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diff --git a/old/valma10.txt b/old/valma10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4a75ce --- /dev/null +++ b/old/valma10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9584 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Etext of Vailima Letters, by R. L. Stevenson +#15 in our series by Robert Louis Stevenson + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + +Vailima Letters Robert Louis Stevenson +Scanned and proofed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +Vailima Letters + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + +IN THE MOUNTAIN, APIA, SAMOA, +MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND, 1890 + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - This is a hard and interesting and +beautiful life that we lead now. Our place is in a deep +cleft of Vaea Mountain, some six hundred feet above the sea, +embowered in forest, which is our strangling enemy, and which +we combat with axes and dollars. I went crazy over outdoor +work, and had at last to confine myself to the house, or +literature must have gone by the board. NOTHING is so +interesting as weeding, clearing, and path-making; the +oversight of labourers becomes a disease; it is quite an +effort not to drop into the farmer; and it does make you feel +so well. To come down covered with mud and drenched with +sweat and rain after some hours in the bush, change, rub +down, and take a chair in the verandah, is to taste a quiet +conscience. And the strange thing that I mark is this: If I +go out and make sixpence, bossing my labourers and plying the +cutlass or the spade, idiot conscience applauds me; if I sit +in the house and make twenty pounds, idiot conscience wails +over my neglect and the day wasted. For near a fortnight I +did not go beyond the verandah; then I found my rush of work +run out, and went down for the night to Apia; put in Sunday +afternoon with our consul, 'a nice young man,' dined with my +friend H. J. Moors in the evening, went to church - no less - +at the white and half-white church - I had never been before, +and was much interested; the woman I sat next LOOKED a full- +blood native, and it was in the prettiest and readiest +English that she sang the hymns; back to Moors', where we +yarned of the islands, being both wide wanderers, till bed- +time; bed, sleep, breakfast, horse saddled; round to the +mission, to get Mr. Clarke to be my interpreter; over with +him to the King's, whom I have not called on since my return; +received by that mild old gentleman; have some interesting +talk with him about Samoan superstitions and my land - the +scene of a great battle in his (Malietoa Laupepa's) youth - +the place which we have cleared the platform of his fort - +the gulley of the stream full of dead bodies - the fight +rolled off up Vaea mountain-side; back with Clarke to the +Mission; had a bit of lunch and consulted over a queer point +of missionary policy just arisen, about our new Town Hall and +the balls there - too long to go into, but a quaint example +of the intricate questions which spring up daily in the +missionary path. + +Then off up the hill; Jack very fresh, the sun (close on +noon) staring hot, the breeze very strong and pleasant; the +ineffable green country all round - gorgeous little birds (I +think they are humming birds, but they say not) skirmishing +in the wayside flowers. About a quarter way up I met a +native coming down with the trunk of a cocoa palm across his +shoulder; his brown breast glittering with sweat and oil: +'Talofa' - 'Talofa, alii - You see that white man? He speak +for you.' 'White man he gone up here?' - 'Ioe (Yes)' - +'Tofa, alii' - 'Tofa, soifua!' I put on Jack up the steep +path, till he is all as white as shaving stick - Brown's +euxesis, wish I had some - past Tanugamanono, a bush village +- see into the houses as I pass - they are open sheds +scattered on a green - see the brown folk sitting there, +suckling kids, sleeping on their stiff wooden pillows - then +on through the wood path - and here I find the mysterious +white man (poor devil!) with his twenty years' certificate of +good behaviour as a book-keeper, frozen out by the strikes in +the colonies, come up here on a chance, no work to be found, +big hotel bill, no ship to leave in - and come up to beg +twenty dollars because he heard I was a Scotchman, offering +to leave his portmanteau in pledge. Settle this, and on +again; and here my house comes in view, and a war whoop +fetches my wife and Henry (or Simele), our Samoan boy, on the +front balcony; and I am home again, and only sorry that I +shall have to go down again to Apia this day week. I could, +and would, dwell here unmoved, but there are things to be +attended to. + +Never say I don't give you details and news. That is a +picture of a letter. + +I have been hard at work since I came; three chapters of THE +WRECKER, and since that, eight of the South Sea book, and, +along and about and in between, a hatful of verses. Some day +I'll send the verse to you, and you'll say if any of it is +any good. I have got in a better vein with the South Sea +book, as I think you will see; I think these chapters will do +for the volume without much change. Those that I did in the +JANET NICOLL, under the most ungodly circumstances, I fear +will want a lot of suppling and lightening, but I hope to +have your remarks in a month or two upon that point. It +seems a long while since I have heard from you. I do hope +you are well. I am wonderful, but tired from so much work; +'tis really immense what I have done; in the South Sea book I +have fifty pages copied fair, some of which has been four +times, and all twice written, certainly fifty pages of solid +scriving inside a fortnight, but I was at it by seven a.m. +till lunch, and from two till four or five every day; between +whiles, verse and blowing on the flageolet; never outside. +If you could see this place! but I don't want any one to see +it till my clearing is done, and my house built. It will be +a home for angels. + +So far I wrote after my bit of dinner, some cold meat and +bananas, on arrival. Then out to see where Henry and some of +the men were clearing the garden; for it was plain there was +to be no work to-day indoors, and I must set in consequence +to farmering. I stuck a good while on the way up, for the +path there is largely my own handiwork, and there were a lot +of sprouts and saplings and stones to be removed. Then I +reached our clearing just where the streams join in one; it +had a fine autumn smell of burning, the smoke blew in the +woods, and the boys were pretty merry and busy. Now I had a +private design:- + +[Map which cannot be reproduced] + +The Vaita'e I had explored pretty far up; not yet the other +stream, the Vaituliga (g=nasal n, as ng in sing); and up +that, with my wood knife, I set off alone. It is here quite +dry; it went through endless woods; about as broad as a +Devonshire lane, here and there crossed by fallen trees; huge +trees overhead in the sun, dripping lianas and tufted with +orchids, tree ferns, ferns depending with air roots from the +steep banks, great arums - I had not skill enough to say if +any of them were the edible kind, one of our staples here! - +hundreds of bananas - another staple - and alas! I had skill +enough to know all of these for the bad kind that bears no +fruit. My Henry moralised over this the other day; how hard +it was that the bad banana flourished wild, and the good must +be weeded and tended; and I had not the heart to tell him how +fortunate they were here, and how hungry were other lands by +comparison. The ascent of this lovely lane of my dry stream +filled me with delight. I could not but be reminded of old +Mayne Reid, as I have been more than once since I came to the +tropics; and I thought, if Reid had been still living, I +would have written to tell him that, for, me, IT HAD COME +TRUE; and I thought, forbye, that, if the great powers go on +as they are going, and the Chief Justice delays, it would +come truer still; and the war-conch will sound in the hills, +and my home will be inclosed in camps, before the year is +ended. And all at once - mark you, how Mayne Reid is on the +spot - a strange thing happened. I saw a liana stretch +across the bed of the brook about breast-high, swung up my +knife to sever it, and - behold, it was a wire! On either +hand it plunged into thick bush; to-morrow I shall see where +it goes and get a guess perhaps of what it means. To-day I +know no more than - there it is. A little higher the brook +began to trickle, then to fill. At last, as I meant to do +some work upon the homeward trail, it was time to turn. I +did not return by the stream; knife in hand, as long as my +endurance lasted, I was to cut a path in the congested bush. + +At first it went ill with me; I got badly stung as high as +the elbows by the stinging plant; I was nearly hung in a +tough liana - a rotten trunk giving way under my feet; it was +deplorable bad business. And an axe - if I dared swing one - +would have been more to the purpose than my cutlass. Of a +sudden things began to go strangely easier; I found stumps, +bushing out again; my body began to wonder, then my mind; I +raised my eyes and looked ahead; and, by George, I was no +longer pioneering, I had struck an old track overgrown, and +was restoring an old path. So I laboured till I was in such +a state that Carolina Wilhelmina Skeggs could scarce have +found a name for it. Thereon desisted; returned to the +stream; made my way down that stony track to the garden, +where the smoke was still hanging and the sun was still in +the high tree-tops, and so home. Here, fondly supposing my +long day was over, I rubbed down; exquisite agony; water +spreads the poison of these weeds; I got it all over my +hands, on my chest, in my eyes, and presently, while eating +an orange, A LA Raratonga, burned my lip and eye with orange +juice. Now, all day, our three small pigs had been adrift, +to the mortal peril of our corn, lettuce, onions, etc., and +as I stood smarting on the back verandah, behold the three +piglings issuing from the wood just opposite. Instantly I +got together as many boys as I could - three, and got the +pigs penned against the rampart of the sty, till the others +joined; whereupon we formed a cordon, closed, captured the +deserters, and dropped them, squeaking amain, into their +strengthened barracks where, please God, they may now stay! + +Perhaps you may suppose the day now over; you are not the +head of a plantation, my juvenile friend. Politics +succeeded: Henry got adrift in his English, Bene was too +cowardly to tell me what he was after: result, I have lost +seven good labourers, and had to sit down and write to you to +keep my temper. Let me sketch my lads. - Henry - Henry has +gone down to town or I could not be writing to you - this +were the hour of his English lesson else, when he learns what +he calls 'long expessions' or 'your chief's language' for the +matter of an hour and a half - Henry is a chiefling from +Savaii; I once loathed, I now like and - pending fresh +discoveries - have a kind of respect for Henry. He does good +work for us; goes among the labourers, bossing and watching; +helps Fanny; is civil, kindly, thoughtful; O SI SIC SEMPER! +But will he be 'his sometime self throughout the year'? +Anyway, he has deserved of us, and he must disappoint me +sharply ere I give him up. - Bene - or Peni-Ben, in plain +English - is supposed to be my ganger; the Lord love him! +God made a truckling coward, there is his full history. He +cannot tell me what he wants; he dares not tell me what is +wrong; he dares not transmit my orders or translate my +censures. And with all this, honest, sober, industrious, +miserably smiling over the miserable issue of his own +unmanliness. - Paul - a German - cook and steward - a glutton +of work - a splendid fellow; drawbacks, three: (1) no cook; +(2) an inveterate bungler; a man with twenty thumbs, +continually falling in the dishes, throwing out the dinner, +preserving the garbage; (3) a dr-, well, don't let us say +that - but we daren't let him go to town, and he - poor, good +soul - is afraid to be let go. - Lafaele (Raphael), a strong, +dull, deprecatory man; splendid with an axe, if watched; the +better for a rowing, when he calls me 'Papa' in the most +wheedling tones; desperately afraid of ghosts, so that he +dare not walk alone up in the banana patch - see map. The +rest are changing labourers; and to-night, owing to the +miserable cowardice of Peni, who did not venture to tell me +what the men wanted - and which was no more than fair - all +are gone - and my weeding in the article of being finished! +Pity the sorrows of a planter. + +I am, Sir, yours, and be jowned to you, The Planter, +R. L. S. + + +Tuesday 3rd + + +I begin to see the whole scheme of letter-writing; you sit +down every day and pour out an equable stream of twaddle. + +This morning all my fears were fled, and all the trouble had +fallen to the lot of Peni himself, who deserved it; my field +was full of weeders; and I am again able to justify the ways +of God. All morning I worked at the South Seas, and finished +the chapter I had stuck upon on Saturday. Fanny, awfully +hove-to with rheumatics and injuries received upon the field +of sport and glory, chasing pigs, was unable to go up and +down stairs, so she sat upon the back verandah, and my work +was chequered by her cries. 'Paul, you take a spade to do +that - dig a hole first. If you do that, you'll cut your +foot off! Here, you boy, what you do there? You no get +work? You go find Simele; he give you work. Peni, you tell +this boy he go find Simele; suppose Simele no give him work, +you tell him go 'way. I no want him here. That boy no +good.' - PENI (from the distance in reassuring tones), 'All +right, sir!' - FANNY (after a long pause), 'Peni, you tell +that boy go find Simele! I no want him stand here all day. +I no pay that boy. I see him all day. He no do nothing.' - +Luncheon, beef, soda-scones, fried bananas, pine-apple in +claret, coffee. Try to write a poem; no go. Play the +flageolet. Then sneakingly off to farmering and pioneering. +Four gangs at work on our place; a lively scene; axes +crashing and smoke blowing; all the knives are out. But I +rob the garden party of one without a stock, and you should +see my hand - cut to ribbons. Now I want to do my path up +the Vaituliga single-handed, and I want it to burst on the +public complete. Hence, with devilish ingenuity, I begin it +at different places; so that if you stumble on one section, +you may not even then suspect the fulness of my labours. +Accordingly, I started in a new place, below the wire, and +hoping to work up to it. It was perhaps lucky I had so bad a +cutlass, and my smarting hand bid me stay before I had got up +to the wire, but just in season, so that I was only the +better of my activity, not dead beat as yesterday. + +A strange business it was, and infinitely solitary; away +above, the sun was in the high tree-tops; the lianas noosed +and sought to hang me; the saplings struggled, and came up +with that sob of death that one gets to know so well; great, +soft, sappy trees fell at a lick of the cutlass, little tough +switches laughed at and dared my best endeavour. Soon, +toiling down in that pit of verdure, I heard blows on the far +side, and then laughter. I confess a chill settled on my +heart. + +Being so dead alone, in a place where by rights none should +be beyond me, I was aware, upon interrogation, if those blows +had drawn nearer, I should (of course quite unaffectedly) +have executed a strategic movement to the rear; and only the +other day I was lamenting my insensibility to superstition! +Am I beginning to be sucked in? Shall I become a midnight +twitterer like my neighbours? At times I thought the blows +were echoes; at times I thought the laughter was from birds. +For our birds are strangely human in their calls. Vaea +mountain about sundown sometimes rings with shrill cries, +like the hails of merry, scattered children. As a matter of +fact, I believe stealthy wood-cutters from Tanugamanono were +above me in the wood and answerable for the blows; as for the +laughter, a woman and two children had come and asked Fanny's +leave to go up shrimp-fishing in the burn; beyond doubt, it +was these I heard. Just at the right time I returned; to +wash down, change, and begin this snatch of letter before +dinner was ready, and to finish it afterwards, before Henry +has yet put in an appearance for his lesson in 'long +explessions.' + +Dinner: stewed beef and potatoes, baked bananas, new loaf- +bread hot from the oven, pine-apple in claret. These are +great days; we have been low in the past; but now are we as +belly-gods, enjoying all things. + + +WEDNESDAY. (HIST. VAILIMA RESUMED.) + + +A gorgeous evening of after-glow in the great tree-tops and +behind the mountain, and full moon over the lowlands and the +sea, inaugurated a night of horrid cold. To you effete +denizens of the so-called temperate zone, it had seemed +nothing; neither of us could sleep; we were up seeking extra +coverings, I know not at what hour - it was as bright as day. +The moon right over Vaea - near due west, the birds strangely +silent, and the wood of the house tingling with cold; I +believe it must have been 60 degrees! Consequence; Fanny has +a headache and is wretched, and I could do no work. (I am +trying all round for a place to hold my pen; you will hear +why later on; this to explain penmanship.) I wrote two +pages, very bad, no movement, no life or interest; then I +wrote a business letter; then took to tootling on the +flageolet, till glory should call me farmering. + +I took up at the fit time Lafaele and Mauga - Mauga, accent +on the first, is a mountain, I don't know what Mauga means - +mind what I told you of the value of g - to the garden, and +set them digging, then turned my attention to the path. I +could not go into my bush path for two reasons: 1st, sore +hands; 2nd, had on my trousers and good shoes. Lucky it was. +Right in the wild lime hedge which cuts athwart us just +homeward of the garden, I found a great bed of kuikui - +sensitive plant - our deadliest enemy. A fool brought it to +this island in a pot, and used to lecture and sentimentalise +over the tender thing. The tender thing has now taken charge +of this island, and men fight it, with torn hands, for bread +and life. A singular, insidious thing, shrinking and biting +like a weasel; clutching by its roots as a limpet clutches to +a rock. As I fought him, I bettered some verses in my poem, +the WOODMAN; the only thought I gave to letters. Though the +kuikui was thick, there was but a small patch of it, and when +I was done I attacked the wild lime, and had a hand-to-hand +skirmish with its spines and elastic suckers. All this time, +close by, in the cleared space of the garden, Lafaele and +Mauga were digging. Suddenly quoth Lafaele, 'Somebody he +sing out.' - 'Somebody he sing out? All right. I go.' And +I went and found they had been whistling and 'singing out' +for long, but the fold of the hill and the uncleared bush +shuts in the garden so that no one heard, and I was late for +dinner, and Fanny's headache was cross; and when the meal was +over, we had to cut up a pineapple which was going bad, to +make jelly of; and the next time you have a handful of broken +blood-blisters, apply pine-apple juice, and you will give me +news of it, and I request a specimen of your hand of write +five minutes after - the historic moment when I tackled this +history. My day so far. + +Fanny was to have rested. Blessed Paul began making a duck- +house; she let him be; the duck-house fell down, and she had +to set her hand to it. He was then to make a drinking-place +for the pigs; she let him be again - he made a stair by which +the pigs will probably escape this evening, and she was near +weeping. Impossible to blame the indefatigable fellow; +energy is too rare and goodwill too noble a thing to +discourage; but it's trying when she wants a rest. Then she +had to cook the dinner; then, of course - like a fool and a +woman - must wait dinner for me, and make a flurry of +herself. Her day so far. CETERA ADHUC DESUNT. + + +FRIDAY - I THINK. + + +I have been too tired to add to this chronicle, which will at +any rate give you some guess of our employment. All goes +well; the kuikui - (think of this mispronunciation having +actually infected me to the extent of misspelling! tuitui is +the word by rights) - the tuitui is all out of the paddock - +a fenced park between the house and boundary; Peni's men +start to-day on the road; the garden is part burned, part +dug; and Henry, at the head of a troop of underpaid +assistants, is hard at work clearing. The part clearing you +will see from the map; from the house run down to the stream +side, up the stream nearly as high as the garden; then back +to the star which I have just added to the map. + +My long, silent contests in the forest have had a strange +effect on me. The unconcealed vitality of these vegetables, +their exuberant number and strength, the attempts - I can use +no other word - of lianas to enwrap and capture the intruder, +the awful silence, the knowledge that all my efforts are only +like the performance of an actor, the thing of a moment, and +the wood will silently and swiftly heal them up with fresh +effervescence; the cunning sense of the tuitui, suffering +itself to be touched with wind-swayed grasses and not minding +- but let the grass be moved by a man, and it shuts up; the +whole silent battle, murder, and slow death of the contending +forest; weigh upon the imagination. My poem the WOODMAN +stands; but I have taken refuge in a new story, which just +shot through me like a bullet in one of my moments of awe, +alone in that tragic jungle:- + + +THE HIGH WOODS OF ULUFANUA. + +1. A South Sea Bridal. +2. Under the Ban. +3. Savao and Faavao. +4. Cries in the High Wood. +5. Rumour full of Tongues. +6. The Hour of Peril. +7. The Day of Vengeance. + + +It is very strange, very extravagant, I daresay; but it's +varied, and picturesque, and has a pretty love affair, and +ends well. Ulufanua is a lovely Samoan word, ulu=grove; +fanua=land; grove-land - 'the tops of the high trees.' +Savao, 'sacred to the wood,' and Faavao, 'wood-ways,' are the +names of two of the characters, Ulufanua the name of the +supposed island. + +I am very tired, and rest off to-day from all but letters. +Fanny is quite done up; she could not sleep last night, +something it seemed like asthma - I trust not. I suppose +Lloyd will be about, so you can give him the benefit of this +long scrawl. Never say that I CAN'T write a letter, say that +I don't. - Yours ever, my dearest fellow, +R. L. S. + + +LATER ON FRIDAY. + + +The guid wife had bread to bake, and she baked it in a pan, +O! But between whiles she was down with me weeding sensitive +in the paddock. The men have but now passed over it; I was +round in that very place to see the weeding was done +thoroughly, and already the reptile springs behind our heels. +Tuitui is a truly strange beast, and gives food for thought. +I am nearly sure - I cannot yet be quite, I mean to +experiment, when I am less on the hot chase of the beast - +that, even at the instant he shrivels up his leaves, he +strikes his prickles downward so as to catch the uprooting +finger; instinctive, say the gabies; but so is man's impulse +to strike out. One thing that takes and holds me is to see +the strange variation in the propagation of alarm among these +rooted beasts; at times it spreads to a radius (I speak by +the guess of the eye) of five or six inches; at times only +one individual plant appears frightened at a time. We tried +how long it took one to recover; 'tis a sanguine creature; it +is all abroad again before (I guess again) two minutes. It +is odd how difficult in this world it is to be armed. The +double armour of this plant betrays it. In a thick tuft, +where the leaves disappear, I thrust in my hand, and the bite +of the thorns betrays the topmost stem. In the open again, +and when I hesitate if it be clover, a touch on the leaves, +and its fine sense and retractile action betrays its identity +at once. Yet it has one gift incomparable. Rome had virtue +and knowledge; Rome perished. The sensitive plant has +indigestible seeds - so they say - and it will flourish for +ever. I give my advice thus to a young plant - have a strong +root, a weak stem, and an indigestible seed; so you will +outlast the eternal city, and your progeny will clothe +mountains, and the irascible planter will blaspheme in vain. +The weak point of tuitui is that its stem is strong. + + +SUPPLEMENTARY PAGE. + + +Here beginneth the third lesson, which is not from the +planter but from a less estimable character, the writer of +books. + +I want you to understand about this South Sea Book. The job +is immense; I stagger under material. I have seen the first +big TACHE. It was necessary to see the smaller ones; the +letters were at my hand for the purpose, but I was not going +to lose this experience; and, instead of writing mere +letters, have poured out a lot of stuff for the book. How +this works and fits, time is to show. But I believe, in +time, I shall get the whole thing in form. Now, up to date, +that is all my design, and I beg to warn you till we have the +whole (or much) of the stuff together, you can hardly judge - +and I can hardly judge. Such a mass of stuff is to be +handled, if possible without repetition - so much foreign +matter to be introduced - if possible with perspicuity - and, +as much as can be, a spirit of narrative to be preserved. +You will find that come stronger as I proceed, and get the +explanations worked through. Problems of style are (as yet) +dirt under my feet; my problem is architectural, creative - +to get this stuff jointed and moving. If I can do that, I +will trouble you for style; anybody might write it, and it +would be splendid; well-engineered, the masses right, the +blooming thing travelling - twig? + +This I wanted you to understand, for lots of the stuff sent +home is, I imagine, rot - and slovenly rot - and some of it +pompous rot; and I want you to understand it's a LAY-IN. + +Soon, if the tide of poeshie continues, I'll send you a whole +lot to damn. You never said thank-you for the handsome +tribute addressed to you from Apemama; such is the gratitude +of the world to the God-sent poick. Well, well:- 'Vex not +thou the poick's mind, With thy coriaceous ingratitude, The +P. will be to your faults more than a little blind, And yours +is a far from handsome attitude.' Having thus dropped into +poetry in a spirit of friendship, I have the honour to +subscribe myself, Sir, + +Your obedient humble servant, +SILAS WEGG. + + +I suppose by this you will have seen the lad - and his feet +will have been in the Monument - and his eyes beheld the face +of George. Well! + +There is much eloquence in a well! +I am, Sir +Yours + +The Epigrammatist + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + +FINIS - EXPLICIT + + + +CHAPTER II + + + +VAILIMA, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH, 1890. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - I wanted to go out bright and early to go +on with my survey. You never heard of that. The world has +turned, and much water run under bridges, since I stopped my +diary. I have written six more chapters of the book, all +good I potently believe, and given up, as a deception of the +devil's, the High Woods. I have been once down to Apia, to a +huge native feast at Seumanutafa's, the chief of Apia. There +was a vast mass of food, crowds of people, the police +charging among them with whips, the whole in high good humour +on both sides; infinite noise; and a historic event - Mr. +Clarke, the missionary, and his wife, assisted at a native +dance. On my return from this function, I found work had +stopped; no more South Seas in my belly. Well, Henry had +cleared a great deal of our bush on a contract, and it ought +to be measured. I set myself to the task with a tape-line; +it seemed a dreary business; then I borrowed a prismatic +compass, and tackled the task afresh. I have no books; I had +not touched an instrument nor given a thought to the business +since the year of grace 1871; you can imagine with what +interest I sat down yesterday afternoon to reduce my +observations; five triangles I had taken; all five came +right, to my ineffable joy. Our dinner - the lowest we have +ever been - consisted of ONE AVOCADO PEAR between Fanny and +me, a ship's biscuit for the guidman, white bread for the +Missis, and red wine for the twa. No salt horse, even, in +all Vailima! After dinner Henry came, and I began to teach +him decimals; you wouldn't think I knew them myself after so +long desuetude! + +I could not but wonder how Henry stands his evenings here; +the Polynesian loves gaiety - I feed him with decimals, the +mariner's compass, derivations, grammar, and the like; +delecting myself, after the manner of my race, MOULT +TRISTEMENT. I suck my paws; I live for my dexterities and by +my accomplishments; even my clumsinesses are my joy - my +woodcuts, my stumbling on the pipe, this surveying even - and +even weeding sensitive; anything to do with the mind, with +the eye, with the hand - with a part of ME; diversion flows +in these ways for the dreary man. But gaiety is what these +children want; to sit in a crowd, tell stories and pass +jests, to hear one another laugh and scamper with the girls. +It's good fun, too, I believe, but not for R. L. S., AETAT. +40. Which I am now past forty, Custodian, and not one penny +the worse that I can see; as amusable as ever; to be on board +ship is reward enough for me; give me the wages of going on - +in a schooner! Only, if ever I were gay, which I +misremember, I am gay no more. And here is poor Henry +passing his evenings on my intellectual husks, which the +professors masticated; keeping the accounts of the estate - +all wrong I have no doubt - I keep no check, beyond a very +rough one; marching in with a cloudy brow, and the day-book +under his arm; tackling decimals, coming with cases of +conscience - how would an English chief behave in such a +case? etc.; and, I am bound to say, on any glimmer of a jest, +lapsing into native hilarity as a tree straightens itself +after the wind is by. The other night I remembered my old +friend - I believe yours also - Scholastikos, and +administered the crow and the anchor - they were quite fresh +to Samoan ears (this implies a very early severance) - and I +thought the anchor would have made away with my Simele +altogether. + +Fanny's time, in this interval, has been largely occupied in +contending publicly with wild swine. We have a black sow; we +call her Jack Sheppard; impossible to confine her - +impossible also for her to be confined! To my sure knowledge +she has been in an interesting condition for longer than any +other sow in story; else she had long died the death; as soon +as she is brought to bed, she shall count her days. I +suppose that sow has cost us in days' labour from thirty to +fifty dollars; as many as eight boys (at a dollar a day) have +been twelve hours in chase of her. Now it is supposed that +Fanny has outwitted her; she grins behind broad planks in +what was once the cook-house. She is a wild pig; far +handsomer than any tame; and when she found the cook-house +was too much for her methods of evasion, she lay down on the +floor and refused food and drink for a whole Sunday. On +Monday morning she relapsed, and now eats and drinks like a +little man. I am reminded of an incident. Two Sundays ago, +the sad word was brought that the sow was out again; this +time she had carried another in her flight. Moors and I and +Fanny were strolling up to the garden, and there by the +waterside we saw the black sow, looking guilty. It seemed to +me beyond words; but Fanny's CRI DU COEUR was delicious: 'G- +r-r!' she cried; 'nobody loves you!' + +I would I could tell you the moving story of our cart and +cart-horses; the latter are dapple-grey, about sixteen hands, +and of enormous substance; the former was a kind of red and +green shandry-dan with a driving bench; plainly unfit to +carry lumber or to face our road. (Remember that the last +third of my road, about a mile, is all made out of a bridle- +track by my boys - and my dollars.) It was supposed a white +man had been found - an ex-German artilleryman - to drive +this last; he proved incapable and drunken; the gallant +Henry, who had never driven before, and knew nothing about +horses - except the rats and weeds that flourish on the +islands - volunteered; Moors accepted, proposing to follow +and supervise: despatched his work and started after. No +cart! he hurried on up the road - no cart. Transfer the +scene to Vailima, where on a sudden to Fanny and me, the cart +appears, apparently at a hard gallop, some two hours before +it was expected; Henry radiantly ruling chaos from the bench. +It stopped: it was long before we had time to remark that the +axle was twisted like the letter L. Our first care was the +horses. There they stood, black with sweat, the sweat +raining from them - literally raining - their heads down, +their feet apart - and blood running thick from the nostrils +of the mare. We got out Fanny's under-clothes - couldn't +find anything else but our blankets - to rub them down, and +in about half an hour we had the blessed satisfaction to see +one after the other take a bite or two of grass. But it was +a toucher; a little more and these steeds would have been +foundered. + + +MONDAY, 31ST? NOVEMBER. + + +Near a week elapsed, and no journal. On Monday afternoon, +Moors rode up and I rode down with him, dined, and went over +in the evening to the American Consulate; present, Consul- +General Sewall, Lieut. Parker and Mrs. Parker, Lafarge the +American decorator, Adams an American historian; we talked +late, and it was arranged I was to write up for Fanny, and we +should both dine on the morrow. + +On the Friday, I was all forenoon in the Mission House, +lunched at the German Consulate, went on board the SPERBER +(German war ship) in the afternoon, called on my lawyer on my +way out to American Consulate, and talked till dinner time +with Adams, whom I am supplying with introductions and +information for Tahiti and the Marquesas. Fanny arrived a +wreck, and had to lie down. The moon rose, one day past +full, and we dined in the verandah, a good dinner on the +whole; talk with Lafarge about art and the lovely dreams of +art students. Remark by Adams, which took me briskly home to +the Monument - 'I only liked one YOUNG woman - and that was +Mrs. Procter.' Henry James would like that. Back by +moonlight in the consulate boat - Fanny being too tired to +walk - to Moors's. Saturday, I left Fanny to rest, and was +off early to the Mission, where the politics are thrilling +just now. The native pastors (to every one's surprise) have +moved of themselves in the matter of the native dances, +desiring the restrictions to be removed, or rather to be made +dependent on the character of the dance. Clarke, who had +feared censure and all kinds of trouble, is, of course, +rejoicing greatly. A characteristic feature: the argument of +the pastors was handed in in the form of a fictitious +narrative of the voyage of one Mr. Pye, an English traveller, +and his conversation with a chief; there are touches of +satire in this educational romance. Mr. Pye, for instance, +admits that he knows nothing about the Bible. At the Mission +I was sought out by Henry in a devil of an agitation; he has +been made the victim of a forgery - a crime hitherto unknown +in Samoa. I had to go to Folau, the chief judge here, in the +matter. Folau had never heard of the offence, and begged to +know what was the punishment; there may be lively times in +forgery ahead. It seems the sort of crime to tickle a +Polynesian. After lunch - you can see what a busy three days +I am describing - we set off to ride home. My Jack was full +of the devil of corn and too much grass, and no work. I had +to ride ahead and leave Fanny behind. He is a most gallant +little rascal is my Jack, and takes the whole way as hard as +the rider pleases. Single incident: half-way up, I find my +boys upon the road and stop and talk with Henry in his +character of ganger, as long as Jack will suffer me. Fanny +drones in after; we make a show of eating - or I do - she +goes to bed about half-past six! I write some verses, read +Irving's WASHINGTON, and follow about half-past eight. O, +one thing more I did, in a prophetic spirit. I had made sure +Fanny was not fit to be left alone, and wrote before turning +in a letter to Chalmers, telling him I could not meet him in +Auckland at this time. By eleven at night, Fanny got me +wakened - she had tried twice in vain - and I found her very +bad. Thence till three, we laboured with mustard poultices, +laudanum, soda and ginger - Heavens! wasn't it cold; the land +breeze was as cold as a river; the moon was glorious in the +paddock, and the great boughs and the black shadows of our +trees were inconceivable. But it was a poor time. + +Sunday morning found Fanny, of course, a complete wreck, and +myself not very brilliant. Paul had to go to Vailele RE +cocoa-nuts; it was doubtful if he could be back by dinner; +never mind, said I, I'll take dinner when you return. Off +set Paul. I did an hour's work, and then tackled the house +work. I did it beautiful: the house was a picture, it +resplended of propriety. Presently Mr. Moors' Andrew rode +up; I heard the doctor was at the Forest House and sent a +note to him; and when he came, I heard my wife telling him +she had been in bed all day, and that was why the house was +so dirty! Was it grateful? Was it politic? Was it TRUE? - +Enough! In the interval, up marched little L. S., one of my +neighbours, all in his Sunday white linens; made a fine +salute, and demanded the key of the kitchen in German and +English. And he cooked dinner for us, like a little man, and +had it on the table and the coffee ready by the hour. Paul +had arranged me this surprise. Some time later, Paul +returned himself with a fresh surprise on hand; he was almost +sober; nothing but a hazy eye distinguished him from Paul of +the week days: VIVAT! + +On the evening I cannot dwell. All the horses got out of the +paddock, went across, and smashed my neighbour's garden into +a big hole. How little the amateur conceives a farmer's +troubles. I went out at once with a lantern, staked up a gap +in the hedge, was kicked at by a chestnut mare, who +straightway took to the bush; and came back. A little after, +they had found another gap, and the crowd were all abroad +again. What has happened to our own garden nobody yet knows. + +Fanny had a fair night, and we are both tolerable this +morning, only the yoke of correspondence lies on me heavy. I +beg you will let this go on to my mother. I got such a good +start in your letter, that I kept on at it, and I have +neither time nor energy for more. + +Yours ever, +R. L. S. + + +SOMETHING NEW. + + +I was called from my letters by the voice of Mr. -, who had +just come up with a load of wood, roaring, 'Henry! Henry! +Bring six boys!' I saw there was something wrong, and ran +out. The cart, half unloaded, had upset with the mare in the +shafts; she was all cramped together and all tangled up in +harness and cargo, the off shaft pushing her over, Mr. - +holding her up by main strength, and right along-side of her +- where she must fall if she went down - a deadly stick of a +tree like a lance. I could not but admire the wisdom and +faith of this great brute; I never saw the riding-horse that +would not have lost its life in such a situation; but the +cart-elephant patiently waited and was saved. It was a +stirring three minutes, I can tell you. + +I forgot in talking of Saturday to tell of one incident which +will particularly interest my mother. I met Dr. D. from +Savaii, and had an age-long talk about Edinburgh folk; it was +very pleasant. He has been studying in Edinburgh, along with +his son; a pretty relation. He told me he knew nobody but +college people: 'I was altogether a student,' he said with +glee. He seems full of cheerfulness and thick-set energy. I +feel as if I could put him in a novel with effect; and ten to +one, if I know more of him, the image will be only blurred. + + +TUESDAY, DEC. 2ND. + + +I should have told you yesterday that all my boys were got up +for their work in moustaches and side-whiskers of some sort +of blacking - I suppose wood-ash. It was a sight of joy to +see them return at night, axe on shoulder, feigning to march +like soldiers, a choragus with a loud voice singing out, +'March-step! March-step!' in imperfect recollection of some +drill. + +Fanny seems much revived. + +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER III + + + +MONDAY, TWENTY-SOMETHINGTH OF DECEMBER, 1890. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - I do not say my Jack is anything +extraordinary; he is only an island horse; and the profane +might call him a Punch; and his face is like a donkey's; and +natives have ridden him, and he has no mouth in consequence, +and occasionally shies. But his merits are equally +surprising; and I don't think I should ever have known Jack's +merits if I had not been riding up of late on moonless +nights. Jack is a bit of a dandy; he loves to misbehave in a +gallant manner, above all on Apia Street, and when I stop to +speak to people, they say (Dr. Stuebel the German consul said +about three days ago), 'O what a wild horse! it cannot be +safe to ride him.' Such a remark is Jack's reward, and +represents his ideal of fame. Now when I start out of Apia +on a dark night, you should see my changed horse; at a fast +steady walk, with his head down, and sometimes his nose to +the ground - when he wants to do that, he asks for his head +with a little eloquent polite movement indescribable - he +climbs the long ascent and threads the darkest of the wood. +The first night I came it was starry; and it was singular to +see the starlight drip down into the crypt of the wood, and +shine in the open end of the road, as bright as moonlight at +home; but the crypt itself was proof, blackness lived in it. +The next night it was raining. We left the lights of Apia +and passed into limbo. Jack finds a way for himself, but he +does not calculate for my height above the saddle; and I am +directed forward, all braced up for a crouch and holding my +switch upright in front of me. It is curiously interesting. +In the forest, the dead wood is phosphorescent; some nights +the whole ground is strewn with it, so that it seems like a +grating over a pale hell; doubtless this is one of the things +that feed the night fears of the natives; and I am free to +confess that in a night of trackless darkness where all else +is void, these pallid IGNES SUPPOSITI have a fantastic +appearance, rather bogey even. One night, when it was very +dark, a man had put out a little lantern by the wayside to +show the entrance to his ground. I saw the light, as I +thought, far ahead, and supposed it was a pedestrian coming +to meet me; I was quite taken by surprise when it struck in +my face and passed behind me. Jack saw it, and he was +appalled; do you think he thought of shying? No, sir, not in +the dark; in the dark Jack knows he is on duty; and he went +past that lantern steady and swift; only, as he went, he +groaned and shuddered. For about 2500 of Jack's steps we +only pass one house - that where the lantern was; and about +1500 of these are in the darkness of the pit. But now the +moon is on tap again, and the roads lighted. + +I have been exploring up the Vaituliga; see your map. It +comes down a wonderful fine glen; at least 200 feet of cliffs +on either hand, winding like a corkscrew, great forest trees +filling it. At the top there ought to be a fine double fall; +but the stream evades it by a fault and passes underground. +Above the fall it runs (at this season) full and very gaily +in a shallow valley, some hundred yards before the head of +the glen. Its course is seen full of grasses, like a flooded +meadow; that is the sink! beyond the grave of the grasses, +the bed lies dry. Near this upper part there is a great show +of ruinous pig-walls; a village must have stood near by. + +To walk from our house to Wreck Hill (when the path is buried +in fallen trees) takes one about half an hour, I think; to +return, not more than twenty minutes; I daresay fifteen. +Hence I should guess it was three-quarters of a mile. I had +meant to join on my explorations passing eastward by the +sink; but, Lord! how it rains. + +(LATER.) + +I went out this morning with a pocket compass and walked in a +varying direction, perhaps on an average S. by W., 1754 +paces. Then I struck into the bush, N.W. by N., hoping to +strike the Vaituliga above the falls. Now I have it plotted +out I see I should have gone W. or even W. by S.; but it is +not easy to guess. For 600 weary paces I struggled through +the bush, and then came on the stream below the gorge, where +it was comparatively easy to get down to it. In the place +where I struck it, it made cascades about a little isle, and +was running about N.E., 20 to 30 feet wide, as deep as to my +knee, and piercing cold. I tried to follow it down, and keep +the run of its direction and my paces; but when I was wading +to the knees and the waist in mud, poison brush, and rotted +wood, bound hand and foot in lianas, shovelled +unceremoniously off the one shore and driven to try my luck +upon the other - I saw I should have hard enough work to get +my body down, if my mind rested. It was a damnable walk; +certainly not half a mile as the crow flies, but a real +bucketer for hardship. Once I had to pass the stream where +it flowed between banks about three feet high. To get the +easier down, I swung myself by a wild-cocoanut - (so called, +it bears bunches of scarlet nutlets) - which grew upon the +brink. As I so swung, I received a crack on the head that +knocked me all abroad. Impossible to guess what tree had +taken a shy at me. So many towered above, one over the +other, and the missile, whatever it was, dropped in the +stream and was gone before I had recovered my wits. (I +scarce know what I write, so hideous a Niagara of rain roars, +shouts, and demonizes on the iron roof - it is pitch dark too +- the lamp lit at 5!) It was a blessed thing when I struck +my own road; and I got home, neat for lunch time, one of the +most wonderful mud statues ever witnessed. In the afternoon +I tried again, going up the other path by the garden, but was +early drowned out; came home, plotted out what I had done, +and then wrote this truck to you. + +Fanny has been quite ill with ear-ache. She won't go, hating +the sea at this wild season; I don't like to leave her; so it +drones on, steamer after steamer, and I guess it'll end by no +one going at all. She is in a dreadful misfortune at this +hour; a case of kerosene having burst in the kitchen. A +little while ago it was the carpenter's horse that trod in a +nest of fourteen eggs, and made an omelette of our hopes. +The farmer's lot is not a happy one. And it looks like some +real uncompromising bad weather too. I wish Fanny's ear were +well. Think of parties in Monuments! think of me in +Skerryvore, and now of this. It don't look like a part of +the same universe to me. Work is quite laid aside; I have +worked myself right out. + + +CHRISTMAS EVE. + + +Yesterday, who could write? My wife near crazy with ear- +ache; the rain descending in white crystal rods and playing +hell's tattoo, like a TUTTI of battering rams, on our sheet- +iron roof; the wind passing high overhead with a strange dumb +mutter, or striking us full, so that all the huge trees in +the paddock cried aloud, and wrung their hands, and +brandished their vast arms. The horses stood in the shed +like things stupid. The sea and the flagship lying on the +jaws of the bay vanished in sheer rain. All day it lasted; I +locked up my papers in the iron box, in case it was a +hurricane, and the house might go. We went to bed with +mighty uncertain feelings; far more than on shipboard, where +you have only drowning ahead - whereas here you have a smash +of beams, a shower of sheet-iron, and a blind race in the +dark and through a whirlwind for the shelter of an unfinished +stable - and my wife with ear-ache! Well, well, this +morning, we had word from Apia; a hurricane was looked for, +the ships were to leave the bay by 10 A.M.; it is now 3.30, +and the flagship is still a fixture, and the wind round in +the blessed east, so I suppose the danger is over. But +heaven is still laden; the day dim, with frequent rattling +bucketfuls of rain; and just this moment (as I write) a +squall went overhead, scarce striking us, with that singular, +solemn noise of its passage, which is to me dreadful. I have +always feared the sound of wind beyond everything. In my +hell it would always blow a gale. + +I have been all day correcting proofs, and making out a new +plan for our house. The other was too dear to be built now, +and it was a hard task to make a smaller house that would +suffice for the present, and not be a mere waste of money in +the future. I believe I have succeeded; I have taken care of +my study anyway. + +Two favours I want to ask of you. First, I wish you to get +'Pioneering in New Guinea,' by J. Chalmers. It's a +missionary book, and has less pretensions to be literature +than Spurgeon's sermons. Yet I think even through that, you +will see some of the traits of the hero that wrote it; a man +that took me fairly by storm for the most attractive, simple, +brave, and interesting man in the whole Pacific. He is away +now to go up the Fly River; a desperate venture, it is +thought; he is quite a Livingstone card. + +Second, try and keep yourself free next winter; and if my +means can be stretched so far, I'll come to Egypt and we'll +meet at Shepheard's Hotel, and you'll put me in my place, +which I stand in need of badly by this time. Lord, what +bully times! I suppose I'll come per British Asia, or +whatever you call it, and avoid all cold, and might be in +Egypt about November as ever was - eleven months from now or +rather less. But do not let us count our chickens. + +Last night three piglings were stolen from one of our pig- +pens. The great Lafaele appeared to my wife uneasy, so she +engaged him in conversation on the subject, and played upon +him the following engaging trick. You advance your two +forefingers towards the sitter's eyes; he closes them, +whereupon you substitute (on his eyelids) the fore and middle +fingers of the left hand; and with your right (which he +supposes engaged) you tap him on the head and back. When you +let him open his eyes, he sees you withdrawing the two +forefingers. 'What that?' asked Lafaele. 'My devil,' says +Fanny. 'I wake um, my devil. All right now. He go catch +the man that catch my pig.' About an hour afterwards, +Lafaele came for further particulars. 'O, all right,' my +wife says. 'By and by, that man he sleep, devil go sleep +same place. By and by, that man plenty sick. I no care. +What for he take my pig?' Lafaele cares plenty; I don't +think he is the man, though he may be; but he knows him, and +most likely will eat some of that pig to-night. He will not +eat with relish. + + +SATURDAY 27TH. + + +It cleared up suddenly after dinner, and my wife and I +saddled up and off to Apia, whence we did not return till +yesterday morning. Christmas Day I wish you could have seen +our party at table. H. J. Moors at one end with my wife, I +at the other with Mrs. M., between us two native women, +Carruthers the lawyer, Moors's two shop-boys - Walters and A. +M. the quadroon - and the guests of the evening, Shirley +Baker, the defamed and much-accused man of Tonga, and his +son, with the artificial joint to his arm - where the +assassins shot him in shooting at his father. Baker's +appearance is not unlike John Bull on a cartoon; he is highly +interesting to speak to, as I had expected; I found he and I +had many common interests, and were engaged in puzzling over +many of the same difficulties. After dinner it was quite +pretty to see our Christmas party, it was so easily pleased +and prettily behaved. In the morning I should say I had been +to lunch at the German consulate, where I had as usual a very +pleasant time. I shall miss Dr. Stuebel much when he leaves, +and when Adams and Lafarge go also, it will be a great blow. +I am getting spoiled with all this good society. + +On Friday morning, I had to be at my house affairs before +seven; and they kept me in Apia till past ten, disputing, and +consulting about brick and stone and native and hydraulic +lime, and cement and sand, and all sorts of otiose details +about the chimney - just what I fled from in my father's +office twenty years ago; I should have made a languid +engineer. Rode up with the carpenter. Ah, my wicked Jack! +on Christmas Eve, as I was taking the saddle bag off, he +kicked at me, and fetched me too, right on the shin. On +Friday, being annoyed at the carpenter's horse having a +longer trot, he uttered a shrill cry and tried to bite him! +Alas, alas, these are like old days; my dear Jack is a Bogue, +but I cannot strangle Jack into submission. + +I have given up the big house for just now; we go ahead right +away with a small one, which should be ready in two months, +and I suppose will suffice for just now. + +O I know I haven't told you about our AITU, have I? It is a +lady, AITU FAFINE: she lives on the mountain-side; her +presence is heralded by the sound of a gust of wind; a sound +very common in the high woods; when she catches you, I do not +know what happens; but in practice she is avoided, so I +suppose she does more than pass the time of day. The great +AITU SAUMAI-AFE was once a living woman; and became an AITU, +no one understands how; she lives in a stream at the well- +head, her hair is red, she appears as a lovely young lady, +her bust particularly admired, to handsome young men; these +die, her love being fatal; - as a handsome youth she has been +known to court damsels with the like result, but this is very +rare; as an old crone she goes about and asks for water, and +woe to them who are uncivil! SAUMAI-AFE means literally, +'Come here a thousand!' A good name for a lady of her +manners. My AITU FAFINE does not seem to be in the same line +of business. It is unsafe to be a handsome youth in Samoa; a +young man died from her favours last month - so we said on +this side of the island; on the other, where he died, it was +not so certain. I, for one, blame it on Madam SAUMAI-AFE +without hesitation. + +Example of the farmer's sorrows. I slipped out on the +balcony a moment ago. It is a lovely morning, cloudless, +smoking hot, the breeze not yet arisen. Looking west, in +front of our new house, I saw, two heads of Indian corn +wagging, and the rest and all nature stock still. As I +looked, one of the stalks subsided and disappeared. I dashed +out to the rescue; two small pigs were deep in the grass - +quite hid till within a few yards - gently but swiftly +demolishing my harvest. Never be a farmer. + + +12.30 P.M. + + +I while away the moments of digestion by drawing you a +faithful picture of my morning. When I had done writing as +above it was time to clean our house. When I am working, it +falls on my wife alone, but to-day we had it between us; she +did the bedroom, I the sitting-room, in fifty-seven minutes +of really most unpalatable labour. Then I changed every +stitch, for I was wet through, and sat down and played on my +pipe till dinner was ready, mighty pleased to be in a mildly +habitable spot once more. The house had been neglected for +near a week, and was a hideous spot; my wife's ear and our +visit to Apia being the causes: our Paul we prefer not to see +upon that theatre, and God knows he has plenty to do +elsewhere. + +I am glad to look out of my back door and see the boys +smoothing the foundations of the new house; this is all very +jolly, but six months of it has satisfied me; we have too +many things for such close quarters; to work in the midst of +all the myriad misfortunes of the planter's life, seated in a +Dyonisius' (can't spell him) ear, whence I catch every +complaint, mishap and contention, is besides the devil; and +the hope of a cave of my own inspires me with lust. O to be +able to shut my own door and make my own confusion! O to +have the brown paper and the matches and 'make a hell of my +own' once more! + +I do not bother you with all my troubles in these +outpourings; the troubles of the farmer are inspiriting - +they are like difficulties out hunting - a fellow rages at +the time and rejoices to recall and to commemorate them. My +troubles have been financial. It is hard to arrange wisely +interests so distributed. America, England, Samoa, Sydney, +everywhere I have an end of liability hanging out and some +shelf of credit hard by; and to juggle all these and build a +dwelling-place here, and check expense - a thing I am ill +fitted for - you can conceive what a nightmare it is at +times. Then God knows I have not been idle. But since THE +MASTER nothing has come to raise any coins. I believe the +springs are dry at home, and now I am worked out, and can no +more at all. A holiday is required. + +DEC. 28TH. I have got unexpectedly to work again, and feel +quite dandy. Good-bye. + +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + +S. S. LUBECK, BETWEEN APIA AND SYDNEY, +JAN. 17TH, 1891. