27. CHAPTER XXVII.
IN WHICH THE PAST HISTORY OF THE PARKI IS CONCLUDED.
Still days, days, days sped by; and steering now this
way, now that, to avoid the green treacherous shores,
which frequently rose into view, the Parki went to and fro
in the sea; till at last, it seemed hard to tell, in what watery
world she floated. Well knowing the risks they ran,
Samoa desponded. But blessed be ignorance. For in the
day of his despondency, the lively old lass his wife bade
him be of stout heart, cheer up, and steer away manfully
for the setting sun; following which, they must inevitably
arrive at her own dear native island, where all their cares
would be over. So squaring their yards, away they glided;
far sloping down the liquid sphere.
Upon the afternoon of the day we caught sight of
them in our boat, they had sighted a cluster of low islands,
which put them in no small panic, because of their resemblance
to those where the massacre had taken place.
Whereas, they must have been full five hundred leagues
from that fearful vicinity. However, they altered their
course to avoid it; and a little before sunset, dropping the
islands astern, resumed their previous track. But very soon
after, they espied our little sea-goat, bounding over the billows
from afar.
This they took for a canoe giving chase to them. It
renewed and augmented their alarm.
And when at last they perceived that the strange object
was a boat, their fears, instead of being allayed, only so
much the more increased. For their wild superstitions led
them to conclude, that a white man's craft coming upon
them so suddenly, upon the open sea, and by night, could
be naught but a phantom. Furthermore, marking two of
us in the Chamois, they fancied us the ghosts of the Cholos.
A conceit which effectually damped Samoa's courage, like
my Viking's, only proof against things tangible. So seeing
us bent upon boarding the brigantine; after a hurried overturning
of their chattels, with a view of carrying the most
valuable aloft for safe keeping, they secreted what they
could; and together made for the fore-top; the man with
a musket, the woman with a bag of beads. Their endeavoring
to secure these treasures against ghostly appropriation
originated in no real fear, that otherwise they
would be stolen: it was simply incidental to the vacant
panic into which they were thrown. No reproach this, to
Belisarius' heart of game; for the most intrepid Feegee
warrior, he who has slain his hecatombs, will not go ten
yards in the dark alone, for fear of ghosts.
Their purpose was to remain in the top until daylight;
by which time, they counted upon the withdrawal of their
visitants; who, sure enough, at last sprang on board, thus
verifying their worst apprehensions.
They watched us long and earnestly. But curious to
tell, in that very strait of theirs, perched together in that
airy top, their domestic differences again broke forth; most
probably, from their being suddenly forced into such very
close contact.
However that might be, taking advantage of our descent
into the cabin, Samoa, in desperation fled from his wife, and
one-armed as he was, sailor-like, shifted himself over by the
fore and aft-stays to the main-top, his musket being slung to
his back. And thus divided, though but a few yards intervened,
the pair were as much asunder as if at the opposite
Poles.
During the live-long night they were both in great perplexity
as to the extraordinary goblins on board. Such
inquisitive, meddlesome spirits, had never before been encountered.
So cool and systematic; sagaciously stopping
the vessel's headway the better to rummage;—the very plan
they themselves had adopted. But what most surprised
them, was our striking a light, a thing of which no true
ghost would be guilty. Then, our eating and drinking on
the quarter-deck including the deliberate investment of
Vienna; and many other actions equally strange, almost led
Samoa to fancy that we were no shades, after all, but a
couple of men from the moon.
Yet they had dimly caught sight of the frocks and trowsers
we wore, similar to those which the captain of the Parki
had bestowed upon the two Cholos, and in which those villains
had been killed. This, with the presence of the whale-boat,
united to chase away the conceit of our lunar origin.
But these considerations renewed their first superstitious impressions
of our being the ghosts of the murderous halfbreeds.
Nevertheless, while during the latter part of the night we
were reclining beneath him, munching our biscuit, Samoa
eyeing us intently, was half a mind to open fire upon us by
way of testing our corporeality. But most luckily, he concluded
to defer so doing till sunlight; if by that time we
should not have evaporated.
For dame Annatoo, almost from our first boarding the
brigantine, something in our manner had bred in her a lurking
doubt as to the genuineness of our atmospheric organization;
and abandoned to her speculations when Samoa fled
from her side, her incredulity waxed stronger and stronger.
Whence we came she knew not; enough, that we seemed
bent upon pillaging her own precious purloinings. Alas!
thought she, my buttons, my nails, my tappa, my dollars,
my beads, and my boxes!
Wrought up to desperation by these dismal forebodings,
she at length shook the ropes leading from her own perch to
Samoa's; adopting this method of arousing his attention to
the heinousness of what was in all probability going on in
the cabin, a prelude most probably to the invasion of her
own end of the vessel. Had she dared raise her voice, no
doubt she would have suggested the expediency of shooting
us so soon as we emerged from the cabin. But failing to
shake Samoa into an understanding of her views on the subject,
her malice proved futile.
When her worst fears were confirmed, however, and we
actually descended into the forecastle; there ensued such a
reckless shaking of the ropes, that Samoa was fain to hold
on hard, for fear of being tossed out of the rigging. And it
was this violent rocking that caused the loud creaking of the
yards, so often heard by us while below in Annatoo's apartment.
And the fore-top being just over the open forecastle scuttle,
the dame could look right down upon us; hence our proceedings
were plainly revealed by the lights that we carried.
Upon our breaking open her strong-box, her indignation
almost completely overmastered her fears. Unhooking a
top-block, down it came into the forecastle, charitably commissioned
with the demolition of Jarl's cocoa-nut, then more
exposed to the view of an aerial observer than my own. But
of it turned out, no harm was done to our porcelain.
At last, morning dawned; when ensued Jarl's discovery
as the occupant of the main-top; which event, with what
followed, has been duly recounted.
And such, in substance, was the first, second, third and
fourth acts of the Parki drama. The fifth and last, including
several scenes, now follows.
