CHAPTER TWENTY.
A NATURALISED NEW ZEALANDER.
Three months had passed since the conversation in the last chapter, whenafter an adverse voyage from Port Jackson, His Majesty's sloop-of-warunder shortened sail made her way slowly towards what was in those daysa land of mystery.
A stiff breeze was blowing, and the watch were on deck, ready forreducing sail or any emergency. More were ready in the tops, and all onboard watching the glorious scene unfolding before them.
"I say, Mas' Don, look ye there," whispered Jem, as they sat together inthe foretop. "If this don't beat Bristol, I'm a Dutchman."
"Beat Bristol!" said Don contemptuously; "why, it's as different as canbe."
"Well, I dunno so much about that," said Jem. "There's that mountainyonder smoking puts one in mind of a factory chimney. And look yondertoo!--there's another one smoking ever so far off. I say, are thoseburning mountains?"
"I suppose so, unless it's steam. But what a lovely place!"
There were orders for shortening sail given just then, and they had nomore opportunity for talking during the next quarter of an hour, when,much closer in, they lay in the top once more, gazing eagerly at theglorious prospect of sea and sky, and verdant land and mountain. Thevessel slowly rounded what appeared to be a headland, and in a shorttime the wind seemed to have dropped, and the sea to have grown calm.It was like entering a lovely lake; and as they went slowly on and on,it was to find that they were forging ahead in a perfect archipelago,with fresh beauties opening up each minute.
The land was deliciously green, and cut up into valley, hill, andmountain. One island they were passing sent forth into the clear sunnyair a cloud of silvery steam, which floated slowly away, like a whiteensign spread to welcome the newcomers from a civilised land. At theirdistance from the shore it was impossible to make out the individualtrees, but there seemed to be clumps of noble pines some distance in,and the valleys were made ornamental with some kind of feathery growth.
"Well, all I've got to say, Mas' Don, is this here--Singpore arn't to begrumbled at, and China's all very well, only hot; but if you and me'sgoing to say good-bye to sailoring, let's do it here."
"That's exactly what I was thinking, Jem," replied Don.
"Say, Mas' Don, p'r'aps it arn't for me, being a servant and you a youngmaster, to make remarks."
"Don't talk nonsense, Jem; we are both common sailors."
"Well then, sir, as one sailor to another sailor, I says I wish youwouldn't get into bad habits."
"I wish so too, Jem."
"There you are again!" said Jem testily.
"What do you mean?"
"Why, so sure as I thinks something sensible and good, you alwaysketches me up and says you had thought it before."
"Nonsense, Jem! Well, have it your way. I quite agree with you."
"No, I won't, sir; you're master. Have it your way. I quite agree withyou. Let's go ashore here."
"If you can get the chance, Jem.--How lovely it looks!"
"Lovely's nothing to it, sir. Mike used to brag about what he'd seen inforeign countries, but he never see anything to come up to this."
"I don't think any one could see a more beautiful place, Jem."
"But I don't like the look o' that, sir."
"Of what?"
"That there yonder. That smoke."
"What, on that little island? No, Jem; it's steam."
"Well, don't you know what that means?"
"No."
"Then I've got something at last as you arn't got first!" cried Jemexcitedly, as he sheltered his eyes from the glare of the sun. "Yes;that's it's, sure. Cooking!"
"Cooking? What's cooking?"
"That place where the steam is, Mas' Don. I say, you know what they dohere? That's the place where they do it."
"Do what?"
"Cook people. That's the spot, safe."
"Nonsense!" said Don laughing.
"Ah! You may call it nonsense, Mas' Don; but if them sort o' things isdone here, I think we'd better stop on board."
Just at that moment the captain, who was busy with his spyglassexamining the place and looking for a snug anchorage, suddenly gave anorder, which was passed on, and with the rapidity customary on board aman-of-war, the stout boarding nettings, ready for use on an emergency,were triced up to the lower rigging, so that before long the vessel,from its bulwarks high up toward the lower yards, presented theappearance of a cage.
While this was going on, others of the men stood to their arms, gunswere cast loose and loaded, and every precaution taken against asurprise.
The reason for all this was that quite a fleet of long canoes, propelledby paddles, suddenly began to glide out from behind one of the islands,each canoe seeming to contain from eighty to a hundred men.
