<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII. <br/><span class="cheaderfont">THE CAPTAIN OR HIS GHOST.</span></SPAN></h2>
<p>In due course Edgar Foster arrived in Sydney again.
He thought it better to take Wal Jessop into his
confidence, and related to him the real reason of his
return to Australia.</p>
<p>Wal Jessop remembered the circumstances, and
said he did not think Edgar would easily find the
man.</p>
<p>‘He spoke of sailing for America,’ said Wal; ‘and
as I have seen nothing of him for some time, I think
he must have gone away.’</p>
<p>‘I mean to have a cruise in the South Seas, at any
rate,’ said Edgar. ‘I have never been there, and it<span class="pagenum">[251]</span>
will be interesting. I am sure to hear something
about this man from the natives and traders.’</p>
<p>Wal Jessop thought for a few moments, and then
said:</p>
<p>‘I have a schooner that would suit your purpose,
and I should not mind making a voyage with you.
It would be better than going alone, and I have been
in the South Seas several times.’</p>
<p>‘That would be splendid!’ said Edgar, overjoyed
at the prospect of having Wal Jessop with him.</p>
<p>Wal Jessop communicated his intention of accompanying
Edgar to his wife, and although she did not
care for him to leave her again to go on a cruise, she
raised no objections when she heard what object they
had in view.</p>
<p>‘How strange it will be if you find Captain
Manton there!’ she said. ‘Even if such a thing
happened I am afraid he would not return with
you.’</p>
<p>‘We shall persuade him to do so,’ said Wal, ‘if
we find him; but that is more than we hope for.
Still, more extraordinary things than this have happened
over shipwrecks, and truth is often stranger
than fiction.’</p>
<p>Wal Jessop’s schooner did not take much fitting
out for the voyage, for both he and Edgar were used
to roughing it. A couple of good men were engaged
to go with them, upon whom Wal Jessop knew he
could rely.</p>
<p>They set sail early one morning, and were soon<span class="pagenum">[252]</span>
outside the heads, going along at a fair rate of speed
in their small craft.</p>
<p>‘She sails well,’ said Edgar.</p>
<p>‘Many a craft twice her size does not skim over the
sea so fast,’ said Wal.</p>
<p>Edgar thoroughly enjoyed being on board the
schooner. It was vastly different from the life on an
ocean liner. They had on board a stock of goods to
trade with the natives, and hoped to make the trip
profitable. The wind and weather being in their
favour, they sailed merrily along, and there was every
prospect of their making a fast trip.</p>
<p>Wal Jessop suggested going to Fiji first of all.</p>
<p>‘It’s a jolly place,’ he said, ‘and will not be out of
our way, and we are not tied for time.’</p>
<p>‘It is a good thing your wife cannot hear you,’ said
Edgar, laughing. ‘I fancy I heard you say we should
return as quickly as possible.’</p>
<p>‘So we shall,’ said Wal; ‘but we made no stipulation
as to the course we should take.’</p>
<p>They made sail for Levuka, the former capital of
Fiji, Suva being the present capital. Levuka is
situated on a narrow strip of beach, from which the
backbone of Ovalau rises precipitately to a height of
2,500 feet, and falls in a similar manner on the other
side.</p>
<p>Levuka, Edgar found, consisted of one main street
about a mile in length, which runs along the beach
from old Government House to the native village
at the other end. The ground ascends rapidly on<span class="pagenum">[253]</span>
leaving the beach, and the hills around are dotted
with pretty villas. The stores and hotels face the
water, and here Edgar and Wal took in a fresh stock
of provisions for the schooner.</p>
<p>After leaving Levuka, they sailed along the coast
and saw a number of small native towns dotted about
at varying intervals, usually among a little grove of
cocoa-nuts or bananas.</p>
<p>They landed near one of these native villages and
obtained a supply of yams and sweet potatoes, also
bananas in any quantity. The village was surrounded
by filth and garbage of all sorts, and among
this highly-scented mess a number of scraggy pigs,
thin hens, and young children were rummaging. The
stagnant water lying about attracted swarms of
mosquitoes and flies.</p>
<p>Edgar entered one of the houses and was almost
choked with the smoke, and was glad to get a breath
