Seven for a Secret (37 page)

“It is dishonest.”

My father smiled shrewdly and said: “It is love, and did we not agree that there is nothing in life so wonderful as true love?”

I wrote to both Crispin and Aunt Sophie. I had not told Aunt Sophie that my father was blind. I sensed that he would have done so himself had he wanted her to know. The letters would be ready next time a boat called to take them back to Sydney where they would have to make the long journey to England. It would be a long time before they reached their destination.

I was convincing myself that I must go home. They were both asking me to, and whatever the outcome, I must be there.

Tom Holloway was a frequent visitor. Karia welcomed visitors. Luke and the Havers often came now. Karia was sure they did not get enough to eat at the mission house. They employed only two servants and Karia feared that Muriel was too concerned with the spirit to think much of bodily needs.

Luke was always overjoyed to come. The optimism he had shown on the ship had faded considerably. There were many alterations he wanted to make to the mission house and this presented a difficulty as he did not want to override the Havers, and although they were not the most forceful of people, they had firm ideas.

Tamarisk had already lured the children into the mission house and many of them were regular visitors now. But they came to see Tamarisk and, although she tried them with the story of the Good Samaritan, they still demanded Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

Poor Luke! He was so dedicated, so anxious to do the work he felt needed to be done.

One afternoon Tom took us over to see the plantation. There were Tamarisk, Luke and myself. As we walked through the tall trees we saw

kernels of the nuts exposed to the sun, and Tom took us into the shed where they were making the coconut matting which formed a large part of the business, and to the office where his assistant sat working.

We saw his living quarters. They were quite spacious and well-furnished. 1 guessed Karia would have arranged that. He had one servant, who brought us a fruit drink as we sat on a verandah looking out over the plantation.

Tom asked about the mission and Luke explained the indifference of the people and the difficulty of getting through to them.

“Language is a problem,” said Tom.

“It’s easier for me. I show them what to do and they do it. These people who work for me are the aristocrats of the island. They earn money but it is not all of them who want to. Some prefer to lie in the sun. It is the heat which forms their characters. It makes them light-hearted and easy-going unless they are roused to anger. They can be dangerous.”

“That’s true enough,” said Luke.

“There were two of them quarrelling the other day. It was over some trivial matter about a piece of land.

One said it was his and the other laid claim to it. There were curses and knives flying. It looked like a fight to the death until someone called in the big chief. “

“Oh yes,” said Tom.

“I know who you mean. Olam. A little old man with very fierce eyes. They are very strange eyes. There are white rings round the pupils. Some disease, most likely, but it is because of this that he has his power.”

“It was settled at once,” went on Luke.

“I was amazed at his power.”

“He is the wise man. I have qualms about him. His judgement in your case evidently solved the matter satisfactorily. It’s not always so.

He can be quite . terrifying. He is reckoned to have special powers. If he tells a man he will die, generally he does. “

“I have heard of that,” said Luke.

“It’s dangerous.”

“I have to be wary of him. Keep on good terms with him. 1 send him little presents from time to time. That keeps him my good friend.”

“What a lot one has to learn about these people,” said Tamarisk.

“A

pity they are not all like the children. They are sweet. “

“Tamarisk gets along well with them,” commented Luke.

“It’s the colour of my hair which attracts them,” said Tamarisk.

“It’s so different from theirs.”

“Most of them just want a pleasant life,” Tom explained.

“They’ll work for a while but you mustn’t expect too much from them. They enjoy their work here. They take a certain pride in it. Olam doesn’t object because I show due respect to him, so all is well at the moment. Last year, some special season which is important to them went off very well. It will soon be here again. I am prepared for it. But my first year was rather tricky.”

“What happened?” asked Tamarisk.

“While it’s going on, they don’t come to work. I didn’t know this at first and was annoyed, for I had had no warning. There are all sorts of rituals. There was chanting through the days and nights and they danced with long spears. Where they keep them, I don’t know. One doesn’t see them from one season to the next. Old Olam is much in evidence. In fact, he organizes the whole show. They dance round, stamp their feet and look fierce. I was on the point of going to look where they were when Karia arrived. She explained to me that it would be wise for me to keep out of the way during the two days it was going on. We couldn’t help hearing the chanting all through the night, which was disturbing. When it’s over they all settle down and everything is as it was.”

“What are they supposed to be doing?”

“It’s like a preparation for some battle a sort of practice perhaps to keep them in trim in case they are attacked by people from another island.”

“That’s not likely,” said Luke.

“Not now, with all these ships plying back and forth and some of the bigger islands belonging to Britain and France. But they keep up the ceremony. It is invoking the spirits to come and fight for them. And, of course, it is the wise old Olam who remembers these things and keeps the tradition going.”

“Isn’t it fascinating?” said Tamarisk.

“Do you feel scared, Mr. Holloway, living right in the midst of it?”

“We are all in the midst of it,” said Tom.

“Yes, but you more so. You are surrounded by them.”

Tom shrugged his shoulders.

“No,” he said.

“They are gentle people. It is only when they are provoked that they might be dangerous, and I am not likely to provoke them.”

“What we have to do is show them a different way of life,” said Luke.

“Teach them that they must love their neighbours. I think, with God’s help, we shall do that.”

“I am sure you will,” I said.

Then Tom asked about the mission. He had heard some children were going every morning.

Tamarisk laughed.

“To hear Red Riding Hood and pull my hair.”

“It’s a good start,” said Luke, smiling at her affectionately.

“It’s fun,” replied Tamarisk.

“I’d like to meet old what’s-his-name.

Olam, is it? “

“Rest assured, he will be aware of you,” said Tom.

I said: “I think it is wonderful the way in which those children have taken to you. Tamarisk.”