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - The Faamasino Sili, or Chief Justice, to +speak your low language, has arrived. I had ridden down with +Henry and Lafaele; the sun was down, the night was close at +hand, so we rode fast; just as I came to the corner of the +road before Apia, I heard a gun fire; and lo, there was a +great crowd at the end of the pier, and the troops out, and a +chief or two in the height of Samoa finery, and Seumanu +coming in his boat (the oarsmen all in uniform), bringing the +Faamasino Sili sure enough. It was lucky he was no longer; +the natives would not have waited many weeks. But think of +it, as I sat in the saddle at the outside of the crowd +(looking, the English consul said, as if I were commanding +the manoeuvres), I was nearly knocked down by a stampede of +the three consuls; they had been waiting their guest at the +Matafele end, and some wretched intrigue among the whites had +brought him to Apia, and the consuls had to run all the +length of the town and come too late. + +The next day was a long one; I was at a marriage of G. the +banker to Fanua, the virgin of Apia. Bride and bridesmaids +were all in the old high dress; the ladies were all native; +the men, with the exception of Seumanu, all white. + +It was quite a pleasant party, and while we were writing, we +had a bird's-eye view of the public reception of the Chief +Justice. The best part of it were some natives in war array; +with blacked faces, turbans, tapa kilts, and guns, they +looked very manly and purposelike. No, the best part was +poor old drunken Joe, the Portuguese boatman, who seemed to +think himself specially charged with the reception, and ended +by falling on his knees before the Chief Justice on the end +of the pier and in full view of the whole town and bay. The +natives pelted him with rotten bananas; how the Chief Justice +took it I was too far off to see; but it was highly absurd. + +I have commemorated my genial hopes for the regimen of the +Faamasino Sili in the following canine verses, which, if you +at all guess how to read them, are very pretty in movement, +and (unless he be a mighty good man) too true in sense. + + +We're quarrelling, the villages, we've beaten the wooden +drum's, +Sa femisai o nu'u, sa taia o pate, +Is expounded there by the justice, +Ua Atuatuvale a le faamasino e, +The chief justice, the terrified justice, +Le faamasino sili, le faamasino se, +Is on the point of running away the justice, +O le a solasola le faamasino e, +The justice denied any influence, the terrified justice, +O le faamasino le ai a, le faamasino se, +O le a solasola le faamasino e. + + +Well, after this excursion into tongues that have never been +alive - though I assure you we have one capital book in the +language, a book of fables by an old missionary of the +unpromising name of Pratt, which is simply the best and the +most literary version of the fables known to me. I suppose I +should except La Fontaine, but L. F. takes a long time; these +are brief as the books of our childhood, and full of wit and +literary colour; and O, Colvin, what a tongue it would be to +write, if one only knew it - and there were only readers. +Its curse in common use is an incredible left-handed +wordiness; but in the hands of a man like Pratt it is +succinct as Latin, compact of long rolling polysyllables and +little and often pithy particles, and for beauty of sound a +dream. Listen, I quote from Pratt - this is good Samoan, not +canine - + + +O le afa, + +1 2 3 +ua taalili ai + + 4 +le ulu vao, + +1 +ua pa mai + + +le faititili. + + + +1 almost WA, 2 the two A'S just distinguished, 3 the AI is +practically suffixed to the verb, 4 almost VOW. The +excursion has prolonged itself. + +I started by the LUBECK to meet Lloyd and my mother; there +were many reasons for and against; the main reason against +was the leaving of Fanny alone in her blessed cabin, which +has been somewhat remedied by my carter, Mr. -, putting up in +the stable and messing with her; but perhaps desire of change +decided me not well, though I do think I ought to see an +oculist, being very blind indeed, and sometimes unable to +read. Anyway I left, the only cabin passenger, four and a +kid in the second cabin, and a dear voyage it had like to +have proved. Close to Fiji (choose a worse place on the map) +we broke our shaft early one morning; and when or where we +might expect to fetch land or meet with any ship, I would +like you to tell me. The Pacific is absolutely desert. I +have sailed there now some years; and scarce ever seen a ship +except in port or close by; I think twice. It was the +hurricane season besides, and hurricane waters. Well, our +chief engineer got the shaft - it was the middle crank shaft +- mended; thrice it was mended, and twice broke down; but now +keeps up - only we dare not stop, for it is almost impossible +to start again. The captain in the meanwhile crowded her +with sail; fifteen sails in all, every stay being gratified +with a stay-sail, a boat-boom sent aloft for a maintop- +gallant yard, and the derrick of a crane brought in service +as bowsprit. All the time we have had a fine, fair wind and +a smooth sea; to-day at noon our run was 203 miles (if you +please!), and we are within some 360 miles of Sydney. +Probably there has never been a more gallant success; and I +can say honestly it was well worked for. No flurry, no high +words, no long faces; only hard work and honest thought; a +pleasant, manly business to be present at. All the chances +were we might have been six weeks - ay, or three months at +sea - or never turned up at all, and now it looks as though +we should reach our destination some five days too late. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + + +[ON BOARD SHIP BETWEEN SYDNEY AND APIA, FEB. 1891.] + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - The JANET NICOLL stuff was rather worse +than I had looked for; you have picked out all that is fit to +stand, bar two others (which I don't dislike) - the Port of +Entry and the House of Temoana; that is for a present +opinion; I may condemn these also ere I have done. By this +time you should have another Marquesan letter, the worst of +the lot, I think; and seven Paumotu letters, which are not +far out of the vein, as I wish it; I am in hopes the Hawaiian +stuff is better yet: time will show, and time will make +perfect. Is something of this sort practicable for the +dedication? + + +TERRA MARIQUE +PER PERICULA PER ARDUA +AMICAE COMITI +D.D. +AMANS VIATOR + + +'Tis a first shot concocted this morning in my berth: I had +always before been trying it in English, which insisted on +being either insignificant or fulsome: I cannot think of a +better word than COMES, there being not the shadow of a Latin +book on board; yet sure there is some other. Then VIATOR +(though it SOUNDS all right) is doubtful; it has too much, +perhaps, the sense of wayfarer? Last, will it mark +sufficiently that I mean my wife? And first, how about +blunders? I scarce wish it longer. + +Have had a swingeing sharp attack in Sydney; beating the +fields for two nights, Saturday and Sunday. Wednesday was +brought on board, TEL QUEL, a wonderful wreck; and now, +Wednesday week, am a good deal picked up, but yet not quite a +Samson, being still groggy afoot and vague in the head. My +chess, for instance, which is usually a pretty strong game, +and defies all rivalry aboard, is vacillating, devoid of +resource and observation, and hitherto not covered with +customary laurels. As for work, it is impossible. We shall +be in the saddle before long, no doubt, and the pen once more +couched. You must not expect a letter under these +circumstances, but be very thankful for a note. Once at +Samoa, I shall try to resume my late excellent habits, and +delight you with journals, you unaccustomed, I unaccustomed; +but it is never too late to mend. + +It is vastly annoying that I cannot go even to Sydney without +an attack; and heaven knows my life was anodyne. I only once +dined with anybody; at the club with Wise; worked all morning +- a terrible dead pull; a month only produced the imperfect +embryos of two chapters; lunched in the boarding-house, +played on my pipe; went out and did some of my messages; +dined at a French restaurant, and returned to play draughts, +whist, or Van John with my family. This makes a cheery life +after Samoa; but it isn't what you call burning the candle at +both ends, is it? (It appears to me not one word of this +letter will be legible by the time I am done with it, this +dreadful ink rubs off.) I have a strange kind of novel under +construction; it begins about 1660 and ends 1830, or perhaps +I may continue it to 1875 or so, with another life. One, +two, three, four, five, six generations, perhaps seven, +figure therein; two of my old stories, 'Delafield' and +'Shovel,' are incorporated; it is to be told in the third +person, with some of the brevity of history, some of the +detail of romance. THE SHOVELS OF NEWTON FRENCH will be the +name. The idea is an old one; it was brought to birth by an +accident; a friend in the islands who picked up F. Jenkin, +read a part, and said: 'Do you know, that's a strange book? +I like it; I don't believe the public will; but I like it.' +He thought it was a novel! 'Very well,' said I, 'we'll see +whether the public will like it or not; they shall have the +chance.' + +Yours ever, +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER VI + + + +FRIDAY, MARCH 19TH. + + +MY DEAR S. C., - You probably expect that now I am back at +Vailima I shall resume the practice of the diary letter. A +good deal is changed. We are more; solitude does not attend +me as before; the night is passed playing Van John for +shells; and, what is not less important, I have just +recovered from a severe illness, and am easily tired. + +I will give you to-day. I sleep now in one of the lower +rooms of the new house, where my wife has recently joined me. +We have two beds, an empty case for a table, a chair, a tin +basin, a bucket and a jug; next door in the dining-room, the +carpenters camp on the floor, which is covered with their +mosquito nets. Before the sun rises, at 5.45 or 5.50, Paul +brings me tea, bread, and a couple of eggs; and by about six +I am at work. I work in bed - my bed is of mats, no +mattress, sheets, or filth - mats, a pillow, and a blanket - +and put in some three hours. It was 9.5 this morning when I +set off to the stream-side to my weeding; where I toiled, +manuring the ground with the best enricher, human sweat, till +the conch-shell was blown from our verandah at 10.30. At +eleven we dine; about half-past twelve I tried (by exception) +to work again, could make nothing on't, and by one was on my +way to the weeding, where I wrought till three. Half-past +five is our next meal, and I read Flaubert's Letters till the +hour came round; dined, and then, Fanny having a cold, and I +being tired, came over to my den in the unfinished house, +where I now write to you, to the tune of the carpenters' +voices, and by the light - I crave your pardon - by the +twilight of three vile candles filtered through the medium of +my mosquito bar. Bad ink being of the party, I write quite +blindfold, and can only hope you may be granted to read that +which I am unable to see while writing. + +I said I was tired; it is a mild phrase; my back aches like +toothache; when I shut my eyes to sleep, I know I shall see +before them - a phenomenon to which both Fanny and I are +quite accustomed - endless vivid deeps of grass and weed, +each plant particular and distinct, so that I shall lie inert +in body, and transact for hours the mental part of my day +business, choosing the noxious from the useful. And in my +dreams I shall be hauling on recalcitrants, and suffering +stings from nettles, stabs from citron thorns, fiery bites +from ants, sickening resistances of mud and slime, evasions +of slimy roots, dead weight of heat, sudden puffs of air, +sudden starts from bird-calls in the contiguous forest - some +mimicking my name, some laughter, some the signal of a +whistle, and living over again at large the business of my +day. + +Though I write so little, I pass all my hours of field-work +in continual converse and imaginary correspondence. I scarce +pull up a weed, but I invent a sentence on the matter to +yourself; it does not get written; AUTANT EN EMPORTENT LES +VENTS; but the intent is there, and for me (in some sort) the +companionship. To-day, for instance, we had a great talk. I +was toiling, the sweat dripping from my nose, in the hot fit +after a squall of rain: methought you asked me - frankly, was +I happy. Happy (said I); I was only happy once; that was at +Hyeres; it came to an end from a variety of reasons, decline +of health, change of place, increase of money, age with his +stealing steps; since then, as before then, I know not what +it means. But I know pleasure still; pleasure with a +thousand faces, and none perfect, a thousand tongues all +broken, a thousand hands, and all of them with scratching +nails. High among these I place this delight of weeding out +here alone by the garrulous water, under the silence of the +high wood, broken by incongruous sounds of birds. And take +my life all through, look at it fore and back, and upside +down, - though I would very fain change myself - I would not +change my circumstances, unless it were to bring you here. +And yet God knows perhaps this intercourse of writing serves +as well; and I wonder, were you here indeed, would I commune +so continually with the thought of you. I say 'I wonder' for +a form; I know, and I know I should not. + +So far, and much further, the conversation went, while I +groped in slime after viscous roots, nursing and sparing +little spears of grass, and retreating (even with outcry) +from the prod of the wild lime. I wonder if any one had ever +the same attitude to Nature as I hold, and have held for so +long? This business fascinates me like a tune or a passion; +yet all the while I thrill with a strong distaste. The +horror of the thing, objective and subjective, is always +present to my mind; the horror of creeping things, a +superstitious horror of the void and the powers about me, the +horror of my own devastation and continual murders. The life +of the plants comes through my fingertips, their struggles go +to my heart like supplications. I feel myself blood- +boltered; then I look back on my cleared grass, and count +myself an ally in a fair quarrel, and make stout my heart. + +It is but a little while since I lay sick in Sydney, beating +the fields about the navy and Dean Swift and Dryden's Latin +hymns; judge if I love this reinvigorating climate, where I +can already toil till my head swims and every string in the +poor jumping Jack (as he now lies in bed) aches with a kind +of yearning strain, difficult to suffer in quiescence. + +As for my damned literature, God knows what a business it is, +grinding along without a scrap of inspiration or a note of +style. But it has to be ground, and the mill grinds +exceeding slowly though not particularly small. The last two +chapters have taken me considerably over a month, and they +are still beneath pity. This I cannot continue, time not +sufficing; and the next will just have to be worse. All the +good I can express is just this; some day, when style +revisits me, they will be excellent matter to rewrite. Of +course, my old cure of a change of work would probably +answer, but I cannot take it now. The treadmill turns; and, +with a kind of desperate cheerfulness, I mount the idle +stair. I haven't the least anxiety about the book; unless I +die, I shall find the time to make it good; but the Lord +deliver me from the thought of the Letters! However, the +Lord has other things on hand; and about six to-morrow, I +shall resume the consideration practically, and face (as best +I may) the fact of my incompetence and disaffection to the +task. Toil I do not spare; but fortune refuses me success. +We can do more, Whatever-his-name-was, we can deserve it. +But my misdesert began long since, by the acceptation of a +bargain quite unsuitable to all my methods. + +To-day I have had a queer experience. My carter has from the +first been using my horses for his own ends; when I left for +Sydney, I put him on his honour to cease, and my back was +scarce turned ere he was forfeit. I have only been waiting +to discharge him; and to-day an occasion arose. I am so much +THE OLD MAN VIRULENT, so readily stumble into anger, that I +gave a deal of consideration to my bearing, and decided at +last to imitate that of the late -. Whatever he might have +to say, this eminently effective controversialist maintained +a frozen demeanour and a jeering smile. The frozen demeanour +is beyond my reach; but I could try the jeering smile; did +so, perceived its efficacy, kept in consequence my temper, +and got rid of my friend, myself composed and smiling still, +he white and shaking like an aspen. He could explain +everything; I said it did not interest me. He said he had +enemies; I said nothing was more likely. He said he was +calumniated; with all my heart, said I, but there are so many +liars, that I find it safer to believe them. He said, in +justice to himself, he must explain: God forbid I should +interfere with you, said I, with the same factitious grin, +but it can change nothing. So I kept my temper, rid myself +of an unfaithful servant, found a method of conducting +similar interviews in the future, and fell in my own liking. +One thing more: I learned a fresh tolerance for the dead -; +he too had learned - perhaps had invented - the trick of this +manner; God knows what weakness, what instability of feeling, +lay beneath. CE QUE C'EST QUE DE NOUS! poor human nature; +that at past forty I must adjust this hateful mask for the +first time, and rejoice to find it effective; that the effort +of maintaining an external smile should confuse and embitter +a man's soul. + +To-day I have not weeded; I have written instead from six +till eleven, from twelve till two; with the interruption of +the interview aforesaid; a damned letter is written for the +third time; I dread to read it, for I dare not give it a +fourth chance - unless it be very bad indeed. Now I write +you from my mosquito curtain, to the song of saws and planes +and hammers, and wood clumping on the floor above; in a day +of heavenly brightness; a bird twittering near by; my eye, +through the open door, commanding green meads, two or three +forest trees casting their boughs against the sky, a forest- +clad mountain-side beyond, and close in by the door-jamb a +nick of the blue Pacific. It is March in England, bleak +March, and I lie here with the great sliding doors wide open +in an undershirt and p'jama trousers, and melt in the closure +of mosquito bars, and burn to be out in the breeze. A few +torn clouds - not white, the sun has tinged them a warm pink +- swim in heaven. In which blessed and fair day, I have to +make faces and speak bitter words to a man - who has deceived +me, it is true - but who is poor, and older than I, and a +kind of a gentleman too. On the whole, I prefer the massacre +of weeds. + + +SUNDAY. + + +When I had done talking to you yesterday, I played on my pipe +till the conch sounded, then went over to the old house for +dinner, and had scarce risen from table ere I was submerged +with visitors. The first of these despatched, I spent the +rest of the evening going over the Samoan translation of my +BOTTLE IMP with Claxton the missionary; then to bed, but +being upset, I suppose, by these interruptions, and having +gone all day without my weeding, not to sleep. For hours I +lay awake and heard the rain fall, and saw faint, far-away +lightning over the sea, and wrote you long letters which I +scorn to reproduce. This morning Paul was unusually early; +the dawn had scarce begun when he appeared with the tray and +lit my candle; and I had breakfasted and read (with +indescribable sinkings) the whole of yesterday's work before +the sun had risen. Then I sat and thought, and sat and +better thought. It was not good enough, nor good; it was as +slack as journalism, but not so inspired; it was excellent +stuff misused, and the defects stood gross on it like humps +upon a camel. But could I, in my present disposition, do +much more with it? in my present pressure for time, were I +not better employed doing another one about as ill, than +making this some thousandth fraction better? Yes, I thought; +and tried the new one, and behold, I could do nothing: my +head swims, words do not come to me, nor phrases, and I +accepted defeat, packed up my traps, and turned to +communicate the failure to my esteemed correspondent. I +think it possible I overworked yesterday. Well, we'll see +to-morrow - perhaps try again later. It is indeed the hope +of trying later that keeps me writing to you. If I take to +my pipe, I know myself - all is over for the morning. +Hurray, I'll correct proofs! + + +PAGO-PAGO, WEDNESDAY. + + +After I finished on Sunday I passed a miserable day; went out +weeding, but could not find peace. I do not like to steal my +dinner, unless I have given myself a holiday in a canonical +manner; and weeding after all is only fun, the amount of its +utility small, and the thing capable of being done faster and +nearly as well by a hired boy. In the evening Sewall came up +(American consul) and proposed to take me on a malaga, which +I accepted. Monday I rode down to Apia, was nearly all day +fighting about drafts and money; the silver problem does not +touch you, but it is (in a strange and I hope passing phase) +making my situation difficult in Apia. About eleven, the +flags were all half-masted; it was old Captain Hamilton +(Samesoni the natives called him) who had passed away. In +the evening I walked round to the U.S. Consulate; it was a +lovely night with a full moon; and as I got round to the hot +corner of Matautu I heard hymns in front. The balcony of the +dead man's house was full of women singing; Mary (the widow, +a native) sat on a chair by the doorstep, and I was set +beside her on a bench, and next to Paul the carpenter; as I +sat down I had a glimpse of the old captain, who lay in a +sheet on his own table. After the hymn was over, a native +pastor made a speech which lasted a long while; the light +poured out of the door and windows; the girls were sitting +clustered at my feet; it was choking hot. After the speech +was ended, Mary carried me within; the captain's hands were +folded on his bosom, his face and head were composed; he +looked as if he might speak at any moment; I have never seen +this kind of waxwork so express or more venerable; and when I +went away, I was conscious of a certain envy for the man who +was out of the battle. All night it ran in my head, and the +next day when we sighted Tutuila, and ran into this beautiful +land-locked loch of Pago Pago (whence I write), Captain +Hamilton's folded hands and quiet face said a great deal more +to me than the scenery. + +I am living here in a trader's house; we have a good table, +Sewall doing things in style; and I hope to benefit by the +change, and possibly get more stuff for Letters. In the +meanwhile, I am seized quite MAL-A-PROPOS with desire to +write a story, THE BLOODY WEDDING, founded on fact - very +possibly true, being an attempt to read a murder case - not +yet months old, in this very place and house where I now +write. The indiscretion is what stops me; but if I keep on +feeling as I feel just now it will have to be written. Three +Star Nettison, Kit Nettison, Field the Sailor, these are the +main characters: old Nettison, and the captain of the man of +war, the secondary. Possible scenario. Chapter I.... + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + +SATURDAY, APRIL 18TH. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - I got back on Monday night, after twenty- +three hours in an open boat; the keys were lost; the Consul +(who had promised us a bottle of Burgundy) nobly broke open +his store-room, and we got to bed about midnight. Next +morning the blessed Consul promised us horses for the +daybreak; forgot all about it, worthy man; set us off at last +in the heat of the day, and by a short cut which caused +infinite trouble, and we were not home till dinner. I was +extenuated, and have had a high fever since, or should have +been writing before. To-day for the first time, I risk it. +Tuesday I was pretty bad; Wednesday had a fever to kill a +horse; Thursday I was better, but still out of ability to do +aught but read awful trash. This is the time one misses +civilisation; I wished to send out for some police novels; +Montepin would have about suited my frozen brain. It is a +bother when all one's thought turns on one's work in some +sense or other; could not even think yesterday; I took to +inventing dishes by way of entertainment. Yesterday, while I +lay asleep in the afternoon, a very lucky thing happened; the +Chief Justice came to call; met one of our employes on the +road; and was shown what I had done to the road. + +'Is this the road across the island?' he asked. + +'The only one,' said Innes. + +'And has one man done all this?' + +'Three times,' said the trusty Innes. 'It has had to be made +three times, and when Mr. Stevenson came, it was a track like +what you see beyond.' + +'This must be put right,' said the Chief Justice. + + +SUNDAY. + + +The truth is, I broke down yesterday almost as soon as I +began, and have been surreptitiously finishing the entry to- +day. For all that I was much better, ate all the time, and +had no fever. The day was otherwise uneventful. I am +reminded; I had another visitor on Friday; and Fanny and +Lloyd, as they returned from a forest raid, met in our +desert, untrodden road, first Father Didier, Keeper of the +conscience of Mataafa, the rising star; and next the Chief +justice, sole stay of Laupepa, the present and unsteady star, +and remember, a few days before we were close to the sick bed +and entertained by the amateur physician of Tamasese, the +late and sunken star. 'That is the fun of this place,' +observed Lloyd; 'everybody you meet is so important.' +Everybody is also so gloomy. It will come to war again, is +the opinion of all the well informed - and before that to +many bankruptcies; and after that, as usual, to famine. +Here, under the microscope, we can see history at work. + + +WEDNESDAY. + + +I have been very neglectful. A return to work, perhaps +premature, but necessary, has used up all my possible +energies and made me acquainted with the living headache. I +just jot down some of the past notabilia. Yesterday B., a +carpenter, and K., my (unsuccessful) white man, were absent +all morning from their work; I was working myself, where I +hear every sound with morbid certainty, and I can testify +that not a hammer fell. Upon inquiry I found they had passed +the morning making ice with our ice machine and taking the +horizon with a spirit level! I had no sooner heard this than +- a violent headache set in; I am a real employer of labour +now, and have much of the ship captain when aroused; and if I +had a headache, I believe both these gentlemen had aching +hearts. I promise you, the late - was to the front; and K., +who was the most guilty, yet (in a sense) the least +blameable, having the brains and character of a canary-bird, +fared none the better for B.'s repartees. I hear them hard +at work this morning, so the menace may be blessed. It was +just after my dinner, just before theirs, that I administered +my redoubtable tongue - it is really redoubtable - to these +skulkers (Paul used to triumph over Mr. J. for weeks. 'I am +very sorry for you,' he would say; 'you're going to have a +talk with Mr. Stevenson when he comes home: you don't know +what that is!') In fact, none of them do, till they get it. +I have known K., for instance, for months; he has never heard +me complain, or take notice, unless it were to praise; I have +used him always as my guest, and there seems to be something +in my appearance which suggests endless, ovine long- +suffering! We sat in the upper verandah all evening, and +discussed the price of iron roofing, and the state of the +draught-horses, with Innes, a new man we have taken, and who +seems to promise well. + +One thing embarrasses me. No one ever seems to understand my +attitude about that book; the stuff sent was never meant for +other than a first state; I never meant it to appear as a +book. Knowing well that I have never had one hour of +inspiration since it was begun, and have only beaten out my +metal by brute force and patient repetition, I hoped some day +to get a 'spate of style' and burnish it - fine mixed +metaphor. I am now so sick that I intend, when the Letters +are done and some more written that will be wanted, simply to +make a book of it by the pruning-knife. + +I cannot fight longer; I am sensible of having done worse +than I hoped, worse than I feared; all I can do now is to do +the best I can for the future, and clear the book, like a +piece of bush, with axe and cutlass. Even to produce the MS. +of this will occupy me, at the most favourable opinion, till +the middle of next year; really five years were wanting, when +I could have made a book; but I have a family, and - perhaps +I could not make the book after all. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + +APRIL 29TH, '91. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - I begin again. I was awake this morning +about half-past four. It was still night, but I made my +fire, which is always a delightful employment, and read +Lockhart's 'Scott' until the day began to peep. It was a +beautiful and sober dawn, a dove-coloured dawn, insensibly +brightening to gold. I was looking at it some while over the +down-hill profile of our eastern road, when I chanced to +glance northward, and saw with extraordinary pleasure the sea +lying outspread. It seemed as smooth as glass, and yet I +knew the surf was roaring all along the reef, and indeed, if +I had listened, I could have heard it - and saw the white +sweep of it outside Matautu. + +I am out of condition still, and can do nothing, and toil to +be at my pen, and see some ink behind me. I have taken up +again THE HIGH WOODS OF ULUFANUA. I still think the fable +too fantastic and far-fetched. But, on a re-reading, fell in +love with my first chapter, and for good or evil I must +finish it. It is really good, well fed with facts, true to +the manners, and (for once in my works) rendered pleasing by +the presence of a heroine who is pretty. Miss Uma is pretty; +a fact. All my other women have been as ugly as sin, and +like Falconet's horse (I have just been reading the anecdote +in Lockhart), MORTES forbye. + +News: Our old house is now half demolished; it is to be +rebuilt on a new site; now we look down upon and through the +open posts of it like a bird-cage, to the woods beyond. My +poor Paulo has lost his father and succeeded to thirty +thousand thalers (I think); he had to go down to the +Consulate yesterday to send a legal paper; got drunk, of +course, and is still this morning in so bemused a condition +that our breakfasts all went wrong. Lafaele is absent at the +deathbed of his fair spouse; fair she was, but not in deed, +acting as harlot to the wreckers at work on the warships, to +which society she probably owes her end, having fallen off a +cliff, or been thrust off it -INTER POCULA. Henry is the +same, our stand-by. In this transition stage he has been +living in Apia; but the other night he stayed up, and sat +with us about the chimney in my room. It was the first time +he had seen a fire in a hearth; he could not look at it +without smiles, and was always anxious to put on another +stick. We entertained him with the fairy tales of +civilisation - theatres, London, blocks in the street, +Universities, the Underground, newspapers, etc., and +projected once more his visit to Sydney. If we can manage, +it will be next Christmas. (I see it will be impossible for +me to afford a further journey THIS winter.) We have spent +since we have been here about 2500 pounds, which is not much +if you consider we have built on that three houses, one of +them of some size, and a considerable stable, made two miles +of road some three times, cleared many acres of bush, made +some miles of path, planted quantities of food, and enclosed +a horse paddock and some acres of pig run; but 'tis a good +deal of money regarded simply as money. K. is bosh; I have +no use for him; but we must do what we can with the fellow +meanwhile; he is good-humoured and honest, but inefficient, +idle himself, the cause of idleness in others, grumbling, a +self-excuser - all the faults in a bundle. He owes us thirty +weeks' service - the wretched Paul about half as much. Henry +is almost the only one of our employes who has a credit. + + +MAY 17TH. + + +Well, am I ashamed of myself? I do not think so. I have +been hammering Letters ever since, and got three ready and a +fourth about half through; all four will go by the mail, +which is what I wish, for so I keep at least my start. Days +and days of unprofitable stubbing and digging, and the result +still poor as literature, left-handed, heavy, unillumined, +but I believe readable and interesting as matter. It has +been no joke of a hard time, and when my task was done, I had +little taste for anything but blowing on the pipe. A few +necessary letters filled the bowl to overflowing. + +My mother has arrived, young, well, and in good spirits. By +desperate exertions, which have wholly floored Fanny, her +room was ready for her, and the dining-room fit to eat in. +It was a famous victory. Lloyd never told me of your +portrait till a few days ago; fortunately, I had no pictures +hung yet; and the space over my chimney waits your +counterfeit presentment. I have not often heard anything +that pleased me more; your severe head shall frown upon me +and keep me to the mark. But why has it not come? Have you +been as forgetful as Lloyd? + + +18TH. + + +Miserable comforters are ye all! I read your esteemed pages +this morning by lamplight and the glimmer of the dawn, and as +soon as breakfast was over, I must turn to and tackle these +despised labours! Some courage was necessary, but not +wanting. There is one thing at least by which I can avenge +myself for my drubbing, for on one point you seem +impenetrably stupid. Can I find no form of words which will +at last convey to your intelligence the fact that THESE +LETTERS WERE NEVER MEANT, AND ARE NOT NOW MEANT, TO BE OTHER +THAN A QUARRY OF MATERIALS FROM WHICH THE BOOK MAY BE DRAWN? +There seems something incommunicable in this (to me) simple +idea; I know Lloyd failed to comprehend it, I doubt if he has +grasped it now; and I despair, after all these efforts, that +you should ever be enlightened. Still, oblige me by reading +that form of words once more, and see if a light does not +break. You may be sure, after the friendly freedoms of your +criticism (necessary I am sure, and wholesome I know, but +untimely to the poor labourer in his landslip) that mighty +little of it will stand. + +Our Paul has come into a fortune, and wishes to go home to +the Hie Germanie. This is a tile on our head, and if a +shower, which is now falling, lets up, I must go down to +Apia, and see if I can find a substitute of any kind. This +is, from any point of view, disgusting; above all, from that +of work; for, whatever the result, the mill has to be kept +turning; apparently dust, and not flour, is the proceed. +Well, there is gold in the dust, which is a fine consolation, +since - well, I can't help it; night or morning, I do my +darndest, and if I cannot charge for merit, I must e'en +charge for toil, of which I have plenty and plenty more ahead +before this cup is drained; sweat and hyssop are the +ingredients. + +We are clearing from Carruthers' Road to the pig fence, +twenty-eight powerful natives with Catholic medals about +their necks, all swiping in like Trojans; long may the sport +continue! + +The invoice to hand. Ere this goes out, I hope to see your +expressive, but surely not benignant countenance! Adieu, O +culler of offensive expressions - 'and a' - to be a posy to +your ain dear May!' - Fanny seems a little revived again +after her spasm of work. Our books and furniture keep slowly +draining up the road, in a sad state of scatterment and +disrepair; I wish the devil had had K. by his red beard +before he had packed my library. Odd leaves and sheets and +boards - a thing to make a bibliomaniac shed tears - are +fished out of odd corners. But I am no bibliomaniac, praise +Heaven, and I bear up, and rejoice when I find anything safe. + + +19TH. + + +However, I worked five hours on the brute, and finished my +Letter all the same, and couldn't sleep last night by +consequence. Haven't had a bad night since I don't know +when; dreamed a large, handsome man (a New Orleans planter) +had insulted my wife, and, do what I pleased, I could not +make him fight me; and woke to find it was the eleventh +anniversary of my marriage. A letter usually takes me from a +week to three days; but I'm sometimes two days on a page - I +was once three - and then my friends kick me. C'EST-Y-BETE! +I wish letters of that charming quality could be so timed as +to arrive when a fellow wasn't working at the truck in +question; but, of course, that can't be. Did not go down +last night. It showered all afternoon, and poured heavy and +loud all night. + +You should have seen our twenty-five popes (the Samoan phrase +for a Catholic, lay or cleric) squatting when the day's work +was done on the ground outside the verandah, and pouring in +the rays of forty-eight eyes through the back and the front +door of the dining-room, while Henry and I and the boss pope +signed the contract. The second boss (an old man) wore a +kilt (as usual) and a Balmoral bonnet with a little tartan +edging and the tails pulled off. I told him that hat belong +to my country - Sekotia; and he said, yes, that was the place +that he belonged to right enough. And then all the Papists +laughed till the woods rang; he was slashing away with a +cutlass as he spoke. + +The pictures have decidedly not come; they may probably +arrive Sunday. + + + +CHAPTER IX + + + +JUNE, 1891. + + +SIR, - To you, under your portrait, which is, in expression, +your true, breathing self, and up to now saddens me; in time, +and soon, I shall be glad to have it there; it is still only +a reminder of your absence. Fanny wept when we unpacked it, +and you know how little she is given to that mood; I was +scarce Roman myself, but that does not count - I lift up my +voice so readily. These are good compliments to the artist. +I write in the midst of a wreck of books, which have just +come up, and have for once defied my labours to get straight. +The whole floor is filled with them, and (what's worse) most +of the shelves forbye; and where they are to go to, and what +is to become of the librarian, God knows. It is hot to- +night, and has been airless all day, and I am out of sorts, +and my work sticks, the devil fly away with it and me. We +had an alarm of war since last I wrote my screeds to you, and +it blew over, and is to blow on again, and the rumour goes +they are to begin by killing all the whites. I have no +belief in this, and should be infinitely sorry if it came to +pass - I do not mean for US, that were otiose - but for the +poor, deluded schoolboys, who should hope to gain by such a +step. + + +[LETTER RESUMED.] +JUNE 20TH. + + +No diary this time. Why? you ask. I have only sent out four +Letters, and two chapters of the WRECKER. Yes, but to get +these I have written 132 pp., 66,000 words in thirty days; +2200 words a day; the labours of an elephant. God knows what +it's like, and don't ask me, but nobody shall say I have +spared pains. I thought for some time it wouldn't come at +all. I was days and days over the first letter of the lot - +days and days writing and deleting and making no headway +whatever, till I thought I should have gone bust; but it came +at last after a fashion, and the rest went a thought more +easily, though I am not so fond as to fancy any better. + +Your opinion as to the letters as a whole is so damnatory +that I put them by. But there is a 'hell of a want of' money +this year. And these Gilbert Island papers, being the most +interesting in matter, and forming a compact whole, and being +well illustrated, I did think of as a possible resource. + +It would be called + + +SIX MONTHS IN MELANESIA, +TWO ISLAND KINGS, +- MONARCHIES, +GILBERT ISLAND KINGS, +- MONARCHIES, + + +and I daresay I'll think of a better yet - and would divide +thus:- + + +BUTARITATI. + + +I. A Town asleep. +II. The Three Brothers. +III. Around our House. +IV. A Tale of a Tapu. +V. The Five Day's Festival. +VI. Domestic Life - (which might be omitted, but not well, +better be recast). + + +THE KING OF APEMAMA. + + +VII. The Royal Traders. +VIII. Foundation of Equator Town. +IX. The Palace of Mary Warren. +X. Equator Town and the Palace. +XI. King and Commons. +XII. The Devil Work Box. +XIII. The Three Corslets. +XIV. Tail piece; the Court upon a Journey. + + +I wish you to watch these closely, judging them as a whole, +and treating them as I have asked you, and favour me with +your damnatory advice. I look up at your portrait, and it +frowns upon me. You seem to view me with reproach. The +expression is excellent; Fanny wept when she saw it, and you +know she is not given to the melting mood. She seems really +better; I have a touch of fever again, I fancy overwork, and +to-day, when I have overtaken my letters, I shall blow on my +pipe. Tell Mrs. S. I have been playing LE CHANT D'AMOUR +lately, and have arranged it, after awful trouble, rather +prettily for two pipes; and it brought her before me with an +effect scarce short of hallucination. I could hear her voice +in every note; yet I had forgot the air entirely, and began +to pipe it from notes as something new, when I was brought up +with a round turn by this reminiscence. We are now very much +installed; the dining-room is done, and looks lovely. Soon +we shall begin to photograph and send you our circumstances. +My room is still a howling wilderness. I sleep on a platform +in a window, and strike my mosquito bar and roll up my +bedclothes every morning, so that the bed becomes by day a +divan. A great part of the floor is knee-deep in books, yet +nearly all the shelves are filled, alas! It is a place to +make a pig recoil, yet here are my interminable labours begun +daily by lamp-light, and sometimes not yet done when the lamp +has once more to be lighted. The effect of pictures in this +place is surprising. They give great pleasure. + + +JUNE 21ST. + + +A word more. I had my breakfast this morning at 4.30! My +new cook has beaten me and (as Lloyd says) revenged all the +cooks in the world. I have been hunting them to give me +breakfast early since I was twenty; and now here comes Mr. +Ratke, and I have to plead for mercy. I cannot stand 4.30; I +am a mere fevered wreck; it is now half-past eight, and I can +no more, and four hours divide me from lunch, the devil take +the man! Yesterday it was about 5.30, which I can stand; day +before 5, which is bad enough; to-day, I give out. It is +like a London season, and as I do not take a siesta once in a +month, and then only five minutes, I am being worn to the +bones, and look aged and anxious. + +We have Rider Haggard's brother here as a Land Commissioner; +a nice kind of a fellow; indeed, all the three Land +Commissioners are very agreeable. + + + +CHAPTER X + + + +SUNDAY, SEPT. 5 (?), 1891. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - Yours from Lochinver has just come. You +ask me if I am ever homesick for the Highlands and the Isles. +Conceive that for the last month I have been living there +between 1786 and 1850, in my grandfather's diaries and +letters. I HAD to take a rest; no use talking; so I put in a +month over my LIVES OF THE STEVENSONS with great pleasure and +profit and some advance; one chapter and a part drafted. The +whole promises well Chapter I. Domestic Annals. Chapter II. +The Northern Lights. Chapter III. The Bell Rock. Chapter +IV. A Family of Boys. Chap. V. The Grandfather. VI. Alan +Stevenson. VII. Thomas Stevenson. My materials for my +great-grandfather are almost null; for my grandfather copious +and excellent. Name, a puzzle. A SCOTTISH FAMILY, A FAMILY +OF ENGINEERS, NORTHERN LIGHTS, THE ENGINEERS OF THE NORTHERN +LIGHTS: A FAMILY HISTORY. Advise; but it will take long. +Now, imagine if I have been homesick for Barrahead and Island +Glass, and Kirkwall, and Cape Wrath, and the Wells of the +Pentland Firth; I could have wept. + +Now for politics. I am much less alarmed; I believe the MALO +(=RAJ, government) will collapse and cease like an overlain +infant, without a shot fired. They have now been months here +on their big salaries - and Cedarcrantz, whom I specially +like as a man, has done nearly nothing, and the Baron, who is +well-meaning, has done worse. They have these large +salaries, and they have all the taxes; they have made scarce +a foot of road; they have not given a single native a +position - all to white men; they have scarce laid out a +penny on Apia, and scarce a penny on the King; they have +forgot they were in Samoa, or that such a thing as Samoans +existed, and had eyes and some intelligence. The Chief +Justice has refused to pay his customs! The President +proposed to have an expensive house built for himself, while +the King, his master, has none! I had stood aside, and been +a loyal, and, above all, a silent subject, up to then; but +now I snap my fingers at their MALO. It is damned, and I'm +damned glad of it. And this is not all. Last 'WAINIU,' when +I sent Fanny off to Fiji, I hear the wonderful news that the +Chief Justice is going to Fiji and the Colonies to improve +his mind. I showed my way of thought to his guest, Count +Wachtmeister, whom I have sent to you with a letter - he will +tell you all the news. Well, the Chief Justice stayed, but +they said he was to leave yesterday. I had intended to go +down, and see and warn him! But the President's house had +come up in the meanwhile, and I let them go to their doom, +which I am only anxious to see swiftly and (if it may be) +bloodlessly fall. + +Thus I have in a way withdrawn my unrewarded loyalty. Lloyd +is down to-day with Moors to call on Mataafa; the news of the +excursion made a considerable row in Apia, and both the +German and the English consuls besought Lloyd not to go. But +he stuck to his purpose, and with my approval. It's a poor +thing if people are to give up a pleasure party for a MALO +that has never done anything for us but draw taxes, and is +going to go pop, and leave us at the mercy of the identical +Mataafa, whom I have not visited for more than a year, and +who is probably furious. + +The sense of my helplessness here has been rather bitter; I +feel it wretched to see this dance of folly and injustice and +unconscious rapacity go forward from day to day, and to be +impotent. I was not consulted - or only by one man, and that +on particular points; I did not choose to volunteer advice +till some pressing occasion; I have not even a vote, for I am +not a member of the municipality. + +What ails you, miserable man, to talk of saving material? I +have a whole world in my head, a whole new society to work, +but I am in no hurry; you will shortly make the acquaintance +of the Island of Ulufanua, on which I mean to lay several +stories; the BLOODY WEDDING, possibly the HIGH WOODS - (O, +it's so good, the High Woods, but the story is craziness; +that's the trouble,) - a political story, the LABOUR SLAVE, +etc. Ulufanua is an imaginary island; the name is a +beautiful Samoan word for the TOP of a forest; ulu - leaves +or hair, fanua=land. The ground or country of the leaves. +'Ulufanua the isle of the sea,' read that verse dactylically +and you get the beat; the u's are like our double oo; did +ever you hear a prettier word? + +I do not feel inclined to make a volume of Essays, but if I +did, and perhaps the idea is good - and any idea is better +than South Seas - here would be my choice of the Scribner +articles: DREAMS, BEGGARS, LANTERN-BEARERS, RANDOM MEMORIES. +There was a paper called the OLD PACIFIC CAPITAL in Fraser, +in Tulloch's time, which had merit; there were two on +Fontainebleau in the MAGAZINE OF ART in Henley's time. I +have no idea if they're any good; then there's the EMIGRANT +TRAIN. PULVIS ET UMBRA is in a different key, and wouldn't +hang on with the rest. + +I have just interrupted my letter and read through the +chapter of the HIGH WOODS that is written, a chapter and a +bit, some sixteen pages, really very fetching, but what do +you wish? the story is so wilful, so steep, so silly - it's a +hallucination I have outlived, and yet I never did a better +piece of work, horrid, and pleasing, and extraordinarily +TRUE; it's sixteen pages of the South Seas; their essence. +What am I to do? Lose this little gem - for I'll be bold, +and that's what I think it - or go on with the rest, which I +don't believe in, and don't like, and which can never make +aught but a silly yarn? Make another end to it? Ah, yes, +but that's not the way I write; the whole tale is implied; I +never use an effect, when I can help it, unless it prepares +the effects that are to follow; that's what a story consists +in. To make another end, that is to make the beginning all +wrong. The denouement of a long story is nothing; it is just +a 'full close,' which you may approach and accompany as you +please - it is a coda, not an essential member in the rhythm; +but the body and end of a short story is bone of the bone and +blood of the blood of the beginning. Well, I shall end by +finishing it against my judgment; that fragment is my +Delilah. Golly, it's good. I am not shining by modesty; but +I do just love the colour and movement of that piece so far +as it goes. + +I was surprised to hear of your fishing. And you saw the +'Pharos,' thrice fortunate man; I wish I dared go home, I +would ask the Commissioners to take me round for old sake's +sake, and see all my family pictures once more from the Mull +of Galloway to Unst. However, all is arranged for our +meeting in Ceylon, except the date and the blooming pounds. +I have heard of an exquisite hotel in the country, airy, +large rooms, good cookery, not dear; we shall have a couple +of months there, if we can make it out, and converse or - as +my grandfather always said - 'commune.' 'Communings with Mr. +Kennedy as to Lighthouse Repairs.' He was a fine old fellow, +but a droll. + + +EVENING. + + +Lloyd has returned. Peace and war were played before his +eyes at heads or tails. A German was stopped with levelled +guns; he raised his whip; had it fallen, we might have been +now in war. Excuses were made by Mataafa himself. Doubtless +the thing was done - I mean the stopping of the German - a +little to show off before Lloyd. Meanwhile - was up here, +telling how the Chief Justice was really gone for five or +eight weeks, and begging me to write to the TIMES and +denounce the state of affairs; many strong reasons he +advanced; and Lloyd and I have been since his arrival and -'s +departure, near half an hour, debating what should be done. +Cedarcrantz is gone; it is not my fault; he knows my views on +that point - alone of all points; - he leaves me with my +mouth sealed. Yet this is a nice thing that because he is +guilty of a fresh offence - his flight - the mouth of the +only possible influential witness should be closed? I do not +like this argument. I look like a cad, if I do in the man's +absence what I could have done in a more manly manner in his +presence. True; but why did he go? It is his last sin. And +I, who like the man extremely - that is the word - I love his +society - he is intelligent, pleasant, even witty, a +gentleman - and you know how that attaches - I loathe to seem +to play a base part; but the poor natives - who are like +other folk, false enough, lazy enough, not heroes, not saints +- ordinary men damnably misused - are they to suffer because +I like Cedarcrantz, and Cedarcrantz has cut his lucky? This +is a little tragedy, observe well - a tragedy! I may be +right, I may be wrong in my judgment, but I am in treaty with +my honour. I know not how it will seem to-morrow. Lloyd +thought the barrier of honour insurmountable, and it is an +ugly obstacle. He (Cedarcrantz) will likely meet my wife +three days from now, may travel back with her, will be +charming if he does; suppose this, and suppose him to arrive +and find that I have sprung a mine - or the nearest approach +to it I could find - behind his back? My position is pretty. +Yes, I am an aristocrat. I have the old petty, personal view +of honour? I should blush till I die if I do this; yet it is +on the cards that I may do it. So much I have written you in +bed, as a man writes, or talks, in a BITTRE WAHL. Now I +shall sleep, and see if I am more clear. I will consult the +missionaries at least - I place some reliance in M. also - or +I should if he were not a partisan; but a partisan he is. +There's the pity. To sleep! A fund of wisdom in the +prostrate body and the fed brain. Kindly observe R. L. S. in +the talons of politics! 'Tis funny - 'tis sad. Nobody but +these cursed idiots could have so driven me; I cannot bear +idiots. + +My dear Colvin, I must go to sleep; it is long past ten - a +dreadful hour for me. And here am I lingering (so I feel) in +the dining-room at the Monument, talking to you across the +table, both on our feet, and only the two stairs to mount, +and get to bed, and sleep, and be waked by dear old George - +to whom I wish my kindest remembrances - next morning. I +look round, and there is my blue room, and my long lines of +shelves, and the door gaping on a moonless night, and no word +of S. C. but his twa portraits on the wall. Good-bye, my +dear fellow, and goodnight. Queer place the world! + + +MONDAY. + + +No clearness of mind with the morning; I have no guess what I +should do. 