THE pagan city of Nuka Hiva was silent. The tired sentinel stars were creeping homeward. Dawn had already arisen from her silvery couch, her soft robe, cut out of the warm western winds, wrapped around her, her sandals dipped in light as she stood on the skyline, a few stars still plucking her dusky hair. Then that wonderful enchantress, who awakens5 the ages, stepped tiptoe across the horizon’s shadow hills, the echoes of her footfalls winging the silence of the tropic seas. Those echoes, colliding with the granite6 hills of South Sea fairy-land, rustled7 the magical shadows of the sylvan8 hollows, then, touching9 the winged nymphs and petals10 of the flamboyants and ndrala blossoms, sped onward11 into the deeper glooms of the forests. An aged12 cockatoo who had spent its best years as a vassal13 of the god Atua Mao, looked sidelong at the golden gleams of the eastern sky and called out hoarsely14:
“Talofa! Aloah! Awake, O birds of the forest! Morn is here! Arise!”
Now, all this happened in full view of a little heathen village by a mossy slope near Tai-o-hae. And who was it could see so strange a fairy-land in the birth of a new day breaking across the ranges? It was Tissemao, the Marquesan maid!
Tissemao was up very early that morning. She had 266been with her little brother Noko-noko, fishing for reatos in the blue lagoon15 by the bay. And Noko, burdened with fishy16 wealth, had hurried back home to his village hut that stood in the shadows of the mountains of Atnana, leaving his sister alone. As Tissemao dangled17 her feet in the cool waters of the ocean the golden light was stealing from the eyes of sunrise; it touched the surface of the big moani ali (ocean) that shone like a mighty18 mirror that stretched to the horizon. Suddenly Tissemao felt something pull at her toes which were dangling19 in the sea. Looking down to see what it could be, she gave a cry of surprise. And no wonder; for a Cuttle-fish poked20 its head out of the sea, and said:
“I’m so sorry to disturb you, Tissemao, but we’ve all been swimming about here a long time, for we can see your shadow in the waters, and really it is very beautiful.”
Tissemao blushed to hear such praise. Looking down, she saw that it was quite correct, for there, in the water, shone her image as clear as though it was mirrored in a sheet of glass. Clad in her coloured tappa holaku (short chemise), hibiscus flowers in her mass of dusky hair, she really did make a pretty picture.
The Cuttle-fish, putting on its sweetest smile, said:
“Would you like to come down here and see the wonders of the great world under the sea?”
For a long time Tissemao hesitated, then she said:
“Why, Mr. Cuttle-fish, you must remember I’m not like you; I should soon die for the want of breath under the sea.”
“Oh dear, no!” said the artful Cuttle-fish, shaking its head slowly at the idea of such a ridiculous suggestion.
But very soon, hearing that there were so many strange 267and beautiful things under the sea, Tissemao, with the Cuttle-fish’s kind help, slid down gently into the deep water!
Directly she got beneath the surface, the Cuttle-fish seized her tightly by the arm, and said fiercely:
“Come on! now I’ve got you!”
Poor Tissemao was frightened out of her life as she felt the clutch of the Cuttle-fish as it dragged her down, down. It seemed such a long time ere she touched the bottom of the ocean. Still the Cuttle-fish clutched her, and breathed heavily, like one who had gained a rich prize and dreaded21 to lose it. Dragging her along the ocean floor, he came to a cavern22. For a moment the Cuttle-fish looked round, then took her in. This cavern was lit up by a faint glimmer23 from the light of the sun that was shining up over the sea. As Tissemao looked round, the Cuttle-fish said:
“I am all that’s beautiful; if you expect to see anything more beautiful than a cuttle-fish, you are very, very much mistaken.”
Saying this, it lifted its ugly face and tried to assume a fascinating smile.
But it was no good. Tissemao would have none of it, but simply said:
“Let me get away; let me go up into my village again, will you?”
The old Cuttle-fish got into an awful rage at hearing Tissemao plead so, for he had fallen deeply in love with her.
Now it so happened, and by the merest chance too, that the Cuttle-fish was terrifying Tissemao, trying to frighten her into subjection, when a very old Crab2 happened to be walking by the Cuttle-fish’s cavern door. The Crab distinctly caught sight of Tissemao looking up with terror-stricken eyes at the Cuttle-fish.
268“Ho ho!” he muttered to himself; “so he’s at it again, is he!”
