at my feet, went back whence it came. And at that moment was revealed to me the absolute truth of the tradition in our family, namely, that this emblem of God's attributes, Truth and Love, cannot be lost. Thereat I was comforted and again turned to do my share of the world's work until my task is completed and I, too, shall be called to rest, and to the company of all those I have loved and lost in the journey of this life. "a* *Jr tF -Tv- tF " After parting with the King of Egypt, Ahiram cast everything from his mind save those things which were connected with the great object of his journey. What he was destined to encounter of defeat, victory, life, or death, was hidden in the womb of time and in the mind of God. But he had the one fixed pur- pose in his heart, to find the oasis of the magic gems and learn their secret, or bravely perish in the quest. And Ahiram was a wise man and knew that when a man's mind is strong enough and true enough, it will control his body much to his comfort and content; and when it is not strong enough his body will control his 318 THE LEGEND OF mind, much to his discomfort, discontent, and sorrow. " Thus Ahiram fared forward into the desert where his unknown fate awaited him. He fol- lowed the general course which the hermit of the Sphinx had indicated to Pharaoh, viz., a south-westerly course for a month after leaving the great pyramid of Cheops, and thereafter due south — with the evil khamsin wind on front and the North Star a torch-bearer behind. His caravan consisted of strong men skilled in all the lore and craft of the desert, with camels of the best that Egypt could provide — and Egypt in those days could provide the best in the world. And it was well that his men were skilful and strong, and his camels of the most splendid quality, otherwise Ahiram and his caravan would have succumbed to the deadly evils of the desert. " In due time the caravan reached that un- frequented part of the great waterless world lying away south of Kufra. A region so arid and inhospitable that the Bedouins name it • The accursed,' and never go there even when hard pressed by Pharaoh's fierce troops, after some more than usually aggressive and bloody raid made by those * silent jackals of the desert,' THE MAGIC RINGS 319 as the Egyptians designate the prowling Bedouins. * # # # * " At last after weeks of weary travel had nearly unmanned the stoutest heart, and the evil spirit of the desert had crushed the courage out of man and beast alike; when men and camels were about to lay themselves down for their last sleep, in spite of Ahirams persuasions, promises, and threats; there was a sudden and wonderful revival of life and energy in fainting men and staggering camels, for there came on the khamsin wind a life-giving odour from the south, instead of the enervating deadly fumes to which they had been ac- customed for so many weary weeks; and with renewed strength and courage the caravan set forward, knowing that life and hope and blessed rest lay near at hand, although as yet nothing was visible save the white sands and yellow hillocks of the desert. But hope was in the hearts of man and beast, and that carried them forward as only hope can inspire the higher and, what men call, the lower creatures of this life. And they all soon had their reward, for before the sunset of another day, palms and green grass, fruit and flowers, were refresh- 320 THE LEGEND OF ing the desert-blurred eyes; and the sound of many waters was ravishing the ears of the wearied caravan who had so nearly perished in despair. " For one brief, blessed hour Ahiram dreamed that he had reached the goal of his journey, and was near the achievement of his quest. But, alas ! he soon learned his error, and found that it was the * Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight,' which Pharaoh had warned him that in all probability he would reach, and may- hap become so enamoured thereof that he would stay there amid its delights, and at last leave his bones, and his soul, in a strange valley which lies near by — but quite distinct from the oasis itself— where the dead are cast forth. For they have no room or use for dead folk on the ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight/ the law of the place being that when one dies he is instantly cast forth and forgotten, for the reason that memory may not interfere with delight. So the only one who weeps is the soul of the dead one, who comes from its place on certain nights which the Lord of all the earth appoints, and mourns beside its white bones; for that is the only companionship which the lonely soul of the whilom inhabitant THE MAGIC RINGS 321 of the \ Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight ' is allowed; until sorrow and suffering- teach the lesson which the foolish soul failed to learn during its mortal probation. But it is a weary- lesson, and Nemesis never forgets, and never fails to exact 'the very last mite.' " To Ahiram's fainting caravan any oasis of the desert would have appeared beautiful and delicious; it is therefore impossible to give any idea of the feelings of overwhelming emotion with which those desert-worn men gazed upon scenes of splendour and loveliness, such as they had never seen even in the bewitching desert-dreams which come to men when they are losing hold of the things of this world, and hearing sounds and seeing shadows from the other. " When the caravan came within the im- mediate influence of the oasis, the atmosphere completely changed. The terrible, depressing khamsin wind entirely ceased, and a deliciously invigorating air — so soft that it could not be called wind — came from the uplands of the oasis, enveloping the weary men and camels with such a sense of comfort and well-being as they had never experienced in their lives before. I include the camels as sharing in this feeling Y 322 THE LEGEND OF of well-being for the reason that our ancestor Ahiram expressly states this in his written record which is preserved in our family, viz., that the poor beasts expressed their satisfaction not only in an extraordinary lightening of their invariably melancholy countenances — but also by the total suppression of the dismal groaning which is hereditary in the camel family, and always expressed when commanded to kneel or rise at loading or unloading. "In spite of all Ahiram's warnings to his men regarding the enchanted nature of this oasis — for Ahiram soon perceived that this was the ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight ' — they paid little heed to his admonitions, eagerly ate of the lotos, and drank of the rose- scented waters from the mountains, until their foolish hearts became ravished with delight, and the spell of the oasis came upon them, and they ceased to think of wife and child, king and country. And backward and forward were alike forgotten in the bliss and delight of that de- licious present. " They found the people of the oasis a strangely careless, light-hearted race, who passed their lives in the mad pursuit of plea- sure. And as the earth was so fertile that it THE MAGIC RINGS 323 produced everything requisite for life, and with the least amount of manual labour, everybody devoted himself or herself— for they were just men and women like the rest of us — to what- soever took their fancy at the moment. But that thing of all others which improves men's hearts, and makes them truly tender to their fellows, namely, sorrow, the inhabitants of the oasis eschewed with all their might. This characteristic of the people impressed Ahiram very deeply; for his master, King Solomon, had told him long before that \ Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better/ and ■ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.' "It was probably these, and other aphorisms of the wise King, which prevented Ahiram yielding to the seductions of the oasis, and casting in his lot with its people, as all his companions — save one — did, in spite of his ad- monitions and entreaties, and even threats of punishment when he should report their mis- conduct and desertion to King Pharaoh. But upon men who had just escaped from the horrors of the desert, in whose memories were still 324 THE LEGEND OF fresh the pains and miseries of weary months of travel — with death day and night for com- panionship — all Ahiram's promises and threats made no more impression than the vain bab- bling of a man in his cups, and they scornfully replied that, as to reprisals by the King of Egypt, they had nothing to fear for three good reasons. Firstly, because Ahiram would never survive another journey such as they had just accomplished, to tell Pharaoh of the result of the adventure; secondly, if by some miracle he did reach Egypt, and Pharaoh was mad enough to send an army after them, it would never reach them ; and, thirdly, if an army did by some super- human means reach the ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight,' every man would instantly desert when he tasted the sweets of such an abode. M And it was no wonder that these men ex- pressed such views. Just escaped from the horrors of the deadly desert by the skin of their teeth — like the poor man of old — each one felt as if he were lifted from hell to heaven; and only heard Ahiram's remonstrances as faint whispers in an evil dream of the night. No! it was no wonder, considering the oasis they had lighted upon, and the people they had found, and the delight of merely living. THE MAGIC RINGS 325 " The climate of the oasis was the most delightful imaginable. It was never either too hot or too cold, but constantly maintained that agreeable temperature which makes life and action a pleasure, and yet is so soft and con- genial that resting or sleeping in the open air is always delightful. " It was truly wonderful that situated as the oasis was in a vast ocean of verdureless sand, thousands of leagues in extent, and within the torrid zone of the earth, yet the sun's rays were so tempered by light fleecy clouds, which extended all over, and beyond the utmost bounds of the oasis, that one could enjoy the full power of the sun at all hours of the day, not only with- out discomfort, but with actual pleasure. An- other happy feature of the climate was the total absence of those violent wind storms which often sweep over the desert, destroying everything in their terrible path. Once in every four or five days the clouds grew darker in the after- noon, and for an hour or two abundant rain fell, but so gently that gorgeously, delicately-coloured flowers drank copiously of the life-giving showers, while not a tender petal would be dis- turbed, nor a splendid bloom frayed or dis- coloured. 326 THE LEGEND OF " One can imagine how all manner of fruits and grains, pleasant and useful for the susten- ance and comfort of man, grew to perfection on such a land and in such a climate. Forests of the most splendid kinds of trees extended to the mountain tops, and abounded with birds of lovely plumage and exquisite song. The lands for grain spread from the foot-hills to the furthest boundary of the oasis, and yielded the maximum amount of crops with the minimum expenditure of labour. " I need hardly say that the character of the people corresponded with their delightful abode ; pleasure was their principal pursuit, and pain their abhorrence. They loved gaiety and laugh- ter, and hated all things sombre or sorrowful. But they had what was to Ahiram a very sad, not to say heartrending, characteristic, viz., a total lack of truth one with another. To Ahiram this was a very dreadful discovery. For at first acquaintance they appeared such a simple, lov- ing people outwardly, that he had concluded that their hearts must correspond with their appearance. " Their advance in Art- was considerable, but, as was to be expected in a people whose princi- pal pursuit was pleasure, they had developed THE MAGIC RINGS 327 the means of gratifying the sensual delights more than the higher forms of Art. For in- stance, shortly before Ahiram's caravan reached the oasis, one of their great geniuses, inspired no doubt by the Spirit of Evil, invented a thing which resembled a python, a dragon, and a mad crocodile. It was mounted on wheels like a chariot, and exceeded in speed all other modes of locomotion. It generally ran upon the earth, but sometimes it only skimmed the ground when the rider thereof was inspired by the Evil One to kill himself, or some other animal, at a sharp turn of the road. Those dreadful concerns con- stantly uttered fearful cries like the screaming of hundreds of swine in their dying agonies, mingled with the trumpeting of enraged old tusker elephants. In addition, those machines emitted such a terrible effluvium that all people who were not rendered immune by having the smell injected into their blood, fell down in swoons, and if they happened to fall in the way of these strange machines, the occupants thereof smashed over them with cries of delight, and great sounding of the swine-like screaming, and much hilarious mirth; declaring that the pleasure and excitement of the majority so far exceeded the pain of the minority, that all men 328 THE LEGEND OF and women, especially women, hasted to obtain these evil inventions as quickly as possible. " They called those dreadful monsters ' Mo- kors/ a word in their language signifying mocker, and which was certainly a most appropriate cognomen, because those machines mocked at life and death, heaven and hell, and at all such things as civilized, as well as barbarian, people once thought of at least with awe, if not with respect. 1 " Ahiram was much astonished at the seeming contradiction in the character of the inhabitants of the oasis. But when he recalled to his mind that the name of the place was the ■ Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight,' he ceased to wonder so very much, and began to reconsider his first opinion of the beautiful place and its pleasant people. By degrees he perceived that their complaisance did not proceed from true bene- volence, but rather from an indolently vacant mind which preferred the thoughtless pleasures of the moment to the more strenuous process 1 At the sight of these strange and terrible things, Ahiram was reminded of King Solomon's saying: "God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inven- tions." THE MAGIC RINGS 329 of thinking out and acting upon a truly virtuous course always. " Their rule of life was to put disagreeable things out of sight, not to take the laborious method of curing them once for all. They had great assemblies once a year^ ostensibly to promote the equal good and improvement of all the people. But by an ancient rule of that assembly — a rule which was never disputed — the members of the happy company passed their time in rollicking good humour, or pretended fierce debates over the merest trifles, such as whether a man should salaam or simply nod upon meeting a female. Or, again, whether an infernal machine driver (who was called in their language ' Show-for,' so named because he con- tributed many shows for the great delight of everybody excepting, of course, the victims of his pretty art, which was hilariously termed ' The game of the Quick and the Dead ') should be compelled to abate his speed, so as to prolong the amusement when a batch of terrified men, women, and children were fleeing for their lives, or merely to sound his dreadful instrument so as to confuse the fleers still more, and then to artistically knock the lives out of all those he 330 THE LEGEND OF could demolish ere they gained a place of safety. 1 " These, and similarly amusing subjects, af- forded entertainment during two or three months of the year, not only to the members themselves but also to their friends and the general public outside. For this purpose there were appointed men of good voice and retentive memory whose duty it was to repeat verbatim, for the delight and amusement of the whole community, all the delectable things said and done in the assembly day by day. " The chief of this assembly of prime revellers was called the Premier, not only because he was their leader in all manner of amusements, but because it was his duty to prime all the exquisite jokes which were fired in the 'House' from time to time. " Ahiram being an honoured guest of the oasis, was entertained by this great chief, who, 1 It is very instructive, though sad, to observe the almost exact resemblance between Ahiram's description of the ancient monstrosity and that modern invention which has rendered our towns pandemoniums, and our once peaceful English lanes horrors and death-traps. Moreover, it reminds us of Solomon's wonderful pronouncement: "Is there any thing whereof it may be said: See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us." THE MAGIC RINGS 331 being a genial and most urbane philosopher of social science, afforded Ahiram a great deal of valuable information, and much food for reflection. "The Premier strongly urged his guest to abandon his chimerical quest, and to cast in his lot with the happiest, and most contented community in the whole world, as he designated the inhabitants of the oasis. He then proceeded to convince Ahiram, or rather to try to convince him — for Ahiram was a stiff man to convince — that, as toil and sorrow were inventions of the evil one, it was our duty, as well as our highest good, to avoid these things by all means in our power. And as pleasure was the panacea for all ills, it was our wisest course to seek that remedy continually. " When Ahiram asked this savant his opinion of the valley of dry bones and the wailing souls, he smiled, inhaled a narcotic, and made reply: 1 My dear friend, if you can inform me of a better way of treating our dry bones and their sad visitors, I shall be most happy to hear it, and not only so, but I shall certainly lay your plan before the assembly. In the meantime I may remark that all the wisdom of our fore- fathers and our own research have not dis- 332 THE LEGEND OF covered a better course than that which we pursue.' "As Ahiram remained silent before this voluble exponent of wisdom, his host continued : "'No! No! my dear friend. This life is all that we are absolutely certain of. And we of this oasis are making the best use of it which we know how. Do not, I beseech you, continue your vain quest in search of an ignis fatuus, which you will never overtake, for as you advance the fairy vision will recede from your feeble grasp, and only appear beautiful and radiant when it is far, far in advance and utterly impossible of achievement. Do not lose the reality for a shadow. Stay with us. Give over dreaming. Forget the past, seize the present — be happy! " ■ Be advised in time. Do not wear out the feeble, mortal body seeking that which is only achievable by the disembodied spirit — if, in- deed, it is achievable at all, and not a mere dream of the mystics. Leave these things of the future to be solved by the