'Tis easy to say that the public duty should +brush aside these little considerations of personal dignity; +so it is that politicians begin, and in a month you find them +rat and flatter and intrigue with brows of brass. I am +rather of the old view, that a man's first duty is to these +little laws; the big he does not, he never will, understand; +I may be wrong about the Chief Justice and the Baron and the +state of Samoa; I cannot be wrong about the vile attitude I +put myself in if I blow the gaff on Cedarcrantz behind his +back. + + +TUESDAY. + + +One more word about the South Seas, in answer to a question I +observe I have forgotten to answer. The Tahiti part has +never turned up, because it has never been written. As for +telling you where I went or when, or anything about Honolulu, +I would rather die; that is fair and plain. How can anybody +care when or how I left Honolulu? A man of upwards of forty +cannot waste his time in communicating matter of that +indifference. The letters, it appears, are tedious; they +would be more tedious still if I wasted my time upon such +infantile and sucking-bottle details. If ever I put in any +such detail, it is because it leads into something or serves +as a transition. To tell it for its own sake, never! The +mistake is all through that I have told too much; I had not +sufficient confidence in the reader, and have overfed him; +and here are you anxious to learn how I - O Colvin! Suppose +it had made a book, all such information is given to one +glance of an eye by a map with a little dotted line upon it. +But let us forget this unfortunate affair. + + +WEDNESDAY. + + +Yesterday I went down to consult Clarke, who took the view of +delay. Has he changed his mind already? I wonder: here at +least is the news. Some little while back some men of Manono +- what is Manono? - a Samoan rotten borough, a small isle of +huge political importance, heaven knows why, where a handful +of chiefs make half the trouble in the country. Some men of +Manono (which is strong Mataafa) burned down the houses and +destroyed the crops of some Malietoa neighbours. The +President went there the other day and landed alone on the +island, which (to give him his due) was plucky. Moreover, he +succeeded in persuading the folks to come up and be judged on +a particular day in Apia. That day they did not come; but +did come the next, and, to their vast surprise, were given +six months' imprisonment and clapped in gaol. Those who had +accompanied them cried to them on the streets as they were +marched to prison, 'Shall we rescue you?' The condemned, +marching in the hands of thirty men with loaded rifles, cried +out 'No'! And the trick was done. But it was ardently +believed a rescue would be attempted; the gaol was laid about +with armed men day and night; but there was some question of +their loyalty, and the commandant of the forces, a very nice +young beardless Swede, became nervous, and conceived a plan. +How if he should put dynamite under the gaol, and in case of +an attempted rescue blow up prison and all? He went to the +President, who agreed; he went to the American man-of-war for +the dynamite and machine, was refused, and got it at last +from the Wreckers. The thing began to leak out, and there +arose a muttering in town. People had no fancy for amateur +explosions, for one thing. For another, it did not clearly +appear that it was legal; the men had been condemned to six +months' prison, which they were peaceably undergoing; they +had not been condemned to death. And lastly, it seemed a +somewhat advanced example of civilisation to set before +barbarians. The mutter in short became a storm, and +yesterday, while I was down, a cutter was chartered, and the +prisoners were suddenly banished to the Tokelaus. Who has +changed the sentence? We are going to stir in the dynamite +matter; we do not want the natives to fancy us consenting to +such an outrage. + +Fanny has returned from her trip, and on the whole looks +better. The HIGH WOODS are under way, and their name is now +the BEACH OF FALESA, and the yarn is cured. I have about +thirty pages of it done; it will be fifty to seventy I +suppose. No supernatural trick at all; and escaped out of it +quite easily; can't think why I was so stupid for so long. +Mighty glad to have Fanny back to this 'Hell of the South +Seas,' as the German Captain called it. What will +Cedarcrantz think when he comes back? To do him justice, had +he been here, this Manono hash would not have been. + +Here is a pretty thing. When Fanny was in Fiji all the Samoa +and Tokelau folks were agog about our 'flash' house; but the +whites had never heard of it. + + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, +Author of THE BEACH OF FALESA. + + + +CHAPTER XI + + + +SEPT. 28. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - Since I last laid down my pen, I have +written and rewritten THE BEACH OF FALESA; something like +sixty thousand words of sterling domestic fiction (the story, +you will understand, is only half that length); and now I +don't want to write any more again for ever, or feel so; and +I've got to overhaul it once again to my sorrow. I was all +yesterday revising, and found a lot of slacknesses and (what +is worse in this kind of thing) some literaryisms. One of +the puzzles is this: It is a first person story - a trader +telling his own adventure in an island. When I began I +allowed myself a few liberties, because I was afraid of the +end; now the end proved quite easy, and could be done in the +pace; so the beginning remains about a quarter tone out (in +places); but I have rather decided to let it stay so. The +problem is always delicate; it is the only thing that worries +me in first person tales, which otherwise (quo' Alan) 'set +better wi' my genius.' There is a vast deal of fact in the +story, and some pretty good comedy. It is the first +realistic South Sea story; I mean with real South Sea +character and details of life. Everybody else who has tried, +that I have seen, got carried away by the romance, and ended +in a kind of sugar-candy sham epic, and the whole effect was +lost - there was no etching, no human grin, consequently no +conviction. Now I have got the smell and look of the thing a +good deal. You will know more about the South Seas after you +have read my little tale than if you had read a library. As +to whether any one else will read it, I have no guess. I am +in an off time, but there is just the possibility it might +make a hit; for the yarn is good and melodramatic, and there +is quite a love affair - for me; and Mr. Wiltshire (the +narrator) is a huge lark, though I say it. But there is +always the exotic question, and everything, the life, the +place, the dialects - trader's talk, which is a strange +conglomerate of literary expressions and English and American +slang, and Beach de Mar, or native English, - the very trades +and hopes and fears of the characters, are all novel, and may +be found unwelcome to that great, hulking, bullering whale, +the public. + +Since I wrote, I have been likewise drawing up a document to +send it to the President; it has been dreadfully delayed, not +by me, but to-day they swear it will be sent in. A list of +questions about the dynamite report are herein laid before +him, and considerations suggested why he should answer. + + +OCTOBER 5TH. + + +Ever since my last snatch I have been much chivied about over +the President business; his answer has come, and is an +evasion accompanied with schoolboy insolence, and we are +going to try to answer it. I drew my answer and took it down +yesterday; but one of the signatories wants another paragraph +added, which I have not yet been able to draw, and as to the +wisdom of which I am not yet convinced. + + +NEXT DAY, OCT. 7TH, THE RIGHT DAY. + + +We are all in rather a muddled state with our President +affair. I do loathe politics, but at the same time, I cannot +stand by and have the natives blown in the air treacherously +with dynamite. They are still quiet; how long this may +continue I do not know, though of course by mere prescription +the Government is strengthened, and is probably insured till +the next taxes fall due. But the unpopularity of the whites +is growing. My native overseer, the great Henry Simele, +announced to-day that he was 'weary of whites upon the beach. +All too proud,' said this veracious witness. One of the +proud ones had threatened yesterday to cut off his head with +a bush knife! These are 'native outrages'; honour bright, +and setting theft aside, in which the natives are active, +this is the main stream of irritation. The natives are +generally courtly, far from always civil, but really gentle, +and with a strong sense of honour of their own, and certainly +quite as much civilised as our dynamiting President. + +We shall be delighted to see Kipling. I go to bed usually +about half-past eight, and my lamp is out before ten; I +breakfast at six. We may say roughly we have no soda water +on the island, and just now truthfully no whisky. I HAVE +heard the chimes at midnight; now no more, I guess. BUT - +Fanny and I, as soon as we can get coins for it, are coming +to Europe, not to England: I am thinking of Royat. Bar wars. +If not, perhaps the Apennines might give us a mountain refuge +for two months or three in summer. How is that for high? +But the money must be all in hand first. + + +OCTOBER 13TH. + + +How am I to describe my life these last few days? I have +been wholly swallowed up in politics, a wretched business, +with fine elements of farce in it too, which repay a man in +passing, involving many dark and many moonlight rides, secret +counsels which are at once divulged, sealed letters which are +read aloud in confidence to the neighbours, and a mass of +fudge and fun, which would have driven me crazy ten years +ago, and now makes me smile. + +On Friday, Henry came and told us he must leave and go to 'my +poor old family in Savaii'; why? I do not quite know - but, +I suspect, to be tattooed - if so, then probably to be +married, and we shall see him no more. I told him he must do +what he thought his duty; we had him to lunch, drank his +health, and he and I rode down about twelve. When I got +down, I sent my horse back to help bring down the family +later. My own afternoon was cut out for me; my last draft +for the President had been objected to by some of the +signatories. I stood out, and one of our small number +accordingly refused to sign. Him I had to go and persuade, +which went off very well after the first hottish moments; you +have no idea how stolid my temper is now. By about five the +thing was done; and we sat down to dinner at the Chinaman's - +the Verrey or Doyen's of Apia - G. and I at each end as +hosts; G.'s wife - Fanua, late maid of the village; her +(adopted) father and mother, Seumanu and Faatulia, Fanny, +Belle, Lloyd, Austin, and Henry Simele, his last appearance. +Henry was in a kilt of gray shawl, with a blue jacket, white +shirt and black necktie, and looked like a dark genteel guest +in a Highland shooting-box. Seumanu (opposite Fanny, next +G.) is chief of Apia, a rather big gun in this place, looking +like a large, fatted, military Englishman, bar the colour. +Faatulia, next me, is a bigger chief than her husband. Henry +is a chief too - his chief name, Iiga (Ee-eeng-a), he has not +yet 'taken' because of his youth. We were in fine society, +and had a pleasant meal-time, with lots of fun. Then to the +Opera - I beg your pardon, I mean the Circus. We occupied +the first row in the reserved seats, and there in the row +behind were all our friends - Captain Foss and his Captain- +Lieutenant, three of the American officers, very nice +fellows, the Dr., etc, so we made a fine show of what an +embittered correspondent of the local paper called 'the +shoddy aristocracy of Apia'; and you should have seen how we +carried on, and how I clapped, and Captain Foss hollered +'WUNDERSCHON!' and threw himself forward in his seat, and how +we all in fact enjoyed ourselves like school-children, Austin +not a shade more than his neighbours. Then the Circus broke +up, and the party went home, but I stayed down, having +business on the morrow. + +Yesterday, October 12th, great news reaches me, and Lloyd and +I, with the mail just coming in, must leave all, saddle, and +ride down. True enough, the President had resigned! Sought +to resign his presidency of the council, and keep his +advisership to the King; given way to the Consul's objections +and resigned all - then fell out with them about the +disposition of the funds, and was now trying to resign from +his resignation! Sad little President, so trim to look at, +and I believe so kind to his little wife! Not only so, but I +meet D. on the beach. D. calls me in consultation, and we +make with infinite difficulty a draft of a petition to the +King. . . . Then to dinner at M.'s, a very merry meal, +interrupted before it was over by the arrival of the +committee. Slight sketch of procedure agreed upon, self +appointed spokesman, and the deputation sets off. Walk all +through Matafele, all along Mulinuu, come to the King's +house; he has verbally refused to see us in answer to our +letter, swearing he is gase-gase (chief-sickness, not common +man's), and indeed we see him inside in bed. It is a +miserable low house, better houses by the dozen in the little +hamlet (Tanugamanono) of bushmen on our way to Vailima; and +the President's house in process of erection just opposite! +We are told to return to-morrow; I refuse; and at last we are +very sourly received, sit on the mats, and I open out, +through a very poor interpreter, and sometimes hampered by +unacceptable counsels from my backers. I can speak fairly +well in a plain way now. C. asked me to write out my +harangue for him this morning; I have done so, and couldn't +get it near as good. I suppose (talking and interpreting) I +was twenty minutes or half-an-hour on the deck; then his +majesty replied in the dying whisper of a big chief; a few +words of rejoinder (approving), and the deputation withdrew, +rather well satisfied. + +A few days ago this intervention would have been a deportable +offence; not now, I bet; I would like them to try. A little +way back along Mulinuu, Mrs. G. met us with her husband's +horse; and he and she and Lloyd and I rode back in a heavenly +moonlight. Here ends a chapter in the life of an island +politician! Catch me at it again; 'tis easy to go in, but it +is not a pleasant trade. I have had a good team, as good as +I could get on the beach; but what trouble even so, and what +fresh troubles shaping. But I have on the whole carried all +my points; I believe all but one, and on that (which did not +concern me) I had no right to interfere. I am sure you would +be amazed if you knew what a good hand I am at keeping my +temper, talking people over, and giving reasons which are not +my reasons, but calculated for the meridian of the particular +objection; so soon does falsehood await the politician in his +whirling path. + + + +CHAPTER XII + + + +MAY, OCTOBER 24TH. + + +MY DEAR CARTHEW, - See what I have written, but it's Colvin +I'm after - I have written two chapters, about thirty pages +of WRECKER since the mail left, which must be my excuse, and +the bother I've had with it is not to be imagined, you might +have seen me the day before yesterday weighing British sov.'s +and Chili dollars to arrange my treasure chest. And there +was such a calculation, not for that only, but for the ship's +position and distances when - but I am not going to tell you +the yarn - and then, as my arithmetic is particularly lax, +Lloyd had to go over all my calculations; and then, as I had +changed the amount of money, he had to go over all HIS as to +the amount of the lay; and altogether, a bank could be run +with less effusion of figures than it took to shore up a +single chapter of a measly yarn. However, it's done, and I +have but one more, or at the outside two, to do, and I am +Free! and can do any damn thing I like. + +Before falling on politics, I shall give you my day. Awoke +somewhere about the first peep of day, came gradually to, and +had a turn on the verandah before 5.55, when 'the child' (an +enormous Wallis Islander) brings me an orange; at 6, +breakfast; 6.10, to work; which lasts till, at 10.30, Austin +comes for his history lecture; this is rather dispiriting, +but education must be gone about in faith - and charity, both +of which pretty nigh failed me to-day about (of all things) +Carthage; 11, luncheon; after luncheon in my mother's room, I +read Chapter XXIII. of THE WRECKER, then Belle, Lloyd, and I +go up and make music furiously till about 2 (I suppose), when +I turn into work again till 4; fool from 4 to half-past, +tired out and waiting for the bath hour; 4.30, bath; 4.40, +eat two heavenly mangoes on the verandah, and see the boys +arrive with the pack-horses; 5, dinner; smoke, chat on +verandah, then hand of cards, and at last at 8 come up to my +room with a pint of beer and a hard biscuit, which I am now +consuming, and as soon as they are consumed I shall turn in. + +Such are the innocent days of this ancient and outworn +sportsman; to-day there was no weeding, usually there is +however, edge in somewhere. My books for the moment are a +crib to Phaedo, and the second book of Montaigne; and a +little while back I was reading Frederic Harrison, 'Choice of +Books,' etc. - very good indeed, a great deal of sense and +knowledge in the volume, and some very true stuff, CONTRA +Carlyle, about the eighteenth century. A hideous idea came +over me that perhaps Harrison is now getting OLD. Perhaps +you are. Perhaps I am. Oh, this infidelity must be stared +firmly down. I am about twenty-three - say twenty-eight; you +about thirty, or, by'r lady, thirty-four; and as Harrison +belongs to the same generation, there is no good bothering +about him. + +Here has just been a fine alert; I gave my wife a dose of +chlorodyne. 'Something wrong,' says she. 'Nonsense,' said +I. 'Embrocation,' said she. I smelt it, and - it smelt very +funny. 'I think it's just gone bad, and to-morrow will +tell.' Proved to be so. + + +WEDNESDAY. + + +HISTORY OF TUESDAY. - Woke at usual time, very little work, +for I was tired, and had a job for the evening - to write +parts for a new instrument, a violin. Lunch, chat, and up to +my place to practise; but there was no practising for me - my +flageolet was gone wrong, and I had to take it all to pieces, +clean it, and put it up again. As this is a most intricate +job - the thing dissolves into seventeen separate members, +most of these have to be fitted on their individual springs +as fine as needles, and sometimes two at once with the +springs shoving different ways - it took me till two. Then +Lloyd and I rode forth on our errands; first to Motootua, +where we had a really instructive conversation on weeds and +grasses. Thence down to Apia, where we bought a fresh bottle +of chlorodyne and conversed on politics. + +My visit to the King, which I thought at the time a +particularly nugatory and even schoolboy step, and only +consented to because I had held the reins so tight over my +little band before, has raised a deuce of a row - new +proclamation, no one is to interview the sacred puppet +without consuls' permission, two days' notice, and an +approved interpreter - read (I suppose) spy. Then back; I +should have said I was trying the new horse; a tallish +piebald, bought from the circus; he proved steady and safe, +but in very bad condition, and not so much the wild Arab +steed of the desert as had been supposed. The height of his +back, after commodious Jack, astonished me, and I had a great +consciousness of exercise and florid action, as I posted to +his long, emphatic trot. We had to ride back easy; even so +he was hot and blown; and when we set a boy to lead him to +and fro, our last character for sanity perished. We returned +just neat for dinner; and in the evening our violinist +arrived, a young lady, no great virtuoso truly, but plucky, +industrious, and a good reader; and we played five pieces +with huge amusement, and broke up at nine. This morning I +have read a splendid piece of Montaigne, written this page of +letter, and now turn to the WRECKER. + +WEDNESDAY - November 16th or 17th - and I am ashamed to say +mail day. The WRECKER is finished, that is the best of my +news; it goes by this mail to Scribner's; and I honestly +think it a good yarn on the whole and of its measly kind. +The part that is genuinely good is Nares, the American +sailor; that is a genuine figure; had there been more Nares +it would have been a better book; but of course it didn't set +up to be a book, only a long tough yarn with some pictures of +the manners of to-day in the greater world - not the shoddy +sham world of cities, clubs, and colleges, but the world +where men still live a man's life. The worst of my news is +the influenza; Apia is devastate; the shops closed, a ball +put off, etc. As yet we have not had it at Vailima, and, who +knows? we may escape. None of us go down, but of course the +boys come and go. + +Your letter had the most wonderful 'I told you so' I ever +heard in the course of my life. Why, you madman, I wouldn't +change my present installation for any post, dignity, honour, +or advantage conceivable to me. It fills the bill; I have +the loveliest time. And as for wars and rumours of wars, you +surely know enough of me to be aware that I like that also a +thousand times better than decrepit peace in Middlesex? I do +not quite like politics; I am too aristocratic, I fear, for +that. God knows I don't care who I chum with; perhaps like +sailors best; but to go round and sue and sneak to keep a +crowd together - never. My imagination, which is not the +least damped by the idea of having my head cut off in the +bush, recoils aghast from the idea of a life like +Gladstone's, and the shadow of the newspaper chills me to the +bone. Hence my late eruption was interesting, but not what I +like. All else suits me in this (killed a mosquito) A1 +abode. + +About politics. A determination was come to by the President +that he had been an idiot; emissaries came to G. and me to +kiss and be friends. My man proposed I should have a +personal interview; I said it was quite useless, I had +nothing to say; I had offered him the chance to inform me, +had pressed it on him, and had been very unpleasantly +received, and now 'Time was.' Then it was decided that I was +to be made a culprit against Germany; the German Captain - a +delightful fellow and our constant visitor - wrote to say +that as 'a German officer' he could not come even to say +farewell. We all wrote back in the most friendly spirit, +telling him (politely) that some of these days he would be +sorry, and we should be delighted to see our friend again. +Since then I have seen no German shadow. + +Mataafa has been proclaimed a rebel; the President did this +act, and then resigned. By singular good fortune, Mataafa +has not yet moved; no thanks to our idiot governors. They +have shot their bolt; they have made a rebel of the only man +(TO THEIR OWN KNOWLEDGE, ON THE REPORT OF THEIR OWN SPY) who +held the rebel party in check; and having thus called on war +to fall, they can do no more, sit equally 'expertes' of VIS +and counsel, regarding their handiwork. It is always a cry +with these folk that he (Mataafa) had no ammunition. I +always said it would be found; and we know of five boat-loads +that have found their way to Malie already. Where there are +traders, there will be ammunition; aphorism by R. L. S. + +Now what am I to do next? + +Lives of the Stevensons? HISTORIA SAMOAE? A History for +Children? Fiction? I have had two hard months at fiction; I +want a change. Stevensons? I am expecting some more +material; perhaps better wait. Samoa; rather tempting; might +be useful to the islands - and to me; for it will be written +in admirable temper; I have never agreed with any party, and +see merits and excuses in all; should do it (if I did) very +slackly and easily, as if half in conversation. History for +Children? This flows from my lessons to Austin; no book is +any good. The best I have seen is Freeman's OLD ENGLISH +HISTORY; but his style is so rasping, and a child can learn +more, if he's clever. I found my sketch of general Aryan +History, given in conversation, to have been practically +correct - at least what I mean is, Freeman had very much the +same stuff in his early chapters, only not so much, and I +thought not so well placed; and the child remembered some of +it. Now the difficulty is to give this general idea of main +place, growth, and movement; it is needful to tack it on a +yarn. Now Scotch is the only History I know; it is the only +history reasonably represented in my library; it is a very +good one for my purpose, owing to two civilisations having +been face to face throughout - or rather Roman civilisation +face to face with our ancient barbaric life and government, +down to yesterday, to 1750 anyway. But the TALES OF A +GRANDFATHER stand in my way; I am teaching them to Austin +now, and they have all Scott's defects and all Scott's +hopeless merit. I cannot compete with that; and yet, so far +as regards teaching History, how he has missed his chances! +I think I'll try; I really have some historic sense, I feel +that in my bones. Then there's another thing. Scott never +knew the Highlands; he was always a Borderer. He has missed +that whole, long, strange, pathetic story of our savages, +and, besides, his style is not very perspicuous to childhood. +Gad, I think I'll have a flutter. Buridan's Ass! Whether to +go, what to attack. Must go to other letters; shall add to +this, if I have time. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + + +NOV. 25TH, 1891. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, MY DEAR COLVIN, - I wonder how often I'm +going to write it. In spite of the loss of three days, as I +have to tell, and a lot of weeding and cacao planting, I have +finished since the mail left four chapters, forty-eight pages +of my Samoa history. It is true that the first three had +been a good deal drafted two years ago, but they had all to +be written and re-written, and the fourth chapter is all new. +Chapter I. Elements of Discord-Native. II. Elements of +Discord-Foreign. III. The Success of Laupepa. IV. Brandeis. +V. Will probably be called 'The Rise of Mataafa.' VI. FUROR +CONSULARIS - a devil of a long chapter. VII. Stuebel the +Pacificator. VIII. Government under the Treaty of Berlin. +IX. Practical Suggestions. Say three-sixths of it are done, +maybe more; by this mail five chapters should go, and that +should be a good half of it; say sixty pages. And if you +consider that I sent by last mail the end of the WRECKER, +coming on for seventy or eighty pages, and the mail before +that the entire Tale of the BEACH OF FALESA, I do not think I +can be accused of idleness. This is my season; I often work +six and seven, and sometimes eight hours; and the same day I +am perhaps weeding or planting for an hour or two more - and +I daresay you know what hard work weeding is - and it all +agrees with me at this time of the year - like - like +idleness, if a man of my years could be idle. + +My first visit to Apia was a shock to me; every second person +the ghost of himself, and the place reeking with infection. +But I have not got the thing yet, and hope to escape. This +shows how much stronger I am; think of me flitting through a +town of influenza patients seemingly unscathed. We are all +on the cacao planting. + +The next day my wife and I rode over to the German +plantation, Vailele, whose manager is almost the only German +left to speak to us. Seventy labourers down with influenza! +It is a lovely ride, half-way down our mountain towards Apia, +then turn to the right, ford the river, and three miles of +solitary grass and cocoa palms, to where the sea beats and +the wild wind blows unceasingly about the plantation house. +On the way down Fanny said, 'Now what would you do if you saw +Colvin coming up?' + +Next day we rode down to Apia to make calls. + +Yesterday the mail came, and the fat was in the fire. + + +NOV. 29TH? + + +BOOK. All right. I must say I like your order. And the +papers are some of them up to dick, and no mistake. I agree +with you the lights seem a little turned down. The truth is, +I was far through (if you understand Scots), and came none +too soon to the South Seas, where I was to recover peace of +body and mind. No man but myself knew all my bitterness in +those days. Remember that, the next time you think I regret +my exile. And however low the lights are, the stuff is true, +and I believe the more effective; after all, what I wish to +fight is the best fought by a rather cheerless presentation +of the truth. The world must return some day to the word +duty, and be done with the word reward. There are no +rewards, and plenty duties. And the sooner a man sees that +and acts upon it like a gentleman or a fine old barbarian, +the better for himself. + +There is my usual puzzle about publishers. Chatto ought to +have it, as he has all the other essays; these all belong to +me, and Chatto publishes on terms. Longman has forgotten the +terms we are on; let him look up our first correspondence, +and he will see I reserved explicitly, as was my habit, the +right to republish as I choose. Had the same arrangement +with Henley, Magazine of Art, and with Tulloch Fraser's. - +For any necessary note or preface, it would be a real service +if you would undertake the duty yourself. I should love a +preface by you, as short or as long as you choose, three +sentences, thirty pages, the thing I should like is your +name. And the excuse of my great distance seems sufficient. +I shall return with this the sheets corrected as far as I +have them; the rest I will leave, if you will, to you +entirely; let it be your book, and disclaim what you dislike +in the preface. You can say it was at my eager prayer. I +should say I am the less willing to pass Chatto over, because +he behaved the other day in a very handsome manner. He asked +leave to reprint DAMIEN; I gave it to him as a present, +explaining I could receive no emolument for a personal +attack. And he took out my share of profits, and sent them +in my name to the Leper Fund. I could not bear after that to +take from him any of that class of books which I have always +given him. Tell him the same terms will do. Clark to print, +uniform with the others. + +I have lost all the days since this letter began re-handling +Chapter IV. of the Samoa racket. I do not go in for +literature; address myself to sensible people rather than to +sensitive. And, indeed, it is a kind of journalism, I have +no right to dally; if it is to help, it must come soon. In +two months from now it shall be done, and should be published +in the course of March. I propose Cassell gets it. I am +going to call it 'A Footnote to History: Eight Years of +Trouble in Samoa,' I believe. I recoil from serious names; +they seem so much too pretentious for a pamphlet. It will be +about the size of TREASURE ISLAND, I believe. Of course, as +you now know, my case of conscience cleared itself off, and I +began my intervention directly to one of the parties. The +other, the Chief Justice, I am to inform of my book the first +occasion. God knows if the book will do any good - or harm; +but I judge it right to try. There is one man's life +certainly involved; and it may be all our lives. I must not +stand and slouch, but do my best as best I can. But you may +conceive the difficulty of a history extending to the present +week, at least, and where almost all the actors upon all +sides are of my personal acquaintance. The only way is to +judge slowly, and write boldly, and leave the issue to fate. +. . . I am far indeed from wishing to confine myself to +creative work; that is a loss, the other repairs; the one +chance for a man, and, above all, for one who grows elderly, +ahem, is to vary drainage and repair. That is the one thing +I understand - the cultivation of the shallow SOLUM of my +brain. But I would rather, from soon on, be released from +the obligation to write. In five or six years this +plantation - suppose it and us still to exist - should pretty +well support us and pay wages; not before, and already the +six years seem long to me. If literature were but a pastime! + +I have interrupted myself to write the necessary notification +to the Chief Justice. + +I see in looking up Longman's letter that it was as usual the +letter of an obliging gentleman; so do not trouble him with +my reminder. I wish all my publishers were not so nice. And +I have a fourth and a fifth baying at my heels; but for +these, of course, they must go wanting. + + +DEC. 2ND. + + +No answer from the Chief Justice, which is like him, but +surely very wrong in such a case. The lunch bell! I have +been off work, playing patience and weeding all morning. +Yesterday and the day before I drafted eleven and revised +nine pages of Chapter V., and the truth is, I was extinct by +lunch-time, and played patience sourly the rest of the day. +To-morrow or next day I hope to go in again and win. Lunch +2nd Bell. + + +DEC. 2ND, AFTERNOON. + + +I have kept up the idleness; blew on the pipe to Belle's +piano; then had a ride in the forest all by my nainsel; back +and piped again, and now dinner nearing. Take up this sheet +with nothing to say. The weird figure of Faauma is in the +room washing my windows, in a black lavalava (kilt) with a +red handkerchief hanging from round her neck between her +breasts; not another stitch; her hair close cropped and +oiled; when she first came here she was an angelic little +stripling, but she is now in full flower - or half-flower - +and grows buxom. As I write, I hear her wet cloth moving and +grunting with some industry; for I had a word this day with +her husband on the matter of work and meal-time, when she is +always late. And she has a vague reverence for Papa, as she +and her enormous husband address me when anything is wrong. +Her husband is Lafaele, sometimes called the archangel, of +whom I have writ you often. Rest of our household, Talolo, +cook; Pulu, kitchen boy, good, steady, industrious lads; +Henry, back again from Savaii, where his love affair seems +not to have prospered, with what looks like a spear-wound in +the back of his head, of which Mr. Reticence says nothing; +Simi, Manuele, and two other labourers out-doors. Lafaele is +provost of the live-stock, whereof now, three milk-cows, one +bull-calf, one heifer, Jack, Macfarlane, the mare, Harold, +Tifaga Jack, Donald and Edinburgh - seven horses - O, and the +stallion - eight horses; five cattle; total, if my arithmetic +be correct, thirteen head of beasts; I don't know how the +pigs stand, or the ducks, or the chickens; but we get a good +many eggs, and now and again a duckling or a chickling for +the table; the pigs are more solemn, and appear only on +birthdays and sich. + + +MONDAY, DEC. 7. + + +On Friday morning about eleven 1500 cacao seeds arrived, and +we set to and toiled from twelve that day to six, and went to +bed pretty tired. Next day I got about an hour and a half at +my History, and was at it again by 8.10, and except an hour +for lunch kept at it till four P.M. Yesterday, I did some +History in the morning, and slept most of the afternoon; and +to-day, being still averse from physical labour, and the mail +drawing nigh, drew out of the squad, and finished for press +the fifth chapter of my History; fifty-nine pages in one +month; which (you will allow me to say) is a devil of a large +order; it means at least 177 pages of writing; 89,000 words! +and hours going to and fro among my notes. However, this is +the way it has to be done; the job must be done fast, or it +is of no use. And it is a curious yarn. Honestly, I think +people should be amused and convinced, if they could be at +the pains to look at such a damned outlandish piece of +machinery, which of course they won't. And much I care. + +When I was filling baskets all Saturday, in my dull mulish +way, perhaps the slowest worker there, surely the most +particular, and the only one that never looked up or knocked +off, I could not but think I should have been sent on +exhibition as an example to young literary men. Here is how +to learn to write, might be the motto. You should have seen +us; the verandah was like an Irish bog; our hands and faces +were bedaubed with soil; and Faauma was supposed to have +struck the right note when she remarked (A PROPOS of +nothing), 'Too much ELEELE (soil) for me!' The cacao (you +must understand) has to be planted at first in baskets of +plaited cocoa-leaf. From four to ten natives were plaiting +these in the wood-shed. Four boys were digging up soil and +bringing it by the boxful to the verandah. Lloyd and I and +Belle, and sometimes S. (who came to bear a hand), were +filling the baskets, removing stones and lumps of clay; +Austin and Faauma carried them when full to Fanny, who +planted a seed in each, and then set them, packed close, in +the corners of the verandah. From twelve on Friday till five +P.M. on Saturday we planted the first 1500, and more than 700 +of a second lot. You cannot dream how filthy we were, and we +were all properly tired. They are all at it again to-day, +bar Belle and me, not required, and glad to be out of it. +The Chief Justice has not yet replied, and I have news that +he received my letter. What a man! + +I have gone crazy over Bourget's SENSATIONS D'ITALIE; hence +the enclosed dedications, a mere cry of gratitude for the +best fun I've had over a new book this ever so! + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + + +TUESDAY, DEC. 1891. + + +SIR, - I have the honour to report further explorations of +the course of the river Vaea, with accompanying sketch plan. +The party under my command consisted of one horse, and was +extremely insubordinate and mutinous, owing to not being used +to go into the bush, and being half-broken anyway - and that +the wrong half. The route indicated for my party was up the +bed of the so-called river Vaea, which I accordingly followed +to a distance of perhaps two or three furlongs eastward from +the house of Vailima, where the stream being quite dry, the +bush thick, and the ground very difficult, I decided to leave +the main body of the force under my command tied to a tree, +and push on myself with the point of the advance guard, +consisting of one man. The valley had become very narrow and +airless; foliage close shut above; dry bed of the stream much +excavated, so that I passed under fallen trees without +stooping. Suddenly it turned sharply to the north, at right +angles to its former direction; I heard living water, and +came in view of a tall face of rock and the stream spraying +down it; it might have been climbed, but it would have been +dangerous, and I had to make my way up the steep earth banks, +where there is nowhere any footing for man, only fallen +trees, which made the rounds of my ladder. I was near the +top of this climb, which was very hot and steep, and the +pulses were buzzing all over my body, when I made sure there +was one external sound in my ears, and paused to listen. No +mistake; a sound of a mill-wheel thundering, I thought, close +by, yet below me, a huge mill-wheel, yet not going steadily, +but with a SCHOTTISCHE movement, and at each fresh impetus +shaking the mountain. There, where I was, I just put down +the sound to the mystery of the bush; where no sound now +surprises me - and any sound alarms; I only thought it would +give Jack a fine fright, down where he stood tied to a tree +by himself, and he was badly enough scared when I left him. +The good folks at home identified it; it was a sharp +earthquake. + +At the top of the climb I made my way again to the water- +course; it is here running steady and pretty full; strange +these intermittencies - and just a little below the main +stream is quite dry, and all the original brook has gone down +some lava gallery of the mountain - and just a little further +below, it begins picking up from the left hand in little +boggy tributaries, and in the inside of a hundred yards has +grown a brook again. The general course of the brook was, I +guess, S.E.; the valley still very deep and whelmed in wood. +It seemed a swindle to have made so sheer a climb and still +find yourself at the bottom of a well. But gradually the +thing seemed to shallow, the trees to seem poorer and +smaller; I could see more and more of the silver sprinkles of +sky among the foliage, instead of the sombre piling up of +tree behind tree. And here I had two scares - first, away up +on my right hand I heard a bull low; I think it was a bull +from the quality of the low, which was singularly songful and +beautiful; the bulls belong to me, but how did I know that +the bull was aware of that? and my advance guard not being at +all properly armed, we advanced with great precaution until I +was satisfied that I was passing eastward of the enemy. It +was during this period that a pool of the river suddenly +boiled up in my face in a little fountain. It was in a very +dreary, marshy part among dilapidated trees that you see +through holes in the trunks of; and if any kind of beast or +elf or devil had come out of that sudden silver ebullition, I +declare I do not think I should have been surprised. It was +perhaps a thing as curious - a fish, with which these head +waters of the stream are alive. They are some of them as +long as my finger, should be easily caught in these shallows, +and some day I'll have a dish of them. + +Very soon after I came to where the stream collects in +another banana swamp, with the bananas bearing well. Beyond, +the course is again quite dry; it mounts with a sharp turn a +very steep face of the mountain, and then stops abruptly at +the lip of a plateau, I suppose the top of Vaea mountain: +plainly no more springs here - there was no smallest furrow +of a watercourse beyond - and my task might be said to be +accomplished. But such is the animated spirit in the service +that the whole advance guard expressed a sentiment of +disappointment that an exploration, so far successfully +conducted, should come to a stop in the most promising view +of fresh successes. And though unprovided either with +compass or cutlass, it was determined to push some way along +the plateau, marking our direction by the laborious process +of bending down, sitting upon, and thus breaking the wild +cocoanut trees. This was the less regretted by all from a +delightful discovery made of a huge banyan growing here in +the bush, with flying-buttressed flying buttresses, and huge +arcs of trunk hanging high overhead and trailing down new +complications of root. I climbed some way up what seemed the +original beginning; it was easier to climb than a ship's +rigging, even rattled; everywhere there was foot-hold and +hand-hold. It was judged wise to return and rally the main +body, who had now been left alone for perhaps forty minutes +in the bush. + +The return was effected in good order, but unhappily I only +arrived (like so many other explorers) to find my main body +or rear-guard in a condition of mutiny; the work, it is to be +supposed, of terror. It is right I should tell you the Vaea +has a bad name, an AITU FAFINE - female devil of the woods - +succubus - haunting it, and doubtless Jack had heard of her; +perhaps, during my absence, saw her; lucky Jack! Anyway, he +was neither to hold nor to bind, and finally, after nearly +smashing me by accident, and from mere scare and +insubordination several times, deliberately set in to kill +me; but poor Jack! the tree he selected for that purpose was +a banana! I jumped off and gave him the heavy end of my whip +over the buttocks! Then I took and talked in his ear in +various voices; you should have heard my alto - it was a +dreadful, devilish note - I KNEW Jack KNEW it was an AITU. +Then I mounted him again, and he carried me fairly steadily. +He'll learn yet. He has to learn to trust absolutely to his +rider; till he does, the risk is always great in thick bush, +where a fellow must try different passages, and put back and +forward, and pick his way by hair's-breadths. + +The expedition returned to Vailima in time to receive the +visit of the R. C. Bishop. He is a superior man, much above +the average of priests. + + +THURSDAY. + + +Yesterday the same expedition set forth to the southward by +what is known as Carruthers' Road. At a fallen tree which +completely blocks the way, the main body was as before left +behind, and the advance guard of one now proceeded with the +exploration. At the great tree known as MEPI TREE, after +Maben the surveyor, the expedition struck forty yards due +west till it struck the top of a steep bank which it +descended. The whole bottom of the ravine is filled with +sharp lava blocks quite unrolled and very difficult and +dangerous to walk among; no water in the course, scarce any +sign of water. And yet surely water must have made this bold +cutting in the plateau. And if so, why is the lava sharp? +My science gave out; but I could not but think it ominous and +volcanic. The course of the stream was tortuous, but with a +resultant direction a little by west of north; the sides the +whole way exceeding steep, the expedition buried under +fathoms of foliage. Presently water appeared in the bottom, +a good quantity; perhaps thirty or forty cubic feet, with +pools and waterfalls. A tree that stands all along the banks +here must be very fond of water; its roots lie close-packed +down the stream, like hanks of guts, so as to make often a +corrugated walk, each root ending in a blunt tuft of +filaments, plainly to drink water. Twice there came in small +tributaries from the left or western side - the whole plateau +having a smartish inclination to the east; one of the +tributaries in a handsome little web of silver hanging in the +forest. Twice I was startled by birds; one that barked like +a dog; another that whistled loud ploughman's signals, so +that I vow I was thrilled, and thought I had fallen among +runaway blacks, and regretted my cutlass which I had lost and +left behind while taking bearings. A good many fishes in the +brook, and many cray-fish; one of the last with a queer glow- +worm head. Like all our brooks, the water is pure as air, +and runs over red stones like rubies. The foliage along both +banks very thick and high, the place close, the walking +exceedingly laborious. By the time the expedition reached +the fork, it was felt exceedingly questionable whether the +MORAL of the force were sufficiently good to undertake more +extended operations. A halt was called, the men refreshed +with water and a bath, and it was decided at a drumhead +council of war to continue the descent of the Embassy Water +straight for Vailima, whither the expedition returned, in +rather poor condition, and wet to the waist, about 4. P.M. + +Thus in two days the two main watercourses of this country +have been pretty thoroughly explored, and I conceive my +instructions fully carried out. The main body of the second +expedition was brought back by another officer despatched for +that purpose from Vailima. Casualties: one horse wounded; +one man bruised; no deaths - as yet, but the bruised man +feels to-day as if his case was mighty serious. + + +DEC. 25, '91. + + +Your note with a very despicable bulletin of health arrived +only yesterday, the mail being a day behind. It contained +also the excellent TIMES article, which was a sight for sore +eyes. I am still TABOO; the blessed Germans will have none +of me; and I only hope they may enjoy the TIMES article. +'Tis my revenge! I wish you had sent the letter too, as I +have no copy, and do not even know what I wrote the last day, +with a bad headache, and the mail going out. However, it +must have been about right, for the TIMES article was in the +spirit I wished to arouse. I hope we can get rid of the man +before it is too late. He has set the natives to war; but +the natives, by God's blessing, do not want to fight, and I +think it will fizzle out - no thanks to the man who tried to +start it. But I did not mean to drift into these politics; +rather to tell you what I have done since I last wrote. + +Well, I worked away at my History for a while, and only got +one chapter done; no doubt this spate of work is pretty low +now, and will be soon dry; but, God bless you, what a lot I +have accomplished; WRECKER done, BEACH OF FALESA done, half +the HISTORY: C'EST ETONNANT. (I hear from Burlingame, by the +way, that he likes the end of the WRECKER; 'tis certainly a +violent, dark yarn with interesting, plain turns of human +nature), then Lloyd and I went down to live in Haggard's +rooms, where Fanny presently joined us. Haggard's rooms are +in a strange old building - old for Samoa, and has the effect +of the antique like some strange monastery; I would tell you +more of it, but I think I'm going to use it in a tale. The +annexe close by had its door sealed; poor Dowdney lost at sea +in a schooner. The place is haunted. The vast empty sheds, +the empty store, the airless, hot, long, low rooms, the claps +of wind that set everything flying - a strange uncanny house +to spend Christmas in. + + +JAN. 1ST, '92. + + +For a day or two I have sat close and wrought hard at the +HISTORY, and two more chapters are all but done. About +thirty pages should go by this mail, which is not what should +be, but all I could overtake. Will any one ever read it? I +fancy not; people don't read history for reading, but for +education and display - and who desires education in the +history of Samoa, with no population, no past, no future, or +the exploits of Mataafa, Malietoa, and Consul Knappe? +Colkitto and Galasp are a trifle to it. Well, it can't be +helped, and it must be done, and, better or worse, it's +capital fun. There are two to whom I have not been kind - +German Consul Becker and English Captain Hand, R.N. + +On Dec. 30th I rode down with Belle to go to (if you please) +the Fancy Ball. When I got to the beach, I found the +barometer was below 29 degrees, the wind still in the east +and steady, but a huge offensive continent of clouds and +vapours forming to leeward. It might be a hurricane; I dared +not risk getting caught away from my work, and, leaving +Belle, returned at once to Vailima. Next day - yesterday - +it was a tearer; we had storm shutters up; I sat in my room +and wrote by lamplight - ten pages, if you please, seven of +them draft, and some of these compiled from as many as seven +different and conflicting authorities, so that was a brave +day's work. About two a huge tree fell within sixty paces of +our house; a little after, a second went; and we sent out +boys with axes and cut down a third, which was too near the +house, and buckling like a fishing rod. At dinner we had the +front door closed and shuttered, the back door open, the lamp +lit. The boys in the cook-house were all out at the cook- +house door, where we could see them looking in and smiling. +Lauilo and Faauma waited on us with smiles. The excitement +was delightful. Some very violent squalls came as we sat +there, and every one rejoiced; it was impossible to help it; +a soul of putty had to sing. All night it blew; the roof was +continually sounding under missiles; in the morning the +verandahs were half full of branches torn from the forest. +There was a last very wild squall about six; the rain, like a +thick white smoke, flying past the house in volleys, and as +swift, it seemed, as rifle balls; all with a strange, +strident hiss, such as I have only heard before at sea, and, +indeed, thought to be a marine phenomenon. Since then the +wind has been falling with a few squalls, mostly rain. But +our road is impassable for horses; we hear a schooner has +been wrecked and some native houses blown down in Apia, where +Belle is still and must remain a prisoner. Lucky I returned +while I could! But the great good is this; much bread-fruit +and bananas have been destroyed; if this be general through +the islands, famine will be imminent; and WHOEVER BLOWS THE +COALS, THERE CAN BE NO WAR. Do I then prefer a famine to a +war? you ask. Not always, but just now. I am sure the +natives do not want a war; I am sure a war would benefit no +one but the white officials, and I believe we can easily meet +the famine - or at least that it can be met. That would give +our officials a legitimate opportunity to cover their past +errors. + + +JAN. 2ND. + + +I woke this morning to find the blow quite ended. The heaven +was all a mottled gray; even the east quite colourless; the +downward slope of the island veiled in wafts of vapour, blue +like smoke; not a leaf stirred on the tallest tree; only, +three miles away below me on the barrier reef, I could see +the individual breakers curl and fall, and hear their +conjunct roaring rise, as it still rises at 1 P.M., like the +roar of a thoroughfare close by. I did a good morning's +work, correcting and clarifying my draft, and have now +finished for press eight chapters, ninety-one pages, of this +piece of journalism. Four more chapters, say fifty pages, +remain to be done; I should gain my wager and finish this +volume in three months, that is to say, the end should leave +me per February mail; I cannot receive it back till the mail +of April. Yes, it can be out in time; pray God that it be in +time to help. + +How do journalists fetch up their drivel? I aim only at +clearness and the most obvious finish, positively at no +higher degree of merit, not even at brevity - I am sure it +could have been all done, with double the time, in two-thirds +of the space. And yet it has taken me two months to write +45,500 words; and, be damned to my wicked prowess, I am proud +of the exploit! The real journalist must be a man not of +brass only, but bronze. Chapter IX. gapes for me, but I +shrink on the margin, and go on chattering to you. This last +part will be much less offensive (strange to say) to the +Germans. It is Becker they will never forgive me for; Knappe +I pity and do not dislike; Becker I scorn and abominate. +Here is the tableau. I. Elements of Discord: Native. II. +Elements of Discord: Foreign. III. The Sorrows of Laupepa. +IV. Brandeis. V. The Battle of Matautu. VI. Last Exploits +of Becker. VII. The Samoan Camps. VIII. Affairs of Lautii +and Fangalii. IX. 'FUROR CONSULARIS.' X. The Hurricane. +XI. Stuebel Recluse. XII. The Present Government. I +estimate the whole roughly at 70,000 words. Should anybody +ever dream of reading it, it would be found amusing. +70000/300=233 printed pages; a respectable little five-bob +volume, to bloom unread in shop windows. After that, I'll +have a spank at fiction. And rest? I shall rest in the +grave, or when I come to Italy. If only the public will +continue to support me! I lost my chance not dying; there +seems blooming little fear of it now. I worked close on five +hours this morning; the day before, close on nine; and unless +I finish myself off with this letter, I'll have another hour +and a half, or AIBLINS TWA, before dinner. Poor man, how you +must envy me, as you hear of these orgies of work, and you +scarce able for a letter. But Lord, Colvin, how lucky the +situations are not reversed, for I have no situation, nor am +fit for any. Life is a steigh brae. Here, have at Knappe, +and no more clavers! + + +3RD. + + +There was never any man had so many irons in the fire, except +Jim Pinkerton. I forgot to mention I have the most gallant +suggestion from Lang, with an offer of MS. authorities, which +turns my brain. It's all about the throne of Poland and +buried treasure in the Mackay country, and Alan Breck can +figure there in glory. + +Yesterday, J. and I set off to Blacklock's (American Consul) +who lives not far from that little village I have so often +mentioned as lying between us and Apia. I had some questions +to ask him for my History; thence we must proceed to Vailele, +where I had also to cross-examine the plantation manager +about the battle there. We went by a track I had never +before followed down the hill to Vaisigano, which flows here +in a deep valley, and was unusually full, so that the horses +trembled in the ford. The whole bottom of the valley is full +of various streams posting between strips of forest with a +brave sound of waters. In one place we had a glimpse of a +fall some way higher up, and then sparkling in sunlight in +the midst of the green valley. Then up by a winding path +scarce accessible to a horse for steepness, to the other +side, and the open cocoanut glades of the plantation. Here +we rode fast, did a mighty satisfactory afternoon's work at +the plantation house, and still faster back. On the return +Jack fell with me, but got up again; when I felt him +recovering I gave him his head, and he shoved his foot +through the rein; I got him by the bit however, and all was +well; he had mud over all his face, but his knees were not +broken. We were scarce home when the rain began again; that +was luck. It is pouring now in torrents; we are in the +height of the bad season. Lloyd leaves along with this +letter on a change to San Francisco; he had much need of it, +but I think this will brace him up. I am, as you see, a +tower of strength. I can remember riding not so far and not +near so fast when I first came to Samoa, and being shattered +next day with fatigue; now I could not tell I have done +anything; have re-handled my battle of Fangalii according to +yesterday's information - four pages rewritten; and written +already some half-dozen pages of letters. + +I observe with disgust that while of yore, when I own I was +guilty, you never spared me abuse, but now, when I am so +virtuous, where is the praise? Do admit that I have become +an excellent letter-writer - at least to you, and that your +ingratitude is imbecile. - Yours ever, + +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XV + + + +JAN 31ST, '92. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - No letter at all from you, and this scratch +from me! Here is a year that opens ill. Lloyd is off to +'the coast' sick - THE COAST means California over most of +the Pacific - I have been down all month with influenza, and +am just recovering - I am overlaid with proofs, which I am +just about half fit to attend to. One of my horses died this +morning, and another is now dying on the front lawn - Lloyd's +horse and Fanny's. Such is my quarrel with destiny. But I +am mending famously, come and go on the balcony, have +perfectly good nights, and though I still cough, have no +oppression and no hemorrhage and no fever. So if I can find +time and courage to add no more, you will know my news is not +altogether of the worst; a year or two ago, and what a state +I should have been in now! Your silence, I own, rather +alarms me. But I tell myself you have just miscarried; had +you been too ill to write, some one would have written me. +Understand, I send this brief scratch not because I am unfit +to write more, but because I have 58 galleys of the WRECKER +and 102 of the BEACH OF FALESA to get overhauled somehow or +other in time for the mail, and for three weeks I have not +touched a pen with my finger. + + +FEB. 1ST. + + +The second horse is still alive, but I still think dying. +The first was buried this morning. My proofs are done; it +was a rough two days of it, but done. CONSUMMATUM EST; NA +UMA. I believe the WRECKER ends well; if I know what a good +yarn is, the last four chapters make a good yarn - but pretty +horrible. THE BEACH OF FALESA I still think well of, but it +seems it's immoral and there's a to-do, and financially it +may prove a heavy disappointment. The plaintive request sent +to me, to make the young folks married properly before 'that +night,' I refused; you will see what would be left of the +yarn, had I consented. This is a poison bad world for the +romancer, this Anglo-Saxon world; I usually get out of it by +not having any women in it at all; but when I remember I had +the TREASURE OF FRANCHARD refused as unfit for a family +magazine, I feel despair weigh upon my wrists. + +As I know you are always interested in novels, I must tell +you that a new one is now entirely planned. It is to be +called SOPHIA SCARLET, and is in two parts. Part I. The +Vanilla Planter. Part II. The Overseers. No chapters, I +think; just two dense blocks of narrative, the first of which +is purely sentimental, but the second has some rows and +quarrels, and winds up with an explosion, if you please! I +am just burning to get at Sophia, but I MUST do this Samoan +journalism - that's a cursed duty. The first part of Sophia, +bar the first twenty or thirty pages, writes itself; the +second is more difficult, involving a good many characters - +about ten, I think - who have to be kept all moving, and give +the effect of a society. I have three women to handle, out +and well-away! but only Sophia is in full tone. Sophia and +two men, Windermere, the Vanilla Planter, who dies at the end +of Part I., and Rainsforth, who only appears in the beginning +of Part II. The fact is, I blush to own it, but Sophia is a +REGULAR NOVEL; heroine and hero, and false accusation, and +love, and marriage, and all the rest of it - all planted in a +big South Sea plantation run by ex-English officers - A LA +Stewart's plantation in Tahiti. There is a strong +undercurrent of labour trade, which gives it a kind of Uncle +Tom flavour, ABSIT OMEN! The first start is hard; it is hard +to avoid a little tedium here, but I think by beginning with +the arrival of the three Miss Scarlets hot from school and +society in England, I may manage to slide in the information. +The problem is exactly a Balzac one, and I wish I had his +fist - for I have already a better method - the kinetic, +whereas he continually allowed himself to be led into the +static. But then he had the fist, and the most I can hope is +to get out of it with a modicum of grace and energy, but for +sure without the strong impression, the full, dark brush. +Three people have had it, the real creator's brush: Scott, +see much of THE ANTIQUARY and THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN +(especially all round the trial, before, during, and after) - +Balzac - and Thackeray in VANITY FAIR. Everybody else either +paints THIN, or has to stop to paint, or paints excitedly, so +that you see the author skipping before his canvas. Here is +a long way from poor Sophia Scarlet! + +This day is published +SOPHIA SCARLET +By +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + + +FEB. 1892. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - This has been a busyish month for a sick +man. First, Faauma - the bronze candlestick, whom otherwise +I called my butler - bolted from the bed and bosom of +Lafaele, the Archangel Hercules, prefect of the cattle. +There was the deuce to pay, and Hercules was inconsolable, +and immediately started out after a new wife, and has had one +up on a visit, but says she has 'no conversation'; and I +think he will take back the erring and possibly repentant +candlestick; whom we all devoutly prefer, as she is not only +highly decorative, but good-natured, and if she does little +work makes no rows. I tell this lightly, but it really was a +heavy business; many were accused of complicity, and Rafael +was really very sorry. I had to hold beds of justice - +literally - seated in my bed and surrounded by lying Samoans +seated on the floor; and there were many picturesque and +still inexplicable passages. It is hard to reach the truth +in these islands. + +The next incident overlapped with this. S. and Fanny found +three strange horses in the paddock: for long now the boys +have been forbidden to leave their horses here one hour +because our grass is over-grazed. S. came up with the news, +and I saw I must now strike a blow. 'To the pound with the +lot,' said I. He proposed taking the three himself, but I +thought that too dangerous an experiment, said I should go +too, and hurried into my boots so as to show decision taken, +in the necessary interviews. They came of course - the +interviews - and I explained what I was going to do at huge +length, and stuck to my guns. I am glad to say the natives, +with their usual (purely speculative) sense of justice highly +approved the step after reflection. Meanwhile off went S. +and I with the three CORPORA DELICTI; and a good job I went! +Once, when our circus began to kick, we thought all was up; +but we got them down all sound in wind and limb. I judged I +was much fallen off from my Elliott forefathers, who managed +this class of business with neatness and despatch. Half-way +down it came on to rain tropic style, and I came back from my +outing drenched liked a drowned man - I was literally blinded +as I came back among these sheets of water; and the +consequence was I was laid down with diarrhoea and +threatenings of Samoa colic for the inside of another week. + +I have a confession to make. When I was sick I tried to get +to work to finish that Samoa thing, wouldn't go; and at last, +in the colic time, I slid off into DAVID BALFOUR, some 50 +pages of which are drafted, and like me well. Really I think +it is spirited; and there's a heroine that (up to now) seems +to have attractions: ABSIT OMEN! David, on the whole, seems +excellent. Alan does not come in till the tenth chapter, and +I am only at the eighth, so I don't know if I can find him +again; but David is on his feet, and doing well, and very +much in love, and mixed up with the Lord Advocate and the +(untitled) Lord Lovat, and all manner of great folk. And the +tale interferes with my eating and sleeping. The join is +bad; I have not thought to strain too much for continuity; so +this part be alive, I shall be content. But there's no doubt +David seems to have changed his style, de'il ha'e him! And +much I care, if the tale travel! + + +FRIDAY, FEB. ?? 19TH? + + +Two incidents to-day which I must narrate. After lunch, it +was raining pitilessly; we were sitting in my mother's +bedroom, and I was reading aloud Kinglake's Charge of the +Light Brigade, and we had just been all seized by the horses +aligning with Lord George Paget, when a figure appeared on +the verandah; a little, slim, small figure of a lad, with +blond (I.E. limed) hair, a propitiatory smile, and a nose +that alone of all his features grew pale with anxiety. 'I +come here stop,' was about the outside of his English; and I +began at once to guess that he was a runaway labourer, and +that the bush-knife in his hand was stolen. It proved he had +a mate, who had lacked his courage, and was hidden down the +road; they had both made up their minds to run away, and had +'come here stop.' I could not turn out the poor rogues, one +of whom showed me marks on his back, into the drenching +forest; I could not reason with them, for they had not enough +English, and not one of our boys spoke their tongue; so I +bade them feed and sleep here to-night, and to-morrow I must +do what the Lord shall bid me. + +Near dinner time, I was told that a friend of Lafaele's had +found human remains in my bush. After dinner, a figure was +seen skulking across towards the waterfall, which produced +from the verandah a shout, in my most stentorian tones: 'O AI +LE INGOA?' literally 'Who the name?' which serves here for +'What's your business?' as well. It proved to be Lafaele's +friend; I bade a kitchen boy, Lauilo, go with him to see the +spot, for though it had ceased raining, the whole island ran +and dripped. Lauilo was willing enough, but the friend of +the archangel demurred; he had too much business; he had no +time. 'All right,' I said, 'you too much frightened, I go +along,' which of course produced the usual shout of delight +from all those who did not require to go. I got into my +Saranac snow boots. Lauilo got a cutlass; Mary Carter, our +Sydney maid, joined the party for a lark, and off we set. I +tell you our guide kept us moving; for the dusk fell swift. +Our woods have an infamous reputation at the best, and our +errand (to say the least of it) was grisly. At last 'they +found the remains; they were old, which was all I cared to be +sure of; it seemed a strangely small 'pickle-banes' to stand +for a big, flourishing, buck-islander, and their situation in +the darkening and dripping bush was melancholy. All at once, +I found there was a second skull, with a bullet-hole I could +have stuck my two thumbs in - say anybody else's one thumb. +My Samoans said it could not be, there were not enough bones; +I put the two pieces of skull together, and at last convinced +them. Whereupon, in a flash, they found the not unromantic +explanation. This poor brave had succeeded in the height of +a Samoan warriors ambition; he had taken a head, which he was +never destined to show to his applauding camp. Wounded +himself, he had crept here into the bush to die with his +useless trophy by his side. His date would be about fifteen +years ago, in the great battle between Laupepa and Talavou, +which took place on My Land, Sir. To-morrow we shall bury +the bones and fire a salute in honour of unfortunate courage. + +Do you think I have an empty life? or that a man jogging to +his club has so much to interest and amuse him? - touch and +try him too, but that goes along with the others: no pain, no +pleasure, is the iron law. So here I stop again, and leave, +as I left yesterday, my political business untouched. And +lo! here comes my pupil, I believe, so I stop in time. + + +MARCH 2ND. + + +Since I last wrote, fifteen chapters of DAVID BALFOUR have +been drafted, and five TIRES AU CLAIR. I think it pretty +good; there's a blooming maiden that costs anxiety - she is +as virginal as billy; but David seems there and alive, and +the Lord Advocate is good, and so I think is an episodic +appearance of the Master of Lovat. In Chapter XVII. I shall +get David abroad - Alan went already in Chapter XII. The +book should be about the length of KIDNAPPED; this early part +of it, about D.'s evidence in the Appin case, is more of a +story than anything in KIDNAPPED, but there is no doubt there +comes a break in the middle, and the tale is practically in +two divisions. In the first James More and the M'Gregors, +and Catriona, only show; in the second, the Appin case being +disposed of, and James Stewart hung, they rule the roast and +usurp the interest - should there be any left. Why did I +take up DAVID BALFOUR? I don't know. A sudden passion. + +Monday, I went down in the rain with a colic to take the +chair at a public meeting; dined with Haggard; sailed off to +my meeting, and fought with wild beasts for three anxious +hours. All was lost that any sensible man cared for, but the +meeting did not break up - thanks a good deal to R. L. S. - +and the man who opposed my election, and with whom I was all +the time wrangling, proposed the vote of thanks to me with a +certain handsomeness; I assure you I had earned it . . . +Haggard and the great Abdul, his high-caste Indian servant, +imported by my wife, were sitting up for me with supper, and +I suppose it was twelve before I got to bed. Tuesday +raining, my mother rode down, and we went to the Consulate to +sign a Factory and Commission. Thence, I to the lawyers, to +the printing office, and to the Mission. It was dinner time +when I returned home. + +This morning, our cook-boy having suddenly left - injured +feelings - the archangel was to cook breakfast. I found him +lighting the fire before dawn; his eyes blazed, he had no +word of any language left to use, and I saw in him (to my +wonder) the strongest workings of gratified ambition. +Napoleon was no more pleased to sign his first treaty with +Austria than was Lafaele to cook that breakfast. All +morning, when I had hoped to be at this letter, I slept like +one drugged and you must take this (which is all I can give +you) for what it is worth - + + +D.B. + +MEMOIRS OF HIS ADVENTURES AT HOME AND ABROAD. THE SECOND +PART; WHEREIN ARE SET FORTH THE MISFORTUNES IN WHICH HE WAS +INVOLVED UPON THE APPIN MURDER; HIS TROUBLES WITH LORD +ADVOCATE PRESTONGRANGE; CAPTIVITY ON THE BASS ROCK; JOURNEY +INTO FRANCE AND HOLLAND; AND SINGULAR RELATIONS WITH JAMES +MORE DRUMMOND OR MACGREGOR, A SON OF THE NOTORIOUS ROB ROY. + + + +Chapters. - I. A Beggar on Horseback. II. The Highland +Writer. III. I go to Pilrig. IV. Lord Advocate +Prestongrange. V. Butter and Thunder. VI. I make a fault in +honour. VII. The Bravo. VIII. The Heather on Fire. IX. I +begin to be haunted with a red-headed man. X. The Wood by +Silvermills. XI. On the march again with Alan. XII. Gillane +Sands. XIII. The Bass Rock. XIV. Black Andie's Tale of Tod +Lapraik. XV. I go to Inveraray. + +That is it, as far as drafted. Chapters IV. V. VII. IX. and +XIV. I am specially pleased with; the last being an +episodical bogie story about the Bass Rock told there by the +Keeper. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + + +MARCH 9TH. + + +MY DEAR S. C., - Take it not amiss if this is a wretched +letter. I am eaten up with business. Every day this week I +have had some business impediment - I am even now waiting a +deputation of chiefs about the road - and my precious morning +was shattered by a polite old scourge of a FAIPULE - +parliament man - come begging. All the time DAVID BALFOUR is +skelping along. I began it the 13th of last month; I have +now 12 chapters, 79 pages ready for press, or within an ace, +and, by the time the month is out, one-half should be +completed, and I'll be back at drafting the second half. +What makes me sick is to think of Scott turning out GUY +MANNERING in three weeks! What a pull of work: heavens, what +thews and sinews! And here am I, my head spinning from +having only re-written seven not very difficult pages - and +not very good when done. Weakling generation. It makes me +sick of myself, to make such a fash and bobbery over a rotten +end of an old nursery yarn, not worth spitting on when done. +Still, there is no doubt I turn out my work more easily than +of yore, and I suppose I should be singly glad of that. And +if I got my book done in six weeks, seeing it will be about +half as long as a Scott, and I have to write everything +twice, it would be about the same rate of industry. It is my +fair intention to be done with it in three months, which +would make me about one-half the man Sir Walter was for +application and driving the dull pen. Of the merit we shall +not talk; but I don't think Davie is WITHOUT merit. + + +MARCH 12TH. + + +And I have this day triumphantly finished 15 chapters, 100 +pages - being exactly one-half (as near as anybody can guess) +of DAVID BALFOUR; the book to be about a fifth as long again +(altogether) as TREASURE ISLAND: could I but do the second +half in another month! But I can't, I fear; I shall have +some belated material arriving by next mail, and must go +again at the History. Is it not characteristic of my broken +tenacity of mind, that I should have left Davie Balfour some +five years in the British Linen Company's Office, and then +follow him at last with such vivacity? But I leave you +again; the last (15th) chapter ought to be re-wrote, or part +of it, and I want the half completed in the month, and the +month is out by midnight; though, to be sure, last month was +February, and I might take grace. These notes are only to +show I hold you in mind, though I know they can have no +interest for man or God or animal. + +I should have told you about the Club. We have been asked to +try and start a sort of weekly ball for the half-castes and +natives, ourselves to be the only whites; and we consented, +from a very heavy sense of duty, and with not much hope. Two +nights ago we had twenty people up, received them in the +front verandah, entertained them on cake and lemonade, and I +made a speech - embodying our proposals, or conditions, if +you like - for I suppose thirty minutes. No joke to speak to +such an audience, but it is believed I was thoroughly +intelligible. I took the plan of saying everything at least +twice in a different form of words, so that if the one +escaped my hearers, the other might be seized. One white man +came with his wife, and was kept rigorously on the front +verandah below! You see what a sea of troubles this is like +to prove; but it is the only chance - and when it blows up, +it must blow up! I have no more hope in anything than a dead +frog; I go into everything with a composed despair, and don't +mind - just as I always go to sea with the conviction I am to +be drowned, and like it before all other pleasures. But you +should have seen the return voyage, when nineteen horses had +to be found in the dark, and nineteen bridles, all in a +drench of rain, and the club, just constituted as such, +sailed away in the wet, under a cloudy moon like a bad +shilling, and to descend a road through the forest that was +at that moment the image of a respectable mountain brook. My +wife, who is president WITH POWER TO EXPEL, had to begin her +functions. . . . + + +25TH MARCH. + + +Heaven knows what day it is, but I am ashamed, all the more +as your letter from Bournemouth of all places - poor old +Bournemouth! - is to hand, and contains a statement of +pleasure in my letters which I wish I could have rewarded +with a long one. What has gone on? A vast of affairs, of a +mingled, strenuous, inconclusive, desultory character; much +waste of time, much riding to and fro, and little transacted +or at least peracted. + +Let me give you a review of the present state of our live +stock. - Six boys in the bush; six souls about the house. +Talolo, the cook, returns again to-day, after an absence +which has cost me about twelve hours of riding, and I suppose +eight hours' solemn sitting in council. 'I am sorry indeed +for the Chief Justice of Samoa,' I said; 'it is more than I +am fit for to be Chief Justice of Vailima.' - Lauilo is +steward. Both these are excellent servants; we gave a +luncheon party when we buried the Samoan bones, and I assure +you all was in good style, yet we never interfered. The food +was good, the wine and dishes went round as by mechanism. - +Steward's assistant and washman Arrick, a New Hebridee black +boy, hired from the German firm; not so ugly as most, but not +pretty neither; not so dull as his sort are, but not quite a +Crichton. When he came first, he ate so much of our good +food that he got a prominent belly. Kitchen assistant, Tomas +(Thomas in English), a Fiji man, very tall and handsome, +moving like a marionette with sudden bounds, and rolling his +eyes with sudden effort. - Washerwoman and precentor, Helen, +Tomas's wife. This is our weak point; we are ashamed of +Helen; the cook-house blushes for her; they murmur there at +her presence. She seems all right; she is not a bad-looking, +strapping wench, seems chaste, is industrious, has an +excellent taste in hymns - you should have heard her read one +aloud the other day, she marked the rhythm with so much +gloating, dissenter sentiment. What is wrong, then? says +you. Low in your ear - and don't let the papers get hold of +it - she is of no family. None, they say; literally a common +woman. Of course, we have out-islanders, who MAY be +villeins; but we give them the benefit of the doubt, which is +impossible with Helen of Vailima; our blot, our pitted speck. +The pitted speck I have said is our precentor. It is always +a woman who starts Samoan song; the men who sing second do +not enter for a bar or two. Poor, dear Faauma, the unchaste, +the extruded Eve of our Paradise, knew only two hymns; but +Helen seems to know the whole repertory, and the morning +prayers go far more lively in consequence. - Lafaele, provost +of the cattle. The cattle are Jack, my horse, quite +converted, my wife rides him now, and he is as steady as a +doctor's cob; Tifaga Jack, a circus horse, my mother's +piebald, bought from a passing circus; Belle's mare, now in +childbed or next door, confound the slut! Musu - amusingly +translated the other day 'don't want to,' literally cross, +but always in the sense of stubbornness and resistance - my +wife's little dark-brown mare, with a white star on her +forehead, whom I have been riding of late to steady her - she +has no vices, but is unused, skittish and uneasy, and wants a +lot of attention and humouring; lastly (of saddle horses) +Luna - not the Latin MOON, the Hawaiian OVERSEER, but it's +pronounced the same - a pretty little mare too, but scarce at +all broken, a bad bucker, and has to be ridden with a stock- +whip and be brought back with her rump criss-crossed like a +clan tartan; the two cart horses, now only used with pack- +saddles; two cows, one in the straw (I trust) to-morrow, a +third cow, the Jersey - whose milk and temper are alike +subjects of admiration - she gives good exercise to the +farming saunterer, and refreshes him on his return with +cream; two calves, a bull, and a cow; God knows how many +ducks and chickens, and for a wager not even God knows how +many cats; twelve horses, seven horses, five kine: is not +this Babylon the Great which I have builded? Call it +SUBPRIORSFORD. + +Two nights ago the club had its first meeting; only twelve +were present, but it went very well. I was not there, I had +ridden down the night before after dinner on my endless +business, took a cup of tea in the Mission like an ass, then +took a cup of coffee like a fool at Haggard's, then fell into +a discussion with the American Consul . . . I went to bed at +Haggard's, came suddenly broad awake, and lay sleepless the +live night. It fell chill, I had only a sheet, and had to +make a light and range the house for a cover - I found one in +the hall, a macintosh. So back to my sleepless bed, and to +lie there till dawn. In the morning I had a longish ride to +take in a day of a blinding, staggering sun, and got home by +eleven, our luncheon hour, with my head rather swimmy; the +only time I have FEARED the sun since I was in Samoa. +However, I got no harm, but did not go to the club, lay off, +lazied, played the pipe, and read - a novel by James Payn - +sometimes quite interesting, and in one place really very +funny with the quaint humour of the man. Much interested the +other day. As I rode past a house, I saw where a Samoan had +written a word on a board, and there was an A, perfectly +formed, but upside down. You never saw such a thing in +Europe; but it is as common as dirt in Polynesia. Men's +names are tattooed on the forearm; it is common to find a +subverted letter tattooed there. Here is a tempting problem +for psychologists. + +I am now on terms again with the German Consulate, I know not +for how long; not, of course, with the President, which I +find a relief; still, with the Chief Justice and the English +Consul. For Haggard, I have a genuine affection; he is a +loveable man. + +Wearyful man! 'Here is the yarn of Loudon Dodd, NOT AS HE +TOLD IT, BUT AS IT WAS AFTERWARDS WRITTEN.' These words were +left out by some carelessness, and I think I have been thrice +tackled about them. Grave them in your mind and wear them on +your forehead. + +The Lang story will have very little about the treasure; THE +MASTER will appear; and it is to a great extent a tale of +Prince Charlie AFTER the '45, and a love story forbye: the +hero is a melancholy exile, and marries a young woman who +interests the prince, and there is the devil to pay. I think +the Master kills him in a duel, but don't know yet, not +having yet seen my second heroine. No - the Master doesn't +kill him, they fight, he is wounded, and the Master plays +DEUS EX MACHINA. I THINK just now of calling it THE TAIL OF +THE RACE; no - heavens! I never saw till this moment - but +of course nobody but myself would ever understand Mill-Race, +they would think of a quarter-mile. So - I am nameless +again. My melancholy young man is to be quite a Romeo. Yes, +I'll name the book from him: DYCE OF YTHAN - pronounce +Eethan. + + +Dyce of Ythan +by R. L. S. + + +O, Shovel - Shovel waits his turn, he and his ancestors. I +would have tackled him before, but my STATE TRIALS have never +come. So that I have now quite planned:- + + +Dyce of Ythan. (Historical, 1750.) +Sophia Scarlet. (To-day.) +The Shovels of Newton French. (Historical, 1650 to 1830.) + +And quite planned and part written:- + +The Pearl Fisher. (To-day.) (With Lloyd a machine.) +David Balfour. (Historical, 1751.) + +And, by a strange exception for R. L. S., all in the third +person except D. B. + +I don't know what day this is now (the 29th), but I have +finished my two chapters, ninth and tenth, of SAMOA in time +for the mail, and feel almost at peace. The tenth was the +hurricane, a difficult problem; it so tempted one to be +literary; and I feel sure the less of that there is in my +little handbook, the more chance it has of some utility. +Then the events are complicated, seven ships to tell of, and +sometimes three of them together; O, it was quite a job. But +I think I have my facts pretty correct, and for once, in my +sickening yarn, they are handsome facts: creditable to all +concerned; not to be written of - and I should think, scarce +to be read - without a thrill. I doubt I have got no +hurricane into it, the intricacies of the yarn absorbing me +too much. But there - it's done somehow, and time presses +hard on my heels. The book, with my best expedition, may +come just too late to be of use. In which case I shall have +made a handsome present of some months of my life for nothing +and to nobody. Well, through Her the most ancient heavens +are fresh and strong. + + +30TH. + + +After I had written you, I re-read my hurricane, which is +very poor; the life of the journalist is hard, another couple +of writings and I could make a good thing, I believe, and it +must go as it is! But, of course, this book is not written +for honour and glory, and the few who will read it may not +know the difference. Very little time. I go down with the +mail shortly, dine at the Chinese restaurant, and go to the +club to dance with islandresses. Think of my going out once +a week to dance. + +Politics are on the full job again, and we don't know what is +to come next. I think the whole treaty RAJ seems quite +played out! They have taken to bribing the FAIPULE men +(parliament men) to stay in Mulinuu, we hear; but I have not +yet sifted the rumour. I must say I shall be scarce +surprised if it prove true; these rumours have the knack of +being right. - Our weather this last month has been +tremendously hot, not by the thermometer, which sticks at 86 +degrees, but to the sensation: no rain, no wind, and this the +storm month. It looks ominous, and is certainly +disagreeable. + +No time to finish, +Yours ever, +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + + +MAY 1ST. 1892. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - As I rode down last night about six, I saw +a sight I must try to tell you of. In front of me, right +over the top of the forest into which I was descending was a +vast cloud. The front of it accurately represented the +somewhat rugged, long-nosed, and beetle-browed profile of a +man, crowned by a huge Kalmuck cap; the flesh part was of a +heavenly pink, the cap, the moustache, the eyebrows were of a +bluish gray; to see this with its childish exactitude of +design and colour, and hugeness of scale - it covered at +least 25 degrees - held me spellbound. As I continued to +gaze, the expression began to change; he had the exact air of +closing one eye, dropping his jaw, and drawing down his nose; +had the thing not been so imposing, I could have smiled; and +then almost in a moment, a shoulder of leaden-coloured bank +drove in front and blotted it. My attention spread to the +rest of the cloud, and it was a thing to worship. It rose +from the horizon, and its top was within thirty degrees of +the zenith; the lower parts were like a glacier in shadow, +varying from dark indigo to a clouded white in exquisite +gradations. The sky behind, so far as I could see, was all +of a blue already enriched and darkened by the night, for the +hill had what lingered of the sunset. But the top of my +Titanic cloud flamed in broad sunlight, with the most +excellent softness and brightness of fire and jewels, +enlightening all the world. It must have been far higher +than Mount Everest, and its glory, as I gazed up at it out of +the night, was beyond wonder. Close by rode the little +crescent moon; and right over its western horn, a great +planet of about equal lustre with itself. The dark woods +below were shrill with that noisy business of the birds' +evening worship. When I returned, after eight, the moon was +near down; she seemed little brighter than before, but now +that the cloud no longer played its part of a nocturnal sun, +we could see that sight, so rare with us at home that it was +counted a portent, so customary in the tropics, of the dark +sphere with its little gilt band upon the belly. The planet +had been setting faster, and was now below the crescent. +They were still of an equal brightness. + +I could not resist trying to reproduce this in words, as a +specimen of these incredibly beautiful and imposing meteors +of the tropic sky that make so much of my pleasure here; +though a ship's deck is the place to enjoy them. O what +AWFUL scenery, from a ship's deck, in the tropics! People +talk about the Alps, but the clouds of the trade wind are +alone for sublimity. + +Now to try and tell you what has been happening. The state +of these islands, and of Mataafa and Laupepa (Malietoa's +AMBO) had been much on my mind. I went to the priests and +sent a message to Mataafa, at a time when it was supposed he +was about to act. He did not act, delaying in true native +style, and I determined I should go to visit him. I have +been very good not to go sooner; to live within a few miles +of a rebel camp, to be a novelist, to have all my family +forcing me to go, and to refrain all these months, counts for +virtue. But hearing that several people had gone and the +government done nothing to punish them, and having an errand +there which was enough to justify myself in my own eyes, I +half determined to go, and spoke of it with the half-caste +priest. And here (confound it) up came Laupepa and his +guards to call on me; we kept him to lunch, and the old +gentleman was very good and amiable. He asked me why I had +not been to see him? I reminded him a law had been made, and +told him I was not a small boy to go and ask leave of the +consuls, and perhaps be refused. He told me to pay no +attention to the law but come when I would, and begged me to +name a day to lunch. The next day (I think it was) early in +the morning, a man appeared; he had metal buttons like a +policeman - but he was none of our Apia force; he was a rebel +policeman, and had been all night coming round inland through +the forest from Malie. He brought a letter addressed + +I LAUA SUSUGA To his Excellency +MISI MEA. Mr. Thingumbob. + +(So as not to compromise me). I can read Samoan now, though +not speak it. It was to ask me for last Wednesday. My +difficulty was great; I had no man here who was fit, or who +would have cared to write for me; and I had to postpone the +visit. So I gave up half-a-day with a groan, went down to +the priests, arranged for Monday week to go to Malie, and +named Thursday as my day to lunch with Laupepa. I was +sharply ill on Wednesday, mail day. But on Thursday I had to +trail down and go through the dreary business of a feast, in +the King's wretched shanty, full in view of the President's +fine new house; it made my heart burn. + +This gave me my chance to arrange a private interview with +the King, and I decided to ask Mr. Whitmee, one of our +missionaries, to be my interpreter. On Friday, being too +much exhausted to go down, I begged him to come up. He did, +I told him the heads of what I meant to say; and he not only +consented, but said, if we got on well with the King, he +would even proceed with me to Malie. Yesterday, in +consequence, I rode down to W.'s house by eight in the +morning; waited till ten; received a message that the King +was stopped by a meeting with the President and FAIPULE; made +another engagement for seven at night; came up; went down; +waited till eight, and came away again, BREDOUILLE, and a +dead body. The poor, weak, enslaved King had not dared to +come to me even in secret. Now I have to-day for a rest, and +to-morrow to Malie. Shall I be suffered to embark? It is +very doubtful; they are on the trail. On Thursday, a +policeman came up to me and began that a boy had been to see +him, and said I was going to see Mataafa. - 'And what did +you say?' said I. - 'I told him I did not know about where +you were going,' said he. - 'A very good answer,' said I, and +turned away. It is lashing rain to-day, but to-morrow, rain +or shine, I must at least make the attempt; and I am so +weary, and the weather looks so bad. I could half wish they +would arrest me on the beach. All this bother and pother to +try and bring a little chance of peace; all this opposition +and obstinacy in people who remain here by the mere +forbearance of Mataafa, who has a great force within six +miles of their government buildings, which are indeed only +the residences of white officials. To understand how I have +been occupied, you must know that 'Misi Mea' has had another +letter, and this time had to answer himself; think of doing +so in a language so obscure to me, with the aid of a Bible, +concordance and dictionary! What a wonderful Baboo +compilation it must have been! I positively expected to hear +news of its arrival in Malie by the sound of laughter. I +doubt if you will be able to read this scrawl, but I have +managed to scramble somehow up to date; and to-morrow, one +way or another, should be interesting. But as for me, I am a +wreck, as I have no doubt style and handwriting both testify. + + +8 P.M. + + +Wonderfully rested; feel almost fit for to-morrow's dreary +excursion - not that it will be dreary if the weather favour, +but otherwise it will be death; and a native feast, and I +fear I am in for a big one, is a thing I loathe. I wonder if +you can really conceive me as a politician in this extra- +mundane sphere - presiding at public meetings, drafting +proclamations, receiving mis-addressed letters that have been +carried all night through tropical forests? It seems strange +indeed, and to you, who know me really, must seem stranger. +I do not say I am free from the itch of meddling, but God +knows this is no tempting job to meddle in; I smile at +picturesque circumstances like the Misi Mea (MONSIEUR CHOSE +is the exact equivalent) correspondence, but the business as +a whole bores and revolts me. I do nothing and say nothing; +and then a day comes, and I say 'this can go on no longer.' + + +9.30 P. M. + + +The wretched native dilatoriness finds me out. News has just +come that we must embark at six to-morrow; I have divided the +night in watches, and hope to be called to-morrow at four and +get under way by five. It is a great chance if it be +managed; but I have given directions and lent my own clock to +the boys, and hope the best. If I get called at four we +shall do it nicely. Good-night; I must turn in. + + +MAY 3RD. + + +Well, we did get off by about 5.30, or, by'r lady! quarter of +six: myself on Donald, the huge grey cart-horse, with a ship- +bag across my saddle bow, Fanny on Musu and Belle on Jack. +We were all feeling pretty tired and sick, and I looked like +heaven knows what on the cart horse: 'death on the pale +horse,' I suggested - and young Hunt the missionary, who met +me to-day on the same charger, squinted up at my perch and +remarked, 'There's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft.' +The boat was ready and we set off down the lagoon about +seven, four oars, and Talolo, my cook, steering. + + +MAY 9TH (MONDAY ANYWAY). + + +And see what good resolutions came to! Here is all this time +past, and no speed made. Well, we got to Malie and were +received with the most friendly consideration by the rebel +chief. Belle and Fanny were obviously thought to be my two +wives; they were served their kava together, as were Mataafa +and myself. Talolo utterly broke down as interpreter; long +speeches were made to me by Mataafa and his orators, of which +he could make nothing but they were 'very much surprised' - +his way of pronouncing obliged - and as he could understand +nothing that fell from me except the same form of words, the +dialogue languished and all business had to be laid aside. +We had kava, and then a dish of arrowroot; one end of the +house was screened off for us with a fine tapa, and we lay +and slept, the three of us heads and tails, upon the mats +till dinner. After dinner his illegitimate majesty and +myself had a walk, and talked as well as my twopenny Samoan +would admit. Then there was a dance to amuse the ladies +before the house, and we came back by moonlight, the sky +piled full of high faint clouds that long preserved some of +the radiance of the sunset. The lagoon was very shallow; we +continually struck, for the moon was young and the light +baffling; and for a long time we were accompanied by, and +passed and re-passed, a huge whale-boat from Savaii, pulling +perhaps twelve oars, and containing perhaps forty people who +sang in time as they went So to the hotel, where we slept, +and returned the next Tuesday morning on the three same +steeds. + +Meanwhile my business was still untransacted. And on +Saturday morning, I sent down and arranged with Charlie +Taylor to go down that afternoon. I had scarce got the +saddle bags fixed and had not yet mounted, when the rain +began. But it was no use delaying now; off I went in a wild +waterspout to Apia; found Charlie (Sale) Taylor - a +sesquipedalian young half-caste - not yet ready, had a snack +of bread and cheese at the hotel while waiting him, and then +off to Malie. It rained all the way, seven miles; the road, +which begins in triumph, dwindles down to a nasty, boggy, +rocky footpath with weeds up to a horseman's knees; and there +are eight pig fences to jump, nasty beastly jumps - the next +morning we found one all messed with blood where a horse had +come to grief - but my Jack is a clever fencer; and +altogether we made good time, and got to Malie about dark. +It is a village of very fine native houses, high, domed, oval +buildings, open at the sides, or only closed with slatted +Venetians. To be sure, Mataafa's is not the worst. It was +already quite dark within, only a little fire of cocoa-shell +blazed in the midst and showed us four servants; the chief +was in his chapel, whence we heard the sound of chaunting. +Presently he returned; Taylor and I had our soaking clothes +changed, family worship was held, kava brewed, I was +exhibited to the chiefs as a man who had ridden through all +that rain and risked deportation to serve their master; they +were bidden learn my face, and remember upon all occasions to +help and serve me. Then dinner, and politics, and fine +speeches until twelve at night - O, and some more kava - when +I could sit up no longer; my usual bed-time is eight, you +must remember. Then one end of the house was screened off +for me alone, and a bed made - you never saw such a couch - I +believe of nearly fifty (half at least) fine mats, by +Mataafa's daughter, Kalala. Here I reposed alone; and on the +other side of the tafa, Majesty and his household. Armed +guards and a drummer patrolled about the house all night; +they had no shift, poor devils; but stood to arms from sun- +down to sun-up. + +About four in the morning, I was awakened by the sound of a +whistle pipe blown outside on the dark, very softly and to a +pleasing simple air; I really think I have hit the first +phrase: + +[Fragment of music score which cannot be reproduced] + +It sounded very peaceful, sweet and strange in the dark; and +I found this was a part of the routine of my rebel's night, +and it was done (he said) to give good dreams. By a little +before six, Taylor and I were in the saddle again fasting. +My riding boots were so wet I could not get them on, so I +must ride barefoot. The morning was fair but the roads very +muddy, the weeds soaked us nearly to the waist, Sale was +twice spilt at the fences, and we got to Apia a bedraggled +enough pair. All the way along the coast, the pate (small +wooden drum) was beating in the villages and the people +crowding to the churches in their fine clothes. Thence +through the mangrove swamp, among the black mud and the green +mangroves, and the black and scarlet crabs, to Mulinuu, to +the doctor's, where I had an errand, and so to the inn to +breakfast about nine. After breakfast I rode home. Conceive +such an outing, remember the pallid brute that lived in +Skerryvore like a weevil in a biscuit, and receive the +intelligence that I was rather the better for my journey. +Twenty miles ride, sixteen fences taken, ten of the miles in +a drenching rain, seven of them fasting and in the morning +chill, and six stricken hours' political discussions by an +interpreter; to say nothing of sleeping in a native house, at +which many of our excellent literati would look askance of +itself. + +You are to understand: if I take all this bother, it is not +only from a sense of duty, or a love of meddling - damn the +phrase, take your choice - but from a great affection for +Mataafa. He is a beautiful, sweet old fellow, and he and I +grew quite fulsome on Saturday night about our sentiments. I +had a messenger from him to-day with a flannel undershirt +which I had left behind like a gibbering idiot; and +perpetrated in reply another baboo letter. It rains again +to-day without mercy; blessed, welcome rains, making up for +the paucity of the late wet season; and when the showers +slacken, I can hear my stream roaring in the hollow, and tell +myself that the cacaos are drinking deep. I am desperately +hunted to finish my Samoa book before the mail goes; this +last chapter is equally delicate and necessary. The prayers +of the congregation are requested. Eheu! and it will be +ended before this letter leaves and printed in the States ere +you can read this scribble. The first dinner gong has +sounded; JE VOUS SALUE, MONSIEUR ET CHER CONFRERE. TOFA, +SOIFUA! Sleep! long life! as our Samoan salutation of +farewell runs. + + +FRIDAY, MAY 13TH. + + +Well, the last chapter, by far the most difficult and +ungrateful, is well under way, I have been from six to seven +hours upon it daily since I last wrote; and that is all I +have done forbye working at Samoan rather hard, and going +down on Wednesday evening to the club. I make some progress +now at the language; I am teaching Belle, which clears and +exercises myself. I am particularly taken with the FINESSE +of the pronouns. The pronouns are all dual and plural and +the first person, both in the dual and plural, has a special +exclusive and inclusive form. You can conceive what fine +effects of precision and distinction can be reached in +certain cases. Take Ruth, i. VV. 8 to 13, and imagine how +those pronouns come in; it is exquisitely elegant, and makes +the mouth of the LITTERATEUR to water. I am going to +exercitate my pupil over those verses to-day for pronoun +practice. + + +TUESDAY. + + +Yesterday came yours. Well, well, if the dears prefer a +week, why, I'll give them ten days, but the real document, +from which I have scarcely varied, ran for one night. I +think you seem scarcely fair to Wiltshire, who had surely, +under his beast-ignorant ways, right noble qualities. And I +think perhaps you scarce do justice to the fact that this is +a place of realism A OUTRANCE; nothing extenuated or +coloured. Looked at so, is it not, with all its tragic +features, wonderfully idyllic, with great beauty of scene and +circumstance? And will you please to observe that almost all +that is ugly is in the whites? I'll apologise for Papa +Randal if you like; but if I told you the whole truth - for I +did extenuate there! - and he seemed to me essential as a +figure, and essential as a pawn in the game, Wiltshire's +disgust for him being one of the small, efficient motives in +the story. Now it would have taken a fairish dose to disgust +Wiltshire. - Again, the idea of publishing the Beach +substantively is dropped - at once, both on account of +expostulation, and because it measured shorter than I had +expected. And it was only taken up, when the proposed +volume, BEACH DE MAR, petered out. It petered out thus: the +chief of the short stories got sucked into SOPHIA SCARLET - +and Sophia is a book I am much taken with, and mean to get +to, as soon as - but not before - I have done DAVID BALFOUR +and THE YOUNG CHEVALIER. So you see you are like to hear no +more of the Pacific or the nineteenth century for a while. +THE YOUNG CHEVALIER is a story of sentiment and passion, +which I mean to write a little differently from what I have +been doing - if I can hit the key; rather more of a +sentimental tremolo to it. It may thus help to prepare me +for SOPHIA, which is to contain three ladies, and a kind of a +love affair between the heroine and a dying planter who is a +poet! large orders for R. L. S. + +O the German taboo is quite over; no soul attempts to support +the C. J. or the President, they are past hope; the whites +have just refused their taxes - I mean the council has +refused to call for them, and if the council consented, +nobody would pay; 'tis a farce, and the curtain is going to +fall briefly. Consequently in my History, I say as little as +may be of the two dwindling stars. Poor devils! I liked the +one, and the other has a little wife, now lying in! There +was no man born with so little animosity as I. When I heard +the C. J. was in low spirits and never left his house, I +could scarce refrain from going to him. + +It was a fine feeling to have finished the History; there +ought to be a future state to reward that grind! It's not +literature, you know; only journalism, and pedantic +journalism. I had but the one desire, to get the thing as +right as might be, and avoid false concords - even if that! +And it was more than there was time for. However, there it +is: done. And if Samoa turns up again my book has to be +counted with, being the only narrative extant. Milton and I +- if you kindly excuse the juxtaposition - harnessed +ourselves to strange waggons, and I at least will be found to +have plodded very soberly with my load. There is not even a +good sentence in it, but perhaps - I don't know - it may be +found an honest, clear volume. + + +WEDNESDAY. + + +Never got a word set down, and continues on Thursday 19th +May, his own marriage day as ever was. News; yes. The C. J. +came up to call on us! After five months' cessation on my +side, and a decidedly painful interchange of letters, I could +not go down - could not - to see him. My three ladies +received him, however; he was very agreeable as usual, but +refused wine, beer, water, lemonade, chocolate and at last a +cigarette. Then my wife asked him, 'So you refuse to break +bread?' and he waved his hands amiably in answer. All my +three ladies received the same impression that he had serious +matters in his mind: now we hear he is quite cock-a-hoop +since the mail came, and going about as before his troubles +darkened. But what did he want with me? 'Tis thought he had +received a despatch - and that he misreads it (so we fully +believe) to the effect that they are to have war ships at +command and can make their little war after all. If it be +so, and they do it, it will be the meanest wanton slaughter +of poor men for the salaries of two white failures. But what +was his errand with me? Perhaps to warn me that unless I +behave he now hopes to be able to pack me off in the CURACOA +when she comes. + +I have celebrated my holiday from SAMOA by a plunge at the +beginning of THE YOUNG CHEVALIER. I am afraid my touch is a +little broad in a love story; I can't mean one thing and +write another. As for women, I am no more in any fear of +them; I can do a sort all right; age makes me less afraid of +a petticoat, but I am a little in fear of grossness. +However, this David Balfour's love affair, that's all right - +might be read out to a mothers' meeting - or a daughters' +meeting. The difficulty in a love yarn, which dwells at all +on love, is the dwelling on one string; it is manifold, I +grant, but the root fact is there unchanged, and the +sentiment being very intense, and already very much handled +in letters, positively calls for a little pawing and gracing. +With a writer of my prosaic literalness and pertinency of +point of view, this all shoves toward grossness - positively +even towards the far more damnable CLOSENESS. This has kept +me off the sentiment hitherto, and now I am to try: Lord! Of +course Meredith can do it, and so could Shakespeare; but with +all my romance, I am a realist and a prosaist, and a most +fanatical lover of plain physical sensations plainly and +expressly rendered; hence my perils. To do love in the same +spirit as I did (for instance) D. Balfour's fatigue in the +heather; my dear sir, there were grossness - ready made! And +hence, how to sugar? However, I have nearly done with Marie- +Madeleine, and am in good hopes of Marie-Salome, the real +heroine; the other is only a prologuial heroine to introduce +the hero. + + +FRIDAY. + + +Anyway, the first prologuial episode is done, and Fanny likes +it. There are only four characters; Francis Blair of Balmile +(Jacobite Lord Gladsmuir) my hero; the Master of Ballantrae; +Paradon, a wine-seller of Avignon; Marie-Madeleine his wife. +These two last I am now done with, and I think they are +successful, and I hope I have Balmile on his feet; and the +style seems to be found. It is a little charged and violent; +sins on the side of violence; but I think will carry the +tale. I think it is a good idea so to introduce my hero, +being made love to by an episodic woman. This queer tale - I +mean queer for me - has taken a great hold upon me. Where +the devil shall I go next? This is simply the tale of a COUP +DE TETE of a young man and a young woman; with a nearly, +perhaps a wholly, tragic sequel, which I desire to make +thinkable right through, and sensible; to make the reader, as +far as I shall be able, eat and drink and breathe it. Marie- +Salome des Saintes-Maries is, I think, the heroine's name; +she has got to BE yet: SURSUM CORDA! So has the young +Chevalier, whom I have not yet touched, and who comes next in +order. Characters: Balmile, or Lord Gladsmuir, COMME VOUS +VOULEZ; Prince Charlie; Earl Marischal; Master of Ballantrae; +and a spy, and Dr. Archie Campbell, and a few nondescripts; +then, of women, Marie-Salome and Flora Blair; seven at the +outside; really four full lengths, and I suppose a half-dozen +episodic profiles. How I must bore you with these +ineptitudes! Have patience. I am going to bed; it is (of +all hours) eleven. I have been forced in (since I began to +write to you) to blatter to Fanny on the subject of my +heroine, there being two CRUCES as to her life and history: +how came she alone? and how far did she go with the +Chevalier? The second must answer itself when I get near +enough to see. The first is a back-breaker. Yet I know +there are many reasons why a FILLE DE FAMINE, romantic, +adventurous, ambitious, innocent of the world, might run from +her home in these days; might she not have been threatened +with a convent? might there not be some Huguenot business +mixed in? Here am I, far from books; if you can help me with +a suggestion, I shall say God bless you. She has to be new +run away from a strict family, well-justified in her own wild +but honest eyes, and meeting these three men, Charles Edward, +Marischal, and Balmile, through the accident of a fire at an +inn. She must not run from a marriage, I think; it would +bring her in the wrong frame of mind. Once I can get her, +SOLA, on the highway, all were well with my narrative. +Perpend. And help if you can. + +Lafaele, long (I hope) familiar to you, has this day received +the visit of his SON from Tonga; and the SON proves to be a +very pretty, attractive young daughter! I gave all the boys +kava in honour of her arrival; along with a lean, side- +whiskered Tongan, dimly supposed to be Lafaele's step-father; +and they have been having a good time; in the end of my +verandah, I hear Simi, my present incapable steward, talking +Tongan with the nondescript papa. Simi, our out-door boy, +burst a succession of blood-vessels over our work, and I had +to make a position for the wreck of one of the noblest +figures of a man I ever saw. I believe I may have mentioned +the other day how I had to put my horse to the trot, the +canter and (at last) the gallop to run him down. In a +photograph I hope to send you (perhaps with this) you will +see Simi standing in the verandah in profile. As a steward, +one of his chief points is to break crystal; he is great on +fracture - what do I say? - explosion! He cleans a glass, +and the shards scatter like a comet's bowels. + +N.B. - If I should by any chance be deported, the first of +the rules hung up for that occasion is to communicate with +you by telegraph. - Mind, I do not fear it, but it IS +possible. + + +MONDAY 25TH. + + +We have had a devil of a morning of upset and bustle; the +bronze candlestick Faauma has returned to the family, in time +to take her position of stepmamma, and it is pretty to see +how the child is at once at home, and all her terrors ended. + + +27TH. MAIL DAY. + + +And I don't know that I have much to report. I may have to +leave for Malie as soon as these mail packets are made up. +'Tis a necessity (if it be one) I rather deplore. I think I +should have liked to lazy; but I daresay all it means is the +delay of a day or so in harking back to David Balfour; that +respectable youth chides at being left (where he is now) in +Glasgow with the Lord Advocate, and after five years in the +British Linen, who shall blame him? I was all forenoon +yesterday down in Apia,' dictating, and Lloyd type-writing, +the conclusion of SAMOA; and then at home correcting till the +dinner bell; and in the evening again till eleven of the +clock. This morning I have made up most of my packets, and I +think my mail is all ready but two more, and the tag of this. +I would never deny (as D. B might say) that I was rather +tired of it. But I have a damned good dose of the devil in +my pipe-stem atomy; I have had my little holiday outing in my +kick at THE YOUNG CHEVALIER, and I guess I can settle to +DAVID BALFOUR to-morrow or Friday like a little man. I +wonder if any one had ever more energy upon so little +strength? - I know there is a frost, the Samoa book can only +increase that - I can't help it, that book is not written for +me but for Miss Manners; but I mean to break that frost +inside two years, and pull off a big success, and Vanity +whispers in my ear that I have the strength. If I haven't, +whistle ower the lave o't! I can do without glory and +perhaps the time is not far off when I can do without corn. +It is a time coming soon enough, anyway; and I have endured +some two and forty years without public shame, and had a good +time as I did it. If only I could secure a violent death, +what a fine success! I wish to die in my boots; no more Land +of Counterpane for me. To be drowned, to be shot, to be +thrown from a horse - ay, to be hanged, rather than pass +again through that slow dissolution. + +I fancy this gloomy ramble is caused by a twinge of age; I +put on an under-shirt yesterday (it was the only one I could +find) that barely came under my trousers; and just below it, +a fine healthy rheumatism has now settled like a fire in my +hip. From such small causes do these valuable considerations +flow! + +I shall now say adieu, dear Sir, having ten rugged miles +before me and the horrors of a native feast and parliament +without an interpreter, for to-day I go alone. + +Yours ever, +R. L S. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + + +SUNDAY, 29TH MAY. + + +HOW am I to overtake events? On Wednesday, as soon as my +mail was finished, I had a wild whirl to look forward to. +Immediately after dinner, Belle, Lloyd and I, set out on +horseback, they to the club, I to Haggard's, thence to the +hotel where I had supper ready for them. All next day we +hung round Apia with our whole house-crowd in Sunday array, +hoping for the mail steamer with a menagerie on board. No +such luck; the ship delayed; and at last, about three, I had +to send them home again, a failure of a day's pleasuring that +does not bear to be discussed. Lloyd was so sickened that he +returned the same night to Vailima, Belle and I held on, sat +most of the evening on the hotel verandah stricken silly with +fatigue and disappointment, and genuine sorrow for our poor +boys and girls, and got to bed with rather dismal +appreciations of the morrow. + +These were more than justified, and yet I never had a jollier +day than Friday 27th. By 7.30 Belle and I had breakfast; we +had scarce done before my mother was at the door on +horseback, and a boy at her heels to take her not very +dashing charger home again. By 8.10 we were all on the +landing pier, and it was 9.20 before we had got away in a +boat with two inches of green wood on the keel of her, no +rudder, no mast, no sail, no boat flag, two defective +rowlocks, two wretched apologies for oars, and two boys - one +a Tongan half-caste, one a white lad, son of the Tonga +schoolmaster, and a sailor lad - to pull us. All this was +our first taste of the tender mercies of Taylor (the +sesquipidalian half-caste introduced two letters back, I +believe). We had scarce got round Mulinuu when Sale Taylor's +heart misgave him; he thought we had missed the tide; called +a halt, and set off ashore to find canoes. Two were found; +in one my mother and I were embarked with the two biscuit +tins (my present to the feast), and the bag with our dry +clothes, on which my mother was perched - and her cap was on +the top of it - feminine hearts please sympathise; all under +the guidance of Sale. In the other Belle and our guest; +Tauilo, a chief-woman, the mother of my cook, were to have +followed. And the boys were to have been left with the boat. +But Tauilo refused. And the four, Belle, Tauilo, Frank the +sailor-boy, and Jimmie the Tongan half-caste, set off in the +boat across that rapidly shoaling bay of the lagoon. + +How long the next scene lasted, I could never tell. Sale was +always trying to steal away with our canoe and leave the +other four, probably for six hours, in an empty, leaky boat, +without so much as an orange or a cocoanut on board, and +under the direct rays of the sun. I had at last to stop him +by taking the spare paddle off the out-rigger and sticking it +in the ground - depth, perhaps two feet - width of the bay, +say three miles. At last I bid him land me and my mother and +go back for the other ladies. 'The coast is so rugged,' said +Sale. - 'What?' I said, 'all these villages and no landing +place?' - 'Such is the nature of Samoans,' said he. Well, +I'll find a landing-place, I thought; and presently I said, +'Now we are going to land there.' - 'We can but try,' said +the bland Sale, with resignation. Never saw a better +landing-place in my life. Here the boat joined us. My +mother and Sale continued in the canoe alone, and Belle and I +and Tauilo set off on foot for Malie. Tauilo was about the +size of both of us put together and a piece over; she used us +like a mouse with children. I had started barefoot; Belle +had soon to pull off her gala shoes and stockings; the mud +was as deep as to our knees, and so slippery that (moving, as +we did, in Indian file, between dense scratching tufts of +sensitive) Belle and I had to take hands to support each +other, and Tauilo was steadying Belle from the rear. You can +conceive we were got up to kill, Belle in an embroidered +white dress and white hat, I in a suit of Bedford cords hot +from the Sydney tailors; and conceive us, below, ink-black to +the knees with adhesive clay, and above, streaming with heat. +I suppose it was better than three miles, but at last we made +the end of Malie. I asked if we could find no water to wash +our feet; and our nursemaid guided us to a pool. We sat down +on the pool side, and our nursemaid washed our feet and legs +for us - ladies first, I suppose out of a sudden respect to +the insane European fancies: such a luxury as you can scarce +imagine. I felt a new man after it. But before we got to +the King's house we were sadly muddied once more. It was 1 +P.M. when we arrived, the canoe having beaten us by about +five minutes, so we made fair time over our bog-holes. + +But the war dances were over, and we came in time to see only +the tail end (some two hours) of the food presentation. In +Mataafa's house three chairs were set for us covered with +fine mats. Of course, a native house without the blinds down +is like a verandah. All the green in front was surrounded +with sheds, some of flapping canvas, some of green palm +boughs, where (in three sides of a huge oblong) the natives +sat by villages in a fine glow of many-hued array. There +were folks in tapa, and folks in patchwork; there was every +colour of the rainbow in a spot or a cluster; there were men +with their heads gilded with powdered sandal-wood, others +with heads all purple, stuck full of the petals of a flower. +In the midst there was a growing field of outspread food, +gradually covering acres; the gifts were brought in, now by +chanting deputations, now by carriers in a file; they were +brandished aloft and declaimed over, with polite sacramental +exaggerations, by the official receiver. He, a stalwart, +well-oiled quadragenarian, shone with sweat from his +exertions, brandishing cooked pigs. At intervals, from one +of the squatted villages, an orator would arise. The field +was almost beyond the reach of any human speaking voice; the +proceedings besides continued in the midst; yet it was +possible to catch snatches of this elaborate and cut-and-dry +oratory - it was possible for me, for instance, to catch the +description of my gift and myself as the ALII TUSITALA, O LE +ALII O MALO TETELE - the chief White Information, the chief +of the great Governments. Gay designation? In the house, in +our three curule chairs, we sat and looked on. On our left a +little group of the family. In front of us, at our feet, an +ancient Talking-man, crowned with green leaves, his profile +almost exactly Dante's; Popo his name. He had worshipped +idols in his youth; he had been full grown before the first +missionary came hither from Tahiti; this makes him over +eighty. Near by him sat his son and colleague. In the group +on our left, his little grandchild sat with her legs crossed +and her hands turned, the model already (at some three years +old) of Samoan etiquette. Still further off to our right, +Mataafa sat on the ground through all the business; and still +I saw his lips moving, and the beads of his rosary slip +stealthily through his hand. We had kava, and the King's +drinking was hailed by the Popos (father and son) with a +singular ululation, perfectly new to my ears; it means, to +the expert, 'Long live Tuiatua'; to the inexpert, is a mere +voice of barbarous wolves. We had dinner, retired a bit +behind the central pillar of the house; and, when the King +was done eating, the ululation was repeated. I had my eyes +on Mataafa's face, and I saw pride and gratified ambition +spring to life there and be instantly sucked in again. It +was the first time, since the difference with Laupepa, that +Popo and his son had openly joined him, and given him the due +cry as Tuiatua - one of the eight royal names of the islands, +as I hope you will know before this reaches you. + +Not long after we had dined, the food-bringing was over. The +gifts (carefully noted and tallied as they came in) were now +announced by a humorous orator, who convulsed the audience, +introducing singing notes, now on the name of the article, +now on the number; six thousand odd heads of taro, three +hundred and nineteen cooked pigs; and one thing that +particularly caught me (by good luck), a single turtle 'for +the King' - LE TASI MO LE TUPU. Then came one of the +strangest sights I have yet witnessed. The two most +important persons there (bar Mataafa) were Popo and his son. +They rose, holding their long shod rods of talking men, +passed forth from the house, broke into a strange dance, the +father capering with outstretched arms and rod, the son +crouching and gambolling beside him in a manner +indescribable, and presently began to extend the circle of +this dance among the acres of cooked food. WHATEVER THEY +LEAPED OVER, WHATEVER THEY CALLED FOR, BECAME THEIRS. To see +mediaeval Dante thus demean himself struck a kind of a chill +of incongruity into our Philistine souls; but even in a great +part of the Samoan concourse, these antique and (I +understand) quite local manners awoke laughter. One of my +biscuit tins and a live calf were among the spoils he +claimed, but the large majority of the cooked food (having +once proved his dignity) he re-presented to the King. + +Then came the turn of LE ALII TUSITALA. He would not dance, +but he was given - five live hens, four gourds of oil, four +fine tapas, a hundred heads of taro, two cooked pigs, a +cooked shark, two or three cocoanut branches strung with +kava, and the turtle, who soon after breathed his last, I +believe, from sunstroke. It was a royal present for 'the +chief of the great powers.' I should say the gifts were, on +the proper signal, dragged out of the field of food by a +troop of young men, all with their lava-lavas kilted almost +into a loin-cloth. The art is to swoop on the food-field, +pick up with unerring swiftness the right things and +quantities, swoop forth again on the open, and separate, +leaving the gifts in a new pile: so you may see a covey of +birds in a corn-field. This reminds me of a very inhumane +but beautiful passage I had forgotten in its place. The +gift-giving was still in full swing, when there came a troop +of some ninety men all in tafa lava-lavas of a purplish +colour; they paused, and of a sudden there went up from them +high into the air a flight of live chickens, which, as they +came down again, were sent again into the air, for perhaps a +minute, from the midst of a singular turmoil of flying arms +and shouting voices; I assure you, it was very beautiful to +see, but how many chickens were killed? + +No sooner was my food set out than I was to be going. I had +a little serious talk with Mataafa on the floor, and we went +down to the boat, where we got our food aboard, such a cargo +- like the Swiss Family Robinson, we said. However, a squall +began, Tauilo refused to let us go, and we came back to the +house for half-an-hour or so, when my ladies distinguished +themselves by walking through a Fono (council), my mother +actually taking up a position between Mataafa and Popo! It +was about five when we started - turtle, pigs, taro, etc., my +mother, Belle, myself, Tauilo, a portly friend of hers with +the voice of an angel, and a pronunciation so delicate and +true that you could follow Samoan as she sang, and the two +tired boys Frank and Jimmie, with the two bad oars and the +two slippery rowlocks to impel the whole. Sale Taylor took +the canoe and a strong Samoan to paddle him. Presently after +he went inshore, and passed us a little after, with his arms +folded, and TWO strong Samoans impelling him Apia-ward. This +was too much for Belle, who hailed, taunted him, and made him +return to the boat with one of the Samoans, setting Jimmie +instead in the canoe. Then began our torment, Sale and the +Samoan took the oars, sat on the same thwart (where they +could get no swing on the boat had they tried), and +deliberately ladled at the lagoon. We lay enchanted. Night +fell; there was a light visible on shore; it did not move. +The two women sang, Belle joining them in the hymns she has +learned at family worship. Then a squall came up; we sat a +while in roaring midnight under rivers of rain, and, when it +blew by, there was the light again, immovable. A second +squall followed, one of the worst I was ever out in; we could +scarce catch our breath in the cold, dashing deluge. When it +went, we were so cold that the water in the bottom of the +boat (which I was then baling) seemed like a warm footbath in +comparison, and Belle and I, who were still barefoot, were +quite restored by laving in it. + +All this time I had kept my temper, and refrained as far as +might be from any interference, for I saw (in our friend's +mulish humour) he always contrived to twist it to our +disadvantage. But now came the acute point. Young Frank now +took an oar. He was a little fellow, near as frail as +myself, and very short; if he weighed nine stone, it was the +outside; but his blood was up. He took stroke, moved the big +Samoan forward to bow, and set to work to pull him round in +fine style. Instantly a kind of race competition - almost +race hatred - sprang up. We jeered the Samoan. Sale +declared it was the trim of the boat: 'if this lady was aft' +(Tauilo's portly friend) 'he would row round Frank.' We +insisted on her coming aft, and Frank still rowed round the +Samoan. When the Samoan caught a crab (the thing was +continual with these wretched oars and rowlocks), we shouted +and jeered; when Frank caught one, Sale and the Samoan jeered +and yelled. But anyway the boat moved, and presently we got +up with Mulinuu, where I finally lost my temper, when I found +that Sale proposed to go ashore and make a visit - in fact, +we all three did. It is not worth while going into, but I +must give you one snatch of the subsequent conversation as we +pulled round Apia bay. 'This Samoan,' said Sale, 'received +seven German bullets in the field of Fangalii.' 'I am +delighted to hear it,' said Belle. 'His brother was killed +there,' pursued Sale; and Belle, prompt as an echo, 'Then +there are no more of the family? how delightful!' Sale was +sufficiently surprised to change the subject; he began to +praise Frank's rowing with insufferable condescension: 'But +it is after all not to be wondered at,' said he, 'because he +has been for some time a sailor. My good man, is it three or +five years that you have been to sea?' And Frank, in a +defiant shout: 'Two!' Whereupon, so high did the ill-feeling +run, that we three clapped and applauded and shouted, so that +the President (whose house we were then passing) doubtless +started at the sounds. It was nine when we got to the hotel; +at first no food was to be found, but we skirmished up some +bread and cheese and beer and brandy; and (having changed our +wet clothes for the rather less wet in our bags) supped on +the verandah. + +SATURDAY 28TH. I was wakened about 6.30, long past my usual +hour, by a benevolent passer-by. My turtle lay on the +verandah at my door, and the man woke me to tell me it was +dead, as it had been when we put it on board the day before. +All morning I ran the gauntlet of men and women coming up to +me: 'Mr. Stevenson, your turtle is dead.' I gave half of it +to the hotel keeper, so that his cook should cut it up; and +we got a damaged shell, and two splendid meals, beefsteak one +day and soup the next. The horses came for us about 9.30. +It was waterspouting; we were drenched before we got out of +the town; the road was a fine going Highland trout stream; it +thundered deep and frequent, and my mother's horse would not +better on a walk. At last she took pity on us, and very +nobly proposed that Belle and I should ride ahead. We were +mighty glad to do so, for we were cold. Presently, I said I +should ride back for my mother, but it thundered again, Belle +is afraid of thunder, and I decided to see her through the +forest before I returned for my other hen - I may say, my +other wet hen. About the middle of the wood, where it is +roughest and steepest, we met three pack-horses with barrels +of lime-juice. I piloted Belle past these - it is not very +easy in such a road - and then passed them again myself, to +pilot my mother. This effected, it began to thunder again, +so I rode on hard after Belle. When I caught up with her, +she was singing Samoan hymns to support her terrors! We were +all back, changed, and at table by lunch time, 11 A.M. Nor +have any of us been the worse for it sinsyne. That is pretty +good for a woman of my mother's age and an invalid of my +standing; above all, as Tauilo was laid up with a bad cold, +probably increased by rage. + + +FRIDAY, 3RD JUNE. + + +On Wednesday the club could not be held, and I must ride down +town and to and fro all afternoon delivering messages, then +dined and rode up by the young moon. I had plenty news when +I got back; there is great talk in town of my deportation: it +is thought they have written home to Downing Street +requesting my removal, which leaves me not much alarmed; what +I do rather expect is that H. J. Moors and I may be haled up +before the C. J. to stand a trial for LESE-Majesty. Well, +we'll try and live it through. + +The rest of my history since Monday has been unadulterated +DAVID BALFOUR. In season and out of season, night and day, +David and his innocent harem - let me be just, he never has +more than the two - are on my mind. Think of David Balfour +with a pair of fair ladies - very nice ones too - hanging +round him. I really believe David is as a good character as +anybody has a right to ask for in a novel. I have finished +drafting Chapter XX. to-day, and feel it all ready to froth +when the spigot is turned. + +O I forgot - and do forget. What did I mean? A waft of +cloud has fallen on my mind, and I will write no more. + + +WEDNESDAY, I BELIEVE, 8TH JUNE. + + +Lots of David, and lots of David, and the devil any other +news. Yesterday we were startled by great guns firing a +salute, and to-day Whitmee (missionary) rode up to lunch, and +we learned it was the CURACOA come in, the ship (according to +rumour) in which I was to be deported. I went down to meet +my fate, and the captain is to dine with me Saturday, so I +guess I am not going this voyage. Even with the +particularity with which I write to you, how much of my life +goes unexpressed; my troubles with a madman by the name of -, +a genuine living lunatic, I believe, and jolly dangerous; my +troubles about poor -, all these have dropped out; yet for +moments they were very instant, and one of them is always +present with me. + +I have finished copying Chapter XXI. of David - 'SOLUS CUM +SOLA; we travel together.' Chapter XXII., 'SOLUS CUM SOLA; +we keep house together,' is already drafted. To the end of +XXI. makes more than 150 pages of my manuscript - damn this +hair - and I only designed the book to run to about 200; but +when you introduce the female sect, a book does run away with +you. I am very curious to see what you will think of my two +girls. My own opinion is quite clear; I am in love with +both. I foresee a few pleasant years of spiritual +flirtations. The creator (if I may name myself, for the sake +of argument, by such a name) is essentially unfaithful. For +the duration of the two chapters in which I dealt with Miss +Grant, I totally forgot my heroine, and even - but this is a +flat secret - tried to win away David. I think I must try +some day to marry Miss Grant. I'm blest if I don't think +I've got that hair out! which seems triumph enough; so I +conclude. + + +TUESDAY. + + +Your infinitesimal correspondence has reached me, and I have +the honour to refer to it with scorn. It contains only one +statement of conceivable interest, that your health is +better; the rest is null, and so far as disquisitory unsound. +I am all right, but David Balfour is ailing; this came from +my visit to the man-of-war, where I had a cup of tea, and the +most of that night walked the verandah with extraordinary +convictions of guilt and ruin, many of which (but not all) +proved to have fled with the day, taking David along with +them; he R.I.P. in Chapter XXII. + +On Saturday I went down to the town, and fetched up Captain +Gibson to dinner; Sunday I was all day at Samoa, and had a +pile of visitors. Yesterday got my mail, including your +despicable sheet; was fooled with a visit from the high chief +Asi, went down at 4 P.M. to my Samoan lesson from Whitmee - I +think I shall learn from him, he does not fool me with +cockshot rules that are demolished next day, but professes +ignorance like a man; the truth is, the grammar has still to +be expiscated - dined with Haggard, and got home about nine. + + +WEDNESDAY. + + +The excellent Clarke up here almost all day yesterday, a man +I esteem and like to the soles of his boots; I prefer him to +anyone in Samoa, and to most people in the world; a real good +missionary, with the inestimable advantage of having grown up +a layman. Pity they all can't get that! It recalls my old +proposal, which delighted Lady Taylor so much, that every +divinity student should be thirty years old at least before +he was admitted. Boys switched out of college into a pulpit, +what chance have they? That any should do well amazes me, +and the most are just what was to be expected. + + +SATURDAY. + + +I must tell you of our feast. It was long promised to the +boys, and came off yesterday in one of their new houses. My +good Simele arrived from Savaii that morning asking for +political advice; then we had Tauilo; Elena's father, a +talking man of Tauilo's family; Talolo's cousin; and a boy of +Simele's family, who attended on his dignity; then Metu, the +meat-man - you have never heard of him, but he is a great +person in our household - brought a lady and a boy - and +there was another infant - eight guests in all. And we sat +down thirty strong. You should have seen our procession, +going (about two o'clock), all in our best clothes, to the +hall of feasting! All in our Sunday's best. The new house +had been hurriedly finished; the rafters decorated with +flowers; the floor spread, native style, with green leaves; +we had given a big porker, twenty-five pounds of fresh beef, +a tin of biscuit, cocoanuts, etc. Our places were all +arranged with much care; the native ladies of the house +facing our party; the sides filled up by the men; the guests, +please observe: the two chief people, male and female, were +placed with our family, the rest between S. and the native +ladies. After the feast was over, we had kava, and the +calling of the kava was a very elaborate affair, and I +thought had like to have made Simele very angry; he is really +a considerable chief, but he and Tauilo were not called till +after all our family, AND THE GUESTS, I suppose the principle +being that he was still regarded as one of the household. I +forgot to say that our black boy did not turn up when the +feast was ready. Off went the two cooks, found him, +decorated him with huge red hibiscus flowers - he was in a +very dirty under shirt - brought him back between them like a +reluctant maid, and, thrust him into a place between Faauma +and Elena, where he was petted and ministered to. When his +turn came in the kava drinking - and you may be sure, in +their contemptuous, affectionate kindness for him, as for a +good dog, it came rather earlier than it ought - he was cried +under a new name. ALEKI is what they make of his own name +Arrick; but instead of + +{ the cup of } +{'le ipu o } + +Aleki!' it was called 'le ipu o VAILIMA' and it was explained +that he had 'taken his chief-name'! a jest at which the +plantation still laughs. Kava done, I made a little speech, +Henry translating. If I had been well, I should have alluded +to all, but I was scarce able to sit up; so only alluded to +my guest of all this month, the Tongan, Tomas, and to Simele, +partly for the jest of making him translate compliments to +himself. The talking man replied with many handsome +compliments to me, in the usual flood of Samoan fluent +neatness; and we left them to an afternoon of singing and +dancing. Must stop now, as my right hand is very bad again. +I am trying to write with my left. + + +SUNDAY. + + +About half-past eight last night, I had gone to my own room, +Fanny and Lloyd were in Fanny's, every one else in bed, only +two boys on the premises - the two little brown boys Mitaiele +(Michael), age I suppose 11 or 12, and the new steward, a +Wallis islander, speaking no English and about fifty words of +Samoan, recently promoted from the bush work, and a most +good, anxious, timid lad of 15 or 16 - looks like 17 or 18, +of course - they grow fast here. In comes Mitaiele to Lloyd, +and told some rigmarole about Paatalise (the steward's name) +wanting to go and see his family in the bush. - 'But he has +no family in the bush,' said Lloyd. 'No,' said Mitaiele. +They went to the boy's bed (they sleep in the walled-in +compartment of the verandah, once my dressing-room) and +called at once for me. He lay like one asleep, talking in +drowsy tones but without excitement, and at times 'cheeping' +like a frightened mouse; he was quite cool to the touch, and +his pulse not fast; his breathing seemed wholly ventral; the +bust still, the belly moving strongly. Presently he got from +his bed, and ran for the door, with his head down not three +feet from the floor and his body all on a stretch forward, +like a striking snake: I say 'ran,' but this strange movement +was not swift. Lloyd and I mastered him and got him back in +bed. Soon there was another and more desperate attempt to +escape, in which Lloyd had his ring broken. Then we bound +him to the bed humanely with sheets, ropes, boards and +pillows. He lay there and sometimes talked, sometimes +whispered, sometimes wept like an angry child; his principal +word was 'Faamolemole' - 'Please' - and he kept telling us at +intervals that his family were calling him. During this +interval, by the special grace of God, my boys came home; we +had already called in Arrick, the black boy; now we had that +Hercules, Lafaele, and a man Savea, who comes from +Paatalise's own island and can alone communicate with him +freely. Lloyd went to bed, I took the first watch, and sat +in my room reading, while Lafaele and Arrick watched the +madman. Suddenly Arrick called me; I ran into the verandah; +there was Paatalise free of all his bonds and Lafaele holding +him. To tell what followed is impossible. We were five +people at him - Lafaele and Savea, very strong men, Lloyd, I +and Arrick, and the struggle lasted until 1 A.M. before we +had him bound. One detail for a specimen: Lloyd and I had +charge of one leg, we were both sitting on it, and lo! we +were both tossed into the air - I, I daresay, a couple of +feet. At last we had him spread-eagled to the iron bedstead, +by his wrists and ankles, with matted rope; a most inhumane +business, but what could we do? it was all we could do to +manage it even so. The strength of the paroxysms had been +steadily increasing, and we trembled for the next. And now I +come to pure Rider Haggard. Lafaele announced that the boy +was very bad, and he would get 'some medicine' which was a +family secret of his own. Some leaves were brought +mysteriously in; chewed, placed on the boy's eyes, dropped in +his ears (see Hamlet) and stuck up his nostrils; as he did +this, the weird doctor partly smothered the patient with his +hand; and by about 2 A.M. he was in a deep sleep, and from +that time he showed no symptom of dementia whatever. The +medicine (says Lafaele) is principally used for the wholesale +slaughter of families; he himself feared last night that his +dose was fatal; only one other person, on this island, knows +the secret; and she, Lafaele darkly whispers, has abused it. +This remarkable tree we must try to identify. + +The man-of-war doctor came up to-day, gave us a strait- +waistcoat, taught us to bandage, examined the boy and saw he +was apparently well - he insisted on doing his work all +morning, poor lad, and when he first came down kissed all the +family at breakfast! The Doctor was greatly excited, as may +be supposed, about Lafaele's medicine. + + +TUESDAY. + + +All yesterday writing my mail by the hand of Belle, to save +my wrist. This is a great invention, to which I shall stick, +if it can be managed. We had some alarm about Paatalise, but +he slept well all night for a benediction. This lunatic +asylum exercise has no attractions for any of us. + +I don't know if I remembered to say how much pleased I was +with ACROSS THE PLAINS in every way, inside and out, and you +and me. The critics seem to taste it, too, as well as could +be hoped, and I believe it will continue to bring me in a few +shillings a year for a while. But such books pay only +indirectly. + +To understand the full horror of the mad scene, and how well +my boys behaved, remember that THEY BELIEVED P.'S RAVINGS, +they KNEW that his dead family, thirty strong, crowded the +front verandah and called on him to come to the other world. +They KNEW that his dead brother had met him that afternoon in +the bush and struck him on both temples. And remember! we +are fighting the dead, and they had to go out again in the +black night, which is the dead man's empire. Yet last +evening, when I thought P. was going to repeat the +performance, I sent down for Lafaele, who had leave of +absence, and he and his wife came up about eight o'clock with +a lighted brand. These are the things for which I have to +forgive my old cattle-man his manifold shortcomings; they are +heroic - so are the shortcomings, to be sure. + +It came over me the other day suddenly that this diary of +mine to you would make good pickings after I am dead, and a +man could make some kind of a book out of it without much +trouble. So, for God's sake, don't lose them, and they will +prove a piece of provision for my 'poor old family,' as +Simele calls it. + +About my coming to Europe, I get more and more doubtful, and +rather incline to Ceylon again as place of meeting. I am so +absurdly well here in the tropics, that it seems like +affectation. Yet remember I have never once stood Sydney. +Anyway, I shall have the money for it all ahead, before I +think of such a thing. + +We had a bowl of Punch on your birthday, which my incredible +mother somehow knew and remembered. + +I sometimes sit and yearn for anything in the nature of an +income that would come in - mine has all got to be gone and +fished for with the immortal mind of man. What I want is the +income that really comes in of itself while all you have to +do is just to blossom and exist and sit on chairs. Think how +beautiful it would be not to have to mind the critics, and +not even the darkest of the crowd - Sidney Colvin. I should +probably amuse myself with works that would make your hair +curl, if you had any left. + + +R. L S. + + + +CHAPTER XX + + + +SATURDAY, 2ND JULY 1892. + + +THE character of my handwriting is explained, alas! by +scrivener's cramp. This also explains how long I have let +the paper lie plain. + + +1 P. M. + + +I was busy copying David Balfour with my left hand - a most +laborious task - Fanny was down at the native house +superintending the floor, Lloyd down in Apia, and Belle in +her own house cleaning, when I heard the latter calling on my +name. I ran out on the verandah; and there on the lawn +beheld my crazy boy with an axe in his hand and dressed out +in green ferns, dancing. I ran downstairs and found all my +house boys on the back verandah, watching him through the +dining-room. I asked what it meant? - 'Dance belong his +place,' they said. - 'I think this no time to dance,' said I. +'Has he done his work?' - 'No,' they told me, 'away bush all +morning.' But there they all stayed on the back verandah. I +went on alone through the dining-room, and bade him stop. He +did so, shouldered the axe, and began to walk away; but I +called him back, walked up to him, and took the axe out of +his unresisting hands. The boy is in all things so good, +that I can scarce say I was afraid; only I felt it had to be +stopped ere he could work himself up by dancing to some +craziness. Our house boys protested they were not afraid; +all I know is they were all watching him round the back door +and did not follow me till I had the axe. As for the out +boys, who were working with Fanny in the native house, they +thought it a very bad business, and made no secret of their +fears. + + +WEDNESDAY, 6TH. + + +I have no account to give of my stewardship these days, and +there's a day more to account for than mere arithmetic would +tell you. For we have had two Monday Fourths, to bring us at +last on the right side of the meridian, having hitherto been +an exception in the world and kept our private date. +Business has filled my hours sans intermission. + + +TUESDAY, 12TH + + +I am doing no work and my mind is in abeyance. Fanny and +Belle are sewing-machining in the next room; I have been +pulling down their hair, and Fanny has been kicking me, and +now I am driven out. Austin I have been chasing about the +verandah; now he has gone to his lessons, and I make believe +to write to you in despair. But there is nothing in my mind; +I swim in mere vacancy, my head is like a rotten nut; I shall +soon have to begin to work again or I shall carry away some +part of the machinery. I have got your insufficient letter, +for which I scorn to thank you. I have had no review by +Gosse, none by Birrell; another time if I have a letter in +the TIMES, you might send me the text as well; also please +send me a cricket bat and a cake, and when I come home for +the holidays, I should like to have a pony. + +I am, sir, your obedient servant, + +JACOB TONSON. + + +P.S. I am quite well; I hope you are quite well. The world +is too much with us, and my mother bids me bind my hair and +lace my bodice blue. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - This is Friday night, the (I believe) 18th +or 20th August or September. I shall probably regret to- +morrow having written you with my own hand like the Apostle +Paul. But I am alone over here in the workman's house, where +I and Belle and Lloyd and Austin are pigging; the rest are at +cards in the main residence. I have not joined them because +'belly belong me' has been kicking up, and I have just taken +15 drops of laudanum. + +On Tuesday, the party set out - self in white cap, velvet +coat, cords and yellow half boots, Belle in a white kind of +suit and white cap to match mine, Lloyd in white clothes and +long yellow boots and a straw hat, Graham in khakis and +gaiters, Henry (my old overseer) in blue coat and black kilt, +and the great Lafaele with a big ship-bag on his saddle-bow. +We left the mail at the P. O., had lunch at the hotel, and +about 1.50 set out westward to the place of tryst. This was +by a little shrunken brook in a deep channel of mud on the +far side of which, in a thicket of low trees, all full of +moths of shadow and butterflies of sun, we lay down to await +her ladyship. Whiskey and water, then a sketch of the +encampment for which we all posed to Belle, passed off the +time until 3.30. Then I could hold on no longer. 30 minutes +late. Had the secret oozed out? Were they arrested? I got +my horse, crossed the brook again, and rode hard back to the +Vaea cross roads, whence I was aware of white clothes +glancing in the other long straight radius of the quadrant. +I turned at once to return to the place of tryst; but D. +overtook me, and almost bore me down, shouting 'Ride, ride!' +like a hero in a ballad. Lady Margaret and he were only come +to shew the place; they returned, and the rest of our party, +reinforced by Captain Leigh and Lady Jersey, set on for +Malie. The delay was due to D.'s infinite precautions, +leading them up lanes, by back ways, and then down again to +the beach road a hundred yards further on. + +It was agreed that Lady Jersey existed no more; she was now +my cousin Amelia Balfour. That relative and I headed the +march; she is a charming woman, all of us like her extremely +after trial on this somewhat rude and absurd excursion. And +we Amelia'd or Miss Balfour'd her with great but intermittent +fidelity. When we came to the last village, I sent Henry on +ahead to warn the King of our approach and amend his +discretion, if that might be. As he left I heard the +villagers asking WHICH WAS THE GREAT LADY? And a little +further, at the borders of Malie itself, we found the guard +making a music of bugles and conches. Then I knew the game +was up and the secret out. A considerable guard of honour, +mostly children, accompanied us; but, for our good fortune, +we had been looked for earlier, and the crowd was gone. + +Dinner at the King's; he asked me to say grace, I could think +of none - never could; Graham suggested BENEDICTUS BENEDICAT, +at which I leaped. We were nearly done, when old Popo +inflicted the Atua howl (of which you have heard already) +right at Lady Jersey's shoulder. She started in fine style. +- 'There,' I said, 'we have been giving you a chapter of +Scott, but this goes beyond the Waverley Novels.' After +dinner, kava. Lady J. was served before me, and the King +DRANK LAST; it was the least formal kava I ever saw in that +house, - no names called, no show of ceremony. All my ladies +are well trained, and when Belle drained her bowl, the King +was pleased to clap his hands. Then he and I must retire for +our private interview, to another house. He gave me his own +staff and made me pass before him; and in the interview, +which was long and delicate, he twice called me AFIOGA. Ah, +that leaves you cold, but I am Samoan enough to have been +moved. SUSUGA is my accepted rank; to be called AFIOGA - +Heavens! what an advance - and it leaves Europe cold. But it +staggered my Henry. The first time it was complicated 'lana +susuga MA lana afioga - his excellency AND his majesty' - the +next time plain Majesty. Henry then begged to interrupt the +interview and tell who he was - he is a small family chief in +Sawaii, not very small - 'I do not wish the King,' says he, +'to think me a boy from Apia.' On our return to the palace, +we separated. I had asked for the ladies to sleep alone - +that was understood; but that Tusitala - his afioga Tusitala +- should go out with the other young men, and not sleep with +the highborn females of his family - was a doctrine received +with difficulty. Lloyd and I had one screen, Graham and +Leigh another, and we slept well. + +In the morning I was first abroad before dawn; not very long, +already there was a stir of birds. A little after, I heard +singing from the King's chapel - exceeding good - and went +across in the hour when the east is yellow and the morning +bank is breaking up, to hear it nearer. All about the +chapel, the guards were posted, and all saluted Tusitala. I +could not refrain from smiling: 'So there is a place too,' I +thought, 'where sentinels salute me.' Mine has been a queer +life. + +[Drawing in book reproduced here in characters...] + + y2 + X X X + H X + G X + F X + E The X +D i Kava X +A X + B X + C X + T X + X X + W + +Breakfast was rather a protracted business. And that was +scarce over when we were called to the great house (now +finished - recall your earlier letters) to see a royal kava. +This function is of rare use; I know grown Samoans who have +never witnessed it. It is, besides, as you are to hear, a +piece of prehistoric history, crystallised in figures, and +the facts largely forgotten; an acted hieroglyph. The house +is really splendid; in the rafters in the midst, two carved +and coloured model birds are posted; the only thing of the +sort I have ever remarked in Samoa, the Samoans being literal +observers of the second commandment. At one side of the egg +our party sat. a=Mataafa, b=Lady J., c=Belle, d=Tusitala, +e=Graham, f=Lloyd, g=Captain Leigh, h=Henry, i=Popo. The x's +round are the high chiefs, each man in his historical +position. One side of the house is set apart for the King +alone; we were allowed there as his guests and Henry as our +interpreter. It was a huge trial to the lad, when a speech +was made to me which he must translate, and I made a speech +in answer which he had to orate, full-breathed, to that big +circle; he blushed through his dark skin, but looked and +acted like a gentleman and a young fellow of sense; then the +kava came to the King; he poured one drop in libation, drank +another, and flung the remainder outside the house behind +him. Next came the turn of the old shapeless stone marked T. +It stands for one of the King's titles, Tamasoalii; Mataafa +is Tamasoalii this day, but cannot drink for it; and the +stone must first be washed with water, and then have the bowl +emptied on it. Then - the order I cannot recall - came the +turn of y and z, two orators of the name of Malietoa; the +first took his kava down plain, like an ordinary man; the +second must be packed to bed under a big sheet of tapa, and +be massaged by anxious assistants and rise on his elbow +groaning to drink his cup. W., a great hereditary war man, +came next; five times the cup-bearers marched up and down the +house and passed the cup on, five times it was filled and the +General's name and titles heralded at the bowl, and five +times he refused it (after examination) as too small. It is +said this commemorates a time when Malietoa at the head of +his army suffered much for want of supplies. Then this same +military gentleman must DRINK five cups, one from each of the +great names: all which took a precious long time. He acted +very well, haughtily and in a society tone OUTLINING THE +part. The difference was marked when he subsequently made a +speech in his own character as a plain God-fearing chief. A +few more high chiefs, then Tusitala; one more, and then Lady +Jersey; one more, and then Captain Leigh, and so on with the +rest of our party - Henry of course excepted. You see in +public, Lady Jersey followed me - just so far was the secret +kept. + +Then we came home; Belle, Graham and Lloyd to the Chinaman's, +I with Lady Jersey, to lunch; so severally home. Thursday I +have forgotten: Saturday, I began again on Davie; on Sunday, +the Jersey party came up to call and carried me to dinner. +As I came out, to ride home, the search-lights of the CURACOA +were lightening on the horizon from many miles away, and next +morning she came in. Tuesday was huge fun: a reception at +Haggard's. All our party dined there; Lloyd and I, in the +absence of Haggard and Leigh, had to play aide-de-camp and +host for about twenty minutes, and I presented the population +of Apia at random but (luck helping) without one mistake. +Wednesday we had two middies to lunch. Thursday we had Eeles +and Hoskyn (lieutenant and doctor - very, very nice fellows - +simple, good and not the least dull) to dinner. Saturday, +Graham and I lunched on board; Graham, Belle, Lloyd dined at +the G.'s; and Austin and the WHOLE of our servants went with +them to an evening entertainment; the more bold returning by +lantern-light. Yesterday, Sunday, Belle and I were off by +about half past eight, left our horses at a public house, and +went on board the CURACOA in the wardroom skiff; were +entertained in the wardroom; thence on deck to the service, +which was a great treat; three fiddles and a harmonium and +excellent choir, and the great ship's company joining: on +shore in Haggard's big boat to lunch with the party. Thence +all together to Vailima, where we read aloud a Ouida Romance +we have been secretly writing; in which Haggard was the hero, +and each one of the authors had to draw a portrait of him or +herself in a Ouida light. Leigh, Lady J., Fanny, R.L.S., +Belle and Graham were the authors. + +In the midst of this gay life, I have finally recopied two +chapters, and drafted for the first time three of Davie +Balfour. But it is not a life that would continue to suit +me, and if I have not continued to write to you, you will +scarce wonder. And to-day we all go down again to dinner, +and to-morrow they all come up to lunch! The world is too +much with us. But it now nears an end, to-day already the +CURACOA has sailed; and on Saturday or Sunday Lady Jersey +will follow them in the mail steamer. I am sending you a +wire by her hands as far as Sydney, that is to say either you +or Cassell, about FALESA: I will not allow it to be called +UMA in book form, that is not the logical name of the story. +Nor can I have the marriage contract omitted; and the thing +is full of misprints abominable. In the picture, Uma is rot; +so is the old man and the negro; but Wiltshire is splendid, +and Case will do. It seems badly illuminated, but this may +be printing. How have I seen this first number? Not through +your attention, guilty one! Lady Jersey had it, and only +mentioned it yesterday. + +I ought to say how much we all like the Jersey party. My boy +Henry was enraptured with the manners of the TAWAITAI SILI +(chief lady). Among our other occupations, I did a bit of a +supposed epic describing our tryst at the ford of the +Gasegase; and Belle and I made a little book of caricatures +and verses about incidents on the visit. + + +TUESDAY. + + +The wild round of gaiety continues. After I had written to +you yesterday, the brain being wholly extinct, I played +piquet all morning with Graham. After lunch down to call on +the U.S. Consul, hurt in a steeple-chase; thence back to the +new girls' school which Lady J. was to open, and where my +ladies met me. Lady J. is really an orator, with a voice of +gold; the rest of us played our unremarked parts; +missionaries, Haggard, myself, a Samoan chief, holding forth +in turn; myself with (at least) a golden brevity. Thence, +Fanny, Belle, and I to town, to our billiard room in +Haggard's back garden, where we found Lloyd and where Graham +joined us. The three men first dressed, with the ladies in a +corner; and then, to leave them a free field, we went off to +Haggard and Leigh's quarters, where - after all to dinner, +where our two parties, a brother of Colonel Kitchener's, a +passing globe-trotter, and Clarke the missionary. A very gay +evening, with all sorts of chaff and mirth, and a moonlit +ride home, and to bed before 12.30. And now to-day, we have +the Jersey-Haggard troupe to lunch, and I must pass the +morning dressing ship. + + +THURSDAY, SEPT. 1ST. + + +I sit to write to you now, 7.15, all the world in bed except +myself, accounted for, and Belle and Graham, down at +Haggard's at dinner. Not a leaf is stirring here; but the +moon overhead (now of a good bigness) is obscured and partly +revealed in a whirling covey of thin storm-clouds. By Jove, +it blows above. + +From 8 till 11.15 on Tuesday, I dressed ship, and in +particular cleaned crystal, my specially. About 11.30 the +guests began to arrive before I was dressed, and between +while I had written a parody for Lloyd to sing. Yesterday, +Wednesday, I had to start out about 3 for town, had a long +interview with the head of the German Firm about some work in +my new house, got over to Lloyd's billiard-room about six, on +the way whither I met Fanny and Belle coming down with one +Kitchener, a brother of the Colonel's. Dined in the +billiard-room, discovered we had forgot to order oatmeal; +whereupon, in the moonlit evening, I set forth in my tropical +array, mess jacket and such, to get the oatmeal, and meet a +young fellow C. - and not a bad young fellow either, only an +idiot - as drunk as Croesus. He wept with me, he wept for +me; he talked like a bad character in an impudently bad +farce; I could have laughed aloud to hear, and could make you +laugh by repeating, but laughter was not uppermost. + +This morning at about seven, I set off after the lost sheep. +I could have no horse; all that could be mounted - we have +one girth-sore and one dead-lame in the establishment - were +due at a picnic about 10.30. The morning was very wet, and I +set off barefoot, with my trousers over my knees, and a +macintosh. Presently I had to take a side path in the bush; +missed it; came forth in a great oblong patch of taro +solemnly surrounded by forest - no soul, no sign, no sound - +and as I stood there at a loss, suddenly between the showers +out broke the note of a harmonium and a woman's voice singing +an air that I know very well, but have (as usual) forgot the +name of. 'Twas from a great way off, but seemed to fill the +world. It was strongly romantic, and gave me a point which +brought me, by all sorts of forest wading, to an open space +of palms. These were of all ages, but mostly at that age +when the branches arch from the ground level, range +themselves, with leaves exquisitely green. The whole +interspace was overgrown with convolvulus, purple, yellow and +white, often as deep as to my waist, in which I floundered +aimlessly. The very mountain was invisible from here. The +rain came and went; now in sunlit April showers, now with the +proper tramp and rattle of the tropics. All this while I met +no sight or sound of man, except the voice which was now +silent, and a damned pig-fence that headed me off at every +corner. Do you know barbed wire? Think of a fence of it on +rotten posts, and you barefoot. But I crossed it at last +with my heart in my mouth and no harm done. Thence at last +to C's.: no C. Next place I came to was in the zone of +woods. They offered me a buggy and set a black boy to wash +my legs and feet. 'Washum legs belong that fellow white-man' +was the command. So at last I ran down my son of a gun in +the hotel, sober, and with no story to tell; penitent, I +think. Home, by buggy and my poor feet, up three miles of +root, boulder, gravel and liquid mud, slipping back at every +step. + + +SUNDAY, SEPT. 4TH. + + +Hope you will be able to read a word of the last, no joke +writing by a bad lantern with a groggy hand and your glasses +mislaid. Not that the hand is not better, as you see by the +absence of the amanuensis hitherto. Mail came Friday, and a +communication from yourself much more decent than usual, for +which I thank you. Glad the WRECKER should so hum; but Lord, +what fools these mortals be! + +So far yesterday, the citation being wrung from me by +remembrance of many reviews. I have now received all FALESA, +and my admiration for that tale rises; I believe it is in +some ways my best work; I am pretty sure, at least, I have +never done anything better than Wiltshire. + + +MONDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 1892. + + +On Wednesday the Spinsters of Apia gave a ball to a select +crowd. Fanny, Belle, Lloyd and I rode down, met Haggard by +the way and joined company with him. Dinner with Haggard, +and thence to the ball. The Chief Justice appeared; it was +immediately remarked, and whispered from one to another, that +he and I had the only red sashes in the room, - and they were +both of the hue of blood, sir, blood. He shook hands with +myself and all the members of my family. Then the cream +came, and I found myself in the same set of a quadrille with +his honour. We dance here in Apia a most fearful and +wonderful quadrille, I don't know where the devil they fished +it from; but it is rackety and prancing and embraceatory +beyond words; perhaps it is best defined in Haggard's +expression of a gambado. When I and my great enemy found +ourselves involved in this gambol, and crossing hands, and +kicking up, and being embraced almost in common by large and +quite respectable females, we - or I - tried to preserve some +rags of dignity, but not for long. The deuce of it is that, +personally, I love this man; his eye speaks to me, I am +pleased in his society. We exchanged a glance, and then a +grin; the man took me in his confidence; and through the +remainder of that prance we pranced for each other. Hard to +imagine any position more ridiculous; a week before he had +been trying to rake up evidence against me by brow-beating +and threatening a half-white interpreter; that very morning I +had been writing most villainous attacks upon him for the +TIMES; and we meet and smile, and - damn it! - like each +other. I do my best to damn the man and drive him from these +islands; but the weakness endures - I love him. This is a +thing I would despise in anybody else; but he is so jolly +insidious and ingratiating! No, sir, I can't dislike him; +but if I don't make hay of him, it shall not be for want of +trying. + +Yesterday, we had two Germans and a young American boy to +lunch; and in the afternoon, Vailima was in a state of siege; +ten white people on the front verandah, at least as many +brown in the cook house, and countless blacks to see the +black boy Arrick. + +Which reminds me, Arrick was sent Friday was a week to the +German Firm with a note, and was not home on time. Lloyd and +I were going bedward, it was late with a bright moon - ah, +poor dog, you know no such moons as these! - when home came +Arrick with his head in a white bandage and his eyes shining. +He had had a fight with other blacks, Malaita boys; many +against one, and one with a knife: 'I KNICKED 'EM DOWN, three +four!' he cried; and had himself to be taken to the doctor's +and bandaged. Next day, he could not work, glory of battle +swelled too high in his threadpaper breast; he had made a +one-stringed harp for Austin, borrowed it, came to Fanny's +room, and sang war-songs and danced a war dance in honour of +his victory. And it appears, by subsequent advices, that it +was a serious victory enough; four of his assailants went to +hospital, and one is thought in danger. All Vailima rejoiced +at this news. + +Five more chapters of David, 22 to 27, go to Baxter. All +love affair; seems pretty good to me. Will it do for the +young person? I don't know: since the Beach, I know nothing, +except that men are fools and hypocrites, and I know less of +them than I was fond enough to fancy. