第4章 THE BEACH OF FALESA.(4)

The night was nearly come;the village smelt of trees and flowers and the sea and bread-fruit-cooking;there came a fine roll of sea from the reef,and from a distance,among the woods and houses,many pretty sounds of men and children.It did me good to breathe free air;it did me good to be done with the captain and see,instead,the creature at my side.I felt for all the world as though she were some girl at home in the Old Country,and,forgetting myself for the minute,took her hand to walk with.Her fingers nestled into mine,I heard her breathe deep and quick,and all at once she caught my hand to her face and pressed it there.

"You good!"she cried,and ran ahead of me,and stopped and looked back and smiled,and ran ahead of me again,thus guiding me through the edge of the bush,and by a quiet way to my own house.

The truth is,Case had done the courting for me in style -told her I was mad to have her,and cared nothing for the consequence;and the poor soul,knowing that which I was still ignorant of,believed it,every word,and had her head nigh turned with vanity and gratitude.Now,of all this I had no guess;I was one of those most opposed to any nonsense about native women,having seen so many whites eaten up by their wives'relatives,and made fools of in the bargain;and I told myself I must make a stand at once,and bring her to her bearings.But she looked so quaint and pretty as she ran away and then awaited me,and the thing was done so like a child or a kind dog,that the best I could do was just to follow her whenever she went on,to listen for the fall of her bare feet,and to watch in the dusk for the shining of her body.And there was another thought came in my head.She played kitten with me now when we were alone;but in the house she had carried it the way a countess might,so proud and humble.And what with her dress -for all there was so little of it,and that native enough -what with her fine tapa and fine scents,and her red flowers and seeds,that were quite as bright as jewels,only larger -it came over me she was a kind of countess really,dressed to hear great singers at a concert,and no even mate for a poor trader like myself.

She was the first in the house;and while I was still without I saw a match flash and the lamplight kindle in the windows.The station was a wonderful fine place,coral built,with quite a wide verandah,and the main room high and wide.My chests and cases had been piled in,and made rather of a mess;and there,in the thick of the confusion,stood Uma by the table,awaiting me.Her shadow went all the way up behind her into the hollow of the iron roof;she stood against it bright,the lamplight shining on her skin.Istopped in the door,and she looked at me,not speaking,with eyes that were eager and yet daunted;then she touched herself on the bosom.

"Me -your wifie,"she said.It had never taken me like that before;but the want of her took and shook all through me,like the wind in the luff of a sail.

I could not speak if I had wanted;and if I could,I would not.Iwas ashamed to be so much moved about a native,ashamed of the marriage too,and the certificate she had treasured in her ki

She came back after the last,and looked at me puzzled like.

"No good,"said I,for I was now a little better master of my tongue."Man he drink,he no good."She agreed with this,but kept considering."Why you bring him?"she asked presently."Suppose you no want drink,you no bring him,I think.""That's all right,"said I."One time I want drink too much;now no want.You see,I no savvy I get one little wifie.Suppose Idrink gin,my little wifie he 'fraid."

To speak to her kindly was about more than I was fit for;I had made my vow I would never let on to weakness with a native,and Ihad nothing for it but to stop.

She stood looking gravely down at me where I sat by the open case.

"I think you good man,"she said.And suddenly she had fallen before me on the floor."I belong you all-e-same pig!"she cried.

CHAPTER II.THE BAN.

I CAME on the verandah just before the sun rose on the morrow.My house was the last on the east;there was a cape of woods and cliffs behind that hid the sunrise.To the west,a swift cold river ran down,and beyond was the green of the village,dotted with cocoa-palms and breadfruits and houses.The shutters were some of them down and some open;I saw the mosquito bars still stretched,with shadows of people new-awakened sitting up inside;and all over the green others were stalking silent,wrapped in their many-coloured sleeping clothes like Bedouins in Bible pictures.It was mortal still and solemn and chilly,and the light of the dawn on the lagoon was like the shining of a fire.

But the thing that troubled me was nearer hand.Some dozen young men and children made a piece of a half-circle,flanking my house: