Show af F BEN ames WILLIAMS D BEN amea W li zai roce SYNOPSIS george mcausland was 38 years old when he be sailed failed from america to undertake his post port as ai a missionary in the fiji islands A crime he had comal committed ted in a fit of excite ment had bad shattered all his confidence in himself he felt elt forced to avoid pretty mary doncaster who boarded the ship at honolulu she was en route to visit her parent rents who were missionaries on gilead barents Fa island land mary was attracted by georges Georg ct attempts to avoid her one day george accidentally cel dentally fell overboard mary unhesitatingly ta dove into the sea to rescue george george ll is falling ailing in love with her when the boat approached her home on gilead island they learned that marys parents bad both died george volunteered to take charge ot of the mission faced with the necessity ot of losing mary if 11 he left her now george forced himself to ask her to be bin hi alto fife mary accepted his clumsy proposal sa 1 and they left the ship to live in her former lonner home on the island the scanty dress of 0 the natives shocked george at first but he soon oon became reconciled to their customs mary discovered that corkran a tailor sailor friend ot of georges had deserted ship to live on the island he had come there to help george and mary if 11 they needed him CHAPTER IV continued continued 5 mary understood as the days passed that george both looked forward to the whalers chalers wh alers coming and dreaded it when one day carambo came in some excitement to call them to see a distant sail mary asked quickly whether it was the carambo said it was not at dark that night the schooner was still distant but at dawn she made in toward the roads mary taw saw that george was uneasy at the sight of this invader they watched together standing on the rocks above the landing place and when the schooner approached the anchorage ch orage carambo and the others prepared to launch canoes but george called them back tell them only carambo is to go mary he directed have jaram bo tell the people aboard the schooner not to land here mary urged canoes always go off to any ship that comes in in george and people come ashore we dont want sailors here on gilead he insisted she knew the message would be a useless one but she told carambo to deliver it he went off alone and they saw a white man speak to him from the deck of the schooner and george commented scornful scornfully Uly that mans half naked like a native 1 then the white man yonder dropped down into the canoe and george said in deep resentment hes coming go to the house mary ill meet him here get rid of him why dont be siliyl ill stay and welcome him with you he said no go to the alt house if he sees you hell want to stay mary was absurdly pleased she smiled after a while she heard them coming near and a strong young voice laughing said youre damned mysterious I 1 what have you got here a gold mine man ilan these are hospitable seas we make all comers welcome you ought to learn the custom of the country she soon saw a young man in soiled white trousers barefoot naked to the waist his skin bronzed by sun fine golden hair curled tight on his chest eyes blue as the sky in the brown of his countenance he wore the radiance of bounding health and when he saw her he stopped and cried delightedly oh hol hoi no wonder you wanted no callers nl then he came forward by her husbands side and george said grudgingly mrs mcausland this is mr aulgur the young man grasped her hand fritz aulgur he corrected your husband tried to warn me off but now that ive seen you youre going to have a lot of company here CHAPTER V she said uneasily and watching george wont you come in she asked curiously why will there be others coming Pearl sl he told her his eyes were bold not but what be a rush anyway if they knew you were here mrs mcausland she felt george tight with rage beside her Pearl sl fritz repeated black laurence found shell in the lagoon across the island months ago the typhoon caught him ripped his masts out and I 1 picked him off what was left of his schooner he had bad a broken head and died of it but I 1 pieced together things he said with the pric kings on his chart and figured where hed been and what hed found his hall halfbreed breed supercargo caught me studying the chart and tried to knife me as we were making into harbor he missed bistry his try and dove overboard and got away I 1 tried to pot him in the dark but no go hell be back with his friends as soon as he can raise the wind but I 1 came along for a look see he stayed an hour did most of the talking he had known marys father had touched here once four or five years ago 1 I get around he said im apt to drop in almost everywhere give me time mary asked him whether in his travels he had seen the he had three months before in honolulu he said ashes been all ayer yer the lot was just about full up she had next day a message from corkran a question and when george was asleep in the afternoon she walked toward the beach sure the sailor would be there to meet her he was and he asked now who was the fine young man who visited you yesterday mary told him and he listened with a gravity that disturbed her honey fetches the wasps he commented soberly when she finished therell be more like him along or maybe worse how did himself take it he was red behind the ears im thinking im afraid so aye like a boy looking on at a game he dont know how to play himself takes life the hard tough way he looked at her with a curious gentleness 1 I thought hed know better by now she wondered why she found his understanding so full of comfort he was like her own thoughts well maam he said 1 anytime you need me im here standing by she went back to the house surprisingly singly strengthened mary and george almost forgot aulgur during the days that followed something more imminent and dreadful rose like a cloud to shadow their lives george seemed now completely healed of the cold which he had caught when he fell overboard but within a few weeks after they landed on the island jill wh q VAI IVA lie ile held it toward her in his palm there were coughs and colds and zings all around them leni ieni died and others too mary was deeply distressed but george professed not to be surprised bits its always been the same he insisted in the sandwich islands the te natives have been dying off ever since since the first ships touched there there arent many births you know and a lot