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + + +THURSDAY, 15TH SEPTEMBER. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - On Tuesday, we had our young adventurer +ready, and Fanny, Belle, he and I set out about three of a +dark, deadly hot, and deeply unwholesome afternoon. Belle +had the lad behind her; I had a pint of champagne in either +pocket, a parcel in my hands, and as Jack had a girth sore +and I rode without a girth, I might be said to occupy a very +unstrategic position. On the way down, a little dreary, +beastly drizzle beginning to come out of the darkness, Fanny +put up an umbrella, her horse bounded, reared, cannoned into +me, cannoned into Belle and the lad, and bolted for home. It +really might and ought to have been an A1 catastrophe; but +nothing happened beyond Fanny's nerves being a good deal +shattered; of course, she could not tell what had happened to +us until she got her horse mastered. + +Next day, Haggard went off to the Commission and left us in +charge of his house; all our people came down in wreaths of +flowers; we had a boat for them; Haggard had a flag in the +Commission boat for us; and when at last the steamer turned +up, the young adventurer was carried on board in great style, +with a new watch and chain, and about three pound ten of +tips, and five big baskets of fruit as free-will offerings to +the captain. Captain Morse had us all to lunch; champagne +flowed, so did compliments; and I did the affable celebrity +life-sized. It made a great send-off for the young +adventurer. As the boat drew off, he was standing at the +head of the gangway, supported by three handsome ladies - one +of them a real full-blown beauty, Madame Green, the singer - +and looking very engaging himself, between smiles and tears. +Not that he cried in public. + +My, but we were a tired crowd! However, it is always a +blessing to get home, and this time it was a sort of wonder +to ourselves that we got back alive. Casualties: Fanny's +back jarred, horse incident; Belle, bad headache, tears and +champagne; self, idiocy, champagne, fatigue; Lloyd, ditto, +ditto. As for the adventurer, I believe he will have a +delightful voyage for his little start in life. But there is +always something touching in a mite's first launch. + + +DATE UNKNOWN. + + +I am now well on with the third part of the DEBACLE. The two +first I liked much; the second completely knocking me; so far +as it has gone, this third part appears the ramblings of a +dull man who has forgotten what he has to say - he reminds me +of an M.P. But Sedan was really great, and I will pick no +holes. The batteries under fire, the red-cross folk, the +county charge - perhaps, above all, Major Bouroche and the +operations, all beyond discussion; and every word about the +Emperor splendid. + + +SEPTEMBER 30TH. + + +David Balfour done, and its author along with it, or nearly +so. Strange to think of even our doctor here repeating his +nonsense about debilitating climate. Why, the work I have +been doing the last twelve months, in one continuous spate, +mostly with annoying interruptions and without any collapse +to mention, would be incredible in Norway. But I HAVE broken +down now, and will do nothing as long as I possibly can. +With David Balfour I am very well pleased; in fact these +labours of the last year - I mean FALESA AND D. B., not +Samoa, of course - seem to me to be nearer what I mean than +anything I have ever done; nearer what I mean by fiction; the +nearest thing before was KIDNAPPED. I am not forgetting the +MASTER OF BALLANTRAE, but that lacked all pleasurableness, +and hence was imperfect in essence. So you see, if I am a +little tired, I do not repent. + +The third part of the DEBACLE may be all very fine; but I +cannot read it. It suffers from IMPAIRED VITALITY, and +UNCERTAIN AIM; two deadly sicknesses. Vital - that's what I +am at, first: wholly vital, with a buoyancy of life. Then +lyrical, if it may be, and picturesque, always with an epic +value of scenes, so that the figures remain in the mind's eye +for ever. + + +OCTOBER 8TH. + + +Suppose you sent us some of the catalogues of the parties +what vends statutes? I don't want colossal Herculeses, but +about quarter size and less. If the catalogues were +illustrated it would probably be found a help to weak +memories. These may be found to alleviate spare moments, +when we sometimes amuse ourselves by thinking how fine we +shall make the palace if we do not go pop. Perhaps in the +same way it might amuse you to send us any pattern of wall +paper that might strike you as cheap, pretty and suitable for +a room in a hot and extremely bright climate. It should be +borne in mind that our climate can be extremely dark too. +Our sitting-room is to be in varnished wood. The room I have +particularly in mind is a sort of bed and sitting-room, +pretty large, lit on three sides, and the colour in favour of +its proprietor at present is a topazy yellow. But then with +what colour to relieve it? For a little work-room of my own +at the back. I should rather like to see some patterns of +unglossy - well, I'll be hanged if I can describe this red - +it's not Turkish and it's not Roman and it's not Indian, but +it seems to partake of the two last, and yet it can't be +either of them, because it ought to be able to go with +vermilion. Ah, what a tangled web we weave - anyway, with +what brains you have left choose me and send me some - many - +patterns of this exact shade. + +A few days ago it was Haggard's birthday and we had him and +his cousin to dinner - bless me if I ever told you of his +cousin! - he is here anyway, and a fine, pleasing specimen, +so that we have concluded (after our own happy experience) +that the climate of Samoa must be favourable to cousins. +Then we went out on the verandah in a lovely moonlight, +drinking port, hearing the cousin play and sing, till +presently we were informed that our boys had got up a siva in +Lafaele's house to which we were invited. It was entirely +their own idea. The house, you must understand, is one-half +floored, and one-half bare earth, and the dais stands a +little over knee high above the level of the soil. The dais +was the stage, with three footlights. We audience sat on +mats on the floor, and the cook and three of our work-boys, +sometimes assisted by our two ladies, took their places +behind the footlights and began a topical Vailima song. The +burden was of course that of a Samoan popular song about a +white man who objects to all that he sees in Samoa. And +there was of course a special verse for each one of the party +- Lloyd was called the dancing man (practically the Chief's +handsome son) of Vailima; he was also, in his character I +suppose of overseer, compared to a policeman - Belle had that +day been the almoner in a semi-comic distribution of wedding +rings and thimbles (bought cheap at an auction) to the whole +plantation company, fitting a ring on every man's finger, and +a ring and a thimble on both the women's. This was very much +in character with her native name TEUILA, the adorner of the +ugly - so of course this was the point of her verse and at a +given moment all the performers displayed the rings upon +their fingers. Pelema (the cousin - OUR cousin) was +described as watching from the house and whenever he saw any +boy not doing anything, running and doing it himself. +Fanny's verse was less intelligible, but it was accompanied +in the dance with a pantomime of terror well-fitted to call +up her haunting, indefatigable and diminutive presence in a +blue gown. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + + +VAILIMA, OCTOBER 28TH, 1892. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - This is very late to begin the monthly +budget, but I have a good excuse this time, for I have had a +very annoying fever with symptoms of sore arm, and in the +midst of it a very annoying piece of business which suffered +no delay or idleness. . . . The consequence of all this was +that my fever got very much worse and your letter has not +been hitherto written. But, my dear fellow, do compare these +little larky fevers with the fine, healthy, prostrating colds +of the dear old dead days at home. Here was I, in the middle +of a pretty bad one, and I was able to put it in my pocket, +and go down day after day, and attend to and put my strength +into this beastly business. Do you see me doing that with a +catarrh? And if I had done so, what would have been the +result? + +Last night, about four o'clock, Belle and I set off to Apia, +whither my mother had preceded us. She was at the Mission; +we went to Haggard's. There we had to wait the most +unconscionable time for dinner. I do not wish to speak +lightly of the Amanuensis, who is unavoidably present, but I +may at least say for myself that I was as cross as two +sticks. Dinner came at last, we had the tinned soup which is +usually the PIECE DE RESISTANCE in the halls of Haggard, and +we pitched into it. Followed an excellent salad of tomatoes +and cray-fish, a good Indian curry, a tender joint of beef, a +dish of pigeons, a pudding, cheese and coffee. I was so +over-eaten after this 'hunger and burst' that I could +scarcely move; and it was my sad fate that night in the +character of the local author to eloquute before the public - +'Mr. Stevenson will read a selection from his own works' - a +degrading picture. I had determined to read them the account +of the hurricane; I do not know if I told you that my book +has never turned up here, or rather only one copy has, and +that in the unfriendly hands of -. It has therefore only +been seen by enemies; and this combination of mystery and +evil report has been greatly envenomed by some ill-judged +newspaper articles from the States. Altogether this specimen +was listened to with a good deal of uncomfortable expectation +on the part of the Germans, and when it was over was +applauded with unmistakable relief. The public hall where +these revels came off seems to be unlucky for me; I never go +there but to some stone-breaking job. Last time it was the +public meeting of which I must have written you; this time it +was this uneasy but not on the whole unsuccessful experiment. +Belle, my mother, and I rode home about midnight in a fine +display of lightning and witch-fires. My mother is absent, +so that I may dare to say that she struck me as voluble. The +Amanuensis did not strike me the same way; she was probably +thinking, but it was really rather a weird business, and I +saw what I have never seen before, the witch-fires gathered +into little bright blue points almost as bright as a night- +light. + + +SATURDAY + + +This is the day that should bring your letter; it is gray and +cloudy and windless; thunder rolls in the mountain; it is a +quarter past six, and I am alone, sir, alone in this +workman's house, Belle and Lloyd having been down all +yesterday to meet the steamer; they were scarce gone with +most of the horses and all the saddles, than there began a +perfect picnic of the sick and maim; Iopu with a bad foot, +Faauma with a bad shoulder, Fanny with yellow spots. It was +at first proposed to carry all these to the doctor, +particularly Faauma, whose shoulder bore an appearance of +erysipelas, that sent the amateur below. No horses, no +saddle. Now I had my horse and I could borrow Lafaele's +saddle; and if I went alone I could do a job that had long +been waiting; and that was to interview the doctor on another +matter. Off I set in a hazy moonlight night; windless, like +to-day; the thunder rolling in the mountain, as to-day; in +the still groves, these little mushroom lamps glowing blue +and steady, singly or in pairs. Well, I had my interview, +said everything as I had meant, and with just the result I +hoped for. The doctor and I drank beer together and +discussed German literature until nine, and we parted the +best of friends. I got home to a silent house of sleepers, +only Fanny awaiting me; we talked awhile, in whispers, on the +interview; then, I got a lantern and went across to the +workman's house, now empty and silent, myself sole occupant. +So to bed, prodigious tired but mighty content with my +night's work, and to-day, with a headache and a chill, have +written you this page, while my new novel waits. Of this I +will tell you nothing, except the various names under +consideration. First, it ought to be called - but of course +that is impossible - + + +BRAXFIELD. +Then it IS to be called either +WEIR OF HERMISTON, +THE LORD-JUSTICE CLERK, +THE TWO KIRSTIES OF THE CAULDSTANESLAP, +or +FOUR BLACK BROTHERS. + +Characters: + +Adam Weir, Lord-Justice Clerk, called Lord Hermiston. +Archie, his son. +Aunt Kirstie Elliott, his housekeeper at Hermiston. +Elliott of the Cauldstaneslap, her brother. +Kirstie Elliott, his daughter. +Jim, } +Gib, } +Hob } his sons. +& } +Dandie, } +Patrick Innes, a young advocate. +The Lord-Justice General. + +Scene, about Hermiston in the Lammermuirs and in Edinburgh. +Temp. 1812. So you see you are to have another holiday from +copra! The rain begins softly on the iron roof, and I will +do the reverse and - dry up. + + +SUNDAY. + + +Yours with the diplomatic private opinion received. It is +just what I should have supposed. CA M'EST BIEN EGAL. - The +name is to be + +THE LORD-JUSTICE CLERK. + +None others are genuine. Unless it be + +LORD-JUSTICE CLERK HERMISTON. + + +NOV. 2ND. + + +On Saturday we expected Captain Morse of the Alameda to come +up to lunch, and on Friday with genuine South Sea hospitality +had a pig killed. On the Saturday morning no pig. Some of +the boys seemed to give a doubtful account of themselves; our +next neighbour below in the wood is a bad fellow and very +intimate with some of our boys, for whom his confounded house +is like a fly-paper for flies. To add to all this, there was +on the Saturday a great public presentation of food to the +King and Parliament men, an occasion on which it is almost +dignified for a Samoan to steal anything, and entirely +dignified for him to steal a pig. + +(The Amanuensis went to the TALOLO, as it is called, and saw +something so very pleasing she begs to interrupt the letter +to tell it. The different villagers came in in bands - led +by the maid of the village, followed by the young warriors. +It was a very fine sight, for some three thousand people are +said to have assembled. The men wore nothing but magnificent +head-dresses and a bunch of leaves, and were oiled and +glistening in the sunlight. One band had no maid but was led +by a tiny child of about five - a serious little creature +clad in a ribbon of grass and a fine head-dress, who skipped +with elaborate leaps in front of the warriors, like a little +kid leading a band of lions. A.M.) + +The A.M. being done, I go on again. All this made it very +possible that even if none of our boys had stolen the pig, +some of them might know the thief. Besides, the theft, as it +was a theft of meat prepared for a guest, had something of +the nature of an insult, and 'my face,' in native phrase, +'was ashamed.' Accordingly, we determined to hold a bed of +justice. It was done last night after dinner. I sat at the +head of the table, Graham on my right hand, Henry Simele at +my left, Lloyd behind him. The house company sat on the +floor around the walls - twelve all told. I am described as +looking as like Braxfield as I could manage with my +appearance; Graham, who is of a severe countenance, looked +like Rhadamanthus; Lloyd was hideous to the view; and Simele +had all the fine solemnity of a Samoan chief. The +proceedings opened by my delivering a Samoan prayer, which +may be translated thus - 'Our God, look down upon us and +shine into our hearts. Help us to be far from falsehood so +that each one of us may stand before Thy Face in his +integrity.' - Then, beginning with Simele, every one came up +to the table, laid his hand on the Bible, and repeated clause +by clause after me the following oath - I fear it may sound +even comic in English, but it is a very pretty piece of +Samoan, and struck direct at the most lively superstitions of +the race. 'This is the Holy Bible here that I am touching. +Behold me, O God! If I know who it was that took away the +pig, or the place to which it was taken, or have heard +anything relating to it, and shall not declare the same - be +made an end of by God this life of mine!' They all took it +with so much seriousness and firmness that (as Graham said) +if they were not innocent they would make invaluable +witnesses. I was so far impressed by their bearing that I +went no further, and the funny and yet strangely solemn scene +came to an end. + + +SUNDAY, NO. 6th. + + +Here is a long story to go back upon, and I wonder if I have +either time or patience for the task? + +Wednesday I had a great idea of match-making, and proposed to +Henry that Faale would make a good wife for him. I wish I +had put this down when it was fresher in my mind, it was so +interesting an interview. My gentleman would not tell if I +were on or not. 'I do not know yet; I will tell you next +week. May I tell the sister of my father? No, better not, +tell her when it is done.' - 'But will not your family be +angry if you marry without asking them?' - 'My village? What +does my village want? Mats!' I said I thought the girl +would grow up to have a great deal of sense, and my gentleman +flew out upon me; she had sense now, he said. + +Thursday, we were startled by the note of guns, and presently +after heard it was an English war ship. Graham and I set off +at once, and as soon as we met any townsfolk they began +crying to me that I was to be arrested. It was the VOSSISCHE +ZEITUNG article which had been quoted in a paper. Went on +board and saw Captain Bourke; he did not even know - not even +guess - why he was here; having been sent off by cablegram +from Auckland. It is hoped the same ship that takes this off +Europewards may bring his orders and our news. But which is +it to be? Heads or tails? If it is to be German, I hope +they will deport me; I should prefer it so; I do not think +that I could bear a German officialdom, and should probably +have to leave SPONTE MEA, which is only less picturesque and +more expensive. + + +8TH. + + +Mail day. All well, not yet put in prison, whatever may be +in store for me. No time even to sign this lame letter. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + + +DEC. 1ST. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - Another grimy little odd and end of paper, +for which you shall be this month repaid in kind, and serve +you jolly well right. . . The new house is roofed; it will +be a braw house, and what is better, I have my yearly bill +in, and I find I can pay for it. For all which mercies, etc. +I must have made close on 4,000 pounds this year all told; +but, what is not so pleasant, I seem to have come near to +spending them. I have been in great alarm, with this new +house on the cards, all summer, and came very near to taking +in sail, but I live here so entirely on credit, that I +determined to hang on. + + +DEC. 1ST. + + +I was saying yesterday that my life was strange and did not +think how well I spoke. Yesterday evening I was briefed to +defend a political prisoner before the Deputy Commissioner. +What do you think of that for a vicissitude? + + +DEC. 3RD. + + +Now for a confession. When I heard you and Cassells had +decided to print THE BOTTLE IMP along with FALESA, I was too +much disappointed to answer. THE BOTTLE IMP was the PIECE DE +RESISTANCE for my volume, ISLAND NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. +However, that volume might have never got done; and I send +you two others in case they should be in time. + +First have the BEACH OF FALESA. + +Then a fresh false title: ISLAND NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS; and +then + +THE BOTTLE IMP: a cue from an old melodrama. + +THE ISLE OF VOICES. + +THE WAIF WOMAN; a cue from a SAGA. + +Of course these two others are not up to the mark of THE +BOTTLE IMP; but they each have a certain merit, and they fit +in style. By saying 'a cue from an old melodrama' after the +B. I., you can get rid of my note. If this is in time, it +will be splendid, and will make quite a volume. + +Should you and Cassells prefer, you can call the whole volume +I. N. E. - though the BEACH OF FALESA is the child of a quite +different inspiration. They all have a queer realism, even +the most extravagant, even the ISLE OF VOICES; the manners +are exact. + +Should they come too late, have them type-written, and return +to me here the type-written copies. + + +SUNDAY, DEC. 4TH. + + +3rd start, - But now more humbly and with the aid of an +Amanuensis. First one word about page 2. My wife protests +against the Waif-woman and I am instructed to report the same +to you. . . . + + +DEC. 5TH. + + +A horrid alarm rises that our October mail was burned +crossing the Plains. If so, you lost a beautiful long letter +- I am sure it was beautiful though I remember nothing about +it - and I must say I think it serves you properly well. +That I should continue writing to you at such length is +simply a vicious habit for which I blush. At the same time, +please communicate at once with Charles Baxter whether you +have or have not received a letter posted here Oct 12th, as +he is going to cable me the fate of my mail. + +Now to conclude my news. The German Firm have taken my book +like angels, and the result is that Lloyd and I were down +there at dinner on Saturday, where we partook of fifteen +several dishes and eight distinct forms of intoxicating +drink. To the credit of Germany, I must say there was not a +shadow of a headache the next morning. I seem to have done +as well as my neighbours, for I hear one of the clerks +expressed the next morning a gratified surprise that Mr. +Stevenson stood his drink so well. It is a strange thing +that any race can still find joy in such athletic exercises. +I may remark in passing that the mail is due and you have had +far more than you deserve. +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + + +JANUARY 1893. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - You are properly paid at last, and it is +like you will have but a shadow of a letter. I have been +pretty thoroughly out of kilter; first a fever that would +neither come on nor go off, then acute dyspepsia, in the +weakening grasp of which I get wandering between the waking +state and one of nightmare. Why the devil does no one send +me ATALANTA? And why are there no proofs of D. Balfour? +Sure I should have had the whole, at least the half, of them +by now; and it would be all for the advantage of the +Atalantans. I have written to Cassell & Co. (matter of +FALESA) 'you will please arrange with him' (meaning you). +'What he may decide I shall abide.' So consider your hand +free, and act for me without fear or favour. I am greatly +pleased with the illustrations. It is very strange to a +South-Seayer to see Hawaiian women dressed like Samoans, but +I guess that's all one to you in Middlesex. It's about the +same as if London city men were shown going to the Stock +Exchange as PIFFERARI; but no matter, none will sleep worse +for it. I have accepted Cassell's proposal as an amendment +to one of mine; that D. B. is to be brought out first under +the title CATRIONA without pictures; and, when the hour +strikes, KIDNAPPED and CATRIONA are to form vols. I. and II. +of the heavily illustrated 'Adventures of David Balfour' at +7s. 6d. each, sold separately. + +-'s letter was vastly sly and dry and shy. I am not afraid +now. Two attempts have been made, both have failed, and I +imagine these failures strengthen me. Above all this is true +of the last, where my weak point was attempted. On every +other, I am strong. Only force can dislodge me, for public +opinion is wholly on my side. All races and degrees are +united in heartfelt opposition to the Men of Mulinuu. The +news of the fighting was of no concern to mortal man; it was +made much of because men love talk of battles, and because +the Government pray God daily for some scandal not their own; +but it was only a brisk episode in a clan fight which has +grown apparently endemic in the west of Tutuila. At the best +it was a twopenny affair, and never occupied my mind five +minutes. + +I am so weary of reports that are without foundation and +threats that go without fulfilment, and so much occupied +besides by the raging troubles of my own wame, that I have +been very slack on politics, as I have been in literature. +With incredible labour, I have rewritten the First Chapter of +the Justice Clerk; it took me about ten days, and requires +another athletic dressing after all. And that is my story +for the month. The rest is grunting and grutching. + +Consideranda for THE BEACH:- + +I. Whether to add one or both the tales I sent you? +II. Whether to call the whole volume 'Island Nights +Entertainments'? +III Whether, having waited so long, it would not be better to +give me another mail, in case I could add another member to +the volume and a little better justify the name? + +If I possibly can draw up another story, I will. What +annoyed me about the use of THE BOTTLE IMP was that I had +always meant it for the centre-piece of a volume of MARCHEN +which I was slowly to elaborate. You always had an idea that +I depreciated the B. I; I can't think wherefore; I always +particularly liked it - one of my best works, and ill to +equal; and that was why I loved to keep it in portfolio till +I had time to grow up to some other fruit of the same VENUE. +However, that is disposed of now, and we must just do the +best we can. + +I am not aware that there is anything to add; the weather is +hellish, waterspouts, mists, chills, the foul fiend's own +weather, following on a week of expurgated heaven; so it goes +at this bewildering season. I write in the upper floor of my +new house, of which I will send you some day a plan to +measure. 'Tis an elegant structure, surely, and the proid of +me oi. Was asked to pay for it just now, and genteelly +refused, and then agreed, in view of general good-will, to +pay a half of what is still due. + + +24TH JANUARY 1893. + + +This ought to have gone last mail and was forgotten. My best +excuse is that I was engaged in starting an influenza, to +which class of exploit our household has been since then +entirely dedicated. We had eight cases, one of them very +bad, and one - mine - complicated with my old friend Bluidy +Jack. Luckily neither Fanny, Lloyd or Belle took the +confounded thing, and they were able to run the household and +nurse the sick to admiration. + +Some of our boys behaved like real trumps. Perhaps the +prettiest performance was that of our excellent Henry Simele, +or, as we sometimes call him, Davy Balfour. Henry, I maun +premeese, is a chief; the humblest Samoan recoils from +emptying slops as you would from cheating at cards; now the +last nights of our bad time when we had seven down together, +it was enough to have made anybody laugh or cry to see Henry +going the rounds with a slop-bucket and going inside the +mosquito net of each of the sick, Protestant and Catholic +alike, to pray with them. + +I must tell you that in my sickness I had a huge alleviation +and began a new story. This I am writing by dictation, and +really think it is an art I can manage to acquire. The +relief is beyond description; it is just like a school-treat +to me and the amanuensis bears up extraordinar'. The story +is to be called ST. IVES; I give you your choice whether or +not it should bear the subtitle, 'Experiences of a French +prisoner in England.' We were just getting on splendidly +with it, when this cursed mail arrived and requires to be +attended to. It looks to me very like as if St. Ives would +be ready before any of the others, but you know me and how +impossible it is I should predict. The Amanuensis has her +head quite turned and believes herself to be the author of +this novel (and IS to some extent) - and as the creature (!) +has not been wholly useless in the matter (I told you so! +A.M.) I propose to foster her vanity by a little +commemoration gift! The name of the hero is Anne de St. Yves +- he Englishes his name to St. Ives during his escape. It is +my idea to get a ring made which shall either represent ANNE +or A. S. Y. A., of course, would be Amethyst and S. Sapphire, +which is my favourite stone anyway and was my father's before +me. But what would the ex-Slade professor do about the +letter Y? Or suppose he took the other version, how would he +meet the case, the two N.'s? These things are beyond my +knowledge, which it would perhaps be more descriptive to call +ignorance. But I place the matter in the meanwhile under +your consideration and beg to hear your views. I shall tell +you on some other occasion and when the A.M. is out of +hearing how VERY much I propose to invest in this +testimonial; but I may as well inform you at once that I +intend it to be cheap, sir, damned cheap! My idea of running +amanuenses is by praise, not pudding, flattery and not coins! +I shall send you when the time is ripe a ring to measure by. + +To resume our sad tale. After the other seven were almost +wholly recovered Henry lay down to influenza on his own +account. He is but just better and it looks as though Fanny +were about to bring up the rear. As for me, I am all right, +though I WAS reduced to dictating ANNE in the deaf and dumb +alphabet, which I think you will admit is a COMBLE. + +Politics leave me extraordinary cold. It seems that so much +of my purpose has come off, and Cedarcrantz and Pilsach are +sacked. The rest of it has all gone to water. The triple- +headed ass at home, in his plenitude of ignorance, prefers to +collect the taxes and scatter the Mataafas by force or the +threat of force. It may succeed, and I suppose it will. It +is none the less for that expensive, harsh, unpopular and +unsettling. I am young enough to have been annoyed, and +altogether eject and renegate the whole idea of political +affairs. Success in that field appears to be the +organisation of failure enlivened with defamation of +character; and, much as I love pickles and hot water (in your +true phrase) I shall take my pickles in future from Crosse +and Blackwell and my hot water with a dose of good Glenlivat. + +Do not bother at all about the wall-papers. We have had the +whole of our new house varnished, and it looks beautiful. I +wish you could see the hall; poor room, it had to begin life +as an infirmary during our recent visitation; but it is +really a handsome comely place, and when we get the +furniture, and the pictures, and what is so very much more +decorative, the picture frames, will look sublime. + + +JAN. 30TH. + + +I have written to Charles asking for Rowlandson's Syntax and +Dance of Death out of our house, and begging for anything +about fashions and manners (fashions particularly) for 1814. +Can you help? Both the Justice Clerk and St. Ives fall in +that fated year. Indeed I got into St. Ives while going over +the Annual Register for the other. There is a kind of fancy +list of Chaps. of St. Ives. (It begins in Edinburgh Castle.) +I. Story of a lion rampant (that was a toy he had made, and +given to a girl visitor). II. Story of a pair of scissors. +III. St. Ives receives a bundle of money. IV. St. Ives is +shown a house. V. The Escape. VI. The Cottage (Swanston +College). VII. The Hen-house. VIII. Three is company and +four none. IX. The Drovers. X. The Great North Road. XI. +Burchell Fenn. XII. The covered cart. XIII. The doctor. +XIV. The Luddites. V. Set a thief to catch a thief. XXVI. +M. le Comte de Keroualle (his uncle, the rich EMIGRE, whom he +finds murdered). XVII. The cousins. XVIII. Mr. Sergeant +Garrow. XIX. A meeting at the Ship, Dover. XX. Diane. XXI. +The Duke's Prejudices. XXII. The False Messenger. XXIII. +The gardener's ladder. XXIV. The officers. XXV. Trouble +with the Duke. XXVI. Fouquet again. XXVII. The Aeronaut. +XXVIII. The True-Blooded Yankee. XXIX. In France. I don't +know where to stop. Apropos, I want a book about Paris, and +the FIRST RETURN of the EMIGRES and all up to the CENT JOURS: +d'ye ken anything in my way? I want in particular to know +about them and the Napoleonic functionaries and officers, and +to get the colour and some vital details of the business of +exchange of departments from one side to the other. Ten +chapters are drafted, and VIII. re-copied by me, but will +want another dressing for luck. It is merely a story of +adventure, rambling along; but that is perhaps the guard that +'sets my genius best,' as Alan might have said. I wish I +could feel as easy about the other! But there, all novels +are a heavy burthen while they are doing, and a sensible +disappointment when they are done. + +For God's sake, let me have a copy of the new German Samoa +White book. R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + + +AT SEA, S.S. & MARIPOSA, +FEB. 19th, '93. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - You will see from this heading that I am +not dead yet nor likely to be. I was pretty considerably out +of sorts, and that is indeed one reason why Fanny, Belle, and +I have started out for a month's lark. To be quite exact, I +think it will be about five weeks before we get home. We +shall stay between two and three in Sydney. Already, though +we only sailed yesterday, I am feeling as fit as a fiddle. +Fanny ate a whole fowl for breakfast, to say nothing of a +tower of hot cakes. Belle and I floored another hen betwixt +the pair of us, and I shall be no sooner done with the +present amanuensing racket than I shall put myself outside a +pint of Guinness. If you think this looks like dying of +consumption in Apia I can only say I differ from you. In the +matter of David, I have never yet received my proofs at all, +but shall certainly wait for your suggestions. Certainly, +Chaps. 17 to 20 are the hitch, and I confess I hurried over +them with both wings spread. This is doubtless what you +complain of. Indeed, I placed my single reliance on Miss +Grant. If she couldn't ferry me over, I felt I had to stay +there. + +About ISLAND NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS all you say is highly +satisfactory. Go in and win. + +The extracts from the TIMES I really cannot trust myself to +comment upon. They were infernally satisfactory; so, and +perhaps still more so, was a letter I had at the same time +from Lord Pembroke. If I have time as I go through Auckland, +I am going to see Sir George Grey. + +Now I really think that's all the business. I have been +rather sick and have had two small hemorrhages, but the +second I believe to have been accidental. No good denying +that this annoys, because it do. However, you must expect +influenza to leave some harm, and my spirits, appetite, peace +on earth and goodwill to men are all on a rising market. +During the last week the amanuensis was otherwise engaged, +whereupon I took up, pitched into, and about one half +demolished another tale, once intended to be called THE PEARL +FISHER, but now razeed and called THE SCHOONER FARRALONE. We +had a capital start, the steamer coming in at sunrise, and +just giving us time to get our letters ere she sailed again. +The manager of the German firm (O strange, changed days!) +danced attendance upon us all morning; his boat conveyed us +to and from the steamer. + + +FEB. 21ST. + + +All continues well. Amanuensis bowled over for a day, but +afoot again and jolly; Fanny enormously bettered by the +voyage; I have been as jolly as a sand-boy as usual at sea. +The Amanuensis sits opposite to me writing to her offspring. +Fanny is on deck. I have just supplied her with the Canadian +Pacific Agent, and so left her in good hands. You should +hear me at table with the Ulster purser and a little punning +microscopist called Davis. Belle does some kind of abstruse +Boswellising; after the first meal, having gauged the kind of +jests that would pay here, I observed, 'Boswell is Barred +during this cruise.' + + +23RD + + +We approach Auckland and I must close my mail. All goes well +with the trio. Both the ladies are hanging round a beau - +the same - that I unearthed for them: I am general provider, +and especially great in the beaux business. I corrected some +proofs for Fanny yesterday afternoon, fell asleep over them +in the saloon - and the whole ship seems to have been down +beholding me. After I woke up, had a hot bath, a whiskey +punch and a cigarette, and went to bed, and to sleep too, at +8.30; a recrudescence of Vailima hours. Awoke to-day, and +had to go to the saloon clock for the hour - no sign of dawn +- all heaven grey rainy fog. Have just had breakfast, +written up one letter, register and close this. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + + +Bad pen, bad ink, +bad light, bad +blotting-paper. + +S. S. MARIPOSA, AT SEA. +APIA DUE BY DAYBREAK TO-MORROW 9 P.M. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - Have had an amusing but tragic holiday, +from which we return in disarray. Fanny quite sick, but I +think slowly and steadily mending; Belle in a terrific state +of dentistry troubles which now seem calmed; and myself with +a succession of gentle colds out of which I at last succeeded +in cooking up a fine pleurisy. By stopping and stewing in a +perfectly airless state-room I seem to have got rid of the +pleurisy. Poor Fanny had very little fun of her visit, +having been most of the time on a diet of maltine and slops - +and this while the rest of us were rioting on oysters and +mushrooms. Belle's only devil in the hedge was the dentist. +As for me, I was entertained at the General Assembly of the +Presbyterian Church, likewise at a sort of artistic club; +made speeches at both, and may therefore be said to have +been, like Saint Paul, all things to all men. I have an +account of the latter racket which I meant to have enclosed +in this. . . . Had some splendid photos taken, likewise a +medallion by a French sculptor; met Graham, who returned with +us as far as Auckland. Have seen a good deal too of Sir +George Grey; what a wonderful old historic figure to be +walking on your arm and recalling ancient events and +instances! It makes a man small, and yet the extent to which +he approved what I had done - or rather have tried to do - +encouraged me. Sir George is an expert at least, he knows +these races: he is not a small employe with an ink-pot and a +Whittaker. + +Take it for all in all, it was huge fun: even Fanny had some +lively sport at the beginning; Belle and I all through. We +got Fanny a dress on the sly, gaudy black velvet and Duchesse +lace. And alas! she was only able to wear it once. But +we'll hope to see more of it at Samoa; it really is lovely. +Both dames are royally outfitted in silk stockings, etc. We +return, as from a raid, with our spoils and our wounded. I +am now very dandy: I announced two years ago that I should +change. Slovenly youth, all right - not slovenly age. So +really now I am pretty spruce; always a white shirt, white +necktie, fresh shave, silk, socks, O a great sight! - No more +possible, +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + + +APRIL, 1893. + + +1. SLIP 3. Davie would be ATTRACTED into a similar dialect, +as he is later - e.g., with Doig, chapter XIX. This is truly +Scottish. + +4, TO LIGHTLY; correct; 'to lightly' is a good regular Scots +verb. + +15. See Allan Ramsay's works. + +15, 16. Ay, and that is one of the pigments with which I am +trying to draw the character of Prestongrange. 'Tis a most +curious thing to render that kind, insignificant mask. To +make anything precise is to risk my effect. And till the day +he died, DAVIE was never sure of what P. was after. Not only +so; very often P. didn't know himself. There was an element +of mere liking for Davie; there was an element of being +determined, in case of accidents, to keep well with him. He +hoped his Barbara would bring him to her feet, besides, and +make him manageable. That was why he sent him to Hope Park +with them. But Davie cannot KNOW; I give you the inside of +Davie, and my method condemns me to give only the outside +both of Prestongrange and his policy. + +- I'll give my mind to the technicalities. Yet to me they +seem a part of the story, which is historical, after all. + +- I think they wanted Alan to escape. But when or where to +say so? I will try. + +- 20, DEAN. I'll try and make that plainer. + +CHAP. XIII., I fear it has to go without blows. If I could +get the pair - No, can't be. + +- XIV. All right, will abridge. + +- XV. I'd have to put a note to every word; and he who can't +read Scots can NEVER enjoy Tod Lapraik. + +- XVII. Quite right. I CAN make this plainer, and will. + +- XVIII. I know, but I have to hurry here; this is the +broken back of my story; some business briefly transacted, I +am leaping for Barbara's apron-strings. + +SLIP 57. Quite right again; I shall make it plain. + +CHAP. XX. I shall make all these points clear. About Lady +Prestongrange (not LADY Grant, only MISS Grant, my dear, +though LADY Prestongrange, quoth the dominie) I am taken with +your idea of her death, and have a good mind to substitute a +featureless aunt. + +SLIP 78. I don't see how to lessen this effect. There is +really not much said of it; and I know Catriona did it. But +I'll try. + +- 89. I know. This is an old puzzle of mine. You see C.'s +dialect is not wholly a bed of roses. If only I knew the +Gaelic. Well, I'll try for another expression. + +THE END. I shall try to work it over. James was at Dunkirk +ordering post-horses for his own retreat. Catriona did have +her suspicions aroused by the letter, and, careless +gentleman, I told you so - or she did at least. - Yes, the +blood money, I am bothered about the portmanteau; it is the +presence of Catriona that bothers me; the rape of the +pockmantie is historic. . . . + +To me, I own, it seems in the proof a very pretty piece of +workmanship. David himself I refuse to discuss; he IS. The +Lord Advocate I think a strong sketch of a very difficult +character, James More, sufficient; and the two girls very +pleasing creatures. But O dear me, I came near losing my +heart to Barbara! I am not quite so constant as David, and +even he - well, he didn't know it, anyway! TOD LAPRAIK is a +piece of living Scots: if I had never writ anything but that +and THRAWN JANET, still I'd have been a writer. The defects +of D.B. are inherent, I fear. But on the whole, I am far +indeed from being displeased with the tailie. They want more +Alan? Well, they can't get it. + +I found my fame much grown on this return to civilisation. +DIGITO MONSTRARI is a new experience; people all looked at me +in the streets in Sydney; and it was very queer. Here, of +course, I am only the white chief in the Great House to the +natives; and to the whites, either an ally or a foe. It is a +much healthier state of matters. If I lived in an atmosphere +of adulation, I should end by kicking against the pricks. O +my beautiful forest, O my beautiful shining, windy house, +what a joy it was to behold them again! No chance to take +myself too seriously here. + +The difficulty of the end is the mass of matter to be +attended to, and the small time left to transact it in. I +mean from Alan's danger of arrest. But I have just seen my +way out, I do believe. + + +EASTER SUNDAY. + + +I have now got as far as slip 28, and finished the chapter of +the law technicalities. Well, these seemed to me always of +the essence of the story, which is the story of a CAUSE +CELEBRE; moreover, they are the justification of my +inventions; if these men went so far (granting Davie sprung +on them) would they not have gone so much further? But of +course I knew they were a difficulty; determined to carry +them through in a conversation; approached this (it seems) +with cowardly anxiety; and filled it with gabble, sir, +gabble. I have left all my facts, but have removed 42 lines. +I should not wonder but what I'll end by re-writing it. It +is not the technicalities that shocked you, it was my bad +art. It is very strange that X. should be so good a chapter +and IX. and XI. so uncompromisingly bad. It looks as if XI. +also would have to be re-formed. If X. had not cheered me +up, I should be in doleful dumps, but X. is alive anyway, and +life is all in all. + + +THURSDAY, APRIL 5TH. + + +Well, there's no disguise possible; Fanny is not well, and we +are miserably anxious. . . . + + +FRIDAY, 7TH. + + +I am thankful to say the new medicine relieved her at once. +A crape has been removed from the day for all of us. To make +things better, the morning is ah! such a morning as you have +never seen; heaven upon earth for sweetness, freshness, depth +upon depth of unimaginable colour, and a huge silence broken +at this moment only by the far-away murmur of the Pacific and +the rich piping of a single bird. You can't conceive what a +relief this is; it seems a new world. She has such +extraordinary recuperative power that I do hope for the best. +I am as tired as man can be. This is a great trial to a +family, and I thank God it seems as if ours was going to bear +it well. And O! if it only lets up, it will be but a +pleasant memory. We are all seedy, bar Lloyd: Fanny, as per +above; self nearly extinct; Belle, utterly overworked and bad +toothache; Cook, down with a bad foot; Butler, prostrate with +a bad leg. Eh, what a faim'ly! + + +SUNDAY. + + +Grey heaven, raining torrents of rain; occasional thunder and +lightning. Everything to dispirit; but my invalids are +really on the mend. The rain roars like the sea; in the +sound of it there is a strange and ominous suggestion of an +approaching tramp; something nameless and measureless seems +to draw near, and strikes me cold, and yet is welcome. I lie +quiet in bed to-day, and think of the universe with a good +deal of equanimity. I have, at this moment, but the one +objection to it; the FRACAS with which it proceeds. I do not +love noise; I am like my grandfather in that; and so many +years in these still islands has ingrained the sentiment +perhaps. Here are no trains, only men pacing barefoot. No +carts or carriages; at worst the rattle of a horse's shoes +among the rocks. Beautiful silence; and so soon as this +robustious rain takes off, I am to drink of it again by +oceanfuls. + + +APRIL 16TH. + + +Several pages of this letter destroyed as beneath scorn; the +wailings of a crushed worm; matter in which neither you nor I +can take stock. Fanny is distinctly better, I believe all +right now; I too am mending, though I have suffered from +crushed wormery, which is not good for the body, and +damnation to the soul. I feel to-night a baseless anxiety to +write a lovely poem A PROPOS DES BOTTES DE MA GRANDMERE. I +see I am idiotic. I'll try the poem. + + +17TH. + + +The poem did not get beyond plovers and lovers. I am still, +however, harassed by the unauthentic Muse; if I cared to +encourage her - but I have not the time, and anyway we are at +the vernal equinox. It is funny enough, but my pottering +verses are usually made (like the God-gifted organ voice's) +at the autumnal; and this seems to hold at the Antipodes. +There is here some odd secret of Nature. I cannot speak of +politics; we wait and wonder. It seems (this is partly a +guess) Ide won't take the C. J. ship, unless the islands are +disarmed; and that England hesitates and holds off. By my +own idea, strongly corroborated by Sir George, I am writing +no more letters. But I have put as many irons in against +this folly of the disarming as I could manage. It did not +reach my ears till nearly too late. What a risk to take! +What an expense to incur! And for how poor a gain! Apart +from the treachery of it. My dear fellow, politics is a vile +and a bungling business. I used to think meanly of the +plumber; but how he shines beside the politician! + + +THURSDAY. + + +A general, steady advance; Fanny really quite chipper and +jolly - self on the rapid mend, and with my eye on FORESTS +that are to fall - and my finger on the axe, which wants +stoning. + + +SATURDAY, 22. + + +Still all for the best; but I am having a heart-breaking time +over DAVID. I have nearly all corrected. But have to +consider THE HEATHER ON FIRE, THE WOOD BY SILVERMILLS, and +the last chapter. They all seem to me off colour; and I am +not fit to better them yet. No proof has been sent of the +title, contents, or dedication. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + + +25TH APRIL. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - To-day early I sent down to Maben +(Secretary of State) an offer to bring up people from Malie, +keep them in my house, and bring them down day by day for so +long as the negotiation should last. I have a favourable +answer so far. This I would not have tried, had not old Sir +George Grey put me on my mettle; 'Never despair,' was his +word; and 'I am one of the few people who have lived long +enough to see how true that is.' Well, thereupon I plunged +in; and the thing may do me great harm, but yet I do not +think so - for I think jealousy will prevent the trial being +made. And at any rate it is another chance for this +distracted archipelago of children, sat upon by a clique of +fools. If, by the gift of God, I can do - I am allowed to +try to do - and succeed: but no, the prospect is too bright +to be entertained. + +To-day we had a ride down to Tanugamanono, and then by the +new wood paths. One led us to a beautiful clearing, with +four native houses; taro, yams, and the like, excellently +planted, and old Folau - 'the Samoan Jew' - sitting and +whistling there in his new-found and well-deserved well- +being. It was a good sight to see a Samoan thus before the +world. Further up, on our way home, we saw the world clear, +and the wide die of the shadow lying broad; we came but a +little further, and found in the borders of the bush a +Banyan. It must have been 150 feet in height; the trunk, and +its acolytes, occupied a great space; above that, in the +peaks of the branches, quite a forest of ferns and orchids +were set; and over all again the huge spread of the boughs +rose against the bright west, and sent their shadow miles to +the eastward. I have not often seen anything more satisfying +than this vast vegetable. + + +SUNDAY. + + +A heavenly day again! the world all dead silence, save when, +from far down below us in the woods, comes up the crepitation +of the little wooden drum that beats to church. Scarce a +leaf stirs; only now and again a great, cool gush of air that +makes my papers fly, and is gone. - The King of Samoa has +refused my intercession between him and Mataafa; and I do not +deny this is a good riddance to me of a difficult business, +in which I might very well have failed. What else is to be +done for these silly folks? + + +MAY 12TH. + + +And this is where I had got to, before the mail arrives with, +I must say, a real gentlemanly letter from yourself. Sir, +that is the sort of letter I want! Now, I'll make my little +proposal. I will accept CHILD'S PLAY and PAN'S PIPES. Then I +want PASTORAL, THE MANSE, THE ISLET, leaving out if you like +all the prefacial matter and beginning at I. Then the +portrait of Robert Hunter, beginning 'Whether he was +originally big or little,' and ending 'fearless and gentle.' +So much for MEM. AND PORTRAITS. BEGGARS, sections I. and +II., RANDOM MEMORIES II., and LANTERN BEARERS; I'm agreeable. +These are my selections. I don't know about PULVIS ET UMBRA +either, but must leave that to you. But just what you +please. + +About DAVIE I elaborately wrote last time, but still DAVIE is +not done; I am grinding singly at THE EBB TIDE, as we now +call the FARALLONE; the most of it will go this mail. About +the following, let there be no mistake: I will not write the +abstract of KIDNAPPED; write it who will, I will not. +Boccaccio must have been a clever fellow to write both +argument and story; I am not, ET JE ME RECUSE. + +We call it THE EBB TIDE: A TRIO AND QUARTETTE; but that +secondary name you may strike out if it seems dull to you. +The book, however, falls in two halves, when the fourth +character appears. I am on p. 82 if you want to know, and +expect to finish on I suppose 110 or so; but it goes slowly, +as you may judge from the fact that this three weeks past, I +have only struggled from p. 58 to p. 82: twenty-four pages, +ET ENCORE sure to be rewritten, in twenty-one days. This is +no prize-taker; not much Waverley Novels about this! + + + +MAY 16TH. + + +I believe it will be ten chapters of THE EBB TIDE that go to +you; the whole thing should be completed in I fancy twelve; +and the end will follow punctually next mail. It is my great +wish that this might get into THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS for +Gordon Browne to illustrate. For whom, in case he should get +the job, I give you a few notes. A purao is a tree giving +something like a fig with flowers. He will find some +photographs of an old marine curiosity shop in my collection, +which may help him. Attwater's settlement is to be entirely +overshadowed everywhere by tall palms; see photographs of +Fakarava: the verandahs of the house are 12 ft. wide. Don't +let him forget the Figure Head, for which I have a great use +in the last chapter. It stands just clear of the palms on +the crest of the beach at the head of the pier; the flag- +staff not far off; the pier he will understand is perhaps +three feet above high water, not more at any price. The +sailors of the FARALLONE are to be dressed like white sailors +of course. For other things, I remit this excellent artist +to my photographs. + +I can't think what to say about the tale, but it seems to me +to go off with a considerable bang; in fact, to be an +extraordinary work: but whether popular! Attwater is a no +end of a courageous attempt, I think you will admit; how far +successful is another affair. If my island ain't a thing of +beauty, I'll be damned. Please observe Wiseman and Wishart; +for incidental grimness, they strike me as in it. Also, +kindly observe the Captain and ADAR; I think that knocks +spots. In short, as you see, I'm a trifle vainglorious. But +O, it has been such a grind! The devil himself would allow a +man to brag a little after such a crucifixion! And indeed +I'm only bragging for a change before I return to the darned +thing lying waiting for me on p. 88, where I last broke down. +I break down at every paragraph, I may observe; and lie here +and sweat, till I can get one sentence wrung out after +another. Strange doom; after having worked so easily for so +long! Did ever anybody see such a story of four characters? + + +LATER, 2.30. + + +It may interest you to know that I am entirely TAPU, and live +apart in my chambers like a caged beast. Lloyd has a bad +cold, and Graham and Belle are getting it. Accordingly, I +dwell here without the light of any human countenance or +voice, and strap away at THE EBB TIDE until (as now) I can no +more. Fanny can still come, but is gone to glory now, or to +her garden. Page 88 is done, and must be done over again to- +morrow, and I confess myself exhausted. Pity a man who can't +work on along when he has nothing else on earth to do! But I +have ordered Jack, and am going for a ride in the bush +presently to refresh the machine; then back to a lonely +dinner and durance vile. I acquiesce in this hand of fate; +for I think another cold just now would just about do for me. +I have scarce yet recovered the two last. + + +MAY 18TH. + + +My progress is crabwise, and I fear only IX. chapters will be +ready for the mail. I am on p. 88 again, and with half an +idea of going back again to 85. We shall see when we come to +read: I used to regard reading as a pleasure in my old light +days. All the house are down with the influenza in a body, +except Fanny and me. The influenza appears to become endemic +here, but it has always been a scourge in the islands. +Witness the beginning of THE EBB TIDE, which was observed +long before the Iffle had distinguished himself at home by +such Napoleonic conquests. I am now of course 'quite a +recluse,' and it is very stale, and there is no amanuensis to +carry me over my mail, to which I shall have to devote many +hours that would have been more usefully devoted to THE EBB +TIDE. For you know you can dictate at all hours of the day +and at any odd moment; but to sit down and write with your +red right hand is a very different matter. + + +MAY 20TH. + + +Well, I believe I've about finished the thing, I mean as far +as the mail is to take it. Chapter X. is now in Lloyd's +hands for remarks, and extends in its present form to p. 93 +incl. On the 12th of May, I see by looking back, I was on p. +82, not for the first time; so that I have made 11 pages in +nine livelong days. Well! up a high hill he heaved a huge +round stone. But this Flaubert business must be resisted in +the premises. Or is it the result of influenza? God forbid. +Fanny is down now, and the last link that bound me to my +fellow men is severed. I sit up here, and write, and read +Renan's ORIGINES, which is certainly devilish interesting; I +read his Nero yesterday, it is very good, O, very good! But +he is quite a Michelet; the general views, and such a piece +of character painting, excellent; but his method sheer +lunacy. You can see him take up the block which he had just +rejected, and make of it the corner-stone: a maddening way to +deal with authorities; and the result so little like history +that one almost blames oneself for wasting time. But the +time is not wasted; the conspectus is always good, and the +blur that remains on the mind is probably just enough. I +have been enchanted with the unveiling of Revelations. And +how picturesque that return of the false Nero! The Apostle +John is rather discredited. And to think how one had read +the thing so often, and never understood the attacks upon St. +Paul! I remember when I was a child, and we came to the Four +Beasts that were all over eyes, the sickening terror with +which I was filled. If that was Heaven, what, in the name of +Davy Jones and the aboriginal night-mare, could Hell be? +Take it for all in all, L'ANTECHRIST is worth reading. The +HISTOIRE D'ISRAEL did not surprise me much; I had read those +Hebrew sources with more intelligence than the New Testament, +and was quite prepared to admire Ahab and Jezebel, etc. +Indeed, Ahab has always been rather a hero of mine; I mean +since the years of discretion. + + +MAY 21ST. + + +And here I am back again on p. 85! the last chapter demanding +an entire revision, which accordingly it is to get. And +where my mail is to come in, God knows! This forced, +violent, alembicated style is most abhorrent to me; it can't +be helped; the note was struck years ago on the JANET NICOLL, +and has to be maintained somehow; and I can only hope the +intrinsic horror and pathos, and a kind of fierce glow of +colour there is to it, and the surely remarkable wealth of +striking incident, may guide our little shallop into port. +If Gordon Browne is to get it, he should see the Brassey +photographs of Papeete. But mind, the three waifs were never +in the town; only on the beach and in the calaboose. By +George, but it's a good thing to illustrate for a man like +that! Fanny is all right again. False alarm! I was down +yesterday afternoon at Paupata, and heard much growling of +war, and the delightful news that the C. J. and the President +are going to run away from Mulinuu and take refuge in the +Tivoli hotel. + + +23RD. MAIL DAY. + + +And lots of pleasures before me, no doubt! Among others the +attempt to extract an answer from - before mail time, which +may succeed or may not. + +THE EBB TIDE, all but (I take it) fifteen pages, is now in +your hands - possibly only about eleven pp. It is hard to +say. But there it is, and you can do your best with it. +Personally, I believe I would in this case make even a +sacrifice to get Gordon Browne and copious illustration. I +guess in ten days I shall have finished with it; then I go +next to D. BALFOUR, and get the proofs ready: a nasty job for +me, as you know. And then? Well, perhaps I'll take a go at +the family history. I think that will be wise, as I am so +much off work. And then, I suppose, WEIR OF HERMISTON, but +it may be anything. I am discontented with THE EBB TIDE, +naturally; there seems such a veil of words over it; and I +like more and more naked writing; and yet sometimes one has a +longing for full colour and there comes the veil again. THE +YOUNG CHEVALIER is in very full colour, and I fear it for +that reason. - +Ever, +R. L S. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + + +29TH MAY. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - Still grinding at Chap. XI. I began many +days ago on p. 93, and am still on p. 93, which is +exhilarating, but the thing takes shape all the same and +should make a pretty lively chapter for an end of it. For +XII. is only a footnote AD EXPLICANDUM. + + +JUNE THE 1ST. + + +Back on p. 93. I was on 100 yesterday, but read it over and +condemned it. + + +10 A. M. + + +I have worked up again to 97, but how? The deuce fly away +with literature, for the basest sport in creation. But it's +got to come straight! and if possible, so that I may finish +D. BALFOUR in time for the same mail. What a getting +upstairs! This is Flaubert outdone. Belle, Graham, and +Lloyd leave to-day on a malaga down the coast; to be absent a +week or so: this leaves Fanny, me, and -, who seems a nice, +kindly fellow. + + +JUNE 2ND. + + +I am nearly dead with dyspepsia, over-smoking, and +unremunerative overwork. Last night, I went to bed by seven; +woke up again about ten for a minute to find myself light- +headed and altogether off my legs; went to sleep again, and +woke this morning fairly fit. I have crippled on to p. 101, +but I haven't read it yet, so do not boast. What kills me is +the frame of mind of one of the characters; I cannot get it +through. Of course that does not interfere with my total +inability to write; so that yesterday I was a living half- +hour upon a single clause and have a gallery of variants that +would surprise you. And this sort of trouble (which I cannot +avoid) unfortunately produces nothing when done but +alembication and the far-fetched. Well, read it with mercy! + + +8 A.M. + + +Going to bed. Have read it, and believe the chapter +practically done at last. But lord! it has been a business. + + +JULY 3RD, 8.15. + + +The draft is finished, the end of Chapter II. and the tale, +and I have only eight pages WIEDERZUARBEITEN. This is just a +cry of joy in passing. + + +10.30. + + +Knocked out of time. Did 101 and 102. Alas, no more to-day, +as I have to go down town to a meeting. Just as well though, +as my thumb is about done up. + + +SUNDAY, JUNE 4TH. + + +Now for a little snippet of my life. Yesterday, 12.30, in a +heavenly day of sun and trade, I mounted my horse and set +off. A boy opens my gate for me. 'Sleep and long life! A +blessing on your journey,' says he. And I reply 'Sleep, long +life! A blessing on the house!' Then on, down the lime +lane, a rugged, narrow, winding way, that seems almost as if +it was leading you into Lyonesse, and you might see the head +and shoulders of a giant looking in. At the corner of the +road I meet the inspector of taxes, and hold a diplomatic +interview with him; he wants me to pay taxes on the new +house; I am informed I should not till next year; and we +part, RE INFECTA, he promising to bring me decisions, I +assuring him that, if I find any favouritism, he will find me +the most recalcitrant tax-payer on the island. Then I have a +talk with an old servant by the wayside. A little further I +pass two children coming up. 'Love!' say I; 'are you two +chiefly-proceeding inland?' and they say, 'Love! yes!' and +the interesting ceremony is finished. Down to the post +office, where I find Vitrolles and (Heaven reward you!) the +White Book, just arrived per UPOLU, having gone the wrong way +round, by Australia; also six copies of ISLAND NIGHTS' +ENTERTAINMENTS. Some of Weatherall's illustrations are very +clever; but O Lord! the lagoon! I did say it was 'shallow,' +but, O dear, not so shallow as that a man could stand up in +it! I had still an hour to wait for my meeting, so +Postmaster Davis let me sit down in his room and I had a +bottle of beer in, and read A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE. Have you +seen it coming out in LONGMAN'S? My dear Colvin! 'tis the +most exquisite pleasure; a real chivalrous yarn, like the +Dumas' and yet unlike. Thereafter to the meeting of the five +newspaper proprietors. Business transacted, I have to gallop +home and find the boys waiting to be paid at the doorstep. + + + +MONDAY, 5TH. + + +Yesterday, Sunday, the Rev. Dr. Browne, secretary to the +Wesleyan Mission, and the man who made the war in the Western +Islands and was tried for his life in Fiji, came up, and we +had a long, important talk about Samoa. O, if I could only +talk to the home men! But what would it matter? none of them +know, none of them care. If we could only have Macgregor +here with his schooner, you would hear of no more troubles in +Samoa. That is what we want; a man that knows and likes the +natives, QUI PAYE DE SA PERSONNE, AND is not afraid of +hanging when necessary. We don't want bland Swedish humbugs, +and fussy, fostering German barons. That way the maelstrom +lies, and we shall soon be in it. + +I have to-day written 103 and 104, all perfectly wrong, and +shall have to rewrite them. This tale is devilish, and +Chapter XI. the worst of the lot. The truth is of course +that I am wholly worked out; but it's nearly done, and shall +go somehow according to promise. I go against all my gods, +and say it is NOT WORTH WHILE to massacre yourself over the +last few pages of a rancid yarn, that the reviewers will +quite justly tear to bits. As for D.B., no hope, I fear, +this mail, but we'll see what the afternoon does for me. + + +4.15. + + +Well, it's done. Those tragic 16 pp. are at last finished, +and I have put away thirty-two pages of chips, and have spent +thirteen days about as nearly in Hell as a man could expect +to live through. It's done, and of course it ain't worth +while, and who cares? There it is, and about as grim a tale +as was ever written, and as grimy, and as hateful. + + +SACRED +TO THE MEMORY +OF +J. L. HUISH, +BORN 1856, AT HACKNEY, +LONDON, +Accidentally killed upon this +Island, +10th September, 1889. + + +TUESDAY, 6. + + +I am exulting to do nothing. It pours with rain from the +westward, very unusual kind of weather; I was standing out on +the little verandah in front of my room this morning, and +there went through me or over me a wave of extraordinary and +apparently baseless emotion. I literally staggered. And +then the explanation came, and I knew I had found a frame of +mind and body that belonged to Scotland, and particularly to +the neighbourhood of Callander. Very odd these identities of +sensation, and the world of connotations implied; highland +huts, and peat smoke, and the brown, swirling rivers, and wet +clothes, and whiskey, and the romance of the past, and that +indescribable bite of the whole thing at a man's heart, which +is - or rather lies at the bottom of - a story. + +I don't know if you are a Barbey d'Aurevilly-an. I am. I +have a great delight in his Norman stories. Do you know the +CHEVALIER DES TOUCHES and L'ENSORCELEE? They are admirable, +they reek of the soil and the past. But I was rather +thinking just now of LE RIDEAU CRAMOISI, and its adorable +setting of the stopped coach, the dark street, the home-going +in the inn yard, and the red blind illuminated. Without +doubt, THERE was an identity of sensation; one of those +conjunctions in life that had filled Barbey full to the brim, +and permanently bent his memory. + +I wonder exceedingly if I have done anything at all good; and +who can tell me? and why should I wish to know? In so little +a while, I, and the English language, and the bones of my +descendants, will have ceased to be a memory! And yet - and +yet - one would like to leave an image for a few years upon +men's minds - for fun. This is a very dark frame of mind, +consequent on overwork and the conclusion of the excruciating +EBB TIDE. Adieu. + +What do you suppose should be done with THE EBB TIDE? It +would make a volume of 200 pp.; on the other hand, I might +likely have some more stories soon: THE OWL, DEATH IN THE +POT, THE SLEEPER AWAKENED; all these are possible. THE OWL +might be half as long; THE SLEEPER AWAKENED, ditto; DEATH IN +THE POT a deal shorter, I believe. Then there's the GO- +BETWEEN, which is not impossible altogether. THE OWL, THE +SLEEPER AWAKENED, and the GO-BETWEEN end reasonably well; +DEATH IN THE POT is an ungodly massacre. O, well, THE OWL +only ends well in so far as some lovers come together, and +nobody is killed at the moment, but you know they are all +doomed, they are Chouan fellows. + + +FRIDAY, 9TH. + + +Well, the mail is in; no Blue-book, depressing letter from +C.; a long, amusing ramble from my mother; vast masses of +Romeike; they ARE going to war now; and what will that lead +to? and what has driven, them to it but the persistent +misconduct of these two officials? I know I ought to rewrite +the end of this bluidy EBB TIDE: well, I can't. CEST PLUS +FORT QUE MOI; it has to go the way it is, and be jowned to +it! From what I make out of the reviews, I think it would be +better not to republish THE EBB TIDE: but keep it for other +tales, if they should turn up. Very amusing how the reviews +pick out one story and damn the rest I and it is always a +different one. Be sure you send me the article from LE +TEMPS. + + +SATURDAY, 17TH. + + +Since I wrote this last, I have written a whole chapter of my +grandfather, and read it to-night; it was on the whole much +appreciated, and I kind of hope it ain't bad myself. 'Tis a +third writing, but it wants a fourth. By next mail, I +believe I might send you 3 chapters. That is to say FAMILY +ANNALS, THE SERVICE OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, and THE BUILDING +OF THE BELL ROCK. Possibly even 4 - A HOUSEFUL OF BOYS. I +could finish my grandfather very easy now; my father and +Uncle Alan stop the way. I propose to call the book: +NORTHERN LIGHTS: MEMOIRS OF A FAMILY of ENGINEERS. I tell +you, it is going to be a good book. My idea in sending Ms. +would be to get it set up; two proofs to me, one to Professor +Swan, Ardchapel, Helensburgh - mark it private and +confidential - one to yourself; and come on with criticisms! +But I'll have to see. The total plan of the book is this - + +i. Domestic Annals. +ii. The Service of the Northern Lights. +iii. The Building of the Bell Rock. +iv. A Houseful of Boys (or, 'The Family in Baxter's Place). +v. Education of an Engineer. +vi. The Grandfather. +vii. Alan Stevenson. +viii. Thomas Stevenson. + +There will be an Introduction 'The Surname of Stevenson' +which has proved a mighty queer subject of inquiry. But, +Lord! if I were among libraries. + + +SUNDAY, 18TH. + + +I shall put in this envelope the end of the ever-to-be- +execrated EBB TIDE, or Stevenson's Blooming Error. Also, a +paper apart for DAVID BALFOUR. The slips must go in another +enclosure, I suspect, owing to their beastly bulk. Anyway, +there are two pieces of work off my mind, and though I could +wish I had rewritten a little more of DAVID, yet it was +plainly to be seen it was impossible. All the points +indicated by you have been brought out; but to rewrite the +end, in my present state of over-exhaustion and fiction - +phobia, would have been madness; and I let it go as it stood. +My grandfather is good enough for me, these days. I do not +work any less; on the whole, if anything, a little more. But +it is different. + +The slips go to you in four packets; I hope they are what +they should be, but do not think so. I am at a pitch of +discontent with fiction in all its form - or my forms - that +prevents me being able to be even interested. I have had to +stop all drink; smoking I am trying to stop also. It annoys +me dreadfully: and yet if I take a glass of claret, - I have +a headache the next day! O, and a good headache too; none of +your trifles. + +Well, sir, here's to you, and farewell. - Yours ever. +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + + +SATURDAY, 24TH (?) JUNE. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN - Yesterday morning, after a day of absolute +temperance, I awoke to the worst headache I had had yet. +Accordingly, temperance was said farewell to, quinine +instituted, and I believe my pains are soon to be over. We +wait, with a kind of sighing impatience, for war to be +declared, or to blow finally off, living in the meanwhile in +a kind of children's hour of firelight and shadow and +preposterous tales; the king seen at night galloping up our +road upon unknown errands and covering his face as he passes +our cook; Mataafa daily surrounded (when he awakes) with +fresh 'white man's boxes' (query, ammunition?) and professing +to be quite ignorant of where they come from; marches of +bodies of men across the island; concealment of ditto in the +bush; the coming on and off of different chiefs; and such a +mass of ravelment and rag-tag as the devil himself could not +unwind. + + +WEDNESDAY, 28TH JUNE. + + +Yesterday it rained with but little intermission, but I was +jealous of news. Graham and I got into the saddle about 1 +o'clock and off down to town. In town, there was nothing but +rumours going; in the night drums had been beat, the men had +run to arms on Mulinuu from as far as Vaiala, and the alarm +proved false. There were no signs of any gathering in Apia +proper, and the Secretary of State had no news to give. I +believed him, too, for we are brither Scots. Then the +temptation came upon me strong to go on to the ford and see +the Mataafa villages, where we heard there was more afoot. +Off we rode. When we came to Vaimusu, the houses were very +full of men, but all seemingly unarmed. Immediately beyond +is that river over which we passed in our scamper with Lady +Jersey; it was all solitary. Three hundred yards beyond is a +second ford; and there - I came face to face with war. Under +the trees on the further bank sat a picket of seven men with +Winchesters; their faces bright, their eyes ardent. As we +came up, they did not speak or move; only their eyes followed +us. The horses drank, and we passed the ford. 'Talofa!' I +said, and the commandant of the picket said 'Talofa'; and +then, when we were almost by, remembered himself and asked +where we were going. 'To Faamuina,' I said, and we rode on. +Every house by the wayside was crowded with armed men. There +was the European house of a Chinaman on the right-hand side: +a flag of truce flying over the gate - indeed we saw three of +these in what little way we penetrated into Mataafa's lines - +all the foreigners trying to protect their goods; and the +Chinaman's verandah overflowed with men and girls and +Winchesters. By the way we met a party of about ten or a +dozen marching with their guns and cartridge-belts, and the +cheerful alacrity and brightness of their looks set my head +turning with envy and sympathy. Arrived at Vaiusu, the +houses about the MALAE (village green) were thronged with +men, all armed. On the outside of the council-house (which +was all full within) there stood an orator; he had his back +turned to his audience, and seemed to address the world at +large; all the time we were there his strong voice continued +unabated, and I heard snatches of political wisdom rising and +falling. + +The house of Faamuina stands on a knoll in the MALAE. +Thither we mounted, a boy ran out and took our horses, and we +went in. Faamuina was there himself, his wife Pelepa, three +other chiefs, and some attendants; and here again was this +exulting spectacle as of people on their marriage day. +Faamuina (when I last saw him) was an elderly, limping +gentleman, with much of the debility of age; it was a bright- +eyed boy that greeted me; the lady was no less excited; all +had cartridge-belts. We stayed but a little while to smoke a +sului; I would not have kava made, as I thought my escapade +was already dangerous (perhaps even blameworthy) enough. On +the way back, we were much greeted, and on coming to the +ford, the commandant came and asked me if there were many on +the other side. 'Very many,' said I; not that I knew, but I +would not lead them on the ice. 'That is well!' said he, and +the little picket laughed aloud as we splashed into the +river. We returned to Apia, through Apia, and out to +windward as far as Vaiala, where the word went that the men +of the Vaimauga had assembled. We met two boys carrying +pigs, and saw six young men busy cooking in a cook-house; but +no sign of an assembly; no arms, no blackened faces. I +forgot! As we turned to leave Faamuina's, there ran forward +a man with his face blackened, and the back of his lava-lava +girded up so as to show his tattooed hips naked; he leaped +before us, cut a wonderful caper, and flung his knife high in +the air, and caught it. It was strangely savage and +fantastic and high-spirited. I have seen a child doing the +same antics long before in a dance, so that it is plainly an +ACCEPTED SOLEMNITY. I should say that for weeks the children +have been playing with spears. Up by the plantation I took a +short cut, which shall never be repeated, through grass and +weeds over the horses' heads and among rolling stones; I +thought we should have left a horse there, but fortune +favoured us. So home, a little before six, in a dashing +squall of rain, to a bowl of kava and dinner. But the +impression on our minds was extraordinary; the sight of that +picket at the ford, and those ardent, happy faces whirls in +my head; the old aboriginal awoke in both of us and knickered +like a stallion. + +It is dreadful to think that I must sit apart here and do +nothing; I do not know if I can stand it out. But you see, I +may be of use to these poor people, if I keep quiet, and if I +threw myself in, I should have a bad job of it to save +myself. There; I have written this to you; and it is still +but 7.30 in the day, and the sun only about one hour up; can +I go back to my old grandpapa, and men sitting with +Winchesters in my mind's eye? No; war is a huge +ENTRAINEMENT; there is no other temptation to be compared to +it, not one. We were all wet, we had been about five hours +in the saddle, mostly riding hard; and we came home like +schoolboys, with such a lightness of spirits, and I am sure +such a brightness of eye, as you could have lit a candle at! + + +THURSDAY 29TH. + + +I had two priests to luncheon yesterday: the Bishop and Pere +Remy. They were very pleasant, and quite clean too, which +has been known sometimes not to be - even with bishops. +Monseigneur is not unimposing; with his white beard and his +violet girdle he looks splendidly episcopal, and when our +three waiting lads came up one after another and kneeled +before him in the big hall, and kissed his ring, it did me +good for a piece of pageantry. Remy is very engaging; he is +a little, nervous, eager man, like a governess, and brimful +of laughter and small jokes. So is the bishop indeed, and +our luncheon party went off merrily - far more merrily than +many a German spread, though with so much less liquor. One +trait was delicious. With a complete ignorance of the +Protestant that I would scarce have imagined, he related to +us (as news) little stories from the gospels, and got the +names all wrong! His comments were delicious, and to our +ears a thought irreverent. 'AH! IL CONNAISSAIT SON MONDE, +ALLEZ!' 'IL ETAIT FIN, NOTRE SEIGNEUR!' etc. + + +FRIDAY. + + +Down with Fanny and Belle, to lunch at the International. +Heard there about the huge folly of the hour, all the Mulinuu +ammunition having been yesterday marched openly to vaults in +Matafele; and this morning, on a cry of protest from the +whites, openly and humiliatingly disinterred and marched back +again. People spoke of it with a kind of shrill note that +did not quite satisfy me. They seemed not quite well at +ease. Luncheon over, we rode out on the Malie road. All was +quiet in Vaiusu, and when we got to the second ford, alas! +there was no picket - which was just what Belle had come to +sketch. On through quite empty roads; the houses deserted, +never a gun to be seen; and at last a drum and a penny +whistle playing in Vaiusu, and a cricket match on the MALAE! +Went up to Faamuina's; he is a trifle uneasy, though he gives +us kava. I cannot see what ails him, then it appears that he +has an engagement with the Chief Justice at half-past two to +sell a piece of land. Is this the reason why war has +disappeared? We ride back, stopping to sketch here and there +the fords, a flag of truce, etc. I ride on to Public Hall +Committee and pass an hour with my committees very heavily. +To the hotel to dinner, then to the ball, and home by eleven, +very tired. At the ball I heard some news, of how the chief +of Letonu said that I was the source of all this trouble, and +should be punished, and my family as well. This, and the +rudeness of the man at the ford of the Gase-gase, looks but +ill; I should have said that Faamuina, as he approached the +first ford, was spoken to by a girl, and immediately said +goodbye and plunged into the bush; the girl had told him +there was a war party out from Mulinuu; and a little further +on, as we stopped to sketch a flag of truce, the beating of +drums and the sound of a bugle from that direction startled +us. But we saw nothing, and I believe Mulinuu is (at least +at present) incapable of any act of offence. One good job, +these threats to my home and family take away all my childish +temptation to go out and fight. Our force must be here, to +protect ourselves. I see panic rising among the whites; I +hear the shrill note of it in their voices, and they talk +already about a refuge on the war ships. There are two here, +both German; and the ORLANDO is expected presently. + + +SUNDAY 9TH JULY. + + +Well, the war has at last begun. For four or five days, Apia +has been filled by these poor children with their faces +blacked, and the red handkerchief about their brows, that +makes the Malietoa uniform, and the boats have been coming in +from the windward, some of them 50 strong, with a drum and a +bugle on board - the bugle always ill-played - and a sort of +jester leaping and capering on the sparred nose of the boat, +and the whole crew uttering from time to time a kind of +menacing ululation. Friday they marched out to the bush; and +yesterday morning we heard that some had returned to their +houses for the night, as they found it 'so uncomfortable.' +After dinner a messenger came up to me with a note, that the +wounded were arriving at the Mission House. Fanny, Lloyd and +I saddled and rode off with a lantern; it was a fine starry +night, though pretty cold. We left the lantern at Tanuga- +manono, and then down in the starlight. I found Apia, and +myself, in a strange state of flusteration; my own excitement +was gloomy and (I may say) truculent; others appeared +imbecile; some sullen. The best place in the whole town was +the hospital. A longish frame-house it was, with a big table +in the middle for operations, and ten Samoans, each with an +average of four sympathisers, stretched along the walls. +Clarke was there, steady as a die; Miss Large, little +spectacled angel, showed herself a real trump; the nice, +clean, German orderlies in their white uniforms looked and +meant business. (I hear a fine story of Miss Large - a cast- +iron teetotaller - going to the public-house for a bottle of +brandy.) + +The doctors were not there when I arrived; but presently it +was observed that one of the men was going cold. He was a +magnificent Samoan, very dark, with a noble aquiline +countenance, like an Arab, I suppose, and was surrounded by +seven people, fondling his limbs as he lay: he was shot +through both lungs. And an orderly was sent to the town for +the (German naval) doctors, who were dining there. Meantime +I found an errand of my own. Both Clarke and Miss Large +expressed a wish to have the public hall, of which I am +chairman, and I set off down town, and woke people out of +their beds, and got a committee together, and (with a great +deal of difficulty from one man, whom we finally overwhelmed) +got the public hall for them. Bar the one man, the committee +was splendid, and agreed in a moment to share the expense if +the shareholders object. Back to the hospital about 11.30; +found the German doctors there. Two men were going now, one +that was shot in the bowels - he was dying rather hard, in a +gloomy stupor of pain and laudanum, silent, with contorted +face. The chief, shot through the lungs, was lying on one +side, awaiting the last angel; his family held his hands and +legs; they were all speechless, only one woman suddenly +clasped his knee, and 'keened' for the inside of five +seconds, and fell silent again. Went home, and to bed about +two A.M. What actually passed seems undiscoverable; but the +Mataafas were surely driven back out of Vaitele; that is a +blow to them, and the resistance was far greater than had +been anticipated - which is a blow to the Laupepas. All +seems to indicate a long and bloody war. + +Frank's house in Mulinuu was likewise filled with wounded; +many dead bodies were brought in; I hear with certainty of +five, wrapped in mats; and a pastor goes to-morrow to the +field to bring others. The Laupepas brought in eleven heads +to Mulinuu, and to the great horror and consternation of the +native mind, one proved to be a girl, and was identified as +that of a Taupou - or Maid of the Village - from Savaii. I +hear this morning, with great relief, that it has been +returned to Malie, wrapped in the most costly silk +handkerchiefs, and with an apologetic embassy. This could +easily happen. The girl was of course attending on her +father with ammunition, and got shot; her hair was cut short +to make her father's war head-dress - even as our own Sina's +is at this moment; and the decollator was probably, in his +red flurry of fight, wholly unconscious of her sex. I am +sorry for him in the future; he must make up his mind to many +bitter jests - perhaps to vengeance. But what an end to one +chosen for her beauty and, in the time of peace, watched over +by trusty crones and hunchbacks! + + +EVENING. + + +Can I write or not? I played lawn tennis in the morning, and +after lunch down with Graham to Apia. Ulu, he that was shot +in the lungs, still lives; he that was shot in the bowels is +gone to his fathers, poor, fierce child! I was able to be of +some very small help, and in the way of helping myself to +information, to prove myself a mere gazer at meteors. But +there seems no doubt the Mataafas for the time are scattered; +the most of our friends are involved in this disaster, and +Mataafa himself - who might have swept the islands a few +months ago - for him to fall so poorly, doubles my regret. +They say the Taupou had a gun and fired; probably an excuse +manufactured EX POST FACTO. I go down to-morrow at 12, to +stay the afternoon, and help Miss Large. In the hospital to- +day, when I first entered it, there were no attendants; only +the wounded and their friends, all equally sleeping and their +heads poised upon the wooden pillows. There is a pretty +enough boy there, slightly wounded, whose fate is to be +envied: two girls, and one of the most beautiful, with +beaming eyes, tend him and sleep upon his pillow. In the +other corner, another young man, very patient and brave, lies +wholly deserted. Yet he seems to me far the better of the +two; but not so pretty! Heavens, what a difference that +makes; in our not very well proportioned bodies and our +finely hideous faces, the 1-32nd - rather the 1-64th - this +way or that! Sixteen heads in all at Mulinuu. I am so stiff +I can scarce move without a howl. + + +MONDAY, 10TH. + + +Some news that Mataafa is gone to Savaii by way of Manono; +this may mean a great deal more warfaring, and no great +issue. (When Sosimo came in this morning with my breakfast +he had to lift me up. It is no joke to play lawn tennis +after carrying your right arm in a sling so many years.) +What a hard, unjust business this is! On the 28th, if +Mataafa had moved, he could have still swept Mulinuu. He +waited, and I fear he is now only the stick of a rocket. + + +WEDNESDAY, 12TH. + + +No more political news; but many rumours. The government +troops are off to Manono; no word of Mataafa. O, there is a +passage in my mother's letter which puzzles me as to a date. +Is it next Christmas you are coming? or the Christmas after? +This is most important, and must be understood at once. If +it is next Christmas, I could not go to Ceylon, for lack of +gold, and you would have to adopt one of the following +alternatives: 1st, either come straight on here and pass a +month with us; 'tis the rainy season, but we have often +lovely weather. Or (2nd) come to Hawaii and I will meet you +there. Hawaii is only a week's sail from S. Francisco, +making only about sixteen days on the heaving ocean; and the +steamers run once a fortnight, so that you could turn round; +and you could thus pass a day or two in the States - a +fortnight even - and still see me. But I have sworn to take +no further excursions till I have money saved to pay for +them; and to go to Ceylon and back would be torture unless I +had a lot. You must answer this at once, please; so that I +may know what to do. We would dearly like you to come on +here. I'll tell you how it can be done; I can come up and +meet you at Hawaii, and if you had at all got over your sea- +sickness, I could just come on board and we could return +together to Samoa, and you could have a month of our life +here, which I believe you could not help liking. Our horses +are the devil, of course, miserable screws, and some of them +a little vicious. I had a dreadful fright - the passage in +my mother's letter is recrossed and I see it says the end of +/94: so much the better, then; but I would like to submit to +you my alternative plan. I could meet you at Hawaii, and +reconduct you to Hawaii, so that we could have a full six +weeks together and I believe a little over, and you would see +this place of mine, and have a sniff of native life, native +foods, native houses - and perhaps be in time to see the +German flag raised, who knows? - and we could generally yarn +for all we were worth. I should like you to see Vailima; and +I should be curious to know how the climate affected you. It +is quite hit or miss; it suits me, it suits Graham, it suits +all our family; others it does not suit at all. It is either +gold or poison. I rise at six, the rest at seven; lunch is +at 12; at five we go to lawn tennis till dinner at six; and +to roost early. + +A man brought in a head to Mulinuu in great glory; they +washed the black paint off, and behold! it was his brother. +When I last heard he was sitting in his house, with the head +upon his lap, and weeping. Barbarous war is an ugly +business; but I believe the civilised is fully uglier; but +Lord! what fun! + +I should say we now have definite news that there are THREE +women's heads; it was difficult to get it out of the natives, +who are all ashamed, and the women all in terror of +reprisals. Nothing has been done to punish or disgrace these +hateful innovators. It was a false report that the head had +been returned. + + +THURSDAY, 13TH, + + +Mataafa driven away from Savaii. I cannot write about this, +and do not know what should be the end of it. + + +MONDAY, 17TH. + + +Haggard and Ahrens (a German clerk) to lunch yesterday. +There is no real certain news yet: I must say, no man could +SWEAR to any result; but the sky looks horribly black for +Mataafa and so many of our friends along with him. The thing +has an abominable, a beastly, nightmare interest. But it's +wonderful generally how little one cares about the wounded; +hospital sights, etc.; things that used to murder me. I was +far more struck with the excellent way in which things were +managed; as if it had been a peep-show; I held some of the +things at an operation, and did not care a dump. + + +TUESDAY, 18TH. + + +Sunday came the KATOOMBA, Captain Bickford, C.M.G. +Yesterday, Graham and I went down to call, and find he has +orders to suppress Mataafa at once, and has to go down to-day +before daybreak to Manono. He is a very capable, energetic +man; if he had only come ten days ago, all this would have +gone by; but now the questions are thick and difficult. (1) +Will Mataafa surrender? (2) Will his people allow themselves +to be disarmed? (3) What will happen to them if they do? +(4) What will any of them believe after former deceptions? +The three consuls were scampering on horseback to Leulumoega +to the King; no Cusack-Smith, without whose accession I could +not send a letter to Mataafa. I rode up here, wrote my +letter in the sweat of the concordance and with the able- +bodied help of Lloyd - and dined. Then down in continual +showers and pitchy darkness, and to Cusack-Smith's; not re- +returned. Back to the inn for my horse, and to C.-S.'s, when +I find him just returned and he accepts my letter. Thence +home, by 12.30, jolly tired and wet. And to-day have been in +a crispation of energy and ill-temper, raking my wretched +mail together. It is a hateful business, waiting for the +news; it may come to a fearful massacre yet. - Yours ever, + +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + + +AUGUST, 1893. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - Quite impossible to write. Your letter is +due to-day; a nasty, rainy-like morning with huge blue +clouds, and a huge indigo shadow on the sea, and my lamp +still burning at near 7. Let me humbly give you news. Fanny +seems on the whole the most, or the only, powerful member of +the family; for some days she has been the Flower of the +Flock. Belle is begging for quinine. Lloyd and Graham have +both been down with 'belly belong him' (Black Boy speech). +As for me, I have to lay aside my lawn tennis, having (as was +to be expected) had a smart but eminently brief hemorrhage. +I am also on the quinine flask. I have been re-casting the +beginning of the HANGING JUDGE or WEIR OF HERMISTON; then I +have been cobbling on my grandfather, whose last chapter +(there are only to be four) is in the form of pieces of +paper, a huge welter of inconsequence, and that glimmer of +faith (or hope) which one learns at this trade, that somehow +and some time, by perpetual staring and glowering and +rewriting, order will emerge. It is indeed a queer hope; +there is one piece for instance that I want in - I cannot put +it one place for a good reason - I cannot put it another for +a better - and every time I look at it, I turn sick and put +the Ms. away. + +Well, your letter hasn't come, and a number of others are +missing. It looks as if a mail-bag had gone on, so I'll +blame nobody, and proceed to business. + +It looks as if I was going to send you the first three +chapters of my Grandfather. . . . If they were set up, it +would be that much anxiety off my mind. I have a strange +feeling of responsibility, as if I had my ancestors' SOULS in +my charge, and might miscarry with them. + +There's a lot of work gone into it, and a lot more is needed. +Still Chapter I. seems about right to me, and much of Chapter +II. Chapter III. I know nothing of, as I told you. And +Chapter IV. is at present all ends and beginnings; but it can +be pulled together. + +This is all I have been able to screw up to you for this +month, and I may add that it is not only more than you +deserve, but just about more than I was equal to. I have +been and am entirely useless; just able to tinker at my +Grandfather. The three chapters - perhaps also a little of +the fourth - will come home to you next mail by the hand of +my cousin Graham Balfour, a very nice fellow whom I recommend +to you warmly - and whom I think you will like. This will +give you time to consider my various and distracted schemes. + +All our wars are over in the meantime, to begin again as soon +as the war-ships leave. Adieu. + +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + + +23RD AUGUST. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - Your pleasing letter RE THE EBB TIDE, to +hand. I propose, if it be not too late, to delete Lloyd's +name. He has nothing to do with the last half. The first we +wrote together, as the beginning of a long yarn. The second +is entirely mine; and I think it rather unfair on the young +man to couple his name with so infamous a work. Above all, +as you had not read the two last chapters, which seem to me +the most ugly and cynical of all. + +You will see that I am not in a good humour; and I am not. +It is not because of your letter, but because of the +complicated miseries that surround me and that I choose to +say nothing of. Life is not all Beer and Skittles. The +inherent tragedy of things works itself out from white to +black and blacker, and the poor things of a day look ruefully +on. Does it shake my cast-iron faith? I cannot say it does. +I believe in an ultimate decency of things; ay, and if I woke +in hell, should still believe it! But it is hard walking, +and I can see my own share in the missteps, and can bow my +head to the result, like an old, stern, unhappy devil of a +Norseman, as my ultimate character is. . . . + +Well, IL FAUT CULTIVER SON JARDIN. That last expression of +poor, unhappy human wisdom I take to my heart and go to ST. +IVES. + + +24th AUG. + + +And did, and worked about 2 hours and got to sleep ultimately +and 'a' the clouds has blawn away.' 'Be sure we'll have some +pleisand weather, When a' the clouds (storms?) has blawn +(gone?) away.' Verses that have a quite inexplicable +attraction for me, and I believe had for Burns. They have no +merit, but are somehow good. I am now in a most excellent +humour. + +I am deep in ST. IVES which, I believe, will be the next +novel done. But it is to be clearly understood that I +promise nothing, and may throw in your face the very last +thing you expect - or I expect. ST. IVES will (to my mind) +not be wholly bad. It is written in rather a funny style; a +little stilted and left-handed; the style of St. Ives; also, +to some extent, the style of R. L. S. dictating. ST. IVES +is unintellectual and except as an adventure novel, dull. +But the adventures seem to me sound and pretty probable; and +it is a love story. Speed his wings! + + +SUNDAY NIGHT. + + +DE COEUR UN PEU PLUS DISPOS, MONSIEUR ET CHER CONFRERE, JE ME +REMETS A VOUS ECRIRE. ST. IVES is now in the 5th chapter +copying; in the 14th chapter of the dictated draft. I do not +believe I shall end by disliking it. + + +MONDAY. + + +Well, here goes again for the news. Fanny is VERY WELL +indeed, and in good spirits; I am in good spirits but not +VERY well; Lloyd is in good spirits and very well; Belle has +a real good fever which has put her pipe out wholly. Graham +goes back this mail. He takes with him three chapters of THE +FAMILY, and is to go to you as soon as he can. He cannot be +much the master of his movements, but you grip him when you +can and get all you can from him, as he has lived about six +months with us and he can tell you just what is true and what +is not - and not the dreams of dear old Ross. He is a good +fellow, is he not? + +Since you rather revise your views of THE EBB TIDE, I think +Lloyd's name might stick, but I'll leave it to you. I'll +tell you just how it stands. Up to the discovery of the +champagne, the tale was all planned between us and drafted by +Lloyd; from that moment he has had nothing to do with it +except talking it over. For we changed our plan, gave up the +projected Monte Cristo, and cut it down for a short story. +My jmpression - (I beg your pardon - this is a local joke - a +firm here had on its beer labels, 'sole jmporters') - is that +it will never be popular, but might make a little SUCCES DE +SCANDALE. However, I'm done with it now, and not sorry, and +the crowd may rave and mumble its bones for what I care. + +Hole essential. I am sorry about the maps; but I want 'em +for next edition, so see and have proofs sent. You are quite +right about the bottle and the great Huish, I must try to +make it clear. No, I will not write a play for Irving nor +for the devil. Can you not see that the work of +FALSIFICATION which a play demands is of all tasks the most +ungrateful? And I have done it a long while - and nothing +ever came of it. + +Consider my new proposal, I mean Honolulu. You would get the +Atlantic and the Rocky Mountains, would you not? for bracing. +And so much less sea! And then you could actually see +Vailima, which I WOULD like you to, for it's beautiful and my +home and tomb that is to be; though it's a wrench not to be +planted in Scotland - that I can never deny - if I could only +be buried in the hills, under the heather and a table +tombstone like the martyrs, where the whaups and plovers are +crying! Did you see a man who wrote the STICKIT MINISTER, +and dedicated it to me, in words that brought the tears to my +eyes every time I looked at them, 'Where about the graves of +the martyrs the whaups are crying. HIS heart remembers how.' +Ah, by God, it does! Singular that I should fulfil the Scots +destiny throughout, and live a voluntary exile, and have my +head filled with the blessed, beastly place all the time! + +And now a word as regards the delusions of the dear Ross, who +remembers, I believe, my letters and Fanny's when we were +first installed, and were really hoeing a hard row. We have +salad, beans, cabbages, tomatoes, asparagus, kohl-rabi, +oranges, limes, barbadines, pine-apples, Cape gooseberries - +galore; pints of milk and cream; fresh meat five days a week. +It is the rarest thing for any of us to touch a tin; and the +gnashing of teeth when it has to be done is dreadful - for no +one who has not lived on them for six months knows what the +Hatred of the Tin is. As for exposure, my weakness is +certainly the reverse; I am sometimes a month without leaving +the verandah - for my sins, be it said! Doubtless, when I go +about and, as the Doctor says, 'expose myself to malaria,' I +am in far better health; and I would do so more too - for I +do not mean to be silly - but the difficulties are great. +However, you see how much the dear Doctor knows of my diet +and habits! Malaria practically does not exist in these +islands; it is a negligeable quantity. What really bothers +us a little is the mosquito affair - the so-called +elephantiasis - ask Ross about it. A real romance of natural +history, QUOI! + +Hi! stop! you say THE EBB TIDE is the 'working out of an +artistic problem of a kind.' Well, I should just bet it was! +You don't like Attwater. But look at my three rogues; +they're all there, I'll go bail. Three types of the bad man, +the weak man, and the strong man with a weakness, that are +gone through and lived out. + +Yes, of course I was sorry for Mataafa, but a good deal +sorrier and angrier about the mismanagement of all the white +officials. I cannot bear to write about that. Manono all +destroyed, one house standing in Apolima, the women stripped, +the prisoners beaten with whips - and the women's heads taken +- all under white auspices. And for upshot and result of so +much shame to the white powers - Tamasese already conspiring! +as I knew and preached in vain must be the case! Well, well, +it is no fun to meddle in politics! + +I suppose you're right about Simon. But it is Symon +throughout in that blessed little volume my father bought for +me in Inverness in the year of grace '81, I believe - the +trial of James Stewart, with the Jacobite pamphlet and the +dying speech appended - out of which the whole of Davie has +already been begotten, and which I felt it a kind of loyalty +to follow. I really ought to have it bound in velvet and +gold, if I had any gratitude! and the best of the lark is, +that the name of David Balfour is not anywhere within the +bounds of it. + +A pretty curious instance of the genesis of a book. I am +delighted at your good word for DAVID; I believe the two +together make up much the best of my work and perhaps of what +is in me. I am not ashamed of them, at least. There is one +hitch; instead of three hours between the two parts, I fear +there have passed three years over Davie's character; but do +not tell anybody; see if they can find it out for themselves; +and no doubt his experiences in KIDNAPPED would go far to +form him. I would like a copy to go to G. Meredith. + + +WEDNESDAY. + + +Well, here is a new move. It is likely I may start with +Graham next week and go to Honolulu to meet the other steamer +and return: I do believe a fortnight at sea would do me good; +yet I am not yet certain. The crowded UP-steamer sticks in +my throat. + + +TUESDAY, 12TH SEPT. + + +Yesterday was perhaps the brightest in the annals of Vailima. +I got leave from Captain Bickford to have the band of the +KATOOMBA come up, and they came, fourteen of 'em, with drum, +fife, cymbals and bugles, blue jackets, white caps, and +smiling faces. The house was all decorated with scented +greenery above and below. We had not only our own nine out- +door workers, but a contract party that we took on in charity +to pay their war-fine; the band besides, as it came up the +mountain, had collected a following of children by the way, +and we had a picking of Samoan ladies to receive them. +Chicken, ham, cake, and fruits were served out with coffee +and lemonade, and all the afternoon we had rounds of claret +negus flavoured with rum and limes. They played to us, they +danced, they sang, they tumbled. Our boys came in the end of +the verandah and gave THEM a dance for a while. It was +anxious work getting this stopped once it had begun, but I +knew the band was going on a programme. Finally they gave +three cheers for Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, shook hands, formed up +and marched off playing - till a kicking horse in the paddock +put their pipes out something of the suddenest - we thought +the big drum was gone, but Simele flew to the rescue. And so +they wound away down the hill with ever another call of the +bugle, leaving us extinct with fatigue, but perhaps the most +contented hosts that ever watched the departure of successful +guests. Simply impossible to tell how well these blue- +jackets behaved; a most interesting lot of men; this +education of boys for the navy is making a class, wholly +apart - how shall I call them? - a kind of lower-class public +school boy, well-mannered, fairly intelligent, sentimental as +a sailor. What is more shall be writ on board ship if +anywhere. + +Please send CATRIONA to G. Meredith. + + +S. S. MARIPOSA. + + +To-morrow I reach Honolulu. Good-morning to your honour. R. +L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + + +WAIKIKI, HONOLULU, H. 1. +OCT. 23rd, 1893. + + +DEAR COLVIN, - My wife came up on the steamer and we go home +together in 2 days. I am practically all right, only sleepy +and tired easily, slept yesterday from 11 to 11.45, from 1 to +2.50, went to bed at 8 P.M., and with an hour's interval +slept till 6 A.M., close upon 14 hours out of the 24. We +sail to-morrow. I am anxious to get home, though this has +been an interesting visit, and politics have been curious +indeed to study. We go to P.P.C. on the 'Queen' this +morning; poor, recluse lady, ABREUVEE D'INJURES QU'ELLE EST. +Had a rather annoying lunch on board the American man-of-war, +with a member of the P.G. (provincial government); and a good +deal of anti-royalist talk, which I had to sit out - not only +for my host's sake, but my fellow guests. At last, I took +the lead and changed the conversation. + +R. L. S. + +I am being busted here by party named Hutchinson. Seems +good. + + +[VAILIMA - NOVEMBER.] + + +Home again, and found all well, thank God. I am perfectly +well again and ruddier than the cherry. Please note that +8000 is not bad for a volume of short stories; the MERRY MEN +did a good deal worse; the short story never sells. I hope +CATRIONA will do; that is the important. The reviews seem +mixed and perplexed, and one had the peculiar virtue to make +me angry. I am in a fair way to expiscate my family history. +Fanny and I had a lovely voyage down, with our new C. J. and +the American Land Commissioner, and on the whole, and for +these disgusting steamers, a pleasant ship's company. I +cannot understand why you don't take to the Hawaii scheme. +Do you understand? You cross the Atlantic in six days, and +go from 'Frisco to Honolulu in seven. Thirteen days at sea +IN ALL. - I have no wish to publish THE EBB TIDE as a book, +let it wait. It will look well in the portfolio. I would +like a copy, of course, for that end; and to 'look upon't +again' - which I scarce dare. + + +[LATER.] + + +This is disgraceful. I have done nothing; neither work nor +letters. On the Me (May) day, we had a great triumph; our +Protestant boys, instead of going with their own villages and +families, went of their own accord in the Vailima uniform; +Belle made coats for them on purpose to complete the uniform, +they having bought the stuff; and they were hailed as they +marched in as the Tama-ona - the rich man's children. This +is really a score; it means that Vailima is publicly taken as +a family. Then we had my birthday feast a week late, owing +to diarrhoea on the proper occasion. The feast was laid in +the Hall, and was a singular mass of food: 15 pigs, 100 lbs. +beef, 100 lbs. pork, and the fruit and filigree in a +proportion. We had sixty horse-posts driven in the gate +paddock; how many guests I cannot guess, perhaps 150. They +came between three and four and left about seven. Seumanu +gave me one of his names; and when my name was called at the +ava drinking, behold, it was AU MAI TAUA MA MANU-VAO! You +would scarce recognise me, if you heard me thus referred to! + +Two days after, we hired a carriage in Apia, Fanny, Belle, +Lloyd and I, and drove in great style, with a native +outrider, to the prison; a huge gift of ava and tobacco under +the seats. The prison is now under the PULE of an Austrian, +Captain Wurmbrand, a soldier of fortune in Servia and Turkey, +a charming, clever, kindly creature, who is adored by 'HIS +chiefs' (as he calls them) meaning OUR political prisoners. +And we came into the yard, walled about with tinned iron, and +drank ava with the prisoners and the captain. It may amuse +you to hear how it is proper to drink ava. When the cup is +handed you, you reach your arm out somewhat behind you, and +slowly pour a libation, saying with somewhat the manner of +prayer, 'IA TAUMAFA E LE ATUA. UA MATAGOFIE LE FESILAFAIGA +NEI.' 