of fresh air. The earthen floor of the house he
could just discern was covered with dry grass over
which were spread a few mats. The men seemed a
lazy lot of fellows, passing the bulk of their time in
smoking. They went inland for several miles, but
found the country hilly and uninteresting.</p>
<p>They saw numerous inland villages nestling in the
valley or perched on the top of a hill. After leaving
Fiji they sailed for the New Hebrides, rather an inhospitable
country, so Edgar understood. Wal Jessop
had, however, been to Tana before, and meant to
steer for that place.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum">[254]</span></p>
<p>‘What sort of a place is Tana?’ asked Edgar as
they sat idly in the schooner with the blue sky
shining brilliantly overhead, and the blue water of
the ocean all around them.</p>
<p>‘It is a volcanic island,’ said Wal. ‘There are
several of them in the group, and on many of them
the natives speak different languages. It is a circular
island, with a high mountain in the centre which we
ought to see before long. The mountain is constantly
in eruption, and answers the purpose of a
lighthouse. It is covered with vegetation almost to
the top.’</p>
<p>‘I hope we shall not have an earthquake during
our stay on the island. I have experienced one
already, during our exploration in the cave of
Enooma, and I should not care for the experience
to be repeated,’ said Edgar.</p>
<p>Next morning the island of Tana came in sight,
and Edgar marvelled at its beauty as seen from the
schooner. In the centre of the island rose the high
mountain, as Wal Jessop had described it, and smoke
and fire were issuing from the top. They were not
long in reaching a landing-place, and on the beach
they saw a number of native canoes, some about
fifteen feet long, and others from twenty-five to
nearly fifty feet in length.</p>
<p>When the natives saw the schooner let go her
anchor, two canoes put off and were quickly paddled
alongside. The natives in them were rather under
the middle stature and the colour of old copper.<span class="pagenum">[255]</span>
Their faces were painted a reddish colour, and looked
oily and sticky. Their hair was frizzy and of a light-brown
colour, and was twisted and curled into
numerous tails, which were thrown back from the
forehead and hung down the back. It looked for all
the world like a wig made of whipcord, Edgar
thought.</p>
<p>‘These fellows are Tanese,’ said Wal. ‘I must
try and make them understand a few questions.’</p>
<p>He spoke to one of the natives, who was taller
than his companions, and asked him to come on
board the schooner. Without the least hesitation
the man did so. As he stood on deck, Edgar saw
that he was a well-made, athletic young fellow. The
septum of his nose was pierced, and through it was
inserted a reed horizontally, but not so as to project
beyond either nostril. He had tortoiseshell earrings
in his ears, about half a dozen hanging down
on each side, and the weight had enlarged the
aperture until a child’s hand might have been passed
through. He was not tattooed, but on his breast a
rude device of a fish had been either cut or burnt in,
and on the upper part of his arms was a leaf done in a
similar way. He had no clothes on except a matting
bag round the loins. He had armlets on, and also
three large whale’s teeth on three strings hanging
horizontally on his breast.</p>
<p>‘He’s a chief,’ said Wal. ‘I can tell that by those
teeth he has on his breast.’</p>
<p>‘He is a formidable-looking savage,’ said Edgar.<span class="pagenum">[256]</span>
‘I should not care to have a hit with that club he
carries.’</p>
<p>Wal Jessop motioned the chief to sit down, which
he did, and was presented with a necklace of bright-coloured
beads which delighted him immensely.</p>
<p>The other natives in the canoes were looking at
the schooner with eager eyes, evidently with the expectation
of getting a few presents.</p>
<p>The chief, whose name was Meri, spoke a few
words of English, and as Wal Jessop knew a little of
the Tana language, they managed to understand
each other.</p>
<p>Although Edgar could not make out what they were
talking about, he knew Wal Jessop was questioning
him as to the white men who visited the island.</p>
<p>‘Psan Aremama,’ said Meri.</p>
<p>‘There is a white man on the island,’ said Wal to
Edgar. ‘We must go ashore and try and meet him.
