Not a soul had seen her go and it was not for some days that Aioma, busy with the tree felling, recollected2 her existence, and the fact that she had not followed him to the northern beach; then he sent a woman across and she had returned with news that there was no trace of the girl though her canoe was beached, also that there was no trace of food having been recently cooked, and that the girl must have been gone some days as there were no recent sand traces. The wind even when it is only moderately strong blurs3 and obliterates4 sand traces, and the woman judged that no one had been about on the southern beach for some days. She had found tracks, however, for which she could not account. The marks left by the boots of Peterson, also the footsteps of the kanakas who had carried the water casks disturbed her mind; they had nearly vanished, but it seemed to her that many people had been there, a statement that left Aioma cold.
Aioma had no time for fancies. If the girl were alive, she would come across in her canoe, if death had come to her in any of the forms in which death walked the reef, there was no use in troubling. The call to the canoe building, resented at first, had given him new youth, the spirit of the sea sang in him and the perfume of the new-felled trees brought Uta Matu walking on the beach, and his warriors5.
Aioma, like Le Moan, had no use for the past or the future, the burning present was everything.
Things that had been were to Aioma things floating alongside at a greater or less distance, not astern. It was not the memory of Uta Matu that walked the beach, but Uta Matu himself, untouchable, because of distance, and only able to talk as he had talked in life, but still there. Aioma had not to turn his head to look backwards6 at him as we have to turn our heads to see our dead, he had only to glance sideways, as it were. The things of yesterday, the day before yesterday and the day before that, were beside Aioma at greater or less distances, not behind him—all like surf riders on the same wave with him and carried forward by the same flowing, yet ever separating one from the other though keeping in line.
In the language of Karolin there was no word indicating our idea of the past except the word akuma (distance) which might mean the distance between a canoe and a canoe or between a happening of to-day and of yesterday, and to the woman who judged that Le Moan had not trod the beach for some days, “days” meant measures of distance, not of time. Le Moan had been travelling, moving away from the beach, not returning, whilst so many sunrises had occurred and so many sunsets. She had been away a long distance, not a long time.
The speed of a man running a mile on Karolin had nothing to do with the time occupied, it was a measure of his strength; the race was a struggle between the man and the mile, and of the runners the swiftest to a Karalonite was not the quickest but the strongest and most agile8; this profound truth was revealed to their instinctive9 sight undimmed by the muscæ volitantes which we call minutes, seconds and hours, also the truth that when the race was over it was not extinct but merely removed to a distance—just as a canoe drifting from a canoe is not extinct though untouchable and out of hail, and fading at last from sight through distance.
A dead man on Karolin was a man who had drifted away; he was there, but at a distance, he might even return through the distance in a stronger way than memory sight could reveal him! Many had. Uta Matu himself had been seen in this way by several since he had drifted away—he had come back once to tell Nalia the wife of Oti where the sacred paddle was hid, the paddle which acted as the steer11 oar12 of the biggest war canoe. He had forgotten that the war canoe had been destroyed. Still he had returned. Though with a Melanesian strain in them, unlike the Melanesians the men of Karolin had no belief that the souls of ancestors become reincarnated13 in fish or birds, nor did they believe in the influence of Mana, that mysterious spiritual something believed in so widely by Polynesians and Melanesians alike.
Memory, to the Karolinite, was a sort of sight which enabled the living to look not over the past but the present, and see the people and things that floated, not behind in a far-off past, but to right and left in a far-off present.
Just as the surf rider sees his companions near and far, all borne on the same wave, though some might be beyond reach of voice, and some almost invisible through distance, the return of a spirit was an actual moving of a distant one towards the seer, as though a surf rider were to strike out and swim to a far-off fellow at right angles to the flow of the wave.
So Aioma, as he worked, saw Uta Matu and his warriors and the old canoe-builders, not as dead and gone figures, but as realities though beyond touch and hail of voice and sight of the eye of flesh.
Since the war, years ago, between the northern and southern tribes, a large proportion of the children born on the island had been boys, whilst most of the women had developed manly14 attributes in accordance with that natural law which rules in the remotest island as well as in the highest and broadest civilization.
Aioma had no need of helpers, leaving out the boys, some dozen or so, who could wield15 an ax as well as a man; but Aioma though his heart and soul were in his work was no mere10 canoe-builder. He had in him the making of a statesman. He would not let Dick work at the building or do any work at all except fishing and fish spearing.