Now, this old Crab was good-hearted, one of the respectable kind. And, knowing the reputation the Cuttle-fish had as a roué of the worst type, he at once determined24 to thwart25 the Cuttle-fish in his endeavours to attempt to hurt so sweet a maid as Tissemao. So he gently looked round the corner of the cavern door, and said:
“Good afternoon.”
In a moment the vicious Cuttle-fish rushed to the door, so that its bulk could artfully hide Tissemao from the intruder’s eyes.
The old Crab, seeing through the ruse26 and not wishing to let the Cuttle-fish know that it had seen Tissemao, artfully put its claw to its mouth, then, yawning, said:
“Oh dear, my eyes are so bad lately, really I can’t see anything at all.” Then it looked straight into the Cuttle-fish’s eyes, and continued: “I suppose you feel very lonely here in this cave of yours?”
The Cuttle-fish, like all things of a wicked type, had no brains at all, and so was completely taken in. And the Crab, chuckling27 to itself, went safely on its way as quickly as possible round the corner, to consider what was best to do to extricate28 Tissemao from her awful position.
In a moment it had made its mind up. Going up to a large cavern that stood in its own grounds to the south-west of the mighty forests of sea-weeds, it lifted its claws and gently knocked at the door. In a moment it opened, and a great Sword-fish thrust its tremendous spiked29 nose out, and said:
“Hallo! What’s up now? I was just having a nap; you are the second person who has knocked at my door this afternoon and disturbed me.”
269The old Crab bowed, and apologized profusely30 as it saw the Sword-fish’s angry face. Then the Crab said:
“I have come to you, knowing well that you are a friend of the helpless and are fair-dealing in all your mighty battles with that weapon, that sword which is fixed31 on your face.”
“Well, make haste. What is it?” said the Sword-fish, who, being powerful, was used to soft, flattering speeches from old crabs and other helpless things that were at his mercy under the deep sea.
Then the old Crab at once told the Sword-fish all that he had seen while he had been passing the door of the Cuttle-fish’s cave. The Sword-fish, who was fond of Cuttle-fish as a breakfast-dish, became most indignant as he listened to the Crab’s comments on the morals of the Cuttle-fish. Then, without further parley32, they both sallied forth33 to rescue Tissemao. Arriving outside the cavern, the Crab gently knocked at the Cuttle-fish’s door, as prearranged, and said:
“Good evening, Mr. Cuttle-fish; I’ve called to see you because you are so lonely.”
The Cuttle-fish, who was persuading Tissemao to give him just one kiss, rushed to the door, and said:
“Clear out of this; I’m busy.”
At this, the old Crab swelled34 its breast out with bravery through its knowledge that the Sword-fish was stealthily waiting round the corner, and said:
“Don’t you talk like that to me, you ungrateful wretch35, when I’ve come all this way to pay you a friendly visit.” Then, losing its temper, the Crab gave a knowing wink36, and said: “I know all about you; you are at your old tricks again—whose poor wife have you got in your house now, I wonder?”
With its eyes ablaze37 with rage at hearing such a suggestion from a cowardly old crab, and in its knowledge 270that truth was spoken, the Cuttle-fish gave a running dash, and knocked the Crab over. This act was just what the Sword-fish was waiting for, for as the Cuttle-fish rushed out of the cave so as to reach the Crab, he, too, gave a dash forward and so impaled38 the Cuttle-fish on his mighty sword! In a moment the Crab had recovered its feet, delighted at the success of its ruse. For Tissemao kissed its ugly face as it embraced her, and told of all it had done on her behalf. It was then that the Crab said:
“Come on! Come on!”
Then it escorted her along the wide floor of the deep ocean till she reached the shore. Then it said, “Never listen to the flattery of cuttle-fishes again, for you see that, but for an ugly old sword-fish and a brave person like me, you might have got out of your depth for ever. Now then, go away, silly girl!”
On hearing the Crab’s advice, Tissemao at once stepped out of the ocean water, and saw the beautiful sun, and thereupon made up her mind to be satisfied with the world she knew. In a moment she had rushed off into the forest, and back again to her native village. Her mother was delighted to see her again. They had all thought she was drowned, or dead somewhere in the forest, for though she knew it not, she had been away for three days! And, to this day, the people of those isles39 to the north-west always feel kindly40 toward old crabs, and look upon the big sword-fish as a valiant41 warrior42.