The effect was beautiful, for the long, dark vessels, with theirgrotesque, quaintly carved prows and sterns, seemed to be like somestrange living creatures working along paths of silver, so regularlywent the paddles, turning the sea into lines of dazzling light.
The men were armed with spears and tomahawks, and as they came nearer,some could be seen wearing black feathers tipped with white stuck intheir hair, while their dark, nearly naked bodies glistened in the sunlike bronze.
"Are they coming to attack us, Jem?" said Don, who began to feel astrange thrill of excitement.
"Dessay they'd like to, Mas' Don; but it strikes me they'd think twiceabout it. Why, we could sail right over those long thin boats oftheirs, and send 'em all to the bottom."
Just then there was an order from the deck, and more sail was taken in,till the ship hardly moved, as the canoes came dashing up, the men ofthe foremost singing a mournful kind of chorus as they paddled on.
"Ship ahoy!" suddenly came from the first canoe. "What ship's that?"
"His Majesty's sloop-of-war _Golden Danae_," shouted back the firstlieutenant from the chains. "Tell your other boats to keep back, or weshall fire."
"No, no, no: don't do that, sir! They don't mean fighting," came backfrom the boat; and a big savage, whose face was blue with tattooing,stood up in the canoe, and then turned and spoke to one of hiscompanions, who rose and shouted to the occupants of the other canoes tocease paddling.
"Speaks good English, sir," said the lieutenant to the captain.
"Yes. Ask them what they want, and if it's peace."
The lieutenant shouted this communication to the savage in the canoe.
"Want, sir?" came back; "to trade with you for guns and powder, and tocome aboard."
"How is it you speak good English?"
"Why, what should an Englishman speak?"
"Then you are not a savage?"
"Now do I look like one?" cried the man indignantly.
"Of course; I forgot--I'm an Englishman on a visit to the country, andI've adopted their customs, sir--that's all."
"Oh, I see," said the lieutenant, laughing; "ornaments and all."
"May they come aboard, sir?"
"Oh, yes; if they leave their arms."
The man communicated this to the occupants of the boat, and there was agood deal of excited conversation for a time.
"That fellow's a runaway convict for certain, sir," said the lieutenant."Shall we get him aboard, and keep him?"
"No. Let him be. Perhaps he will prove very useful."
"The chiefs say it isn't fair to ask them to come without their arms,"said the tattooed Englishman. "How are they to know that you will notbe treacherous?"
"Tell them this is a king's ship, and if they behave themselves theyhave nothing to fear," said the captain. "Stop! Six of them can comeaboard armed if they like. You can lead them and interpret."
"I'll tell them, sir; but I won't come aboard, thank you. I'm a bit ofa savage now, and the crew might make remarks, and we should quarrel."
He turned to the savages, and the captain and lieutenant exchangedglances, while directly after the canoe was run alongside, andhalf-a-dozen of the people
sprang up the side, and were admitted throughthe boarding netting to begin striding about the deck in the mostfearless way.
They were fine, herculean-looking fellows, broad-shouldered andhandsome, and every man had his face tattooed in a curious scroll-likepattern, which ended on the sides of his nose.
Their arms were spears and tomahawks, and two carried by a stout thongto the wrist a curiously carved object, which looked like a model of apaddle in pale green stone, carefully polished, but which on closerinspection seemed to be a weapon for using at close quarters.
As they paraded the deck, with their quick eyes grasping everything,they made no scruple about placing their faces close to those of thesailors, and then drawing themselves up with a conscious look ofsatisfaction and self-esteem, as they compared their physique with thatof their visitors.
One of them, a great fellow of about six feet three, and stout andmuscular in proportion, stopped suddenly in front of Jem, at whom heseemed to frown, and turned to Don, upon whose chest he laid the back ofhis hand.
"Pakeha," he said in a deep voice; "Ngati pakeha."
"Tell him he's another, Mas' Don," said Jem.
The savage turned fiercely upon Jem, gripping Don's arm the while.
"Pakeha," he said; "Ngati pakeha. Maori pakeha. My pakeha!"
Then to Don--"You my pakeha. Give me powder--gun."
"Don't you wish you may get it, old chap?" said Jem. "Wants you to givehim powder and gun."
