第16章 THE BEACH OF FALESA.(16)

I should tell you that after I began to go in the woods,although no one offered to come near my store,I found people willing enough to pass the time of day with me where nobody could see them;and as I had begun to pick up native,and most of them had a word or two of English,I began to hold little odds and ends of conversation,not to much purpose to be sure,but they took off the worst of the feeling,for it's a miserable thing to be made a leper of.

It chanced one day towards the end of the month,that I was sitting in this bay in the edge of the bush,looking east,with a Kanaka.

I had given him a fill of tobacco,and we were making out to talk as best we could;indeed,he had more English than most.

I asked him if there was no road going eastward.

"One time one road,"said he."Now he dead.""Nobody he go there?"I asked.

"No good,"said he."Too much devil he stop there.""Oho!"says I,"got-um plenty devil,that bush?""Man devil,woman devil;too much devil,"said my friend."Stop there all-e-time.Man he go there,no come back."I thought if this fellow was so well posted on devils and spoke of them so free,which is not common,I had better fish for a little information about myself and Uma.

"You think me one devil?"I asked.

"No think devil,"said he soothingly."Think all-e-same fool.""Uma,she devil?"I asked again.

"No,no;no devil.Devil stop bush,"said the young man.

I was looking in front of me across the bay,and I saw the hanging front of the woods pushed suddenly open,and Case,with a gun in his hand,step forth into the sunshine on the black beach.He was got up in light pyjamas,near white,his gun sparkled,he looked mighty conspicuous;and the land-crabs scuttled from all round him to their holes.

"Hullo,my friend!"says I,"you no talk all-e-same true.Ese he go,he come back.""Ese no all-e-same;Ese TIAPOLO,"says my friend;and,with a "Good-bye,"slunk off among the trees.

I watched Case all round the beach,where the tide was low;and let him pass me on the homeward way to Falesa.He was in deep thought,and the birds seemed to know it,trotting quite near him on the sand,or wheeling and calling in his ears.When he passed me Icould see by the working of his lips that he was talking to himself,and what pleased me mightily,he had still my trade mark on his brow,I tell you the plain truth:I had a mind to give him a gunful in his ugly mug,but I thought better of it.

All this time,and all the time I was following home,I kept repeating that native word,which I remembered by "Polly,put the kettle on and make us all some tea,"tea-a-pollo.

"Uma,"says I,when I got back,"what does TIAPOLO mean?""Devil,"says she.

"I thought AITU was the word for that,"I said.

"AITU 'nother kind of devil,"said she;"stop bush,eat Kanaka.

Tiapolo big chief devil,stop home;all-e-same Christian devil.""Well then,"said I,"I'm no farther forward.How can Case be Tiapolo?""No all-e-same,"said she."Ese belong Tiapolo;Tiapolo too much like;Ese all-e-same his son.Suppose Ese he wish something,Tiapolo he make him.""That's mighty convenient for Ese,"says I."And what kind of things does he make for him?"Well,out came a rigmarole of all sorts of stories,many of which (like the dollar he took from Mr.Tarleton's head)were plain enough to me,but others I could make nothing of;and the thing that most surprised the Kanakas was what surprised me least -namely,that he would go in the desert among all the AITUS.Some of the boldest,however,had accompanied him,and had heard him speak with the dead and give them orders,and,safe in his protection,had returned unscathed.Some said he had a church there,where he worshipped Tiapolo,and Tiapolo appeared to him;others swore that there was no sorcery at all,that he performed his miracles by the power of prayer,and the church was no church,but a prison,in which he had confined a dangerous AITU.Namu had been in the bush with him once,and returned glorifying God for these wonders.Altogether,I began to have a glimmer of the man's position,and the means by which he had acquired it,and,though Isaw he was a tough nut to crack,I was noways cast down.

"Very well,"said I,"I'll have a look at Master Case's place of worship myself,and we'll see about the glorifying."At this Uma fell in a terrible taking;if I went in the high bush Ishould never return;none could go there but by the protection of Tiapolo.

"I'll chance it on God's,"said I."I'm a good sort of a fellow,Uma,as fellows go,and I guess God'll con me through."She was silent for a while."I think,"said she,mighty solemn -and then,presently -"Victoreea,he big chief?""You bet!"said I.

"He like you too much?"she asked again.

I told her,with a grin,I believed the old lady was rather partial to me.

"All right,"said she."Victoreea he big chief,like you too much.

No can help you here in Falesa;no can do -too far off.Maea he small chief -stop here.Suppose he like you -make you all right.

All-e-same God and Tiapolo.God he big chief -got too much work.

Tiapolo he small chief -he like too much make-see,work very hard.""I'll have to hand you over to Mr.Tarleton,"said I."Your theology's out of its bearings,Uma."However,we stuck to this business all the evening,and,with the stories she told me of the desert and its dangers,she came near frightening herself into a fit.I don't remember half a quarter of them,of course,for I paid little heed;but two come back to me kind of clear.