White Fire Part 39

"That is my big canoe speaking," said Blair. "But it is only a warning. It can strike as hard as it talks. Will you save trouble by coming, Maru?"

"I will not go."

"Then we shall come for you. I am sorry; but the wrong-doing is yours.... Let no man lift his hand, or worse will follow," he said, as a restless movement rustled among them. Then eyeing them steadily, he pa.s.sed through, not sure at what moment axe or club might fall on his head. But so high was his look that no man, even of those he had pa.s.sed, found courage for the blow, and he walked down to the beach alone.

"I'm mighty glad to see you back whole," said Cathie, as Blair swung up on deck. "I saw their clubs through the gla.s.s, and I mis...o...b..ed them.

They wouldn't come?"

"No, they wouldn't come, so I promised to fetch them. Now we'll get on, captain. First to land our pa.s.sengers on Kapaa'a, and then as we decided last night."

Ha'o and the rest were mightily surprised at the size of the _Torch's_ company. But the chief jumped to Blair's views at once.

"You will soon become a nation at this rate, Ha'o."

"I will deal well with them," said Ha'o.

"And now as to the men of Kanele?"

"We will make an end of them."

"I want them as part of your nation, and dead men are no use. If we go in force enough, I do not think they will fight. But they have broken the peace, and they must have a lesson."

"We will teach them with the spear. It will be a lesson for the others also. When shall we start?"

"The sooner the better; but first we must see the newcomers housed."

That took two days, and then the _Torch_ and the _Jean Arnot_ sailed with larger crews than they were in the habit of carrying. First round the other islands, at each of which Blair and Ha'o landed and had a talk with the headmen and explained their ideas to them.

And much hard talking it took, in some cases, to carry their views.

But they were set on it, and they prevailed.

From each village they enlisted the headman and certain of his followers, from six to ten, according to the population, and in due course came down on Kanele one hundred and fifty brown men and eighteen whites, with Long Tom in reserve, and great hopes that so large a display would suffice without any fighting.

All the boats on Kapaa'a had been requisitioned for the debarkation, and it was an imposing flotilla that drew in to Kanele beach that day to bring peace at the point of the spear. And, composed, as the gathering was, of the most discordant elements, it was yet all moulded to one purpose by the strong will of one man, and by the very differences that separated its units one from another. For each component felt itself but a part of the whole, and in a minority which left it no option but to work with the rest.

Not a soul was to be seen on sh.o.r.e, but they knew that black eyes watched stealthily from every cover.

"Maru! Kahili! We have come for you," shouted Blair. "Here are Ha'o of Kapaa'a, and Ruel of Anape----" and he recited all the names of the head-men. "We will give you till the shadows are smallest to come in.

Then be it on your own heads!" and the great company sat down on the beach to pa.s.s the time.

"Will they come?" asked Blair of Ha'o.

"They will come," said Ha'o. "They would have no chance against us, and they are not fools."

Blair seized the opportunity for more talk with the leading men from the other islands. He showed them that none were safe if raiding were permitted, not even the strongest, for against the strongest combination might prevail. The only security was in union against illdoers; and he rubbed that lesson into them till they were not likely to forget it.

Before the wheeling shadows had shortened the slim black lines of the palms into their spreading crowns, a tumult broke out inland, and as they all stood expectant, a mob, in which were many women, came hurrying along, with old Maru and Kahili on its front like corks on a swelling tide.

"It is well," said Blair, as he went to meet them. "You have given us much trouble, but you have saved yourselves more. Do you understand, Maru, and you, Kahili, and all you men and women of Kanele, what this great company means? It means that the old times are gone for ever, and that the better times are come. If there is to be any fighting in future, we of Kapaa'a and the islands round about will have our say in the matter. Take those two to the boats," and at a sign from him a file of Torches led the prisoners away. "There are others among you who prefer war to peace," he said. "I want them also."

This caused a hubbub amongst them, and much hot discussion, but at last certain ones were evolved from the crowd, and pushed to the front protesting, and to the number of ten he had them marched down to the boats, amid the wailing of their women.

"Now, listen!" cried Blair, waving down their cries with a peremptory hand. "Is it to be peace or war henceforth?"

"Peace," wailed the women, and the men stood silent. "Then let the women bring here all the spears and clubs, for you will not need them."

This was touching them on the raw, for the brown man's weapons are his dearest possessions.

But this was to be a lesson once and for all, and not for the men of Kanele only.

"I must have them," said Blair. "If you will not bring them, we must get them ourselves. Which shall it be?"

The men stood, stubborn and sulky. Some of the women on the outskirts of the crowd began to trickle away.

Then old Maru's wife crept up downcastly from the side of the throng, carrying two long spears and a club, and cast them on the sand at Blair's feet.

"It is good, Maruaine," he said gently.

"You will not kill our men, Missi?" she asked piteously.

"I have come to make your lives happier, Maruaine. I will not hurt a hair of their heads. But they must learn, and this is the first lesson."

Kahili's wife followed, and one by one the other women came, with more spears and clubs, till the pile was a goodly one.

Then he had a fire kindled beneath them, and the brown men watched its easy lighting with a match with wonder, but twisted uneasily as the weapons were consumed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Peace with a spear.]

"Now, listen!" said Blair, when the crackling died down. "Maru and Kahili, and the others we have taken will go with us to Kapaa'a for a time, and will live with us there. We intend them no harm. They will, I hope, learn many things amongst us, and then they will come back and tell you of them. We wish your good, only your good, always your good.

But those who do ill, who break the peace, and rob their weaker neighbours, will have to answer to us for it. Ha'o of Kapaa'a has known us now a long time. He will tell you that we mean you well."

And Ha'o stood out before them, tall and brown, and said, in a voice that rang above the wash of the surf and the pattering of the palm fronds--

"Kenni is my brother. He has done great things for Kapaa'a. Twice he saved my life, and the lives of my people. Three times he risked his own life, and the lives of his people. His blood has run for us. What Kenni says and does is good. Any man who thinks otherwise I am ready to talk to him," and it was evident to all that Ha'o's talk would be strong, and to the point.

Blair said a word or two to him, and he added--

"While Maru and Kahili are living with us, Maru's wife will be your chief. She is a wise woman, and loves peace more than war. Has any one anything to say against it?"

No one at the moment desired to say anything against it, whatever they might think or feel.

"It is well," said Ha'o. "Let no man speak against it when we are not here. Now you will bring us food, and then we will go home."

Two very sober and thoughtful men were Maru and Kahili as Kanele sank into the sea astern. They were treated, however, with every consideration, and Blair was at much pains to explain his ideas to them so far as concerned themselves. For the rest, it was curious to notice how the men of each island kept themselves to themselves. There were differences of dialect, of course, which interfered somewhat with freedom of intercourse, but there were also lifelong memories of b.l.o.o.d.y feuds which kept them apart. It was a mighty step towards better times to see them there in peaceful toleration of one another's presence.

The dividing lines were at once the mark of the past and the sign of the future. A year before they would have been at one another's throats.

On Kapaa'a the hostages received the same equal treatment with the rest. They were given houses and tools, and shown how to use them.

They joined in the chase, and developed discriminating tastes in the matter of fresh-killed pig and goat cooked in paw-paw leaves. They were neither talked at nor preached at. They were simply allowed to absorb the new atmosphere of law and order, and found it good. And in due time they were returned to their own island new men, with the seeds of still larger knowledge within them.