Captive Wife, The

by Kidman, Fiona

  Te Awaiti, 1830

  I look back on what I have wrote this past year. Nothing much but the weather and the tides and the whales we have caught and the stores brought. But my life is not the same. It is better now the girl is here. I have not thought to write down so much for she has filled my head instead with her talk and carry-on. But still I do not have a son. Lately I have been wondering if she does not like me well enough for my seed to take hold in her. She gives no sign of this and I tell myself there is no fool like an old one, worrying over these matters.

  During the whaling seasons, on my ship the Waterloo (½ my ship, for the other ½ is still owned by Mr Campbell), we employ a sea captain by the name of Richard Hall to carry our cargo to Sydney. Between seasons I go on with the arrangement to captain the ship, sailing south to pick up flax and sealskins. Often I take the girl to sea with me because I worry that the Maoris might take her. A good thing she is not seasick. Some of the men don’t like a woman on board. When they think I cannot hear they say that the ship is a hen-frigate. But I am the master and I say what goes. When one of them speaks out of turn I smash his face with my fist and when they have nursed a sore jaw for a day or 2 the message gets through to them.

  One thing I have not writ about is my brother Charley who has come with us for the whaling. My brother and I are not alike in many ways. When he 1st came to Sydney I wondered if he was my brother after all and not some man with a likeness who had taken his name. Or some other Charles Guard, no relation to me at all. But 1 time when we were swimming in Sydney harbour I saw the birthmark on his spine, 3 stars in a triangle, and I knew it was him all right.

  What is different about him? He is thin and bony for a start and given to reading books. I think our father saw more promise in him than he did in me which has stayed a sore point to tell the truth. After he done his time and got his ticket of leave he was a bit of a dandy round Sydney. I saw him come down to the wharves 1 day dressed like a gentleman in a blue suit and white waistcoat. I was loading stores at the time. I said to him Charley you’ll never make a living unless you do an honest day’s work.

  Work he said. There are other ways to work besides muck and tar. When was the last time you took a bath?

  I took no notice of him for a few years after that. I heard he’d tried his hand as a salesman and for a short time teaching school. But he is a fool if he thought he could get away with that for Charley has had no education to speak of. Reading, writing and a little arithmetic do not a teacher make. My Betsy knows as much as he does. Anyway, when he was broke, which happened as surely as night follows day, he come to me and asked what jobs can you offer. I looked him up and down and thought he will be an albatross around my neck, but he is my brother and what is a man to do. I said well you’d better put to sea with me. He went green around the gills for he was sick all the way from the old country to Sydney. He told me once before how he wd never set foot on a ship again.

  You can be my storeman I said and when you have your sea legs I will teach you the art of catching whales.

  This is how I came to have my brother Charley with me. I can tell he will not settle long, will come and go, and stay in Sydney whenever he’s got money in his pockets. For the time being he is with us and does his share. My wife can do with help and I see they get on well enough.

  For it is a hard life on my wife. She has to live as rough as any man with long hours of work and to live like a woman as well. The washing is the worst especially when it’s winter in the Sounds. There is always wet clothes, a case of running out at 1st sign of rain, bring in the wash, run out with it when the shower passes. There is whole days when there is nothing much else, but still there is the cooking to do.

  I’ve told my brother Charley to keep an eye on her when he can.

  Some days Betsy is very quiet. When we are abed she whispers to me in the winter air Jacky you will not let the Maoris get me.

  I will break them before that happens. I do not allow the Maoris to take liberties. You should know that.

  For it is true I take no nonsense and punish those who give me trouble. Like an unruly seaman I give them a tap and it brings them to their senses and if they do not mend their ways I will not employ them any more. I think the Maoris know where they stand with me.

  I came in 1 day and found Betsy standing in the hut with a bowl of flour untouched on the bench before her and the fire gone out. She was looking into space.

  What is it Betsy?

  I cannot hear the birds she said.

  But there are birds everywhere. And so there are, birds full of song, the air filled with the beat of their wings. Parrots and wood pigeons, hawks and saddleback, huia and kokako, and birds that sing all night.

  There are no cockies she said. And I see then what she means. The birds here are dark of plume and sing more sweetly, not full of noisy shouts like parakeets and cockatoos.

  But I told her listen hard and you will hear the birds. They sing a different song.

  Yes she said and put her head on one side. I do not know if it is just to please me or what. After a while the fire was lit and things back to normal. That night she made her own music. It was a cold night and still, there were fires on the beach. She sang for us several songs for she has grown up with the music of the Rocks people. She finished with the old 1 about the cambric shirt, about the king who promises to marry a maid if she can make him a shirt out of a piece of linen 3 inches square.

  Come buy me, come buy me a cambric shirt

  Without any seam and good needlework

  Savoury sage, rosemary and thyme

  Then you shall be a true love of mine.

  Come hang it all out on yonder thorn

  That never has blew blossom since Adam was born.

  And now you have asked me questions three,

  And now I will ask as many of thee.