of babies are strangled as soon as born or thrown over the cliffs but they love the children she urged jealously almost too mile much not only their own children but all ali of them dont you notice that children are never punished or disca disciplined here george yes they should be too some of them need it she warned him quickly dont try it I 1 remember father saying that they would never forgive that im almost sure therece the reve been some massacres and bad trouble where white people struck a child or something never forgive us if we were unkind to the children he smiled faintly ive no intention of doing anything of the sort he returned to the point but the thing is these islanders have been dying off for generations plagues have killed them off nobody was ever sick here when iwas I 1 was little I 1 remember father was always proud of it they need to learn how to take care of themselves all well have to teach them to build proper houses to live properly but the remedy was not so simple as he thought after fritz Aul gurs first visit the epidemic sudden suddenly ly extended its attack george labored over the sick with an ardor that seemed visibly to drag the flesh off his bones he became thin and gaunt with his own efforts he was a methodical man he kept a diary recording every days events one day he said to her mary thirty two people have died since we came in less than four months time she saw that he was shaken in his certainties and his nerves were raw and she sought to strengthen him in many ways he began to long for the coming of the thought captain corr would surely have medicines aboard they forgot the pearls in the lagoon across the island forgot fritz about three weeks after he sailed out of the roads fritz returned and he stayed two days despite georges protests he came often ashore he showed them the pearls he had already found warm with life as though they had a pulse of their own so that mary caught her breath at sight of them and fritz saw how she was stirred and he told her that a pearl needed to be worn to acquire beauty she liked fritz by contrast with her husbands somber garments the golden brown on this young mans bare chest and shoulders was warm and beautiful against her husbands austere denial of the flesh this fritz aulgur by his frank acceptance of it seemed to shine she asked curiously how long have you been living so sailing around alone arent you lonesome sometimes he chuckled lonesome now it would need a woman to think that always so sure a man must have some woman forever by him his eyes clouded seeming to look past her and he shook his head bead no the seas company the sea and the wind yes company enough for a man too much tor for some men maybe like a heady wine if youve seen many men in in their liquor and how could you ever to be sure know what I 1 mean george made a resentful sound but mary urged deeply interested no I 1 of course so what do you mean fritz smiled why only that some men are better drunk than sober and some are better sober than drunk its the same with the sea one man will be made by it and another spoiled liquor and the wrong woman and a long voyage will each strip the trimmings off a man ive seen more than one that was fine to look at start off on a long cruise with his head high and come home he hesitated quoted then lean rent and beg gard by the strumpet wind and he chuckled and said only the man that wrote that did not mean the wind by itself it was the sea he meant A woman even a bad one is mild and easy enough till something stirs her up and when ashes roused its the woman chos dangerous not the thing that roused her its the strumpet sea that tears a man and strips him and peels him down till you can see in him the wind no more than rouses up the strumpet sea mary nodded thoughtfully but george spoke in angry interruption interrupt ion you like the taste of an ugly word aulgur to keep repeating it fritz said amiably its a good word all the same parson it means what it says nevertheless he tempered his remarks thereafter and as though he began to be sorry for george he treated him from that hour with gentleness only when on the third day the storm having passed he was about to depart george woke a moments fi flare are of anger in him aulgur wished to give mary one of his pearls for your hospitality he said with my thanks wear it A pearl needs wearing to make it completely beautiful he held it toward her in his palm but before she could move george by her side struck down that open hand with a violent gesture the pearl did not fall because fritz closed his fingers on it and he looked at george with narrowed eyes he said through teeth that were white and even and firm dont do that again my friend pa parson or no parson nl george retorted then dont you insult mrs mcausland aulgur laughed briefly and not mirthfully now you know he decided it strikes me youre the one who insulted her he met marys eyes and laughed again have to get used to visitors parson he predicted in a grim amusement amusement therell be others coming and some of them if you can believe it even blacker villains than I 1 when he was gone when they turned back up the path mary asked gravely george need you have done that he demanded did you want the pearl p earl 1 I could have declined it with some cour courtesy tesy 1 I wont have such men here he cried staring at you giving you things mary urged wearily what use is s that george tile the worlds full of men we cant always live alone no one can he went ahead of her in silence not replying she thought following him up the path hes half sick himself with worry over all the poor sick people here I 1 must be patient try to help him must be kind carambo posted men as george commanded high on the peaks that walled the island across with a barrier almost impassable to watch Aul gurs acl boner in the lagoon and report her movements and they sent regular news of her but the news was reassuring she lay peacefully at anchor in the lagoon and her boats went off every day and men were diving mary and george paid as the days passed less and less attention to these monotonous bulletins for they had a nearer trouble the island had become a place of death death that struck at random without discrimination they forgot aulgur in fighting a hopeless weary battle here going to and fro among the maddeningly submissive islanders they were afoot all day and their nights were broken george was exhausted in body and his spirit too wore thin 4 TO BE CONTINUED |