Charley Laurel: A Story of Adventure by Sea and Land

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

  MOTAKEE.

  So absorbed were Dick and I in watching the boat with Miss Kitty onboard and the savages pursuing them, that we did not think of ourselvesor the fate which too probably awaited us. The savages paddled withmight and main, resolved, it seemed, to revenge on our friends thedestruction which had overtaken so many of their people. They weregaining rapidly on the boat, though her crew were pulling hard at theoars. I felt inclined to cry with agitation as I thought of what MissKitty would have to endure, when the boat's sail filled out, and afreshening breeze carried her along faster than she had hitherto beenmoving. The wind still further increased. Away she shot ahead,distancing her pursuers. She gained the harbour's mouth, and, steeringout to sea, ran on till her white sail appeared a mere speck in thehorizon; while the savages, disappointed of their prey, paddled backtowards the shore.

  Meantime the ill-fated _Dolphin_ continued burning, and was now inflames fore and aft, the savages having been too much alarmed to makeany attempt to extinguish the fire. The men who had been aloft hadclung to the mast when it fell, though we could scarcely hope that theyhad escaped uninjured. We saw, however, that several of them were stillhanging on to it, while it floated free of the burning ship. Thenatives, on discovering them, approached the mast, and dragged them intotheir canoes. What they intended to do with them we could not tell, butwe feared that they would murder them, as we supposed they also wouldus.

  The young chief who had taken possession of us had not reached the shipwhen she blew up, and we now saw him and his people landing in thelittle bay above which we were seated. We had made no attempt toconceal ourselves. He beckoned to us to come down.

  "We must put a bold face on the matter," said Dick, taking my hand."Cheer up, Charley. I don't think he intends to hurt you; and if hekills me, remember, do your best to escape, and don't turn into asavage, as they are sure to try and make you, and cover you all overwith tattoo marks."

  "Oh, they must not kill you, Dick; they sha'n't kill you!" I cried out."I will let them kill me first."

  I felt, indeed, that I would much rather be put to death than see mykind friend murdered before my eyes.

  Dick, leading me by the hand, approached the chief, whose club Iexpected every moment to see upraised to strike us dead. Instead ofdoing so, however, looking at me kindly, he took me by the hand and madea speech to Dick, which we, of course, could not understand, but which,from its tone, relieved us somewhat from our apprehensions. Iafterwards discovered that it was to the effect that he had promised tobefriend us; and knowing that the destruction of the ship and the deathof his people was not owing to as, that would not alter his purpose.

  "Thank you kindly, sir," said Dick, touching his hat sailor-fashion."If you will treat this boy well, it's all I care for. I speak himfair, Charley, for your sake," he said to me, "and by the cut of hisjib, I think he will be as good as his word."

  The chief, whose name we found was Motakee, or "The good-looking one,"now addressed his people, who had been casting somewhat threateningglances at us, and, I suspect, had we been left to their tender mercies,would very soon have knocked us on the head. Our new friend havingappointed several of his people to guard us, told us to follow him alongthe shore. After going a short distance, we reached another much largerbeach, on which a number of canoes were drawn up and a large concourseof people assembled. We looked about for the captain and our shipmates,who had at first landed. On going a little farther, what was our horrorto see the greater number of them lying dead on the shore, with theirheads so battered that we could scarcely recognise them. We knew thecaptain, however, by his figure and dress; we had, therefore, too muchreason to suppose that we were the only survivors of the _Dolphin's_crew, with the exception of those who had escaped in the boat and themen who had been saved on the mast. We saw the latter alive in some ofthe canoes still afloat. Whether the captain had been killed before thedestruction of the ship, we could not at first ascertain, but I believehe and the rest were murdered after the accident.

  The chief held a long consultation, while Dick and I stood at a littledistance watching them, uncertain what was to be our fate.

  "Cheer up, Charley," said Dick. "I would fight for you as long asthere's life in me, if it would be of any use; but I don't think,savages as they are, that they will have the heart to kill you; and asfor me, as I said before, they may do as they like, though I wish I wassure they would not eat me afterwards."

  "Oh, Dick, Dick!" I cried out, "don't think of anything so horrid! Iwill ask the young chief not to hurt you, and I will tell him he hadbetter kill me first."

  Just then the consultation came to an end, and Motakee, coming up to us,made signs that we need not be afraid, and that he would protect us.

  I afterwards found, when I came to know their language, that he had toldthe other chiefs that on seeing me he had been reminded of a little boyhe had lost, and that he had saved Dick on my account, supposing that hewas my father, or, at all events, my friend.

  Six men, one of whom was a Sandwich Islander, named Tui, who had beensaved on the mast, were now brought on shore. As we watched them, wefully believed that the savages would put them to death, as they had theother poor fellows. Tui, however, stepped forward and addressed thenatives in a language which they appeared to comprehend. They againconsulted together, the unhappy men standing apart, uncertain whetherthey might not at any moment find the clubs of the savages crashingthrough their brains. Trusting to Motakee's protection, I felt inclinedto rush forward and plead for them, but Dick held me back.

  "You will do no good, Charley," he said, "and one of those savages mayin a moment give you a tap with his club, and kill you, as an idle boydoes a fly."

  The five poor fellows stood collected together, looking pale as death,but they were as brave as any of the men on board. Among them Irecognised Tom Clode, the armourer, and Mat Davis, the carpenter's mate.

  The discussion seemed to last a very long time. Tui was listened toattentively, as he every now and then put in a word. At length five ofthe principal chiefs rose from their mats, and, stepping forward, eachput his hand on one of the men. At first I thought they were going tokill them, as they led them away; but Tui, coming up, told us that theywere only going to be taken as slaves. Another old chief now advancedand put his hand on Dick's shoulder.

  "He going take you for slave," said Tui.