  Come buy me, come buy me, an acre of land

  Between the sea water and the sea sand.

  She sang each 1 of the verses that number 12 and the men on the beach sang the chorus to each 1 and clapped, wiping their eyes on the cuffs of their shirts and all the time the sea roared, and far away heading towards Port Nick we saw the slow moving lights of a ship like fireflies. Betsy did a little dance and a curtsy. I ordered another ration of rum all round.

  She is not bad for a girl said one of the men, in his cups. His mate laughed and tipped a wink in my direction. Then the wives of the men, who had been listening too, began singing back in great harmony. It was the most peaceful a scene I have seen here and the sweetness of all their Maori voices was soothing on my mind. I think then we are in for better times.

  It is time to set down some of what Te Rauparaha has been up to. Nobody should think they know what he will do next. You can only take him minute by minute. He might think he is a general but he is what soldiers might call a mercenary for he makes war for profit. I don’t know much about him except that when he was young he came down from the north and joined up with Ngati Toa. They are a tribe driven south from the western coast by Waikato tribes. Te Rauparaha led them in fighting all down the Taranaki coastline, defeating everyone in his path until he reached Cook Strait.

  He acts like a king, and white men who come to New Zealand find it best to treat him like one. Early on he learnt that if he traded with pakea he would get rich. He calls us pakea, or somesuch. I have heard it means a flea. He has got rich through trade and it goes without saying that if pakea want to prosper they must be on his good side. On Kapiti Island he boasts 2000 slaves preparing flax for trade and as many muskets.

  But he takes things too far. He has long been set on war with Ngai Tahu, the big tribe of the South Island. He finds many reasons to quarrel. Above all he wants more land and the greenstone jade that is to be found in Ngai Tahu country. Along the way has come plenty of battles. They are filled with bad blood. For each there must be revenge. Utu. So it is hard to follow what each battle is over. Te Rauparaha’s men go into the battle with a chant that shak
es the sun. Ka mate, ka mate they cry. They stamp their feet in time and twirl their spears.

  Ngai Tahu was weak from having fought among themselves. They made easy pickings for Te Rauparaha. But now Ngai Tahu have recovered and are fighting back so we are piggy in the middle here. Their warriors come in waves from the south, wanting to push Ngati Toa back to where they come from.

  I have made it my business to make a friend of Te Rauparaha, thanks to young Rangi who showed me how to catch a whale. He made the path easier for me. This did not happen overnight and Te Rauparaha and I do not always see eye to eye. Things can fall apart when you least expect it.

  Late one afternoon, on his way north after a raid on the south, he came by with a war party of 500 men and decided he wanted to see me. He sent most of his troops in their canoes ahead to Kapiti. It soon came out, he was after more muskets. I told him I need more flax for my next trip to Sydney and I wd see what I could do for him.

  At this moment Betsy chose to come after me with some story about the sheep running away with her shoe. She was laughing and giggling like a silly girl, hopping round with 1 shoe on and 1 shoe off.

  Go away I said, can’t you see I am doing important business.

  Oh business she said and put her hand to her mouth. She looked Te Rauparaha up and down. He had no clothes on except a string belt round his waist. His old brown flesh was battered and scarred and filthy with the blood of others.

  You get yourself inside I said.

  Te Rauparaha was looking sore put out.

  She is young I said by way of an apology.

  You have a sheep he asked.

  Yes I have 10 I said which is true for I have got them from a man who is farming them on Mana Island, another island in Cook Strait.

  Throw in a sheep with the muskets he said.

  Not likely I said. For I was planning on cooking lamb for a treat for Betsy. I was feeling pleased with Betsy for she had been 2 months without blood and I was very hopeful.

  Te Rauparaha’s eyes blazed black with anger. You will give the girl the sheep before me he said, or that is what I took him to say.

  I shrugged and walked away, not wanting to argue in a language I cannot get my tongue around. Betsy was prancing ahead and I didn’t want to growl at her. All the same I said to her, you cannot make a fool of me Betsy. That man is not to be played with.

  Near dusk we heard a great commotion at the water’s edge. I saw Te Rauparaha struggling with 1 of my sheep, trying to load it in his canoe. I picked up my 2 good pistols and a cutlass, and took off. The sheep was part way in the canoe and Te Rauparaha could not get away from me for the animal had its back feet trailing in the water and going baa baa for its life. The chief was very unhappy at being caught like this.

  You is a thief Te Rauparaha I said.

  He picked up his tomahawk and came at me. I stood stock-still and drew a line in the sand with my cutlass.

  Cross that line and you are a dead man Te Rauparaha, old fool.

  He rushed on towards me but when I my cocked my pistol he stopped at the line. He ran back to his canoe and then back at me, his teeth bared in a snarl, spit upon his chin. I did not blink.

  I will kill you I said.

  Inside me I was thinking he wd not give up. He is famous for that. I looked deep in his eyes to read his intention all the time hoping he could not see inside of me. I thought if he did I wd have to kill him in cold blood. I did not much care to do that, for he is more trouble dead than a sheep. But he is an old sheep stealer and men have swung for less. Out to sea a canoe full of his warriors was looking on. It wd be him or me. I tightened my finger round the trigger and then I saw him blink.