future, and take the good which this life gives so freely, and you will presently find that Jewel in our happy oasis which you now seek in vain upon impossible conditions/ THE MAGIC RINGS 333 "To Ahiram, with his high ideals, these people seemed not only frivolous but actually childish in their aims and occupations. And it appeared to him most extraordinary how clever, intelligent people could, seemingly, find satis- faction and contentment in their mode of life from year to year, with the valley of dry bones within sight and the wailing souls within hear- ing — if they only listened. But that was what the inhabitants of the ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight ' never did. They avoided that with all their might, and passed their time as thought- lessly and frivolously as they possibly could devise. They had many outdoor amusements beside the ' Game of the Quick and the Dead,' which I have already partially described. They also had great meetings in their splendid halls. These gatherings were announced to be for various purposes, such as politics, music, philo- sophy of life, etc. But, curiously enough, they never discussed the subject for which a meeting happened to be convened. For instance, if a meeting was called ostensibly for the discussion of political economy (which Ahiram supposed to be something about the science of government) the men assembled never really discussed politics but merely flung racy jokes at each other, and 334 THE LEGEND OF drank glasses of wine and inhaled narcotics at short intervals. At their musical gatherings — so called — it seemed very confusing to Ahiram that there never was any music to be heard, only a confused jumble of sounds running high and low all over the gamut in a very painful and confusing manner, followed by a disagreeable noise made by smiting the hands together — which, he was told, signified that the people wished to hear the confusing and painful jumble all over again. Their views on the philosophy of life were simply in consonance with the general modes which they practised day by day, viz., to get the maximum amount of what they termed pleasure out of life, with the minimum amount of pain and labour. " By degrees Ahiram became aware that if he ever intended to accomplish the great object of his quest then he must hasten onward, lest the selfish life, the enervating influence of self- indulgence, and the glamour of forgetfulness should unhinge his mind, and at last his soul should become a derelict phantom of the desert. " So he began to seek out his travelling com- panions, for they had scattered hither and thither; some had even taken to themselves wives, and finally cast in their lot with the THE MAGIC RINGS 335 people of the oasis, much to Ahiram's disap- pointment and sorrow. After trying to get at least some of his people together he only found one of all the numerous caravan with which he had left Egypt who was willing to follow him upon his still further adventure. This man was an old camel-driver, who, when he applied for service in Egypt, had been rejected by Ahiram's headman as being too old for the arduous journey upon which they were bound. But the man pleaded so hard, and withal seemed so active in spite of his years, that at last Ahiram yielded to his passionate entreaties; and, think- ing to prove the old man as well as to spare him the gibes and sport of the younger men, he in- stalled him as his own camel-driver and per- sonal attendant. In these capacities El-Hassi, that was the man's name, acquitted himself so well, and proved so faithful in the long, terrible march from the Nile to the ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight ' that Ahiram conceived a sincere admiration for the old man; not only on account of his bravery and endurance but also for his faithfulness and habitual good temper and cheerfulness under the most trying circum- stances. " Often when the merciless sun had set, and 2,2,6 THE LEGEND OF the cool night air came creeping over the desert, Ahiram would have El-Hassi into his tent and get the old camel-driver to tell some legend or adventure of the desert. Like all men of the 'Silent Land/ El-Hassis mind was stored with countless memories of events which he, or some of his friends, had witnessed. The great fasci- nation of El-Hassi's stones and legends was the perfect faith he had in their verity. And although we, of a wider knowledge and less im- pressionable nature, may smile at what we term 'superstition,' perhaps El-Hassi, and such as he — who live always in touch with the heart of Nature and commune with her mysteries, which our distracted minds have lost the power of doing — may hear and see the true and the real, while we only hear and see the false and the unreal. " El-Hassi had often seen that unsolved mys- tery of the desert, ' the Phantom Caravan ' ; and once when he was hopelessly lost in the Sahara, and he and his camel were at the point of death, the Phantom Caravan appeared, and the ap- parition so revived his dying camel and himself that they were enabled to follow that silent company, although previously so weak that they could hardly stand. By the guidance of THE MAGIC RINGS 337 that strange caravan El-Hassi came to a beauti- ful little oasis utterly unknown to men of the desert, although he found afterwards that it was within seven days' journey of the Nile. " Upon this oasis El-Hassi and his camel lived in much contentment for three months. There was not only abundance of water but all manner of delicious fruits, dates, and other kinds good for the sustenance of both man and beast. He found no man upon that oasis, and why such a fertile and delightful spot should be uninhabited he failed to comprehend. When he and his camel were thoroughly recruited, El-Hassi be- gan to prepare for his further journey to the Nile. He dried enough of dates to serve him- self and his faithful camel for many days. He still had his water skins in fairly good condition, and with some patching they were made per- fectly watertight. Seven days' travel directly toward sunrise brought him to the Nile, safe and sound, in good health and condition. " El-Hassi was a man of substance in those days (the evil times came later and reduced him to dire straits in his old age), and his name was respected from Cairo to Kordofan, and he had no difficulty in fitting out a proper caravan to go in search of, and to take possession of, z 338 THE LEGEND OF the valuable oasis he had discovered, or rather which the Phantom Caravan had mercifully led him to in his great distress. But of this El- Pi assi was careful not to say a word, for if he had done so a camel load of gold would not have tempted a single man to go into the phantom-haunted desert, the Egyptians being, like all other people, foolishly afraid of all gentle beings from spirit-land, who never do mortals any harm, but invariably good. " El-Hassi was two months upon that voyage of discovery, but unfortunately he discovered nothing at all, although he crossed and recrossed the exact spot where the Phantom Oasis must have been. But the date trees, the sparkling water, the fruits and flowers were gone, and in their place rolled the drifting sands of the desert. No spot of fertile ground or drop of water have ever been found from that day to this within four days' journey of the place where the Phan- tom Caravan led El-Hassi and his worn-out camel to the beautiful oasis that saved their lives. " During Ahiram's stay upon the ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight' he had lived among the highest in the land. With his letters of in- troduction and credit, not only from his own monarch but also letters of recommendation THE MAGIC RINGS 339 from the King of Egypt, ' there were no doors where his foot was not welcome,' as the hos- pitable saying is in the desert. And so in all his gay surroundings he had almost forgotten the existence of his old camel-driver, or when he happened to think of his humble servitor he had fully made up his mind that El-Hassi had gone like the rest of the caravan, had formed friendships, and cast in his lot with the people of the land. " What then was Ahiram's surprise when he came down to the desert boundary of the oasis, where the camels grazed and where the husband- man class lived — all the while thinking, and rather shamefacedly acknowledging to himself, that he had been weakly remiss and forgetful of the important object of the quest upon which his master had sent him — what then, I say, was Ahiram's surprise to find his old camel-driver, El-Hassi, alone of all the brave caravan with which he had marched out from the Pyramid of Cheops, diligently and quietly doing his duty : tending his own and his master's camel, while he wrought industriously at basket-making to defray the cost of the two camels' grazing, as well as his own frugal fare. " It was with a very humble and affectionate 340 THE LEGEND OF greeting that Ahiram saluted his faithful old servitor. Every other man and camel of his caravan had disappeared long before, and had it not been for El-Hassi's stout arm and brave, true heart, he, with his master's last pair of camels, would have followed all the others and yielded to the seductions of the oasis' tempting life. " Ahiram lost no time in preparing to get away from the life which he knew was fast enervating both his soul and body. The friends — or as I should rather express it, the parasites — whom he had met upon the oasis, tried to dis- suade him from what they called his mad enter- prise. They told him that the quest upon which he was bent was never yet accomplished by mortal man, but always led to dire disaster, and finally ended in failure, sorrow, and death. In short, they declared the task was beyond the powers of the human mind and body : and even if it were achievable the rewards were totally incommensurate to the years of suffering, toil, grief, and pain which must be endured ere the fruition of the hard quest was realized. " But Ahiram felt in his heart that his one hope lay forward. He seemed to hear a stern voice whispering in his ear — as Lot heard a voice in his hard dilemma — ' Escape for thy life; THE MAGIC RINGS 341 look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain ; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. ' " El-Hassi was no less eager than his master to be gone. He was far past the age of delusions, and could estimate the siren voices at their true value. The screaming and delight of the gay crowds had no seductive charm for his ears. And the sorrowful wailing of the ghosts in the valley of white bones had warned him of the fate of all who lingered, slept, and dreamed on the ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight/ . " So Ahiram and his faithful camel-driver set about their arrangements for speedy departure. As soon as his friends (I use the word only from custom, for it is too sacred a word to apply to the frivolous citizens of the Oasis) found that Ahiram was deaf to all their blandishments, they ceased to take any further interest in the man for whom they had hitherto professed such dis- interested solicitude and affection. Thus show- ing that all their professions of love were merely childish, effeminate protestations, and parasitical sucking for what they could extract from his mind, body, or estate. " A few of Ahiram's most intimate acquaint- ances came in the early morning to see him start 342 THE LEGEND OF upon what they called his mad quest. They passed many jokes upon his meagre equipment, and upon his solitary servitor, prophesying the horrors to be encountered in the desert, and a speedy return to comfort, ease, and delight. But Ahiram only smiled quietly, and thanking them courteously for all their hospitality, bade them farewell, and, turning his back upon the beautiful ' Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight,' with a sigh for all the precious time he had wasted there, he sternly set his face to the terrible desert, and to his unknown fate therein. " Days and days — weeks and weeks — with a morsel of food, and a mouthful of water to sustain them — the hot khamsin wind in their faces, the burning sands under their feet, and the fierce sun looking pitilessly down upon their sufferings! But there is no other way to the goal — no other way since the gates of Eden were closed! And well for the brave souls, and stout hearts who win through: for without the cruel toil of the desert no prize worth the winning is ever won. * In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread! God said at the beginning, and it remains true to this day. That which is won without sore travail is not bread, it is only — like the apples of Sodom — dust and ashes. THE MAGIC RINGS 343 " So the two men fared wearily onward. No distinction now of master and servant, only- friend and friend, and the wages given and re- ceived, love and brotherhood and perfect trust. By day when the fierce sun smote them like sharp daggers, and by night when the merciful stars looked down compassionately upon their sufferings, these two came to appreciate each other as they never did before, and to discover what treasures of affection and tenderness are in the human heart, when these are drawn forth by sympathy, love, and pitifulness for fellow sufferers. " El-Hassi never ceased to encourage his master, and even urged him to push forward with the strongest camel, so that he would make certain of reaching the ' Oasis of Truth ' ere his endurance quite gave out. But Ahiram only patted the generous old man's withered hands, as he said lovingly: • Together! my brave, true comrade — together, or not at all.' " And thus they crept slowly forward, travel- ling by night and resting and sheltering by day as best they could from the cruel sun of the desert. But night after night their journeys became shorter, and day by day their rests longer, until at last the weakest camel refused 344 THE LEGEND OF the command to rise, and stretching its weary head upon the sand, and uttering that dismal, heartrending moan which only the dying camel can utter, gave up that spirit which no man yet knows whether it evaporates like a breath of wind or passes to another and happier abode. We are told that t The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fading together; and a little child shall lead them.' " Alas ! we know that these happy circum- stances cannot come to pass on this sorrowful and evil-stricken earth; and if not here, then where? I am very thankful for this promise every time I see the suffering and toil of our patient, silent fellow creatures. But, after all, perhaps if we only understood their language, they might tell us that what they long for as their greatest good, and best hope, is surcease of weary toil and bitter pain, and the blessed rest of endless sleep. " At this crisis the call also came for El-Hassi to depart. But before he went upon that pilgrim- age from which no sojourner comes back to tell us how he has fared, El-Hassi urged Ahiram to persevere with might and main, for with THE MAGIC RINGS 345 death's prescience he knew that the quest was near accomplishment, although he had failed to see its fulfilment. But nevertheless the old man was quite content, saying that he would learn greater secrets of love and wonder in the land whither he was bound. " Then El-Hassi went forth into the unknown with his poor, faithful camel, and Ahiram was left alone in sore plight. But he was a brave man, and trusted in the God of his Fathers, and with hope in his heart, and faith in his soul he plodded onward, albeit in dismal case. Thus after travelling, resting, and sleeping cheek-by- jowl with death for many weary days, he reached the goal of his search at last. But so worn in soul and body was he, that it seemed he had only achieved the quest to relinquish it into the hands of his grim companion — Death ! Chapter IV " Thus after many hairbreadth escapes, sore travail, and strange adventures, Ahiram at length reached the goal of his desire, the ' Oasis of Truth.' He, the only one (with the exception of the faithful El-Hassi, who would assuredly 346 THE LEGEND OF have also achieved the quest but for the call of God) of all his numerous caravan, who had proved true to the object of the expedition. Which only shows how untrustworthy is the unregenerate human heart. For all those men had taken solemn oath to be true and faithful to their leader, even unto death. But, alas, what a weak creature is man when evil or temptation overtakes him. A horse will stand by his fallen rider on the battlefield; a dog will die rather than forsake the master who loved him; but a little hardship, or an extra tempta- tion of this or that sort, and men yield like children to the impulse of the moment. " As Ahiram approached the oasis, weary, footsore, and almost demented with thirst and fatigue — for his camel had died four days pre- viously — he narrowly escaped losing his life by falling into the slime-pits by which the oasis is guarded on the north side, which was the direc- tion from which he approached. Having gotten within the precincts of the place, he staggered onward to a little pool of clear, cool water, and finding a scallop-shell, which had been left there by some merciful hand, he drank the most delicious draught he ever drank in his life, and laid himself down to sleep under a great tree THE MAGIC RINGS 347 which grew by the water. And thereupon, as if an Angel touched his weary eyelids, which was no doubt the case, he fell to dreaming of such ambrosial nectar as can only be tasted in para- dise. " After this delectable slumber Ahiram awoke much refreshed, and drank again of the life- giving water, and then set about thinking what to do next. In looking abroad from his slightly elevated position, he perceived that the oasis was of medium extent — some eight or ten leagues in circumference. The centre rose to a great mountain which seemed to pierce the sky, and was clothed with trees of dark foliage and great size. On the lower lands of the oasis there were few trees, and much of the space be- tween the forest and the desert was occupied by the dangerous slime-pits in which Ahiram had nearly lost his life when he was eagerly and heedlessly making his way towards the forest where he deemed there must be that for which he was perishing — water. " Now, when he had recovered himself a little, and began to look around for any signs of inhabitants, he perceived men coming from the western side of the oasis, and proceeding into the desert on the eastern side. These men 348 THE LEGEND OF were not travelling in company, but singly, silently, and morosely. And when Ahiram saluted any of them he received scant courtesy — not even the common attention such as the most churlish men display towards each other when they meet in lonely parts of the earth. And another matter which greatly astonished him, was the fact that each man carried a heavy load of