Next day we sailed away, and being lucky with a fair wind blowing steadily1 behind us we soon arrived back safely at the Samoan Islands. It was a long trip and I was jolly glad to see my berth2 ashore3 again as I did not get much sleep at sea—room being scarce I had slept on deck the whole time, and I had to sleep in the sloop4 scupper as she lay over with so great a list. Everything was just about the same, and very quiet. The Lubeck had been in and left again for Sydney. Hornecastle had a heavy drinking bout5. There were several American sailors hanging round who had been left stranded6 by the wrecks7 of the man-o’-war ships that were blown ashore. I once more felt a longing8 to get away to the civilised world. Our comrade the poet got a job on a schooner9 and went away, and I was sorry to see him go. I still had my violin and started practising again in the evenings and often went into my old friend the shell-seller’s big den10 on the beach and yarned11 to him in “pigeon-English,” and it was there that I met Mrs Stevenson. I was playing the violin and she took a great interest in me. She was a real Bohemian and invited me to her home at once, but I was young and nervous, and at that time I 117was getting pretty shabby too—my blue serge suit had almost turned yellow through fading under the tropic sun—so I pretended to have an important job on that very night and got out of that invitation. I played several melodies at her request and I well remember playing “Alice, where art thou?” to her, to which she sang the refrain quietly as I played. She was attractive-looking and looked as though she had spent her life exploring the tropics. At first I thought she was some passenger just arrived on one of the boats till she introduced herself and told me her name.
Native Coast Village near Apia, Samoa
There were a good many whites about at that time and also a lot of buildings going up for them, and for a time I had a job looking after the natives who did all the hard graft12, but had to be kept watch over by the whites. I do not think a brown man has ever been known to work industriously13 in the South Seas when no one was looking, unless, of course, he was doing something completely on his own account. I got to know many of the Americans, English and Germans who were there at that time, some staying only a day or two before going off to the Marquesan group, Fijis, etc. Some I think were missionaries14, others were travellers sight-seeing. One of the missionaries I got to know well and he struck me as a very decent fellow, had a fine sense of humour, was devoid15 of hypocrisy16, and though earnest enough in his mission he could see quite vividly17 the light and dark shades of the whole of the Christianising schemes. We often smoked and yarned together, and though 118I was much younger than he, he seemed to prefer my companionship to the society of the men of his own profession. I taught him to play tunes18 on the violin by ear, and a very good ear he had too, as well as a refined taste for melodies with something in them, and if he ever reads my autobiography19 he is sure to remember me.
A “Man-o’-War” ship called in at Samoa about that time. When the crew got ashore that night it sounded like civilised Europe and home again. I must say that the Samoan ladies are nearly as bad over sailormen as the English middle-class girls are, and the jolly Jack20 Tars21 had a fine time of it roaming about the beach, on terra-firma again after so long a sea voyage. They bolted off in all directions, visiting the native huts along the shore, most of them in the hands of a cute-looking native guide who knew all the ropes and also all those Samoan ladies who were mostly addicted22 to easy virtue23. These men guides work on commission, and some of them claim half of the proceeds as the foreign ships arrive, and so they do very well, and you can well imagine that Berlin, London, Paris and New York to-day are well represented in the South Seas as far as the different stock of the world’s sailormen is concerned. There they are out there to-day (the half-castes I mean), while the fathers, pensioned-off sailors in the civilised cities of the world, are bringing up legitimate24 families, respectable young men and women who do not dream of their half sisters and brothers toiling25 on the plantations26 lashed27 by the overseers’ whip 119in the far-away Pacific, and many a cosy28 vicarage retreat of Puritan England, standing29 like the very emblem30 of sedateness31 and purity by the village roadside, is the ancestral hall of some savage32 South Sea man or woman with eyes that gaze longingly33 seaward from their native Isle34, knowing not why. And so the world jogs along and I suppose all for the best.
It was about this time that I am speaking of that Mataafa and Laupepa were enjoying their resumed power over the Island. Laupepa had been exiled by the German Government, and had at last been allowed to return. There had been a good deal of fighting going on among the German and American sailors, and Samoans, but all seemed pretty quiet in my time. A terrible hurricane had struck the Islands, lifted the warships35 up on tremendous waves and tossed them ashore as though they were canoes. Many lives were lost, and the storm did more damage in a couple of hours than all the warships and threatening natives.
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1
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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7
wrecks
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| n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉 | |
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8
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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9
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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11
yarned
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| vi.讲故事（yarn的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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12
graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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13
industriously
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14
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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15
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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16
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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18
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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autobiography
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| n.自传 | |
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20
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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tars
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| 焦油，沥青，柏油( tar的名词复数 ) | |
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addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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23
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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24
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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25
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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27
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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28
cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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29
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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30
emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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31
sedateness
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| n.安详，镇静 | |
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32
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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33
longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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34
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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35
warships
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| 军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只 | |
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