Such was the simple heathen fairy story which was told to me by my little comrade the Marquesan youth, Palao, who, as the reader will recall, was a member of my retinue43 when I paid a visit to the aged, discarded Queen Vakamoa, she who had once been the unlawfully-wedded 271wife of Old Martin Smith of New South Wales.
A few days after leaving the village where my little friend Palao lived, I secured lodgings44 at the primitive45 inn near Tai-o-hae beach. I recall that I stayed at that rum-stricken hostel46 for only a few days. The fact is, that an extraordinary old madman dwelt in the room next to mine. Just as I laid my weary head down and thanked Providence47 in my blessed anticipation48 of a well-earned month’s rest, the old man went raving49 mad. Why Ranjo, my host, put up with him was a complete mystery. Up and down the room he would tramp, never ceasing, till he had wakened me for the night, as he called out in a most solemn voice:
“Suffered under Pontius Pilate. O the quick and the dead! the quick and the dead!”
So would he rave4 on for hours till, exhausted50, he fell asleep. And then he would snore, and puff51 the lips of his toothless mouth about in such a terrific manner that I dreamed that I was dead and sleeping in a deep-sea cave where the waves rushed in and violently lifted my shell-burred bones eternally. On the third night I was relieved of his presence, for he rose after midnight, went outside, and knelt before a tallow candle which he lit and placed beneath the palm grove52. He would kneel before this humble53 tallow altar for about two hours, chanting in a sombre voice the Lord’s Prayer, interspersed54 with ghastly epitaphs that made my blood curdle55 as I groaned56 on my trestle bed.
I was thankful when I made the acquaintance of a young German. I cannot wax enthusiastic over a member of the Teutonic race, but still, I must admit, that my German friend was as clean-minded a comrade as one could hope to meet in the South Seas in those days. Indeed, he and I secured a berth57 as stowaways58 on a full-rigged windjammer, and so left Nuka Hiva, incognito59, 272outbound for the glorious Nowhere of sanguine60 youth. I see by my diary that I eventually arrived in New Guinea, where I stayed six months with a celebrated61 high chief and his family. Though my native host was an inveterate62 cannibal in battle times, he and his family were exceedingly kind to me while I was down with malaria63. After that I shipped on a German vessel64 for the Solomon Isles, where I arrived off Bougainville in a typhoon. Our ship was wrecked66 off the coast, and we lost four hands. I had only my shirt and boots on when a huge comber swept me from the deck into the ocean, where I seemed to make about four somersaults between the sea and the night sky, ere I was landed high up on the sandy beach. Next day I recovered my violin from the wreck65 that lay high and dry on the barrier reefs. Unfortunately, I have no space to narrate67 all that I experienced when I became the staunch friend of the Solomon Island head-hunters!—played the violin to the great Ingrova, to Oom Pa, and gave violin lessons to high chief Stem-Poo’s half-caste daughter, Mallio-Wao, up in the mountain stronghold at Zalabar. I will simply say, that, under the friendly cover of one dark night, I hurriedly left Ysabel for New Guinea, and after many wanderings once more came across my Irish comrade, O’Hara. And in the next chapters I will attempt to relate those things which I count as the most thrilling experiences of wild South Sea life which I was ever thrown into by the mystery of circumstance.
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1
luring
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式） | |
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crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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crabs
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| n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
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rave
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| vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬 | |
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awakens
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的第三人称单数 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sylvan
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| adj.森林的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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fishy
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| adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
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dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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21
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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ruse
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| n.诡计，计策；诡计 | |
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27
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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28
extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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spiked
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| adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的 | |
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profusely
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| ad.abundantly | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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impaled
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| 钉在尖桩上( impale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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42
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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43
retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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44
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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45
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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hostel
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| n.（学生）宿舍，招待所 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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49
raving
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| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
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50
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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51
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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52
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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interspersed
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| adj.[医]散开的；点缀的v.intersperse的过去式和过去分词 | |
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curdle
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| v.使凝结，变稠 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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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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stowaways
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| n.偷乘船[飞机]者( stowaway的名词复数 ) | |
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incognito
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| adv.匿名地；n.隐姓埋名；adj.化装的，用假名的，隐匿姓名身份的 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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malaria
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| n.疟疾 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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narrate
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| v.讲，叙述 | |
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