第29章 THE BOTTLE IMP.(4)

And as no one would care to live in such chambers,only to walk through and view them,the balconies were made so broad that a whole town might have lived upon them in delight;and Keawe knew not which to prefer,whether the back porch,where you got the land breeze,and looked upon the orchards and the flowers,or the front balcony,where you could drink the wind of the sea,and look down the steep wall of the mountain and see the HALL going by once a week or so between Hookena and the hills of Pele,or the schooners plying up the coast for wood and ava and bananas.

When they had viewed all,Keawe and Lopaka sat on the porch.

"Well,"asked Lopaka,"is it all as you designed?""Words cannot utter it,"said Keawe."It is better than I dreamed,and I am sick with satisfaction.""There is but one thing to consider,"said Lopaka;"all this may be quite natural,and the bottle imp have nothing whatever to say to it.If I were to buy the bottle,and got no schooner after all,Ishould have put my hand in the fire for nothing.I gave you my word,I know;but yet I think you would not grudge me one more proof.""I have sworn I would take no more favours,"said Keawe."I have gone already deep enough.""This is no favour I am thinking of,"replied Lopaka."It is only to see the imp himself.There is nothing to be gained by that,and so nothing to be ashamed of;and yet,if I once saw him,I should be sure of the whole matter.So indulge me so far,and let me see the imp;and,after that,here is the money in my hand,and I will buy it.""There is only one thing I am afraid of,"said Keawe."The imp may be very ugly to view;and if you once set eyes upon him you might be very undesirous of the bottle.""I am a man of my word,"said Lopaka."And here is the money betwixt us.""Very well,"replied Keawe."I have a curiosity myself.So come,let us have one look at you,Mr.Imp."Now as soon as that was said,the imp looked out of the bottle,and in again,swift as a lizard;and there sat Keawe and Lopaka turned to stone.The night had quite come,before either found a thought to say or voice to say it with;and then Lopaka pushed the money over and took the bottle.

"I am a man of my word,"said he,"and had need to be so,or Iwould not touch this bottle with my foot.Well,I shall get my schooner and a dollar or two for my pocket;and then I will be rid of this devil as fast as I can.For to tell you the plain truth,the look of him has cast me down.""Lopaka,"said Keawe,"do not you think any worse of me than you can help;I know it is night,and the roads bad,and the pass by the tombs an ill place to go by so late,but I declare since I have seen that little face,I cannot eat or sleep or pray till it is gone from me.I will give you a lantern and a basket to put the bottle in,and any picture or fine thing in all my house that takes your fancy;-and be gone at once,and go sleep at Hookena with Nahinu.""Keawe,"said Lopaka,"many a man would take this ill;above all,when I am doing you a turn so friendly,as to keep my word and buy the bottle;and for that matter,the night and the dark,and the way by the tombs,must be all tenfold more dangerous to a man with such a sin upon his conscience,and such a bottle under his arm.

But for my part,I am so extremely terrified myself,I have not the heart to blame you.Here I go then;and I pray God you may be happy in your house,and I fortunate with my schooner,and both get to heaven in the end in spite of the devil and his bottle."So Lopaka went down the mountain;and Keawe stood in his front balcony,and listened to the clink of the horse's shoes,and watched the lantern go shining down the path,and along the cliff of caves where the old dead are buried;and all the time he trembled and clasped his hands,and prayed for his friend,and gave glory to God that he himself was escaped out of that trouble.

But the next day came very brightly,and that new house of his was so delightful to behold that he forgot his terrors.One day followed another,and Keawe dwelt there in perpetual joy.He had his place on the back porch;it was there he ate and lived,and read the stories in the Honolulu newspapers;but when anyone came by they would go in and view the chambers and the pictures.And the fame of the house went far and wide;it was called KA-HALE NUI-the Great House -in all Kona;and sometimes the Bright House,for Keawe kept a Chinaman,who was all day dusting and furbishing;and the glass,and the gilt,and the fine stuffs,and the pictures,shone as bright as the morning.As for Keawe himself,he could not walk in the chambers without singing,his heart was so enlarged;and when ships sailed by upon the sea,he would fly his colours on the mast.

So time went by,until one day Keawe went upon a visit as far as Kailua to certain of his friends.There he was well feasted;and left as soon as he could the next morning,and rode hard,for he was impatient to behold his beautiful house;and,besides,the night then coming on was the night in which the dead of old days go abroad in the sides of Kona;and having already meddled with the devil,he was the more chary of meeting with the dead.A little beyond Honaunau,looking far ahead,he was aware of a woman bathing in the edge of the sea;and she seemed a well-grown girl,but he thought no more of it.Then he saw her white shift flutter as she put it on,and then her red holoku;and by the time he came abreast of her she was done with her toilet,and had come up from the sea,and stood by the track-side in her red holoku,and she was all freshened with the bath,and her eyes shone and were kind.Now Keawe no sooner beheld her than he drew rein.