'Be it (high-chief) partaken of by the God. How (high +chief) beautiful to view is this (high chief) gathering.' +This pagan practice is very queer. I should say that the +prison ava was of that not very welcome form that we +elegantly call spit-ava, but of course there was no escape, +and it had to be drunk. Fanny and I rode home, and I +moralised by the way. Could we ever stand Europe again? did +she appreciate that if we were in London, we should be +ACTUALLY JOSTLED in the street? and there was nobody in the +whole of Britain who knew how to take ava like a gentleman? +'Tis funny to be thus of two civilisations - or, if you like, +of one civilisation and one barbarism. And, as usual, the +barbarism is the more engaging. + +Colvin, you have to come here and see us in our { native / +mortal } spot. I just don't seem to be able to make up my +mind to your not coming. By this time, you will have seen +Graham, I hope, and he will be able to tell you something +about us, and something reliable, I shall feel for the first +time as if you knew a little about Samoa after that. Fanny +seems to be in the right way now. I must say she is very, +very well for her, and complains scarce at all. Yesterday, +she went down SOLA (at least accompanied by a groom) to pay a +visit; Belle, Lloyd and I went a walk up the mountain road - +the great public highway of the island, where you have to go +single file. The object was to show Belle that gaudy valley +of the Vaisigano which the road follows. If the road is to +be made and opened, as our new Chief Justice promises, it +will be one of the most beautiful roads in the world. But +the point is this: I forgot I had been three months in +civilisation, wearing shoes and stockings, and I tell you I +suffered on my soft feet; coming home, down hill, on that +stairway of loose stones, I could have cried. O yes, another +story, I knew I had. The house boys had not been behaving +well, so the other night I announced a FONO, and Lloyd and I +went into the boys' quarters, and I talked to them I suppose +for half an hour, and Talolo translated; Lloyd was there +principally to keep another ear on the interpreter; else +there may be dreadful misconceptions. I rubbed all their +ears, except two whom I particularly praised; and one man's +wages I announced I had cut down by one half. Imagine his +taking this smiling! Ever since, he has been specially +attentive and greets me with a face of really heavenly +brightness. This is another good sign of their really and +fairly accepting me as a chief. When I first came here, if I +had fined a man a sixpence, he would have quit work that +hour, and now I remove half his income, and he is glad to +stay on - nay, does not seem to entertain the possibility of +leaving. And this in the face of one particular difficulty - +I mean our house in the bush, and no society, and no women +society within decent reach. + +I think I must give you our staff in a tabular form. + + +HOUSE. + ++ o SOSIMO, provost and butler, and my valet. + +o MISIFOLO, who is Fanny and Belle's chamberlain. + +KITCHEN + ++ o TALOLO, provost and chief cook. + ++ o IOPU, second cook. + +TALI, his wife, no wages. + +TI'A, Samoan cook. + +FEILOA'I, his child, no wages, likewise no work - Belle's +pet. + ++ o LEUELU, Fanny's boy, gardener, odd jobs. + +IN APIA. + ++ ELIGA, washman and daily errand man. + +OUTSIDE. + ++ o HENRY SIMELE, provost and overseas of outside boys. + +LU. + +TASI SELE. + +MAIELE. + +PULU, who is also our talking man and cries the ava. + + +The crosses mark out the really excellent boys. Ti'a is the +man who has just been fined half his wages; he is a beautiful +old man, the living image of 'Fighting Gladiator,' my +favourite statue - but a dreadful humbug. I think we keep +him on a little on account of his looks. This sign o marks +those who have been two years or upwards in the family. I +note all my old boys have the cross of honour, except +Misifolo; well, poor dog, he does his best, I suppose. You +should see him scour. It is a remark that has often been +made by visitors: you never see a Samoan run, except at +Vailima. Do you not suppose that makes me proud? + +I am pleased to see what a success THE WRECKER was, having +already in little more than a year outstripped THE MASTER OF +BALLANTRAE. + +About DAVID BALFOUR in two volumes, do see that they make it +a decent-looking book, and tell me, do you think a little +historical appendix would be of service? Lang bleats for +one, and I thought I might address it to him as a kind of +open letter. + + +DEC. 4TH. + + +No time after all. Good-bye. + +R. L S. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - One page out of my picture book I must give +you. Fine burning day; half past two P.M. We four begin to +rouse up from reparatory slumbers, yawn, and groan, get a cup +of tea, and miserably dress: we have had a party the day +before, X'mas Day, with all the boys absent but one, and +latterly two; we had cooked all day long, a cold dinner, and +lo! at two our guests began to arrive, though dinner was not +till six; they were sixteen, and fifteen slept the night and +breakfasted. Conceive, then, how unwillingly we climb on our +horses and start off in the hottest part of the afternoon to +ride 4 and a half miles, attend a native feast in the gaol, +and ride four and a half miles back. But there is no help +for it. I am a sort of father of the political prisoners, +and have CHARGE D'AMES in that riotously absurd +establishment, Apia Gaol. The twenty-three (I think it is) +chiefs act as under gaolers. The other day they told the +Captain of an attempt to escape. One of the lesser political +prisoners the other day effected a swift capture, while the +Captain was trailing about with the warrant; the man came to +see what was wanted; came, too, flanked by the former gaoler; +my prisoner offers to show him the dark cell, shoves him in, +and locks the door. 'Why do you do that?' cries the former +gaoler. 'A warrant,' says he. Finally, the chiefs actually +feed the soldiery who watch them! + +The gaol is a wretched little building, containing a little +room, and three cells, on each side of a central passage; it +is surrounded by a fence of corrugated iron, and shows, over +the top of that, only a gable end with the inscription O LE +FALE PUIPUI. It is on the edge of the mangrove swamp, and is +reached by a sort of causeway of turf. When we drew near, we +saw the gates standing open and a prodigious crowd outside - +I mean prodigious for Apia, perhaps a hundred and fifty +people. The two sentries at the gate stood to arms +passively, and there seemed to be a continuous circulation +inside and out. The captain came to meet us; our boy, who +had been sent ahead was there to take the horses; and we +passed inside the court which was full of food, and rang +continuously to the voice of the caller of gifts; I had to +blush a little later when my own present came, and I heard my +one pig and eight miserable pine-apples being counted out +like guineas. In the four corners of the yard and along one +wall, there are make-shift, dwarfish, Samoan houses or huts, +which have been run up since Captain Wurmbrand came to +accommodate the chiefs. Before that they were all crammed +into the six cells, and locked in for the night, some of them +with dysentery. They are wretched constructions enough, but +sanctified by the presence of chiefs. We heard a man +corrected loudly to-day for saying 'FALE' of one of them; +'MAOTA,' roared the highest chief present - 'palace.' About +eighteen chiefs, gorgeously arrayed, stood up to greet us, +and led us into one of these MAOTAS, where you may be sure we +had to crouch, almost to kneel, to enter, and where a row of +pretty girls occupied one side to make the ava (kava). The +highest chief present was a magnificent man, as high chiefs +usually are; I find I cannot describe him; his face is full +of shrewdness and authority; his figure like Ajax; his name +Auilua. He took the head of the building and put Belle on +his right hand. Fanny was called first for the ava (kava). +Our names were called in English style, the high-chief wife +of Mr. St- (an unpronounceable something); Mrs. Straw, and +the like. And when we went into the other house to eat, we +found we were seated alternately with chiefs about the - +table, I was about to say, but rather floor. Everything was +to be done European style with a vengeance! We were the only +whites present, except Wurmbrand, and still I had no +suspicion of the truth. They began to take off their ulas +(necklaces of scarlet seeds) and hang them about our necks; +we politely resisted, and were told that the King (who had +stopped off their SIVA) had sent down to the prison a message +to the effect that he was to give a dinner to-morrow, and +wished their second-hand ulas for it. Some of them were +content; others not. There was a ring of anger in the boy's +voice, as he told us we were to wear them past the King's +house. Dinner over, I must say they are moderate eaters at a +feast, we returned to the ava house; and then the curtain +drew suddenly up upon the set scene. We took our seats, and +Auilua began to give me a present, recapitulating each +article as he gave it out, with some appropriate comment. He +called me several times 'their only friend,' said they were +all in slavery, had no money, and these things were all made +by the hands of their families - nothing bought; he had one +phrase, in which I heard his voice rise up to a note of +triumph: 'This is a present from the poor prisoners to the +rich man.' Thirteen pieces of tapa, some of them +surprisingly fine, one I think unique; thirty fans of every +shape and colour; a kava cup, etc., etc. At first Auilua +conducted the business with weighty gravity; but before the +end of the thirty fans, his comments began to be humorous. +When it came to a little basket, he said: 'Here was a little +basket for Tusitala to put sixpence in, when he could get +hold of one' - with a delicious grimace. I answered as best +as I was able through a miserable interpreter; and all the +while, as I went on, I heard the crier outside in the court +calling my gift of food, which I perceived was to be +Gargantuan. I had brought but three boys with me. It was +plain that they were wholly overpowered. We proposed to send +for our gifts on the morrow; but no, said the interpreter, +that would never do; they must go away to-day, Mulinuu must +see my porters taking away the gifts, - 'make 'em jella,' +quoth the interpreter. And I began to see the reason of this +really splendid gift; one half, gratitude to me - one half, a +wipe at the King. + +And now, to introduce darker colours, you must know this +visit of mine to the gaol was just a little bit risky; we had +several causes for anxiety; it MIGHT have been put up, to +connect with a Tamasese rising. Tusitala and his family +would be good hostages. On the other hand, there were the +Mulinuu people all about. We could see the anxiety of +Captain Wurmbrand, no less anxious to have us go, than he had +been to see us come; he was deadly white and plainly had a +bad headache, in the noisy scene. Presently, the noise grew +uproarious; there was a rush at the gate - a rush in, not a +rush out - where the two sentries still stood passive; Auilua +leaped from his place (it was then that I got the name of +Ajax for him) and the next moment we heard his voice roaring +and saw his mighty figure swaying to and fro in the hurly- +burly. As the deuce would have it, we could not understand a +word of what was going on. It might be nothing more than the +ordinary 'grab racket' with which a feast commonly concludes; +it might be something worse. We made what arrangements we +could for my tapa, fans, etc., as well as for my five pigs, +my masses of fish, taro, etc., and with great dignity, and +ourselves laden with ulas and other decorations, passed +between the sentries among the howling mob to our horses. +All's well that ends well. Owing to Fanny and Belle, we had +to walk; and, as Lloyd said, 'he had at last ridden in a +circus.' The whole length of Apia we paced our triumphal +progress, past the King's palace, past the German firm at +Sogi - you can follow it on the map - amidst admiring +exclamations of 'MAWAIA' - beautiful - it may be rendered 'O +my! ain't they dandy' - until we turned up at last into our +road as the dusk deepened into night. It was really +exciting. And there is one thing sure: no such feast was +ever made for a single family, and no such present ever given +to a single white man. It is something to have been the hero +of it. And whatever other ingredients there were, +undoubtedly gratitude was present. As money value I have +actually gained on the transaction! + +Your note arrived; little profit, I must say. Scott has +already put his nose in, in ST. IVES, sir; but his appearance +is not yet complete; nothing is in that romance, except the +story. I have to announce that I am off work, probably for +six months. I must own that I have overworked bitterly - +overworked - there, that's legible. My hand is a thing that +was, and in the meanwhile so are my brains. And here, in the +very midst, comes a plausible scheme to make Vailima pay, +which will perhaps let me into considerable expense just when +I don't want it. You know the vast cynicism of my view of +affairs, and how readily and (as some people say) with how +much gusto I take the darker view? + +Why do you not send me Jerome K. Jerome's paper, and let me +see THE EBB TIDE as a serial? It is always very important to +see a thing in different presentments. I want every number. +Politically we begin the new year with every expectation of a +bust in 2 or 3 days, a bust which may spell destruction to +Samoa. I have written to Baxter about his proposal. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + + +VAILIMA, +JAN. 29TH, 1894. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - I had fully intended for your education and +moral health to fob you off with the meanest possible letter +this month, and unfortunately I find I will have to treat you +to a good long account of matters here. I believe I have +told you before about Tui-ma-le-alii-fano and my taking him +down to introduce him to the Chief Justice. Well, Tui came +back to Vailima one day in the blackest sort of spirits, +saying the war was decided, that he also must join in the +fight, and that there was no hope whatever of success. He +must fight as a point of honour for his family and country; +and in his case, even if he escaped on the field of battle, +deportation was the least to be looked for. He said he had a +letter of complaint from the Great Council of A'ana which he +wished to lay before the Chief Justice; and he asked me to +accompany him as if I were his nurse. We went down about +dinner time; and by the way received from a lurking native +the famous letter in an official blue envelope gummed up to +the edges. It proved to be a declaration of war, quite +formal, but with some variations that really made you bounce. +White residents were directly threatened, bidden to have +nothing to do with the King's party, not to receive their +goods in their houses, etc., under pain of an accident. +However, the Chief Justice took it very wisely and mildly, +and between us, he and I and Tui made up a plan which has +proved successful - so far. The war is over - fifteen chiefs +are this morning undergoing a curious double process of law, +comparable to a court martial; in which their complaints are +to be considered, and if possible righted, while their +conduct is to be criticised, perhaps punished. Up to now, +therefore, it has been a most successful policy; but the +danger is before us. My own feeling would decidedly be that +all would be spoiled by a single execution. The great hope +after all lies in the knotless, rather flaccid character of +the people. These are no Maoris. All the powers that +Cedarcrantz let go by disuse the new C. J. is stealthily and +boldly taking back again; perhaps some others also. He has +shamed the chiefs in Mulinuu into a law against taking heads, +with a punishment of six years' imprisonment and, for a +chief, degradation. To him has been left the sole conduct of +this anxious and decisive inquiry. If the natives stand it, +why, well! But I am nervous. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + + + +FEB. 1894. + + +DEAR COLVIN, - By a reaction, when your letter is a little +decent, mine is to be naked and unashamed. We have been much +exercised. No one can prophesy here, of course, and the +balance still hangs trembling, but I THINK it will go for +peace. + +The mail was very late this time; hence the paltryness of +this note. When it came and I had read it, I retired with +THE EBB TIDE and read it all before I slept. I did not dream +it was near as good; I am afraid I think it excellent. A +little indecision about Attwater, not much. It gives me +great hope, as I see I CAN work in that constipated, mosaic +manner, which is what I have to do just now with WEIR OF +HERMISTON. + +We have given a ball; I send you a paper describing the +event. We have two guests in the house, Captain-Count +Wurmbrand and Monsieur Albert de Lautreppe. Lautreppe is +awfully nice - a quiet, gentlemanly fellow, GONFLE DE REVES, +as he describes himself - once a sculptor in the atelier of +Henry Crosse, he knows something of art, and is really a +resource to me. + +Letter from Meredith very kind. Have you seen no more of +Graham? + +What about my grandfather? The family history will grow to +be quite a chapter. + +I suppose I am growing sensitive; perhaps, by living among +barbarians, I expect more civility. Look at this from the +author of a very interesting and laudatory critique. He +gives quite a false description of something of mine, and +talks about my 'insolence.' Frankly, I supposed 'insolence' +to be a tapua word. I do not use it to a gentleman, I would +not write it of a gentleman: I may be wrong, but I believe we +did not write it of a gentleman in old days, and in my view +he (clever fellow as he is) wants to be kicked for applying +it to me. By writing a novel - even a bad one - I do not +make myself a criminal for anybody to insult. This may amuse +you. But either there is a change in journalism, too gradual +for you to remark it on the spot, or there is a change in me. +I cannot bear these phrases; I long to resent them. My +forbears, the tenant farmers of the Mains, would not have +suffered such expressions unless it had been from Cauldwell, +or Rowallan, or maybe Auchendrane. My Family Pride bristles. +I am like the negro, 'I just heard last night' who my great, +great, great, great grandfather was. - Ever yours, + +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + + + +MARCH 1894. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - This is the very day the mail goes, and I +have as yet written you nothing. But it was just as well - +as it was all about my 'blacks and chocolates,' and what of +it had relation to whites you will read some of in the TIMES. +It means, as you will see, that I have at one blow quarrelled +with all the officials of Samoa, the Foreign Office, and I +suppose her Majesty the Queen with milk and honey blest. But +you'll see in the TIMES. I am very well indeed, but just +about dead and mighty glad the mail is near here, and I can +just give up all hope of contending with my letters, and lie +down for the rest of the day. These TIMES letters are not +easy to write. And I dare say the Consuls say, 'Why, then, +does he write them?' + +I had miserable luck with ST. IVES; being already half-way +through it, a book I had ordered six months ago arrives at +last, and I have to change the first half of it from top to +bottom! How could I have dreamed the French prisoners were +watched over like a female charity school, kept in a +grotesque livery, and shaved twice a week? And I had made +all my points on the idea that they were unshaved and clothed +anyhow. However, this last is better business; if only the +book had come when I ordered it! A PROPOS, many of the books +you announce don't come as a matter of fact. When they are +of any value, it is best to register them. Your letter, +alas! is not here; I sent it down to the cottage, with all my +mail, for Fanny; on Sunday night a boy comes up with a +lantern and a note from Fanny, to say the woods are full of +Atuas and I must bring a horse down that instant, as the +posts are established beyond her on the road, and she does +not want to have the fight going on between us. Impossible +to get a horse; so I started in the dark on foot, with a +revolver, and my spurs on my bare feet, leaving directions +that the boy should mount after me with the horse. Try such +an experience on Our Road once, and do it, if you please, +after you have been down town from nine o'clock till six, on +board the ship-of-war lunching, teaching Sunday School (I +actually do) and making necessary visits; and the Saturday +before, having sat all day from half past six to half-past +four, scriving at my TIMES letter. About half-way up, just +in fact at 'point' of the outposts, I met Fanny coming up. +Then all night long I was being wakened with scares that +really should be looked into, though I KNEW there was nothing +in them and no bottom to the whole story; and the drums and +shouts and cries from Tanugamanono and the town keeping up an +all night corybantic chorus in the moonlight - the moon rose +late - and the search-light of the war-ship in the harbour +making a jewel of brightness as it lit up the bay of Apia in +the distance. And then next morning, about eight o'clock, a +drum coming out of the woods and a party of patrols who had +been in the woods on our left front (which is our true rear) +coming up to the house, and meeting there another party who +had been in the woods on our right { front / rear } which is +Vaea Mountain, and 43 of them being entertained to ava and +biscuits on the verandah, and marching off at last in single +file for Apia. Briefly, it is not much wonder if your letter +and my whole mail was left at the cottage, and I have no +means of seeing or answering particulars. + +The whole thing was nothing but a bottomless scare; it was +OBVIOUSLY so; you couldn't make a child believe it was +anything else, but it has made the Consuls sit up. My own +private scares were really abominably annoying; as for +instance after I had got to sleep for the ninth time perhaps +- and that was no easy matter either, for I had a crick in my +neck so agonising that I had to sleep sitting up - I heard +noises as of a man being murdered in the boys' house. To be +sure, said I, this is nothing again, but if a man's head was +being taken, the noises would be the same! So I had to get +up, stifle my cries of agony from the crick, get my revolver, +and creep out stealthily to the boys' house. And there were +two of them sitting up, keeping watch of their own accord +like good boys, and whiling the time over a game of Sweepi +(Cascino - the whist of our islanders) - and one of them was +our champion idiot, Misifolo, and I suppose he was holding +bad cards, and losing all the time - and these noises were +his humorous protests against Fortune! + +Well, excuse this excursion into my 'blacks and chocolates.' +It is the last. You will have heard from Lysaght how I +failed to write last mail. The said Lysaght seems to me a +very nice fellow. We were only sorry he could not stay with +us longer. Austin came back from school last week, which +made a great time for the Amanuensis, you may be sure. Then +on Saturday, the CURACOA came in - same commission, with all +our old friends; and on Sunday, as already mentioned, Austin +and I went down to service and had lunch afterwards in the +wardroom. The officers were awfully nice to Austin; they are +the most amiable ship in the world; and after lunch we had a +paper handed round on which we were to guess, and sign our +guess, of the number of leaves on the pine-apple; I never saw +this game before, but it seems it is much practised in the +Queen's Navee. When all have betted, one of the party begins +to strip the pine-apple head, and the person whose guess is +furthest out has to pay for the sherry. My equanimity was +disturbed by shouts of THE AMERICAN COMMODORE, and I found +that Austin had entered and lost about a bottle of sherry! +He turned with great composure and addressed me. 'I am +afraid I must look to you, Uncle Louis.' The Sunday School +racket is only an experiment which I took up at the request +of the late American Land Commissioner; I am trying it for a +month, and if I do as ill as I believe, and the boys find it +only half as tedious as I do, I think it will end in a month. +I have CARTE BLANCHE, and say what I like; but does any +single soul understand me? + +Fanny is on the whole very much better. Lloyd has been under +the weather, and goes for a month to the South Island of New +Zealand for some skating, save the mark! I get all the +skating I want among officials. + +Dear Colvin, please remember that my life passes among my +'blacks or chocolates.' If I were to do as you propose, in a +bit of a tiff, it would cut you off entirely from my life. +You must try to exercise a trifle of imagination, and put +yourself, perhaps with an effort, into some sort of sympathy +with these people, or how am I to write to you? I think you +are truly a little too Cockney with me. - Ever yours, + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + + + +VAILIMA, MAY 18TH, 1894. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - Your proposals for the Edinburgh edition +are entirely to my mind. About the AMATEUR EMIGRANT, it +shall go to you by this mail well slashed. If you like to +slash some more on your own account, I give you permission. +'Tis not a great work; but since it goes to make up the two +first volumes as proposed, I presume it has not been written +in vain. - MISCELLANIES. I see with some alarm the proposal +to print JUVENILIA; does it not seem to you taking myself a +little too much as Grandfather William? I am certainly not +so young as I once was - a lady took occasion to remind me of +the fact no later agone than last night. 'Why don't you +leave that to the young men, Mr. Stevenson?' said she - but +when I remember that I felt indignant at even John Ruskin +when he did something of the kind I really feel myself blush +from head to heel. If you want to make up the first volume, +there are a good many works which I took the trouble to +prepare for publication and which have never been +republished. In addition to ROADS and DANCING CHILDREN, +referred to by you, there is an Autumn effect in the +PORTFOLIO, and a paper on FONTAINEBLEAU - FOREST NOTES is the +name of it - in CORNHILL. I have no objection to any of +these being edited, say with a scythe, and reproduced. But I +heartily abominate and reject the idea of reprinting the +PENTLAND RISING. For God's sake let me get buried first. + +TALES AND FANTASIES. Vols. I. and II. have my hearty +approval. But I think III. and IV. had better be crammed +into one as you suggest. I will reprint none of the stories +mentioned. They are below the mark. Well, I dare say the +beastly BODY-SNATCHER has merit, and I am unjust to it from +my recollections of the PALL MALL. But the other two won't +do. For vols. V. and VI., now changed into IV. and V., I +propose the common title of SOUTH SEA YARNS. There! These +are all my differences of opinion. I agree with every detail +of your arrangement, and, as you see, my objections have +turned principally on the question of hawking unripe fruit. +I daresay it is all pretty green, but that is no reason for +us to fill the barrow with trash. Think of having a new set +of type cast, paper especially made, etc., in order to set up +rubbish that is not fit for the SATURDAY SCOTSMAN. It would +be the climax of shame. + +I am sending you a lot of verses, which had best, I think, be +called UNDERWOODS Book III., but in what order are they to +go? Also, I am going on every day a little, till I get sick +of it, with the attempt to get the EMIGRANT compressed into +life; I know I can - or you can after me - do it. It is only +a question of time and prayer and ink, and should leave +something, no, not good, but not all bad - a very genuine +appreciation of these folks. You are to remember besides +there is that paper of mine on Bunyan in THE MAGAZINE OF ART. +O, and then there's another thing in SEELEY called some +spewsome name, I cannot recall it. + +Well - come, here goes for JUVENILIA. DANCING INFANTS, +ROADS, AN AUTUMN EFFECT, FOREST NOTES (but this should come +at the end of them, as it's really rather riper), the t'other +thing from SEELEY, and I'll tell you, you may put in my +letter to the Church of Scotland - it's not written amiss, +and I daresay the PHILOSOPHY OF UMBRELLAS might go in, but +there I stick - and remember THAT was a collaboration with +James Walter Ferrier. O, and there was a little skit called +the CHARITY BAZAAR, which you might see; I don't think it +would do. Now, I do not think there are two other words that +should be printed. - By the way, there is an article of mine +called THE DAY AFTER TO-MORROW in the CONTEMPORARY which you +might find room for somewhere; it is no' bad. + +Very busy with all these affairs and some native ones also. + + + +CHAPTER XL + + + +VAILIMA, June 18th, 94. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - You are to please understand that my last +letter is withdrawn unconditionally. You and Baxter are +having all the trouble of this Edition, and I simply put +myself in your hands for you to do what you like with me, and +I am sure that will be the best, at any rate. Hence you are +to conceive me withdrawing all objections to your printing +anything you please. After all it is a sort of family +affair. About the Miscellany Section, both plans seem to me +quite good. Toss up. I think the OLD GARDENER has to stay +where I put him last. It would not do to separate John and +Robert. + +In short, I am only sorry I ever uttered a word about the +edition, and leave you to be the judge. I have had a vile +cold which has prostrated me for more than a fortnight, and +even now tears me nightly with spasmodic coughs; but it has +been a great victory. I have never borne a cold with so +little hurt; wait till the clouds blow by, before you begin +to boast! I have had no fever; and though I've been very +unhappy, it is nigh over, I think. Of course, ST. IVES has +paid the penalty. I must not let you be disappointed in ST. +I. It is a mere tissue of adventures; the central figure not +very well or very sharply drawn; no philosophy, no destiny, +to it; some of the happenings very good in themselves, I +believe, but none of them BILDENDE, none of them +constructive, except in so far perhaps as they make up a kind +of sham picture of the time, all in italics and all out of +drawing. Here and there, I think, it is well written; and +here and there it's not. Some of the episodic characters are +amusing, I do believe; others not, I suppose. However, they +are the best of the thing such as it is. If it has a merit +to it, I should say it was a sort of deliberation and swing +to the style, which seems to me to suit the mail-coaches and +post-chaises with which it sounds all through. 'Tis my most +prosaic book. + +I called on the two German ships now in port, and we are +quite friendly with them, and intensely friendly of course +with our own CURACOAS. But it is other guess work on the +beach. Some one has employed, or subsidised, one of the +local editors to attack me once a week. He is pretty +scurrilous and pretty false. The first effect of the perusal +of the weekly Beast is to make me angry; the second is a kind +of deep, golden content and glory, when I seem to say to +people: 'See! this is my position - I am a plain man dwelling +in the bush in a house, and behold they have to get up this +kind of truck against me - and I have so much influence that +they are obliged to write a weekly article to say I have +none.' + +By this time you must have seen Lysaght and forgiven me the +letter that came not at all. He was really so nice a fellow +- he had so much to tell me of Meredith - and the time was so +short - that I gave up the intervening days between mails +entirely to entertain him. + +We go on pretty nicely. Fanny, Belle, and I have had two +months alone, and it has been very pleasant. But by to- +morrow or next day noon, we shall see the whole clan +assembled again about Vailima table, which will be pleasant +too; seven persons in all, and the Babel of voices will be +heard again in the big hall so long empty and silent. Good- +bye. Love to all. Time to close. - Yours ever, + +R. L. S. + + + +CHAPTER XLI + + + +JULY, 1894. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - I have to thank you this time for a very +good letter, and will announce for the future, though I +cannot now begin to put in practice, good intentions for our +correspondence. I will try to return to the old system and +write from time to time during the month; but truly you did +not much encourage me to continue! However, that is all by- +past. I do not know that there is much in your letter that +calls for answer. Your questions about ST. IVES were +practically answered in my last; so were your wails about the +edition, AMATEUR EMIGRANT, etc. By the end of the year ST. +I. will be practically finished, whatever it be worth, and +that I know not. When shall I receive proofs of the MAGNUM +OPUS? or shall I receive them at all? + +The return of the Amanuensis feebly lightens my heart. You +can see the heavy weather I was making of it with my unaided +pen. The last month has been particularly cheery largely +owing to the presence of our good friends the CURACOAS. She +is really a model ship, charming officers and charming +seamen. They gave a ball last month, which was very rackety +and joyous and naval. . . . + +On the following day, about one o'clock, three horsemen might +have been observed approaching Vailima, who gradually +resolved themselves into two petty officers and a native +guide. Drawing himself up and saluting, the spokesman (a +corporal of Marines) addressed me thus. 'Me and my shipmates +inwites Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Mrs. Strong, Mr. Austin, and +Mr. Balfour to a ball to be given to-night in the self-same +'all.' It was of course impossible to refuse, though I +contented myself with putting in a very brief appearance. +One glance was sufficient; the ball went off like a rocket +from the start. I had only time to watch Belle careering +around with a gallant bluejacket of exactly her own height - +the standard of the British navy - an excellent dancer and +conspicuously full of small-talk - and to hear a remark from +a beach-comber, 'It's a nice sight this some way, to see the +officers dancing like this with the men, but I tell you, sir, +these are the men that'll fight together!' + +I tell you, Colvin, the acquaintance of the men - and boys - +makes me feel patriotic. Eeles in particular is a man whom I +respect. I am half in a mind to give him a letter of +introduction to you when he goes home. In case you feel +inclined to make a little of him, give him a dinner, ask +Henry James to come to meet him, etc. - you might let me +know. I don't know that he would show his best, but he is a +remarkably fine fellow, in every department of life. + +We have other visitors in port. A Count Festetics de Solna, +an Austrian officer, a very pleasant, simple, boyish +creature, with his young wife, daughter of an American +millionaire; he is a friend of our own Captain Wurmbrand, and +it is a great pity Wurmbrand is away. + +Glad you saw and liked Lysaght. He has left in our house a +most cheerful and pleasing memory, as a good, pleasant, brisk +fellow with good health and brains, and who enjoys himself +and makes other people happy. I am glad he gave you a good +report of our surroundings and way of life; but I knew he +would, for I believe he had a glorious time - and gave one. + +I am on fair terms with the two Treaty officials, though all +such intimacies are precarious; with the consuls, I need not +say, my position is deplorable. The President (Herr Emil +Schmidt) is a rather dreamy man, whom I like. Lloyd, Graham +and I go to breakfast with him to-morrow; the next day the +whole party of us lunch on the CURACOA and go in the evening +to a BIERABEND at Dr. Funk's. We are getting up a paper- +chase for the following week with some of the young German +clerks, and have in view a sort of child's party for grown-up +persons with kissing games, etc., here at Vailima. Such is +the gay scene in which we move. Now I have done something, +though not as much as I wanted, to give you an idea of how we +are getting on, and I am keenly conscious that there are +other letters to do before the mail goes. - Yours ever, + +R. L. STEVENSON. + + + +CHAPTER XLII + + + +AUG. 7TH + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - This is to inform you, sir, that on Sunday +last (and this is Tuesday) I attained my ideal here, and we +had a paper chase in Vailele Plantation, about 15 miles, I +take it, from us; and it was all that could be wished. It is +really better fun than following the hounds, since you have +to be your own hound, and a precious bad hound I was, +following every false scent on the whole course to the bitter +end; but I came in 3rd at the last on my little Jack, who +stuck to it gallantly, and awoke the praises of some +discriminating persons. (5 + 7 + 2.5 = 14.5 miles; yes, that +is the count.) We had quite the old sensations of +exhilaration, discovery, an appeal to a savage instinct; and +I felt myself about 17 again, a pleasant experience. +However, it was on the Sabbath Day, and I am now a pariah +among the English, as if I needed any increment of +unpopularity. I must not go again; it gives so much +unnecessary tribulation to poor people, and, sure, we don't +want to make tribulation. I have been forbidden to work, and +have been instead doing my two or three hours in the +plantation every morning. I only wish somebody would pay me +10 pounds a day for taking care of cacao, and I could leave +literature to others. Certainly, if I have plenty of +exercise, and no work, I feel much better; but there is Biles +the butcher! him we have always with us. + +I do not much like novels, I begin to think, but I am +enjoying exceedingly Orme's HISTORY OF HINDOSTAN, a lovely +book in its way, in large quarto, with a quantity of maps, +and written in a very lively and solid eighteenth century +way, never picturesque except by accident and from a kind of +conviction, and a fine sense of order. No historian I have +ever read is so minute; yet he never gives you a word about +the people; his interest is entirely limited in the +concatenation of events, into which he goes with a lucid, +almost superhuman, and wholly ghostly gusto. 'By the ghost +of a mathematician' the book might be announced. A very +brave, honest book. + +Your letter to hand. + +Fact is, I don't like the picter. O, it's a good picture, +but if you ASK me, you know, I believe, stoutly believe, that +mankind, including you, are going mad, I am not in the midst +with the other frenzy dancers, so I don't catch it wholly; +and when you show me a thing - and ask me, don't you know - +Well, well! Glad to get so good an account of the AMATEUR +EMIGRANT. Talking of which, I am strong for making a volume +out of selections from the South Sea letters; I read over +again the King of Apemama, and it is good in spite of your +teeth, and a real curiosity, a thing that can never be seen +again, and the group is annexed and Tembinoka dead. I +wonder, couldn't you send out to me the FIRST five Butaritari +letters and the Low Archipelago ones (both of which I have +lost or mislaid) and I can chop out a perfectly fair volume +of what I wish to be preserved. It can keep for the last of +the series. + +TRAVELS AND EXCURSIONS, vol. II. Should it not include a +paper on S. F. from the MAG. OF ART? The A. E., the New +Pacific capital, the Old ditto. SILVER. SQUAT. This would +give all my works on the States; and though it ain't very +good, it's not so very bad. TRAVELS AND EXCURSIONS, vol. +III., to be these resuscitated letters - MISCELLANIES, vol. +II. - COMME VOUS VOUDREZ, CHER MONSIEUR! + + +MONDAY, Aug. 13TH + + +I have a sudden call to go up the coast and must hurry up +with my information. There has suddenly come to our naval +commanders the need of action, they're away up the coast +bombarding the Atua rebels. All morning on Saturday the +sound of the bombardment of Lotuanu'u kept us uneasy. To-day +again the big guns have been sounding further along the +coast. + +To-morrow morning early I am off up the coast myself. +Therefore you must allow me to break off here without further +ceremony. - Yours ever, + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + + + +VAILIMA, 1894. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - This must be a very measly letter. I have +been trying hard to get along with ST. IVES. I should now +lay it aside for a year and I daresay I should make something +of it after all. Instead of that, I have to kick against the +pricks, and break myself, and spoil the book, if there were +anything to spoil, which I am far from saying. I'm as sick +of the thing as ever any one can be; it's a rudderless hulk; +it's a pagoda, and you can just feel - or I can feel - that +it might have been a pleasant story, if it had been only +blessed at baptism. + +Our politics have gone on fairly well, but the result is +still doubtful. + + +SEPT. 10TH. + + +I know I have something else to say to you, but unfortunately +I awoke this morning with collywobbles, and had to take a +small dose of laudanum with the usual consequences of dry +throat, intoxicated legs, partial madness and total +imbecility; and for the life of me I cannot remember what it +is. I have likewise mislaid your letter amongst the +accumulations on my table, not that there was anything in it. +Altogether I am in a poor state. I forgot to tell Baxter +that the dummy had turned up and is a fine, personable- +looking volume and very good reading. Please communicate +this to him. + +I have just remembered an incident that I really must not let +pass. You have heard a great deal more than you wanted about +our political prisoners. Well, one day, about a fortnight +ago, the last of them was set free - Old Poe, whom I think I +must have mentioned to you, the father-in-law of my cook, was +one that I had had a great deal of trouble with. I had taken +the doctor to see him, got him out on sick leave, and when he +was put back again gave bail for him. I must not forget that +my wife ran away with him out of the prison on the doctor's +orders and with the complicity of our friend the gaoler, who +really and truly got the sack for the exploit. As soon as he +was finally liberated, Poe called a meeting of his fellow- +prisoners. All Sunday they were debating what they were to +do, and on Monday morning I got an obscure hint from Talolo +that I must expect visitors during the day who were coming to +consult me. These consultations I am now very well used to, +and seeing first, that I generally don't know what to advise, +and second that they sometimes don't take my advice - though +in some notable cases they have taken it, generally to my own +wonder with pretty good results - I am not very fond of these +calls. They minister to a sense of dignity, but not peace of +mind, and consume interminable time always in the morning +too, when I can't afford it. However, this was to be a new +sort of consultation. Up came Poe and some eight other +chiefs, squatted in a big circle around the old dining-room +floor, now the smoking-room. And the family, being +represented by Lloyd, Graham, Belle, Austin and myself, +proceeded to exchange the necessary courtesies. Then their +talking man began. He said that they had been in prison, +that I had always taken an interest in them, that they had +now been set at liberty without condition, whereas some of +the other chiefs who had been liberated before them were +still under bond to work upon the roads, and that this had +set them considering what they might do to testify their +gratitude. They had therefore agreed to work upon my road as +a free gift. They went on to explain that it was only to be +on my road, on the branch that joins my house with the public +way. + +Now I was very much gratified at this compliment, although +(to one used to natives) it seemed rather a hollow one. It +meant only that I should have to lay out a good deal of money +on tools and food and to give wages under the guise of +presents to some workmen who were most of them old and in +ill-health. Conceive how much I was surprised and touched +when I heard the whole scheme explained to me. They were to +return to their provinces, and collect their families; some +of the young men were to live in Apia with a boat, and ply up +and down the coast to A'ana and A'tua (our own Tuamasaga +being quite drained of resources) in order to supply the +working squad with food. Tools they did ask for, but it was +especially mentioned that I was to make no presents. In +short, the whole of this little 'presentation' to me had been +planned with a good deal more consideration than goes usually +with a native campaign. + + +(I sat on the opposite side of the circle to the talking man. +His face was quite calm and high-bred as he went through the +usual Samoan expressions of politeness and compliment, but +when he came on to the object of their visit, on their love +and gratitude to Tusitala, how his name was always in their +prayers, and his goodness to them when they had no other +friend, was their most cherished memory, he warmed up to +real, burning, genuine feeling. I had never seen the Samoan +mask of reserve laid aside before, and it touched me more +than anything else. A.M.) + + +This morning as ever was, bright and early up came the whole +gang of them, a lot of sturdy, common-looking lads they +seemed to be for the most part, and fell to on my new road. +Old Poe was in the highest of good spirits, and looked better +in health than he has done any time in two years, being +positively rejuvenated by the success of his scheme. He +jested as he served out the new tools, and I am sorry to say +damned the Government up hill and down dale, probably with a +view to show off his position as a friend of the family +before his work-boys. Now, whether or not their impulse will +last them through the road does not matter to me one hair. +It is the fact that they have attempted it, that they have +volunteered and are now really trying to execute a thing that +was never before heard of in Samoa. Think of it! It is +road-making - the most fruitful cause (after taxes) of all +rebellions in Samoa, a thing to which they could not be wiled +with money nor driven by punishment. It does give me a sense +of having done something in Samoa after all. + +Now there's one long story for you about 'my blacks.' - Yours +ever, + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + + + +VAILIMA, SAMOA, +OCT. 6TH, 1894. + + +MY DEAR COLVIN, - We have had quite an interesting month and +mostly in consideration of that road which I think I told you +was about to be made. It was made without a hitch, though I +confess I was considerably surprised. When they got through, +I wrote a speech to them, sent it down to a Missionary to be +translated, and invited the lot to a feast. I thought a good +deal of this feast. The occasion was really interesting. I +wanted to pitch it in hot. And I wished to have as many +influential witnesses present as possible. Well, as it drew +towards the day I had nothing but refusals. Everybody +supposed it was to be a political occasion, that I had made a +hive of rebels up here, and was going to push for new +hostilities. + +The Amanuensis has been ill, and after the above trial +petered out. I must return to my own, lone Waverley. The +captain refused, telling me why; and at last I had to beat up +for people almost with prayers. However, I got a good lot, +as you will see by the accompanying newspaper report. The +road contained this inscription, drawn up by the chiefs +themselves: + + +'THE ROAD OF GRATITUDE.' + + +'Considering the great love of Tusitala in his loving care of +us in our distress in the prison, we have therefore prepared +a splendid gift. It shall never be muddy, it shall endure +for ever, this road that we have dug.' This the newspaper +reporter could not give, not knowing any Samoan. The same +reason explains his references to Seumanutafa's speech, which +was not long and WAS important, for it was a speech of +courtesy and forgiveness to his former enemies. It was very +much applauded. Secondly, it was not Poe, it was Mataafa +(don't confuse with Mataafa) who spoke for the prisoners. +Otherwise it is extremely correct. + +I beg your pardon for so much upon my aboriginals. Even you +must sympathise with me in this unheard-of compliment, and my +having been able to deliver so severe a sermon with +acceptance. It remains a nice point of conscience what I +should wish done in the matter. I think this meeting, its +immediate results, and the terms of what I said to them, +desirable to be known. It will do a little justice to me, +who have not had too much justice done me. At the same time, +to send this report to the papers is truly an act of self- +advertisement, and I dislike the thought. Query, in a man +who has been so much calumniated, is that not justifiable? I +do not know; be my judge. Mankind is too complicated for me; +even myself. Do I wish to advertise? I think I do, God help +me! I have had hard times here, as every man must have who +mixes up with public business; and I bemoan myself, knowing +that all I have done has been in the interest of peace and +good government; and having once delivered my mind, I would +like it, I think, to be made public. But the other part of +me REGIMBS. + +I know I am at a climacteric for all men who live by their +wits, so I do not despair. But the truth is I am pretty +nearly useless at literature, and I will ask you to spare ST. +IVES when it goes to you; it is a sort of COUNT ROBERT OF +PARIS. But I hope rather a DOMBEY AND SON, to be succeeded +by OUR MUTUAL FRIEND and GREAT EXPECTATIONS and A TALE OF TWO +CITIES. No toil has been spared over the ungrateful canvas; +and it WILL NOT come together, and I must live, and my +family. Were it not for my health, which made it impossible, +I could not find it in my heart to forgive myself that I did +not stick to an honest, common-place trade when I was young, +which might have now supported me during these ill years. +But do not suppose me to be down in anything else; only, for +the nonce, my skill deserts me, such as it is, or was. It +was a very little dose of inspiration, and a pretty little +trick of style, long lost, improved by the most heroic +industry. So far, I have managed to please the journalists. +But I am a fictitious article and have long known it. I am +read by journalists, by my fellow-novelists, and by boys; +with these, INCIPIT ET EXPLICIT my vogue. Good thing anyway! +for it seems to have sold the Edition. And I look forward +confidently to an aftermath; I do not think my health can be +so hugely improved, without some subsequent improvement in my +brains. Though, of course, there is the possibility that +literature is a morbid secretion, and abhors health! I do +not think it is possible to have fewer illusions than I. I +sometimes wish I had more. They are amusing. But I cannot +take myself seriously as an artist; the limitations are so +obvious. I did take myself seriously as a workman of old, +but my practice has fallen off. I am now an idler and +cumberer of the ground; it may be excused to me perhaps by +twenty years of industry and ill-health, which have taken the +cream off the milk. + +As I was writing this last sentence, I heard the strident +rain drawing near across the forest, and by the time I was +come to the word 'cream' it burst upon my roof, and has since +redoubled, and roared upon it. A very welcome change. All +smells of the good wet earth, sweetly, with a kind of +Highland touch; the crystal rods of the shower, as I look up, +have drawn their criss-cross over everything; and a gentle +and very welcome coolness comes up around me in little +draughts, blessed draughts, not chilling, only equalising the +temperature. Now the rain is off in this spot, but I hear it +roaring still in the nigh neighbourhood - and that moment, I +was driven from the verandah by random rain drops, spitting +at me through the Japanese blinds. These are not tears with +which the page is spotted! Now the windows stream, the roof +reverberates. It is good; it answers something which is in +my heart; I know not what; old memories of the wet moorland +belike. + +Well, it has blown by again, and I am in my place once more, +with an accompaniment of perpetual dripping on the verandah - +and very much inclined for a chat. The exact subject I do +not know! It will be bitter at least, and that is strange, +for my attitude is essentially NOT bitter, but I have come +into these days when a man sees above all the seamy side, and +I have dwelt some time in a small place where he has an +opportunity of reading little motives that he would miss in +the great world, and indeed, to-day, I am almost ready to +call the world an error. Because? Because I have not +drugged myself with successful work, and there are all kinds +of trifles buzzing in my ear, unfriendly trifles, from the +least to the - well, to the pretty big. All these that touch +me are Pretty Big; and yet none touch me in the least, if +rightly looked at, except the one eternal burthen to go on +making an income. If I could find a place where I could lie +down and give up for (say) two years, and allow the sainted +public to support me, if it were a lunatic asylum, wouldn't I +go, just! But we can't have both extremes at once, worse +luck! I should like to put my savings into a proprietarian +investment, and retire in the meanwhile into a communistic +retreat, which is double-dealing. But you men with salaries +don't know how a family weighs on a fellow's mind. + +I hear the article in next week's HERALD is to be a great +affair, and all the officials who came to me the other day +are to be attacked! This is the unpleasant side of being +(without a salary) in public life; I will leave anyone to +judge if my speech was well intended, and calculated to do +good. It was even daring - I assure you one of the chiefs +looked like a fiend at my description of Samoan warfare. +Your warning was not needed; we are all determined to KEEP +THE PEACE and to HOLD OUR PEACE. I know, my dear fellow, how +remote all this sounds! Kindly pardon your friend. I have +my life to live here; these interests are for me immediate; +and if I do not write of them, I might as soon not write at +all. There is the difficulty in a distant correspondence. +It is perhaps easy for me to enter into and understand your +interests; I own it is difficult for you; but you must just +wade through them for friendship's sake, and try to find +tolerable what is vital for your friend. I cannot forbear +challenging you to it, as to intellectual lists. It is the +proof of intelligence, the proof of not being a barbarian, to +be able to enter into something outside of oneself, something +that does not touch one's next neighbour in the city omnibus. + +Good-bye, my lord. May your race continue and you flourish - +Yours ever, + +TUSITALA. + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Vailima Letters, by Stevenson + diff --git a/old/valma10.zip b/old/valma10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..58e8895 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/valma10.zip |