“You are the chief (Ompalu),” said Aioma as he sat of an evening before the house of Uta Matu, now the house of Dick. “You are young and do not know all the ways of things, but I love you as a son; I do not know what is in you that is above us, but the sea I love is in your eyes. The sea, our father, sent you, but you have still to learn the ways of the land, where the chief does no work.” Then he would grunt16 to himself and rock as he sat, and then his voice rising to a whine17, “Could the people raise their heads to one who labours with them, or would they bow their heads so that he might put his foot on their necks?” Then casting his eyes down he would talk to himself, the words so run together as to be indistinguishable; but always, Katafa noticed, his eyes would return again and again to the little ships in the shadow of the house, the model ships made by Kearney long ago—the vestiges18 of a civilization of which Dick and Aioma and Katafa knew nothing, or only that the ships, the big ships of which these were the likenesses, were dangerous and the men in them evil and to be avoided or destroyed if possible.
The Portsey of long ago that had fired a cannon20 shot and destroyed Katafa’s canoe, the schooner21 that had brought the Melanesians to Palm Tree, the Spanish ship that had been sunk in Karolin lagoon22 and the whaler that had come after her, all these had burnt into the minds of Dick, Aioma and Katafa the fact that something of which they did not know the name (but which was civilization), was out there beyond the sea line, something that, octopus-like, would at times thrust out a feeler in the form of a ship, an ayat destructive and, if possible, to be destroyed.
Ayat was the name given by Karolin to the great burgomaster gulls23 that were to the small gulls what schooners24 are to canoes, and so anything in the form of a ship was an ayat, that is to say, a thing carrying with it all the propensities25 of a robber and a murderer; for the great gulls would rob the lesser26 gulls of their food and devour27 their chicks and fight and darken the sunshine of the reef with their wings.
The comparison was not a compliment to the Pacific traders or their ships or the civilization that had sent them forth28 to prey29 on the world, but it was horribly apposite.
And yet the little ayats in the shadow of the house had for Aioma an attraction beyond words. They were as fascinating as sin. This old child after a hard day’s work would sometimes dream of them in his sleep; dream that he was helping30 to sail them on the big rock pool, as he sometimes did in reality. The frigate31, the full-rigged ship, the schooner and the whale man, all had cruised in the rock pool which seemed constructed by nature as a model testing tank; indeed the first great public act of Dick as ruler of the Karolinites had been a full review of this navy on the day after he had fetched Aioma from the southern beach. Aioma, fascinated by the sight of the schooner which Dick had shown him on his landing, had insisted on seeing the others launched and the whole population had stood round ten deep with the little children between the women’s legs, all with their eyes fixed32 on the pretty sight. The strangest sight—for Kearney the illiterate33 and ignorant had managed to symbolize34 the two foundations of civilization, war and trade; and here in little yet in essence lay the ships of Nelson and the ships of Villeneuve: the great wool ships, the Northumberland that had brought Dick’s parents to Palm Tree, the whalers of Martha’s Vineyard and the sandalwood schooners, those first carriers of the disease of the white man.
To Aioma the schooner was the most fascinating. He knew the whaler with her try works and her heavy davits and her squat35 build; he had seen her before in the whaler whose brutal36 crew had landed and been driven off. He knew the ship, he had seen its likeness19 in the Spanish ship of long ago; the frigate intrigued37 him, but the schooner took his heart—it was not only that he understood her rig and way of sailing better than the rig and way of sailing of the others, it was more than that. Aioma was an instinctive ship lover, and to the lover of ships, the schooner has most appeal, for the schooner is of all things that float the most graceful38 and the most beautiful; and in contrast to her canvas, the canvas of your square rigged ship becomes dishcloths hung out to dry.
He brooded on this thing over which Kearney had expended39 his most loving care, and in which nothing was wanting. He understood the topping lifts that supported the main boom, the foresail, the use of the standing40 rigging. Kearney, through his work, was talking to him and just as Kearney had explained this and that to Dick, so Dick was explaining it to Aioma. Truly a man can speak though dead, even as Kearney was speaking now.