  "I have no wish to be idle, but I would rather have chosen a master witha better-looking mug of his own," observed Dick. "I hope the oldgentleman lives not far from your friend, Charley; for I can't standbeing separated from you."

  I burst into tears as Dick said this, when Motakee, coming up, tried, ina gentle way, to soothe me.

  "He is a good young fellow, that he is," cried Dick; "and as you arelikely to be well off with him, it's little odds what happens to me."

  Motakee, finding that my tears continued to flow, endeavoured topersuade the old chief, Toobo Cava, to allow Dick to continue with him.This, however, he refused, and replied that he might rather allow me toaccompany Dick. Tui told us what was said.

  "I would like to have you, Charley," said Dick, "but you will be muchbetter off with Motakee, and, indeed, I doubt if he would let you come,however much you may wish it."

  Dick was right; for after another long palaver, Motakee took me by thehand, while old Toobo Cava led off Dick.

  "Keep up your spirits, Charley, and don't forget the lessons I havetaught you; say your prayers, and be a good boy," cried Dick, lookingback towards me. "We will manage to see each other, or these talkingfellows are cleverer than I take them to be."

  Motakee, accompanied by his people, conducted me back to the bay wherewe had landed, and thence to his house, which was situated in a valleybut a short distance from the shore. It stood on a platform of largestones, nearly twelve feet above the ground, and was fully thirty feetin length, though considerably narrower. The back of the house wasfourteen feet in height, th
e roof sloping down towards the front, whichwas scarcely more than five feet high, but the walls were of a uniformheight all round, thus the farther part of the house between them andthe roof was entirely open. The front part, into which we first enteredby a very small door, had a floor composed of the rough stones of theplatform, but the inner part, separated from it by a partition, wascovered with fine mats. At one end was the bed-place, which consistedof two horizontal poles, about a foot from the ground, with mattingstretched between them. On this the chief and his family reclined,resting their heads on one of the poles, which served as a pillow, whiletheir feet extended towards the other. Around the walls, which werealso composed of matting, were hung numerous weapons, spears, clubs,axes, slings, and stilts, on which I found that the people were veryfond of walking.

  These stilts are elaborately carved poles, with carved figures towardsthe lower end, on the heads of which the feet rest. The chief took downa pair, and, to amuse me, mounted on them, and ran over the ground withgreat rapidity, now standing on one leg, now on the other, and twirlinground and performing all sorts of extraordinary feats. He having setthe example, others followed it, till nearly all the men and the boys inthe village turned out on stilts, and began chasing each other over therough ground, as much at home as if they were treading it with theirfeet, instead of being mounted high above it.

  The sports being over, Motakee led me to the farther end of the village,where there was a sort of temple. In front of the temple were a numberof little buildings a couple of feet high, on each of which stood acarved figure, surrounded with shells, and feathers, and whales' teeth.He and his people sat down before them, and bowed, and uttered certainwords, and then bowed again, leading me to suppose that they wereperforming some religious ceremony.

  Having finished his prayers, if such all this bowing and muttering wordscould be intended for, the chief conducted me back to his house. Herehe introduced me to his wife, pretty-looking young woman, of a brightbrown colour, clothed in somewhat scanty garments, composed of cloth,manufactured from the paper-mulberry tree. She received me very kindly,and we sat down to a supper consisting of fish, and various roots, andother vegetables and fruits.

  I had till now been under the dreadful impression that the people werecannibals; but there was nothing in the repast set before me which mademe unwilling to partake of it. On the contrary, as I was very hungry, Iset to with a will, and the people standing round seemed pleased atseeing me eat with so good an appetite.

  Several days passed by; the chief and his wife seemed to consider that Ihad taken the place of their lost child, and treated me as such withmuch kindness. I had, however, neither seen nor heard anything of Dick,and I gave Motakee to understand that I wished to go out and look forhim, to which he, by signs, replied that it would be dangerous for me towander about by myself, as the people of other tribes might kill me, andthat I must remain quietly where I was.

  I remembered Dick's plan of keeping time when we were in our solitaryisland, and I cut a stick, on which I marked the days of the week. Idid not forget either his parting advice to me, and every night andmorning I knelt down and said my prayers. The natives understood what Iwas about, and never interrupted me, and treated me with more respectthan even some of the men did on board the _Dolphin_.

  At the end of a couple of months I saw that something unusual was takingplace in the village. The men were polishing up their arms, and thewomen were engaged in making baskets and cooking provisions. This ledme to suppose that an expedition of some sort was about to take place.

  Motakee called me to him one day, and told me by signs that he was goingaway, and that he would place me under charge of some one who would takegood care of me during his absence. I told him that I should be verysorry to be parted from him, and asked him to let me go, hoping that bysome means I might hear of Dick. He shook his head, and told me that asdanger would have to be encountered, I was too young as yet, but thatwhen I grew older, he would teach me the use of the native weapons, andallow me to accompany him to war. He then led me to another house,somewhat smaller than his own, in which the principal inmate was an oldwoman. Though Moola--that was her name--was very old and dry andwithered, from the expression of her countenance and the way in which hetreated her, I was led to suppose that she was Motakee's mother. Such,indeed, was the case. She spoke kindly to me, and I had no reason tofear that I should be ill-treated.

  After this Motakee led out his people, all armed with clubs, andhatchets, and spears; the heads of the principal men being decoratedwith plumes of feathers, but, with the exception of cloths round theirwaists, entirely destitute of clothing. From this I knew that they wereabout to proceed on some warlike expedition, and, though they feltconfident of success, I could not help remembering that they might bedefeated; and should they be so, what would become of me? Again I askedthe chief if he could give me any information about Dick? My heart sankwithin me; for, from the reply he made, he led me to suppose that someaccident had happened to my faithful friend.