White Fire Part 42

"Why--Mr. Pym!" cried Aunt Jannet, who was nearest the steps and so met him first. "It is good of you just to drop in on us in this way," and she shook his hand with a warmth that almost succeeded in infusing the like into his response.

"Yes, I've come over six thousand miles to call on you, Mrs. Harvey.

And how are you, Mrs. Blair? Still suffering exile with equanimity?"

"No exile, no suffering, Captain Pym," said Jean brightly. "We are all enjoying ourselves extremely, I a.s.sure you."

"Well, I suppose one can bring one's mind to anything."

"If it's the right kind of mind, you can," said Aunt Jannet heartily.

There was just a touch of implication in her tone and manner that some folks were not the happy possessors of that kind of mind. Captain Pym stiffened back into officiality somewhat.

"And you really experience no longings for London again, Mrs. Blair?"

he asked, metaphorically turning his back on Aunt Jannet, who magnanimously went inside to see after supper.

"Not the very slightest."

"Marvellous!"

"You see I have here what I had not in London You shall see my boy in the morning. He's the finest little fellow in the world."

"Ah! ... I suppose that fills many a want."

"He fills our hearts so that there is no room for wants. Are you making a long stay?"

"That depends. A few days, at all events."

"We shall have heaps of things to show you. All our work here, and there's a wonderful valley down there with great stone G.o.ds that date back to about the time of the flood. Some ancient race that used to live here, they say. We will have a picnic there."

"If I have time I shall enjoy it."

In due course the time came, but Captain Pym enjoyed it less than he had antic.i.p.ated.

"Now, good people, supper's ready, and you'll all catch your deaths if you sit out there any longer," called Aunt Jannet from the doorway.

"We have been stewing with the heat all day," she added to Captain Pym, "and now it's gone to the other extreme. I think you must have brought a cold wind with you, captain."

"We haven't had a breath all day. It looks like a spell of dirty weather," said the captain.

The wind was coming off the sea in cold gusts. A weary half moon was bucketting through a rout of ragged clouds, which sped on over the mountains as if in haste to hide themselves from some unseen pursuer.

In the gaps of the hurrying clouds the moon and a few stars shone wanly, and in their dim, ineffective light, the water of the lagoon tossed brokenly like a pan of boiling lead. The flying rags of cloud came from the dark bank in the west into which the sun had dropped. It was spreading upwards. The roar of the reef sounded harsher than usual and full of threatening. There was a strange uncanny look and feeling abroad.

"We're certainly in for something," said Captain Cathie, as he stood looking out to sea. "I've never seen it quite like this before. I shall go and sleep aboard the _Torch_"--which did not add to their cheerfulness.

"You'll have some supper first, captain?" said Aunt Jannet.

"Oh, yes, I'll make sure of some supper. If it's to be a fight I can fight better on a full stomach than an empty one."

So they went inside, and found it pleasant to close the door, which was a very unusual thing with them.

Captain Pym's manner during supper was still somewhat stiff and formal; but he unbent enough to give them the latest astonis.h.i.+ng news of the outside world, the lack of which was the one thing they felt somewhat at times. But it was only when the pipes were alight afterwards that he disclosed himself.

"You are wondering, no doubt, what brings me here, Mr. Blair," he said.

"Well--yes, somewhat. You are the first visitor we have had."

"Not quite. And it is because of those others that I am here."

Blair looked at him in surprise. Captain Cathie nodded understandingly, as though in confirmation of his own thoughts.

"Certain complaints have been made to the Government concerning some of your doings here, and they have sent me to look into the matter."

"I--see. You refer to the kidnappers we put a stopper on----"

"That complaint comes from Peru. There is one also from the American government----"

"Ah, yes--Mr.--What-was-his-name?--Crawley, was it? He promised we should hear from him. Well, sir, we shall be glad to put our side of the case before you. You shall see what we have done here since we came, and no doubt you will appreciate our desire to safeguard our work in every possible way. We have done no single thing we in any way regret, and we would not hesitate to do the same again if occasion should arise."

"Ah," said Captain Pym, with a knowing official nod, "you gentlemen of the cloth, when you get right away from any authority but your own, sometimes go to extremes, and are perhaps tempted to magnify your office somewhat."

"That is quite impossible," said Blair quietly. "I consider my office the very highest in the world. As far as in me lies I have worked up to my ideal of it, and shall continue to do so. As to going to extremes, we have simply defended our work from spoliation. That also we shall continue to do."

"Hear, hear!" said Aunt Jannet energetically, and Captain Pym frowned officially at the pair of them.

"Supposing, Captain Pym," broke in Cathie, by way of lightning conductor, "you had an unarmed tender attached to your s.h.i.+p, and an enemy stole up in the night and carried her off, crew and all, you would consider yourself justified in following and bringing her back, and taking payment out of the other side."

"That's the way to put it," said Aunt Jannet.

"The cases are not parallel, sir. That would be a _casus belli_, and I should of course do my duty. You have no authority----"

"Oh yes, we have," said Blair warmly. "The very highest"--and as Captain Pym did not seem to appreciate that point, he added--"but, apart from that, we have the endors.e.m.e.nt of Mr. Annesley, the Colonial Secretary. He and the Earl of Selsea were good enough to take very great interest in our intended work here. I laid all my plans before them, and they approved them. In fact, they spoke of a protectorate."

"The Earl of Selsea is dead, and Mr. Annesley retired from office twelve months ago."

"Ah, that may account for things. I am very sorry to hear that.

However, we don't need the protectorate. Kapaa'a is almost on to its own feet, and can speak for itself."

"And what position does Mr. Blair occupy in the government?" asked Pym, with a cynical touch in his voice.

"None whatever, sir, and desires none. We have consistently worked through the chief Ha'o, whom you met on the beach. Nothing has been done without his approval. It is his elevation and his people's that we desire, not our own, and I think I may say he is as keen on it as we are."

"From all accounts, however, your work has by no means been confined entirely to the spiritual department, Mr. Blair; Long Toms and Winchesters hardly come within the strict bounds of the missionary calling."

"The shepherd may use his crook to keep the wolves off his flock. Our crooks consist, as you say, of Winchesters and a Long Tom. If we had not had them we should not be here--nor would our flock. My ideas of missionary duties may strike you as somewhat advanced, Captain Pym, but then, you see, I have the advantage of knowing all the requirements of the case. The very first essential to progress is peace, and you can't procure it with words when you're dealing with elementary facts."

"If we'd settled all those elementary facts at the start, as Captain Cathie and I advised, we would have heard no more about them," said Aunt Jannet, with a regretful shake of the head. "It's possible to be too conscientious for this world."

"We work for both, you see. I admit that a clean sweep would have saved much trouble. But I couldn't bring myself to hanging them, richly as they deserved it. As to the American citizen, his end and aim was to introduce the drink traffic, and that we won't have at any price. Not even under government orders."

Their talk had been so vital that the waxing of the gale outside had pa.s.sed unnoticed, though the door was jerking at its latch and the windows buzzed like bees.