yellow, metallic stones, in a strong wicker basket slung by straps on his back. They all seemed exceedingly weary and distraught; and when Ahiram asked one of them to rest a little, and explain something about this strange oasis, and tell him where men dwelt, and where — in God's mercy — charity was obtainable, for he was perishing with hunger and fatigue, the man only looked strangely and suspiciously hither and thither, and moved away as quickly as his heavy load would permit him to do; apparently fearing that Ahiram intended to steal some of the worthless stones which the miserable man carried on his back. " Then Ahiram sat down by the little clear stream, and reverently, and with a humble heart, thanked God for the blessed solace of the cool water; musing the while, whether it were the decreed time to pass to his rest, or if it were THE MAGIC RINGS 349 God's purpose that he should journey yet further. " Presently, as he sat watching the heavily- laden, silent men pass one after another, with bent forms, and faces turned earthward, he became aware of a venerable man of a majestic presence approaching from the edge of the dark forest; and when he came to Ahiram he saluted courteously, asking from whence he was, and whither bound. To this Ahiram made such replies as he could, but very briefly; for, as he explained to the man, he was faint with hunger, and far travel in search of a treasure of great price. But he now feared that his hopes were vain dreams, and his quest unattainable. " Whereupon the man asked no more ques- tions, but had him up to the wood with all dili- gence, and as gently as possible (for the man perceived that Ahiram was near ' The Fords of Jordan,' as we say), and led him into a spacious Hall, where, laying him upon a couch, he com- manded his servants to bring such refreshments as were proper for one in Ahiram's low condi- tion. By careful treatment, and the blessedness of rest and kindness, he was quite restored in a few days to his usual vigorous health of body and astuteness of mind. 350 THE LEGEND OF " Then Ahiram told the man who had rescued him, of his long and arduous journey and of that which he had encountered by the way, and finally of the inception and object of his quest. " To this the venerable man who had shown him so much kindness said, that on the morrow he would fully explain the methods of life upon the oasis, the pitifulness and uselessness of the terrible labour of the morose men whom Ahiram had met, and, above all, he would point out the one only way of attaining the priceless gems of ' Hope and Love ' — in quest of which he had come so far and endured so much. " You may imagine with what eager expecta- tion Ahiram awaited the morrow, for to his much tried heart it now seemed as though its longing and dreams were at last to reach fulfilment. And only those who have been brought to the gulf of despair and the gates of a hopeless death can understand the poor man's passionate desire to hear the solution of the matter, which, indeed, he had begun to fear was the dream of a madman's disordered brain, a chimera never to be realized, perhaps impossible of realization, as his friends of the f Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight ' had so persistently asserted. " On the morrow the ' Lord of the Oasis ' THE MAGIC RINGS 351 (as Ahiram now began in his mind to call his rescuer, although he was quite unaware of the man's position) had Ahiram up to a balcony on an upper story of the great Hall, from whence one could see nearly the whole of the oasis, which Ahiram now perceived was of no great extent, in fact it was rather under than over his first estimate. " Then the Lord of the place carefully ex- plained all the points of interest to Ahiram; especially he pointed out that the slime-pits extended quite around the oasis, and not only on the north side as Ahiram had at first sup- posed. He also explained other matters con- cerning hidden things, and thereby greatly en- lightened Ahiram's mind on those mystic subjects which had more or less confused his mind ever since he had taken up the quest of the magic talisman secret, and more especially since he had reached what he supposed was the goal of his pilgrimage, and only found many morose men engaged in worthless burden-bearing, evid- ently to their own sorrow and no one's profit; and a few men cheerfully engaged upon a task, which on the face of it seemed as hopeless as that of the others, but certainly had the advan- tage of yielding some hidden contentment to 352 THE LEGEND OF the workers although quite incomprehensible to the onlooker. But Ahiram soon learned the secret of their cheerfulness, much to his comfort and content. " When Ahiram had contemplated these things for awhile, his Mentor said : " ' I was installed in this position — the care of the oasis and its treasures — by the Lord of all the earth. When my probation is ended, and my Lord takes me hence, I shall hand over, with great content, the trust to whomsoever He appoints. Mine has been a long, sad vigil, with few alleviations save the great and abiding satisfaction of fulfilling my Lord's commands. I may not tell you of the origin, the purpose, and the final destiny of the oasis, but it is my duty and privilege to explain to you and to all pilgrims who fare hither, why these men whom you see passing and repassing in endless pro- cession never cease their weary toil. And, again, how, after they had travelled such a hard desert journey, they have missed the jewel which they came so far to seek. They were once free men like yourself. Free to choose, as you are free. But now they are bound in fetters stronger than steel, because their fetters are of the soul and therefore unbreakable.' THE MAGIC RINGS 353 " At this Ahiram was much confused, for he found matters very otherwise than what he had pictured them in his mind as he journeyed in the desert, dreaming dreams, as all men do, whether in the desert or elsewhere. " Then he felt compelled to speak freely to the master of this strange place, and so he said : " ' Oh, be not offended, my Lord! But may thy servant presume to ask: Art thou of the great Chaldeans, magicians, and astrologers of old? who have done such wonders in Egypt and in my own far land.' But the man answered: 1 No! I am none of these, but a humble man with a trust — as thou art thyself — and as all men are who seek to fulfil their allotted tasks diligently and faithfully; all others are not men, they are only shadows. " ' It is not permitted that I should tell you of myself; suffice it to say that I have seen these forests grow from seedlings to maturity. And in all that time only one man here and there, amidst the hundreds of men who have overcome the dangers, temptations, and fatigue of the way hither, have won the jewel which made the journey worth undertaking. M ' You must understand that this is the last temptation to which pilgrims are exposed, and AA 354 THE LEGEND OF those burden-carriers whom you see have suc- cumbed to it. It is useless, it is hard, and yields no sensuous gratification to the mortal man, as you saw beauty and mirth yield to the effeminate dwellers on the " Oasis of Pride and Vain De- light." But this is the final test of a man's character, by which he must either win or lose the prize of life. It is a strange, hard test. But if men choose aright, their future will be with the wise of the earth and the happy hereafter; if amiss, their portion will be with fools. And your own King hath said: " Wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness." ' " When Ahiram heard this man of the un- known desert oasis repeat these words, he was exceedingly astonished, for he remembered writ- ing those very words from his King's dictation many years previously. And when he expressed his surprise, the Lord of the Oasis only smiled and said : * A bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.' " Thus in wise discourse on his Mentor's part, and most profitable listening on Ahiram's part, several days were passed greatly to Ahiram's instruction of mind and improvement of heart, and apparently to the satisfaction of the Lord of the Oasis as well. THE MAGIC RINGS 355 " After these discourses Ahiram was brought to the place where the burden-carriers labori- ously dug up the curious yellow stones with such eagerness and self-absorption that they did not notice the presence of Ahiram and his Mentor by sign or salute of any kind, such as human beings — and even animals — greet each other with when they happen to meet in lonely places. Nor did these men hold any intercourse with each other, excepting when they supposed that one of their number was filling his basket too full, and this was not, as Ahiram at first thought, to ease a man of carrying too heavy a load, but for fear lest one should carry off a little more than another of the heavy, useless stuff. " After examining thoroughly the disagree- able, filthy places from which the silent, eager men filled their baskets and trudged off to de- posit their heavy loads in the desert on the eastward side of the oasis, his friend suggested to Ahiram that they should follow the burden- bearers and see what use they made of the yellow stones which they seemed to prize so inordinately and which cost them such toil and travail to collect. M It was a weary, long way into the inhospit- able desert which they had to go, but they were 356 THE LEGEND OF sustained and refreshed on the way by delicious fruit and sparkling water, which the Lord of the Oasis commanded his servants to bring; and in due time they reached a low range of barren hills where the deluded toilers abode — each one having excavated a little cave wherein to shelter and recuperate his weary body and unhappy mind for the toil of the morrow — and the morrow, and the morrow — until morrows and toil would cease for each one in turn, and their white bones be left bleaching on the desert, and their souls go hence to find their own place. " All along these barren hills as far as the eye could reach, the miserable little cave dwellings — with heaps of the worthless metal which had been gathered with infinite care and labour — were to be seen. Some were still inhabited by ardent toilers, while many others were tenantless save for the homeless ghosts moaning by the white bones which were once themselves, but which now lay motionless and heedless with outspread hands and arms, still clasping the worthless heaps which the wander- ing ghosts could in no wise carry with them, but yet from passionate habit could not for- get. " At these things Ahiram greatly wondered, THE MAGIC RINGS 357 and asked his gracious Mentor the meaning of it all, if indeed there was any meaning in it, or if all these men were lunatics, possessed by evil spirits which forced the poor toilers to their worthless, sore, and never-ending tasks. " But the man made no answer at that time ; only advising Ahiram to rest and refresh him- self in one of the little caves, whose whilom owner lay silent and heedless of those who came or went, but with skeleton arms still grasping the worthless yellow heap he had spent his earthly life in collecting. ** After a while of rest, and meditation on these depressing and inexplicable phenomena, his guide brought Ahiram back to the slime- pits which they had passed on their way to the abodes of the burden-bearers in the desert. " These pits were circular in form, about thirty or forty cubits in diameter, and very deep. But their depth had never been accurately ascer- tained by reason of the evil nature of the slime destroying any plummet that might be dropped therein. They ranged about a hundred cubits apart, and quite surrounded the oasis. The slime neither rose nor receded in the pits, but had maintained the same level since time 358 THE LEGEND OF immemorial. Tradition said that at the begin- ning these pits were springs of life-giving waters; but at the defection of Adam, when the earth fell under the curse, they lost their primitive purity — like all other things — and became evil slime-pits, and have remained so to this day. A few of these evil places have been obliterated by diligent men here and there all through the ages, but so few that it hardly makes these gruesome places a whit less dangerous: and the gain has been to the patient, and brave men who did the work, rather than to the amelioration accomplished. " While Ahiram and his guide stood con- templating this depressing spectacle, two men came with loads of the same yellow metallic stones which the other men were heaping up in the desert, and Ahiram thought that they also were engaged in the same worthless labour. But instead of toiling onward as all the others did, these two men laid their loads by the brink of two pits, and to the farther amazement of Ahiram, each man poured his heavy load into the pit by which he stood, and, with a strange sound that somehow seemed to whisper oi joy, the metal sank slowly into the slime. THE MAGIC RINGS 359 " After looking at their apparently useless work with smiles of satisfaction, as if well pleased with the result, they turned their faces westward again ; and with a buoyant step, and a hopeful expression on their faces (an expres- sion which the heap collectors totally lacked) they cheerfully hasted back for another load to be applied to the same purpose. 11 Deeply and confusedly pondering in his mind over the strange things he had witnessed, Ahiram came back to the house of the man — if he were a man — who had showed him these unaccountable things. And all that night, and far into another day, he slept the sleep of those who are utterly exhausted in mind as well as body. "When he awoke, and had been refreshed by the most exhilarating aromatic bath he had ever known, the attendants set delicious viands — fruit, and sparkling water that revived the heart like pure wine — before him, and he ate and drank with a humble and grateful heart. " Thereafter the Lord of the Oasis came to see how he did and to hold converse. For on the foregoing days they had held little, or rather no conversation, Ahiram's mind being too much occupied by that which he saw to 3 6o THE LEGEND OF permit of his thoughts being arranged in words. " Now, being thoroughly refreshed in mind and body, he was eager to learn the meaning — if there was a meaning — of the strange things he had witnessed. Were all the men he had seen really sane men, working out their hard tasks with a definite and logical purpose ? Or, were they madmen smitten with a curse? And, above all else, he was determined to learn the secret of how to win the prize for which he had come so far, and endured so many hard- ships. " Having expressed the agitation of his mind to his Mentor, Ahiram begged for an explana- tion of the strange things he had seen, and for enlightenment as to the course he must follow to attain the prize he had come so far to seek. " The Lord of the Oasis smiled, as if he were well pleased at the agitation of his guest's mind, since it augured well for his future; and he at once proceeded to enlighten him regarding the strange conduct of the men whom he had seen and wondered at in their heavy toil. " ' When men come to this oasis,' said Ahiram's Mentor, ' as you have come yourself, they are given a free choice. For the Lord of THE MAGIC RINGS 361 all the earth has decreed that all men who fare hither shall have free choice regarding which occupation they shall devote themselves to. Whether they shall elect to excavate, carry, and deposit in heaps in the desert the worthless stuff of which you saw so many heaps; or whether they shall elect to devote their energies to filling up one or more of the evil slime-pits with that same curious stuff with which the enemy of mankind has wrought sorrow and deception upon men from the beginning. " ' As you have observed, the great majority choose to spend their lives in bearing burdens into the desert, and then pass to a sorrowful ordeal thereafter : but of that we know little, and the wise are content to ask no questions. " ! All men who come here, as you are aware, come to achieve the feat of winning the Magic Rings; but the weariness and dangers of the desert, the delights of the * Oasis of Pride and Vain Delight' corrupt their hearts and blind their understanding and darken their souls, until the prize they set out to find is forgotten, and most of them end, as you saw in the desert, clasping in a death-embrace that which gave them sore travail in life and no hope or comfort thereafter. 362 THE LEGEND OF " ' But, oh how few ! so few that I can count them on the fingers of my hands, have I seen choose the good, wise, happy labour of making solid ground over at least one slime-pit; and thereby not only winning the prize they came so far to seek, but winning the still greater prize of cleansing one of those evil sloughs which God, in His inscrutable wisdom, has left in the power of evil until the times of evil shall end, and Satan and all his works shall be obliterated for ever/ "Ahiram was greatly astonished, and ex- pressed that astonishment to his wise Mentor. Why was it necessary to fill the slime-pits with the stuff for which the men had to go so far, with heavy labour and sore dole, instead of using stones and rubbish which lay near at hand? The wise man only shook his head, say- ing : ' That also is one of the mysteries. We know that certain conditions exist, but we know not the reason of their existence. We know, for instance, that the yellow metal is utterly worth- less, and that men perish miserably in spite of all their heaps out yonder in the desert. But the evil one has so perverted men's understand- ing that they prize it beyond all other things. Therefore, Satan — who is the prince of this THE MAGIC RINGS 363 world within certain limits of time and space — has decreed that no material can fill the slime- pits save only that which is most precious to a worldly man's soul. Hence it has become an unalterable law that no material can fill the slime-pits saving only this stuff which has always bewitched men. And it has also become an un- alterable law that nothing can have any effect upon these otherwise bottomless evil pits, saving only the casting therein of this thing which is the most precious in the eyes of foolish mankind — the only creatures, by the way, who have been afflicted by this strange, grievous delusion. " ' When men come to me with a petition for the magic rings it is my imperative duty to offer them the choice of one of two courses : either to fill one of the slime-pits in the only way in which these evil places can be obliterated, namely, by diligence, hard labour, and long self- sacrifice, and thereby win the prize they seek, to their souls' great contentment and satisfac- tion. Or, on the other hand, I have to offer them any amount of the yellow metallic stones which they may desire, but upon the express condition that each individual must devote his life to its accumulation, and for ever forego the quest of the magic rings. There is no middle course, 364 THE LEGEND OF there is no temporizing possible. No man in all this world is perfect, but his ideal must be per- fect or he cannot receive the gift. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David, were far from being perfect men, but their ideals were perfect; and on that account God preserved them from the power of Satan. And if they had come to this oasis they would have chosen aright without fail.' " Ahiram expressed himself as greatly as- tonished and bewildered at all these revelations which the man of the oasis had made. But his greatest astonishment was the fact that any man — far less the greater number of men — should choose to toil all their lives for a phan- tasm, losing the true treasure for a mere shadow. And he at once elected to cast in his lot with the two men of the buoyant step and hopeful mien, whom he had seen cheerfully labouring at what seemed an impossible task. But all tasks are possible to the brave heart and faithful soul, as Ahiram proved after his long, hard lesson ; for he won the jewels of ' Truth and Love/ as the magic rings are named, when at last they are awarded to the happy, contented recipient. " And thus our forefather Ahiram began his THE MAGIC RINGS 365 probationary work in the brave days of his gal- lant young manhood; and completed his task when he was three score years old. A hard, profitless life you will say — nay! but a happy, profitable life. He left many of his thoughts in Psalms, and other writings, which are preserved in our family to this day; and they show the peace and contentment of his mind even years after his return to Egypt, when we should think he found enough to darken his soul with sadness — loss of his King, his friends, his position, and all such things as men esteem of value in this life. " I will repeat one of his writings which I committed to memory, and it has often com- forted me in weary journeys by day, and sleep- less watches by night. It is entitled: A PSALM OF GRATITUDE ' I wandered in desolate places, in regions where no man dwelleth. The wild beasts of the field were my companions; the jackals laughed at my desolation ! I cried unto God in my terror, yea I made my supplication unto the Lord of all the earth. But the south wind carried my cry to the great sea, and I said : He hath delivered me to the destroyer ! And I asked God to end my distress : yea, I asked Him to take my soul away from the earth. 366 THE LEGEND OF I laid me down in the desert — the adder and the scorpion were my bedfellows. I had no hope — but I cried unto God continually, for there is no rescue save by the living God ! He never afflicteth willingly, or of a set purpose : His loving- kindness is wider than the bounds of the universe. Man asketh the meaning of sorrow, but he doth not inquire wisely concerning this matter. Even the Angels dare not inquire into the secrets of God; therefore keep silence, O vain man ! The purposes of God cannot be understood of men : Angels and Archangels cannot comprehend even the least of His works. But He delivereth His servants from all their sorrows; and heareth them that call upon Him — when their time cometh ! ' Chapter V " When Ahiram began his task, he naturally made friends of the two men who were engaged in the same work, and he received much en- couragement, comfort, and instruction from them. They generously invited him to share their dwelling, which was the common camel- hair tent of the desert — by no means a luxurious abode in appearance — but, notwithstanding, a very healthy and comfortable dwelling, as the strong, long-lived Bedouins amply prove. " Of course, each of these three men had his THE MAGIC RINGS 367 own separate task — as, indeed, God has willed that every man shall have his own task; but each one is free to perform his part for good or ill, and no power can fetter this freedom. God gives every man according to his life's en- deavour, not according to a man's selfish, idle desire. " So the years passed on into eternity, while these three men laboured diligently and cheer- fully at the allotted tasks which they had chosen. And it was very observable how diverse was their daily intercourse with each other, from the social conduct of the collectors of the heaps in the desert. They — Ahiram and his two com- panions — always embraced every opportunity for profitable speech, even though it were only a friendly salutation in passing, or a kindly helping hand to adjust an extra galling load. On the other hand, the heap collectors seldom or never saluted; and under no circumstances assisted or soothed each other in distress with- out exacting a large portion of the distressed man's heap of stones. Of course you may say that it was utterly worthless stuff which they exacted one from another, therefore it could not be called hard, or selfish conduct. But you must remember that it was the only treasure which 368 THE LEGEND OF they recognized, the only standard by which they appraised all things in the universe, either carnal or spiritual. "In due time, that is after many years, these three men completed their several tasks. And, instead of a treacherous slime-pit, more evil than the pits in the vale of Siddim (for those only engulf men's bodies, while these destroy both souls and bodies), each man had made solid, safe ground, covered with fair, sweet flowers, whose fragrance went up to God day and night ' As the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.' " And so, on a day, Ahiram and his two com- panions were called to receive the jewels which made each one more powerful than the kings of the earth. For an earthly king can only control a man's body — either for good or ill — but has no power whatever over a man's mind; whereas the happy possessor of the magic rings can sway the heart, and that only for good. " The investiture was made in the great Hall of the Lord of the Oasis. The ceremony was very simple, but to those three men it was the most impressive event of all their lives. " Being set, and solemnly questioned by the Lord of the Oasis as to their most true and THE MAGIC RINGS 369 faithful intention to guard to their utmost ability and strength the purity of the magic rings, both for their own and another's sake, a bugle sounded soft and sweet in the far distance, and, after some pause, a child of radiant loveliness, clad in some strange glistering, snowy garments, entered the Hall. " As I have told you, Ahiram left a written record of these events; and therein he states that he could never tell if this being was a child of earth, or a messenger from the abodes of the blessed. The child, or angel, came softly forward — not walking, not floating — but with the spiritual grace and motion with which our lost ones come to us in dreams. Then from her own wonderful hands she took two rings of surpassing beauteousness and placed them on Ahiram's toil-worn hands, and said — in a voice like an echo of soft summer winds mingling with the faint sounds of far-off waterfalls : " ' You have achieved the greatest prize that it is allowed us to give : the symbols of Love and Truth. Wear them worthily, and when you find one whose soul you wish to bind to your soul with the indissoluble bonds of Love and Truth, give to that one the ruby ring, and he will be true until he part voluntarily with the BB 370 THE LEGEND OF symbol, when it must eventually return to you. Nothing can cause their complete loss, saving only your own unworthiness. Remember! Be true ! Farewell ! ' "Then the magic rings were given in like manner to each of AhiranVs companions, and so the beautiful vision having performed its mission faded from their earthly sight, but never from their hearts and memories. •XL, +SL> J&. *V* 4£* ■7V* "7V" "TV* "A* TV* " Of the return to Egypt I have little know- ledge. The Lord of the Oasis provided Ahiram and his two companions with camels for their long homeward journey. Of course the difficulty was to provide food and water for man and beast during that long, awful desert travel. Under ordinary circumstances it would have been impossible for a camel to carry its rider and sufficient provision for such a journey; but these were not ordinary circumstances at all. In bid- ding the men farewell, the Lord of the Oasis blessed their food and water — as the Prophet blessed the widow's barrel of meal and cruse of oil — and thereafter the bottles of water did not diminish, and the food wasted not, until the long months of desert passage were ended, and the little company passed safe and well under the THE MAGIC RINGS 371 shadow of the great Pyramid of Cheops — three poor, travel-worn men — where Ahiram had passed into the desert with his gallant caravan more than half a lifetime before. But he was well pleased with the result and the reward. " Everything had changed in the political world when Ahiram returned to Egypt after his many strange adventures and many years of absence. His friend Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was dead: and all those gay courtiers whom Ahiram had known were gone beyond recall. His own King — the great Solomon, for whom he had undertaken and accomplished the terrible quest — slept with his fathers in the City of David. And — woe and sorrow ! — the holy king- dom was rent in twain, and a fierce feud raged between the tribes north and south. " To Ahiram's mystically imbued mind, and after his silent desert life, the noisy world of men seemed distraught, and God forsaken. His fealty to Solomon and his House being com- pletely absolved by death and change, Ahiram never returned to Jerusalem. He took up his abode at Alexandria, where many of our people have always found a refuge. There he estab- lished himself as a dealer in precious stones, and became a prosperous merchant, and — more 372 THE LEGEND OF than that — he was all his life a very merciful man to the poor and needy. He took a wife, one of his own tribe, whose father had settled in Alexandria during the troublous times which God saw fit to send upon our land, and thereby scatter our people to the four winds, in punish- ment for their forgetfulness and many wilful sins. " In due time his wife bore Ahiram a son. When the lad grew to years of discretion, and showed signs of much wisdom — as the son of such a father was sure to possess — it came into Ahiram's mind to give the ruby ring to his son, and thus so firmly attach the lad to his father's heart that there would always be an indissoluble bond between them. And from our forefather's day to this, the magic rings have descended in an unbroken line from father to son, to the great comfort, help, and loving encouragement of our House. " My history of the talismans is ended, friend Jacob! I must only add that there has never failed a son in our family since that old time until this day. But now that my earthly life is drawing to a close, and my son — as I have told you — -has passed before me, I know that the God of our fathers has sent you to be the keeper of the trust until you also come to the THE MAGIC RINGS 2>72> Fords of Jordan, and in your turn leave the precious treasures in worthy hands." Thus died my friend Ashbel whom I rescued from his sore plight in the desert, carried to the Oasis of Kufra, and laid to rest under the palm trees in a little plot of ground which I bought with all due formality from the Sheik of the tribe who possessed the oasis. I have guarded the Talismans from that day to this, and now at my passing — being the last of my House — I must deposit the trust in worthy hands. I therefore hand the talismans to Samuel Kent, son of my good and generous English friend, who has soothed and solaced the last days of my earthly pilgrimage. And I feel confident that the son is worthy of the father, and will faithfully fulfil my trust. *SL. JL. -AA. J£* *J£. W W W w w " I am afraid that I have read old Jacob El Nathan's good manuscript rather poorly," said Sam Kent, as he quietly rolled up the sheets of parchment. " But the fact is that the memory of the past came back so vividly to-night that I fell into dreaming of those I loved in the van- ished years, and I seemed to be listening to voices that long since fell silent. It also seems strange, and perhaps out of place, to be rehears- 374 THE MAGIC RINGS ing this old desert legend away out here in the middle of the Pacific to you men who probably have little faith in its authenticity. But I, who have held the trust for half a lifetime " (here Kent stretched out his hand with the wonderful sparkling, fiery stone glittering in the moonlight like some weird living thing!) "and have loved and lost, suffered and rejoiced, succeeded and failed — but never yet despaired — / have perfect faith in its veracity, and I believe that in due time my magic rings will recover their pristine power by the restoration of that intrinsic part which is now missing, but which cannot be totally lost — excepting through the unworthiness of the holder of the trust, and that has not hap- pened in all the chances and changes of three thousand years ! " BRIDGET MACLEOD Of Whinnie Braes a reminiscence of the skipper's childhood BRIDGET MACLEOD Of Whinnie Braes a reminiscence of the skipper* s childhood PRELUDE The heather bloomed fine on the shores o' the Clyde, The woods o' Craigdoran were bonnie to see : The gowans were sweet on Kilcreggan's brae-side, Where the lassie I lo'ed held her trysting wi' me On the lang summer days when I herded the kye — And the throstle sang sweet on the bonnie white haw — While the bells from Clydebank cam' soft as a sigh, But the voice of my true love was sweeter than a'. O the cozy wee hoose wi' a but an' a ben, And hearth-stane far wider than castle or hall; Where friendship was true both with women and men, And the kind hand of welcome was given to all. Oh fortune take back all the prizes you gave — Your gifts only mock what my sad heart has lost — Your charms cannot soothe, your power cannot save The pain and despair that your winning has cost. 377 378 BRIDGET MACLEOD Oh the weary lang road I have travelled since syne, Oh the loves that have slypet awa' from my hands, Oh the many low, moss-covered graves that are mine, From the shores o' the Clyde to the far awa' lands! Oh the vain words I cry, and the vain tears I shed, For the loved and the true who have gone from my side, The dreams that have faded, the hopes that are dead, Since I herded the kye on the shores o' the Clyde. The heather still blooms on Kilcreggan's brae-side, The throstle still sings on the bonnie white haw, And over the shores and the waters o' Clyde, The sunlight and moonlight still shimmer and fa'. But there is nae the glint o' the silver and gold, That shone with a glory on heather and tide, The sangs are all sung, and the whispers all told, And the dreams are all dreamt on the shores o' the Clyde ! Chapter I ANY years of joy and sorrow — years that have made little children middle-aged men and women, and have laid the strong and vigorous, as I knew them then, in old peoples' graves — have passed since I last saw ' Bridget o' the Mull.' That is what we children called her, but our parents and all sensible people always spoke to her, and of her, as Miss Macleod of ' Whinnie OF WHINNIE BRAES 379 Braes Farm.' But it really required Highland politeness to go the length of calling the few acres of gorse and heather on the windy Mull of Kintyre a ' Farm/ However, to us children from the close-packed houses in the great city, Whinnie Braes was not only a farm, but a splendid estate. What with its wee whimpling burn — where I actually did catch a baggie- mennon two or three inches long, once in a great while — its clump of wind-swept hawthorns and brown bracken, its windings and turnings through creepy holes in the whins with their gorgeous display of golden glory in spring and summer, and affording fine bits of blaze in late autumn as old Donald Maclean — Bridget's hired man — burned off certain patches to yield a fine green bite for the sheep in spring, and to keep the sturdy whins from taking complete possession of the few acres of grazing-land — Ah ! Whinnie Braes was indeed a beautiful estate to us, and, what is more, it is a beautiful dream to me yet. It is good for children to have such things impressed upon their plastic minds, and it is good for men and women to have such simple, beautiful pictures stored in the memory, to smile and weep over in the after years. 380 BRIDGET MACLEOD " There was a wonderful view from Whinnie Braes. First you looked directly down on the village, which lay clustered about the pier some three or four hundred feet below Bridget's cottage. Beyond that, to the right, the salt sea stretched away to the dim shores of Ireland, and so on to the other side of the world. On the left hand went the Clyde with its endless procession of all manner of craft, from a fishing coble to a gloomy ironclad. Almost straight before us, clearly defined in fair weather, lay Ailsa Craig; and far away to the left, the Cumbraes, those wonderful little dots of land which have produced from time immemorial bonnie terns and guillemots, as well as brave men and fair women. There used to be a worthy Minister on the Cumbraes, who, after his prayer for the people of the greater and lesser Cumbrae, always added a petition 'for the people of the adjacent island of Great Britain,' which was certainly a dignified way of letting the Almighty know the relative im- portance of the Cumbraes. " Then fading away into the far southern haze lay the lowlands and coasts of Ayr. Yes ! that view from Bridget's door was a thing that fixed a picture not only upon the eye but upon OF WHINNIE BRAES 381 the heart; and if I were a great painter I could paint you a picture of land and water far and near, of coast-line and mountain, beautiful but yet true in every detail although it is many long, defacing years since that scene was impressed day after day on my childish memory. 