The savage nodded approval.
"Yes," he said; "powder-gun--you give."
A call from one of his companions summoned the savage away, and hejoined them to partake of some rum and water, which the captain had hadprepared on their behalf.
"Won't you come up and have some rum?" said the lieutenant to thetattooed Englishman in the boat.
"No, thank you; but you may send me down the bottle if you like, sir.Look here! Shall I show you where you can anchor?"
The lieutenant glanced at his superior officer, and in answer to his nodturned to the man again.
"Can you show us a safe anchorage?"
"I can show you half-a-dozen, all safe," said the man. "When you like,I'll lead the way."
"A boat shall follow you, and take soundings."
The first cutter was manned with a well-armed crew, and the lieutenantstepped in--Don and Jem being two of the number.
The tattooed Englishman shouted something to the men busy on the ship,and they unwillingly left the deck, slipped down into their canoe, andthis led off, followed by the first cutter.
"Give way, my lads!" said the lieutenant; "and mind this: there must beno straying off in any shape whatever--that is, if we land. Thesefellows seem friendly, but we are only a few among hundreds, and Isuppose you know what your fate would be if they got the upper hand."
"Make tattooed chiefs of us seemingly, sir," said Jem.
"Or hot joints," said the officer laconically. "Ready there with thatlead."
The men rowed steadily on after the first canoe, and the man with thelead kept on making casts, but getting no bottom except at an excessivedepth, as they went on, the scene growing more beautiful as each pointwas passed. The other canoes followed, and a curious thrill ran throughDon, as he felt how helpless they would be if the savages provedtreacherous, for the boat and her crew could have been overpowered atonce; and the lieutenant was evidently uneasy, as he saw that they weretaken right round to the back of a small island, gradually losing sightof the ship.
But he had his duty to do, and keeping a strict watch, after passing theword to his men to have their arms ready, he made them row on, with thelead going all the time.
It was a curious experience, and Don's heart beat as he thought of thepossibility of escaping from the boat, and taking to the shore,wondering the while what would be the consequences. The man in theleading canoe was evidently well treated, and quite one in authority;and if they landed and joined these people, why should not he and Jembecome so too?
These were a few of the passing thoughts suggested by the novelty andbeauty of the place, which seemed ten times more attractive to those whohad been for months cooped up on shipboard; but the toil in which he wasengaged kept Don from taking more than a casual glance ashore.
Bosun Jones sat at the tiller side by side with the lieutenant, andscraps of their conversation reached Don's ears.
"Well, sir," said the former, "as you say, we're out of the reach of thesloop's guns; but if anything happens to us, we may be sure that thecaptain will take pretty good revenge."
"And a deal of good that will do us, Jones," said the lieutenant. "Ibelieve that scoundrel is leading us into a trap."
"If he is, sir, I hope for one chance at him," said the boatswain; "Idon't think I should miss my man."
The leading canoe went on for quite a quarter of a mile after they hadpassed out of sight of the ship, the cutter following and takingsoundings all the way, till they seemed to be quite shut in by highland, and the water was as smooth as a lake.
There, about five hundred yards from the shore, the canoe stopped, andalmost at the same moment the water shallowed, so that the man in thebows got soundings in ten fathoms; directly after, nine; then eight; andeight again, at which depth the water seemed to remain.
"Come, that's honest leading!" said the lieutenant, brightening; "assnug a berth as a ship could be in. Why, Jones, what a position for aport!"
"This do, sir?" shouted the tattooed Englishman. "You'll be quite inshelter here, and the water keeps the same right up to the shore."
A few more soundings were taken, and then the boat returned to the ship,which made her way in and anchored before night, with the canoes hangingabout, and some of the chiefs eagerly besieging the gangway to beallowed on deck. But special precautions were taken; sentries weredoubled; and, as if feeling that the fate of all on board depended uponhis stringent regulations, the captain only allowed about half-a-dozenof the savage-looking people to come on board at a time.
By a little management Don had contrived that Jem should have thehammock next to his; and that night, with the soft air playing inthrough the open port-hole, they listened to the faint sounds on shore,where the savages were evidently feasting, and discussed in a whisperthe possibility of getting away.
Adventures of Don Lavington: Nolens Volens Page 20