Meri knows where he is to be found, but he avoids
the coast.’</p>
<p>‘Strange a white man should be here,’ said Edgar.
‘It may be the very man we are in search of.’</p>
<p>‘If it turns out to be Manton, it will be stranger
still,’ said Wal.</p>
<p>Meri agreed to take them ashore in his canoe, and
to make room for them ordered two of the men to
jump out and swim back to land.</p>
<p>Wal Jessop asked if there were sharks about, for
he saw the natives were frightened, but dared not
disobey the chief.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum">[257]</span></p>
<p>Meri laughed, showing his even teeth, and hinted
that it would be good sport to see a shark or two
hunt the natives.</p>
<p>‘Pleasant sort of man to work for,’ said Edgar,
when Wal had explained.</p>
<p>The canoe shot away from the side of the schooner.
Wal and Edgar had their rifles with them and also a
number of beads, trinkets, and pieces of bright-coloured
cloths, with which to propitiate the natives.</p>
<p>As they neared the shore one of the natives who
was swimming dived, and before he came to the
surface the water was dyed with blood.</p>
<p>‘Laumasan! [good],’ chuckled Meri.</p>
<p>The native came to the surface, and they saw he
had dived and stabbed a shark that had been in
pursuit.</p>
<p>‘That was cleverly done,’ said Wal.</p>
<p>‘They must have some pluck,’ said Edgar.</p>
<p>‘Good fighters, many of them,’ said Wal. ‘We
must try and get them to give us an exhibition of
spear-throwing and stone-slinging. It will interest
you.’</p>
<p>They got out of the canoes and waded through
the surf to the beach. Here a number of natives,
men and women, were gathered. The women were
fairly well covered with long girdles reaching below
the knee. These girdles were made of rolled dried
fibre of the banana stalk, which was soft to touch
and very like hemp. They also wore a few ornaments,
and their hair was shorter than the men’s,<span class="pagenum">[258]</span>
standing erect in a forest of little curls about an inch
long.</p>
<p>The chief conducted them to his hut, which was
rudely constructed, but large enough to hold half a
dozen persons comfortably. This hut was built
amongst the trees, and there were huts of a smaller
size for about eight or ten families.</p>
<p>The chief gave them to understand that they must
join them at the marum, or place of public meeting.</p>
<p>This meeting was held under a banyan tree in a
large clear space. All the men assembled here at
sundown for their evening meal.</p>
<p>A bowl of kava was prepared by chewing the root
and ejecting the contents of the mouth into a bowl,
which was filled up with water, then mixed and
strained. In addition to the kava, there were raw
yams served, and cooked food consisting of figs and
fowls. The women had their meal apart from the
men.</p>
<p>Meri repeated a short prayer before the meal,
wishing them success in their crops and in the battles
in which they were often engaged.</p>
<p>Edgar, having seen the kava prepared, did not
relish tasting it, but at a sign from Wal Jessop, he
took the bowl and sipped a little.</p>
<p>‘They would have been greatly offended had you
refused it,’ Wal explained.</p>
<p>After the meal, which, with the exception of the
kava, Edgar relished, the men made speeches and
danced, flourishing their clubs. It amused Edgar<span class="pagenum">[259]</span>
to watch the children, of whom the men seemed very
fond. The copper-skinned little ones imitated their
elders with precocious dexterity.</p>
<p>It was a curious sight to see these natives holding
a marum under the huge banyan tree, and as the
shades of night quickly fell their figures loomed in
the light with a peculiarly weird effect as they
danced and chanted their monotonous song.</p>
<p>Meri sat between Wal Jessop and Edgar, and as
the dance proceeded, he caught them one by each
arm and nodded across the opening. Edgar and
Wal looked in the direction Meri indicated, and saw
a strange figure standing looking at the scene.</p>
<p>Edgar sprang to his feet and shouted:</p>
<p>‘The captain or his ghost!’</p>
<p>‘The very image of him,’ said Wal.</p>
<p>The stranger had, however, noted their movements,
and, suddenly turning, darted back into the shadow
of the trees.</p>
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