4 'When I was a little shaver, from ten to twelve, my mother used to spend a month or six weeks of late summer and early autumn at Whinnie Braes. I know now that those weeks were the happiest of my life, and perhaps they were also the most conducive to my spiritual and moral welfare. Of course I did not know it then; a child never does that, he only feels that the world is right, as a cat feels that life is com- pletely agreeable when it is basking in the sun on the window-sill after licking the cream off a byne of milk, but too nearly asleep even to purr, only sufficiently awake to feel the supreme joy of being alive. " My mother was comparatively a stranger in those parts, that is she had only discovered Bridget Macleod a few years prior to the time I refer to. And she found, I suppose, that the farm, together with its proprietor, were con- genial to herself, and the surroundings most conducive to my welfare both bodily and spiritu- 382 BRIDGET MACLEOD ally — there being no ' keelies ' in that quiet neighbourhood to lead my too willing feet into mischief. My only boon companion at the farm was Donald Maclean — Miss Macleod's man- of-all-work — a most douce and worthy man in all respects. I remember well how we all went to church ; my mother and Bridget walked first and together, Donald and I brought up the rear, walking hand-in-hand, and always in solemn silence, my torrent of talk being sternly re- pressed on Sunday, although allowed to flow as free as the burn on other days. On those Sabbath days, when we returned from church, Miss Macleod invariably called Donald into the parlour and, producing a stout bottle from a place she called a ' press,' poured out a large wineglassful of spirits and said : " ' Have a little refreshment, Donald, after that long walk, its gie tiresome at our time o' life.' " I used to wonder why Donald required re- freshment on the Sabbath more than any other day; it even troubled my silly little mind to such an extent that I asked him the reason of it. But Donald only looked at me with a solemn manner as if I had said a wicked as well as a foolish thing, and shook his white head, with OF WHINNIE BRAES 383 the quiet admonition, 'Whisht, ye silly, wee fule, yell ken a' thae things when ye' re aulder/ " Even child as I then was, I knew that there was something by ordinare about Donald Maclean. I loved him as a boon companion, I respected him as a man embodying all the virtues, and I trusted him as a living cyclopaedia of all manner of knowledge of this world and the next; but I knew that in addition to all this there was a tragedy hidden away in the man's heart beyond the power of my small compre- hension to fathom. My friend had two, and only two, books in his library. One was the Bible, and the other the ' Encyclopaedia Britan- nica.' These wise books he would read hour after hour on Sabbath afternoons, and in the evenings of week days when the work of the day was finished. Donalds room occupied the whole space over the byre, and was a capacious abode horizontally, though rather limited per- pendicularly. These features were a great charm to me, for at back and front I could easily reach the great rafters, while at each end of the room there was a good -sized window, from one of which I had a splendid view of the Clyde, and from the other I could see Arran's rugged peaks. That room had a subtile charm for me, far be- 384 BRIDGET MACLEOD yond any room which I can recall to my memory from those long vanished days. Miss Macleod's parlour — with its pictures of stern old divines and splendidly coloured China representations of fat mandarins in gorgeous array, and beau- tiful shepherds and shepherdesses in loving proximity, whom I was strictly enjoined not to endanger by touching, but only to admire at a distance — was altogether too fine a room for my taste. In Donald's abode, on the contrary, I was free to handle and examine everything, which I did with much delight as well as in- struction ; bits of harness, whips, odds and ends of tools, horses' shoes, and endless clamjamfry dear to a boy's heart. I remember well one weird, crooked wooden instrument which I found sticking between a rafter and the slates, and which Donald told me was a ' boomerang ' ; its name, besides its queer look, always gave me a gruesome shudder, yet, I must confess, that the sensation was not unpleasant, but rather the reverse, on account of the strange thing he told me he had seen a black fellow do with that very instrument. One day a mob of blacks attacked a far back station in New South Wales, where Donald was employed as a shepherd, and as he and the overseer went out to put a valuable OF WHINNIE BRAES 385 horse in a place of safety, a black fellow threw this very boomerang, which killed the overseer, and returned with a strange whirling motion to the man who threw it. ' But that was the last time he ever threw it,' said Donald, ' for I shot him dead before he had time to pick up the wicked thing again.' Of course I never looked at that crooked stick after hearing that story without seeing, and almost hearing, the howling mob of black fellows as Donald's quick shots sent them flying for their lives over the dusty Australian plains, while the dead overseer and the black fellow whom Donald had shot lay quiet and still. All this was not at all unpleasant while I looked upon it with my mind's eye, but when it appeared in my dreams and I awoke with a wild cry — as I saw and heard Donald shoot the black fellow — it was quite different, and altogether harrowing to my soul. " To show you how indelibly a thing will cling to the memory. Twenty years after Donald told me that episode, I had a brush myself with the blacks in the Gulf of Carpentaria, when I was on a pearling expedition up that way. We had run short of water on the schooner, and I landed with two men in the dingey to fill a cask. There wasn't a sign of man or beast cc 386 BRIDGET MACLEOD anywhere on the bare, sandy coast. But we had no sooner rolled our cask up to the little creek than a dozen blacks jumped up out of the white, dry sand, where they had hidden themselves, and made a rush at us, throwing their spears as they came. Very luckily I had brought my re- peating rifle with me, and, as the black fellows came on, I fired at the foremost and dropped two. Upon this the rest of the squad turned tail and fled. I directed one of the men to go and see if the blacks were dead or only wounded, and as he went I called after him: ' Keep a sharp look out for the boomerang, Donald T When the man returned he reported both blacks quite dead, and then he asked why I called him Donald, when he had shipped and sailed under the good old Norwegian names * Hakon Soren- son/ I was quite unconscious of having spoken my old friend's name for many a year. So it must be quite true as the poet says : ' The thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts/ And the boomerang in Donald's garret, with its gruesome history, had been indelibly photographed and preserved in that picture gallery, memory, and in a moment of excitement flashed into my minds eye. Truly, as clever Will Shakespeare says, ' We are such stuff as dreams are made on/ OF WHINNIE BRAES 387 "As a rule I was too sleepy to see much of Donald in the evening after my long happy attendance upon him during the day. But on Sabbath afternoons he read and explained chap- ter after chapter of the Bible to me just as lucidly, and much more attractively, than my Sunday school teacher in the city ever did. Then the Encyclopaedia was an endless source of enter- tainment and instruction. I am certain now that those delightful summers which it was my privi- lege to spend at ' Whinnie Braes I did as much, if not more, for the enlightenment of my mind as my mother declared they did for the im- provement of my body. There was never a living or inanimate creature or thing regarding which I would interrogate Donald with the ex- traordinary pertinacity of childhood's curiosity, but he could, and did, give me a wonderfully clear explanation. " You see Donald had started well, and that's half the battle. He was the son of a shepherd on the Duke's estate. And he in- herited the wisdom, patience, poetry, and douceness of generations of that calling. There is no other line of life which develops such minds as the gentle craft of herding sheep. All the old Patriarchs were shepherds, as Donald was 388 BRIDGET MACLEOD careful to tell me. David was first a good shepherd, then a good poet, and, lastly, a good King. The great shepherd kings who made history in their day and generation, were simply shepherds on a large scale. Then in modern times the names of shepherds who have achieved distinction are many and splendid. James Hogg — the Ettrick Shepherd — wrotesomeof the finest poetry in our language. 'Bonnie Kilmeny gaed up the glen/ and such lines linger in the memory like exquisite music we have heard in dreams. Burns was really a shepherd, and the descendant of shepherds. He tried other occupations, but, alas! with draggled, broken wings. His passion- ate heart always turned to the heather hills of his forbears. " Of course every man, and every woman for that matter, has a history. I heard Donalds little story, although it was not especially in- tended for me, but I devoured every detail with intense eagerness, and I think sympathy (although I was too young to fully understand its sadness and pathos) on a lovely, still summer's day, under the hawthorn tree that grew — and I hope grows there yet — near Bridget's door, doing its little share to make the world beautiful with its bloom and delicious fragrance. OF WHINNIE BRAES 389 " It was my mother's custom to have Bridget to give us our last meal of the day, about five or six o'clock, under the bonnie haw tree. There was a strong table which stood there permanently for various odds and ends of jobs. Bridget would give it a good rub down in her usual energetic way, then spread a snowy-white table cloth, and set forth an array of comestibles fit for a king; cakes, scones, cream, jam, and a nice bit of cold meat, a remnant of our early dinner. And immediately in front of her own seat there always stood a splendid ' wally ' tea- pot, the very best sort of vessel in the world to brew tea to perfection. " I know that my mother enjoyed these even- ing repasts much more than breakfast or dinner. In both of those meals there was always a certain amount of anxiety regarding other matters — tasks to be done, pleasant or disagreeable — and all the innumerable anxieties that crowd into the daily round of life of all mothers under the sun. But at tea there was a repose, a feeling of work accomplished, a sense of calmness — a precursor of the nightly death which we call sleep — and a hope which we all entertain of something better on our morning resurrection — which we call awakening. 390 BRIDGET MACLEOD " It was on a lovely, warm, late-summer, or early-autumn, afternoon (whichever you like to call the first days of August) as my mother, Bridget, and I sat at our usual ' feast of reason, and flow of soul,' that I heard Bridget Macleod give my mother the following reminiscence of bygone years, and events of the irrevocable past. Chapter II " Bridget paid no attention to my presence, and spoke as freely and unreservedly as though she and my mother were alone. Not having had children of her own, and having little to do with other people's children, I suppose Bridget had never noticed what a strong passion inquisitive- ness is in children's minds, especially if they suspect that there is some subject being dis- cussed which is not intended for their preter- naturally acute little lugs. " I had been much exercised of late regarding some strange phenomena in natural history upon which my friend Donald Maclean had enlightened me; or, I should rather say, upon which he had aroused my insatiable curiosity. OF WHINNIE BRAES 391 So when, in their leisurely afternoon chat, I heard Bridget say to my mother, ' I hate the word " Australia!"' I at once pricked up my ears, for that was the name of the outlandish place of which Donald had been telling me, which produced the extraordinary monstrosities of ' flying foxes/ ' laughing jackasses/ and animals which carried their youngsters in their pockets, besides being the land of black men and women who had no pockets at all, because they hadn't a vestige of clothing of any kind. Therefore when Bridget uttered the word ' Aus- tralia ' I drank my tea, and chewed my piece of bread and jam with good-mannered slowness and quietude, so that I might not lose a single word, but at the same time not appear to listen. I had learned caution from many former occa- sions, when I had foolishly betrayed my interest in a conversation by asking some question, and being thereupon instantly dispatched to the vil- lage on an errand, or else sent to assist Donald at some job or other. " I think I should mention that although Bridget Macleod's good, old Doric accent was of that sort which always brings a smile to the lips of Londoners (who, forgetting their own delinquencies on the pronunciation score, are 392 BRIDGET MACLEOD much given to criticizing our sweet northern brogue), yet her words were always well chosen, and her conversation not only instructive but pleasant to the ear. " In the days when Bridget Macleod went to school the village school-master taught fewer subjects than it is the fashion to teach nowa- days, but those few he managed to put into his pupils' heads in a fashion which did them last- ing g°°d; hence Bridget's pleasant method of telling a story, a method you may think a little too eloquent for her station in life, but it wasn't so at all. In those days Scotch methods of education were far in advance of your English systems, whatever they may be now. " ' Yes, I hate the name Australia! repeated Bridget. ' It recalls my blighted life, the sorrow- ful foolishness of man's mind, and the evil lust of gold with which Satan blinds men's eyes and ruins their souls. But I must first tell you about " Whinnie Braes Farm." It was not always the little bit of a cotter's croft and shieling that it is now. When I was a young lass the farm was a fine compact holding of five hundred acres, and one of the most prosperous farms on the Mull. My father was reckoned one of the sub- stantial men of the district, a good farmer, an OF WHINNIE BRAES 393 Elder of the Kirk, and a most popular man with his neighbours. Our family at that time con- sisted of father and mother, three girls and two boys. I was the youngest of the flock, and by the time I was grown up, that is when I was about eighteen, all the others had branched off in their various ways of life. My two sisters had married and gone to Canada with their husbands. My brothers worked on the farm with my father until his death, then they at once sold the place, giving each of us our shares of the proceeds, and went off to Australia. After many years of toil and privation they made their fortunes — as they called it — and were lost, with all their hard-earned gold, in the wreck of the Royal Charter, almost in sight of their childhood's home. " ' In my young days, before our family went to pieces and scattered hither and thither — as all families do, sooner or later — Donald Maclean was my father's head man on the farm. In fact he had grown up on Whinnie Braes, first as a wee herd laddie, and gradually passing from one stage to another, until he was only second to my father. In buying or selling black cattle or sheep, in deciding when a field should be laid down to pasture, or put under crop, or in 394 BRIDGET MACLEOD any of the important matters of farm manage- ment, my father always relied upon Maclean's judgement and good sense. " ' Donald Maclean was the son of a sheep farmer once in good circumstances on the Duke's estate; but what with low prices for wool, and heavy loss of lambs, the poor man had fallen upon evil times, broken his heart, and died, leaving his wife and son in sore plight. I was too young and heedless to know much about the circumstances of the sad case, but I know that Donald's father was a wonderfully braw, handsome man, as the son is to this day, in spite of years and suffering. " ' When Donald was turned twenty, and I was a tall slip of a girl of eighteen, it naturally developed that we perceived that we were in love with each other, as folks say. But the real fact was that we had been devoted to each other from our childhood, with that sober, douce kind of affection which is natural to the Scotch, and is deeper — more a part of one's real self — than the fiery passion which other nations call Love. " ' I was the only one of the family whose heart was bound to the old life, and to the place of my birth ; therefore, before my brothers con- cluded the sale of the farm, I stipulated that OF WHINNIE BRAES 395 this corner of Whinnie Braes — fifty acres in extent, and which, on account of its poor soil and roughness, we called " The Croft " — should be mine instead of my portion of money. To this my brothers were quite willing to consent, as it hardly made any difference in the selling price of the farm. It was certainly the very poorest portion of the property, but I loved it for its wildness, its gorse, and heather. It was always the place where we youngsters had our ploys of bird-nesting, primrose gathering, and fishing for wee baggie-mennons in the burn, and fine times among the sweet bracken and bonnie haw trees. So this part of the farm became mine, and here in this little shieling I have lived my life for more than forty years, and here I know God will let me die in peace in His good time. " ' Of course Donald Maclean was thrown out of employment when my brothers sold the farm, and shortly after the sale he told me that he was going to Australia to make his fortune, and then he would buy back the place we both loved, and marry me. But Donald, poor man, made the mistake — which so many men make in their pride and vain glory — he forgot that it takes two to make a bargain. And when I told him 396 BRIDGET MACLEOD not to go to heathen lands, but to bide in the good auld land, manage the bit croft, and marry me, he only laughed and said: " ' " Wait a wee, my lass, and I'll be back with enough of yon dust to buy back every acre of Whinnie Braes, before you're quite grown up." " ' That was a foolish speech, wasn't it ? But, oh so like a man's lordly pride and managing way! " ' I have never been one of the meek sort of women who pretend they like to be managed. And besides that, Donald and I had grown up together, worked on the farm, went to the village school, and had all our ploys and troubles in common. So when he started to be the manag- ing partner, coolly proposing to leave me to grow old alone, while he went roaming over the world (and this after me asking him to marry me and share the croft), I got mad with anger, and told him to go his gait and I would go mine, but I would never marry him though he brought all the gold in Australia and laid it at my feet! ***** " ' So Donald Maclean went to Australia and made his fortune, as the mad world calls gold. A bonnie fortune forsooth! with broken hearts. OF WHINNIE BRAES 397 dead hopes, and withered souls! For that's the end of it, as a rule. Thirty lang years I toiled and moiled on this bit croft, keeping soul and body together, with never a break in the weary monotony save the change of the seasons, and with bitterness in my heart for my lost love. Not for Donald Maclean, mind ye ! but for my beautiful dream-love which God put in my heart when I was a young lass — a kind of love that we women are sometimes possessed of, but a love that has never fulfilled its promise in this world since Adam and Eve wept their woeful way out of Paradise. And God in His mercy put an angel with a flaming sword in his hand to keep the way of the tree of Life, lest the poor fools should take of its fruit (as they did of that other sorrowful tree) and so wander the earth for ever, without hope of finding that rest which the merciful God has made a certainty for us all at the last. " ' I could have been married a dozen times over since then, but I would rather have killed the poor fools who asked me, than allow any of them to touch me with the point of their fingers, and you may be sure not one of them ever speered for me twice. 398 BRIDGET MACLEOD Chapter III " ' One calm summer's afternoon, with the scents of haw and heather in the air as they are this day, Donald Maclean came to the shieling door and sat down where you are sitting at this moment, and waited awhile as if the speel up from the waterside had tired him. I was busy about this and that and pretended not to notice him, but just kept on at my work as if he had been an ordinary travelling man going up the hill and wanted to rest. Then after a while he said, as I came near: " ' " My good woman, can you tell me if Miss Bridget Macleod lives here?" " ' And I made answer — as I kept on at my work — " No, she'll no be living here any more, Bridget Macleod died a long while syne, and the croft belongs to me now." " I At that the poor fool rose to his feet with a face as white as my apron, and only said: "Bridget! I did nae ken! I did nae ken! Oh my God! I did nae ken!" Then he sat down again and covered his face with his hands. " ' I knew what the man was thinking and feeling. You see men are such selfish idiots! OF WHINNIE BRAES 399 Half a lifetime, and the fool thought to find me waiting for him, the same sweet lass he left thirty lang, weary years before! Oh, I knew it all! and my heart grew like a lump of ice, and has been like that ever since. I gang to Kirk and market, and hold my head up with the highest, but the village folk dinna care for my company, the weans haud their whisht when they see me, and wives stop their clavers when I come by. The auld Minister who minds when I was a bit lass in the Sabbath-school, just shakes hands when we happen to meet, and says a cheery word. " I hope the croft is doing well, Bridget ? You should be thankful that you have such an honest, faithful serving man as Donald Maclean in these days of rush and change, that always put me in mind of Nabal's churlish answer to David's young men, ' There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master/ " ^ ^ -7p IP *J5- " ' After awhile, when I had finished my washing, and the man just sat still with his face in his hands and never looking up, I asked him if he had come far, and if he would like a drink o' milk and a bit o' oat cake before he passed on. I put the meat on this very settle, and 400 BRIDGET MACLEOD asked him to eat before he gaed on his road. He kind of haurled himself up to the settle and drank the drap o' milk, but when he tried to eat the cake he couldna for it seemed to kind o' choke him. " ' Then he got up and said in a forfoughten way, " Guid-day, Bridget! I have to go up to London on some business, but I'll be back in a week's time; and if God prospers me — well! and if not I can dree my weird, like ither folk! " With that he tramped down the road with a kind o' dizzy step as if he had been drinking, but it was na' the dizziness o' whisky, poor man! "' In a week's time he was back again, just with the same kind o' look that I kent sae weel after thirty years, although he did nae ken me! " ' It happened to be a Sabbath afternoon when he returned. He cam' doun the Clyde from Glasgow in one of thae excursion boats which they run on the Sabbath-day in these evil times, and when he cam' to the door I was taking my tea, and I bid him in and set a dish o' tea and a plate o' buttered scones before him. He smiled a wee and said : " It seems awfu' nice to be at hame again! " " ' The weather was getting a bit snappy — OF WHINNIE BRAES 401 for it was nearly into October — and after he finished his tea and scones, he stood by the fire warming his hands, while I put away the tea things. It being the Sabbath, of course I had no work on hand, and after I had washed up the cups and put the rest of the things in the press, I laid the Bible and the Book of Martyrs on the table and sat down to read, as my custom is on the Sabbath day, until it is time to milk the cow, feed the hens, and shut the doors for the night. " ' As I settled myself and opened the Book the man sat down opposite me, and said : " ' " Bridget, would you read the twenty-ninth chapter o' Genesis? I haven't opened a Bible since the time I left Whinnie Braes until this day — there 's no muckle reading or praying out yonder where I've been — but I've no' forgotten what I learned in your fathers house." " ' I found the chapter he asked for, and I read the story of Jacob serving seven years for Rachel, " And they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her." And when I had finished reading, Donald Maclean said: " ' " Bridget Macleod, I have served longer than Jacob — and now I am going to tell you my story. And if you say that my time has been D D 402 BRIDGET MACLEOD wasted, and my labour has been in vain, I will at least prove to you that I am sincere, though maybe you will think me a fool. " ' " On that doolfu' day when Whinnie Braes was sold for ten thousand pounds I swore an oath before God that I would buy it back for your sake, if He in His mercy spared my life; and when I went away from you laughing, and saying, that ' I would be back with enough of gold to buy the farm before you were quite grown up,' I really was such a young fool that I thought, from all the wonderful stories I had heard, that gold could be gathered as we used to gather pebbles on the shores o' the Mull. And when I made my weary way to yon far Australia, and learned that it was only one in a hundred that made a living wage at gold mining, I was so miserably disappointed that I had not the brave energy to turn back and say you were right, and so not have wasted your life and mine. " ' " I herded sheep for ten years in the dreary, awfu' Australian bush, never seeing a white man's face but once a month, when a man from the home station brought me a month's grub, and, maybe, as a great kindness, a newspaper six or eight months old. I saved every shilling OF WHINNIE BRAES 403 of my wages, hardly allowing myself clothing, but it was a hopeless, broken-hearted life. Then I went back to the mines, and struck luck, as they say out there, and in five years I made twelve thousand pounds. I settled up my affairs, and was preparing to come home when my partner swindled me, drew all our gold from the bank — we had it in our joint names — and bolted, leaving me with our debts to pay, and an ex- hausted shaft on my hands. But I was still young, and I pulled through after years of such work as a Scotch farm hand never did in his life. But I got my reward for thirty years of the summer of my life, and — there it is, Bridget!" and he laid a roll of bank notes on the table. "It's for getting back the whole of Whinnie Braes, but that must be on one condition — that you take me with the farm, for good or ill." " * Perhaps the great idiocy of the man made me harder than I should have been. But the presumption of thinking that he could leave me withering for thirty years in loneliness and poverty, and then presuming that he could lure me back wi' a crook o' his finger, drove me mad with anger and wounded pride, and I made answer : 11 ' " Donald Maclean ! Ye were aye a masterfu' 404 BRIDGET MACLEOD lad, and with a lass's foolishness and ill judge- ment I thought your ways were grand, and I would have followed you to the world's end, slaving for you wi' a joyful heart and willing hands. But yon day is past, and all the cursed gold in Australia canna bring it back. My heart perished lang syne, and now it is only dust and ashes. u <«You said the other day that you could ' dree your weird like ither folk'; did you ever think of the weird I have had to dree for thirty years on this lonely hill-side ? watching my sweet, bonnie youth slipping from me year by year; my raven hair whitening, my smooth cheeks wrinkling, and the step that never tired wearying for rest. And now, Donald Maclean, you come to me with gold! Oh, fool — fool — fool! Dinna mock me with the accursed stuff that has deceived you, and robbed you of your life and your love. Take care it dinna rob you of your soul at last." " ■ Maybe I was hard on the poor man ; but you must mind that it was the passion of my dead heart speaking from its grave with a wild fury — that the man should think that gold could recompense all its lonely years and dead hopes. OF WHINNIE BRAES 405 " ' But it was hard on poor Donald in a way. He had learned to think and look on life from the wide, cruel, worldly view, learning its evil, lying lesson that the power of gold can conquer all things, and shape men's lives. While I had been dreaming my woman-dreams, and weeping my sore tears over my dead love, and withering heart, and counting the years that were change- less in all things save their cruel change upon me. " ' Maclean didna answer, good or bad, to my bitter words, but he took up his roll of bank notes and said: " ' " Bridget, I have listened to your words, now you must listen to a word from me. But first please cast your eyes over thae notes — bonnie new Bank o' England notes — each one for a hundred pounds sterling!" " ' Then he put the notes on the table and counted them one by one before me, quite slowly and carefully laying one on the other. It was a strange and terrible counting, for I mind think- ing that it was the Devil trying to buy my soul through poor Donald Maclean. But the man took no heed, counting silently from one to a hundred. He laid them in piles of ten, each 4 o6 BRIDGET MACLEOD pile one thousand pounds. When he had done, he said in a quiet voice, as if he had been speaking about other people and other matters altogether, although his face was white and his hands were shaking : "'" Bridget Macleod! that money has cost me sair in the winning, but it is all yours on the one condition I have told you. Whinnie Braes is for sale, stock and plenishing, for ten thousand pounds. Say, will ye take the money — yes or no?" " ' And I rose up with all the bitterness of the lost years in my heart, and made answer in a voice that did not sound like my own : " ' " No ! no! no! — a thousand times, No! Donald Maclean." The man didna say a word, but slowly and quietly gathered the hundred bits of bonnie crisp paper together and held them in his hand, looking at me for a moment as if to make sure, perhaps, that there was no relenting on my face ; and then with careful de- liberation — as if he were putting some coals in the grate — he laid the roll of notes on the fire, and held them there with the poker until they were a heap of black ashes. " l When he was quite sure that the last shreds of the notes were crumbling ashes he said, in OF WHINNIE BRAES 407 his old natural voice, as if he had thrown a heavy load off his mind : " ' " Miss Macleod, I am out of work, and will be starving the morn's morn. For the sake of your father's memory, and for the sake of the auld days, will you hire me, and let me have the bit loft-room over the byre, and I will be your serving-man ? But you will have to allow me ten shillings a week, and I promise to do my hardest best for the croft; and ye ken what that means. I will be a faithful serving-man, day out and day in, and the croft will profit by my labour; for you know that I am a good hand at work, though I have proved a failure at a' ither things." " ' So he went to the bit loft, and that was ten years syne, and he 's been working on Whinnie Braes ever since. He works hard a' the week, and on Sabbath he walks as my serving-man to the Kirk, carrying the books. The Minister says that I was wonderfully fortunate to get such a steady, douce, God-fearing servant in thae days o' change and discontent. " ' The man has no friends but his books, and these are only the Bible and an old edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica which belonged to my father, and which I had no room for in 408 BRIDGET MACLEOD this wee shieling, so I put the many volumes in the loft of the byre, and they are Donald's great comfort in his leisure times. "'And that's the story o' Whinnie Braes, Mrs. Kinross,' said Bridget. ' And I fear that I've tired ye wi' my auld woman's foolish clavers.' ***** " When I rushed off to seek Donald and found him milking the two cows, Crummie and Mysie, I quietly watched the operation, drank my mug of frothing milk (which Donald was instructed to give me at milking-time), and felt a great flood of sympathy and tenderness in my childish heart for the lonely man whose history I had just heard. Of course it was only childish sympathy and tenderness, and we are told that ? Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.' But maybe there is more in the heart of a child than we give him credit for. Anyhow Donald Maclean and I were very close and sympathetic companions, especially after I heard his strange story. And to show you how childish memories last, twenty-seven years after I had bidden him a sorrowful farewell on the Pier (he had carried my mother's belongings down the hill to the boat), I sat and grat some heavy OF WHINNIE BRAES 409 tears on his grass-grown grave in the old village kirkyard on the Mull o' Kintyre, where Donald and Bridget are now lying, within cry of each other at last, although they missed their road so hopelessly through all the summer of their lives." CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND CO., Ltd. The publishers take this opportunity of re- producing in a collected form some reviews of Mr. Francis Sinclair's last book. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS By Francis Sinclair. The author of a remarkable book, " Where the Sun Sets," being "memories from other years and lands," must have been born with " the wandering foot." He has published another volume of strange incidents and ad- ventures in many countries and varied climes, under the title of " Under North Star and Southern Cross " (Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston and Co., price 6s.). It is a de- lightful book, uncommon in its choice of background, and with the freshness of unfamiliar scenes and types. It is difficult to know whether it is just to classify the book as fiction. It is true the contents consist of seven stories, of widely different character, but there is such a glamour of reality over the whole volume, that we can readily accept the author's assurance that the men and women introduced, and the incidents recorded, " are not altogether fleeting shadows of the imagination." It adds much to the interest of the book to find that the people portrayed really existed, and that events took place almost exactly as they are set forth. Mr. Sinclair has a wide knowledge of the world, both on land and sea, and we may safely assume, both from the present volume and his previous books, that he has spent a considerable portion of his life abroad. He is one of the rare travellers who see with the soul as well as the eye — who are able to extend a broad human sympathy to the strange characters they meet, and to express an honest admiration for scenes which would not appeal to the casual eye. He is equally at home in the East or the West, in the frozen North or in the midst of tropical splendour. His stories are for the most part recounted at second hand, being chronicles of adventures related to the author by the flotsam and jetsam of his acquaintance- ship in knocking about the world. They move from the Southern Seas to the Arctic Ocean, from the Rocky Mountains to the wild romantic regions of Northern Canada, from a placid Scottish glen to the desert, and from the desert to the Palestine of the Crusaders. The stories are no mere " travellers' tales." They are simply- told, unpretentious records of human passions and weak- nesses, sorrows and sufferings, and those strange happen- ings which sometimes colour the most drab-like existence. Mr. Sinclair has an artist's eye for form and colour, and his descriptions of the picturesque scenes through which he has moved add much to the value of a volume which is at once something of a book of adventure, and of travel, with a little biography thrown in. There is little doubt of the ample fulfilment of the author's modest hope that his stories " may prove — in a quiet way — both enter- taining and profitable ; not merely helping to pass an idle hour, as the common phrase is, but affording some weary wayfarers a genuine rest here and there on life's journey, and a morsel of comfort and instruction at the same time." Some of the tales are weird and ghostly, one at least being a study in psychology, while one or two are purely adventurous. " The Haunted Ship," a yarn spun by the commander of the schooner " Lapwing," in the course of cruising about the South Seas, is the tale of a stranded whaling vessel wedged in the ice in the neighbourhood of the South Pole, with a spectral crew who were wont to be seen leaning over the side of the vessel. Close investiga- tion proved that the ship contained nothing but the skeletons of those who had perished in the world of ice, but the forms of the crew still continued to be seen at a certain distance from the ship. A Norwegian sailor tells a similar story of another ice-bound ship haunted by the forms of its former occupants, and at the same time puts forward the strange theory that his skipper, who was something of a scientist, had formed respecting the un- canny apparition. " I cannot give you," said the sailor, " his solution of the mystery in his own learned lingo, but the central meaning of it all was that through the intense clearness and constancy of the summer sunlight in the polar regions living objects, under certain conditions of atmospheric refraction (caused by the iceberg) could be retained and sometimes reproduced by rays of light, when- ever those rays of light returned to the exact place, angle, power, and intensity, which they had when they absorbed the image. Of course, it is very seldom that these exact conditions recur, but when they do the celestial photo- graph, if I may use the expression, is reproduced, some- what as a magic lantern picture is thrown upon a sheet." It is somewhat similar to the theory which is held to explain the mirage of the desert — in both cases the vision may be owing to the elevation and direction of the sun's rays, and to certain atmospheric conditions. In spite of a possible matter-of-fact explanation, Mr. Sinclair has con- trived to give his readers a thoroughly "creepy" and fascinating story. " The Marooned Maiden's Secret " is a tale of buried treasure, duly recovered and quixotically used ; " Margarita of Grizzly Canyon " deals with jealousy, murder, and life- long remorse and expiation ; and " Faithful Unto Death " is a moving story of " the deadly, hateful, frozen North." The author has a peculiar power of describing the