  He turned and walked away and I felt the bile of disappointment ride up inside me. I had wanted to kill the old bastard. And something more. I wanted a fight.

  The sheep struggled free of the canoe. Te Rauparaha got in in its place. He pushed out to sea and was gone into the dark night of the Strait. I heard his oars swish and paddle and then I went back to the house where Betsy had my dinner waiting.

  I thought that some time I might pay for that.

  Chapter 19

  JOURNAL OF JOHN GUARD

  Te Awaiti, 1831

  The truth is I need Te Rauparaha.

  I see now that Te Awaiti is not the best place for a station and Cloudy Bay is in my mind. This area is away from the prevailing winds that sweep across the Cook Strait, the deep torrent of water between the 2 big islands of this country. In my head, I see the spot I want for my own, a sheltered bay full of kakapo, 1 of many bays and inlets that wd make a site for a port. I cannot do this unless I have Te Rauparaha on my side. He thinks he owns Cloudy Bay.

  I went to see Mr Campbell on my next trip to Sydney. Mr Campbell I said it is time to build another station. I have just the place for you.

  Oh yes and how much will that cost me.

  4000 pounds I said. You will get the money back in short order.

  At which he seemed happy enough for he has had good returns on all his investments with me. I showed him my books that are very neat thanks to Betsy’s hand. I saw he was impressed.

  I made a deal with Te Rauparaha. I thought I wd keep it to myself because Betsy does not like the man. I set up another book that I filled in in my own hand and kept it with my pistols which Betsy is not allowed to touch. If the Maoris come for you do not try to fight I have told her. You will come off worst. Go with them and I will come and get you back.

  So I built a base at the bay I have chosen. I was taking things a step at a time. I did not want to squander Mr Campbell’s money. But I reckon I am right about the place for it is so much easier to nab the whales here. We set up a lookout on a hill above the bay and watched for them to come. We called the lookout Hungry Hill for it is a way to go should you run out of tucker. Soon as we saw a whale down we go and launch the boats.

  As I have related the mother will not leave her calf so we tether it and then she is handed to us, easy as that, no fuss about it.

  The male is smarter. He does not often come in shore.

  So now I have 2 whaling stations working at the same time and 2 ships and more men are coming here to work.

  I did not find it easy to take to my brother and his fancy ways. He had brought books to read. Sometimes, back at Te Awaiti, I came across him and Betsy sitting and laughing like there was no work to be done. They made me not at ease. Charley is more fair of complexion than me, his hair light brown and wavy, his beard soft and fluffy like a puppy dog’s tail. I said Charley I think it is time you looked to find yourself a woman. There are women round here who will live with you.

  He shook his head and smiled to his self. I wanted to shake him.

  Charley I said have you had a good look at any of those darky women.

  I can’t say that I have. Not looking me straight in the eye.

  Well then I said, that is a mighty strange thing for a man your age not thinking about what to do with his poker. Not unless you have been putting it in the backsides of men which is useful when there is no women to be had but buggering around is not the same as putting it in a woman.

  You would know about that he asked with a bit of a smirk.

  I have spent more time at sea than you have Charley boy I said without raising my voice. I know what some men is like when they have been without the necessaries for some time.

  So what is this about he said and I hear his insolent tone. Is this because you’re afraid Betsy might fancy me more than you.

  I felt my heart grow still and cold. This is my brother and I cannot kill him the same way I could Te Rauparaha but I wondered if I might have to do this yet.

  Betsy is going to have a baby I said. You will treat her with respect.

  Then Betsy asked me why doesn’t Charley talk to me any more.

  Why do you think.

  When she doesn’t answer I said because I have told him not to. You are too friendly with him by far. You belong to me Betsy.

  But I
have done nothing she cried out.

  I want to believe this is true. But yesterday I walked up from the beach. We had caught a whale and the men were trying the blubber on the shore, the sky was dark with smoke and steam. I saw that Charley was not there and we needed all hands.

  He was standing outside our house and why does this not surprise me. When he saw me he tried to move away but I was too fast. I grabbed him by the back of his collar and threw him down the bank.

  Inside Betsy was sitting at the table. It is a table I have built myself. She held her head in her hands.

  So Charley is your darlin’ I said and yanked her to her feet.

  She flung my arm from her.

  What have you been doing with Charley?

  Nothing she said. As God is my keeper. Her face was red like rhubarb. I could not tell whether this be from anger or guilt. Why are you so cruel when all I do is what you tell me.

  She is lonely my brother said. He had picked his self up and walked back to the hut. He was leaning against the door as if he owned the place and it was all I could do not to break his neck. If he had not been my bro. that is what I wd have done. She worries after her little brother he told me. Can’t you tell that she misses her mother and her aunty he says to me.

  Then she can go back to them, you tell her that.

  Tell her yourself Charley said.