The method of reefing a sail was unknown to Aioma; a canoe sail was never reefed, reduction of canvas was made by tying the head of the sail up to spill the wind. Fore7 canvas was unknown to Aioma, but he understood.
The subconscious41 mathematician42 in him that made him able to build great canoes capable of standing heavy weather and carrying forty or fifty men apiece, understood all about the practice of the business, though he had never heard of centres of rotation43, absolute or relative velocities44, of impelling45 powers, or the laws of the collision of bodies; of inertia46 or pressures of resistance or squares of velocity47 or series of inclinations48.
Squatting49 on his hams before the little model of the Rarotanga, he knew nothing of these things and yet he knew that the schooner was good, that she would sail close to the wind with little leeway when the wind was on the beam, that the rudder was better than the steering50 paddle, that the sail area though great would not capsize her, that she was miles ahead of anything he had ever made in the form of a ship. That the maker51 of the ayat was a genius beside whom he was a duffer, unknowing that Kearney was absolutely without inventive genius, and that the schooner was the work of a million men extending over three thousand years.
Katafa sitting beside Dick would watch Aioma as he brooded and played with the thing. It had no fascination52 for her. The little ships had always repelled53 her if anything. They were the only dividing point between her and Dick—she could not feel his pleasure or interest in them, and from this fact possibly arose a vague foreboding that perhaps some day in some way the little ships might separate them. When a woman loves, she can become jealous of a man’s pipe, of his tennis racket, of his best friend, of anything that she can’t share and which occupies his attention at times more than she does.
But the essence of jealousy54 is concentration, and Katafa’s green eye was cast not so much on the whole fleet as on the little schooner. This was Dick’s favourite, as it was Aioma’s.
One night, long after the vanishing of Le Moan, so long that every one had nearly forgotten her, Aioma had a delightful55 dream.
He dreamt that he was only an inch high and standing on the schooner’s deck. Dick reduced to the same stature56 was with him, and half a dozen others, and the schooner was in the rock pool that had spread to the size of Karolin lagoon. Oh, the joy of that business! They were hauling up the mainsail and up it went to the pull of the halyards just as he had often hauled it with the pull of his finger and thumb on the tiny halyards of the model; but this was a real great sail and men had to pull hard to raise it and there it was set. Then the foresail went up and the jib was cast loose and Aioma, mad with joy, was at the tiller, the tiller that he had often moved with his finger and thumb.
Then pressed by the wind she began to heel over and the outrigger—she had taken on an outrigger—went into the air; he could see the outrigger gratings with drinking-nuts and bundles of food tied to it after the fashion of sea-going canoes, and he shouted to his companions to climb on to it and bring it down. Then he awoke, sweating but dazzled by the first part of the dream.
Two days later a boy came running and shouting to him as he was at work; and turning, Aioma saw the fulfilment of his vision. Borne by the flooding tide with all sails drawing and a bone in her teeth, the little schooner swelled57 to a thousand times her size, was gaily58 entering the lagoon. It was the Kermadec.
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1
gull
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| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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blurs
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| n.模糊( blur的名词复数 )；模糊之物；（移动的）模糊形状；模糊的记忆v.（使）变模糊( blur的第三人称单数 )；（使）难以区分 | |
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obliterates
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| v.除去( obliterate的第三人称单数 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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agile
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| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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reincarnated
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| v.赋予新形体，使转世化身( reincarnate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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whine
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| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
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vestiges
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| 残余部分( vestige的名词复数 )； 遗迹； 痕迹； 毫不 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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schooners
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| n.（有两个以上桅杆的）纵帆船( schooner的名词复数 ) | |
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propensities
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| n.倾向，习性( propensity的名词复数 ) | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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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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illiterate
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| adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲 | |
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symbolize
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| vt.作为...的象征，用符号代表 | |
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squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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intrigued
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| adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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38
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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39
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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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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41
subconscious
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| n./adj.潜意识(的)，下意识(的) | |
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42
mathematician
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| n.数学家 | |
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43
rotation
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| n.旋转；循环，轮流 | |
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44
velocities
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| n.速度( velocity的名词复数 )；高速，快速 | |
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45
impelling
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| adj.迫使性的，强有力的v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的现在分词 ) | |
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46
inertia
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| adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝 | |
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47
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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48
inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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49
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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50
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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51
maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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52
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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53
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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54
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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55
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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56
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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57
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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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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