horror which two things, frost and snow, beautiful enough in moderation, can inspire in their intensity, by their constant presence and awful power. One ceases to wonder at the fact that the poor Esquimaux's conception of Hell is the horror of dark dungeons of everlasting snow and ice. " The Lost Oasis of El Darag " is a clever story of Arab superstition — a superstition which even scientific Eu- ropeans are forced to share. The strange power of the desert is graphically described— in fact the story is alive 5 with that same indescribable enchantment which made Mr. Hitchin's "Garden of Allah" so overwhelmingly fascinating a book. Occasionally Mr. Sinclair compares the white man with the brown man — somewhat to the detriment of the former. "The fact is," one of his characters says, "it takes white men to withstand the audacious chicanery and aggressiveness of white men ! The poor simple brown man is no match for the persistent selfishness, greed, and devilish subtlety of the white race. Look at any of the islands now (excepting a few far off the beaten track), and compare them with what they were half a century ago ! Then you found a splendid, healthy race, honest and trustworthy, now a few mongrel, lazy, cheating swabs! trying, poor beggars, to live by their wits, instead of by happy, healthy work, as in the old days." The local colour is everywhere remarkable, but perhaps Mr. Sinclair is at his best when describing the fairy islands of the South Seas, with the sparkling waters, the glittering sunlight, and the calm tropical moonlight nights — the whole making what he himself truly calls " a dream of romance." So well-written a book, with such marked vein of poetry running through its pages, cannot fail to be read with the liveliest interest both by travellers and by those less fortunate individuals who see the world through other people's spectacles. — Staffordshire Sentinel, Oct. 17th, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS Eighteen months ago we had the pleasure of drawing attention to a singular work entitled "Where the Sun Sets." Singular in this respect — that it brought before the reader, in a vivid and picturesque way, the actual experiences of a man who had lived a great part of his life among the little known atolls of the Southern Ocean. Now comes another work of a similar character from the same facile pen. It comprises seven stories, for which we have the author's assurance that " the incidents recorded are not altogether fleeting shadows of the imagination ; the people portrayed really existed, and the events took place almost exactly as they are set forth." The author possesses the essential faculty of a story- teller, that of bringing before his readers actual living pictures of the scenes and people he describes. The stories comprised in the volume are of varied in- terest, and are all told in the simple, straightforward man- ner so characteristic of the author's style. In the story of" Irene Middleton" there is a song entitled A Song of Loch Aber, which has something of the ring of Burns in it. Here are the first four lines : It was only a song, an old song of Loch Aber ; A song of the land far across the wide sea ; A song of the glens, and the hills, and the heather, A song of the days that are over for me ! It is a touching melody of thirty-two lines with a pleasant lilt in it. The volume is beautifully printed on that very light paper which makes a thick volume feel light and feathery, and so enhances the pleasure of reading a delightful volume. — The Publishers' Circular, Oct. 26th, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (London : Sampson Low, Mar- ston and Co. 6s.) From his style of writing we can only believe that Mr. Francis Sinclair is a great traveller — that he knows the sea, and men, ships, and continents with an ac- quaintance born of great practical experience and a poeti- cal instinct, which shines through all these delightful " yarns." He weaves his stories, strand by strand, relates adventures so graphically that we " rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep," and allow our- selves to be transported in mind to those northern climes or southern latitudes of which he writes, enjoying the share in so many adventures. There are seven stories altogether contained in the volume. The first is the history of a ship frozen in the ice, with a crew that died of the cold, their appearance as phantoms, the horror of their finders. It recalls Longfellow's "Ballad of the Carmilhan" in its weird setting and its suggestion of a phantom barque. Superstition thrives no less upon the sea than upon the land, and though none of the yarns are impossible in any sense of the word the author shows in all of them how greatly his companions have been influenced by super- natural phenomena. The book is a fine one, both in the idea and the rendering of it, written with a manly touch and an air of truth and experience which we cannot but regard with admiration and respect. — The Yorkshire Herald, Oct. 31st, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. Francis Sinclair. (Sampson Low, Marston and Co. 6s.) The author of this very remarkable and clever book tells us in a note that " the men and women introduced on these pages, and the incidents recorded, are not alto- gether fleeting shadows of the imagination ; the people portrayed really existed, and the events took place almost exactly as they are set forth." If that be so, and we do not doubt it, then verily, truth is stranger than fiction. E E 8 For the stories contained in this volume are among the most exciting adventures we have ever come across. The author's wandering on many seas and lands has been very prolific, and he has known how to garner the abundant harvest. Not one of the seven stories lacks in that won- derful human interest with which Mr. Sinclair had vested those earlier stories of his in "Where the Sun Sets." They all have a peculiar pathos of their own, and thrill the reader with their evident truth. We give as an example "The Marooned Maiden's Secret." The story is told by the captain of the Lapwing, on the shores of a little island in the Pacific. He had been engaged as cabin boy on a vessel that carried out a Doc- tor Morrant and his wife to this very spot years before. When the vessel sailed back to its home port, he and the two passengers were left on the island with a year's pro- visions. Everything went well till one night the lady was found walking in her sleep and pointing out a certain spot where something was to be found. She died that night, and her corpse was drifted out to sea in a little boat. Later Dr. Morrant told the boy how he had found the maiden marooned on this island, who afterwards became his wife. This lady had always dreamed of a great treasure hidden on the island where she had been found, and it was to recover it and use it for the benefit of waifs and strays they had come again to the strange spot. According to the directions given by the lady the last night of her life, the boy and man set to work to dig. The treasure was found, and when the vessel returned was shipped with its finders to Sydney, where it was afterwards employed in its object of mercy. But no mere condensation of these stories can give any idea of the beauty of the story itself. — Erith Times ; Nov. nth, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. 6s. (London: Sampson Low and Co.) Professing to be a second draft on the author's memory of things experienced by or related to him while cruising in distant seas or wandering in unfrequented parts of the earth, the sketches and stories in this book may best be regarded as fiction, as it is plain that they have all received heightening touches from the imagination. There are first two tales from the South Seas, with the scenery and customs of which Mr. Sinclair is familiar; they are adventures that come to his knowledge through a roving fellow-Scot, captain of a trading schooner in the Pacific, and they are worth re-telling. Then come a romance of Grizzly Canyon, in California, and an adventure in the Far North of the Canadian Dominion. The "Lost Oasis of El Darag " takes us to the Sahara; in "Irene Middleton" we are home in Gairloch, Ross-shire, and engage in a " study in psychology." All these stories are skilfully told ; they are full of incident and action, and the element of mystery is not lacking. They will be enjoyed, and more will be looked for from the same pen. — The Scotsman, Oct. 7th, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (London : Sampson Low, Mar- ston and Co. 6s.) Mr. Sinclair is already favourably known for his collec- tion of tales in "Where the Sun Sets," and here he gives us another collection of the same type. The tales in this volume are seven in number, and though varied in scene and in theme, are all akin in the air of mystery that en- velops them and in the tragic events they relate. " The Haunted Ship " tells of a mysterious appearance of the IO forms of men on a ship found frozen in the Antarctic Ocean. " The Marooned Maiden's Secret " describes how a lady goes back to a solitary island where she had been found marooned, and in a mysterious way discovered, or enabled her husband to discover, a pirate's hoard. So the others ; and it is hard to say which is the weirdest of all. The author declares that the men and women introduced and the incidents recorded are not altogether fleeting shadows of the imagination ; the people really existed, and the events took place almost exactly as they are set forth. 1 1 would be hard for a reader to disentangle the fact from the fiction. For Mr. Sinclair is an adept at spreading over his incidents a very convincing verisimilitude. For example, he is fond of little details such as impress one as necessarily facts because not worth the trouble of inventing. Rarely does he seem to stumble here, but in making Thomas Carlyle be taught by a schoolmaster who was still teaching in a Highland glen in — say — the early fifties of the nine- teenth century, he seems to us to have forgotten his dates. Mr. Sinclair's descriptions of the environment of his char- acters is excellent, whether the scene be laid in the Polar regions, or in the Western Highlands, or in the deserts of Africa, or in the Southern Pacific. The glamour of sailing in the South Seas he is particularly skilful in reproducing. The lovers of tales of adventure and mystery will find a rare treasure in this volume. — Aberdeen Daily Journal, Nov. 6th, 1907. "Under North Star and Southern Cross" (Sampson Low and Co., 6s.) is the title of a collection of seven short stories by Francis Sinclair, author of "Where the Sun Sets." These sketches are much above the average quality of such collections, and they will be read with keen appreciation both for their literary style and for their II * intrinsic interest as narrative tinged with poetry and romance. One of the best things in the book is " The Haunted Ship," a strange story supposed to be told by David Kinross, master of a Pacific schooner. It relates to an experience which Kinross shared while whaling in the Antarctic Ocean. His ship is caught in the ice, and while working her way out a derelict vessel is discovered, which on being boarded is found to contain the skeletons of her crew. The peculiar feature which makes the story so remarkable is that at a certain distance from the wreck there appears a phantom vision of her crew assembled on deck, some of them leaning over the bulwarks. The vision persists only as long as the spectators are in such a position as to command a view of the ship at a particular angle ; directly the base of observation shifts it disappears. This story of Kinross's is supplemented by a very similar one, the scene of which is laid within the Arctic circle. A "scientific" solution of the mystery is attempted by a Norwegian savant ; but it is too long to quote, and we are afraid that it would hardly bear the test of criticism in a section of the British Association. "Irene Middleton" presents the reader with a curious study in psychology, and also includes a stirring tale of adventures in Eastern waters. "Grizzly Canyon" is also a capital story, and indeed every item in the book may be recommended as well worth reading. We have the assurance of the author that the men and women introduced in his pages and the incidents recorded are not mere fiction — that " the people portrayed really existed, and the events took place almost exactly as they are set forth." — The Nottingham Guardian, Oct. 22nd, 1907. 12 UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co. 6s.) In the seven stories grouped together under the above heading, the author gives us a glimpse of many lands. He claims that "the men and women introduced in these pages, and the incidents recorded, are not altogether fleeting shadows of the imagination; the people por- trayed really existed, and the events took place almost exactly as they are set forth." In view of this we cannot criticize the book as fiction, and bearing in mind the popular saying, we can assert that the stories are strange enough to be true. They bear the impress of truth in the natural manner of their setting forth, and the vivid word- pictures of " many seas and many lands." Whether the scene is laid among the Tahitian Islands, the vast and desolate snow-fields, the gloomy canyons of California, or the wide spaces of the Arabian desert, the writer is equally at home in each. He has the seeing eye, and what he has seen he has recorded faithfully. We shall look forward to reading more of his adventures, if they are told in the straightforward, simple style which dignifies " Under North Star and Southern Cross." — The Cork Co?istitution, Oct. 23rd, 1907. Readers who recall Francis Sinclair's earlier volume of stories, " Where the Sun Sets," will welcome a companion volume, " Under North Star and Southern Cross " (London : Sampson Low, Marston & Co.). The volume may be classified as fiction, though we may accept the author's word that the seven stories here collected are not far removed from fact. The main thing for the reader is that they are most readable accounts of adventures in various parts of the globe. Mr. Sinclair has an eye for colour, a i3 wide knowledge of life, and a fluent pen. Of an excellent collection, the first tale is perhaps the best. This story of a ship, with ghostly figures gazing over the side, found fast in southern icefields, is as grim and realistic a piece of fiction as could be wished for. But the whole book is one to read with keen enjoyment. — The Du?idee Advertiser, Oct. 14th, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (Sampson Low. 6s.) This new volume by the author of " Where the Sun Sets " consists of about half a dozen stories descriptive of scenes and adventures in the South Pacific, the deserts of Algeria, and other strange seas and lands. Here again Mr. Francis Sinclair has given us in his characteristically clear and smooth style a number of yarns mostly of the weird and mysterious order. He successively takes us on board a haunted ship stranded amid the glittering icebergs of the Antarctic ; to some unknown island of the South Seas, where treasure caves are guarded by skeletons of men, whose fleshless hands grasp formidable-looking cut- lasses; or to the lost oasis of El Darag, across which howls the " awful, ceaseless simoon." It is evident that in these tales " the plot 's the thing." And though the theme and its development proceed on somewhat similar lines in each story, it must be admitted that the author knows how to grip his reader. He has apparently but one method of telling a story, but in this, however, he has acquired great mastery. What, no doubt, adds to the interest in these adventures is the author's assurance that the people portrayed " really existed," and the events took place almost exactly as set forth. — The Daily News, Oct. 22nd, 1907. 14 UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co. Dunedin : J. Braithwaite. Cloth, gilt. 6s.) Half a dozen stories of fine workmanship, and much novelty and freshness recall Mr. Sinclair's previous volume, " Where the Sun Sets." He is a man of travel in the by-ways of the world, a man who seeks experience and out-of-the-way knowledge ; he has the poetic sense and the delicate appreciation of values which belongs to the true artist, and in each of the present stories he creates, by means of prologue or introduction, just that atmosphere which is necessary to bring out the weird, uncanny, or mystical touch which is the keynote of the whole. He informs us in his preface that "The men and women introduced into these pages, and the incidents recorded, are not altogether fleeting shadows of the imagination ; the people portrayed really existed, and the events took place almost exactly as they are set forth." And there is an air of realism in all the tales — except the last — which bears out this statement. "The Haunted Ship " is a creepy story of a wrecked whaler frozen on to an iceberg in the Antarctic Ocean, with a crew of dead men in the hold, and a row of phantoms " leaning over the poop iron-railing, and looking listlessly over the ship's side " ; a row of phantoms which appear and dis- appear, and the sight of whom strikes such terror into the stalwart sailors who have been told off to examine the wreck that two only will venture on deck, one of whom tells the story, and the other dies of the fright. " The Marooned Maiden's Secret " is the yarn of a lonely sub-tropical island, of a mysterious wreck, a buried treasure, and a child guardian. In " Margarita of Grizzly Canyon " the scene changes to the west coast of North America, and deals with a sudden passion of a jealous half-Spanish girl and a life-long repentance. "Faithful i5 unto Death " is a dog story of the far North — of an outer- most station of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of two canine friends who, when their master fell dead, preferred to guard his body rather than seek safety with the rest of the voyageur train. " Irene Middleton" is an interesting study in psychology and mental disease. And "The Lost Oasis of El Darag " is as creepy a yarn of the wild superstitions of the desert as ever made the hair slowly rise on the well-cropped head of a civilized man, who believes in a natural explanation of every phenomenon, but finds that theories sometimes fail when confronted with facts, since there are still more things in heaven and earth than can be explained away by the material philosopher. We commend Mr. Sinclair's book to all readers ; the style and matter are full of distinction, and the stories are told with a quiet charm which is a delightful contrast to the ordinary breathless, up-to-date method. — The Otago Daily Times, Dec. 14, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (Sampson Low, Marston and Co.) The reception given to "Where the Sun Sets" — a previous collection of stories and