Adventure, August 1917 — page 132: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

130 place seemed a favorite haunt of doves. — With the water the spot seemed impreg- nable, as long as the food and ammunition held out. ; There were, all told, a hundred and twen- ty-three of the king’s men. Some were lying dead in the wood, of the rest a score were wounded, one or two severely. At the king’s command they piled their weapons, about a hundred throwing-spears, a dozen clubs of sorts, fourteen Lee-En- fields and a handful of cartridges. Added to these were the four rifles, three shotguns, revolver and the small pistol Mrs. Gower had brought together with Loudon’s recovered automatic. For these last the ammunition was more plentiful though insufficient to last for more than an hour’s general encounter. Still by way of the ridge, they could hold off Toruki indefi- nitely without wasting shots. “Ts there any other way out, or in?” Loudon asked the king after he had de- spatched the sergeant to play sentinel. Rotorua led the way across the crater, mounting to the rim. A long valley lay gouged from the mountain, shallow and narrow by the crater but deepening and widening as it stretched southward to the sea, ending in a deep cafion. . From their height Loudon traced the twisting course of the latter until it was lost in the thick forest growth that clothed the base of the hills. “‘This way they can come along from the sea,” said Rotorua. “But they mus’ wait for tide to land and climb, oh plenty bad place. Take many hours. Me, I do not think white man can climb. Many place verihard, all same goat path. They land Moitapu, that my house in rains. There I have veribig canoe. Maybe we reach canoe, we get away.” ‘“‘Can it sail faster than the sloop, king, in case they saw us? The sloop’s no cup winner.” ‘“‘Maybe we sail more fast if wind right. Suppose we get /ele start I show you one trick. But no can do. Time we climb down, Toruki men wait for us maybe. Sup- pose I got spear?”’ He raised his arms then dropped them in protest at the odds against them. “Let’s go back and talk it over,” sug- gested Loudon. They held a council by the pool. Toruki, they estimated, could gather nearly three Adventure hundred warriors from Hapai alone. Later he might recruit from the smaller islands of. the group. If he had had time, Rotorua said, he could have gathered enough men about him to make the odds less heavy. But the islanders would be prone to join the stronger party. The king explained more fully the diffi- culties of landing at Moitapu. At flood tide the waves washed the cliffs. At the ebb, small boats could make their way through a natural channel in the reefs to a terraced beach. The tide, as Loudon remembered, would be flooding until sunset after it turned at noon and there was not enough of the ebb left to last until Toruki’s forces could reach Moitapu, either by sloop or in canoes. There was no fear of an attack in that direction for many hours, probably not until dawn. They discussed the tactics that would likely be employed by the enemy and their own scanty preparations to meet them. Rotorua was moody. The loss of his kingship seemed imminent. During a pause they heard the far-off patter of drums. Toruki was recruiting for his revolution. “Where are your women and children?” suddenly asked Serena. “They plenty safe. tapu.”’ ‘What is that?” asked Loudon. The girl answered: “Tt is a walled-in place that is tapu for every one who can take shelter there. Even Toruki would not dare to break that tapu. It is the island equivalent of the biblical Temples of Refuge and quite common to the South Sea groups.” “Ts it far away?” asked Loudon. king read his thought. “Too plenty far now. No way can go. Maybe Toruki not savvy tapu for white- Mary. Plenty better, I think, for white- Mary not let Toruki come up along them,”’’ he added significantly. Then he glanced at Mrs. Gower and grinned. ‘‘Maybe you safe,” he said. “I think plenty tapu along of you, all right.” The roll of the drums deepened, thrown back from the sounding-board of the cliffs. Loudon went over to the notch and looked down. The island lay peaceful to the eye. A plume of smoke, marked burnings in the settlement. The thick woods bent to the riotous trade They go to hkare- The CoMmicdook CO 5}