“As I told you, it is Red Riding Hood they appreciate, or perhaps more likely the wolf.”

“Not entirely. They liked you before that.”

She laughed, flashing her eyes from Luke to Tom.

“Oh, I am a very popular person, you must know.”

Just at that moment one of the men came running up to the balcony.

“What has happened?” cried Tom rising.

“Master. He fall. Jaco … he fall from tree. He lie.” The man lifted his shoulders and shook his head backwards and forwards mournfully.

“Show me said Tom, and we all followed him out to the plantation.

A boy of about twelve years was lying on the ground, crying out in pain. His leg was twisted under him.

Tom held his breath in dismay, and Luke said: “It looks as though he has broken his leg.”

He knelt beside the boy.

“Poor little chap,” he said.

“Painful, is it?”

I don’t think the boy understood the words, but the sympathy in Luke’s voice soothed him a little. He lifted wide frightened eyes to Luke’s face.

“It’ll be all right,” went on Luke.

“I can see to this. I want a stout stick and some bandages.”

“I’ll get those,” replied Tom.

“Stay here with him.”

Luke turned to the boy.

“I’m going to try to move this. It’ll hurt.

I’m going to put it back in place. Tamarisk, put your arm round his shoulders. That’s right. “

I stood there helplessly watching them. Several of the men had gathered around. They were all gabbling together.

Luke had the boy lying flat on his back, and it was obvious that the bone was broken.

“I wish I had something to give him,” said Luke.

“Where’s Tom?”

“He’ll be back soon, I’m sure,” I said.

“Here he is. He’s got the things you wanted.”

1 watched Luke as, with deft fingers, he set the leg. I remembered his saying some time before that his training included lessons in first aid. He said at the time that at least he could do something in an emergency.

The boy was obviously in less pain now. He was gazing at Luke with touching gratitude.

“I want to get him back to the mission,” said Luke.

“We’ll get one of the carts to take him,” said Tom.

He stood up and shouted something to the watchers in their native tongue. Several of them immediately ran off and in a short time returned with a cart.

“We’ll have to be very careful not to jolt him,” said Luke.

“We want pillows and something for him to lie on. We must get him safely to the mission. Muriel has had some training in nursing, and she can make a proper job of it.”

“It’s wonderful!” cried Tamarisk.

“I do hope he’ll be all right.”

“If we get it properly set, he will be,” Luke assured her.

The boy was carefully carried to the cart, where he lay stretched out.

Tamarisk sat at his head, I at his feet. She stroked his forehead and murmured comforting words. The boy looked at her in a sort of wonder.

She looked very beautiful with the compassion in her face.

Tom led the donkey, making sure that the passage was as smooth as it possibly could be, and when we reached the mission house, Muriel and John were there to help.

Muriel said the boy should go into her room. She would make herself up a bed in one of the others in the building. She knew exactly what to do and took charge. He had broken his fibula, she said. It was a simple fracture. He was young, his bones would soon heal.

She seemed happy to have something to do and showed an efficiency which I had never seen in her before.

Afterwards Tamarisk and I went home and told my father and Karia what had happened.

“And you think it will be back to normal in time?” asked Karla.

“There should not be any difficulty.”

“That will be wonderful,” said Karla, her eyes shining.

“There was one man who had a fall like that and he’s been a cripple ever since.”

It was that night when the drums started. They were faint at first and then grew louder. The sound of musical instruments came floating over the air.

As we sat at dinner, Karia said: “This will go on all night and tomorrow and the next night.”

“Tom was telling us about it,” I said.

“I think he feels a little uneasy.”

“It’s one of the old customs, isn’t it, Karia?” asked my father.

“Yes. It goes back many years. It’s a sort of war cry, a preparation for attack.”

“But what are they going to attack?” I asked.

“Nothing … now. But at one time there was always fighting tribe against tribe. It’s different now. The islands are at peace. They have been taken over and some sort of order brought in. But in the past they had always to be ready. This is an exercise in readiness … letting the spirits know that they are waiting if attacked.”

“And what about old Olam?” asked Tamarisk.

“He fascinates me.”

“He’s very old. He would remember those days. They all revere him.

He’s rather like the old witch doctor. He has that sort of power. They are all in awe of him and everyone must show due respect. “

“I’d like to see him,” said Tamarisk.

“I doubt you will,” Karia told her.

“His hut is in the centre of the settlement close to the plantation. He doesn’t emerge very often except at times like these. People consult him from time to time if they are in difficulties and he gives them directions which must be obeyed. No one dares cross him.”

“I believe he can be a rather terrifying sight in all his war paint,” said my father.

“Have you seen him?” I asked Karia.

“Oh yes. For ceremonies he has two blue stripes painted across his forehead and feathers on his head.”

“Will he be there tonight?” asked Tamarisk, her eyes speculative.

“You must not try to see him,” said Karia quickly.

“There would be trouble if you were detected. We live here. We must respect these people.”

“Of course,” said Tamarisk demurely.

All through the night I could hear the strains of the instruments and beneath them the intermittent beating of the drums.

There was something hypnotic about them.

I thought longingly of home. I will go, I promised myself. I will talk to my father in the morning. He will understand. He said that love was all-important and he was right. Of course, my father had not led an exactly moral life; but then it was not always easy to know what was right and what wrong.

I could not sleep. I would doze for a few minutes and then wake to the distant murmur of the sea and the throbbing of the drums.

Suddenly I was wide awake. Something was happening outside the house.

I looked out of my windows and saw people there. I hastily put on a dressing-gown and slippers and at that moment Tamarisk came into my room.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve just woken up.”

We went out together. Karia was by this time at the door. As the men saw her they began to shout. I did not know what they were saying, but Karia answered them.

She turned to me.

Trouble at the mission,” she said.