reminiscences from other lands from the pen of Mr. Sinclair — was so favourable that he was abundantly justified in following it up with another book of the same character. Of the seven stories which are included in this well-presented volume, and which — we are bound to take the author's word for it — are founded on fact, we like best " The Haunted Ship," the plain sailor- man David Kinross's yarn of certain strange and weird experiences in the Antarctic Ocean, and " Faithful unto Death," a thrilling tale of adventure in the far North of i6 Canada and of the heroism of Hugh Fraser, who sacrificed all for the sake of "one who died." "Irene Middleton" is a clever and interesting study in psychology, and on the whole the book cannot fail to increase the reputation of the author, who always writes like a man of culture and broad knowledge of the world and of human nature. — The Bookseller, Christmas, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (London: Sampson Low and Co. 6s.) Adventures which are the very salt of life are here recorded in a most interesting vein by Mr. Sinclair, who has roamed the world, north and south, with eyes and ears open. Mr. Sinclair has written a series of short stories which are full of romance of the life of the restless man who can never settle long in one place. He has travelled on many seas, and through many lands, and has had many unconventional adventures which form the background of his brightly-written tales. He has a word which will be as soothing oil to those whose fondness for recreation may sometimes interfere with their work. " In this restless world of bustle and toil," he says, " we must have a little recreation sometimes if we would keep the commandment ' Thou shalt not kill,' for we can kill just as surely (pre- sumably ourselves), and much more painfully, with an over amount of work and worry, as with an over-heavy club." Entertaining, profitable, recreative, his stories of his recreations certainly are. — Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Oct. 10th, 1907. i7 UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (Sampson Low, Marston and Co., Ltd., London. Price $1.50.) Mr. Sinclair belongs to a coterie of wanderers who make it a point to regather in London during the month of May — that is, as many as happen to be in England at that season. All the members of this little circle have travelled far and wide, for one of the rules is that before a candidate is eligible for election, he must have spent at least a fifth of his life abroad, the farther afield the better. Thus it is that Mr. Sinclair has accumulated such a wealth of material upon which he can draw for his book. In his latest, Mr. Sinclair places most of the scenes in the Southern Pacific and reveals the charm and glamour of that marvellous region. The story of "The Haunted Ship" is enough to give one "brain storm" to read it, and, strange to say, when the narrative is at its maddest, the sense of reality is still perfect. The romances are of a stalwart and yet touching fibre and cannot fail to give pleasure to the reader. — Winnipeg Telegram. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By F. Sinclair. (London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., Ltd. 6s.) Seven most enjoyable tales are contained in this volume. They are admirably told, at times most realistic in their weirdness. "The Marooned Maiden's Secret" is especially thrilling. A ship's doctor, on landing on one of the un- inhabited islands of the Southern Ocean, found in a wreck a lovely girl of eight years, with provisions for any length of time. She was unable to speak ; he took her to Sydney, to be taken care of by some nuns. Eleven years after- wards he married her, Dorothea, " the gift of God," and i8 took her out to explore the same island, with David Kinross, a cabin-boy of bright intelligence. The three constructed a one-storeyed wooden house. After nine months, Dorothea was found in the moonlight standing on a mound, in her sleep, uttering some words about her secret and where it was. That night she died. The Doctor and cabin-boy dug away at the mound, and at last came upon a cave in which were many kegs of Spanish gold, guarded by twenty skeletons with cutlasses. When taken to Sydney the gold realized half a million pounds sterling. The Doctor built a Home for 500 waifs and strays, and endowed it in memory of his wife: "Our Home of the Marooned Maiden." "Faithful unto Death" is a thrilling story of adventure in the Far North. " Irene Middleton" is a study on psy- chology. — Perthshire Courier ■, Oct. 22nd, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS There is no escaping the fascination of the stories which make up the handsomely presented volume, "Under North Star and Southern Cross" (Sampson Low), from the pen of Mr. Francis Sinclair. Mr. Sinclair has already attained a pleasant fame by his works, " Where the Sun Sets" and " Ballads and Poems from the Pacific," and the character of the present work may be assumed from the literary reputation he has attained. He has travelled much, and in unaccustomed places, and he has an ear and a gift for legends and yarns also out of the ordinary area of exploita- tion. Here we have seven stories of an entrancing, often weird character, based, we are told, on fact. One of them, "The Haunted Ship," put into the mouth of David Kinross, skipper, describes an adventure while whaling in the Ant- arctic. While endeavouring to free the vessel from a prison i9 of ice the crew came upon a derelict vessel " manned" by skeletons, and at a certain distance also there is unfolded to them a spectral vision of the same craft. Unlike the mirage, in the usual sense of the term, the spectacle ap- peared to be permanent, but was visible only when viewed at a certain angle. There is another story of an adventure from Algeria into the Sahara, entitled, " The Lost Oasis of El Darag," and the nature of the other stories may be judged from their titles, "The Marooned Maiden's Secret," " Faithful unto Death : an Adventure in the Far North," and the " History of the Knight, Sir Conrad Delamere." The last named is a legend of the Crusades, which the author gleaned in Palestine. — Western Mail, Nov. 9th, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. Francis Sinclair. (Sampson Low and Co. 6s.) A volume of stories (for the truth of which the narrator vouches) gathered from time to time during his wander- ings about the world. They are worth reading, being quite out of the ordinary run, with a strong current of mysticism running through most of them. Accepting the statement of the preface, it is evident that there are many things in the world as to which it is the part of a fool to be too sceptical. " Grizzly Canyon " is perhaps the best, where all is good ; and the writer possesses a keen love of nature, as well as no small power of describing her wonders. — The Western Morning News, Nov. 22nd, 1907. 20 UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co. 6s.) Mr. Sinclair is a wanderer on sea and land. Even were this information not vouchsafed by his prefatory note it could scarcely fail to be gleaned from the pages of his latest work. It contains seven stories, which are said to be a record of events that " took place almost exactly as they are set forth." Some of the stories are imbued with an uncanny atmosphere, and all are tinged with an air of gentle sadness and mystery, which Mr. Sinclair adroitly and delicately suggests. If we might single out one of the stories for especial praise, we think "The Marooned Maiden's Secret " would appeal by its beauty of descrip- tion, its strange eeriness, the dignity and grandeur of its recital, and the poetic imagery of the last and most beauti- ful voyage in solitary state of the good surgeon's spirit- like wife. — The Liverpool Courier, Jan. 3rd, 1908. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co. 6s.) Mr. Francis Sinclair presents us in this attractive vol- ume with a supplementary budget of reminiscences of travel and experience in all parts of the world. Though Mr. Sinclair assures us that all the sketches and stories that make up the substantial book are based on fact, it is im- possible to read them quite in that light, for they have a decided character of invention and imagination, not to say many a touch of the supernatural, especially in the story of " The Haunted Ship." This is very good reading in- deed, and gains in effect from the unforced manner of narration, being told the author by the friendly skipper of 21 a trading schooner in the South Pacific. How the ghostly crew of the dismantled ship discovered in the ice by a whaler appear and vanish is conveyed to the reader most impressively, but the discovery of the same ship and its silent mariners by another vessel at the opposite Pole strikes us as extravagant. That need not, however, di- minish the zest of reading such adventures. Mr. Sinclair changes his scene at will, the other stories having action in the Canadian wilds, the deserts and oases of the Sahara, whilst in California and Ross-shire suggest memories of events that make up a miscellany of stories and sketches of general and unusual attractiveness. — Newcastle Daily Journal, Oct. 26th, 1907. The readers of Francis Sinclair's "Where the Sun Sets," will welcome another work from the same author, entitled, "Under North Star and Southern Cross." (London: Sampson Low and Co.) Mr. Sinclair, who has spent much of his life in wide travel, belongs to a coterie of wanderers who make it a point to foregather in London in May to exchange accounts of notable adventures. In this way Mr. Sinclair has accumulated much interesting material from his own experiences and from the experiences of his friends, and in this book, as in his former work, he has set his background for the most part in the Southern Pacific. The wondrous charm and glamour of this alluring region, so much loved by the romantic Robert Louis Stevenson, are well set forth in his unaffected narratives. In addition there are two or three stories which introduce other scenes, and one of these tales conducts the reader to the Holy Land during the period of the Crusades. — The Bristol Mercury, Oct. 10th, 1907. 22 UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS Mr. Francis Sinclair achieved a certain success with his former book, " Where the Sun Sets," and this has encour- aged him to give the world another. " Under North Star and Southern Cross " (Sampson Low), is a volume of pleasant narrative and adventure, which the author tells us is fact in a thin disguise of fiction. That is to say that though the " story " form is used the men and women and the incidents described are not " fleeting shadows of the imagination." Fact disguised as fiction is always rather unsatisfactory, and sometimes the disguise is apt to be too effective ; but at any rate it is better than fiction disguised as fact. Mr. Sinclair has been a happy sojourner in many lands, a voyager over many seas, and in the pursuit of the life adventurous he evidently has had " good hunting," as Kipling would say. A great deal of pardonable curiosity was aroused by Mr. Sinclair's first book because he hinted that he belonged to a mysterious " coterie of wanderers." Each member was obliged to have spent at least one-fifth of his life abroad, and they met in the month of May to recount adventures, as to which the rule was that they must be edifying, entertaining, and as true as any travel- ler could reasonably be expected to make them. At all events the author knows his South Pacific well ; he has a good deal of insight, a real feeling for nature, an eye for local colour, and an apt literary style. In the present volume we have a collection of seven episodes. The first opens with a whaling cruise and a rather tall story of a boat cut in two by the rush of a line the harpooned monster was carrying to unknown depths. Presently we pass on to a derelict ship caved in Antarctic ice. As the adven- turers pulled up to her side, they saw the crew listlessly gazing at them — but when they climbed on board they found only dead men's bones. Not once or twice only did that strange apparition appear. A scientific explanation is 23 appended — but of that the least said the better. The next yarn is certainly stranger than fiction, so we suppose it must be fact. It is all about a " marooned maiden " and a mystic search, and a secret treasure. There was ^520,000 worth of it, and it was all put into a gorgeous home for waifs and strays in Sydney. On reflection, we have not seen that home ! This rather inclines us to disbelieve in " Mar- garita of Grizzly Canyon "- — she murdered for love, and kept a vow of silence for forty years. " Faithful unto death," the next narrative, is just within the realm of the possible, and perhaps a subtle psychologist could defend the story of "Irene Middleton." But Mr. Sinclair writes all the time with the strange verisimilitude of Defoe. — Sydney Morning Herald, Feb. 29th, 1908. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (Sampson Low. 6s.) Mr. Sinclair, whose " Where the Sun Sets " found many admirers, here gives us seven clever and distinctive yarns of events, mostly weird and mysterious, which happened on the borderlands of civilization. There may be a certain similarity of method about his yarns ; the same excellent situations may tend to repeat themselves — but that in no way detracts from their charm; whilst the reality of the yarns is increased by the announcement that the characters are " not altogether fleeting shadows of the imagination ; the people portrayed really existed and the events took place almost exactly as they are set forth." The first two stories both deal with life in " the magic South Seas," both are coloured by " the glamour and witchery" of that sphere of mystery. " The Haunted Ship " is a thrilling realistic story of a mysterious experi- ence which a whaling ship met with ; how the derelict was discovered ; how its gaunt, grim skeletons were found ; and F F 24 how, at a certain distance and under certain climatic con- ditions, "a celestial photograph" made it appear to passers-by that the ship was inhabited by ghostly denizens. " The Marooned Maiden's Secret " takes us to an unknown island of the South Seas, where the doctor's wife was discovered and where she subsequently leads us to the mysterious hidden treasure guarded by skeletons whose fleshless hands still grasp their swords. " Margarita of Grizzly Canyon " is a realistic yarn of life in a Californian mining camp and a Mexican girl's uncontrolled jealousy ; 14 Faithful unto Death " tells of the experiences of a trader in the Hudson's Bay Territory ; " The Lost Oasis of El Darag " is a clever story of a lost oasis of the Algerian desert which is effaced by the ceaseless simoon; whilst " Irene Middleton," a psychological study, is a story of a woman who loved to distraction. The stories are cleverly told and the plots are uniformly good. — Southport Guard- tan, Oct. 30th, 1907. UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. By Francis Sinclair. (8| x 5^, 456 pp. Sampson Low. 6s.) We are glad to welcome another book from the author of " Where the Sun Sets," with more of those records of romance, pathos, and adventure which he brings us from many parts of the world. He reports here the strange "yarns" told him in Pacific Islands, in Californian moun- tains, in the Canadian North, in a drawing-room by a far Scotch loch, in the North African desert, and a crusader's legend which he heard in Jerusalem. — The " Times " Liter- ary Supplement, Oct. 10th, 1907. 25 UNDER NORTH STAR AND SOUTHERN CROSS. New Stories by Francis Sinclair There is surely a terrible responsibility resting upon the shoulders of those who write books, for to-day the readers of books are legion. The thinker is appalled at the possi- bilities for evil when he looks at the unceasing issue of loads upon loads of new books, for he knows " If the ser- pent bite before it is charmed, then there is no advantage in the charmer." It is with pleasure, therefore, we wel- come Mr. Sinclair's latest work, for its author is a wise man of " gracious words." " Under North Star and Southern Cross " is a book at once true and fascinating, yet dressed in the mantle of in- telligent construction. We have perused its seven stories. Each story stands out fair and distinct, perfect as a pic- ture of nature when the sunlight falls upon its various colours and blends them into loveliness. Some are pastoral, some are gloomily tragic. Whether the light falls on the frozen mysteries of the long polar day where the "Haunted Ship" lies silent, grim and ghost-like in an eternal embrace of immaculate purity ; on the mystical beauty of tropic isles where dreams of Celestial glory are almost realized ; on the shores and waters of beautiful Gairloch; or on the " Lost Oasis of El Darag," each is a mosaic finished and complete. Though Mr. Sinclair is a Scotsman, and the love of Scotland is deeply rooted in his heart, yet he is a true citizen of the world. " Margarita of Grizzly Canyon" is a story of California. The staging is in the vicinity of Angels, Table Mountain and the Mariposa big trees. Anybody would imagine from the realistic prelude about Kearny Street, the Cliff House and " my friends the sea lions, the restaurant on top of the Call Building," etc., that Mr. Sinclair was lounging about his own metropolis. " Faithful Unto Death" is the story of David and Jona- 26 than over again, but instead of the sunny skies and the flower-decked fields of Palestine, we are taken to the far North, to those ghostly regions where the deathly stillness in Nature gradually takes possession of men. In these days of matrimonial " shassaying" and change of partners, when even the comic press of the country pleads for a permanent papa, " Irene Middleton " and Luke Pendarell remind us of the typical lovers of the beauti- ful " Auld Lang Syne." In the " Lost Oasis of El Darag " it caused us no surprise to learn that Sheik " Madonale " had studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh when his name was Macdonald, for we personally know more than one Scotch laddie who climbed to the top, when he got hold of the ladder, whether it was in Mon- treal, Calcutta or Algiers. The interesting septet of stories closes with the " His- tory of the Knight, Sir Conrad Delamere, " in the year of grace 1098 — as told by Ezra Ben-ammi to Mr. Sinclair in the sacred city of Jerusalem. The story was learned by the deciphering of an ancient MS. (which Ben-ammi had purchased) and is beautifully told. — The British Cali- fornian, May, 1908. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewals only: Tel. No. 642-3405 Renewals may be made 4 days prior to date due. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. JUL 16 1971 8 2 REC'D ID JUL U71-URM97 T,r>9i A-^cim 9 '71 General Library (P2?0M0)° 4 ^A.32 Uiuvem^gCriiforni. nuv ' ~^ — . M310333